Heavenly Soul [BL]

Qinghe ran swiftly, his toes barely touching the ground. Close behind him, Jing Shui followed. A bit further away, the rest of the disciples pushed themselves to keep up.

The two senior disciples ran in the front to clear any obstacles or get rid of any dangers, paving a smooth path forward for their juniors.

Somewhere in this hidden realm, there were many more groups like theirs, each consisting of disciples from two or more sects. Mixing them together like this was to allow the future generation to form bonds with each other. While clearing their path, Feng Qinghe and Jing Shui also had to consider these other groups, making sure not to lead the Behemoth towards any of them.

Since it had sighted and marked them as its prey, the Behemoth would be fixated on hunting only them until it caught up and drained them of their spiritual energy, leaving behind empty husks. They didn’t want to spread their misfortune to anyone else, so they tried to steer away from the others.

The ground heaved due to the massive thuds of the Behemoth’s footsteps, trees and rocks shifting and falling over all around them. The group of senior and junior disciples nimbly navigated the path littered with debris and maintained their balance even as parts of the ground cracked and caved in, unable to bear the weight and might of the gigantic beast. The very air seemed to tremble due to the calamitous approach of the Behemoth.

Qinghe led them towards the canyon where the waterfall was situated, with the beast blindly following them in pursuit.

When they could see the edge of the canyon, Qinghe’s words floated towards the disciples, his voice warm and firm. “Please prepare to initiate the spell of flight at my command.”

Reassured by his confident tone, the disciples put aside their nervousness and began preparing the spell. Within a few minutes, they had almost reached the canyon.

“Deploy spell of flight,” Qinghe’s command rang out clearly.

They did as told. Spiritual energy spinning around their lower halves to manipulate the effects of gravity, they started flying promptly after reaching the edge. With Qinghe in the lead, the swiftly traversed the great divide within two hours. This was not because their speed was slow, but because the chasm was just that wide.

To their right roared a huge waterfall, pouring down into a river with fast currents that quickly swept away the waters further downstream.

Once they landed on the other side, Qinghe called for them to stop and rest. Though confused at why they were stopping now, the juniors plopped down in exhaustion while panting.

Jing Shui, like Qinghe, fared far better than the junior disciples. He turned to Qinghe and questioned, “Do we even have time to stop for breaks? The Behemoth will catch up to us within minutes. How can we escape if we take our time like this?”

Qinghe looked surprised. “Brother Jing, are you misunderstanding something here? Who said we were trying to escape.”

“You―” Jung Shui didn’t know how to continue with this shameless bastard. Taking in a deep breath to calm himself, he spoke again, “Did you or did you not say that your plan was to ‘run’?”

Nodding, Qinghe said, “Yes, I did. But the plan was not to escape, but to bait, trap and kill.”

Everyone blinked at Qinghe uncomprehendingly.

Qinghe explained further, “We ran to the other side of the canyon to bait the Behemoth into entering the chasm. That is where we will trap it. Once it’s trapped, we kill it.”

Jing Shui felt a headache coming on. Qinghe made it sound so simple, but he knew that what he said couldn’t be all there was to it.

Junior Brother Wen chose this moment to make his presence known again. “Then couldn’t we have implemented your shitty plan in the clearing itself? Why did we have to follow you around all the way here?” he whined.

The other juniors looked at him tiredly. You’re still not giving up?

Jing Shui frowned at the boy and was about to start lecturing about manners and politeness when Qinghe beat him to it. “Junior Brother Wen, I don’t mind you asking questions and I know you must be weary, but please phrase your words in a better way, or else people might take your worry for disrespect.”

What worry, that was clearly meant to be disrespect!

Junior Brother Wen glared at him but didn’t speak. The other juniors looked at Qinghe with worship. Ah, how considerate! He was still trying to cover for someone who kept being so hostile towards him.

Qinghe continued, “As to answering your question, we are here because of the water source. My strategy requires Brother Jing’s participation, and he will need a water source nearby.”

“Me? What do you need me to do?” Jing Shui asked surprised.

“I need you to use Water Web,” came the calm reply.

There were three major containment spells in the cultivation world that used water. Water Binding was used against smaller targets, for example, a single person. Water Web, on the other hand, was used to trap larger and more powerful targets, usually groups of people or beasts. Water Prison was the most powerful and complete of them all, creating an impenetrable dome of water to surround areas as large as a city.

Qinghe needed a large-scale Water Web rather than a Water Prison, since Water Web had holes through which the Behemoth could be attacked. This could be a bit more complicated, but it was well within Jing Shui’s abilities.

Jing Shui said doubtfully, “You do realize that I can only confine and not kill the Behemoth even if I use the strongest Water Web? Not to mention, there isn’t enough water here to cover and restrain the Behemoth’s entire body. The canyon runs a thousand meters deep, and it might still only barely reach its knees! We will need far more water than the river at the canyon’s bottom holds.”

The steady calmness and pleasant smile on Qinghe’s face did not falter. “Of course I have considered that. We will address this problem when the Behemoth is standing in the canyon. Brother Jing, you can trust that I will get us out safely.”

Faced with those eyes burning with sincerity, Jing Shui could only nod.

The thudding had steadily been getting louder all this time. The ground seemed to be jumping up and down with more vigor.

The Behemoth had finally broken through the tree line on the opposite side and was approaching the canyon.

The disciples stood up from resting and faced the threat as one. Whatever happened would happen. All they could do was trust in Qinghe’s plan. If not, with their levels, they could only become the beast’s food.

The Behemoth thundered forward, reaching the canyon’s edge with a single, massive step.

They all held their breaths.

This was the first time the disciples had gotten a clear look at it. Before, it had been mostly obstructed by trees and they didn’t have time to take a look back while fleeing.

But now, they truly understood the magnificence of the beast called the Behemoth.

The transparent skin stretching over its entire body looked soft and flexible with a beautiful silvery sheen. Glowing lines of blood vessels pulsed, transporting pearly pink liquid. The skin covering its organs looked foggy, turning them to pale colored blurs. The bones looked as if they were made out of milky, translucent glass.

Its eyes were petal-shaped pools of liquid blackness, with flecks of silver faintly glittering in those soulful depths. It brought to mind a vast, melancholy ocean illuminated only by the scattered light of floating stars. The six horns atop its head glistened in the light like a gleaming ebony crown. The soft evening sunshine filtered through the Behemoth, setting parts of it aglow.

It was a sight to behold.

The disciples stared enraptured at the beast that was so beautiful in its own unique way.

But they were soon broken out of their reverie by the sound of a loud bang as the Behemoth jumped into the chasm. The canyon was several kilometers wide and would take quite some time for even the Behemoth to cross.

Qinghe turned to his companions with a smile. “Let us begin.”