Chapter 127 - Arcane
Hao Xuan was petrified. The creature that was standing just outside the boundary of the camp looked like something out of a horror movie. But the strange thing was, he couldn't look away no matter how hard he tried. It was as if there was a hand holding his head in place.
His breathing got faster and rougher the longer he stared at it.
*SSSS*
Seeing him starting to sweat and tremble like he was having a seizure, Black and White became angry at the creature outside and let out a loud hiss that shook Hao Xuan's very soul. An invisible soundwave expanded outwards with Black and White as the center.
As it reached the boundary of the camp, it pushed back against the darkness revealing the surroundings. Hao Xuan who had just regained his composure was scared out of his mind yet again. One after another, creatures similar to the first one came to light. There were more than 30 of them all around him. Some were crawling on the side of the hill like a lizard, making it look extremely bizarre, while some were up in the trees.
The only difference was in their sizes and the different beast heads at the front. Some were cows, dogs, donkeys, horses etc. Basically all farm animals. But none of them had any eyes and were bleeding continuously. It created a horrific image and would give even the bravest of people nightmares.
Hao Xuan's expression turned ugly. He took out his glaive and started circulating Qi from all three meridians. It was no use hiding in the cabin so he took a deep breath and walked out into the open, putting on a brave front.
All the creatures were looking at his direction but none of them made a move. He looked at them with furrowed brows and examined them more closely now that he got a better look at them.
"What the fuck are you...?" he mumbled.
The more he looked, the worse his expression got. The blood wasn't only coming from their eyes. It looked like the animal heads were unnatural.
There were bloody marks around the necks with putrid black blood.
It looked like someone had ripped off animal heads and put them on human bodies because the bodies were still mostly human. Although their limbs stretched out like rubber, they were still human bodies of different shapes and sizes.
Some were small enough to be newborns while others were big enough to be adult males. The fear that was slowly building up inside him vanished in an instant and was replaced by anger.
These were humans. Human mortals that had been killed and had their body's heads replaced with those of animals.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" he shouted at the creatures but got no response. None of them made any moves or even indicated that they were alive and just stood there like statues.
Although Hao Xuan was angry, he still kept his cool. He had no idea who was behind this or even what had happened to these poor people so rushing out would be a very bad choice.
*Ding*
The second bell rang and the fog and the darkness visibly reduced. It receded back like a wave. The creature that had been standing still all that time also finally moved. One by one they started falling back.
Some let out dreadful screams. Like the sounds of infants and women crying and screaming at the same time. Hao Xuan's heart jerked upon hearing the horrible sounds.
With clenched fists and gritted teeth, he stood there, doing everything in his power to hold himself back and not go out running into the dark night after the creature who was responsible for all this.
*Ding*
The bell rang for the third time and the darkness thinned and congregated in one spot, forming a tall figure. The figure looked somewhat similar to the one he saw back in the spirited away town.
But because of the darkness, he couldn't clearly see what it looked like. A raspy voice came from the figure.
"The everlasting night...shall arrive...with the weakening...of the seal. The realm of the Arcane.....shall once again.....rule the myriad realms....the chaos churns-"
"Shut the fuck up!" Hao Xuan who was already very angry erupted like a volcano.
"You piece of shit, I'll rip you apart and devour your very soul. Don't bullshit me with these random things, I don't care. Come and find me when your so-called "Realm of Arcane" opens, I'll burn it to the god damned ground. Get the fuck outta here with this shit," one after another he hurled out profanities like it was nobody's business.
Black and White who were on his shoulders had no idea what was going on but copying their master, they also hissed out angrily every now and then, making them look extra cute with their small builds.
The tall figure which was shrouded in darkness was left utterly speechless. It didn't have eyes or a mouth but if it did, you could bet that they would be wide open right now.
A few more seconds passed and like a puff of smoke, the figure vanished into thin air without speaking up again. There was still some fog and the night was still dark but nothing like before. It was all back to normal.
He could once again hear the sound of insects, some other beasts, and rodents moving around in the bushes.
"Moth*rfucker, You're lucky I have so much self-control otherwise I would have torn you apart," he shouted where the figure vanished but there was nothing there anymore.
It took him a few more minutes to calm down and regain his composure. He checked the time and it was about 3:20 a.m. He wanted to let the higher-ups know what just happened but it was already too late so he decided to do it the next day.
After 30 minutes or so, he finally fell asleep and entered the land of dreams.