Critical: Ages Below Critical Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2: Bestowment of the Seal (Part 1)

Countless pieces of corpse scattered across the area

No lights.

seems to have been led away by ghouls.

at this moment it is pitch-black,

In the freezing darkness, only the howling of the blizzard can be heard.

[West of Aslan Empire - Forest outside Town of Fauser]

The moonlight resembles mercury flowing on the surface of the earth in the town of Fauser.

Just that the path that had previously been paved with yellow gneiss has turned into a sizable chunk of solid silver ice. On the path, a cl.u.s.ter of crystals as beautiful as corals envelops Kins and Liuna’s corpse, their appearance congealing in amber, resulting in a beauty shrouded under the shadow of death.

The inn that had been bustling before is now soaked in deadly silence. The ground, the walls, the walkway, the yard - everything covered in snow. The splattering of fresh blood and pieces of corpses, the guts, intestines and blood that had been steaming before……at this moment, they have long gone cold and froze over.

Countless pieces of corpse scattered across the area as if there had just been a violent explosion.

No lights. The life and breath of the whole town seems to have been led away by ghouls. The forest surrounding this village, at this moment it is pitch-black, no lights, no warmth. In the freezing darkness, only the howling of the blizzard can be heard.

Only a portion of Qi Ling’s consciousness remains. His ears are filled with the sharp howling of the wind, or you can say that, it is no longer as simple as just the wind, countless high-pitched and sharp humming sounds and cutting over his ear drums rapidly, when processed, there is a tearing pain in his mind. Every inch of his body is in pain, as if his whole torso and limbs have been cut by numerous blades. The scene before his eyes, they all extend into blur lights, Qi Ling’s vision slackens in this tornado-like speed, before he sees anything clearly, before his eyes are murky lights— he feels that he is being carried away quickly by something, perhaps a monster, it cannot be human, for it is impossible for humans to be so quick.

What remains in his memory is the picture of the inn from before— although the inn has long turned into a ghost town under the ice and snow. When Shen Yin used the silvery silk threads to coc.o.o.n him and drag him out from the inn to save their lives, Qi Ling saw on the frozen floor of the inn where dozens of sharp crystal-like blades shot out of the ground wildly, forming into thick vines, recklessly engulfing the bodies of those soul masters, they bury themselves into their hair like snakes, and then ripping them apart violently, dozens of iced pythons like monstrosities with spirits, winding around and binding up the members of the G.o.dly family, using the sharp ice thorns, they drag them into the most horrifying abyss.

The Shen family that has been radiating divine light just a few seconds before has turned into a pile of meat chunks a few seconds later, heartbreaking shrieks followed by the strong stench of blood spreading across the air, sweeping in from behind them.

Qi Ling resists the urge to vomit.

His vision clears up gradually, he sees that he is currently perched on Shen Yin’s back, and Shen Yin is rus.h.i.+ng towards the gloomy depths of the forest at unbelievable speed, her delicate and beautiful face is now completely shrouded in the shadow of terror, her lips pale, her pupils tight. “Aren’t you going to save them……” Qi Ling squeezes words out from his throat, Shen Yin does not turn back, instead, she replies coldly: “I can’t, they are bound to die……”

When Qi Ling becomes used to the fleeting scenes before him, he realises that he is being tied to Shen Yin’s body by the silver silk threads, rus.h.i.+ng forward swiftly as if they are flying. Shen Yin’s complexion is pale as she clenches her teeth and moves her arms wildly, innumerable white rays of light flus.h.i.+ng out from the palms of her hands and are directed forward where they wind around the countless numbers of large tree trunks, with a tug, the vast amount of energy takes them forward at the speed of light. The ground beneath their feet shatters from the heavy turbulence, leaving deep gullies behind in its wake, the constantly explosive sounds drag across the forest, rus.h.i.+ng towards the depths of the forest where the lighting becomes more and more dim.

Even with the speed of a hurricane, the suffocating sense of doom from behind them haven’t been left behind, on the contrary, it becomes closer. Qi Ling turns his head around, in the distance, the feather-like snow flakes dance uninhibitedly in the misty wind and snow, the ground is freezing over at an unbelievable speed, getting closer and closer to them, echoing in their ears is the sound of the ground freezing over, in the ball of white wind and snow that has been pursuing them, is a large dark shadow.

The surrounding temperature is lowering dramatically, as if death at zero degrees is advancing towards them hauntingly. Qi Ling’s limbs are cold, when he opens his mouth, he realises that he can no longer control his tongue for speech. With great effort, he squeezes syllables out from his throat, but when they reach the edge of his mouth, they all become meaningless husky screams; the sound of the blizzard surrounding them engulfs his voice rapidly. His thoughts are a mess; the bitter coldness is currently dragging his life force out from his body and ripping it into pieces. QI Ling’s eyes close slowly, he is losing consciousness again.

“Faster, faster, I don’t want to die……” He hears Shen Yin’s voice sounding as if a pair of hands, full of unsettling fear, is squeezing her throat.

Shen Yin can detect the enormous amount of soul power the soul beast behind her is emitting, that is Cang Xue Zhi Ya that managed to kill Lijier and everyone in her clan easily, the soul powers rush from the back like an overwhelming tide. She knows that she cannot win. All she can do is run.

Her soul powers has been released to her limit, countless silver threads like fabric explode in the form of light from her body, maneuvering forward like wind, pulling them forward. Just when she is in relief and antic.i.p.ation of escaping from this catastrophe, she sees the mountain-form rising from the ground at the end of the forest.

“No……”

Shen Yin stands rooted to the ground in despair, in front of her is the road to ruins, and behind her is the fast-approaching monster.

Shen Yin turns stiffly in fear, she sees that Qi Ling has fallen from her back and his consciousness is murky, a thin, white layer of frost forming over his handsome face, ice flakes caught in his straight brows. He looks like he is on the edge of death.

Shen Yin lifts her eyes to look at the menacing swirl of wind and snow from the depths of the forest and clenches her teeth.

“If this must be how it is going to be……”

The storm clouds in the sky rush past, the loud sound of thunder erupts constantly from the depths of the cloud cover.

If at this moment you look down from the eerily-blue night sky, you will see that, in this vast forest surrounded by a blizzard, between every towering tree, they are all entangled with strong white silk the thickness of wrists, complexly, they weave the forest into a hunter’s web that emits the fragrance of death, as if a large spider has left a white death trap on the ground.

In the thick shadows of the forest, occasionally there will be a halo of light appearing at differing locations, and then they will disappear mysteriously, as if there are countless pairs of large eyes in the darkness.

Shen Yin presses down on the fear in her chest that feels like a monster about to leap out, with shaking pupils, she stares at the gradually approaching ball of wind and snow.

—Do not be afraid, as long as you channel all the soul powers in your body to feel the opponent’s speed, you will not die……

—Every silk thread can help me detect the flow and changes of the opponent’s soul powers specifically, as long as I can calm down to sense it, I will be able to be notified of the attack before it happens……

—I don’t wish to die……don’t want to die……it will be okay……

—It’s alright, if it reaches the breaking point, I can still……
 

Shen Yin gradually constrains the fear in her heart and closes her eyes slowly. She releases her soul powers from her body, like flowing water, they flow along the white threads, her soul powers distributing on each and every one of the threads of the web equally. In the dark, all minute changes, all attempts of attack, all flows of soul powers will be transported from the spider webs to her body. As if she became a gargantuan monster suddenly, spreading the white nerves across the whole forest, and right now, the whole forest is her tremendous frame.

“It’s here!” Her eyes open with force.

Before she has the change to respond with any of her soul powers, she can only see the sharp and large claw attacking at lightning speed, as if sharp blades that can extend themselves infinitely, they pierce through her form. Punctured by the tremendous force, her whole person shoots towards the cliff behind her, with a large exploding sound, the rocks spray in all directions, dust engulfing the place.

—It is obvious that I felt it beforehand, but I cannot escape the speed……

The heavens and earth return to silence.

The dust settles slowly. A deep hole formed at the steep surface of the mountain from the impact of Shen Yin’s body, at the mouth of the cave, Shen Yin’s silk-like dark locks hang from the hole. Countless ice vines as sharp as knives twist itself slowly from the ground and fill the cave, looking as if they pierced themselves through from the cliff with force, shattering the rocks, their sharp crystal-like thorns exposed in the air. Between the icicles is Shen Yin’s hair, soaked in thick blood.

Qi Ling lies on the ground, with a scattered vision; he looks at the inverted picture behind him, looking at Shen Yin being swallowed by the vines, looking at the cave finally being filled by countless icicles.

And at the same time, numerous thorns of ice rise from the ground around his body, with sluggish speed, with an air of arrogance, they pierce themselves bit by bit into his body, tying him around after round and then tightening their hold on him, on every blade of ice even more erupts. His ankles, thighs, hands, chest, abdomen, the sharp blades of ice rip open his muscles, injecting the ultimate coldness into his body like poison, his pain becomes numb, the blood that lost its temperature fills his chest, the suffocation presses down on his heart, gus.h.i.+ng from his mouth is the liquid and stench of blood.

The last scene Qi Ling sees before he loses consciousness is the large, hairy claw of the monster. Tainted with fresh blood, the moon reflecting off an eerie green color.

It raises its claws above him, the large paw blocks off the paleness of the moon, in the shadow; it lashes down at lightning speed.

[West of Aslan Empire - Port City of Rennes]

When Lianquan walks into Rennes City, it is noon. The blue sky looks as absolute as a peaceful ocean. Occasionally, there will be white seagulls calling from the sky, their calls being brushed away by the wind.

In the air is the peculiar smell of the sea typical of a port city, the salty air in addition to the bright suns.h.i.+ne lights up ones mood. Rennes is situated at the Southwestern side of Aslan, in this season, while most of the regions in Aslan have entered winter, Rennes is still enveloped in the warm spring suns.h.i.+ne.

Living in a city like this seems to make everyone joyful, be it the fishermen coming back from sea or the craftsmen in the blacksmith’s shop, on everyone’s faces are smiles as blooming as the sky. However, there is no smile on Lianquan’s face. Since young, she rarely smiles, which means that everyone feels that she is overly serious and that her life is dull.

As the fourth biggest city of the Aslan Empire, Rennes has always had the role of the exporting city of the imperial capital. Countless vessels pa.s.s through this port, unloading, loading and setting sail again.

The people in this city are all content with their lives, and their lives are fulfilling. Fis.h.i.+ng and trade transport are the pillars of this city.

Yet there is a secret to Rennes.

This secret is well known among soul masters. That is, Rennes is the entrance to the 'Grave of the Souls'.

Lianquan is here for just that.

She has just entered the broad gates of the city and she is hearing commotion from outside the walls of the city. She turns and frowns, in the glaring sun, a white horse-drawn—carriage is speeding on the road. The vendors on both sides of the road moves to avoid collision, everyone lowering their heads carefully to not draw attention to themselves, all of them thinking the same thing.

Should be some obnoxious aristocrat from the city.

Lianquan covers half of her face with the veil and moves towards the side of the street.

The army of vehicles approach rapidly from the distance, the hooves of the horses knocking on the white marble pavement and sound echoes loudly. In the middle of the road, a slow-moving elderly woman is bending down to pick up her basket that she dropped due to surprise, and the army of vehicles is approaching her with rapid speed.

Before the on-lookers had a chance to a.s.sist, even the old lady is still in the same position of bending down, in the next moment, with a loud cras.h.i.+ng sound, the old lady’s body is like a dried leaf, flying off the ground weightlessly and then tossed aside lightly, she crashes on the city walls at the side of the street, her thick, fresh blood congealing quickly in the burning sun.

Lianquan frowns as she looks at the motionless corpse of the old lady at the foot of the wall and at the rapidly distancing fleet of vehicles from over the veil — the vehicles did not pause or hesitate, as if they crashed into a basket or chair. Old memories start flickering from the depths of her mind, overlapping with the images before her.

The fleet of vehicles stops about two hundred meters ahead.

At the door of the towering palace constructed of white rocks, servants and guards are stationed to welcome to fleet.

Lianquan moves slightly, her body shaking a few times under the glaring sun, in a flash, she is standing in front of the fleet.

When the person in the carriage lifts the heavy and luxurious curtain, he sees Lianquan standing in front of the horse. The man who got down from the car looks coldly at her and then moves his gaze away dismissively, squeezing out two words from between his teeth dismissively: “Get lost.”

Lianquan does not move, seeming like she did not see the muscular warrior holding a heavy weapon moving towards her from behind.

The man in the carriage squints, and in the next second, the warrior behind Lianquan lugs his crafted bat at her, aiming at Lian Quan’s neck with the force and violence of a wild beast.

The sound of bones shattering. The gruesome sound of them piercing into fresh.

Lianquan’s body flies out with a bang, dropping a dozen meters away, rubbing and rolling on the pavement, tossed far out.

The town folks keep their heads low and do not speak. They are all quietly judging the motionless Lianquan in the middle of the road from the corners of their eyes.

The man from the carriage alights slowly; on his fancy robes are silver trims and embroidered flowers, reflecting a white glare from the sun.

He moves towards Lianquan unhurriedly, lifts his feet, and uses the soles of his shoes to flip her face over to face him. He tells Lianquan: “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that, we are the top soul bending family in Rennes?”

“Top……well then……that certainly helped a lot……” Lianquan gets up slowly, due to the impact from before, her neck, backbone and joins have all been broken. She straights up, and movies her neck, arms and waist slowly, as if rebuilding the broken pieces of her body, her joints squirm around strangely, releasing a cracking sound, the scene is undeniably strange.

A silver of confusion appears in the man’s eyes, “What did you say?”

“I said,” Lianquan twists her neck, as if a large wedge is being pushed into a piece of wood, “You have soul powers, that really helped a lot, because I once swore that I will never will someone who does not have that.”

“What sort of joke is this!” The man’s pupils tighten, a murderous air causing ripples in his robes.

Lianquan doesn’t even give him the opportunity to attack, she raises her palms towards the air and the man’s body is tossed high into the air as if being thrown by a pair of large, invisible hands. At the same time, Lianquan elegantly moves her hand to gesture lightly at a puddle of water some distance away, as a result, numerous round water droplets raise from the water surface and fly towards her, she flicks her fingers towards the man in the sky—

The water droplets the size of pearls shoot towards the man at lightning speed, a series of dull thuds sound, they are the sound of the b.a.l.l.s of water going through the man’s body. Those numerous b.a.l.l.s of water are as hard as iron, surrounding his body with insane speed, repeatedly going through his body like a group of insane insects, surrounding him densely, consistently, resulting in numerous holes on his body. Red mist of blood splatters across the sky, coating the white stonewalls of the surroundings with a layer of red dust.

With a loud crash, his body hits the ground, those water droplets coated with his blood has became countless red beads, as if individual insects that had their fill of blood, hovering ominously a few meters over his body, Lianquan remains expressionless, but from the faint light in her eyes, you can tell that she seems satisfied. She waves her hand lightly and the red beads of blood break apart, turning into raindrops, splattering on his body.

His body is now contains countless gaps, even more thick blood oozing out.

Lianquan moves over and crouches beside him, gently lifting the veil away from her face, the man seems as if he has seen the most horrifying creature.

The sea breeze blows at Lianquan’s hair, under the sunlight, the scar at the location on her neck beneath her ear is clear as day.

“The fifth…… ‘Seal of the Lord’……” The man gurgles out a few words from his blood-filled mouth, “You are……”

Remaining expressionless, Lianquan nods, looking at the dying man before her, she tells him seriously: “Yes, I am Guishan Lianquan, the fifth ‘Disciple’.

[West of Aslan Empire - Forest outside Town of Fauser]

When he opens his eyes, the sky is already very bright. The clouds look like pure white feathers of silk, hugging the blue sky tightly. The sunlight s.h.i.+nes through the gaps between the leaves, forming speckles of light around his body. The wind carries the fresh fragrance of the leaves, warmed up under the sun. The bitter winter seems to have retreated to the depths of the forest far away from here, at this moment, Fauser seems to have fallen into a warm spring after the snow melted.

Everything seems delightful, as if the nightmarish killings from last night never happened.

Qi Ling sits up abruptly when his eyes start to hurt from the suns.h.i.+ne; subconsciously he moves his hand towards his chest and presses down. The weird thing is that, his chest that had been pierced through by the icicles from last night does not hurt at all. He folds his sleeves and trousers and noted that he does not have any scars.

Then Shen Yin……

Turning his head suddenly, he looks at the steep walls of the mountain. The hole from the impact is still there, but the wildly growing crystals have all disappeared. Qi Ling crawls up and moves towards the cliff while nothing the changes in his body, not only does he not feel like someone who barely sc.r.a.ped death, he feels as if he has an infinite amount of energy. When he reached the cave, he discovers it to be bare.

Yet yesterday he had clearly seen Shen Yin being struck by a few flashes of lightning and the impact of her fall resulted in this hole. And it had been filled with razor-sharp icicles. Now there is only an empty cave, Qi Ling touches the rocks at the mouth of the cave and notices that the scratches are all recent, this proves that what happened yesterday wasn’t an illusion, this hole is really something that has only existed recently.

After he climbs back down to the ground with disappointment, he looks up to see Yin Chen, who has been sitting near him all along.

Yin Chen is seated on the exposed root of an ancient tree, the blackened tree root jutting out from the ground, hovering over the air for some distance before burying itself into the ground again, as if erecting a bridge of which the circ.u.mference is as thick as a person’s embrace.

The speckles of light fall onto his face. His features, under the bright suns.h.i.+ne, looks as if they are as intricate as carvings on an ice statue, but at the same time he gives off an aura of unsettling pa.s.siveness. The robe on his body floats around in an unhurried and intriguing manner, floating like clouds, making him seem even more mysterious and alluring. He puts away the sheep-skin bound book and lifts his head to glance at Qi Ling before saying coldly: “Let’s go.”

“Go? Go where?” Qi Ling puts his head behind his head, completely baffled by what he is saying, “Sir, I just woke up, I haven’t even washed my face yet.”

Yin Chen: “Just follow me. I’ll tell you about it slowly, it’s not something that can be explained with just a few words.”

“Then did you save me? I remember last night I was cut into a few pieces by a few knives……” Qi Ling scratches his head, as if he himself realises that his usage of words to describe what had happened is weird, “Are you a doctor?”

“……I am not a doctor,” Yin Chen lowers his head and rubs his brows, he looks slightly angry, “When I arrived, you were there asleep.” Yin Chen takes in a deep breath and reverts back to his cold and expressionless state.

“Good sir, I was really about to die before……” Qi Ling thinks, unsure of how to explain since not everyone believes the existence of soul beasts or soul maters, so he changes the topic, “When you arrived did you see the hole, right there, was there a girl? About two or three years older than I am, she looks very pretty, did you see her?”

Yin Chen looks at the youth before him, his eyes reflecting calmness like still water, “I didn’t.”

Yin Chen stands up and walks towards Qi Ling, “Come with me, to Gelanerte.”

“Ge……Gelanerte?” Qi Ling is shocked; “You want to bring me to Gelanerte? Why? I still have to hurry back to the inn, I don’t know how things are over there, if I don’t go back, the boss lady is going to scold me so much, and I grew up here, in my life I’ve never……”

Before Qi Ling finishes speaking, he suddenly feels as if his mouth is filled by bone-chilling shards of nice, he spits a lot of them out, his tongue numb.

“So noisy.” Yin Chen narrows his eyes and rubs his ears, appearing to be satisfied, as if enjoying the current state of peace. He turns back, his clear irises resembling jewels under the sunlight, he says to Qi Ling: “From the day you become a ‘Disciple’, your previous way of life no longer has any meaning.”

“What……is……’disciple’? Qi Ling squeezes out, his tongue so numb that it is not listening to him.

Yin Chen’s eyes narrow, he presses towards QI Ling, the tree trunks surrounding them suddenly covered with a later of frost, cold air swirl around them wildly, “You’re asking me, what a disciple is?” Yin Chen stands before QI Ling, staring into his eyes, “What are you?”

“I……” QI Ling looks at the frosty Yin Chen, the bone-piercing fear from before engulfing him once more.

“Haven’t you ever heard of a disciple?”

“No I haven’t……”

“Then do can you control soul powers?”

“No……”

Yin Chen stares at the intimidatingly handsome but still naive youth before him, his expression full of near but not guilt. It is obvious that he is speaking the truth.

Yin Chen relaxes, the frost on the tree trunks beside him dissipates into white gas, he sighs, unsure of what the Silver Priests were thinking, as if they just played a prank on him. The only way to know is to bring him back to Gelanerte and ask the Silver Priests himself.

“Will you……are you going to kill me……” Half of QI Ling’s body is hidden behind a tree trunk, his hands clutching the tree trunk, he asks nervously.

A gentle and refres.h.i.+ng feeling like a gush of spring water moves across Yin Chen’s heart. A feeling that is distant but familiar, he smiles slightly, the tension melting away from his brows, it makes him appear to be even more handsome. He reveals a set of straight white teeth, using an appealing and gentle voice, he speaks to Qi Ling softly: “Don’t worry, I won’t. I won’t kill you, I will protect you.”

[West of Aslan Empire - Port City of Rennes]

Lianquan finds an inn to stay, she sit son the bed with her eyes closed, appearing to be deep in thought.

On the bedside table sits the oil lamp provided by the inn, it remains unlit, her face remaining expressionless even in the dark.

The perfectly round moon sits high over the sea, if you look out from the window, you can see the reflections of light on the surface of the ocean.

An invisible ripple moving across the air.

As if sensing something, Lianquan opens her eyes in the dark, a layer of eerie green smog exploding soundlessly from her body, as if scattered by the wind, they spread and disappear into the darkness outside the window within seconds.

In the dead silence of the dark, time ticks by slowly.

“Looks like this time round……” Lianquan mutters, “There comes a terrible monster……”

The large road that leads to the city gate of Rennes is illuminated by the moonlight, the numerous statues of celestial beasts carved out of stone on the sides of the road have white marble bases filled with blooming flowers, these decorate the fountains along the way, all these are symbols of the wealth of Rennes.

At this very moment, the tinkering sounds are gentle and moving in the late night, the sound comes from outside the city, gradually advancing towards Rennes.