"All the other Gu masters ran off too, so don't worry too much about any dangers," Initel's will said before disappearing into my body. They all ran off? Did the clan leader tell them to, or did they leave on their own accord?
For now, I shouldn't think too hard about it, since there weren't many of them left anyways. I sat down and pulled out some primeval essence stones from my well-stored Gu. With my Featherman self armed, I wasn't too worried about dangers.
"So, have the others been sent back?" the Rank 4 Gu master asked me.
"Yes, only you and I should still be here, but there might be a few nearby who left on foot or on the Wind Fin sharks," my Featherman self responded as I tried to recover my primeval sea essence quickly.
"Alright, I'm going to go check on some things. Once you recover your primeval sea essence, go back and bring them back for the cleanup."
She went off, leaving me with myself. She's going to loot, isn't she? I punched the ground, and my strength phantoms popped out, solidifying my Dragonman, Beastman, and Iceman selves. I ordered them to get anything they deemed of value.
Her POV
My teammate told me that we were ordered to come back immediately because we received a distress signal while out on a mission. We made our way back as quickly as we could. Eventually, the clan came into sight, but there were a lot of red flags.
No guards at the entrance, which was against standard protocol. A lot of steam was coming out of the clan, and I could feel the humidity higher than I'd ever felt before. I could only assume we were being attacked. The only question was by what... or better yet, by who?
We rushed in as I activated my recon Gu that could sense the souls of other living beings. There were many souls in the back, and when we went in, we saw the lifeless corpses of my clansmen. Everywhere we stepped was muddy, whether from water or blood.
As we ran to support the rest of our clansmen, I felt the presence of a soul quickly approach us. Before I could warn my team, he came into view. He had long light blue hair with a very slight tan, wearing an elegant purple robe. He looked beautiful, but his stoic face made him look like an ice prince. I wasn't sure if he was an Ice Man or a normal human, but it didn't matter now. He was clearly an enemy.
My team attacked him, only for him to reveal his wings, meaning he was a Featherman, and he flew away to avoid our attacks. But something was off. My recon Gu was still activated, and I no longer felt his soul, but I did sense it above us. Looking up, I saw the exact same person, only without wings, falling rapidly toward us.
"Dodge, there's one above us!" I moved to avoid him as I shot an attack at the one in the sky. Soon, wings appeared on him, and he avoided the attack yet again. But I was too focused on him when I heard one of my teammates getting sent flying by the enemy on the ground.
So he's a Strength-path Gu master, most likely. Good, he shouldn't have any way to defend against our attacks. I shot out two attacks at both enemies, who must have been twins or something else. Then I heard one of my teammates yell out for Lali, who he had recently started dating.
I looked over at her and saw her lying on the floor. I continued to send attacks, but the enemy on the ground was too quick. He must have had a good movement Gu, so I focused on the enemy in the sky. He had a bow and arrows, and he was aiming at me. I had to run around to throw off his aim as he shot them at me.
I heard the sounds of someone getting hurt and saw my last teammate fall. I was now on my own and tried to attack both enemies, but the one on the ground retreated. I did my best to keep my guard up against both, but it was too difficult with one in the sky and one on the ground.
Eventually, the one on the ground approached me, and I shot at him. This time my hits landed, but unlike all the other times where my attacks would severely injure their souls or outright kill them, he just looked as if he was perfectly fine. I then noticed the soul presence wasn't where he was. I looked over and saw a third person, but he was the exact same as the other two.
I can't stay here; I'm outnumbered, and my attacks don't seem to do anything. I turned and began to run, but it didn't last long as I was swept off my feet. With my assailant directly on top of me, I decided to go all out and use my strongest attack.
Launching it drained me of nearly all my primeval sea essence, but to my horror, he stood there as if nothing had happened. He reached down, grabbed me by the throat, and lifted me off the ground. I shot off another attack, but again, nothing. Another version of him showed up and asked me to surrender.
I didn't know what to do, but all I knew was that I didn't want to die, so I complied. He forced a Gu onto me, and one of them was a Gu to enslave me. So at least I don't think I'll die anytime soon, but I'll most likely have to spend the rest of my days as a slave. The enemy asked for places with resources, so I told him what I knew.
He pried open the Gu vault doors with no issues. As I watched, I saw what had been appearing from time to time during our fight, but I hadn't gotten a good look at it until now. They were images of variant humans that looked like my enemy. He then released something, and the human version of himself solidified.
He walked into the Gu vault and set off traps I didn't even know were there. My heartbeat quickened as he asked me if I knew about the traps. I denied it adamantly, and he believed me. He then took a Gu off my forehead. Then, two versions of him and I went to take all the Gu and food stored there.
What he did next, though, I never would have guessed. He and another version of himself held onto me, and we reappeared in a whole new place. I was at a loss for words, as Gu that could teleport the user were very, very rare, let alone one that could take others too.
But I didn't get to ask anything, as what I assumed to be the original ordered me to follow the other version of him as he left.
"Follow me quickly," the clone said as I went with him outside the building. What I saw next truly confirmed to me that we had teleported away from my clan.
New buildings all around me with even higher humidity, but what really stood out were the bodies of water floating in the sky, different shades of color, with creatures clearly living in most of them. It was beautiful, but the clone grabbing onto me reminded me that I was not here as a tourist, but a prisoner.
We made our way through the area until we came to a small house. The clone opened it with a key and brought me into an inner courtyard that had stunning plants with mirror-like leaves.
"Sit with me. I have a lot to ask you," the clone told me, pointing to a table and chairs.
I took a seat as the clone put the bags of looted Gu and food on the table. He then left and came back shortly with a tea set and some pastries, serving me.
"I didn't think you'd treat me this nicely," I said, meaning every word.
"I'm just trying to do what everyone else should do... survive and thrive."
"And that includes wiping out my clan?"
He shook his head. "Your clan was found guilty of demonic acts, and a branch of my Hu clan was ordered to wipe you all out. I was just hired muscle, and the price was very good—not to mention all the stuff we took from the Gu vault."
I had a lot I wanted to say, but nothing nice. The last thing I wanted to do was piss off the man who could decide my fate.
"May I ask what you want from me? Am I just going to be sold off like the spoils of war?" I ate a pastry, but it had no flavor as my mind was too worried about what he would say.
"No, I wasn't planning on that. You're much more useful to me alongside me than as a slave to sell," he replied.
His words confused me. "How could I be useful to you?" Besides my rank, which should be the standard strength for someone in his clan, I had nothing else going for me.
"You're a Soul-path Gu master, right?" he asked.
I nodded my head in confirmation.
"But so what? I know most people hate Soul-path," I replied.
He shook his head. "Most do, that's for sure, but not me. I know it's a very useful and powerful path, and I plan to explore it. Having someone who's walks that path work for me and help guide me is a lot better than nothing."
"You're interested in Soul-path... What do you want to know?"
Well, as long as I have use, maybe I won't be sold to live a horrible life.
"First, I want to see all your Gu, especially your Soul-path Gu." He said so I brought out from my aperture all four of my Gu.
Human Self POV
She brought out four Gu from her aperture, one of which looked odd. A grey ladybug, a larva bug, a light yellow termite, but the last one looked the most unusual. It resembled a voodoo doll.
"What Gu is your vital Gu?" I asked.
"It's this one," she said, holding up the voodoo doll-looking Gu. "It's called Soul Specter. It can create a body part that can damage a soul directly."
Ah, so this was what they were all shooting.
"Interesting. What other Soul-path Gu do you have?" I asked. This one is already immensely useful, so what else could the Slin clan have had?
"This one is called Soul Detector Gu. It can detect souls from a good distance away. The stronger the soul, the more they stand out to the user," she said, showing me the grey ladybug. That must have been how she was able to detect the main body.
I could use a better recon Gu. Thermal vision Gu is good, but not all living beings have body heat. However, all living beings have a soul. If I had this Gu, I would have found Caiji, who was hiding in her bull during our fight. Its ability to find others would be better than most Gu I know, and it's not a bad addition to my Gu set.
"Any other Soul-path Gu?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No, these last two are a Qi-path and Rule-path Gu."
"What do they do?" I asked.
She held up the termite. "This is Qi Wall Gu."
Before she went on, I stopped her. "I know what Qi Wall does, but why would you have it?"
"Well, besides giving some protection, I can combine it with Soul Specter to also defend from Soul-path attacks. It's used by many in our clan. I was saving up to refine Qi Robe Gu, which could do the same, but obviously covers the body."
Soul defense—something I definitely lacked. Not a major priority, but not a bad thing to have.
She then picked up the larva Gu and said, "This is why I couldn't afford to buy Qi Robe. It cost me a fortune. It's called Divine Boost. It can temporarily boost a Gu's effect greatly, but it can only be used five times, and I've used it twice, so it can only be used three more times."
I picked up the Divine Boost Gu and examined it. There are many known Gu that can boost a Gu's effects, but Gu that can power up Gu from all paths are much rarer. All Gu masters would want one of these, but sadly it can only be used three more times.
"Where did you get this Gu?" I asked.
"A wandering caravan came to my clan, and I paid a high price for it. It was my trump card, but it did nothing to you."
Hmm... Was that when she sent a half-Specter figure at me near the end?
"You were never able to hit my real body after all."
"Real body? So you are a clone," she said.
"Something like that. Now then, what's your name?" She hadn't introduced herself yet, so I decided to ask.
"I'm Li Jing Slin," she stated, her clan name part spoken a bit softly.
"I recommend you don't say you're from the Slin clan anymore. Now that they've been marked as a demonic clan."
"Right... So just call me Li Jing. By the way, what should I call you?"
Right, I never introduced myself either.
"My main body is called Shuidi Zhide Hu but call us Shu," I replied.