He bolted into the forest, adrenaline surging as twigs and leaves whipped at his face. Behind him, Scarface barked an order. "Don't let him escape!"
Lin Feng's lungs burned as he ran with all of his strength. "This is it," he muttered between gasps. "Betrayed by my own kindness. Hunted down like a rabbit. Stupid cape! Stupid cultivators! Stupid me!"
As he took a turn around a massive boulder, his foot slipped on an uneven wet moss. Lin Feng tumbled backward, landing hard, but the pain fled his mind when he looked up.
Bao stood there, his bulky frame blotting out the moonlight. He rested the spiked club against his shoulder, his expression smug and bored, like a predator playing with its prey.
"Not bad, little lamb," Bao rumbled. "You're quicker than I thought. But that's the end of your little game."
Lin Feng scrambled to his feet, his hands shaking. "H-how did you—but you were behind me—How?"
Bao's smug face got confused. "Wait... you're not even—" He barked out a laugh. "Now this is interesting. How did someone like you even get past the barrier into the Crimson Veil Secret Realm? The entry itself should have torn apart anyone without..." He shook his head, baffled and amused.
Lin Feng tried to search his memories and it was faint so even he was not sure. Bao sighed dramatically, raising the spiked club high.
"Doesn't matter. Say your goodbyes, ignorant one."
BANG!
"What was that?" Scarface barked, spinning toward the direction of the noise. That unusual sound echoed like a crack of thunder.
Fox-Face, lounging nearby as she admired the blood bead, barely looked up. "Bao's probably smashing rocks to vent his boredom. You know how he gets."
BANG! BANG!
BANG! BANG!
The rapid, deafening shots ripped through the silence. Scarface cursed, his eyes narrowing. "That's no damn rock smashing. Move!"
Both cultivators leapt into the air, landing behind the boulder in a blur of motion.
"Bao!" Fox-Face's voice cracked as she took in the scene.
The spiked club lay discarded in a pool of dark blood. Bao's massive body sprawled on the ground, his chest punctured by a gaping hole. His head was unrecognizable—a twisted mess of flesh, bone, and blood.
Scarface froze, his jaw tightening. "What in the nine hells..." He clenched his fists. "That little rat?" His teeth grinding audibly. "He tricked us, he had a hidden weapon!"
Fox-Face knelt by Bao's body, her eyes wide and wet. "Bao..." Her trembling fingers reached out but stopped short, hovering over the grotesque wound. Tears streaked her face as she turned to Scarface. "I told you we should've killed him earlier! He was hiding something, no wonder he was willing to give this away." she pointed at the fur cape.
Scarface didn't respond. His eyes flicked to the forest, his face twisting in fury. "I'll skin him alive!" He shot off into the woods, vanishing into the darkness with a burst of killing intent.
The Fox-Face lady stayed behind, her breaths ragged. Her hands balled into fists as she glared at Bao's lifeless form.
But then, a strange noise filled the air. A low, growling sound.
Fox-Face's attention snapped to the blood bead. It pulsed erratically in her palm, its crimson glow intensifying.
"What...?" Her eyes narrowed with suspicion.
The fur cape, draped over her arm, began to shift. It moved like a living thing, slithering off her grasp and coiling onto the ground. She stepped back with practiced grace, her hand immediately finding the hilt of her sword as the cape shot forward, writhing like a serpent.
It moved with terrifying speed, leaping onto Bao's corpse. The fur cape expanded, rippling unnaturally as it latched onto the dead bloodied body.
"By the heavens," Fox-Face hissed, maintaining her fighting stance.
The cape's fur takes over Bao's flesh, merging with the blood and gore. The scene was nightmarish—bones cracked, muscles knitted, spilled blood sucked back inside the body and the corpse began to swell. Bao's body jerked violently, his ruined face stretching grotesquely as new skin, fur formed over it.
"Wei Zhan!" she called out to the Scarface sharply. "Get back here! Something's wrong!"
The monstrous thing that had once been Bao stood up. Half-human, half-beast. The cape had become part of his body, its blood-red fur shining with an evil light. His eyes opened, glowing like two red flames. His jaw cracked, twisting into a grotesque snout with sharp, animal teeth, and he let out a deep, terrible roar.
Fox-Face lifted her sword, standing firm even though her heart raced. "Bao...?" she whispered, still clinging to a little hope despite seeing the horrible change.
The creature turned its head toward her, a long, twisted tongue hanging out, drooling.
Wei Zhan, the Scarface, shouted, "What in the nine hells is that, Su Mei?!" He rushed back, abandoning the chase of Lin Fang after hearing the monster's roar.
Wei Zhan skidded to a stop, his face full of confusion as he looked at the monster where Bao had been. The creature's huge frame glowed with a scary red light from its blood-red fur. Its glowing, ember-like eyes focused on him.
Su Mei slowly stepped back, making sure she kept both Wei Zhan and the transformed Bao in sight. "Whatever Bao has become," she called out, her voice tight with fear, "he's not with us anymore."
Her voice suddenly shook at the sight of the glowing bestial patterns on the fur along side how everything is centered around the blood bead at the center of the fur. "That's... impossible." She pointed at the glowing patterns on the monster's fur. "It matches the old murals in Bloodmist Valley!"
Wei Zhan's eyes narrowed. "The stories spoke of blood artifacts linked to the Beast Emperor's fall. But they were sealed away! How is it here?"
The creature suddenly lunged at Wei Zhan, targeting him instead of Su Mei, its claws slashing through the air. Wei Zhan jumped aside, his mind racing. "This isn't Bao anymore—it's something else."