With the vision blurry, weak-kneed and arms heavy, Hao Xuan could barely hold himself upright while stumbling from one tree to another for support.

His wounds began to fester with the poison from the Abysswalker's attack that made him feel like his entire body was on fire and yet, all that pain couldn't stop him for even a moment.

Princess Ceni followed him from a distance of 3-4 meters while Ma Jiang was behind her stealthily following from the thick canopy. She watched as Ceni easily kept up with his pace but did not lend a shoulder or a hand.

She just watched him struggle from the shadows.

And by some miracle Hao Xuan managed to reach the white waterfall where the Grand Priestess used to reside. It was covered in a heavy mist, as usual, reducing the visibility to a little over three meters.

"OLD WOMAN! ARE YOU THERE?! Hao Xuan shouted from the top of the waterfall before making his way down.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" he yelled while looking around for any evidence but there was no one here.

Just the sound of water splashing and creatures playing inside.

"YOU HAG! WHERE DID YOU GO!" he cursed loudly but got no response once again.

He was at the end of his rope now.

Hao Xuan's knees buckled and he fell on all fours with a loud thud, right next to the pure white water.

Even his other wounds had started to bleed from overexertion but he didn't care right now. His blood flowed through the ground and mixed in with the water dying it crimson.

Ma Jiang watched in silence as Ceni stared at Hao Xuan for a few moments longer before finally walking up to him. She waited till the very last moment before rendering help.

Princess Ceni bent down and gently caressed the back of his head, running her fingers through his hair like she had done those so many times before on the ship.

"I'm sorry, you did everything you could-" she whispered before "accidentally" dropping his identity token which started showing what was happening inside the colosseum battlegrounds.

Dai Zhi's voice came through again catching Hao Xuan's attention.

"If only you were here you could have done something. He is a little slow though, isn't he? All we needed to say was that you needed his help and he came running of his own accord, hahaha."

The images shifted again showing Salome's face. He was looking around craning his neck left and right from within the crowd. The cheering from the stands got louder and louder.

"Woah, there are so many people here," he said, completely in awe of the place. This was the first time he had seen so many people in one place. The scarred boy sitting on his shoulders had much the same reaction.

Hao Xuan's teeth were grinding so hard that it looked like they could come loose at any moment. He reached and grabbed the identity token with trembling hands.

"Stop, you don't need to do this," he mumbled absentmindedly.

His mind was racing with numerous thoughts trying to come up with a solution, anything at all to help.

The cheering suddenly to an abrupt halt as all the gates closed. There were close to 300 people there, all ordinary native people. Women, children, old folks and some men were missing a limb or two or otherwise challenged.

The video zoomed out to show a figure jumping from the domed hall and landing in the middle of the grounds. It was Tian Zheng. His crooked expression was filled with viscousness as he stared at the scared natives.

Hao Xuan's eyes widened, "No, not him!" he mumbled under his breath.

Tian Zheng waved his hand and two extremely tall sickly figures appeared on either side of him. They were close to 6 meters in height oozing a black haze from all over their bodies. Their faces only had a single round opening where the mouth should have been while the rest was covered in a glass-like reflective material.

Two curved goat horns decorated the top of their heads. (Image in authors notes and discord)

Hands clasped behind his back Tian Zheng gestured with his head. The eyes of all the natives that were watching the creatures suddenly dimmed. Well, all other than Salome and the boy on his shoulder.

The top reflective halves of the two creature's faces brightened by several degrees and hummed in a low frequency creating a barely visible shockwave that covered everything.

The next second whatever was messing with the natives vanished and they returned to normal. Well, as normal as they could be.

The spectators went silent for a moment when nothing seemed to have changed but a few seconds later a heart-wrenching scream came from one of the women standing next to Salome.

"M-MONSTER!" she screamed pointing at him.

***

Authors Notes:

All images are posted in the Official Discord.

Link: https://discord.gg/AHdSBFQ

___

Reference Image Link: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/3d/0f/13/3d0f13facd7331e6e847e546c70a8e73.jpg

Shortened Image Link (case sensitive) : https://urlzs.com/N7srH

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