The earth shook that night.
It had only been 10 days since the budding of the flowers and there wasn't any sign of them nearing full bloom, catching everyone off guard. Those who had gone to bed cancelled their sleep while those who were still awake quickly made preparations for departure.
One ship set sail ahead of everyone in the break of dawn. Shen Yuan stood at the deck and gazed far into the morning horizon in thought.
He wouldn't be surprised if the early emergence was caused by Zhou Yi. On one hand, the earliest they could find the treasure the better it was. On the other hand, he accidentally triggered Zhou Yi's killing intent towards Ji Zhixuan. He didn't think his specialty would shoot him in his own foot one day.
It was the first time in his life that the word 'kill' brought fear to his heart.
Zhou Yi would definitely look for them in the sanctuary and with his mysterious bouts of omniscience that he hadn't figured out yet, he would certainly find them. The sanctuary wouldn't simply be a battlefield. It would be an enemy territory for them.
Shit.
He only planned to imply that he didn't have any choice but to be with Ji Zhixuan and maybe have him stay away from them. He didn't even say anything specifically bad. Why did Zhou Yi have to act up like that?
Maid Lin also hadn't been found until now, and he doubted whether she existed anymore. At least her colleagues still remembered her. If memories of her were erased, he rather have Ji Zhixuan kill Zhou Yi and end this session.
The only favorable circumstance was that Ji Zhixuan wasn't a product of Zhou Yi's neural space. He couldn't just erase him as he wished.
Shen Yuan rubbed his temple in irritation when soft fur draped over him and enveloped him in its warmth. He came out of his thoughts and looked down at his cloak before turning his head to Ji Zhixuan.
"You'll catch a cold." Ji Zhixuan fastened the cloak's ribbon and adjusted it around Shen Yuan's shoulder.
"…I'm sorry. I miscalculated." Shen Yuan held Ji Zhixuan's hand on his shoulder, his face somber. "Zhou Jingchen will come for you."
"Even if you didn't speak to him, he still would."
"He would've only come for me. Now, he's determined to kill you and the sanctuary is the perfect place to do it. As you said, people die there every century. He didn't need to hold back."
"As do I."
"No, it's different." Shen Yuan returned his gaze to the sea. "He wiped Maid Lin out of existence. His thoughts are starting to affect this world. If he wills it strong enough, the sanctuary will bend for him."
"…"
Ji Zhixuan stared at Shen Yuan's anxious frown, like a misplaced piece of puzzle in his usual brilliance.
It was all because of him. Their circumstances aside, if he didn't make his request, he wouldn't have this extra burden in his mind. On the contrary, this would be the exact situation he sought to craft in the first place.
Still, as selfish as it was, he wanted to die in the hands of his beloved.
He hooked Shen Yuan's chin to return his focus to him and kissed his lips. He savored the sweetness, the softness, and ravaged it like a drug.
When their lips finally separated and snapped the string of saliva left behind, Shen Yuan stood in a daze, his blood boiling from the rush of energy. His glazed, flushed eyes looked at Ji Zhixuan in confusion.
"What…?"
"Nothing. I just wanted to kiss you." Ji Zhixuan smiled and tucked a loose hair on Shen Yuan's face back to his ear.
"Oh." Shen Yuan tilted his head. "Is this my punishment?"
"Do you want more?"
"Yeah. Punish me more."
Ji Zhixuan chuckled in amusement and reunited their lips. He admired every shade of desire on his lover's skin and cherished every tremble of his body.
His iris glowed a sinister red.
If the nature of this world was to bend to the will of that man, then he just had to take control of it and bend it over backward to his side by force.
***
10 hours after their departure, they finally encountered something up ahead. The line between the sea and the sky blended and blurred together the closer they got until they reached the wall of fog and stopped. It stretched from one end to another, leaving no path for them to reroute.
Shen Yuan looked at the rugged, bearded captain. "Are we in Longshen Isles, Captain Pei?"
Pei Huang nodded in certain and showed their location on the map. "We're now at the periphery. Move a little forward and we'll see the first island on our left—the right jaw, as we usually call it. The sanctuary should be at the dead center of the formation."
"Is it often foggy here?"
"No, not at all. Rather, it's clear all year round. It's a safe location to take shelter from storms. This is the first time I've ever seen something like this here."
"Must be the sanctuary's influence," Ji Zhixuan guessed. "Although it differed each century, the records mentioned abnormal phenomena occurred around it because of its overwhelming spiritual force."
"Can we break through?" Shen Yuan asked.
"Although it doesn't look dangerous at first, we don't know what spiritual property it carries. Every phenomenon has one." Ji Zhixuan fixed his glasses and turned to Shen Yuan and Pei Huang. "I'll open a path. Get ready."
Shen Yuan and Pei Huang affirmed with a nod.
Once Pei Huang was in position, ready to stir, Shen Yuan closed his eyes and took a deep breath to concentrate. He pressed two fingers to his chest, and the centermost mark shone with a soft silver light. A trail followed his motion as he flipped his palm outward and stretched out his arm towards Ji Zhixuan.
The trail of light shot like a jet straight into Ji Zhixuan's back. His mark gleamed a red hue as the powerful, addictive energy streamed into his vessel and seeped the bloody color into his eyes.
He pressed his thumb and index finger together with the rest of his fingers tucked in. With a thrust of his arm, an invisible force blasted forward and cleared a straight path across the water in a blink. He shifted his hand to have his palm facing the front and spread his arms, pushing back the fog on their sides even further, giving enough clearing for 2 ships to cross the path side by side.
With a command from Pei Huang, the ship pushed forward. Shen Yuan kept his flow of energy steady while Ji Zhixuan held his form, keeping the fog away from the ship.
As they went further, shadows began to appear within the fog, alerting the maids and guards to their fighting stance. A silhouette of ships floated by on their left for a brief second before the fog swallowed it back into nothingness only for another silhouette of a different ship appeared on their right.
Incoherent whispers entered their ears, crawling goosebumps up their skin. Shen Yuan wasn't affected much, but it was as unpleasant as if spiders were crawling into his ears and laying eggs inside his flesh.
"Illusions," Ji Zhixuan calmly said. "If its effect can reach outside the fog, the real deal is at least 5 times worse. We should speed up."
Shen Yuan couldn't agree more and turned to look up at Pei Huang on the second deck, behind the steering wheel. "Speed up. We're not here for sightseeing."
"Yes, Madame!"
The crews scurried around the deck to adjust the sails, and the ship soon picked up more speed. They reached the end of the fog in 3 minutes, and Ji Zhixuan finally let go of his control.
They watched the fog close behind them, isolating them from the outside world.
"We're here."
The prompt called Shen Yuan to return his sight forward and see their destination in front of them. Or the lack thereof.
Instead of an island like he thought the sanctuary would look like, what greeted them was a massive hole, sucking in the water around it into a down spiral whirlpool. A low, guttural growl rumbled from deep within, like the mouth of a waiting, preying monster.
"This is certainly not what I expected it to be." Shen Yuan stepped forward and stood next to Ji Zhixuan.
"This is only the entrance," Ji Zhixuan stared into the bottomless pit. "Entering the sanctuary is one thing, but getting out will be another matter. This is the risk one must be prepared for to get the boundless treasures inside."
Shen Yuan wasn't worried about how they would get out since they wouldn't need to if they found the treasure they needed. Still, he was curious. "How will the others know when the sanctuary is closing back if we can't monitor the flowers outside?"
Ji Zhixuan gave a nod to the twin maids who were awaiting order and they flew away from the ship. He took out a jade slip from his robe and showed it to Shen Yuan. "With this. It's a communication device. They will notify us when the flowers start wilting."
"The spiritual force won't affect it?"
"It was first devised exactly for sanctuary exploration 500 years ago. It started only as an alert giver and receiver, but now we can communicate using our voice with it." Ji Zhixuan handed the slip to one of the guards. As the ship was quickly pulled to the periphery of the hole, he gave Shen Yuan a teasing smile. "If you will, madame."
"Make fun of me again and I will never call you husband ever again," Shen Yuan flatly warned. He wanted them to stop calling him madame, but he didn't have much of a choice. The other option was 'mistress' which sounded significantly worse.
"…I'll go ahead and shut up now."
Shen Yuan scoffed and activated his spirit.
Ji Zhixuan sighed in relief. With a lift of his hand, the ship defied the magnetic force and floated above the hole. He turned his palm facing down and slowly descended them into the abyss.
Next would be a race against time.