Wind threaded through the forest, stirring fallen branches and rotting leaves with a sound like dense, whispering voices.
When Bai Lin stepped into the woods, night had only just laid down a thin veil.
The nearly invisible black mist already clung to his ankles like a shadow.
He drew a deep breath.
—This was the path he had chosen.
One moment ago, in front of that settlement of the weak and broken, he had for the first time stepped forward to face calamity head-on.
The next moment, he was forced to leave, walking alone into a forest where no one could protect him.
The black mist seemed very satisfied.
Like a beast quickening its pace as it chased its prey.
Bai Lin stared at the dense tree-shadows ahead. There was no regret in his heart.
"Compared to letting those people die behind my back… it's easier for me to bear it myself."
When he spoke the words aloud, even he found them strange.
He was not kind—he would not shed tears for strangers. Yet when those people stood together, the fear, the frailty, the helplessness that came from their very bones reminded him of the moment on the Heaven-Sacrificing Platform when his throat had been pinned and he had been treated as mere "material" before he was even dead.
—If they could run, they definitely would.
—He could run, yet he could not escape.
The existence of the black mist meant he could never stop.
Bai Lin stepped over the dead leaves and felt the temperature silently plummet.
At first it was just a little cold.
Then it became a thin layer of ice coating his skin.
Then his bones, his blood, the depths of his heart—everything began to freeze inch by inch.
His breath turned to white mist.
"…The corpse veins are acting up again?" he muttered.
This cold was not from the weather.
It was the awakened "death vein" inside him leaking outward.
Like being soaked in stagnant water, or buried too long beneath snow.
He pressed a hand to his chest. His heartbeat was growing irregular.
Beat. Pause. Beat again…
Thump.
Thump—
Thump.
"…No." Bai Lin stopped walking. "That's not my heartbeat."
The sound seemed to rise from the depths of his flesh, yet it did not belong solely to him.
It was as though another heart hid inside his body, slowly awakening.
Bai Lin clenched his fists until the knuckles cracked. "Demon Emperor…?"
He wasn't sure if it was the Demon Emperor, but that pulsing made him feel he was not "alone."
As if some vast, ancient existence were knocking against him through the corpse veins.
Not a summons.
Not a command.
—A response.
"…I didn't call you," Bai Lin murmured. "And I didn't want an answer."
A sharp cracking sound suddenly rang out from the depths of the forest.
Not the snap of a branch.
It was more like… the membrane of the world being torn somewhere.
Bai Lin's head snapped up.
The black mist did not disperse. Instead, it began winding around him.
Like wind that had found the right direction, it frantically gathered toward his chest.
"You're so eager for me to die?" Bai Lin gave a cold laugh. "Then come."
The next instant—
The corpse veins inside him twisted violently.
Bai Lin dropped to his knees.
"…Hff…"
His fingertips turned purple.
His blood seemed to shatter into ice shards, then forcibly flow back toward his heart.
Cold. A cold that did not belong to the living.
Bai Lin bit down hard, forehead pressed to the ground, yet he could not stop the trembling.
He knew this was not the first time the corpse veins had gone berserk.
But this time it felt more like:
—The corpse veins were biting back.
"Backlash…?" he gasped. "Why… so soon…"
He had only just barely used the corpse veins to suppress the black mist's invasion in the previous chapter, yet now the veins were like a frenzied beast tearing at his own flesh.
Bai Lin tried to gather his focus—
The corpse veins were like a cold leviathan coiled near his spine, gnawing through his bones to burrow deeper.
If he was a vessel, the vessel was being forcibly cracked open from within.
"Hss—"
He clawed at his own arm, nails piercing skin.
The pain sharpened his mind.
"…The black mist is the trigger."
"The corpse veins were stimulated."
"And that… pulsing from the Demon Emperor… is interfering too."
He had intended to use reason to suppress the anomaly, but the next second a far louder pulse shook his mind blank.
THOOM—!!
The entire forest trembled with it.
Bai Lin's eyes flew open; his vision turned gray-white.
"…Again?"
For an instant he saw a hallucination—
Fragments of an ancient altar, a shattered black coffin, and a colossal shadow reaching out as if to cradle him.
The vision vanished quickly, yet it caused the corpse veins in his mind to explode like fire.
Bai Lin let out a hoarse, guttural growl.
"…Damn it…"
He collapsed into the dead leaves, limbs convulsing.
The corpse veins bulged along his muscles—black lines threatening to burst through his skin.
The black mist circled him in satisfaction.
Waiting for its prey to lose its final struggle.
"…I won't… die here…"
Bai Lin tried to rise, only to be slammed back down by the corpse veins.
He could even hear faint, continuous "pssh, pssh" sounds inside his body—the noise of blood vessels rupturing and instantly repairing.
"Bastard…"
He stared at his palm.
Fine cracks covered the skin; his blood had turned dark, forcibly reshaped by the corpse veins.
—This was not strengthening.
—This was pushing him toward something "not human."
Bai Lin closed his eyes and forced his focus toward his heart.
Two rhythms beat there.
One belonged to him.
The other… was too deep, too ancient.
Like a sleeping emperor tapping his fingers inside Bai Lin's chest—
Urging him to awaken, and urging him to destroy.
For the first time, Bai Lin felt true fear.
"What… do you want me to become…?"
No one answered.
The forest was silent.
But the pulsing of the corpse veins grew faster, as though urging his flesh toward some final "form."
Bai Lin felt that in the next second he would be remade into something unrecognizable.
"…No… I won't allow it…"
He clawed at the ground, grasping for the last threads of awareness.
Leaves and soil crumbled in his grip.
"I will not… let you… decide what I become…"
That ancient pulsing seemed enraged by his defiance and struck back even harder.
"—HUMM!!"
Bai Lin felt as though a giant hammer had smashed into him.
The corpse veins surged wildly, threatening to burst from his mouth and nose.
His vision darkened; his limbs began to stiffen.
He knew:
If he did not suppress it now, he would die.
Or worse than death.
Bai Lin ground his teeth, gathered the last of his strength, and stabbed his consciousness into the deepest part of the corpse veins.
There…
A half-open door.
Behind it stood a black silhouette.
The silhouette raised its head and looked at him.
—"You finally heard me."
Bai Lin's face paled.
"…Demon Emperor?"
The shadow did not reply.
But the pulsing grew more urgent, heavier—like it demanded he kneel, submit, accept.
Bai Lin suddenly laughed.
The corners of his mouth curled with cold mockery and pain-tinged madness.
"…You think I'll let you conduct me?"
With every last ounce of strength in his body, he slammed his consciousness against that "door."
"Get back inside."
The shadow's outline writhed—
The pulsing turned into the roar of a titan.
The black mist inside the forest exploded outward, toppling trees in all directions.
Bai Lin was hurled backward, crashing hard against a trunk.
Blood surged into his mouth; he wiped it away, crimson sliding between his fingers.
But the corpse veins… finally quieted a little.
He sat on the ground, breathing raggedly, back against the icy tree.
"…Damn it… I can… still hold it."
His voice was nearly broken.
But he had endured this backlash.
At the cost of—
His body temperature had dropped to an unnatural level.
He pressed a palm to his chest.
His heart still beat, but the rhythm had been rewritten.
Bai Lin lifted his eyes to the forest frozen by the black mist.
"If you want me dead, you'll have to ask whether I'm willing."
He panted, slowly rising to his feet.
The black mist had not left.
But he was alive.
And even… clearer-headed than before.
The corpse veins ached with cold, yet they were calm.
That meant—
He was one step closer to the Demon Emperor's heart.
Whether that step was good or bad…
He himself did not know.
But at least he could still choose.
At some point the wind in the forest had completely stopped.
Time seemed extracted from the air, leaving only frozen stillness.
Bai Lin leaned against a fallen dead tree, each breath heavier than the last.
Pain still throbbed in his chest; every inhalation felt like ice cracking open.
He knew the corpse veins were temporarily suppressed.
But the black mist… had not left. It merely circled the deepest part of the forest, as though angered by his earlier refusal.
"If you want to follow, follow."
Bai Lin closed his eyes and lightly tapped the ground with his fingertips. "But I won't let you swallow me so easily again."
The moment the words left his mouth—
The black mist seemed to take the provocation and surged toward him.
A bone-piercing chill slammed into his face.
Bai Lin forced himself upright, shaking out his numb arms.
The aftereffects of the backlash were obvious: every muscle felt cold-forged—heavy and stiff.
He looked down at his hands.
Color had not yet returned to the backs of them.
Beneath the skin, blood flowed in a dull gray; faint ink-like veins wandered beneath the surface.
Like the blood of the dead, forced to circulate under a living man's skin.
"…Am I still human?"
He gave a self-mocking smile, then fell silent.
This was not the first time he had asked that question, nor would it be the last.
But now was not the time to dwell on it.
Bai Lin drew a lungful of icy air and slowly extended his awareness outward.
The grass and leaves around him trembled faintly—no wind, only the black mist pulling at them.
A low hum came from the depths of the forest, not the roar of a beast but some resonance that did not belong to this world.
He stared into that darkness.
"You want to drive me to my death?"
Bai Lin said coldly, "Too bad you found me."
The moment he spoke—
—Snap.
A sound so faint it was almost inaudible rang out in the forest.
As though someone had stepped on a dry twig.
Bai Lin's head snapped up, eyes wary.
Not the black mist. Not a hallucination from the Demon Emperor's pulse.
It was real—a footstep with weight.
He instantly dropped low, slowed his breathing, and pressed a hand to the ground, ready to explode into action at any moment.
Another sound.
Snap—
Followed by a very faint groan.
Someone was injured.
Bai Lin frowned. He should not approach. He had no intention of saving anyone—at least not in his current state, when contact with any living person was dangerous.
But the shallow, urgent panting sounded very familiar.
It was the same as the breathing he had heard in the settlement.
"…Someone followed me?"
His heart sank slightly.
Forcing down the still-unruly blood flow left by the backlash, he stepped out from behind the fallen tree.
The black mist immediately sensed his movement and drifted rapidly toward the forest depths, as though searching for its next target.
The groaning grew more urgent.
Bai Lin's face darkened. "Damn it."
His figure flashed. Enduring the instability of his body, he charged toward the sound.
…
After passing two decaying trees covered in fungal spots, he stopped.
A figure lay collapsed ahead—a boy of about thirteen or fourteen, clothes in tatters, his leg clearly bitten by something, blood still seeping out.
When the boy looked up and saw him, his pupils shrank.
"You… you're… B-Brother Bai?"
Bai Lin's brow twitched.
He recognized the child—
A-Huai, one of the crippled weaklings from the settlement. His leg had always been bad; he could never walk fast.
"How did you follow me here?" Bai Lin asked in a low voice.
The boy bit his lip, eyes full of panic. "I… I thought you were going to die… I wanted… to help you, but…"
By the end his voice had grown smaller—he himself knew his reason didn't hold up.
Bai Lin stared at the wound.
Deep tooth marks, edges blackened.
Not bitten by a beast—corroded by contact with the black mist.
Bai Lin's heart sank further.
The black mist hunted him, but anyone who came near him… would be implicated too.
"Idiot."
His tone was cold. "You dared follow me to a place like this."
A-Huai lowered his head. "S-sorry…"
"Stop crying first." Bai Lin crouched down. "Can you stand?"
A-Huai tried to move his leg; pain turned his face white.
"I can't…"
"Am… am I going to die?"
Bai Lin did not answer.
The black mist was closing in behind them. If it reached A-Huai, the boy would be swallowed in less than half an incense stick's time.
He looked at the boy's trembling body, then remembered how the people in the settlement had survived because of him—
The first time he had blocked calamity for others.
In that moment he had had no answer in his heart.
It was simply… the only thing he could do.
He lifted the boy onto his back.
A-Huai startled. "Brother Bai! Your body is so cold…! You can't—you can't carry me, I'll drag you down—"
"Shut up."
Bai Lin steadied him on his back. "What drags me down is the black mist, not you."
A-Huai froze.
Bai Lin ran with him toward the opposite direction.
Wind whipped through the trees; the black mist pursued from behind.
With every step, the corpse veins slammed inside him like cold blades cutting flesh.
He was reaching his limit.
But the person on his back… would reach his limit even sooner.
A-Huai lay against his shoulder, voice shaking. "Brother Bai… the black mist… is it coming because of you?"
Bai Lin was silent for two breaths before answering, "Yes."
The boy inhaled soundlessly.
"Then—why… why are you saving me?"
Bai Lin's footsteps did not slow.
The black mist pressed so close he had no time for long sentences.
"What did you just tell me?"
"You thought I would die, so you wanted to help me?"
A-Huai nodded frantically. "Y-yes… I thought if you were alone… it would be really dangerous…"
Bai Lin said, "Then now it's my turn to think you'll die."
The boy was stunned.
"So now it's my turn to help you."
A-Huai's mouth hung open; something blurred in his eyes.
He had never imagined anyone would take his useless impulse seriously.
Never imagined… someone would be willing to carry him while facing the black mist.
He couldn't help asking, "Then… aren't you afraid?"
Bai Lin's breathing grew colder, but his tone was calm.
"Of course I'm afraid."
A-Huai froze.
Bai Lin continued, "Afraid of dying. Afraid of turning into something that isn't human."
The hallucination of that black shadow flashed through his eyes again.
"But I'm more afraid… of watching others die because of me."
A-Huai's throat trembled. "Brother Bai…"
"So don't talk," Bai Lin said. "This time I can still hold it."
The wind suddenly roared.
The black mist drew out the entire forest's shadow and lunged at their backs.
A-Huai cried out, "Brother Bai! It's here—"
Bai Lin stomped hard.
The ground cracked; he used the rebound to leap onto a rock wall ahead, spun around, and pressed one palm against the stone.
"A-Huai."
The boy looked up.
Bai Lin's voice was cold, but his eyes were steady—as if he would bear the weight of the entire black mist for him.
"Hold on tight."
The next second—
The black mist crashed down.
Bai Lin raised his hand; the corpse veins surged along his arm, spreading like frozen patterns.
He forcibly blocked the first wave.
BOOM—!!
The rock wall shuddered.
A-Huai was nearly shaken off.
"B-Brother Bai!!"
Bai Lin endured pain that felt like his body was being torn apart and whispered,
"Don't be afraid."
The black mist tore frantically at his arm; the backlash of the corpse veins was forced out again.
His temperature plummeted once more; his lips turned white.
If this continued—
The corpse veins would erupt again, and this time he might not be able to suppress them.
But he did not retreat.
The black mist surged before him like a hundred beasts howling;
The corpse veins devoured him from within like ten thousand blades to the heart.
Bai Lin's face was cold as ice, as though he would force the black mist, the corpse veins, and the Demon Emperor's pulse all into the same deep well.
He said in a low voice:
"I told you—
I will not die in this chapter."
The black mist struck a second time.
Bai Lin wrapped one arm around A-Huai and met the full impact with his bare hand.
Trees snapped, the rock wall cracked, the corpse veins exploded inside his arm.
The pain felt like it would rip him apart.
A-Huai burst into tears. "Brother Bai!!"
Bai Lin ground his teeth; his voice was sharp as a blade:
"Shut up. I'm holding."
Finally—
After the third impact, the black mist was suddenly pulled away, retreating deep into the forest as though summoned by something.
The entire forest seemed dragged out of a nightmare; air began to flow again.
A-Huai stared in shock. "It… it retreated…?"
Bai Lin slid down the rock wall and sat, his whole body as though soaked in ice and freshly dragged from a coffin.
He said softly, "It didn't retreat."
A-Huai froze.
Bai Lin lifted his head and looked toward the direction the mist had vanished.
His gaze was so deep it was unreadable.
"It just… changed position. It's waiting for my next backlash."
"It will follow me forever."
The boy didn't know what to say.
Bai Lin panted and set A-Huai gently on the ground.
"Go back."
A-Huai cried urgently, "Brother Bai, come with me—"
Bai Lin cut him off. "I can't go back."
The boy was stunned. "Why…?"
"Because wherever I go, the black mist follows."
Bai Lin said quietly, "You would all die."
A-Huai's eyes reddened. "Then what about you? Alone…"
"I'm used to it," Bai Lin replied indifferently.
The boy's voice shook. "Then… will I ever see you again?"
Bai Lin was silent for three breaths.
"Yes."
A-Huai looked up, a spark of joy in his eyes.
Bai Lin added calmly, "As long as I'm still alive."
A-Huai could no longer hold back his tears.
Bai Lin forced himself to his feet and patted the boy's shoulder.
"Go home. If you see me again—don't follow."
A-Huai bit his lip and nodded over and over.
Bai Lin turned and looked at the black mist gathering once more in the forest depths.
The corpse veins inside him began to stir faintly—
Yet they did not rampage as before.
He knew why.
The black mist he had blocked had instead been devoured in small part by the corpse veins.
The consequence was simple—
The corpse veins were stronger.
The backlash would be heavier.
Bai Lin drew a lungful of air so cold it stung:
"Fine."
"If you want to chase, then chase."
He stepped into the forest depths.
The black mist silently followed at his heels.
As though a long hunt—
Had only just begun.