Jin ended up becoming so focused that he only realised they had reached their destination when the Immortal stopped moving and unceremoniously dropped him onto the ground.
Surprised, he landed awkwardly, smacking his head in the process. He blinked as the ground swirled and spun away from him. It took several moments before the wave of dizziness receded, allowing him to study his new surroundings.
Much like the tunnels that led to it, the cave they were in was naturally formed. The walls were smooth and bulbous, clearly the product of the mine itself and not the work of mining hammers and pickaxes.
There was some dim light, though Jin couldn't spot any luminous crystals that might be producing it. In fact, aside from him and the Immortal, there was nothing inside the cave at all— nothing to distinguish it from the many others they had passed through on their way here.
Looking around in the weak light, he was able to make out colourful streaks of minerals splintering across the walls like tiny veins. It caught his attention, but while not exactly common, sights like this weren't particularly rare either.
In fact, there was only one thing that set this cave apart from the rest.
The rock forming the cave was slick with moisture.
While that was not particularly noteworthy in itself - the bottom of the Pit where the elevator platforms were located was permanently damp, for example - but that was not so for the active parts of the mine. Given how deep they’d travelled and how concentrated the ambient energies seeping from the crystals here were, the environment should’ve been as dry as the desert.
He ran his hand over the ground and felt the liquid between his fingers. The nerves in his fingertips tingled.
It’s almost the same as her qi…
The Immortal didn’t immediately begin interrogating him. Instead, she walked to the center of the cave and stopped, waiting in silence.
For a moment, Jin thought maybe the long journey had tired her more than he’d expected, but before he could process the idea, she smiled — relieved, as if she’d just confirmed something important.
Her fingers moved rapidly, and the air in front of her blurred and shimmered.
Jin tensed instinctively, but quickly realised that whatever she was doing, it wasn’t meant as an attack. Little pockets of hazy air kept forming before her, but it was as if she’d forgotten he was even there.
He watched her from behind, using the brief respite to once again run through the different plans he’d prepared in his mind.
There was more than one. As he’d discovered, one advantage of having no cards to play was that nothing limited what you could strategise. He’d simply decide how to proceed depending on how things unfolded.
Still, there was one factor all his plans hinged on:
He needed to actually speak with her.
Her name is Xiao Ying, he repeated in his mind for the hundredth time. Back then, when the blue-robed youth had revealed her name to him, he hadn’t appreciated the information. It had felt like just another secret he wasn’t supposed to know.
But now he clung to that little kernel of forbidden knowledge.
She was born human, just like you. She went through the same tests in the camps that you did. The only difference is that she passed.
He repeated these thoughts over and over, almost like a cultivation mantra.
Meanwhile, the Immortal finished whatever she had been preparing. She turned toward him, stopping only when they stood face to face.
Their eyes met once again.
The difference was small, but Jin thought her gaze lost a little bit of its previous edge. Now that she had him in a secure location, her features relaxed ever so slightly, and while it didn’t exactly inspire hope, he still preferred this look to the spectre of death he had witnessed before.
“Blessed Immortal,” he began, respectfully casting his gaze to the ground. A pang of relief shot through him that he was actually able to speak. He just didn’t know how to put what he had planned into words without getting his head immediately separated from his neck. “This lowly one—“
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The words caught in his throat. The pressure in the room suddenly shifted, as if the weight of the rock above their heads had multiplied in an instant.
A low whooshing sound, like a distant roar, rumbled in his ears.
He lifted his gaze, and saw that the Immortal did not move from her place. What changed was the aura around her. Waves of spiritual energies, so dense he could almost see them, projected from her. The mineral streaks embedded in the walls of the cave shone and undulated like seaweed.
“No—“
Was all he could say before a wave of foreign qi slammed him to ground. Everything was swept up in a cold darkness and when he opened his eyes again, the cave where they were was gone.
What replaced it was an endless expanse of water. All around him, giant waves crested and crashed like rolling mountains; they slammed against each other, exploding with white foam.
This lasted but for an instant, and then he was pulled down, sucked into the depths below. The roar of the raging ocean above him became low and quiet.
Instead, a creeping coldness invaded his body - it quickly erased the little warmth supporting his body before sinking even deeper, reaching for the bones.
Strike! Pressure. Walk.
Desperately, he reached for the words of the cultivation mantra. They sounded muted in his head, as if coming through a great distance. His dantian produced a trickle of his own qi, but it was so little compared to the raging ocean around him, it might as well have been nothing. Still he clung to it, fighting against the instincts of his thrashing body.
Soon, he no longer needed to control himself, because the cold grew so deep that the muscles in his limbs stopped working. The currents continued to pull him deeper still, to the point that he could no longer even hear the crashing of waves. Only his own heartbeat remained, stubborn and ever louder in his ears, as his body begged for air.
Strike! Pressure. Walk.
Last time, when the Immortal grabbed him by the throat, he wasn’t able to hold onto them. This time he wasn’t willing to let go. He recited the words again and again, even as the thud of his heart became so loud it drowned out his own thoughts, and continued to circulate his qi, even when it disappeared swallowed within the dark ocean.
Strike! Pressure. Walk.
Strike! Pressure. Walk.
Strike! Pressure. Walk.
…
[….]
He opened his mouth and retched. Nothing came out, except for little volume of spit and bile. Still, his stomach muscles churned, spasming furiously, trying to force out water that wasn’t there.
Tears ran down his eyes, mixing with snot and sweat, dripping down his face. He was already on his arms and legs but couldn’t hold on and collapsed, face sideways, mouth open, croaking as his stomach continued its attempts to empty itself.
From his position, he could see the bottom hem of the Immortal’s robe and the sole of her sandals. The sight shouldn’t have meant anything, because he was no longer capable of coherent thought.
And yet, an undulating, high-pitched whine emerged from his throat.
The pressure in the room increased and the mineral streaks in the walls of the cave shone again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
[….]
“How did you hide the truth from my senior?”
Jin lay sprawled on the ground, with bubbles of spit forming in the corners of his mouth. His muscles twitched intermittently. The voice has been calling out to him for some time now. He knew that it was important, that he must answer, but it was impossible.
Abruptly, his body tensed. The Immortal’s aura enveloped him and lifted him up from the ground. The sudden change of perspective made him nauseated, but that was it, his stomach muscles didn’t react. Though that couldn’t be said about his limbs. Bizarrely, his left arm and leg started twitching and jerking about, in complete disconnect to their right counterparts
His head lolling, Jin watched this weird behaviour with a sense of detachment.
The Immortal scoffed and increased the aura she was enacting on his body, forcing his limbs still and his head to look at her.
“Answer me.”
There was something strange going on with her speech, but Jin couldn’t tell what it was. He opened his mouth to speak, but only managed a long croak.
“Speak. Or swim again.” The aura holding him up coalesced and spread across his body. Jin thought he couldn’t talk, but the threat managed the impossible, making him force out a yelp.
“I’ll —talk!”
The water didn’t relent at all. It continued to worm its way into his nostrils and mouth.
His mind coursed and bubbled. There was something he needed to say, quick, before he forgot, before it was too late.
“Secret… I’ll tell you the secret!”
“Speak,” the Immortal said. She didn’t withdraw her powers, the retreaded and advanced like waves.
Jin struggled. It was something very important that he had to say, “Secret… your secret,” he began.
“Continue.”
“I wrote it down!” He screamed with abrupt power. “That there were two treasures! That you stole one! And if I die, the letter will go to the Sect!”
For a second he thought it didn’t work. There was no reaction.
And then an overwhelming aura exploded from the Immortal.
It was like a tornado appearing in a closed room. The minerals shone so brightly, colourful light swallowed everything. The aura holding him in place tightened, and he thought it was the end, that it would squeeze him into nothingness when from beyond the white light he heard the Immortal’s voice.
“Where is it!”
Jin laughed. It came out in a croak, but it was honest, real laughter.
“Where is it!”, the roar becoming unhinged and high-pitched.
The aura wasn’t as calm as before, a snaking creeping rivulets. It roiled, as if boiling. From the blinding light a pair of hands appeared, followed by the rest of the Immortal. Her face was outstretched in a mask of fury.
“I withstood your senior,” Jin could not stop laughing. “Kill me and you die too!”
The light was so strong he wasn’t able to see her. It was like talking to a Sun, but Jin laughed regardless. “We die together, Xiao Ying!”
