The Fallen System: Gaining Bloodlines of the Fallen-Chapter 42: Cave

Night was already approaching when the mist began to thicken, hiding even the outlines of the trees around them.

The cold crept up their skin, and even the sounds of the forest had grown scarce. Only the dragging of the wind through the leaves remained.

Ling suddenly stopped, her silver gaze shimmering in the twilight.

"We really need a place to spend the night. Did you find one?"

Cairen was already thinking the same. He let his spiritual sense expand.

The invisible barrier of the mist, which slightly restricted his spiritual sense, grew stronger as the darkness of night arrived, thickening the fog.

But even so, he managed to sweep the surroundings. His spiritual sense dragged across the forest until it reached a hollow space.

Rocks, dampness, and behind them an irregular void.

"There’s a cave to the north. Big enough that we could even fight inside," Cairen said.

"And?" Ling asked, arching her brow slightly.

"There are presences inside. Stronger than the beasts from before. Likely from the late stages of the Qi Accumulation Realm," Cairen finished, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Ling didn’t seem bothered. On the contrary, the corner of her lips curved into a smile at his words.

"Great. Then let’s not waste time, we still have a few minutes of light."

They advanced through the forest, their steps muffled by the moss and the mist that never receded. When they neared the cave’s entrance, both stopped at the same instant.

"How many?" Ling asked, without looking at Cairen.

Cairen glanced at her briefly. It was strange... she didn’t have a spiritual sense like he did, yet she still felt the beasts’ presence.

Perhaps from their scent, perhaps because of her beastly lineage. Cairen didn’t know and didn’t bother asking.

"There are three. They seem to be bears..."

His answer came alongside a deep breath from the depths of the cave. Followed by three simultaneous roars the moment they set foot inside.

The beasts seemed truly enraged to feel intruders in their home, their roars echoing off the cave walls, making them tremble lightly.

"Perfect." Ling’s smile widened.

Before Cairen could say anything, she shot into the cave like lightning.

Her speed was truly terrifying, in mere seconds her body had completely vanished from his sight, swallowed by the cave’s darkness.

Cairen followed, but the difference in their speeds was glaring, he couldn’t catch up to the princess. He ran straight ahead, muscles tense, but he knew that, for now, speed was one of his disadvantages.

When he pierced through the darkness and reached the cave’s depths, the scene his spiritual sense had shown him had already changed.

One of the beasts lay on the ground, its skull crushed against the rocks, blood spilling through the cracks like a new red river. Ling stood at the center of the cave, surrounded by the two remaining creatures.

They were massive, two black-furred bears with broad shoulders and sharp fangs glinting with murderous intent.

Their claws scraped the ground, each step accompanied by a deep growl that vibrated through the cave.

Cairen didn’t hesitate. Two chains burst from his hands with a metallic snap, snaking through the air.

While the beasts focused on Ling, he cast them forward. The chains coiled around one beast’s body, binding it with brutal force.

Cairen clenched his fists and whispered in his mind.

’Judgment!’

The chains pulsed with a deep tone. The bear’s body trembled violently, its eyes lost their color, replaced by a dull, lifeless gray. Its roar turned into a wail, life sucked from it from the inside out.

In seconds, the beast’s body vanished. Cairen felt the fallen energy being pulled into him, flowing through the chains and flooding his body, compressing until it spun into a spiral within his dantian.

His breath quickened, his cultivation rose, solid, dense, as if he had cultivated for hours.

The other beast, distracted by the bizarre collapse of its companion, left a fatal opening. Ling wasted no time. Her fist smashed into the side of the creature’s head.

The impact reverberated like shattering stone. The enormous body flew into the wall, collapsing dead with a final gasp.

Silence returned. Only the dripping of blood echoed in the cave.

Ling drew in a deep breath, tilted her neck to the side, and cracked her bones. Her eyes gleamed faintly.

"This place will do."

Cairen looked around the cave. The ground was scarred with marks, the air already thick with fresh blood. He frowned.

"If this is where we’re spending the night, you should’ve taken it easier. There was no need to spread blood all over the cave."

She glanced back at him over her shoulder, her smile widening.

"And why should I care? The smell is even pleasant."

Cairen furrowed his brow deeper. But he didn’t reply. His thoughts were elsewhere, and he wasn’t in the mood to argue with her.

Especially when the contrast in their views seemed increasingly clear.

They prepared for the night. Ling threw herself against the stone wall without ceremony, wiping the blood on her own clothes as if it were trivial.

Cairen remained silent, sitting a few meters away.

Time passed slowly. The mist seeping into the cave wrapped them in a cold mantle, muffling the sounds of the night. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Ling tried to start a conversation a few times. With comments about the fight, about the taste of battle, even about Cairen and his ever-serious expression since waking from that dream.

But he replied little, almost nothing. His mind was already elsewhere, wandering through new, yet old memories.

Eventually, silence imposed itself. The princess ended up closing her eyes, leaning against the wall, the soft rhythm of her breathing filling the cave.

Cairen, however, remained awake much longer. His eyes would close from time to time, only to open again with sighs.

His spiritual sense covered the cave’s entrance, nothing would approach without him noticing. At last, after some time, exhaustion struck, and he fell asleep.

And this time, he dreamed of absolutely nothing, showing that his fear of having visions of the past would not happen often.

The next morning, the dim sunlight barely pierced through the mist to reach the cave’s entrance.

Ling was already up, stretching her arms as if she had just awoken from a light sleep. Her silver eyes still gleamed like a beast’s.

Cairen slowly opened his eyes. The night had passed in silence. He rose without hurry. The morning’s cold air seemed even denser, and the fog around the cave promised that the hunt was only truly beginning.