Corrupt Creations

After falling down for a bit more than a hundred fifty thousand meters, the water bubble finally seemed to have collided against the surface of something; however, it strangely passed through it, since it was a thin membrane that was practically isolating the world outside from the world inside that place. 

After safely passing through that energy mantle, the water bubble was suddenly dragged downwards with full force, smashing hard against the ground and receiving an impact so strong, that it could literally kill a Profound Mana cultivator on the spot. However, the two lucky individuals were being protected by that water bubble that suffered all the damage in their stead. 

Pop! 

The bubble wasn't able to handle all that force and popped, letting Seth and Lan Xue out. Seth reacted quickly, and kind of safely landed while holding Lan Xue. Right after that, he raised his head and realized he was finally able to see something. 

It should have been impossible for them to see anything down there, since not even the sun light could reach a place like this, but even though they were still in a very dark and obscure place, there was a red light, weakly illuminating the whole area. Together with that light, there was a dense red fog hovering everywhere, filling every corner of this Forbidden Lands. 

Seth was about to say that they were actually fine, but when he felt the aura signature coming from that red fog, he realized they were right inside a land that would be the death of any practitioner besides him. 

"Corruption?" Just as he voiced out his doubt, he suddenly heard Lan Xue coughing. 

"Cough! Cough! Cough!" 

Lan Xue started to cough uncontrollably after entering in contact with that fog. Seth immediately tried to use his Mana to check her condition, but he was still severely suppressed. However, he already knew what was actually happening. The weak energy of corruption that had entered her body started to actively contaminate more of her cells, causing a reaction on her body. The state she was in now was akin to a time bomb. 

'No! This can't be!' 

Seth tried to use his Evergreen Essence to the fullest, but it could not stop the advancement of her condition. He started to get anxious, not knowing what to do and was about to ask Lexi if she could help him cleansing that energy from inside Lan Xue's body, even if it ended up costing a lot of her spiritual energy, when he suddenly felt something calling for him. 

He wasn't able to hear a specific voice, but he was able to sense it. He turned around and saw that there was a particular spot, where there was a very bright red light. That spot seemed to be far in the distance from the place they were in currently, but when that light entered Seth's eyes, he felt it was just like the light of hope. 

He quickly picked Lan Xue's body from the ground, carrying her in front of him in and saying: "Lan Xue, you have to handle it. Resist it with all your might and don't let the energy inside of you win the final battle. If you do not resist it, once I'm out of here, I will tell everyone that had once met you, that you were heavy and about your dressing style." 

Lan Xue was thin and light as a feather, but his false words, were meant to hurt the ego of a woman like her. What he meant with that, was that he would tarnish her image and shame her in front of everybody after her death. 

Impressively, her ice-cold eyes, shone with hatred once again and she started to use all her possible energies to resist the advancement of what was trying to infect her. 

After picking her up, Seth started to sprint forwards like a madman. He had to get there the fastest he could. What Seth failed to notice, since he was drowning in anxiousness and concerns, was that he was actually already able to move his previously broken arm and it was not hurting anymore. However, it wasn't the Evergreen Essence that had healed it, but the crimson corruption inside his own body. It was acting more active as well, just like how it was moving restless inside Lan Xue. 

Seth ran. He ran an endless marathon for half an hour straight with only his physical capabilities and finally after all that time and effort he put on that, he was close to approaching his final objective. He was already able to see something towering against the heaves at a considerable distance away from him. 

That thing didn't seem to be red, yet it was emitting a crimson light. When he looked up, he noticed that it was practically more than two thousand meters high and it had the shape of a spine. It was a two thousand meters tall spine that seemed to be stuck deep inside the ground. However, that place didn't seem to be a graveyard and that spine was the only bone that existed there. 

Seth wasn't able to understand it with his limited knowledge. He couldn't comprehend what that thing really was or from what creature it belonged to. All he could sense, was that he desperately needed to reach that place. 

On his anxiousness, he committed a grave error. He had stopped trying to sense if there were any dangers around him. Actually, even if he didn't comit that error, his senses were suppressed to a bare minimum, where it was really hard to feel any danger from beyond three to five meters away from him. 

From far behind him, an object shone in a crimson light as it came hurtling towards Seth while cutting through the air. Seth wasn't able to even feel it or hear it before it was only three meters away from him. 

It was a crimson shard. The same type of shard that the crystal golem shot many times against Lan Xue. However, this particular shard lacked the presence of any Mana, but was particularly stronger when the topic concerned about corruption. Inside this forbidden territory, the creatures that were part of the corruption were stronger. 

When the crimson shard entered the range where Seth was finally able to detect it, it was already too late to dodge. Actually, even his instant movement skill, the Second Step of the Shadow Walk technique, was so strongly suppressed inside this territory, that he wasn't able to execute it at a crucial time like this. 

All Seth was able to do, was to move Lan Xue's body away from the direction where the crimson shard would hit. 

Swish! Pah! 

The crimson shard hit Seth right in the middle of his back, penetrating his body as the tip left from the frontal side. His body was propelled forwards, because the great force that shard had, when it impacted against his body. In order for something to penetrate his tough skin and muscles, one could imagine how fast that projectile was traveling through the air. 

The huge hole that had opened, was almost thirty centimeters wide on his back side, while only the tip was leaving through the front; however, that was enough to instantly kill any other practitioner in this world other than Seth. But even for him, this was a fatal wound. 

His body flew all the way towards the gigantic spine, sliding on the ground and getting really close to it. When his body stopped, he was right before that huge piece of bone. Throughout the whole time, he didn't let go of Lan Xue's body, even protecting her until the moment he stopped. After that, his hand suddenly lost strength, loosening the grip he had over her. 

When Lan Xue firstly felt Seth abruptly moving her body, she was still resisting the wild energy trying to destroy her from inside with her eyes closed. But she quickly opened them after she felt they were traveling through the air at high speeds. When they finally stopped, she was still close to where Seth was, but there was something warm dying her whole dress in red. 

When she touched it and felt Seth's blood, she realized why he had abruptly moved her body like that. Her eyes turned towards his direction, but she unconsciously started to tremble after seeing that huge shard stuck right in the middle of his back. 

"Seth! Seth! SETH!!!" 

She tried to infuse her Mana inside him, ignoring her own condition, but it served nothing, since her Mana was suppressed. At that moment, the corruption inside of her started to spread quicker, making her fall on the ground near his body. There were some red lines already appearing on her skin, meaning it was already present in her blood veins. 

She gave a one last look towards him and weakly said: "Weren't you going to take us out of here alive…...? Liar." 

As if his soul had heard her voice, he extracted the last bits of strength he had inside his body, to lightly move his arm and make his right hand touch the gigantic spine that stood right in front of him. 

Swoosh! 

In a single moment, everything changed.