Chapter Ten — The Ancient Gu
The mountain shook.
Alarm formations blazed to life across the Black River Sect, crimson light spreading through the night sky like veins of fire. Disciples awoke in panic as bells rang without pause.
“Forbidden Vault breach!”
“Seal the lower passages!”
Voices echoed everywhere — but deep beneath the sect, Shen Yu heard none of it clearly.
All his attention was fixed on the opening gate.
Dust drifted slowly from the cracked seals.
Behind the narrow gap, darkness breathed.
And within that darkness… the eye watched him.
---
It was enormous.
Golden, slit-pupiled, ancient beyond comprehension. Its gaze carried no immediate malice, only exhaustion layered over endless hunger.
Shen Yu felt as small as an insect.
The presence inside his chest surged violently, pressing against his ribs as if trying to escape.
The ancient Gu responded.
A low vibration rolled outward, shaking the chamber walls. Chains embedded in its body rattled loudly — thick spiritual bindings etched with countless sealing runes.
The creature was imprisoned.
Not sleeping.
Starving.
Images flooded Shen Yu’s mind again.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Years passing in darkness.
Failed attempts to break free.
Cultivators approaching only to extract essence before retreating.
Pain without end.
His breathing grew uneven.
“You… called me,” Shen Yu whispered.
The eye narrowed slightly.
Recognition flickered.
---
Above, streaks of light shot downward.
Elder Han arrived first, robes whipping in the violent spiritual wind. Elder Mei and several enforcement elders followed close behind.
Their expressions changed instantly upon seeing the cracked seal.
“How?” Elder Mei whispered.
Those formations had restrained the creature for decades.
Even Rank Four experts could not shake them.
Yet a mere mortal boy stood before the gate.
Elder Han’s gaze hardened. “Shen Yu, step away immediately.”
Shen Yu tried.
He truly did.
But his feet would not move.
The pull between him and the sealed Gu had become overwhelming — two hungers resonating across the chamber.
Inside his chest, the unseen Gu pulsed faster and faster.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Each beat answered by the chained monster behind the gate.
The elders felt it too.
A terrifying synchronization.
---
The ancient Gu shifted.
Massive coils scraped against stone as it moved closer, dragging chains that sparked with suppressive lightning. The narrow opening widened another inch.
Cracks spread through the remaining seals.
“Reinforce the formation!” Elder Han commanded.
Disciples activated talismans, flooding the chamber with restraining light.
The creature recoiled slightly, but its eye never left Shen Yu.
Then—
A thought entered his mind.
Not words.
Emotion.
Freedom.
Shen Yu’s heart pounded.
At the same moment, his own hunger roared in response.
Not compassion.
Not mercy.
Instinct.
Devour.
He staggered backward, horrified by the urge.
“No…” he muttered.
If the seals broke completely, the sect might be destroyed.
Yet the presence inside him surged forward again, eager, unstoppable.
The spiral core within his mind spun wildly, pulling qi from his surroundings. For the first time, visible energy gathered around his body.
The elders froze.
“He’s drawing power from the sealed Gu,” Elder Mei said in disbelief.
Impossible.
No cultivator could directly resonate with such a being.
---
The ancient Gu lowered its head.
Slowly.
Carefully.
As if approaching an equal rather than prey.
The distance between them shrank to only a few steps.
Shen Yu felt its immense age pressing against him — centuries of survival, violence, and hunger.
And beneath it all…
Submission.
The realization struck him like lightning.
It was not trying to escape.
It was offering itself.
The hunger inside him surged triumphantly.
Shen Yu fell to one knee, shaking. “Stop… I can’t control it…”
The spiral core blazed.
Darkness spread briefly across his vision.
The ancient Gu leaned closer, chains snapping one by one under the strain of their connection.
Elder Han moved instantly, slamming a sealing talisman toward Shen Yu.
But before it reached him—
The unseen Gu awakened fully.
For a single heartbeat, the chamber fell silent.
All light dimmed.
All sound vanished.
And behind Shen Yu, an enormous shadow appeared — shapeless, devouring, deeper than night itself.
Even the ancient Gu froze.
The elders felt terror for the first time.
The shadow pulsed once.
The hunger stopped.
Everything returned to normal.
Shen Yu collapsed forward, unconscious.
The cracked seals stabilized, glowing fiercely as the remaining chains held firm.
The ancient Gu slowly retreated into darkness again.
But its eye remained open.
Watching.
Waiting.
Elder Han stared at the fallen boy, heart pounding.
“…That thing,” he whispered, voice unsteady.
“…is not a Gu.”
Far above the sect, the clouds gathered once more.
Heaven trembled faintly — not in anger this time…
…but in caution.
