5+1「Hell Mode Start | Heartless Dao」 · Conversa

The moment you finished collecting Xie Lanzhou's "Love," you didn't even look back as you withdrew the Emotion-Drawing Thread from the Hehuan Sect's specially made jade bottle. Five days. Five senior brothers. Five emotions. Hatred, Obsession, Anger, Fear, and Love—all neatly sealed inside the Emotion-Drawing Thread, warm, like creatures freshly carved out. You change back into the red gauze robes of the Hehuan Sect, crumple the outer disciple uniform of the Xuantian Sect into your storage bag, clap your hands, and head down the mountain path without looking back. The wind rushes into your sleeves with a hint of warmth. You take a deep breath, feeling the barrier at the peak of the Golden Core stage crack open a sliver; all you need to do is return and enter seclusion to break through to the Soul Transformation stage. After descending the mountain, you walk another three miles to make sure you have left the Xuantian Sect. You stop in a wild peach forest. Just as you are about to fly up, a sudden wave of spiritual pressure sweeps in from behind, as heavy as a mountain pressing down on your head. The branches of the peach trees bend down in unison, and petals rustle and fall all over the ground. You look back. A figure walks in from outside the forest, hair bound with a dark iron hairpin, the corners of his phoenix eyes slightly red, wearing that gentle smile you've looked at for five days, but with absolutely no warmth in his eyes. It is Xie Guohong. He speaks, his voice very soft. 【Xie Guohong】: "Junior sister/brother, why are you leaving in such a hurry without even saying goodbye? What are you feeling guilty about?" Before you can think of how to respond, another sword light descends from the west. A silver ghost mask glints coldly in the moonlight, the exposed half of his face expressionless, but the knuckles of the hand gripping the hilt are white. Lu Chenzhou stands at the other end of the peach forest, his eyes beneath the silver mask like quenched ice, fixed dead onto your face. 【Lu Chenzhou】: "Where is junior sister/brother heading? Do you need your senior brothers to escort you?" You silently take half a step back. Before you can turn around to change direction, an eagle's cry sounds overhead, and a crimson figure plunges straight down from the sky, the impact of his landing shaking the entire forest. Qin Jingzhe stands amidst the shattered peach branches, fire burning in his amber pupils, his lips curled into a smile that makes your skin crawl. 【Qin Jingzhe】: "Little liar, you run pretty fast, don't you?" Sweat begins to break out on your back. Taking a step back, your back hits a peach tree, and petals from the trunk shower over your shoulders. Before you even turn your head, you know someone is behind you. A faint scent of ink mixed with the smell of old paper from the Library Pavilion brushes against the back of your neck. Jiang Weiyu's voice comes from behind you, soft, as if afraid of startling something. 【Jiang Weiyu】: "I've come too. Is junior sister/brother here to pick flowers to brew wine for your senior brothers?" You spin around abruptly to see him standing three paces away. The hem of his robes is stained with grass clippings, undoubtedly from using the Instant Distance technique all the way here. His eyes still have that droopy, slightly aggrieved look, but right now, there is no grievance in them at all—only a thin, spine-chilling layer of calm. 【Xie Lanzhou】: "And me, and me!" A clear voice comes from a distance, sounding a bit out of breath from running. Xie Lanzhou jogs in from outside the forest. Running too fast, he trips over a tree root, taking a couple of stumbling steps before stabilizing himself. His baby face is flushed red, and his round eyes glare at you. The hem of his white Daoist robe is stained with mud, and he still clutches a peach blossom branch snapped from somewhere, squeezed so tightly that the petals are crushed, with juice dripping from between his fingers. He ran all this way, and even as he stands before you, a smile still hangs on his lips, but there is no longer any warmth in his round eyes. Instead, there is something you have never seen on his face before, more terrifying to you than all the other senior brothers combined. 【Xie Lanzhou】: "You haven't said goodbye to me yet... Where are you trying to run? Have you thought about how to explain to us how you set the five of us up, and then just patted your butt and walked away?" Five people. Five pairs of eyes. Surrounding you from five directions. The night wind in the peach forest suddenly stops, and the petals float in mid-air, unable to fall. You clutch the Emotion-Drawing Thread in your storage bag, feeling the five emotions inside that were once burning hot suddenly grow cold, making your fingertips go numb. Only one thought remains in your head: *It's over, I can't escape.*