I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 238: Following The Blight Swamps Beast

"You’ll die if you stay! Split up if you have to!"

With that being said, Juno and Vortex dashed in one direction, aiming to pull a portion of the attackers with them.

Xuan Qing on the other hand, climbed back atop her beast with sweat pouring down her brow while Mirael quickly joined her.

The serpent struck with devastating force as they charged in the opposite direction while Mirael also pulled out a bow from her storage ring and began to fire Qi infused arrows at the enemies.

However, the strange short humanoid beings also had archers on their side.

Although the Mythical shadow moon eyed serpent had the advantage in strength, they had the advantage in numbers.

Even though it was taking down so many of them with a single sweep of its tail, it was also gaining injuries.

Arrows pierced its scales. Spears dug into its coils. And each hit it took weakened Xuan Qing.

She could feel the pain through the spiritual bond.

Her vision blurred but nevertheless, she urged her beast on.

Eventually, she managed to free a path through the maze-like caverns.

The serpent bolted, scrambling up walls, dodging clawed hands reaching from the shadows.

They made it halfway through a winding corridor before the path split.

Her vision was blurry so she couldn’t really tell which path was accurate so she just chose one on a whim.

However, just moments later, she collapsed.

The serpent screeched as it fell forward with her, its body lurching in exhaustion.

Mirael landed on her feet, skidded to a stop and turned back to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Xuan Qing!"

Her lips trembled. "Xiao Yue is seriously wounded..."

Due to the bond between her and the Mythical Shadow Moon Eyed Serpent, Xuan Qing felt weakened as well.

"I’ll get us out," Mirael kept her bow away and lifted Xuan Wing up.

However, before they could retreat, figures emerged from the mist.

Dozens of them... Creeping forward in silence.

Both of them were surrounded in the next moment.

Mirael gritted her teeth while shielding Xuan Qing.

"...We’re not going down like this."

...

...

Meanwhile...

Beneath the craggy overhang of a blackened cliff, Tarkos had led Victor, Aeri Fan, and Brin to a hollowed-out nook carved into a spire of violet crystal.

The place gave off an ancient feeling of serenity as a glowing orb sat in the center, casting a blue light across their faces while they caught their breath and sat in a rough circle.

Victor leaned forward with his arms resting on his knees. "Tarkos, what are you even doing in a place like this?"

Tarkos smirked slightly with a calm expression. "I could ask you the same."

"We came to save you," Victor replied without hesitation. "Serika set up a trap. At the site of the third seal reinforcement ingredient—she made sure whoever went near it would die. And not just that. She ensured no one would even be able to obtain the ingredient. The whole zone was cursed. Do you understand? We thought you—"

"I know," Tarkos interrupted with a raised hand.

Victor blinked. "Wait. So you *did* fall into it?"

Tarkos let out a dry laugh. "You think something like that would snuff me out?"

Aeri Fan raised an eyebrow. "Well, it would for anyone. You’re saying you survived?"

"I did," Tarkos said with a slight shrug. "Barely. The trap was real. The seal site was drenched in corrupted spirit essence and venomous spores. There was also this powerful dark spirit beast there. But I’m not just anyone..."

He leaned back against the wall of the crystal cave, looking more amused than concerned.

"Peak Soul Transformation Realm," Brin muttered with grudging respect after inspecting Tarkos realm. "No wonder."

"But how did you end up here?" Victor questioned with an expression of curiosity. "This isn’t part of any recorded region in Ascendant Realms. We had to fall through a freak opening at the base of a waterfall to even enter this... place."

Tarkos’ expression darkened slightly. "That’s because this place isn’t recorded. And it wasn’t by accident that I found it."

He sat up and pulled a crystal shard from his robes, letting the dim pinkish light reflect across its fractured surface.

"The ecosystem in that part of the Blight Swamps has been ruined for centuries," he explained. "The spirit beasts that gave the land its unique chemical balance were gone. Wiped out by that Serika. That’s why the ingredient can’t grow there anymore."

Victor nodded. "We noticed that. It was missing a lot of things."

"But," Tarkos raised a finger, "before I gave up, I encountered someone. A man cloaked in grey, with eyes that shimmered like mercury. He told me they weren’t entirely wiped out."

Aeri Fan leaned in. "The beasts?"

"Yes," Tarkos confirmed. "He said a fragment of the original herd escaped before the collapse of the Blight Swamps’ ecosystem. That they had crossed realms, finding a way into a forgotten space—this one. A place where ancient laws twist, and survival warps the body and mind."

Victor’s brows furrowed. "You trusted him?"

"No. But he was right."

Tarkos held up a finger with gleaming eyes. "It took days of tracking. Weeks, maybe. I lost my sense of time. But I found one. Just one. An old, massive beast with the scent of Blight spores and corrupted aura lingering on its fur. I’ve been following it ever since."

"And?" Victor asked, his voice filled with curiosity. "Have you found where the others are?"

Tarkos sighed. "Not yet. But I believe this one is a wanderer. And if we follow it long enough—eventually, it will return to its kind."

A low, thunderous growl echoed through the caverns outside, emitting a sound so deep, it made the walls of the crystal shelter tremble.

Tarkos was already on his feet.

"That must be it," he voiced while peering toward the roigh exit. "It’s awake."

The others stood quickly.

"Time to move," Tarkos stated. "Keep your weapons sheathed and your feet light. It doesn’t know we’re following it. And I plan to keep it that way."

---

The four of them exited the crystalline chamber and made their way toward the direction of the sound.

It was night as always in this cursed realmand the sky remained a display of moving stars and bleeding moons.

The terrain had transformed again and now a series of high ridges and woven stone bridges connected the cliffs like twisted braids of hair.

In between them were enormous chasms where ancient roots grew upside down, emitting strange mythical energy.

The pink fog was thicker here and so dense in some places that they could only see a few feet ahead.

Victor kept his mind on high alert as they transversed this area.

And then when they finally got through the mist, they saw it clearly...

The spirit beast.

It was colossal. Nearly thirty feet tall, hunched on all fours with a spiky mane of crystalline vines along its back.

Its eyes glowed a dull teal, and its fur shimmered like swampwater under moonlight. Strange symbols glowed faintly beneath its skin that resembled ancient runes that were probably tied to the Blight realm itself.

"By the heavens," Brin whispered.

It moved slowly, like a glacier with deliberate but steady pace.

The four of them crouched low and followed, keeping to the ridges. The beast lumbered ahead, occasionally sniffing the air as its large tail swung lazily.

It paused at a pool of bubbling green fluid and dipped its mouth to drink. For a second, it seemed alert as its ears twitched but then it returned to its slow trek forward.

"How long do we follow it?" Aeri whispered.

"As long as it takes," Tarkos answered grimly.

And so they followed...

Hours passed but the beast never tired.

It moved through the mists like it had lived here for centuries. At one point, it let out a low, warbling call that echoed through the canyon like a dirge.

Victor had a thought. "Maybe it’s communicating."

Tarkos nodded. "Maybe it’s calling the others."

They continued on until the terrain began to change again into a less vertical form, and the fog began to part.

Glowing fungi littered the ground, and strange flora with spindly legs twitched as they passed. Ahead was a declining slope leading deeper into the abyss.

The air in this part of the strange realm felt... different.

Victor, Tarkos, Aeri Fan, and Brin had descended deeper into the warped world for what felt like another full day.

But finally... they reached somewhere...

Before them stretched an unnatural grove with the land curving like a bowl of blackened soil.

Trees stood on spindly, arched legs like praying mantises, and their bark emitted a palette of sickly blues and gleaming obsidian.

There was a little pink fog here as well but not as dense compared to the area they bumped into Tarkos.

But none of that was what drew their attention.

Because there... nestled around the knotted base of a tree that looked like a serpent coiled upward to pierce the sky—was the Moonveil Thistle.

It glowed. Literally.

Its stalks were a rich silver-blue, with translucent petals that flickered in and out of existence like something only half-real. Threads of spirit light wafted from them in thin wisps.

"Is that it?" Brin asked in a hush.

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