Duality of Shadows

It was a completely cloudy and dark night inside Dragonkin Haven Forest. On this planet heavily influenced by the Chaos Dragon, Yin was dense everywhere. But particularly at night, when the forest was on the side opposite the sun, 99% of the environment was pure Yin.

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This moment lasted less than an hour, but it was when Rehvka’s powers were absolute, allowing her to silently infiltrate anywhere. Even powerful cultivators would have difficulty detecting her, though there were limits. Luckily, the high-level beasts were within the sect and not in the village within the forest, so Rehvka could invade anywhere with very low risks.

The whale gathered all the groups and devised a reconnaissance plan. When the exact time came, Rehvka infiltrated the place indicated by the Drake to Ruri. Everyone was nearby at a safe distance, and Ruri had set up a spatial formation around them; if anything went wrong, they could rescue Rehvka in seconds.

Everyone waited anxiously, but Alm and Bruno already had some guesses about what might be hidden there. Unfortunately, they couldn’t use their bloodline to sense everything through the ground, as it would cause a disturbance that would alert the entire planet. Using the divine soul was equally dangerous; there could be cultivators at the peak of the divine realm nearby who would definitely sense the power of the soul.

Rehvka moved silently through an area extremely well-guarded by all the races within the forest. She continued until she saw a gigantic underground entrance designed to allow colossal beasts to pass through. As she entered, she was enveloped by darkness that became denser and more oppressive as she descended into an increasingly vast abyss.

The corridors were deserted, as silent as an abandoned cemetery, with no sign of life. The grim atmosphere seemed to drain the energy from everything around it. After a long and tense walk, Rehvka finally reached a gigantic open area, so immense that its limits were lost in the darkness.

At that moment, she looked closely at the place and felt a chill and a sense of mortal danger. Gigantic shadows were almost hidden in that place.

She saw thousands of figures standing still, all facing a single central point. Their empty eyes glowed with a sinister spectral fire. They weren’t dead, but they also weren’t alive, trapped in a state of eternal vigilance. The air around them vibrated with an ancient and terrifying death energy.

The mere sight of these imposing and haunting creatures made Rehvka’s heart race. She felt immense danger haunting her, like a silent warning not to advance. The aura of the place was suffocating, and the instinctive fear of taking a single step forward kept her still, realizing she was facing a power far beyond her comprehension.

Fortunately, Rehvka wasn’t detected, and nothing happened. She quickly returned after seeing the surface of the place; she couldn’t identify exactly what was inside. When she arrived and everyone sighed in relief, she allowed her master to see her memories directly; within seconds, they were shocked by what they saw; it wasn’t even close to what they had suspected.

’Are those... Dracolichs?’ Bruno reflected, stunned. He could see the images but felt absolutely nothing, as they were dead Yin creatures.

Alm took a few seconds to analyze all of Rehvka’s memories, feelings, and impressions. There were things that could only be discovered by seeing them personally, but Alm was sure of one thing. ’They have no consciousness. They’re completely dead, not Dracolichs.’

’So this... the rumors the Drake mentioned are partially true. An infinite Yin power took over their bodies and turned them into puppets. What could this hidden treasure be?’ Bruno thought, looking for clues in all the information he had.

But Alm noticed something else immediately upon seeing Rehvka’s memories. ’They have no connection to the laws or traces of their true cultivation. When they were alive, they must have had cultivation levels we could never defeat, but currently, they aren’t puppets; they’re just corpses with less than 1% of their original power.’

’How are they not puppets? There was clearly a trace of life in them...’ Bruno said and immediately had an idea. ’A will took over their bodies, a will at a level similar to the queen’s. The Chaos Dragon... but she’s sealed, it should be impossible to do something like this...’

’Maybe, but what if the will was already in something before she was sealed? She’s a dragon, after all, not born powerful and had to go through all the phases of a dragon,’ Alm reflected, unsure.

’Reverse scale...’ Bruno murmured.

Legends say that a dragon’s scales grow with it from birth, never falling off. There was just one exception: a scale that grew backward. It was located under their necks and it was where all the dragon’s bloodline converged. It was also their weak point.

This reverse scale was a forbidden area for dragons. No one should touch it, or the dragon’s majestic fury would cause a bloodbath. After being nurtured by the dragon’s power for a long time, the scale gained its own powers and will, coming from the original owner.

Alm and Bruno knew of seven colors of scales, representing seven different levels: green, red, gold, blue, black, white, and purple.

The first scale fell off when the dragon broke into the divine realms; after that, with each advanced realm, the scale changed color and fell off again. All pure dragons went through this, and their scales were divine treasures for any cultivator. They could absorb part of the blood that remained in the scale and gain incredible power; but... they would have to subdue the will in the scale first. The stronger the original dragon, the harder it would be to subdue it.

’If it’s a primordial dragon’s scale, the level of its will is unbelievable,’ Alm commented, thoughtful. ’Certainly, its scales are normally impossible to subdue, and the dragon kept it with him. It’s possible he managed, after much effort, to send it outside the seal, after all, it’s something lifeless.’

’Hmm... the owner of the will can seal it, and the scale would become just a small inanimate object placed outside the seal, camouflaged by primordial power like Yinblood jewelry. Then, when discovered by the beasts, upon trying to absorb it, it awoke.’ Bruno agreed, it was a valid and possible theory.

The two understood. Everyone with a dragon bloodline knew it was almost impossible to dominate that. But those who had no hope of advancing and were about to die of old age decided, as a last resort, to try. In the end, they not only failed but were dominated by the scale.

Alm added, ’If this theory is true, this will in the scale absorbed the bloodline and the little life, dominating their bodies... a dragon, by instinct, loves to hoard things; by dominating them, it considers them as its own and left a trace of its will. They are like fragile zombies, moved only by the scale’s will. But, due to their previous high cultivation, they must be tough and hard to break.’

The two agreed that the theory seemed to fit. However, they had no idea what the Chaos Dragon planned or what its scales could achieve. In the end, they would only find out by obtaining them.

Fortunately, according to Drake’s information, this possible scale was discovered a few centuries ago and hidden by the beasts of the sect. So, they could steal it; the problem was how to do it cleanly.

The whole group returned to the cave, where the whale explained his theory to everyone. He didn’t mention the Chaos Dragon, leaving the Feys confused about how it ended up there; however, the others knew well what was hidden on this planet.

The main challenge was that they couldn’t simply enter, grab the treasure, and leave. They had to subdue the scale, which would make all the corpses attack. Defeating them was possible, after all, they were beings without IQ, cultivation, or intelligence, depending only on the hardness of their bones. But obviously, a battle would trigger an alert to all the beasts.

"Our only path is a fine line between life and death," the whale said calmly, and everyone held their breath. "We don’t need to be silent; we can simply go in and take what we want. The scale has absorbed a lot of bloodline and life from the beasts, so it will retaliate with all its power to avoid being subdued. The commotion will be immense, and the entire planet and the sect will feel it; this will be our shield."

The whale waited a few seconds for everyone to absorb this, then continued with the difficult part. "The commotion and power of the scale will be so great that the beasts will be confused and give us at least a few minutes. If we act quickly, after we have taken it and absorbed it, the sect cannot punish us, after all, we were the first to find it. The beasts also won’t be able to kill us, and it would be against the rules to attack us openly, and they will still have to explain to the sect."

Everyone pondered, and the whale concluded. "This is the theory. But, the beasts are sometimes unpredictable; they may want to kill us anyway, even if the sect members find out. Or random events might happen, like it not being a scale, for instance."

The three Feys swallowed hard, fearful. But the rest of the group clenched their fists without hesitation. They knew that where there were great profits, the danger always matched. They didn’t mind risking their lives, after all, they had each other to fight and escape any situation or die together.

The whale smiled, satisfied, and a bold plan began to be devised.