Chapter 13: Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13: The Weight of a Thousand Souls

The corrupted beast fell.

Its body crashed into the swamp with a thunderous splash, black qi dissolving into the mist like smoke from a dying fire. Lin stood over it, breathing hard, his triple-merged form flickering between shadow, lightning, and serpent scales.

The disciples stared at him in disbelief.

"Who... who are you?" one of them stammered.

Lin let the merge dissolve, his body returning to its normal state. The exhaustion hit him immediately—merging three beasts at once was like trying to hold a hurricane in a jar. His knees buckled slightly.

"Lin Xiao," he said, steadying himself against a tree. "From the Outer Valley."

The disciples exchanged glances. The name clearly meant nothing to them. They wore the silver-and-blue robes of the Celestial Peak Sect—one of the five major sects that dominated Thousand Beast Valley's inner regions.

"You're an outer disciple?" the lead disciple asked, a young woman with sharp features and a dragon-scale whip coiled at her hip. "You just killed a corrupted rank-three beast. Alone."

"I had help," Lin said, gesturing to the shadows where the panther lurked.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "A Shadowmire Stalker. And a Lightning Hawk. And..." She paused, her gaze dropping to the wind-snake coiled around Lin's arm. "Is that a Broken-Core Wind Viper?"

"She has a name," Lin said flatly.

The woman's expression shifted from surprise to something Lin didn't like—calculation. "Interesting. A cripple beast tamer with three bonded beasts, one of which is literally worthless. And yet you defeated a corrupted creature that's been hunting our hunting parties for weeks."

"It's not worthless," Lin said, his voice hardening. "And I didn't do it for thanks. I did it because it needed to be done."

"Of course." The woman smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm Song Yueling, senior disciple of the Celestial Peak Sect. You've done us a great service, Lin Xiao. The sect will want to thank you properly."

Something about her tone made Lin's skin crawl. The shadow panther growled low in his mind—a warning.

*"She's lying,"* the panther said. *"Her heart beats too fast. Her scent changes when she speaks of thanks."*

*I know,* Lin thought back. *But we can't fight an entire sect. Not yet.*

He forced a smile. "I'm honored. But I should be going—"

"Nonsense." Song Yueling stepped forward, her hand landing on his shoulder with surprising strength. "The inner valley is dangerous at night. Corrupted beasts are everywhere. Allow us to escort you to our camp. We have healers, food, and a warm fire."

It wasn't a request.

Lin felt the other disciples shift positions, subtly blocking his exits. The lightning hawk shrieked overhead, agitated. The wind-snake tensed.

"Fine," Lin said, keeping his voice even. "Lead the way."

---

The Celestial Peak camp was a small fortress.

Wooden palisades lined with formation flags created a barrier against beast attacks. Tents were arranged in perfect rows, each one marked with sect insignias. Disciples moved with military precision, their beasts walking beside them—armored bears, crystal wolves, a single three-tailed fox that watched Lin with unsettling intelligence.

They led him to a central tent, larger than the others. Inside, a man sat behind a table covered in maps and scrolls. He was older, maybe thirty, with graying temples and eyes that had seen too much. A massive scar ran from his forehead to his jaw, and his left arm ended in a stump wrapped in bandages.

"Elder Zhao," Song Yueling said, bowing. "We found this outer disciple fighting a corrupted rank-three. Alone. He won."

Elder Zhao looked up, his one remaining eye studying Lin with uncomfortable intensity. "Sit."

Lin sat.

"You killed a corrupted beast," Elder Zhao said. "That's no small feat. The corruption has been spreading for months. We've lost seventeen disciples to it. Three elders."

"I got lucky," Lin said.

"Luck doesn't bond three beasts to a single soul." Elder Zhao leaned forward. "What's your secret?"

Lin's heart hammered. [Beast Resonance] was his greatest weapon—and his greatest vulnerability. If the major sects learned of his ability, they wouldn't just want to study him. They'd want to own him.

"I don't know what you mean," he said carefully. "I just... have a way with beasts."

Elder Zhao's scarred face twisted into something between a smile and a grimace. "A way with beasts. Is that what we're calling it now?"

Before Lin could respond, a scream tore through the camp.

Everyone in the tent was on their feet in an instant. Elder Zhao grabbed a sword from beside his table, his stump already bleeding from the sudden movement. "Report!"

A disciple burst through the tent flap, pale as death. "Elder! The perimeter—something's broken through. It's—it's not a beast. It's a *person*."

Lin followed the others outside.

The camp was chaos. Tents were burning. Disciples were running, their beasts either dead or fleeing. In the center of it all stood a figure wreathed in black qi—so dense it looked like solid smoke.

The figure was human. Barely.

Its skin was cracked, glowing with malevolent red light from within. Its eyes were pits of darkness, and its mouth hung open in a silent scream. Black tendrils extended from its body, lashing out at anything that moved.

A corrupted beast tamer.

Lin had heard rumors—beast tamers who pushed their bonds too far, who let their beasts consume them from within. But he'd never seen one.

"Everyone fall back!" Elder Zhao roared. "Formation three! Seal it in!"

The disciples moved with practiced precision, forming a circle around the corrupted tamer. Beasts howled and roared, attacking from all sides. But the tamer's tendrils moved faster, impaling a crystal wolf, crushing an armored bear's skull, sending a three-tailed fox fleeing with its tails between its legs.

"It's too strong!" someone screamed.

Elder Zhao stepped forward, his sword blazing with golden light. "I'll hold it. Get the disciples out—"

"No." The word left Lin's mouth before he could stop it.

Elder Zhao turned, furious. "Outer disciple, this is not your place—"

"I can stop it." Lin was already moving, his beasts responding to his call. The shadow panther materialized beside him. The lightning hawk dove from the sky. The wind-snake uncoiled, hissing.

*"You can't be serious,"* the panther said. *"That thing is beyond us."*

*Maybe,* Lin thought. *But I have to try.*

He raised his hand. The corrupted tamer's head snapped toward him, its pitch-black eyes locking onto his. The tendrils retracted, coiling like snakes preparing to strike.

And then—impossibly—it *spoke*.

"Lin... Xiao..."

The voice was distorted, layered with a dozen other voices screaming beneath it. But the name was clear.

Lin's blood ran cold.

"You know me?"

The corrupted tamer took a shambling step forward. Its cracked face twisted into something like recognition. "We... know you. The one who... resonates. The one who... *binds*."

"What are you talking about?"

The tamer's tendrils lashed out, not to attack—but to point. Directly at Lin's chest. "The plague... wants you. The corruption... *hungers* for you. You are... the key. The key to... *everything*."

Before Lin could respond, the corrupted tamer's body began to convulse. The black qi swirled, condensing, compressing. The disciples screamed and fled. Elder Zhao grabbed Lin's shoulder, trying to pull him back.

But Lin couldn't move.

The corrupted tamer's body exploded.

Not outward—*inward*. The black qi collapsed into a single point, a sphere of pure darkness no bigger than a marble. It hovered in the air for a moment, pulsing with malevolent light.

And then it shot toward Lin.

It struck him in the chest before he could react.

The world went white.

---

Lin woke on his back, staring at a canopy of stars.

His body ached. His head throbbed. And something was *different*—a presence in his mind that hadn't been there before. Not his beasts. Something else.

*"Hello, little tamer."*

The voice was ancient. Cold. Hungry.

Lin sat up, gasping. He was alone in a clearing, the camp's fires visible in the distance. The corrupted tamer's body was gone, reduced to ash scattered by the wind.

But the voice remained.

*"I am the Seed of Corruption. And I am now a part of you."*

Lin looked down at his chest. A small black mark had appeared over his heart—a spiral of darkness, pulsing with faint red light.

*"You cannot remove me. You cannot suppress me. But you can use me."*

*"Use you?"* Lin thought, his mind racing.

*"The corruption that plagued Thousand Beast Valley... I am its source. Its heart. Its will. The beasts that fell to it, the tamers who lost themselves—they were all searching for something. For me."*

*"And now you're inside me."*

*"Yes. And no. I am a fragment. A seed. But I am also a key. The corruption is spreading because something beneath this valley is waking up. Something ancient. Something that should never have been disturbed."*

Lin's hands trembled. The shadow panther was growling in his mind, the lightning hawk shrieking in alarm, the wind-snake hissing in fear.

*"What does it want?"* Lin asked.

The Seed of Corruption laughed—a sound like breaking glass.

*"It wants to be free. And you, Lin Xiao—you who can resonate with beasts, who can merge with them, who can bind them to your soul—you are the only one who can release it."*

*"Or?"*

*"Or you can try to stop it. But know this: if you fail, the corruption will consume everything. Every beast. Every tamer. Every blade of grass in Thousand Beast Valley."*

Lin stared at the mark on his chest, his mind a hurricane of fear and determination.

*"And if I succeed?"*

The Seed was silent for a long moment.

*"Then you will become something the world has never seen. A beast tamer who can command not just beasts—but the very essence of corruption itself."*

From the camp, another scream echoed through the night.

And Lin knew the war for Thousand Beast Valley had only just begun.