"We make the temporary camp here," the Elder hissed, banking sharply downward into a deep-set crater located at the very edge of the miasma border.
Ji'an channeled her Qi, guiding the palm-leaf yacht down through the thick, swirling fog.
As they broke through the cloud cover and landed on the valley floor, the atmosphere instantly shifted.
The heat of the Scorched Plateaus was gone, replaced by a damp, oppressive chill. The valley was not empty
It was a chaotic maze of towering, jagged rock formations that looked like the petrified ribs of ancient, colossal beasts.
The ground was slick with bioluminescent moss, and thick, thorny vines hung from the stone like hangman's nooses.
The most unsettling part, however, was the noise. Or rather, the lack of it.
There were no crickets, no wind, only the heavy, thick silence of an ecosystem where every single living entity was an apex predator currently holding its breath.
