Chapter 86: A Familiar Face
Despite Azure's ominous prediction about encountering life-or-death situations on our journey back to the sect, the first few days were surprisingly peaceful.
The weather was mild, the roads were clear, no cultivators targeting our Elemental friend, and we hadn't seen a single young master looking to cause trouble. It was almost suspicious how smoothly everything was going.
That is, until Rocky started acting strange.
We'd been walking for around another four hours when I noticed the stone guardian's usually steady movements becoming increasingly erratic. He would take a few steps, pause as if confused, then stumble forward again. Liu Chen, perched on his shoulder as usual, had to repeatedly grab onto Rocky's craggy protrusions to keep from falling off.
"Rocky?" Liu Chen whispered into what looked like its ears. "Are you okay?"
The stone guardian's response was a low rumble that sounded more like shifting gravel than his usual attempt at speech. His massive form swayed dangerously.
"Something's wrong," Lin Mei said, moving closer to the pair. "He's never this unsteady."
I reached out with my spiritual sense, trying to get a read on Rocky's condition.
"Master, his qi – it's surging wildly. The pattern is similar to..."