Murim Recurve

The moment the gems shattered, something seemed to have happened to their Tikka jewellery as they snapped, sliding down from their foreheads. As they fell on the ground, the third eye of the two people corroded before turning into mush.

Immediately after, with blood-soaked faces, they howled like wolves before jumping onto one another, mating like wild beasts. The cluster of hands used its many hands to help in the activity, widening the places that had to be widened, etc.

Upon seeing the scene, Re'Kha almost puked before realising something. Hurriedly, she pulled out an Art of the Element from her storage ring. It was a water-attributed Art of the Element. And, it was a defensive one, able to erect a dome of water around the caster.

As she could only use Water Qi among the four elements of her race, she was only able to activate a water-based Art of the Element. Though, she was only keeping it ready for defensive purposes as the Rupak began to fly away.

Re'Kha quickly landed on the village's entrance, noticing through her Wind Qi perception that she was barely able to see the blank spaces on the gems of others in the village. 'Whatever it is, it can eventually destroy the Tikka jewellery.'

Her horse seemed even more frightened as its animal instincts picked up the scary phenomenon happening in the place. There was still some time for the Rupak to remain materialised as Re'Kha jumped on her horse and drove it away.

The sounds of the trembling horse's footsteps were loud and heavy but it wasn't audible at the peak of the hill. And for some reason, despite it resounding loud and clear in the village, not one came out to check.

All of them seemed rather deep in sleep. Re'Kha was fleeing from the scene. A single glance was sufficient for her to realise that she wasn't the creature's opponent, whatever it might have been. Moreover, as she ran away, she looked through her Wind Qi perception, noticing that one of the people had bitten off the other's head.

Something seemed to stir from within the mural and flowed into his body, affecting him as he howled once again. Followed by it, he devoured the other man and fell unconscious. But slowly, his body was changing as his legs joined together into one while the bones melted into something streamlined.

His head bulged until it turned spherical while his arms elongated until they turned longer and sturdier. He was turning into the same Beast Re'Kha had killed just some time ago.

Holding her breath, she sped along with her horse, using a Water Qi Essence to replenish her expended Elemental Qi. Soon, her Rupak vanished as its time was up. Without that extra sense of protection, Re'Kha was turning jittery.

The feeling was the same as when she had encountered a Sha for the first time. But this time, even though she had obtained considerable methods, she was helpless. The moment she looked at the cluster of hands, she knew that it was beyond what she could handle.

She needed at least a team to fell a creature of that level. Through the instinct imbued in her by her master, she could feel that. And, the reason she had hurried out from the area was because of a certain discrepancy.

Based on what was depicted in the mural, two people were required to perform a cannibalistic ceremony. And when completed, a Beast was created. So in theory, two people from the village had died on that day.

But, the village head had reported that they had lost their first man a day after the Beast had made its appearance and the second man another four days later. This discrepancy, coupled with the barely maintained blank space of their Tikka jewellery's gem made her realise that the place was dangerous.

Moreover, when she was in the air, she realised that her Wind Qi was getting expended at a continuous rate. It showed that something was trying to gnaw away at her. But the Wind Qi was defending against it.

Once it was expended, she too would probably fall prey to that creature.

"Wait," Re'Kha suddenly screamed as she realised something, "It has a cluster of hands, created a rock pillar, and inscribed a mural on it. And, the same action as depicted on the mural was taken by those two. Moreover, it caused something to change in this very land itself. Even the air seemed to be different than normal. All of them are the traits of…"

"A Rua!" Her expression shuddered in a state of disbelief as she screamed, "But it's impossible. A Rua can only materialise in the land of the Treka."

Rua!

It was an entity that was similar to a Sha that appeared in the land of the Treka. It was what the Treka broke their heads upon to solve, just like how the Kalki did to eradicate the Sha.

A Sha took body parts from its prey—the Kalki. But, a Rua gave something to its prey—the Treka. And, it did that by subtly affecting the terrain first. It was capable of altering the balance in the elements of Earth, Water, and Air.

And by doing this, it was able to affect all life in the region and cause them to do whatever it desired. And usually, whenever a Rua matured, disaster befell the land.

When the First Celestial Emperor came into power, all the Rua stopped being birthed in their land. Moreover, it was a time without the Sha too. After all, a Sha needed enough Kalki to be birthed. And at that time, there was just too much Treka Qi oozing out of the land that even if any were birthed, they swiftly died.

Besides, at that time, the emotions of every single Kalki had only been directed towards one thing, the death of their First Celestial Emperor. And, that emotion continued to remain singlehandedly for almost a century before their race expanded beyond the state of Mokshu.

And over time, as the Kalki developed, the number of Sha popping up increased in number. But, it only meant the Kalki were getting more control over the land. So, the chances of a Rua forming in the land was an absolute zero, unless their Celestial Kings died one after another for some reason.