As if hearing him, the beast turned its head.
Its golden-green eyes settled on Lican, fixing him in place with a gaze that seemed to strip away every possible escape. Its massive body remained motionless for a moment, the green scales covering its limbs glistening beneath the scattered light filtering through the canopy.
Lican's throat tightened.
Shit.
He began backing away, one careful step at a time. The Pack Leader advanced, its claws digging into the earth as a low growl rolled from its chest. It didn't even spare him another glance as it allowed the wounded members of its pack to tend to one another. Its attention remained fixed on him, as though it had already decided that he would not leave the valley alive.
Then green light spread across its body.
The scales along its back brightened, and the surrounding air trembled as its Qi surged. The earth beneath its paws cracked under the pressure.
BANG!
The beast vanished.
It was so sudden that Lican barely registered the movement. One moment, the Pack Leader stood several dozen metres away; the next, the space before him had been torn open by a violent gust of displaced air.
Danger!
His instincts screamed.
Lican activated the Hidden-Sky Seal and burst into a cloud of mist.
SHING!
A claw swept through the place where his body had been. Green Qi gathered around the beast's talons, extending their reach with a razor-sharp edge that sliced through the crimson haze. The surrounding air split with a shrill whistle, and nearby branches were severed cleanly before the attack passed through the mist.
It missed his body.
But it didn't miss entirely.
Lican reappeared ten metres away, staggering as he clutched his chest.
"Cough!"
Blood surged up his throat. He bent forward and spat a mouthful onto the ground, his face twisting as a searing pain spread beneath his ribs. The claw had struck only his mist-covered form, yet a portion of the green Qi had forced its way through the disruption, leaving a violent, burning ache in his chest.
He could feel it moving beneath his skin.
The energy was foreign and vicious, spreading through his body like a swarm of invisible insects, gnawing at his flesh wherever it passed.
Lican's expression darkened.
I can't waste any more time here.
He forced his True Essence through Wailing Bone and activated the Windstride Seal repeatedly.
His figure flickered.
One moment, he was standing among the trees; the next, he had vanished into the forest, leaving only a fading distortion in the air. His feet barely touched the ground as he sprinted between the trunks, using exposed roots and broken branches to launch himself forward.
Behind him, the Pack Leader pursued.
The beast's speed was monstrous. Every time Lican emerged from one stretch of forest, the sound of its claws striking the ground was already closing in. Trees splintered beneath its charge, their thick trunks shuddering before collapsing across the undergrowth. When the beast changed direction, its hind legs tore through the earth, throwing up soil and shattered stone.
Even with the Windstride Seal pushing his speed to its limit, Lican could barely maintain the distance between them.
His heart hammered against his ribs, pumping adrenaline through his bloodstream. His lungs burned with every breath, and the wind tore at his clothes as he sprinted through the forest.
He would be lying if he claimed he didn't enjoy the chase.
There was something intoxicating about running with death snapping at his heels, about forcing his body beyond its limits while every instinct screamed at him to survive. For a fleeting moment, the pain, the fear, and the desperate calculations faded into a single, exhilarating sensation.
Then the earth ahead of him erupted.
Thick green veins burst from the ground, twisting upward like monstrous roots. They crossed his path from several directions, their surfaces glowing with condensed Qi as they raced to seal off his escape.
Lican's eyes widened.
He planted his foot against a sloping root and abruptly changed direction, veering left. A green tendril tore through the space where his head had been, forcing him to throw himself sideways. He twisted in midair, rolled across a slanted tree trunk, and kicked off its bark before another vein smashed down behind him.
BOOM!
The impact ripped a chunk of earth from the ground. Stones shot through the air, smashing against the surrounding trees, while the shockwave swept fallen leaves into a spiralling cloud.
Lican didn't look back.
He continued running, his body flickering between the trees as the Hidden-Sky Seal cloaked him in shifting mist. For brief instants, several blurred afterimages seemed to trail behind him, each dissolving as the green veins struck through them.
The Pack Leader roared.
Green Qi surged around its forelegs, forming luminous veins that crawled over its scales. With a powerful leap, the beast launched itself into the canopy, its claws tearing through thick branches as it raced above Lican.
From that elevated position, it had a clear view of his movements.
The veins responded to its will, plunging through the canopy from different directions. Some stabbed toward Lican's head, while others swept across his legs or cut off the ground ahead of him. The forest became a cage of snapping branches, falling trunks, and green tendrils striking with enough force to shatter stone.
Lican ducked beneath a fallen tree, his shoulder scraping against its rough bark. He planted both hands on the ground and slid through the narrow gap beneath its trunk just as a vein tore through the wood above him.
CRASH!
The tree split apart.
Splinters showered his back, drawing thin lines of blood across his skin. He rolled clear of the collapsing trunk and sprang to his feet, his breathing growing harsher with every step.
His gaze flicked toward Wailing Bone.
The inscriptions hovering above his wrist had dimmed. The bracelet's earlier activity had drained much of its available energy, and even the Windstride Seal was becoming difficult to sustain.
He couldn't keep this up.
He needed to reach the hidden grotto.
Lican gritted his teeth and forced the remaining strength in his body into the Windstride Seal. His legs tensed, the muscles tightening beneath his clothes as the inscription flared once more.
He accelerated.
The forest blurred around him. He vaulted over a jagged boulder, caught a hanging vine, and swung himself across a narrow ravine. His feet struck the opposite ledge, and he immediately pushed off again, driving himself toward the rocky slope concealing the grotto.
Behind him, another tree exploded into splinters.
BOOM!
A green vein punched through the trunk, scattering fragments across the slope. Lican twisted around the debris, his body becoming a smear of motion as he raced toward the solid stone ahead.
He was almost there.
His lower body began dissolving into mist as he activated the Hidden-Sky Seal, preparing to slip through the concealed entrance and into the grotto beyond.
For one brief instant, he thought he had made it.
But the golden-green Pack Leader had already anticipated his destination.
The beast's eyes narrowed.
With a deafening roar that shook loose stones from the surrounding cliffs, it opened its jaws. Green Qi gathered deep within its throat, condensing into a tightly compressed mass that pulsed with terrifying force.
Lican felt the danger before he saw it.
He tried to accelerate, but his inscriptions had already reached their limits.
The beast fired.
A concentrated beam of green Qi tore through the air. It didn't merely travel toward him; it ripped through the crimson mist, leaving a turbulent wake that shredded the surrounding vegetation. The blast struck Lican's left shoulder at the exact moment his body began phasing into mist.
CRACK!
The sound of his collarbone breaking rang through his skull.
Pain exploded across his upper body. The impact hurled him toward the rocky slope, but the physical damage was only the beginning.
The green Qi had entered his flesh.
It erupted inside him like a nest of venomous creatures, spreading from his shoulder into his arm and burrowing deeper with every passing instant. The energy transformed into countless thorn-like projections that tore through his muscles, shredding the flesh along their path.
Lican's eyes bulged.
His left arm went numb, then erupted in a wave of unbearable pain.
The Windstride Seal flickered violently.
The inscription, already pushed beyond its limits, struggled to maintain control over his movement. The force that had carried him through the forest suddenly twisted out of control, transforming his forward momentum into a violent, spiralling torrent.
The wind became a raging tide.
Lican was swept into it, his body spinning uncontrollably through the jungle. He crashed through branches, smashed into tree trunks, and struck a boulder hard enough to crack its surface. Before he could regain his bearings, the spiralling current hurled him into another cluster of trees.
Wood shattered around him.
His body was thrown through the air again, blood trailing behind him in a thin red arc. The green Qi continued eating through his flesh, its thorn-like projections spreading farther along his arm as the damaged inscription flickered on his wrist.
He tried to scream, but the wind ripped the breath from his lungs.
At last, the Windstride Seal failed.
The violent current collapsed, releasing him from its grip and hurling him through the concealed entrance of the hidden grotto.
He struck the damp stone floor and rolled several times before coming to a stop.
For several seconds, he couldn't move.
His body lay crumpled against the cold rock, his chest rising in shallow, uneven jerks. Blood trickled from his mouth and nose, dripping onto the stone beneath his face. His limbs trembled uncontrollably, and every attempt to draw a deeper breath sent another wave of pain through his battered body.
"Curse... it..." he wheezed.
His breath emerged as a faint, emerald-green vapour.
Lican forced his eyes open and looked at his left arm.
His expression changed.
From the shoulder down to his fingertips, the skin had turned a sickening, bruised purple. Torn flesh clung to the damaged muscles, and swollen, thorn-like protrusions spread beneath the skin, pushing outward as the corrupted Qi continued its advance.
His fingers twitched involuntarily.
He tried to move his arm, but the attempt sent a bolt of pain through his shoulder. His teeth clenched so tightly that his jaw began to ache.
The green Qi was still spreading.
He could feel it crawling beneath his skin, moving toward his chest with relentless determination. Every pulse carried it deeper, bringing it closer to his vital organs.
His heart.
If the corrupted energy reached it, the thorns would tear through the organ from within.
He would die.
Not after a prolonged struggle. Not after some final opportunity to fight back.
His heart would rupture, and he would become a corpse on the floor of a grotto he had nearly died trying to reach.
Lican's breathing grew ragged.
He forced his weakened neck to turn, searching desperately for something—anything—that could help him.
That was when he noticed the mist.
The grotto was filled with a rich, spiritual vapour that drifted between the stone formations. It gathered in the hollows of the walls and curled above the damp floor, carrying a cool, earthy fragrance that seemed almost out of place amid the blood and destruction.
The spiritual Qi was dense enough to make the air shimmer.
Yet Lican couldn't absorb it.
He hadn't reached Qi Condensation, and his body had no means of drawing the surrounding Qi into itself in the manner of a true cultivator. Without his newly opened soul space, he might not even have recognised the strange density of the spiritual energy filling the grotto.
But he could sense it now.
And he could sense something else.
His eyes followed the faint movement of the spiritual mist until they settled on a flower floating in a steaming pool roughly ten paces away.
Its petals glistened beneath the thin veil of vapour. Drops of water clung to their edges, reflecting the faint light filtering into the grotto. A subtle radiance pulsed from its centre, and its fragrance spread through the chamber, carrying a rich vitality that seemed to breathe life into the surrounding air.
Lican stared at it.
The flower's vitality was almost tangible.
He could feel the difference between its energy and the corrupted Qi devouring his arm. One seemed to carry the promise of renewal; the other existed only to destroy.
His throat moved as he swallowed.
If he could reach it, perhaps he could find a way to survive.
But the pool was ten paces away.
Ten paces.
He couldn't even lift himself from the ground.
His left arm was ruined, his body battered, and the remaining strength in his limbs was draining away with every passing moment. Even dragging himself across the stone would require more strength than he possessed.
The flower continued floating in the steaming pool, its fragrance filling the grotto as though mocking his helplessness.
Lican's vision began to darken at the edges.
The world blurred, and the sounds around him seemed to recede into the distance. He could feel consciousness slipping away, drawn toward a darkness that promised an end to the pain.
No.
He bit down on his tongue.
Blood filled his mouth, and the sharp sting jolted him back to awareness. He held on to that pain, using it to anchor himself as his vision threatened to collapse into blackness.
He couldn't afford to faint.
If he lost consciousness now, the corrupted Qi would reach his heart before he woke again.
With agonising slowness, he moved his right hand toward his universal pouch.
Even that small movement felt like dragging a stone across the ground. His fingers trembled as they searched for the pouch's opening, brushing against its fabric several times before finally finding it.
He pulled out a strip of jerky.
For a moment, he stared at it through his blurred vision.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, sliding down his chin, but he ignored it. He brought the jerky to his lips and bit down.
The dried meat resisted his teeth.
He chewed slowly, each movement sending an ache through his jaw. The flavour was harsh and concentrated, but he forced himself to swallow.
The beasts used to make this jerky had possessed rich vitality. Their flesh carried more than ordinary nourishment, and Lican knew his body was burning through its remaining reserves just to keep him alive.
He needed that vitality now.
Another mouthful.
He chewed and swallowed, fighting the nausea rising in his throat as the green Qi continued creeping toward his chest.
The flower remained beyond his reach.
The grotto's spiritual mist drifted around him.
And Lican lay on the cold stone floor, forcing himself to eat while the energy inside his body tried to kill him.