The ravine was narrow, the walls high. Perfect for ambush.
The caravan hadn't gone a mile before arrows rained from above. Bandits — a dozen or more — descended in cloaks.
Jiang Han was the first to fall, screaming as a saber slashed across his back.
Li Rou loosed arrows, fast and true, but there were too many.
Qin Feng lit the ground aflame, buying seconds of retreat.
And Lin Mu stood frozen — not from fear, but from something deeper.
The Abduction Path was stirring.
> Take them.
> Their strength is yours.
> DEVOUR.
> "No," Lin Mu whispered, backing away.
He turned to help Jiang Han — but a bandit slammed a hammer into his side.
Bones cracked. He spat blood.
Li Rou screamed.
Qin Feng cursed.
The bandits closed in.
> Take it. Or die.
---
The Choice
Wang Lin's hand closed around the pendant.
He could feel it — the memory of the bandit's technique, the brute strength behind the hammer. It was there, open, ready to be absorbed.
He could survive. He could fight back. Just one pull.
But…
> "If I use it now… I'll lose myself again."
He staggered forward, eyes locked on the hammer-wielding bandit.
He raised his staff — simple, wood.
The bandit laughed.
> "That all you got, kid?"
> "No," Lin Mu whispered. "But it's all I need."
He dropped low, dodged, and struck — cleanly across the knee.
The bandit screamed.
> Technique: Crippled Root Sweep — not flashy, not deadly, but precise.
Not stolen. Learned.
Qin Feng took the opening to unleash a fire blast that engulfed the others. Li Rou dropped three more with arrows.
By the time the dust cleared, five bandits fled. The rest… burned or broken.
They had survived.
Without the Abduction Path.
---
A Reputation Begins
Back at the sect, Qin Feng looked at Lin Mu differently.
> "Not bad. For a mouse."
Li Rou bowed slightly. "Thank you. You saved me."
Lin Mu only nodded. "We saved each other."
His name — Lin Mu — spread quietly.
A low-tier disciple, quiet, strange… but reliable.
No one knew the truth.
That inside him, the greatest forbidden power in history had nearly awakened again.
And that someone… had felt it.
---
Far Away… In a Temple of Ice
Mo Xie's eyes snapped open.
> "He resisted again."
He stood slowly, cloak whispering like smoke.
> "No matter. Sooner or later, the hunger will return. And when it does… the boy will beg for it."
His fingers pressed to a map.
A red mark burned on a tiny sect's location.
> Hollow River.