The second morning in the beast range came with a sky veiled by grey clouds. A low wind whispered through the trees, and the forest seemed tenser than before—quieter, as if watching.
Tian Jue and Huan Tao moved swiftly through the dense underbrush, leaving only faint traces behind. They had already engaged in three battles since dawn. The spirit beasts they encountered—mostly at the early Foundation Establishment realm—were growing more aggressive and organized.
They fought in tandem, alternating turns without needing to speak. Huan Tao would unleash her blood-burning tiger style on beasts of brute strength. When fast and erratic enemies appeared, Tian Jue's footwork would blur into a shadow, and his hammer or kicks would end the fight with surgical precision.
By midday, their pack had grown heavier—three blood essences, over a dozen beast cores, and a small bundle of spirit herbs wrapped carefully in silk paper.
"These herbs... some are rare even in the sect's alchemy garden," Tian Jue said, examining a flame-veined root.
He slipped it into a gourd he carried at his side, carefully organized by medicinal type. Fire-touched moonroot, Black-vein hornleaf, and even a sprout of Verdant Frost Plum—all of them Tier 2 or on the edge of mutation. With his rising proficiency as a Tier 2 herbalist, he couldn't wait to experiment back at his courtyard.
---
As the sun arced westward, the pressure in the outer territory continued to rise.
Huan Tao wiped blood from her cheek with her furred sleeve.
"In the past," she muttered, "we had to reach the border of the outer range to find beasts of this level. Now they're everywhere."
Tian Jue was silent for a while. He felt it too. The density of Qi in the region was thickening unnaturally. The air buzzed with hidden danger.
But amidst the danger, Tian Jue's martial skills sharpened.
Each fight became an opportunity.
The phantom weight of his Seven Collapsing Mountain technique had started to grow heavier, more stable. Now, when he struck, five spectral mountains could be seen pressing down with force enough to shatter bones and crush defenses.
"Two more to go…" he thought, feeling the technique reaching toward its full form.
His kicking technique, Five Bullets Rain, had also undergone a transformation. Through repeated use, pressure, and controlled bursts, he had reached Mastery. His legs moved like whips, unleashing five rapid, precise kicks that landed faster than most could see—each targeting key weak points or interrupting spiritual flow.
As for his movement—Silent Wind Step—it had become an extension of his thoughts. He had long since passed major accomplishment and was now brushing up against the threshold of Transcendence. But...
"My Qi still can't sustain the full technique beyond a few seconds," he thought with a tinge of frustration. "Once I reach 8th layer, that should change."
Even so, for those few seconds, he moved like a ghost—untrackable, untouchable.
---
By dusk, they found themselves resting beside a fallen tree, eating dried spirit fruit and drinking diluted energy elixir. The remains of their last battle—a three-eyed flame lizard—lay smoldering in the background, the faint scent of scorched scale still in the air.
"How many more days do you want to stay out here?" Huan Tao asked, casually biting into a salted beast jerky.
Tian Jue pondered for a moment.
"Two more, if we can manage it. I want to test a few of the herbs I gathered. And..." he looked into the deepening forest, "...the beasts are getting stronger. Which means something's building toward a shift."
Huan Tao's expression grew more serious.
"You think a Qi outbreak is coming soon?"
He nodded.
Tian Jue thought "In previous world, it took centuries for such a thing. But here... it feels like the forest is aging in fast-forward."
The wind rustled the leaves above them, as if confirming his suspicions.
The late afternoon sun barely pierced the dense canopy when a flare of crimson light shot into the sky.
Tian Jue turned sharply, instincts reacting before thoughts. His disciple token pulsed with a warm glow—the mark of a distress signal sent by a fellow sect member, and more importantly, one close by.
"Outer sect emergency signal," Huan Tao muttered, her gaze sharp. "We're within 700 meters of it."
Without hesitation, they moved.
Tian Jue let Huan Tao take the front, their pace quick but measured. At 100 meters out, the air shifted—heavily.
A thick wave of demonic energy rolled through the trees like a toxic mist, making the hairs on Tian Jue's neck rise.
"Shit…" he cursed under his breath.
The trees thinned slightly, revealing a brutal scene—blood splattered across the bark, deep claw marks carved into trunks. And at the base of a tree lay a bloodied disciple, barely conscious. His robes torn, his forehead split and bleeding down into his wide, red-stained eyes.
"That's Xu Lin…" Huan Tao said quietly, her voice trembling slightly. "He's ranked second among the outer disciples… already at the 11th layer before this expedition…"
Tian Jue's expression darkened. If someone like Xu Lin was left in this state, then their opponent wasn't a typical beast.
And then they saw it.
From the shadows emerged a demonic beast. Its fur was ink-black, eyes burning with a cold red light. Sharp bone spikes protruded from its back, and a miasma of corrupted Qi leaked with every breath it took.
Although it radiated the aura of early Foundation Establishment, the pressure it released felt like a wall pressing down on them—comparable to a peak Foundation beast.
"Let me be the vanguard," Huan Tao said firmly.
Tian Jue glanced at her, surprised by the tone in her voice.
"Are you sure?"
She nodded once, eyes locked on the beast.
"This kind of pressure... I need it to break into the 10th Qi Refinement layer. I'll be careful."
Tian Jue clenched his fists, then nodded. "I'll cover you."
The battle erupted like lightning.
Huan Tao dashed forward, her claws igniting with a crimson light as she unleashed a flurry of attacks. Her style had shifted—no longer the usual aggressive tiger style alone, but fused with another technique Tian Jue had never seen.
Her body twisted unnaturally, each movement unpredictable. Her Qi flared violently, enhancing her strength and speed in pulses, like a blood-forged rhythm.
The demonic beast met her head-on, swiping with claws capable of crushing spirit iron. Each clash sent shockwaves through the forest. Nearby trees cracked and splintered.
Tian Jue observed closely—waiting for openings. Every time the demonic beast overextended or staggered, he struck with his hammer, redirecting pressure or stealing momentum. Yet, even these moments were fleeting—the beast was relentless.
Minutes became an hour. Tian Jue's Qi began to drain rapidly, not only from his own efforts but also from the aura Huan Tao was generating.
"It's like standing in a storm of killing intent…" he thought, sweat dripping from his chin.
By the second hour, the tides began to shift.
The demonic beast's movements slowed. Its regeneration stuttered. Huan Tao, on the other hand, seemed to grow more frenzied, her body covered in light crimson patterns, a side effect of her cultivation.
Her blood-burning techniques pushed her beyond human limits.
In the final fifteen minutes, Huan Tao locked eyes with the beast—and in a single, fluid motion, she dashed past it, her claws slicing its throat open, severing its corrupted core.
The beast collapsed with a thud, its body twitching in death spasms.
Tian Jue stood panting, staring at her figure.
The once wild but warm Huan Tao now stood amidst the carnage, her presence oppressive, her aura thick with battle intent. Trees bent ever so slightly away from her, the residual pressure still shaking the surroundings.
"So this... this is the true Huan Tao," Tian Jue thought.
He finally understood why disciples avoided sparring with her. Why elders watched her from afar with wary admiration. Seeing it from a distance was one thing—standing beside it was another.