Thunder rolled again across the desolate wilderness, shaking heaven and earth.The rain poured endlessly, drowning out the cries of the dying.
In the ruins where lightning split the sky, Li Qiong sat cross-legged amidst the corpses of fallen cultivators.Blood soaked the soil, herbs scattered like remnants of lost fortune, and pill bottles lay shattered in the mud.
He swallowed the last Qi Gathering Pill.Its essence surged through his veins like a stream of clear water.
His body convulsed violently.The Primal Sea inside his dantian erupted like a tsunami—waves crashing, heat rising, bubbles forming and bursting as the inner fire scorched his organs.
Then—A piercing cold wind swept through his body.The boiling waves turned to mist.The searing pain froze into clarity.
Within the storm, a Frozen Flower began to bloom—its crystalline petals rotating above the molten waves, balancing yang and yin.
"Ugh—!"Li Qiong vomited thick black sludge that splattered against the earth, releasing the foul impurities trapped within his organs.
Sweat turned to steam as his aura climbed higher and higher.Then—Crack.
The fifth drop of qi condensed in his dantian—glowing faintly gold, surrounded by mist and water.His muscles tensed, veins bulging, flesh steaming. The air around him twisted, then calmed.
Li Qiong's body transformed.He no longer needed to burn his blood or tear his muscles apart to fight.His flesh itself had tempered into a weapon—reforged by ice and fire, like iron.
He slowly opened his eyes.Within them was clarity and calm.
As the storm faded, memories surged—faint, distant, and blurry.
He saw the cauldron.The blazing heat.The face of his master, cold and unfeeling, chanting spells while pushing him into the rising flame.
His skin melted.His bones burned.The world turned red.
He screamed—but no one came.
And then—He made it explode.
When the cauldron burst, the master's face twisted in horror.Li Qiong crawled from the wreckage—half his flesh charred black, half pale as bone.His heart beat weakly, not with life, but something between life and death.
He tore his master apart.Ate his flesh.Drank his blood.That was the day he became half-jiangshi—neither man nor corpse.
After that, no village would take him in.Children cried when they saw his shadow.Dogs barked.Even monsters turned and fled.
He meant no harm… yet he was feared by all.
One stormy night, he found shelter in an abandoned mountain temple.The roof leaked, but it was dry enough to rest.He hid under the statue of the Mountain God, his breath shallow, his mind dull.
There were still offerings on the altar—rice, fruit, incense.Someone still prayed here.He ate a little, guilt washing over him.
He only wanted to survive.
Then came the sound of laughter—rough, cruel.A group of bandits stumbled into the temple, dragging a girl with her hands and feet tied.Her mouth was gagged. Her eyes wide with terror.
They threw her to the ground and began to tear her clothes apart.Her screams drowned in the thunder.
Li Qiong trembled in the shadows.He wanted to move.But fear paralyzed him—he had never fought before.
Then—mist filled the temple.The air turned still.Even the thunder grew silent.
A voice echoed in his mind:"Kill… kill… kill…"
The Mountain God had awakened—furious.That girl was the one who placed offerings for him every week,his most faithful believer.
Li Qiong's mind turned hazy.His body felt like it was burning and freezing all at once.Something stirred within him.
His vision turned red.His claws extended.His bloodlust raged like a storm.
The bandits never had time to scream.
When it was over, the girl was trembling in the corner, her bindings cut, her eyes wide with horror—not at the bandits, but at him.
Li Qiong looked down at his blood-stained claws.He didn't remember striking them—only the sound of the god's voice fading into silence.
He left the temple before dawn, stepping into the rain.
Back in the present, Li Qiong's breathing slowed.He gazed at the rising steam from his body, the scent of burning dead skin and steaming sweat in the air.
Above him, the storm parted to reveal a full moon.
And far away, a horn was blown to signal.
In a distant place, red-robed figures emerged, fully armed, royal symbols gleaming on their chests.
"So… the wait is over, then."
It was a long night.