WebNovels

Chapter 15 - Chapter 15: Preparations

Chapter 15: Preparations

Over the next two weeks, Shen Yuan devoted himself solely to hunting peak first-star beasts.

His goal wasn't just to collect cores—each battle was a crucible, sharpening his combat spirit and forcing his instincts to grow keener.

He understood well that the technique he carried wasn't meant for quiet meditation or isolated training. Its true birthplace was the battlefield—where blood, sweat, and screams forged true strength.

Each day, he pushed his body to the brink of collapse, only to rise again. With every clash, his movements grew swifter, his strikes more precise, until a warrior's gleam began to burn in his eyes.

By the end of two weeks, his spoils amounted to twenty-one beast cores from peak-level prey.

He had slain far more than that, yet not every beast left behind a core. Such was the nature of the hunt.

Now, Shen Yuan decided it was time to consume them all at once.

But he didn't choose just any place.

Instead, he returned to the cave where he had once unearthed the Hellfire Lotus Seed.

The place felt familiar, yet the lingering fiery aura in the air made him freeze for a moment.

Suddenly, the elder's voice echoed in his mind:

— "Swallow the cores within the lake—where the boiling waters are steeped in the essence of the Hellfire Lotus."

Shen Yuan stiffened, his brows furrowing.

— "Why here, of all places? Last time, I barely survived…"

The elder chuckled softly, though there was a trace of mockery in his tone:

— "The effect will gradually weaken with every core you consume. The first gave you a tremendous boost, but later… you'll need hundreds. Do you know how many peak first-star beast cores it would take to equal that first surge? Over two hundred and fifty! That is why you need a catalyst. The lake will grant you that—but it will also double the pain."

Shen Yuan trembled slightly. The very thought made his throat dry, yet he clenched his teeth.

— "If that's what it takes, then so be it."

He stripped off his clothes and stood before the lake, bubbling like a furious cauldron.

Red steam rose in waves, as if from the pits of hell, and the very air seemed heavy enough to scorch the skin.

Taking a deep breath, he leapt in.

Heat engulfed him instantly, like thousands of tiny blades piercing his flesh. He sat cross-legged, pulling out the beast cores one by one.

But instead of consuming them gradually, he forced them all into his mouth at once.

The elder laughed within, mocking yet calm:

— "I warned you of the pain… yet it seems your fear outweighed your reason. Very well—let's see how you endure."

At first, nothing happened.

But within seconds, agony unlike anything he had ever known erupted inside him.

The cores ignited like volcanic storms, tearing through his limbs and shattering his bones. Blood oozed from every pore, as though his body itself was rejecting what he had devoured.

A scream tore through the cavern—

— "Aaaahhhhhhh!"

His consciousness lasted only moments before it slipped away, leaving him adrift in darkness.

The elder sighed, his voice carrying faint satisfaction:

— "Just as I expected… the fool swallowed them all at once. But no matter… pain is the first teacher."

Within Shen Yuan's mind, the elder extended a spectral hand and briefly seized control of his body. With flawless mastery, he circulated the raging energy, preventing the vessel from tearing apart completely. The torment remained, endless waves of suffering, yet the elder restrained the destruction from consuming him whole.

Hours dragged by—how many, Shen Yuan couldn't tell.

At last, he opened his eyes weakly.

— "Wh… where am I?"

All he could do was writhe beneath the remnants of agony. Every cell in his body still remembered the torment that had nearly torn him apart.

Memory returned in a rush, and his heart sank.

— "I was absorbing the cores… Gods, that pain!"

Glancing around, he saw the lake had stilled, its waters no longer crimson, the steam no longer thick with fire.

When he probed his body, however, he realized—he was stronger.

The elder's voice rang out once more:

— "You stood at the brink of death. Had I not intervened, you would have become nothing but ash at the bottom of this lake."

Shen Yuan shuddered, biting his lips in bitter self-reproach.

— "Fool… if I had died here, what would all my struggles have been worth?"

He swore inwardly never again to let fear or recklessness drive him.

Sitting cross-legged, he gauged his new strength.

If his power had once been "one," it was now "three."

The increase was staggering—every fiber of muscle, every nerve, every inch of his being had been torn apart and reforged anew.

Without the lake, the gain would barely have reached half of that.

A faint, bitter smile tugged at his lips as he rose slowly.

— "This is enough… enough to begin the next stage."

He tightened his clothes and turned his gaze toward the vast forest beyond.

— "Now begins the true month—tempering myself against second-star beasts. My body, my spirit, my instincts… I'll make them all evolve."

Stepping out of the cave, his eyes gleamed with a resolve fiercer than ever before.

He was no longer merely a boy learning the first steps—

He was walking firmly on the path of a true warrior.

More Chapters