The forest at the edge of the Azure Flame Sect was alive with shadows,
the remnants of storms making the ground slick and treacherous.
Lin Yuan moved silently, his crimson aura barely visible, blending with the mist. The night smelled of blood and decay, and he could sense the weak, the frightened, the prey.
Demon beasts prowled here small, vicious creatures that fed on travelers and wayward cultivators. Most would kill them, but Lin Yuan saw them differently.
Each one was fuel, a stepping stone for his Blood Core.
A growl echoed through the trees. Lin Yuan's eyes glowed red as he crouched low. A shadowy beasta wolf-like demon with jagged black fang semerged,
its body pulsating with poisonous aura.
He smiled faintly.
First meal of the night.
With a step, Lin Yuan vanished. His body blurred, moving faster than the eye could follow. A crimson claw of energy erupted from his palm,
slashing the beast in half. Blood sprayed across the forest floor.
Lin Yuan didn't flinch. He lowered his hands, and the blood rose into the air, twisting into a dark mist.
The Blood Demon Scripture… it's responding.
He whispered the ancient words, and the black blood mist swirled,
forming into tendrils that pierced the beast's corpse. A scream echoed not from the creature, but from the soul trapped inside. Lin Yuan's eyes glowed brighter.
He reached into the mist. His fingers closed around the pulsating soul. First absorption.
Energy surged into him.
His Blood Core throbbed violently. Pain and pleasure intertwined as the soul's life force burned away, leaving only power. His veins filled with raw energy, his senses sharper, his reflexes faster.
By the time he withdrew his hand, the beast was nothing but a lifeless husk. Lin Yuan's crimson aura rippled, stronger, hungrier, darker.
"Delicious," he murmured.
"Every drop of blood… every fragment of soul… makes me unstoppable."
He looked toward the horizon. The forest was full of life, full of prey, and the world outside the sect had just begun to taste the rise of a demon.
Lin Yuan took another step into the shadows, leaving death—and power—in his wake.