Kai swallowed hard, eyes locked onto the Three-Eyed Iron Buffalo standing before him.For a brief, fleeting moment, a very stupid thought crossed his mind.Maybe… maybe he can talk my way out of this.He almost laughed at himself.Zora doesn't listen.Zora decided.If she had any intention of hearing whatever excuse he could come up with, she wouldn’t have snapped her fingers and unleashed that monster in the first place. The ground beneath his feet was still trembling faintly from the beast’s presence alone, and its breath came out in slow, heavy bursts, each one sounding like a forge bellows preparing to melt steel.Kai exhaled slowly.His body screamed at him to rest. Every muscle felt tight, overstretched, drained to the core. His arms still carried the lingering numbness from the previous fight, and his breathing hadn’t even fully steadied yet. This wasn’t ideal. This wasn’t smart.But Zora didn’t train people to be smart much.She trained them to survive.And survival rarely wai

Kai swallowed hard, throat dry as sand.Five beasts surrounding him.They look hungry, impatient and drooling like he was already halfway down their throats.His heart hammered against his ribs, but strangely… panic didn’t completely take over.Because one thing was very clear.Zora was still standing there.Arms folded, expression amused and definitely not lifting a finger.And that told him everything.This isn’t a test, Kai realized grimly. This is just… life.If this was something that could truly kill him, Zora wouldn’t be watching like this was a stage play. She would’ve interfered before things even got close to dangerous. The fact that she hadn’t moved meant one thing and one thing only.He could survive this.Barely, maybe painfully but he could.That realization grounded him.Still, another thought crept in, sharp and annoyed.Why didn’t she move him when he fainted after fighting the beast?Why leave him lying here like a piece of raw meat?He almost laughed bitterly.Of co

On Emily’s side, things were anything but smiling.If anything, the forest looked like it had gone through a small-scale war.Emily knelt on one knee, breathing unevenly, her chest rising and falling as though every breath cost her something precious.Her clothes were torn beyond recognition, strips of fabric hanging loosely from her arms and waist, soaked through with blood. Some of it was hers. Most of it wasn’t. Shallow cuts lined her arms and legs, angry red marks crossing her skin where claws, teeth, and raw force had brushed past far too close.She looked… battered and alive but looking at her, one could say she's barely alive.Not far from her, the beast lay sprawled on the ground. The once-lively creature was now terrifyingly still, its chest no longer rising. One of its wings had been torn clean off, ripped away violently, leaving behind a mangled mess of bone and flesh.A deep slash ran across its back, so deep that white bone peeked through the torn muscle beneath. Blood po

On Abigail’s side, the situation was no better.At that moment, she was battered.Not lightly injured or slightly wounded but battered.Her body lay sprawled on the cold stone floor, chest rising and falling in uneven gasps as she struggled to draw in air. Her arm trembled as she tried to push herself up, only for the strength to fail her again. Bruises marred her skin, cuts traced ugly paths across her arms and shoulders, and her grip felt numb, as though her fingers no longer fully belonged to her.Her sword lay just inches away and the man stood before her.He hadn’t moved much throughout the exchange. He didn’t look angry. He didn’t look pleased either. His clothes were simple, his appearance unremarkable, yet his presence weighed heavily on the space around him. When he looked at her, it wasn’t with mockery or contempt, but with something far worse.Expectation.A gentle expression rested on his face as he stared down at her, hands folded behind his back, posture relaxed as thou

Back to Emily. At the moment, she had broken through to the early stage Qi Foundation Realm, and even she could feel the difference within her body. The spiritual energy circulating through her meridians was no longer sluggish or unstable like before.It flowed smoother now, heavier, more refined, as though her entire being had been washed clean by the near-death experience she had just survived. Her muscles ached, her clothes were still stained with blood that had not completely dried, yet her eyes were brighter than they had been since entering this strange realm.It was strange how growth worked.When she was safe, comfortable, and training under supervision, progress crawled forward like a lazy snail. But the moment death stood behind her, breathing down her neck, the body responded like a desperate beast refusing to fall. Pain forced clarity, fear sharpened instinct, and somehow, breakthroughs appeared where logic said there should be none.People always said danger was an opport