Two days.That was how long the Iron-Qi had been burrowing into my ribs. The wound didn’t bleed anymore; instead, the skin had turned the color of a winter sky, hard and cold to the touch.I leaned against a cold spire of rock, pulling back my ruined robes to inspect the wound the Protector of Zhao had left me. The skin around the cut had hardened into a rough, grey shell. When I tapped it with my fingernail, it made a dull clinking sound.But the physical toll was nothing compared to the pain I felt. I tried to suppress the pain using my void but Yan Hu’s cold hands stopped me. “Stop using it," Yan Hu rasped, his voice cutting through the rhythmic thud-thud of my failing heart. He exhaled slowly, his eyes fixed on the grey smudge of my wound. “Every time you tap into the Void, the Iron-Qi vibrates. It’s a bell, Chen. You’re ringing it for every hunter in the Empire to hear.”I dropped my robes. “I am the one they should fear, Hu. Let them follow the beacon.”“Those who mistake con

The dire owl dissolved into a smear of black ash before hitting the forest floor, its rasping cry echoing into silence.I moved instinctively. The Void inside me surged, sensing my panic and offering its cold, seductive power. I reached for my blade, my eyes already scanning the surrounding fir for the next shadow. “We have to move.” my voice rasped out. “Stop, you're distracting me,” Yan Hu murmured. He didn't yell. He didn't even stand up. He was already pulling strips of silver-white parchment from his sleeves. With a flick of his wrists, they caught the wind like falling leaves, sticking to the trunks of the surrounding trees in a perfect octagonal pattern.“You said the dire owl was a Zhao spy Hu! If we stay here—"“If we run, we leave a trail of disturbed Qi that a blind Zhao scout could follow," Yan Hu interrupted, his voice as steady as a mountain stream. "They expect a frantic escape. So, we give them the one thing they don't know how to track," his eyes finally turned to

The Gu Clan’s territory was supposed to be a fortress of invisible death. They were the self-proclaimed arbiters of purity in the empire, their high walls draped in white silk and jade, hiding the fact that their true mastery lay in rot and venom.I had prepared for a bloodbath. I had braced my newly forged Dantian to devour clouds of acid and clash with legions of their elite Needle-Wraiths just to breach their inner sanctum and steal the Pagoda manuals.But as we slipped through the outer gates shattering the minor ward, the resistance was... pathetic.We found two guards sleeping at their posts by the eastern wall. In the sprawling hedge labyrinth that protected the inner courtyards, the few cultivators we encountered were lagging behind on their patrols, their Qi signatures lazy and uncoordinated, I didn't even lift a finger before they fell like logs of wood. “Something’s wrong," Yan Hu whispered, his hand hovering near the hilt of his blade. "The Gu are masters of discipline. T

The vault groaned, the silver chains overhead rattled like the teeth of a dying giant. As the Zhao communication talisman flared to life in the corner, a pulse of energy rippled through the room. The Necro-Seals on the hanging cauldrons began to smoke."The array is collapsing," Yan Hu warned, his hand moving to the hilt of his sword. "The failed vessels are..”Crack!!!One cauldron, larger than the others and etched with a double-layered seal, cracked. A thick fluid—the liquid remains stolen dark energy spilled onto the floor. I moved before I could think. My hands, still stained with the Gu Patriarch's blood, caught the lid as it shattered. Inside, curled in a fetal position, was a teenager. He was pale as moonlight, his skin so thin I could see the silver Qi pulsing through his veins like lightning under ice.He shouldn't have been alive. His chest was barely moving, his ribs protruding like the hull of a wrecked ship. He was the last test project Gu patriarch was working on.I

Chapter 20(Malphas) Chen’s POV When we arrived at the towering gate of the Pagoda. I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t think twice. I matched forth, pulling Zhao patriarch by the collar, the young Long resting weakly on my shoulders, while Yan Hu trailed behind keeping a measured distance away from me. We crossed the first barrier and drew closer to the gate before I took out the key. The moment the artifact touched the Pagoda’s gate, the air didn’t just grow heavy—it turned into dust. I felt the Primordial Marrow in my spine hum, a low, vibratory warning. But, strangely, strangely, the suppression seal didn’t strike me. It went for the one with a more demonic aura. The one hollow enough for it to eat —The young boy who was standing beside me. The resonance fractured with the sound of breaking glass. Beside me, the boy didn't even have time to cry out. His demonic energy, denser and more volatile than my refined Void, acted like a lightning rod. The seal didn't just suppress him; it