The Samsara Jade

Chapter 24

"SKREEE—" The beast’s scream was cut short. Its massive body shook once, and then collapsed heavily into the mud. It was dead instantly. 

Li Chen stood there, his arm covered in green blood. He looked at his fist in pure amazement. 

"That... was incredible," Li Chen whispered. 

"Hmph. It was barely acceptable," Old Kui grumbled in his mind. "But it will keep you alive. Now, use the Devouring Art. Find the core."

Li Chen reached deep inside the dead beast's ruined head. His fingers touched something hard and round. He pulled it out. 

It was a glowing green stone, about the size of an apple. It pulsed with rich, wild energy. 

"A Beast Core," Li Chen smiled. Demonic beasts gathered all their spiritual energy into these cores over hundreds of years. 

Li Chen placed his hand over the core. "Swallowing the Heavens' Breath."

The dark vortex in his palm opened. The massive suction force instantly drained the green stone. In three seconds, the glowing core turned into a handful of grey ash. 

A rush of warm, heavy dark Qi flooded Li Chen's dantian. He felt his power level grow significantly, pushing him very close to the 4th Level of Qi Condensation. 

"The purple fog is good for healing, but eating beast cores is the fastest way to grow," Old Kui explained slowly. "You are in the Beast Chasm. There are thousands of monsters down here. Over the next few weeks, you must hunt. You must fight. You must bleed. Learn the Void Shattering Fist. Learn how to move quietly. The heavens will not give you power for free. You must steal it."

"I understand," Li Chen said. His voice was completely different now. The scared, crying boy from the Outer Sect was completely dead. The person standing in the mud was a cold, calculating predator. 

"Good. I must sleep again to restore my soul. Do not die, little Devourer." Old Kui's voice faded away into silence. 

Li Chen looked around the dark, foggy chasm. It was a terrifying place, but to him, it was an endless treasure chest. 

"Let the hunt begin," Li Chen whispered. 

…

The Beast Chasm did not have a sun. It was always dark, lit only by the glowing purple miasma and strange, magical plants. Li Chen quickly lost track of the days. He measured time by his hunger and his kills. 

During the first week, Li Chen focused on learning how to move. 

Because his body was so heavy and dense from the Void-Iron Physique, his footsteps were naturally loud. If he stepped carelessly, he sounded like a falling rock. 

He found a nest of Toxic Iron-Centipedes deep inside a narrow mud cave. These centipedes were twenty feet long, covered in dark brown armor, and could spit melting green acid. They were highly sensitive to sound. 

Li Chen spent three days just stalking them. He learned to control the dark Qi in his legs, letting it form a soft, invisible cushion under his feet. He learned how to step lightly on the wet mud without making a single splashing sound. 

On the fourth day, he finally attacked. 

He dropped silently from the ceiling of the cave, landing directly on the back of the largest centipede. 

The giant bug hissed wildly, twisting its long body to bite him. It spat a stream of green acid. 

Li Chen dodged smoothly, his body moving like a shadow. He had practiced the footwork Old Kui taught him thousands of times. He planted his back foot firmly on the centipede's shell. He twisted his hips. 

"Void Shattering Fist!" Li Chen shouted. 

Boom! His heavy iron fist smashed down. The thick brown shell of the centipede cracked completely in half. Yellow blood sprayed everywhere. 

The other centipedes rushed at him. Li Chen did not run. He danced between their snapping jaws. He threw punch after brutal punch. Every strike was perfect. Every strike carried the force of the earth. 

In ten minutes, the cave was completely silent. Five giant centipedes lay dead in pieces. 

Li Chen walked through the blood. He ripped open their heads and pulled out five glowing brown Beast Cores. 

He sat down in the middle of the cave, covered in bug blood, and activated the Devouring Art. 

The dark vortex swallowed the energy of the five cores. The wild energy rushed into his stomach. The Chaos Root crushed it and purified it. 

BOOM! 

A shockwave of dark Qi blasted out from Li Chen’s body, clearing the dust from the cave. 

He opened his eyes. The dark light in his pupils was deeper and more terrifying. 

"4th Level of Qi Condensation," Li Chen said quietly. 

He was growing stronger at an impossible speed. He stood up and walked out of the cave, hungry for more. 

…

By the second and third weeks, Li Chen had completely shed his humanity. 

His cheap, grey Outer Sect trousers had finally torn completely away in battle. He had skinned a giant, mutated shadow-wolf and wrapped its thick black fur around his waist like a savage. 

His skin was permanently a dull, metallic grey. He rarely spoke. He only listened to the sounds of the chasm. The drip of the water. The shift of the rocks. The breathing of the beasts. 

He was no longer a victim; he was the law of the jungle. 

He learned to use the purple fog to his advantage. Because he could breathe the deadly miasma easily, he often hid inside the thickest, most toxic clouds. 

One day, a pack of six Two-Headed Mutated Wolves tried to hunt him. They were smart, fast, and deadly. They surrounded his camp, moving silently in the dark. 

But Li Chen was quieter. 

He did not wait for them to attack. He became the ghost in the fog. 

He slipped into the thickest purple cloud. When the alpha wolf walked past, Li Chen struck from the blindness. 

He reached out with his bare hands, grabbed the alpha wolf by both of its necks, and simply squeezed.