The world flashed in a blinding flare of white light, and Cade found himself standing in a small cave, body facing the exit. Under the soles of his boots, a two-foot-wide circular diagram was deeply carved into the stone floor, its edges sharp, glowing with residual cold light. Outside, an dense forest stretched into the encroaching twilight, alive with sharp cries of birds and the rustling of branches. A thin, fresh layer of snow blanketed everything, a stark contrast against the deep browns of the seemingly lifeless vegetation.

  I left home at the peak of summer, he thought, the realization settling in his bones. This must be the end of winter.

  Cade inhaled deeply. The frigid air was a clean burn in his lungs, a welcome shock after spending so much time inside the coffin. He was happy to smell something else—damp stone, cold earth, pine, anything really—even though the scent of blood was… not unappetizing. Some deep, primal part of him even cherished the thought of fresh, warm blood pouring down his throat.

  There were thousands of creatures around him, he could sense the collective hum of their life force. A few were large and lumbering, but most were small and quick. This vast tapestry of heartbeats made his own voracious heart speed up in rising excitement.

  He needed to hunt. His heart’s reservoir was nearly empty, a nagging ache in his chest that was more than just hunger. But what could he hunt? His mind flashed back to long afternoons spent poring over his father’s old leather-bound bestiary. The book was filled with drawings of creatures from this very forest, which he learned from Lao Ren was called the Verdant Sea.

  His father had explained it to him once, tapping a clawed illustration with a calloused finger. "The power of a spirit beast is categorized by Rank," he had said. "Most creatures you'll find near the Empire's borders are Rank 1, their strength a match for a Qi Condensation cultivator, or a Qi Saturation body refiner. They're dangerous, but manageable for an experienced group. But a Rank 2... a Rank 2 is a different beast entirely, as strong as Foundation Establishment and Skeletal Reinforcement experts. When you see one of those, turn around and run. Don’t look back, don’t think, focus on getting away. Luckily for us, they are very rare."

  A Rank 1 beast, then. He would find one, kill it, and use its blood to refill his voracious heart. He could store any excess as fuel for his coffin cultivation.

  Darkness was falling fast. He decided to spend the night in the cave, using the time to forge a plan for the coming days. As long as he had enough blood qi, he didn’t necessarily have to sleep. Still, at his low rank, his passive energy consumption would steadily grow with every hour he was forced to stay awake. Regular periods of rest were necessary.

  After he inventoried the supplies Lao Ren had included, Cade wanted to learn everything available to him in the Chapter of the Flesh. He had already tested his storage ring, which he now wore on his index finger. By tracing the cool metal with his thumb, he could use a tiny amount of blood qi to browse its contents, viewing them within his realm of consciousness. Fortunately, accessing the realm no longer required his full attention; otherwise, using the ring during a fight would be dangerously distracting. There was still a small delay between bringing an object in and out of the ring, but apparently, this was how all storage artifacts worked.

  His realm of consciousness was no longer the same. It was now a vast, endless ocean of dense, red fog that swirled with silent energy. Above it—a dark, endless expanse. Within this crimson world, Cade manifested a glowing orb—a tangible representation of his voracious heart. It not only stored blood qi but also delivered it into every part of his body through a system of channels, saturating his flesh with potent life force. The heart could also convert other types of energy into blood qi, though the efficiency, for now, was miserably low.

  Fortunately, like almost anything inside his body, the heart would improve with cultivation. As he discovered almost immediately after leaving the coffin, it allowed him to sense other life forms, though for now only within a limited radius of five to six hundred feet. It would still prove incredibly useful for tracking spirit beasts.

  The Asura in the First Chapter used blood qi for everything; it was the sole source of sustenance for their bodies, capable of replacing food, air, and water. Master Lao Ren explained that in the early cultivation stages, the voracious heart wasn’t able to convert spiritual qi fast enough to stop the body from slowly starving over time. Even if all an Asura did was sleep, the process would only slow, never stop. Cade would need to regularly replenish his blood qi, either by directly drinking blood or through the coffin.

  That was why obtaining fresh, potent blood was his primary concern, and that meant he had to fight.

  Among the ring’s contents, Cade found a simple, one-handed sword. The weapon wasn’t large—its total length below three feet. It had an uncommonly stubby crossguard that barely extended past the width of the blade. Though the sword lacked even the slightest ornamentation, it was precisely crafted, appearing as if forged from a single piece of metal polished to perfection. Its silver hue carried a warmer tint than ordinary steel, and the weapon itself was slightly warm to the touch. He had never seen such a blade in his life. Its form might have been unassuming, but its origin clearly was not.

  Lao Ren knew Cade felt most confident when fighting with a sword, having spent countless hours practicing with it since he was a boy. He had impressed upon his disciple the importance of learning how to fight from a true master, ideally an experienced sword cultivator. Thanks to his advice, Cade already had an idea of how to approach this issue, but that was a problem for the future.

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  As Cade enjoyed the familiar weight of the sword in his hand, he recalled the long afternoons spent training with his father. He could almost smell the fragrant steam rising from the cup of tea his mother held as she sat on a chair nearby, watching them. The village of Springwine was located within the Thousand Leaves county, known for its high-quality teas and inexpensive spirit wines.

  A familiar sadness coiled like a cold serpent around his heart. He missed them both with a terrible, physical ache. Almost immediately, the gruesome image of his mother’s decapitated head flashed in his mind, and Cade felt his own blood come to a slow, furious boil. He involuntarily clenched his teeth until his jaw ached.

  Mom, your son was unfilial. The villagers had to send off your spirit. You sacrificed everything for me, and I couldn’t even give you a proper burial.

  There was no way to turn back time, but he could at least obtain revenge. He had to be patient, despite the raw hatred that had accumulated inside him like poison. He had no choice but to endure, and to grow stronger. There was definitely someone in charge of Gris, and they were guaranteed to be more powerful than the pockmarked man. If Cade wanted to fulfill his need for vengeance, his only option was to cultivate and improve as quickly as possible.

  He focused his attention back on the ring, accessing its contents once more. There, he noticed a familiar sight: heat rocks. These unassuming gray stones were only found around areas with volcanic activity and were incredibly useful for any homestead. His family owned a fairly small heat rock, but it could still warm up the main room on a cold winter night. Even a modest-sized rock could give away a surprising amount of warmth while releasing barely any light. They usually sat inside the hearth to charge, allowing the family to reduce their wood consumption during winter.

  The rocks were a great alternative to lighting a fire, especially for him, who wanted to keep his presence concealed. Since his rocks appeared to be fully charged—no doubt thanks to Master Lao Ren—he took one out and placed it nearby. A dry, steady warmth began to radiate from it, pushing back the cave's damp chill. In theory, he could use blood qi to sustain himself through the harshest conditions, but right now, he had to conserve the small amount left inside his voracious heart.

  Tracing the ring with his thumb, Cade took out the Book of Life, admiring its red leather cover inscribed with pulsing runes. They glowed with a faint, crimson light in the cave’s gloom. It was the language of Chthon, which Cade had studied in depth during his stay in the coffin. It came surprisingly easily to him. Since his eyes could now see in the dark with amazing clarity, even the sparse moonlight falling through the cavern’s entrance was more than enough for him to read. Settling down, Cade couldn’t help but sigh.

  The Asura truly are a superior race. Everything comes easier to them.

  Setting all distractions aside, Cade opened the book and infused it with a whisper of blood qi. He observed with fascination as the initially blank pages began filling up with carefully calligraphed runes and precisely drawn diagrams that seemed to bleed into existence. With no small amount of excitement, he delved right in.

  The first cultivation realm in the Chapter of the Flesh was called Blood Transformation. Its goal was to gradually increase the density of his blood qi, which would then allow him to rapidly heal any shallow wound, and recover from life-threatening ones within a day. Just thinking about cultivating it to completion made him feel an almost giddy sense of power.

  Curious about what secrets were hidden in the further parts of the book, Cade began turning the pages. However, after reaching the end of the Blood Transformation realm, he found it progressively harder to decipher the rest. Just staring at the words gave him a throbbing headache, and he sensed that if he tried to forcefully decipher them, his head might actually explode.

  He managed to unveil some general information about the second realm, which focused on fortifying the whole body, hence its name: Flesh Fortification. According to Master Lao Ren, with the completion of the second realm, the First Chapter of the Book of Life was brought to conclusion.

  I guess what Master said is true, he mused, rubbing his temples. The content of the book is cultivation-locked. My blood qi needs to rise in potency if I want to read it.

  After quite some time spent with the small red book, Cade was finally satisfied; he felt he had gained a solid understanding of the Blood Transformation realm. Putting the book away, he pulled out an elegant crystal slip containing the map of the local area. He had to be very precise, injecting only the tiniest speckle of blood qi into the slip. It was obtained by Lao Ren from a local merchant while Cade was going through the conversion, and it required a small amount of spiritual qi to work.

  Fortunately, blood qi also worked for powering most spiritual qi artifacts, though its amount had to be tightly controlled. If the object wasn’t made to be used with blood qi, then it would gradually break down over time. This was not a big deal for things that were commonly available, like maps, but many artifacts were rare and outrageously expensive. This meant he’d need to search for the so-called blood artifacts, which were usually created as trump cards for qi cultivators. Burning blood qi in life-and-death situations would allow them to release vast amounts of energy, but often led to permanent damage to their foundations. Dropping down a stage—or even a full realm—wasn’t out of the question. Because of this, qi cultivators were naturally hesitant to use blood qi. According to Master Lao Ren, blood artifacts were seldom encountered on the Sun Continent.

  When the map appeared within his realm of consciousness, it made Cade gasp in delight. Everything was incredibly detailed, giving him a perfect bird’s eye view of the land for hundreds of miles. Thankfully, Lao Ren marked the cave’s position on the map; otherwise, it would have probably taken Cade a long time to get his bearings.

  It was long past midnight when he felt it first—a faint vibration through the stone floor. Then came the sound, a distant, rhythmic thumping, punctuated by the sharp crack of breaking trees. Something massive was carving a path through the frozen forest. The noise grew steadily louder, a heavy, earth-shaking tread.

  A few moments later, the edges of Cade’s life sense flared, picking up a powerful presence.

  Whatever this spirit beast was, it was huge and dangerous - its life force pointing to the middle-stage of Rank 1.

  And apparently, it was heading straight for his cave.