“Faster!” Gorgo’s voice was a panicked roar, a blast of hot air directly into Cade’s ear as he risked a glance over his shoulder in stark trepidation.

  “Do you think I’m taking a stroll here?!” Cade gasped out, his own lungs burning. The dead weight of the four-hundred-pound giant felt heavier with every passing moment.

  Carrying Gorgo while running from a pack of enraged apes through a muddy, thawing forest was beginning to take a toll on his body. Each footstep was a sucking schlup in the mud, each breath a ragged tear in the cold air. If this were the Cade from four weeks back, when the two of them had first met, their mangled corpses would already be cooling in the muck. Luckily, during that time he had drunk deeply from the blood of many Rank 1 creatures, preserving hundreds of additional liters of potent essence inside his ring.

  With such a huge influx of power, Cade had blown past the early stage and peaked the middle of the Blood Transformation realm. The change was profound; it had effectively doubled his raw strength and notably increased his speed. He sensed that his body was much denser now, the flesh and bone woven tight with powerful blood qi. He felt that if he took a direct hit from one of the hooting, crashing apes behind them, he’d likely end up with mostly superficial damage. Indeed, Master Lao Ren’s words were true—the Asura’s body was their greatest asset.

  In fact, these gains in strength were a little unexpected. From what his Master had described, the Blood Transformation realm was supposed to focus on regenerative abilities and stamina, with only little gains in physical prowess. Yet, this had not been his experience. Cade’s body was developing in all its aspects, a fact that filled him with immense satisfaction. Though his speed and agility were still his best attributes, his strength was beginning to catch up.

  Still, carrying this giant of a man on his back while sprinting at full speed was slowly exhausting even his toughened body.

  Gorgo, clinging on like a massive limpet, once again injected a small amount of qi into the map slip. “We’re getting close to the river! Can you jump that far?”

  “I’ll have to,” Cade replied, his voice a low growl of grim determination.

  After completing the middle stage of Blood Transformation, his blood qi became twice as rich and the energy stored inside his voracious heart was likewise more condensed. This allowed him to use the first minor technique he had learned from the Book of Life: blood qi ignition. For a few precious breaths of time, it would dramatically increase his physical capabilities. However, everything had a price. If he ignited too much blood, aside from injuring himself, he’d simply collapse from the strain, which in their current predicament meant a speedy trip back into the reincarnation cycle.

  All of this came about because of the string of successes the duo had experienced. Initially, Gorgo had been quite wary of him, the memory of Cade’s jaws tearing out the throat of the man-eating ape apparently still fresh in his mind. The young Asura could swear that for the first week, his new companion slept with one eye open. However, after they defeated over three dozen spirit beasts together, he had finally earned his companion’s trust. As they continued to fight and win, they gradually became less cautious, starting to consider themselves something of local overlords. In that time Gorgo’s spiritual foundation had become rock solid, and he had easily broken through into the sixth stage of Qi Condensation. Their attention had grown lax, which is how they were ambushed.

  While exploring a small canyon, they unknowingly entered the territory of a whole troop of man-eating apes. The small band apparently lived inside a large cave the two of them almost walked into before sensing multiple spiritual fluctuations, a sudden flare of warning that made them instantly retreat. As it turned out, this had saved their lives. All of the beasts were at least twenty feet tall and at the middle stage of Rank 1, with the exception of the alpha—a terrifying thirty-foot-tall red ape, with a mug only a blind mother could love. That one had advanced to the late stage, its spiritual fluctuations an oppressive wave of power suggesting it was close to the peak of Rank 1.

  It was the alpha who had unexpectedly attacked them. Standing on the top of the jagged cliffs walling off the canyon, the alpha threw a massive boulder at Gorgo, who the ape deemed the more dangerous target of the two due to his size. The huge rock blitzed through the air with the speed of a catapult projectile, its shadow falling over them a split second before Cade shouted a warning.

  Gorgo attempted to leap out of danger, but the huge rock arrived too fast. Only thanks to his instincts and quick reaction time was he able to escape instant death. Still, the boulder ended up catching his left foot, smashing it with a wet, sickening crunch. Cade didn’t even consider facing off against the apes with the peak Rank 1 alpha present. Instead, he grabbed the screaming Gorgo and immediately legged it.

  He was now pushing his body to its absolute physical limits in a desperate attempt to reach their only shred of hope—a broad river they had crossed half a day earlier. Man-eaters were filthy creatures who despised washing their foul bodies; they would go out of their way to avoid even the slightest drizzle. Still, it wasn't impossible for the ravenous apes to follow them as long as the water wasn’t too deep. Cade had to leap as far into the river as possible, after which hopefully the strong current would carry them away from danger.

  “Hold on tight, we’re in for a cold bath,” Cade warned, finally spotting the shimmering line of the riverbank in the distance. Taking a few shallow, desperate breaths, the young Asura ignited a large amount of blood qi within his legs. It felt as if someone poured liquid fire into his veins. Cade’s body instantly shot forward, leaving a faint afterimage behind, immediately distancing them from the hooting apes. The creatures were dangerously fast over short distances but ultimately weren’t built for running and had only managed to keep up with Cade due to their overwhelming size and ground-eating strides.

  As Cade sprinted towards the river, he eyed a large rock near the water’s edge and, using a portion of his newfound strength, easily reached its peak in a single jump. He then unleashed all the ignited blood qi accumulated in his lower body, pushing off with both feet, launching both of them forward with explosive force. Unable to bear the pressure, the upper part of the boulder cracked with a sharp, resounding snap, accompanied by a few wisps of stone dust.

  The young Asura clenched his teeth as his leg muscles burst from effort, erupting with a searing pain. Fortunately, if there was something Cade was really good at, it was his ability to maintain sharpness and focus despite an otherwise debilitating injury.

  “What a good jump!” Gorgo laughed with exhilaration as they soared over fifty feet through the air before falling into the dark, freezing waters with a loud splash. Cade himself felt like cheering despite the agony in his legs, stunned by the unexpected force of his own leap.

  The rapid current immediately carried their tumbling bodies, and by the time Cade and Gorgo’s heads burst out of the water, the roaring apes were already disappearing in the distance. Just as they hoped, the beasts were unwilling to give further chase and leave their home undefended.

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  “Let’s start making our way to the other side!” Cade yelled, pointing at the bank.

  “Alright!” the gray giant yelled back.

  Several long breaths later, both men crawled out onto the riverbank like two wet, exhausted dogs. Cade’s legs were so hurt he had to drag his body through the shallow waters using only the strength of his arms. The moment they found themselves on solid ground, Cade traced his ring, taking out a bunch of heat rocks.

  “Good man!” Gorgo’s face lit up, only for his expression to grow solemn in the next moment as he noticed how seriously wounded Cade was. “How bad is it?”

  “Give me a day of rest, a big jug of wine, a gallon of blood, and I’ll be peachy,” Cade replied with a lighthearted smile. He had plenty of blood essence stored, so he wasn’t concerned about not recovering.

  “Don’t forget about some inexpensive female company!” Gorgo chortled before looking at his destroyed foot and popping a few healing pills.

  “What about your foot?” Cade inquired, smiling widely, happy the big guy didn’t appear very concerned. Still, the foot looked quite bad even with the boot on, and Gorgo didn’t possess his healing abilities.

  “It’ll be fine in a couple of days. These pills are expensive, but they are basically magic.”

  “That’s good,” Cade laughed with relief. They both grinned at each other, but then, recalling what they just went through, their expressions grew serious once again.

  “I’m sorry, Gorgo. I messed up,” Cade said, his shoulders sagging.

  “Nah, it’s not your fault. I have a lot more experience than you and should have been more vigilant. This time we got really close to reincarnating.”

  Cade nodded, staring into the distance. He was now strong enough to defeat middle stage Rank 1 beasts on his own, but not powerful enough to risk fighting late stage ones. Additionally, he could sense the blood he obtained was no longer very effective at progressing his cultivation. It would probably be enough to push him into the late stage of Blood Transformation, but for that to happen he’d need to properly cultivate inside the coffin—not something he could do in their current circumstances.

  “Gorgo, I have to go to Kettle. I think I have gathered enough blood essence, but I can’t risk cultivating here.”

  “Yeah, this was a sign from the heavens to not continue pushing our luck. Besides, I need to buy more healing pills, and I have plenty of cores to sell,” Gorgo must have been following a similar train of thought, as he quickly agreed.

  Cade looked around the mostly empty riverbank. The Verdant Sea was in a period of transition, where it was no longer cold, but the vegetation had only begun to recover after a long winter. The landscape’s monotony was broken by an occasional leafless tree, with a couple of large hills in the distance. Cade’s pupils narrowed into thin slits, magnifying the view and bringing the closest hill into focus.

  “There’s a small cave less than a mile away from here. Even two cripples like us should be able to get there in no time,” Cade pointed in the direction of a distant cliffside.

  “Perfect, let’s rest up a little more and then get moving. In two days I’ll be ready for a dance-off,” Gorgo laughed. His mood was great now that they had successfully escaped from the jaws of death, and he could feel the growing warmth inside his foot, a sure sign of his bones knitting under the influence of powerful pills.

  As the sun began to hide behind the horizon, the two young men set off, slowly making their way through the barren land.

  —

  “I know this question is a little personal, but would you mind telling me which race you’re from?” Cade felt like he and Gorgo were now fairly close due to their recent adventures, so he hoped the gray giant wouldn’t mind the question.

  “To tell you the truth, I don’t actually know,” the gray giant shrugged. “My story is so ridiculous, even I find it hard to believe. I can tell you if you like, it’s no big secret.” Gorgo brought himself closer to the fire, which Cade had built to recharge a few of the smaller heat rocks, its flames making their small cave quite cosy.

  “Sure! Besides, it’s not like we have anything else to do for the time being,” Cade chuckled, glancing around their shelter.

  “Fair enough,” Gorgo laughed softly, adding a small stick to the fire, which crackled and hissed. “My first memory is only from around two years ago,” his lips curled up seeing Cade’s surprised expression. “I told you it’s going to be weird. Anyway, I woke up inside a box not unlike a coffin, except it appeared to be a medical artifact of some sorts. Or at least it smelled like one. I was skin and bones back then and could barely stand up. I found myself in a room built of dark metal; there was nothing else inside other than a few lights floating close to the ceiling. But it gets better—one of the walls was missing. And do you know what was there instead?”

  “I honestly have no idea,” Cade replied, his curiosity building.

  “Blackness filled with millions of stars. Cade, I was a few steps away from entering the cosmic void. I am not making this up. Somehow I knew I was gazing at a myriad of distant galaxies. I was so terrified, I immediately dropped to all fours, nearly pissing myself.”

  After spending over a year with Lao Ren, Cade gained a basic understanding of the structure of the universe, so he could imagine how Gorgo must have felt. “Eventually, I dared to crawl up close to the missing wall, and only then I noticed that it wasn’t so much that the wall was gone, but rather it was replaced by a transparent barrier. When I looked down, I could barely pick up my jaw off the floor—below me was an enormous planet, filled with oceans and a huge landmass. I’m telling you Cade, I will never forget this sight. Suddenly I felt as if the planet was sucking me in, and the whole space, all the stars, everything in front of me blurred, and I found myself staring at a large hall built of brown stone. The place felt ancient, the only source of light being my little room, which was now somehow connected to the hall. Although I can see in the dark to a decent degree, I still couldn’t perceive the other end.”

  “Anyway, it was at that point that I noticed the barrier had disappeared. Not knowing what else to do, I eventually decided to risk it and step inside. Well, the moment I did, the light behind my back disappeared. Naturally, I immediately turned around, and you know what I saw?”

  “No clue,” Cade promptly replied.

  “A wall. A stone wall, with a slight glimmer to it. It was filled with complex drawings and characters engraved around the edges in a language I couldn’t understand. What I did understand is that it depicted a gateway—and of course it was the exact size of the missing wall in my room. The hall possessed a truly ancient aura and was surprisingly well preserved, though everything was covered with a thick layer of dust. In fact, if not for the dust, you could call it almost pristine. I made my way to the hall’s exit, and gradually over the next few days, I worked out this was a sprawling underground metropolis, located inside a humongous cave, completely abandoned for who knows how long. Thousands of years for sure. Everything that wasn’t made of this particular glimmering stone had long perished and turned to dust.”

  Gorgo reached into his storage pendant, taking out a bottle of wine and mindlessly handing it to Cade.

  “Thank you,” Cade accepted the bottle politely, drinking a couple of mouthfuls before handing it back with an appreciative expression. “It’s quite good.” His voracious heart immediately converted the warm liquid into a tiny amount of blood qi.

  “I bought a few jugs from one of the merchants in Kettle. It was neither cheap nor expensive, and I know nothing about wine other than that I enjoy the taste. Since your family made wine, if you say it’s good, then it means I got decent value for my coin,” Gorgo chortled, gulping the red liquid down.

  “So, what happened next?” Cade asked, now fully engrossed in Gorgo’s story.

  “Next? I ended up meeting a few unappealing fellows. Or maybe to them I was unappealing? Anyway, history is written by the victors, so I say it was them,” Gorgo grinned, a sharp glint in his pale eyes.