None of the spirit beasts sensed death coming until Cade’s boots slammed into their leader’s back. His momentum drove the creature into the ground, sending clouds of dust into the air, as his bodyweight crushed its chest with a series of loud cracks that suggested dozens of fractures. A fountain of blood and shredded flesh erupted from the werecat’s mouth just as a short blade slid into its spine, ending its life in one clean, efficient motion. Attacking this way was a bit wasteful, but it instantly eliminated one threat. Conserving blood mattered, but survival always came first.

  He had to give it to the other werecats: they reacted quickly. By the time he was finished with their leader, both beasts were already charging at him, rage flickering in their bloodshot eyes, their jaws dripping with thick saliva. However, they weren’t quite as fast as the green silk spiders he had encountered in the Verdant Sea. Cade felt his normal speed had nearly doubled after the breakthrough and already exceeded the level he had previously reached only by igniting his blood qi. His body thrummed with the immense strength granted by his 2,000 prismatic spherules.

  The werecat on the left was slightly faster and was the first to leap at him with a furious roar, its claws aiming for his throat. His danger sense rang at the exact moment Cade sidestepped. He was already tracking the creatures’ life signatures and wanted to avoid getting entangled with the second werecat nearly upon him. As the creature’s lean, outstretched form was about to pass, Cade clenched his teeth and used the majority of his strength to punch it in the side. Although this blow wasn’t enhanced with ignited qi, its effects were still devastating.

  The werecat released a terrified squeal as its entire ribcage caved in with a wet crunch, bones shattering like cheap glass, its internal organs instantly pulverized by the brutal force of the blow. The beast shot through the air like a rock fired from a slingshot, its limp, flailing form barreling straight into the other werecat. Both spirit beasts tumbled over forty feet, sending up clouds of dust and clumps of upturned soil, one growling in frustration, the other deathly still.

  Knowing the last werecat could take off and escape at any moment, Cade lunged towards it like a messenger of death, the lower half of his crimson longcoat fluttering as his figure blurred in the moonlight. The confused beast leaped onto all fours, roaring and shaking its head to overcome dizziness, only to notice a sharp glint in front of its muzzle. A short blade pierced through its eye socket, sliding directly into its brain. Death arrived quickly and mercifully, as the werecat didn’t suffer before its soul was released from its twitching carcass.

  Cade calmly collected all three of their energy cores, sending the corpses into his ring for blood extraction. After this short fight, his elation reached its pinnacle. Flesh Fortification, in combination with the spherules’ prismatic energy, is no joke. If I had fought the Sword Sacrament elder now, my first punch would have vaporized his head. If this is my power at the start of the early stage, what will it be at the great circle? What if I add qi ignition on top? How much stronger will I become if I master the Asura War Form? Cade rubbed his hands, almost giddy with excitement.

  Seeing that some blood essence had already been condensed, he pulled it from the ring into a clay jug and drank it all in a few big gulps, his pupils widening the moment the flavor hit his tongue. Delicious! The complexity was astounding; even the metallic undertones were nuanced. The werecat blood essence was a little spicy, sweet, and thick like honey, soothing his hunger as it glided gently down his throat. His voracious heart woke up immediately and began ravenously consuming the essence, gradually recovering to roughly a quarter of its capacity.

  Just as Cade was about to hop back onto his speeder, his danger sense rang like a hundred tower bells struck in unison. He instinctively threw himself to the side as a dark blur passed silently by. Something extremely sharp carved deep furrows across his back, and the stench of decay struck his nostrils. What the fuck?!

  Cade quickly pulled out his sword and ignited his blood qi, his eyes darting as he tried to discern more details in the silhouette that had stopped thirty feet ahead of him. It was roughly the size of a large man, its shape concealed within billowing, pitch-black smoke. Whatever it was, it showed no signs of life; Cade’s life sense told him there was absolutely nothing there. The foul creature released no spiritual fluctuations, yet it was clearly surrounded by some type of energy.

  Before he could discern anything more, the thing came at him again with a speed far exceeding that of Master Nine's sword projections. Cade gritted his teeth, rage building. He stepped sideways, twisting his body. Using the momentum, he swung his sword in a broad arc with a furious roar, its tip meeting the dark creature’s claw. Incredible force slammed into his weapon, nearly ripping it out of his hand. Surprisingly, the creature retreated, silent as death itself, crossing twenty feet in a single, blurry leap. During this short interaction, Cade had serious problems tracking the being’s movements, his eyes flickering back and forth to stay on target. The black smoke dragging behind it acted to confuse and distract, making it harder to land a hit.

  The foul thing stopped some distance away, standing deathly still. He could now make out its rough shape—it was another werecat. The dark smoke had dissipated from the claw he had blocked, revealing rotting flesh. The Asura was never one to be easily put on the defensive. His voracious heart began releasing rapid waves of ignited blood qi into every corner of his body, filling him with warmth and overwhelming power. He snarled, lunging at the creature with a speed so great that his body left multiple scarlet afterimages in its trail.

  Despite its astounding capabilities, the decaying werecat reacted a touch too late. It appeared hesitant to meet his blade, and Cade used this to his advantage. He thrust the weapon towards the creature’s head—cursing internally at its limited range—and the blade sang as it cut a deadly line through the air. The rotting beast might have been incredibly quick, but it still wasn’t fast enough to match his ignited reflexes. Seemingly baffled by encountering an enemy nimbler than itself, it only managed to tilt its head back at the last moment, but not before Cade carved a deep groove into its skull, slicing away a flap of putrid flesh. This time, the decomposing werecat retreated even further, still making no sound other than its rapid footwork. The strange smoke shifted away from the wound, and another moment of stillness unveiled one half of the creature’s muzzle. A long line was carved through its jawbone into the temple, a large part of its cheek hanging loosely, revealing blackened gums and yellowed teeth. A single dead eye gazed at him, festering with hate.

  The Asura eyed the creature darkly, his jaw muscles rippling. He slowly flourished the sword in front of him in hypnotic arcs. The putrid beast appeared as dead as any corpse, but some devilish force kept it going. It warily followed the point of his sword, as if its whole world had narrowed down to this short blade gleaming wickedly in the moonlight.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Suddenly, the creature turned and darted east with astounding swiftness. Its unexpected decision to retreat utterly stunned Cade. In that moment of hesitation, the werecat crossed more than five hundred feet, pulling out all the stops as it left behind a disappearing trail of black vapor. Within a single breath, its silhouette vanished behind a distant hill.

  Cade exhaled slowly, only now sensing the burning pain in his back. He immediately directed ignited blood qi to the area, using up most of his recently recovered reserves to expel some type of foul energy lingering in the wounds. At the same time, he traced the ring with his thumb, bringing out his speeder. Wasting no time, he jumped into the driver’s seat and rose rapidly towards the starry sky. He didn't feel like chasing the creature, especially since it had escaped in the opposite direction of his own.

  “What in the world was that thing?” Cade mumbled to himself as he resumed his journey towards the Desert of a Thousand Lakes. The first crimson rays of light pushed back the night as the sun began its tireless ascent. For some reason, the deep shadows cast across the landscape reminded him of the abhorrent creature. He pulled out several bestiaries from his ring, some of which he hadn’t had the chance to read yet, and dove deep into their contents.

  After enough time for the sun to establish its dominion in the sky, Cade was still clueless. There was no mention of such a creature anywhere. It didn’t have a life signature, and his danger sense had reacted only at the last moment, giving him a painful lesson on why he always had to be cautious and never rely blindly on its warnings. He was alone in the wilderness, and yet he had allowed himself to relax. A big mistake. Had the creature’s claws struck him with full force, Cade didn’t know if he would have been able to fend it off. Even those shallow wounds had a debilitating effect on him, which was fortunately weak enough to be countered by his ignited qi.

  Luckily, Cade had his shortsword. The young Asura was now convinced his little weapon was special. There was no other reason for that unliving thing to retreat after their first clash. Anyone stuck in a rotting body would be in a constant state of mind-destroying agony and wouldn’t be concerned by such a small cut. In addition, the dark smoke disappeared from the area around the wound on both occasions. No, there was definitely more to this blade than met the eye. Thank you, Master!

  In the end, there wasn’t much more he could do other than stay on guard and not trust any of his senses blindly. The creature was definitely intelligent to some extent, and though it showed no apparent signs of fear, it was certainly concerned with being struck. When he met the decaying werecat’s gaze, he got a strong sense of malicious intent hiding behind it. Replaying their brief clash in his mind, Cade grew more convinced the beast was being at least partially guided by someone, like a semi-conscious puppet with many of its instincts intact but no real mind of its own. Whether this was the case or just his imagination running wild was impossible to tell.

  One thing this whole situation prompted in him was an even greater sense of urgency to cultivate and understand the prismatic energy growing inside him. If he had encountered that nightmarish monstrosity a few days earlier, while still at the great circle of Blood Transformation, he’d be dead. Absolutely, positively, and unquestionably dead. All his ideas of returning to the Brightheart Empire anytime soon had likewise evaporated. He might be able to defeat Marius, but with him crippling one of the ten heirs, it was guaranteed someone a lot more powerful would get involved. Doubtlessly, there would be the Empire’s manhunters and other top cultivators waiting for him, and he absolutely did not feel like facing anyone in True Core.

  Moving forward, Cade had a singular goal: to put himself in a position where he would never have to run away again. Due to insane luck, he was reborn as a superior lifeform, and he had to take advantage of every aspect of his new body. To not do so would be a sin. He had to grow his cultivation and master its facets, just as he hoped to master the art of the sword.

  After quickly flipping through the accessible parts of the Flesh Fortification section in the Book of Life, he found no mention of the strange blood-churning aura Gorgo was exposed to. Neither was there anything about the red mist that had terrified his friend. It seemed he’d have to learn how to control these abilities on his own. After some deliberation, Cade decided to postpone further experiments with the prismatic bead until he was in a secure location, in case he lost consciousness or badly hurt himself.

  He no longer dared to stop anywhere. According to the map, he was entering an area where Rank 3 creatures would occasionally make an appearance. With the staggering difference in power between Rank 2 and 3—similar to the chasm between Foundation Establishment and True Core—his chances of winning against such a terrifying foe weren’t good. Sighing, Cade continued onward, moving swiftly under the cover of soft, white clouds. He continuously drank the delicious blood essence, filling one bloodstone after another. With just one of those handy crystals, he could recover nearly a quarter of his heart’s capacity in a few breaths of time. Considering how much his reservoir had increased after the breakthrough, he was more than happy with this amount. Even though he really wanted to dig into the new information in the Book of Life and learn the new techniques, the bloodstones were currently his priority and most important trump card.

  Half a day later, all the blood essence he had obtained was gone. Cade now had a full heart and eight gems brimming with life energy. As long as he didn’t use his abilities, a full heart should last him around two weeks, possibly a little more as the spiritual qi density was continuously rising. This was roughly the same amount of time as when he was at the peak of Blood Transformation, which meant his passive consumption had increased alongside his heart’s capacity. If my prismatic spherules keep multiplying—and they probably will for at least one more breakthrough thanks to the bead—then my cultivation speed will slow down even more. There has to be a way around this problem.

  Those little greedy specks of light seemed to feed on both spiritual and blood qi, the same as his voracious heart. This gave Cade an idea. Normally, consuming spiritual qi pills would be a waste of crystals, as his heart could only convert a tiny amount of their energy into blood qi. However, if he could feed his spherules with spiritual qi, it should, in theory, substantially improve his blood qi retention. As a result, both the speed and efficiency of his cultivation could rise to a reasonable level while lowering the time he needed to spend tracking and hunting.

  Naturally, the downside was the cost of such pills. Another option would be to simply purchase a lot of high-quality blood. It was difficult to say which solution would be less expensive, something he had to try soon. One thing was certain: he needed a way to earn a lot of spirit crystals. What he had now would eventually run out.

  With the Arrow’s air-piercing speed, Cade didn’t need to worry too much about flying spirit beasts, but after the recent event, he had grown more cautious. So far, he hadn't encountered any dangers moving at high altitude, as most flying creatures stayed much closer to the ground where food was plentiful. Despite that, he continued to release pulses of his life sense, extending it to its limit. He would take nothing for granted anymore.

  With the bloodstones ready, it was time for him to start learning the new abilities and maybe even get a preview of what tecjhniques awaited him in the future. With hands trembling from excitement, Cade opened the Book of Life.