A couple of days had passed since she killed the Umbraclaw. Since then, the forest had become her playground. Despite being blind, she moved through it as if she could see.
It was yesterday when she made a breakthrough in her abilities. She had grown used to her heightened senses, and they served to make up for her lack of vision.
She had heard her father talk about how the Heavens were always just, that they always left a way for everyone. She figured it was just some superstition to promote positive attitudes.
Instead, it would seem there might have been some form of truth to it. When she focused her mind on her ears, she could often map an area out in her mind. She could almost picture the trees, the bushes, and the animals around her. Her body was essentially functioning like that of a bat—echolocation now guiding her movements.
It wasn't foolproof. For example, it relied heavily on there being a constant sound around her. The wind was doing a great job, but without wind, she wondered if she could substitute her singing or talking to cause the same effect. As time would tell, that was indeed the case.
Regardless, that wasn't the only thing that had improved.
She had grown used to fighting the demonic beasts that roamed the forest. Just yesterday, she had hunted a Bristleback Boar. It was a beast equal in strength and rank to the Umbraclaw.
Though she hadn't emerged from the battle unscathed, it had taught her some valuable lessons. For example, she had learned she couldn't just win by jumping onto a beast's back and beating it senseless.
The Bristleback Boar was aptly named for the sharp spines running along the entirety of its back. The spines were massive, and each one was about the size of a human torso, perhaps even longer.
It fought by charging, trying to impale anything in its path.
Ironically, that very method of attack became its greatest weakness. When it charged, it had difficulty turning or stopping quickly. Xue had simply practiced dodging the charge, landing a few blows, and repeating the process.
When it finally died, she absorbed its blood just as she had with the Umbraclaw.
She gasped as strength surged through her limbs. Her skin tightened, and her breath deepened. She could feel the blood filling her veins, not just healing the wounds from the spines, but hardening her bones and thickening her muscles.
She still didn't fully understand how or why she was growing stronger within the Body Tempering Realm without breaking through to the next stage. For now, it could only be seen as a blessing.
Her next encounter came three days later. The demonic beast was named the Skyscreech Owl, a feathered terror a little larger than a tall human. It also hunted by sound, much like Xue. Its eyes glowed silver, and its wings emitted high-pitched pulses that disoriented prey. It struck from above, diving with claws extended, sharp enough to shred bark from trees.
When it shrieked, she covered her ears, and then threw herself to the side, causing the owl to miss her. Again, it shrieked, sending a blast of sonic pressure that cracked the bark on a nearby tree. Xue sprinted away, keeping low to the ground as she moved.
She found a rock, crouched behind it, and waited.
The moment it dove again, she launched herself upward, using her momentum to grab its talon. The creature squawked, wings flailing, trying to rise higher. She used her full strength and attempted to yank it down from the air. It screeched as it struggles to flap its wings and escape her grasp.
Unfortunately for the owl, it was not going to escape.
Noticing she was not achieving her goal of yanking it out of the air, she kept a grasp on it and used it to help propel herself when she jumped. She landed on its back and wrapped her legs around its body, her arms locked around its neck.
With a savage twist, she broke it.
The fall was rough, but she landed rolling.
Its blood entered her like a scream. It was sharp, cold, and clean. Her hearing became even sharper. She could hear things a great distance away as if they were happening right next to her. She could hear the heartbeat of beasts she hadn't yet met. Her body tingled with renewed strength.
She decided to head in the direction of the closest heartbeat.
Like this, she ended up facing a demonic beast called the Cragtooth Lizard, a lizard as long as a carriage yet half the size in height with jagged crystalline teeth and hardened scales. It spat shards of crystals from who knows where that could pierce stone. This one had nearly killed her.
The fight dragged for over an hour. Her clothes were torn, her arms cut open. But she learned. She adapted. She heard how it hissed before spitting. She would take cover using trees to avoid the projectiles. Additionally, she timed her movements with its lunges. She waited until it opened its mouth wide.
Then she charged and shoved her fist down its throat and clawed her hand back out of it, ripping its insides apart.
The poor overgrown lizard died twitching.
The blood from this one was different. It felt both heavy and earthy. It was thick and viscous. It sank into her bones, making her heavier, more grounded. She felt her stance improve. Her balance became perfect. Her skin hardened, able to shrug off minor slashes.
The next one was the weirdest fight of all.
Just like the last time, she moved in the direction of the closest heartbeat. When she arrived, she looked in the direction of the heartbeat and saw the creature just curled up on a rock and sunbathing.
Of course, she could not see it literally. She could feel its blood heating up as it lay there.
The beast was a Whiptail Viper, a rank one demonic beast like all the others with a tail as dangerous as its mouth. They were quite large too. Despite being a viper, they were closer in size to the largest pythons and anacondas. Unlike those snakes, this viper, being a demonic beast, was fast. The large size of its body did not matter nor did it impact its movements.
As Xue approached, it glanced in her direction.
Unbeknown to her, its eyes widened in terror as if it saw a creature out of its nightmares. Its body locked up and refused to move.
When Xue arrived in front of it, she couldn't help but be confused as to why this one was not attacking her.
Regardless, she did not want to take the chance it was baiting her in some strange way and promptly smashed its head into paste with her foot.
As she absorbed the blood, she could not help but gasp as it most likely had the greatest changes for her thus far. It flowed in slow waves inside her body, making her joints more flexible. Her movements became fluid, precise. She no longer tripped and she no longer misjudged angles.
Her clumsiness had caused her no shortage of problems in fights. With this, it would hopefully save her some pain.
Night fell as Xue decided to camp beneath a large tree.
She wasn't afraid to start a fire and cook some meat from the beasts she had hunted. The worst thing that could happen was another rank one demonic beast rolling up to her front door and delivering itself to her. She welcomed that outcome wholeheartedly.
Her growth over the past few days since running away had been astonishing, to say the least. She had gone from being weaker than a normal mortal to becoming a true cultivator. One could argue that, even though her physical transformation was incredible, the changes in her mental state were even more profound.
Gaining the ability to navigate using a mixture of echolocation and her blood sight had given her an immeasurable amount of confidence—something she had sorely lacked before. She truly felt alive now. It was as if she could take on the world and still have strength to spare.
What others were born with—vision, ease of movement—she had achieved for herself. It was like learning to walk or talk all over again. The magnitude of change was unbelievable.
She had truly blossomed into someone who could rely on herself for a change.
Most importantly, she was happy. She had almost forgotten about all the trouble waiting for her back at the clan. In fact, she hadn't forgotten—she just didn't really care anymore. She knew she now had the strength and the potential to change her future.
With every hunt, she grew stronger. Despite still being in the Body Tempering Realm, she figured she could fight those in the early stages of the Qi Gathering Realm.
The Qi Gathering Realm itself was exactly what the name implied. Cultivators would begin gathering spiritual energy through the meridians and store it in the dantian.
The most important thing a cultivator gained access to was their martial spirit. Everyone who reached the Qi Gathering Realm would manifest something made of spiritual energy within their dantian. These spirits were typically inherited, passed from the father to the children. While it wasn't impossible to inherit a martial spirit from the mother, it was rare. Even rarer were those who inherited spirits from both parents. Those who did were considered the proud sons and daughters of Heaven—their futures incomparably bright.
The spirits could take a variety of forms—animals, weapons, ancestral phantoms, celestial phenomena, or even abstract concepts. Later, cultivators could even use them in battle or to enhance their arts.
Once a cultivator gathered spiritual energy, they possessed strength far beyond what the human body was ever meant to hold. The energy would flow through their body, enhancing strength and speed to levels beyond mortal capability.
This was even more true at the sixth stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. At that stage, cultivators could begin to use the spiritual energy in their bodies for external purposes. For example, take the bath at the clan. When Xue had wanted to use it, she would have needed a spirit stone to power it. A cultivator at the Minor Manifestation stage—the sixth stage—could activate it without a stone.
At the seventh stage, a cultivator could externalize their Qi even further and use it offensively. Manifesting fists, swords, or other weapons made of Qi became possible—ushering in a new level of destructive power.
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The morning air in the forest was crisp, filled with the scent of pine needles and damp earth. Sunlight filtered gently through the canopy overhead, warming Xue's skin as she stirred beneath the great tree where she had made camp. Birds chirped softly in the branches above, and somewhere nearby, a squirrel darted through fallen leaves.
She breathed in deeply, drawing the forest into her lungs.
It was peaceful here.
For once, there was no blood to taste in the air, no beast stalking her steps, and no memories clawing at the edge of her thoughts.
She stretched slowly, her muscles sore but stronger than they'd ever been. She had the blood she had devoured to thank for that.
She rose to her feet, brushing pine needles from her robe and tilting her head slightly, listening.
The wind danced around her ears. She heard the rustling of leaves, the trickle of a nearby stream, and—
The clash of metal.
It was faint and sounded far, but it was unmistakably someone fighting. Since metal was involved, it was most likely a human or a group of them.
She knew people came to the Emerald Mountains to practice. They would come to hone martial arts and try and make money from beast corpses. Some would come out here having no other alternative. Sometimes a life and death battle was required for a cultivator to push beyond their limits and advance. Regardless, it wasn't impossible for someone to be here, just rare to bump into them.
Curiosity, and perhaps something more instinctual, pulled her toward the sound.
She arrived in time to hear a loud crash and a curse. The sound came from a male, frustrated, and sounding young. The fight was just beyond a break in the tree line.
She slipped forward and tried to hide behind a tree trunk.
In the clearing stood a boy no older than twenty, surrounded by the corpses of two demonic beasts—both mutated wolves, their fur bristling in the wind. Blood stained his sleeves and pooled at his feet. One more wolf remained, growling lowly, circling him as he breathed hard.
He was tall, with sharply cut features, wind-tossed chestnut hair, and dark eyes narrowed with focus. His robe, a deep violet lined in silver, bore the crest of the Zhao Clan.
He spun as the wolf lunged, stepping aside at the last moment and driving his saber into its side with a practiced grunt. The beast squealed and thrashed, but he twisted the blade until it stilled.
Breathing heavily, the youth turned—and froze.
His eyes locked onto Xue.
She clearly needed to work on her hiding abilities.
"You…" he said, eyes widening. "You're Lian Xue?"
She inclined her head. "That's right."
He blinked as if confirming she was real, then strode forward, stopping only a few feet from her.
"You're blind. How the hell are you walking around out here like that? Never mind that—do you have any idea what's going on in the city?"
She remained silent.
He took another step closer, his expression shifting from surprise to something more cautious.
"Your father's tearing the city apart looking for you. Lian Chengwu has accused the Jin Clan of kidnapping you. They say you were taken by Jin Wei, but he has denied such claims and made things worse by getting a bit cocky. Tensions between the two are really high. I heard the elders of your clan want nothing of it. There are rumors that they plan on removing your father as patriarch."
Xue's expression didn't shift, though inside her thoughts churned.
Father thinks that human trash took me? The elders want to replace him?
The boy exhaled, studying her more closely.
"Honestly, I didn't believe the rumors. I thought it was some scheme your clan cooked up to pressure the Jin, but… here you are. You're alone, blind, and in the middle of the woods. You either ran away, got kidnapped, or you're hiding something. Which is it?"
She gave a faint smile. "Who are you?"
"Oh, right," he said, stepping back and offering a half-bow. "Zhao Wenlong. Son of Zhao Hengzhi. As your stepmother comes from our clan, I suppose that makes us something like kin."
Xue tilted her head, amused. "I guess it would. You seem to treat me well despite my blindness. Why are you so nice?"
Wenlong laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "You think I care if you're blind? Look, I only care about cultivation and good food. Plus, I think treating you differently based on you being blind would be pretty shallow of me, wouldn't it?"
"I suppose it would. You would be surprised how many shallow people there are though," she replied. "Anyways, you said tensions are high?"
"Worse than high. If your clan doesn't find you soon, war might break out between the Jins and Lians."
Her jaw tightened. She did not respond to that and instead turned toward the fallen wolves, listening to the blood still warm in their corpses.
Wenlong watched her, frowning slightly. "What are you doing out here? Just surviving?"
"You could say that," she replied softly. "The girl they're looking for died in these woods. I'm not her anymore."
Silence stretched between them.
"What in the world does that mean?" he asked.
"Figure it out."
She turned and slipped back into the woods, her steps soundless as smoke.
Wenlong watched the trees long after she vanished.
"What the hell kind of blind girl moves like that…" he muttered, wiping blood from his blade.
And then he grinned.
"Interesting."