Within the borders of Niuzhan Country
Qin Fu sat in a teahouse, planning to rest for a while when the conversation from the next table caught his ear.
"Have you heard? Someone else died in the Rotting Forest."
"The Rotting Forest? People still go there?"
"Didn't they say it's haunted? Anyone walking in there is begging to die."
"No kidding. The place is full of poison and strange noises. Who knows what kind of monsters are hiding in there."
Qin Fu took a sip of tea, silently gauging the distance to Baiye Village. A juvenile dragon. With his current strength, that shouldn't be difficult. He decided then and there—since he was already here, he might as well check it out.
A place called the Rotting Forest practically guaranteed rare materials or treasure.
He drained the cup, stood up, and started toward the forest.
Not long after, he arrived before a vast stretch of trees shrouded in a sickly green mist. The air carried an ominous stillness. Qin Fu narrowed his eyes, about to take his first step inside when a shrill scream tore through the air.
Someone burst out of the forest, tumbling and crawling in terror before disappearing down the road.
Qin Fu stared into the darkness.That bad, huh?
He shook his head and pressed forward without hesitation.
After his duel with Hero Mei, he had a solid grasp of his capabilities. As long as he wasn't overwhelmed by endless numbers or ambush tactics, he was—
Unstoppable.
As he moved deeper, the air thickened with green miasma. Qin Fu frowned and raised his Secret Scepter. The energy of the void gathered around his face, shaping itself into a crude spatial filter.
Filter might have been an exaggeration—it simply swallowed the poison, leaving behind clean air.
He advanced steadily, but the forest remained eerily empty.
Nothing unusual. No beasts, no traps. Just silence.
Surely this place wasn't dangerous only because of its bad atmosphere?
Before he could think further, a flash of black shot toward him at incredible speed.
Qin Fu lifted his scepter. A silver-gray rift flared to life, intercepting the strike. For a brief instant, he glimpsed a twisted human face forming in the air before him.
A system prompt chimed in his ears.
[Alert. You are affected by the skill "Night Phantom." Intelligence check in progress... Check passed. You are immune to the control effect.]
"Void Force—He!"
The silver-gray orb flared and streaked forward, smashing into the shadow. But the instant it hit, the figure vanished. Too fast to track—or not real at all.
Qin Fu's eyes narrowed. His mind raced through possibilities, and he cast a Basic Scan.
No signal. No target found. That confirmed it. An illusion.
He continued forward cautiously, mana surging under his skin, ready to teleport at any moment. The next time the shadow appeared, he would seize it instantly.
Compete with a spatial mage in speed? Ridiculous.
But after advancing several miles, Qin Fu realized something was wrong.
The sun hadn't moved. Not even a fraction.
He was certain of it.
Yet Paradise had issued no warnings. Could this entity really deceive even Paradise's system? Impossible.
He stopped walking and closed his eyes to meditate.
Space energy stirred and rippled across his body. At a thought, the elements spread outward like invisible waves.
A shadow flickered at the edge of his perception.
Without hesitation, Qin Fu raised his hand. "Void Force—Cang."
A burst of silver light exploded outward as he teleported at the same instant.
[Void Force has struck an elite entity. Intelligence check successful. Target immobilized for 4.2 seconds.]
Hearing the prompt, Qin Fu knew his spell had landed.
A piercing infant's scream echoed through the Rotting Forest, sharp enough to make the air tremble.
Qin Fu slowly opened his eyes.An owl with a wingspan of nearly three meters was staring straight at him — its pupils glowing like molten gold, its feathers rippling under a faint shimmer of dark mana.
He blinked once and muttered under his breath,
"That… should count as a night owl, right?"
A faint shimmer passed across his vision.
[10 Mana points consumed. Basic Detection activated.]Name: Night OwlHealth: 100%Mana: 200Power: 8Agility: 13Stamina: 10Intelligence: 12Charm: 1Luck: 1
Skill 1 — Night Shadow (Active): Judges target's Intelligence. If successful, induces Fear for 2 seconds.Skill 2 — Divine Bird Slam (Active): Doubles movement speed. Costs 10 Mana / minute.Skill 3 — Hypnosis (Active): Consumes 50% Mana. Forcibly hypnotizes target, but inflicts Stiff status on user.
Qin Fu exhaled softly.So this was the forest's overlord.An Intelligence of 12 — that was higher than most humans he'd met.
The owl shrieked.A razor-edged gale erupted as its colossal wings snapped open, crushing leaves and dust into a spiraling storm.
Qin Fu raised his [Secret Scepter].The void stirred — silver-gray energy swelled outward, forming a translucent barrier that absorbed the pressure like ripples on water.
The Night Demon Owl, enraged that its intimidation had failed, let out another screech.Black mist boiled off its feathers as it dove, leaving a trailing afterimage of pure darkness.
It was like death itself was diving out of the sky.
The mage's cloak whipped violently. The Guide Lantern at his waist flickered with an eerie green glow.Unhurried, Qin Fu lifted his staff again.
The air bent around him.Silver-gray particles began to coalesce into a sphere — a Void Missile forming, humming with restrained power.
Just before the owl reached him, the missile scattered — breaking apart into six smaller fragments that spun around the creature in a perfect orbit.
From a distance, it looked as if a glowing silver ring had been cast around the beast.
Qin Fu's pupils turned gray-white, threads of void energy flickering within.
Inside his mind, the runic frameworks of Fireball, Cang, He, and Void Spell overlapped — intertwining, reforming, calculating in real time.
The owl's talons sliced through the air — only centimeters from his face.
Then—
The orbiting Void Missiles erupted.Each fragment discharged a compressed energy pulse that ripped through the Night Demon Owl's body.
BOOM!
The creature let out a piercing cry before crashing lifelessly into the forest floor.
Qin Fu exhaled, sweat beading on his forehead.The spell sequence had looked effortless — but his mind was burning from the strain.He had simultaneously maintained six spell matrices, calculated trajectory and timing, and applied He's Repulsion to detonate the core energy at precisely the right instant.And all while keeping a Stop Field primed for emergency defense.
Even with his mental conditioning, dizziness washed over him — a disorienting, wine-drunken fog.
He pulled out a [Sweet Whole Fruit], bit into it, and felt warmth return to his body.
After a short rest, he approached the fallen Night Demon Owl, its body still twitching faintly, dark feathers stained with shimmering mana residue.
Qin Fu's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Not bad," he murmured."As the first test subject for my new casting pattern… you've given me quite the data set."