By dark-kingxu
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The forest murmured in its sleep.
Xu Ming stirred from where he lay, the bark at his back rough and cool. The night before had nearly broken him. But now, as golden threads pulsed faintly around him, he sat upright and retrieved the cores from the storage ring.
Three demonic beast cores rested in his palm. Each one pulsed with a dull, flickering light — residual energy that had once fueled the beasts' ferocity.
> "Let's see what you left behind."
He took a deep breath and began refining the first.
The Qi within it was wild, untamed — like trying to drink fire. His meridians burned as it surged through his channels, threatening to tear him apart from the inside.
Gritting his teeth, he forced it into a controlled spiral, guiding the heat into his dantian.
A single hour passed. Then another.
He refined the second. Then the third.
By sunrise, sweat soaked his robes, but his Qi pool had doubled. His senses sharpened — sounds clearer, sight deeper, the threads more vivid than ever.
Still…
> "Not enough."
He stood, blood pounding through his veins.
> "Let's test the edge again."
---
The forest didn't disappoint.
By midday, he encountered his next opponent — a Stonehide Boar. Its body was like armored iron, tusks the size of spears. Its cultivation? Slightly below his — still within the early Qi Spark Stage.
But what it lacked in power, it made up in rage.
The boar charged. Trees splintered behind it as it roared forward.
Xu Ming's eyes flickered silver.
> The left flank—unarmored. Threads pulled tight near the hind leg.
He sidestepped, barely avoiding the charge, and slashed his dagger in a clean arc. Sparks flew — only a shallow cut.
> Too shallow. I need more force.
He didn't retreat.
He ducked low, drew on his enhanced Qi, and kicked forward — directly at the joint of the boar's foreleg.
Crunch!
The beast shrieked and toppled, flailing. Xu Ming rolled beneath it, plunged the dagger into its underbelly, and twisted until warm blood sprayed across his arm.
The boar fell still.
He didn't savor the victory. Instead, he stood, chest rising and falling, and whispered:
> "Next."
---
The second was a Windclaw Lynx, agile and swift. It came from above — leaping from the trees, claws extended, wind wrapped around its limbs like blades.
Xu Ming barely reacted in time, a thread warning him half a breath before it struck.
He hit the ground hard, shoulder tearing, but twisted to parry the second strike. The lynx vanished, reappearing to his right.
This one was cunning.
The fight raged through the trees. Xu Ming used terrain to his advantage, bouncing off roots, hiding behind trunks, luring the lynx into narrow spots where its speed couldn't fully bloom.
Then he struck.
The moment the lynx lunged from a blind angle, he threw a fistful of dirt in its eyes and slid under its belly, driving his dagger deep into its throat.
Blood poured over his hand as the beast twitched once… and died.
His shoulder bled, ribs cracked — but his heart was steady.
> "Still not enough…"
---
The third was a brute — a Boulderback Ape. Slower than the others, but strong, and relentless. Its fists broke stone with each strike, and it screamed like thunder every time it missed.
Xu Ming weaved through its blows, the threads around its elbows and knees glowing bright with tension.
He struck these points again and again — small hits, testing its guard, breaking its rhythm.
But one glancing blow caught his side. His vision blurred.
He spat blood and grit his teeth.
> "You hit like a mountain…"
He leapt, reversed mid-air, and landed on its back, stabbing into the spine base again and again.
The ape bucked, screamed—
Crack!
Its body fell like a collapsing tree.
Xu Ming staggered back, covered in filth and blood, panting like a beast.
---
That night, pain wrapped around him like a shroud.
He sat beneath the moon, legs crossed, and let the three new cores hover in his palm.
He refined them.
Slowly.
One by one, their energy seeped into his channels, stretching him further, burning deeper.
His body shuddered as something cracked within.
Then—
> Boom!
His dantian pulsed. Qi surged through his meridians, and impurities flooded from his pores — black, foul-smelling, thick as sludge.
He coughed. Vomited filth.
His vision blurred.
Then cleared.
The world sharpened. Everything — sound, smell, threads — all of it grew louder, brighter, more precise.
His Qi… danced now.
> Qi Spark – Stage Two.
A cruel, satisfied smile touched his lips.
> "This is the path, then…"
---
But just as he stood—
A light shimmered through the trees.
Not moonlight.
He followed the light and saw a strange glowing fruit nestled within a bed of jade-colored leaves. The Qi around it was dense — almost tangible.
> "A spiritual fruit."
He stepped forward—
A growl answered.
From behind the tree rose a massive, four-armed beast. Its hide was bone-white, its eyes crimson. The threads around it pulsed like blades — this one was strong.
Stronger than anything he'd fought so far.
> Qi Spark… Stage Four.
Xu Ming froze.
Even at his current level, he wouldn't last a breath in close combat with that monster.
The fruit gleamed behind the beast like a prize.
But he turned away.
> "Not yet."
---
As he vanished into the forest shadows, the beast growled once, then lay down again beside the glowing fruit.
And Xu Ming whispered to the night:
"One day i'll take it all of it."
Author's Note:
Thank you for reading! Xu Ming's journey has just begun, and every vote, comment, or library add gives this world more power to grow.
🔥 Don't forget to drop a Power Stone if you enjoyed the chapter!
💬 Got theories, questions, or favorite moments? Share them below—I read every comment.
Let's walk this path together. – dark-kingxu]