It was cold.
Not the kind of cold that numbs the skin—but the kind that claws at the bone, that howls in your blood. He lay buried in snow and silence. His eyes opened slowly.
Who am I?
The name surfaced like a bubble from deep water.
"Li Fan…"
His breath misted in the frozen air. He sat up, joints stiff, flesh pale. Around him, jagged mountain spires pierced the sky. The air was thin. The snow—red, not white.
There had been a fight here.
He couldn't remember it. Not this body's memories. Just fragments—pain, betrayal, the sound of wings.
Then something else. Something alien.
A presence in his belly, in his marrow. Not qi. Not divine power. Something more primal.
Hunger.
He staggered to his feet, panting. He wore no sect robes. No ring, no jade token. A wanderer, then. A nameless corpse returned to life.
"This is… the Azure Cloud Continent," he muttered. "Against the Gods. This world…"
He remembered it—not from this life, but another. Stories. Cultivation levels. Frozen Cloud Asgard—nearby, but forbidden to men. Yun Che, still a cripple in Floating Cloud City.
None of that mattered yet.
He heard something.
A growl. A rustle. Snow shifting.
A beast.
---
It was a small one—a Snowhide Lynx. No stronger than the 1st level of the Nascent Profound Realm. But it was alive. Fresh. Radiating heat and fear.
And it smelled like a meal.
Li Fan didn't question the instinct. He moved faster than he thought he could—on all fours at first, knees digging into ice. The lynx shrieked, spun, slashed—
His hand shot out, fingers sinking into its neck—not cutting, not tearing. Draining.
Its eyes widened. Its body jerked. Then stiffened.
And Li Fan felt it.
Not power. Not qi. Flesh-memory. The way the lynx's bones twisted to sprint over snow. The way its lungs pulled air. Its instincts poured into him like warm wine, his own muscles twitching as they reshaped themselves subtly.
He fell to his knees, shuddering.
"I... ate it," he whispered, horrified. "No... I became it."
His breathing calmed. His heart was no longer purely human. And he could feel it now—his bones were lighter. His grip stronger. The lynx's reflexes burned in his veins.