Li Shen tore through the high ridge, boots scraping loose gravel, breath misting in the cold night air. Behind him, silver flares burst against the dark — Moon Sect talismans igniting the cliffs with ghostly fire.
Arrows hissed past his shoulder, burying deep in stone and splintered roots. Each near miss sent fresh adrenaline cutting through the Codex's restless hunger.
Faster, Ku Mo rasped in his skull. Or turn. Slaughter. Drink.
Li Shen ignored him — for now. The path wound higher, jagged spires clawing at the sky. He could feel the disciples spreading out below — faint threads of Qi pulsing in the dark like spider silk. A net tightening around him.
He vaulted a boulder and pressed his back against a stone outcropping. His breath came harsh and steady. He could feel his heart hammering not just in his chest but in the Codex's burning runes beneath his skin. Each beat a promise of violence.
Below, he caught flickers of silver robes moving through the brush — three shapes, light-footed, confident. Young cultivators, outer disciples. Too proud, too loud.
Prey, Ku Mo coiled around his mind like a serpent. They chase you. You could feed. Grow.
Li Shen's hand brushed the hilt of his sword. A memory flickered — the girl's face, Yue Lan, her mercy in the storm. Her eyes tonight, wide with warning.
If you spill Moon Sect blood, there is no return, the dying part of his conscience whispered.
He shut it out.
The disciples climbed closer. He could hear their hushed whispers:
"Elder Zhen wants his head — alive if possible, dead if needed."
"He killed five men at the foothill camp."
"Careful — he's Blood Path. Don't let him touch you."
Li Shen's lips twitched into a humorless smile. Don't let him touch you. They spoke of him like he was a disease. Maybe he was.
The first disciple appeared over the rise — a boy barely older than Li Shen, his blade out, eyes scanning the shadows.
Li Shen struck without hesitation.
He dropped low, sweeping the boy's legs from under him. The disciple hit the ground hard — the breath driven from his lungs. Before he could shout, Li Shen clamped a hand over his mouth, driving his blade into the boy's chest.
The warmth poured into him — a tiny trickle of fear-soaked Qi. Sweet. Poisonous.
The other two disciples spun around, eyes wide. One raised a talisman, its silver flare throwing Li Shen's shadow huge against the stone.
"Blood Demon!" one gasped.
Li Shen moved before they could flee — before they could scream for help. He slammed the first into the cliff wall, feeling ribs crack under his palm. The second swung wildly — Li Shen ducked under the blade, driving his shoulder into the boy's gut. They crashed to the ground, rolling among dust and gravel.
The disciple clawed at Li Shen's face. Li Shen bared his teeth, grabbed a fistful of hair — and slammed the boy's head against the stone until the fight fled his body like steam from an open wound.
Silence fell again. Three fresh corpses. Three more threads in the Codex's endless web. Li Shen felt their dying Qi soak into his core — a flicker of warmth that tasted of terror and regret.
Ku Mo purred in the dark. See how easy it is? The prey becomes predator. The predator becomes god.
Li Shen staggered back from the bodies, breath ragged. The runes under his skin blazed like coals. His wounds — shallow cuts, a gashed shoulder — sealed over in seconds. Strength flooded his limbs. He felt light. Terrible.
A branch snapped behind him.
Li Shen spun — blade up, eyes red.
Yue Lan stood there, haloed by drifting moonlight. Her pale robe brushed the dust, hair bound in a silver clasp that glowed like starlight.
Her eyes widened as she saw the corpses — the blood on his hands. The raw, burning light in his eyes.
"Li Shen…"
Her voice almost broke him.
She took a step forward — slow, careful, as though approaching a wounded beast.
"You don't have to do this," she whispered.
Li Shen laughed — a sound more hollow than any grave. "They chased me," he rasped. "They wanted me in chains."
She shook her head. "Elder Zhen wants your head. I don't."
She raised a hand — palm open. "Come with me. I can hide you. I can —"
Li Shen flinched back as if struck. The Codex coiled around his ribs like barbed wire.
Fool, Ku Mo spat. A leash of silk is still a leash. Bow once, and you bow forever.
"Don't lie to yourself," Li Shen said hoarsely. "If you spare me now, your sect will bury you next."
Yue Lan's hand trembled. "Li Shen —"
Arrows hissed past her shoulder. Elder Zhen's voice thundered through the cliffs.
"Saintess! Step aside!"
Silver-robed figures poured over the ridge — talismans flaring like a swarm of falling stars.
Li Shen's eyes locked with Yue Lan's — a single heartbeat of silence between them.
Then he turned and vanished into the high cliffs — a ghost trailing ash and blood under the indifferent moon.
Behind him, Yue Lan closed her hand over her chest — as if trying to hold something inside that she could no longer name.
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⚡ End of Chapter Seven
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