Lin Yun lingered in the shadows of the stone market, his Golden Eyes tracking the merchant who had sold him the low-grade spirit stone. The man was unremarkable—middle-aged, paunchy, with a nervous habit of glancing over his shoulder—but Lin Yun followed him anyway, silent as a ghost, Shadow Phantom Step muffling his presence.
The merchant barked orders to his laborers as they loaded rough stones onto a creaking cart.
"Faster! The boss wants these by nightfall. No slacking, or you'll feel the whip."
One of the laborers, a wiry youth with sweat-streaked arms and dirt-caked hands, grumbled under his breath as they trudged toward the city gates.
"Oh man, I hate going to that place every time. The closer we get, the dizzier my head feels—like the air's turning to poison fog."
The older laborer, scarred and broad-shouldered, chuckled bitterly, wiping his brow.
"We just have to do this a few more times. Then we're paid off and free. No more hauling rocks that make your bones ache."
Lin Yun kept his distance, weaving through the thinning crowds. That place… The words lingered in his mind, a thread to pull. He followed them out of the city, along a winding dirt path flanked by thorny scrub and distant, jagged hills.
The laborers stopped at a quiet riverbank, where smooth pebbles gleamed under the slanting afternoon sun. The merchant directed them to wade in, pulling up larger rocks from the shallows—dull and ordinary on the outside, but potentially veined with hidden qi within.
Lin Yun watched from behind a cluster of boulders, concealed by dense underbrush. The water murmured softly, carrying faint traces of spiritual energy. So this is their source. But it's too superficial. There must be a deeper vein.
After the cart was loaded and the group turned back toward the city, Lin Yun waited until their footsteps faded into the distance.
Then he stepped into the river.
The water was cool and clear, lapping at his ankles. He activated his Golden Eyes.
Faint threads of spiritual energy shimmered in the current—not embedded in the stones, but flowing upstream, against the river's natural path. Growing stronger, denser, with every step.
He followed.
Meanwhile, far away in the mist-choked mountains, three black-robed figures landed silently before a hidden gate carved into the cliff face. Vines clung to the stone like veins; the air smelled of wet earth and something faintly metallic.
The gate parted without sound.
A white-robed old man waited alone in the shadowed courtyard beyond. His face was deeply lined, eyes like chips of black ice. His aura pressed down — not flashy, but heavy, the kind that made weaker cultivators instinctively lower their gaze.
One of the cloaked men stepped forward and extended a hand. In his palm lay a jagged fragment of the flying boat — edges still faintly glowing with residual formation runes.
"This is a Black Order from the Alliance," he said, voice flat and low. "We are searching for the owner of this vessel."
The sect leader took the fragment without a word.
He turned it slowly between his fingers, letting the dim light catch the broken runes. For several long seconds he said nothing. The wind howled through the pines above them.
Then the corner of his mouth lifted — not a smile, but the ghost of one.
Cold. Patient. Predatory.
"We will find him," he said quietly.
The words were calm, almost gentle.
But the three black-robed figures felt the temperature drop.
The elder closed his fist. The fragment cracked once — a sharp, brittle sound — then crumbled to fine metallic dust that drifted away on the wind.
He looked up again.
"Tell the Alliance… the mountains remember every intruder."
The gate sealed behind the cloaked men without a sound.
The old man turned and walked back into the darkness of the sect, the fragment's dust still swirling at his feet like ashes of a promise.
Hours later, Lin Yun reached the river's source.
A massive waterfall thundered down from sheer cliffs, mist rising like a perpetual veil, rainbow shards dancing in the spray. The spiritual energy here was palpable—thick, almost viscous, humming against his skin like a distant heartbeat.
This is it. The vein runs deep.
He scanned the base of the falls. A narrow crevice hid behind the churning water—barely wide enough for a man to squeeze through. He slipped inside, the roar of the falls muffling behind him, water soaking his robes to the skin.
The cave opened suddenly, vast and echoing. Stalactites dripped from the ceiling like frozen tears, illuminated by faint veins of glowing crystal snaking through the walls. The air was heavy with qi, each breath invigorating yet laced with something primal, watchful.
Lin Yun moved deeper, footsteps silent on the slick stone floor.
Then—two glowing red eyes snapped open behind him, emerging from the gloom.
"What a surprise," a deep, rumbling voice echoed off the walls, laced with amusement and hunger. "A human cultivator in my humble abode. Come to serve as dinner… or something else?"
Lin Yun whirled, Golden Eyes flaring to life.
The beast stepped from the shadows—not fully animal, not fully human. A bull-headed hybrid, massive horns curling like blackened scimitars, body a grotesque fusion of muscled bull torso and humanoid limbs ending in clawed hands. Fur matted its chest and arms; its skin rippled with half-formed scales. Mid-transformation, caught in the agonizing limbo between forms.
Lin Yun's expression remained calm, but his mind raced, calculating.
Fifth Layer Qi Refining, at minimum. Demonic beast. Too close for retreat. I can't avoid this.
The bull-beast grinned, fangs glinting in the crystal light.
"So… dinner it is?"
Lin Yun said nothing. He activated his Immortal Cells—sky-blue light flickering faintly along his right arm and legs.
The beast lunged—a blur of horn and claw.
Lin Yun dodged with Phantom Step, shadows trailing his form like smoke. But the creature was faster than expected, raw power propelling it forward. A massive fist smashed into his back mid-turn.
Pain exploded through his spine.
Lin Yun slammed into the cave wall, cracking stone and dislodging a shower of dust. He coughed blood, bruises blooming across his ribs like dark flowers.
So fast… its transformation amplifies speed.
He pushed off the wall, circling warily, breath steady despite the fire in his lungs.
The bull-beast laughed, a guttural rumble that shook loose pebbles.
"Hoho, human rat. You're quick. But where's your bite?"
Lin Yun attacked—Phantom Step blurring his form, fist aimed at the beast's chest in a precise strike.
The bull took it head-on.
Lin Yun's knuckles cracked against furred hide like hitting forged iron. The beast didn't flinch—only grinned wider, bloodshot eyes gleaming.
Lin Yun flew back, slamming into another wall with bone-jarring force.
He rose slowly, breathing steady, fighting stance low and balanced.
The bull-beast emerged from the settling dust, unharmed, flexing its claws.
"You run well, rat. But no power. Hah! Like swatting flies."
Lin Yun gritted his teeth, tasting copper.
Its skin… tougher than the serpent's scales from that forsaken world. Immortal Cell? But the Mysterious Land is low on vitality. One full use, and recovery will take days.
No choice.
He activated everything: Immortal Cells surging through his limbs in a controlled burn, Golden Eyes sharpening the world to agonizing clarity—time slowing, every twitch of muscle visible—Phantom Step .
His aura shifted—not rage, but calm fury, like a blade unsheathed in silence.
The bull-beast's grin widened, horns casting jagged shadows.
"Now the struggle begins. Entertain me, rat."
They clashed.
Hand-to-hand, brutal and unrelenting. Lin Yun's strikes landed—fists and elbows blurring with Phantom Step—but barely dented the beast's hide. Each hit reverberated up his arms like striking an anvil, qi rippling harmlessly across fur and scale.
The bull's attacks were wild, devastating swings—horns gouging furrows in the stone, claws raking air with whistling fury. Lin Yun dodged, weaved, avoided—but the toll mounted. Sweat soaked his robes. His movements slowed, breaths coming shorter. One eye began to weep blood from the strain of Golden Eyes, vision blurring at the edges.
The beast laughed, closing the gap with predatory glee.
"Haha! Don't die yet—struggle more! I want to savor the chase!"
It gathered qi in its fist, energy crackling like bottled lightning, the air humming with heat.
"Let's end this. I'm hungry."
The punch connected with Lin Yun's stomach—a thunderclap of force.
He choked on blood, body folding as the impact hurled him through the cave wall—stone shattering in a deafening spray of debris, dust billowing like a storm.
Lin Yun hit the ground hard, vision tunneling to black at the edges. His body was a ruin: ribs cracked, bruises swelling, blood pooling beneath him in dark rivulets.
The bull-beast approached slowly, licking its fangs, eyes glowing with savage delight.
"What a fine meal… tender and feisty."
It loomed closer, claws scraping stone.
Lin Yun's eyes—blank for a heartbeat—sharpened.
A faint, defiant smile touched his lips.
"Let's end this."
Vitality surged from the Mysterious Land in a desperate flood, mending his bleeding eye just enough, knitting fractured ribs to bare functionality. He launched—Golden Eyes forcing the world into slow motion, Immortal Cells igniting his right fist in blinding sky-blue flame.
Immortal Punch.
The bull-beast roared in fury, channeling the same qi-charged strike—its fist glowing crimson, veins bulging like rivers of fire.
Their blows collided.
A massive blast erupted—qi detonating in a cataclysmic wave, cave walls fracturing, stalactites shattering overhead, dust and stone exploding outward in a deafening roar.
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