The forest whispered with the sound of rebirth.
Mist drifted through the air like breath made visible, carrying the rich scent of spirit earth. Every tree trunk shimmered faintly with residual qi from the titans' battle days ago; even the rocks seemed alive with a spiritual pulse.
Karma moved quietly beneath the boughs, every step measured. His robe was torn at the hem, his new sword strapped across his back, and his eyes gleamed with the focused calm of someone who had faced death and returned stronger.
Vital signs stable. Host qi flow normal. Recommend moving east; probability of hostile encounter reduced by thirty-one percent. Mira's voice was now crisp and professional, reflecting his current calm.
"East it is," Karma murmured. His body still bore faint, silvery scars from the shockwave, but the Foundation Establishment realm made his steps light and sure.
He wasn't just running anymore. He was surviving—learning the rhythm of this alien world, and finding that the rhythm was profitable.
Gifts of the Wild
As he advanced, glimmers of color drew his eye—scattered across the cracked ground and hanging from spirit-touched vines.
He knelt beside a cluster of flowers shaped like crystalline bells. Each petal pulsed faintly with blue light.
"Mira, identify."
Azure Dew Bloom—mid-grade spirit herb. Restores meridian fatigue, enhances qi recovery. Grows only in lands recently bathed in lightning essence.
Karma smiled. "So the Sky Serpent left its mark."
He carefully harvested the stalks and tucked them into his space ring, the silver band that Su Liana had pressed into his hand before their departure. The silver band still carried a trace of her fragrance—cool, faintly floral.
He sighed softly. "Guess you were right, Su Liana. This thing's priceless."
Further on, he found shattered beast carcasses half-buried in ash—remnants of those caught between the titans' fight. Some were skeletal, others still bled molten essence.
Among them, he spotted a cluster of scarlet scales glimmering under the sunlight. They radiated a subtle warmth that made his palm tingle.
Molten Behemoth fragment residue—high-grade forging material. Suitable for weapon reinforcement or body-temper refinement. Mira sounded almost greedy. This is worth entire provinces in the lower realms!
Karma whistled. "If I get out of here alive, I could make a fortune."
He scraped the scales loose with the tip of his sword and stored them carefully. Nearby, crystalline stones were embedded in the ground like fallen stars—Thunder Essence Crystals, still sparking faintly with lightning qi.
He spent hours combing through the ruins, gathering treasures the heavens themselves had thrown to the world: Heavenroot Moss, soft as silk, said to stabilize spiritual foundations; Vermilion Fruit, glowing faintly crimson, whose juice could nourish blood and vitality; and a fragment of a Frost-wing Feather, frigid to the touch, capable of channeling cold qi into weapons. He even found a broken fang larger than his arm—the remnant of some long-dead Void Realm beast, still radiating power.
Each find filled the ring little by little.
Host's hoarding behavior detected. Mira broke her professional tone, sounding playful. Do you intend to start a trade guild?
"Maybe," Karma grinned. "Once I'm not getting hunted by monsters the size of cities."
Yet beneath the humor, a quiet resolve pulsed: when—not if—he found Su Liana again, he'd thank her. Half these treasures would be useless to him now but precious for someone of her refined cultivation path. He touched the ring again, a silent vow in his eyes.
Signs in the Silence
By the third day, the air had changed.
The chaotic auras of fleeing beasts were thinning; the forest was regaining its balance. That peace, however, came with a strange stillness—too still, as if the world were holding its breath.
Karma crouched behind a fallen trunk, narrowing his eyes.
The birds had gone silent. Even the rustle of wind through leaves had stopped. The air felt heavy, not with qi, but with malice.
Alert. Unknown presence detected. Signature… different. Mira's voice was flat, devoid of emotion—a sign of genuine threat.
"Different how?" he whispered.
Qi composition irregular. Hybrid structure—beast essence and spiritual intelligence intertwined.
Karma's pulse slowed.
A Demon Beast.
He'd read about them first in the Fatty Sage's scroll "How Not to DIE in the Astral Vein World – By the Ever-Wise Fatty."
Demon Beasts weren't like the others. They were the step between monster and man—cunning, vicious, and capable of using spiritual arts. Their minds were sharp enough to scheme, their instincts sharp enough to kill. The book's advice had been clear: "If you see one, run."
But fate rarely listened to books.
The Demon Beast
The shadow appeared first—a flicker between the trees, gliding rather than walking. Then came the scent of iron and burnt earth, sharp and acrid.
Karma's hand went to his sword. His qi gathered silently, preparing to move.
When the creature emerged, even the light seemed to bend away.
It stood taller than a man, humanoid in shape but draped in plates of dark, obsidian flesh that looked halfway between armor and scales. Two crimson eyes burned in its face, slitted like a serpent's, and smoke curled faintly from the lines etched across its body.
Its arms were long, ending in clawed hands that dripped faint traces of molten qi. Each step it took left a scorched footprint on the moss.
And behind that monstrous form—a faint, pulsing Core at its chest, glowing fiercely through translucent flesh.
Identification: Abyssal Drakekin—Core Formation-realm Demon Beast. Known for regenerative abilities and lightning-infused blood. Recommendation: immediate retreat.
Karma drew in a slow breath, gaze steady. "Core Formation, huh? So it's a major realm higher than me."
Then run! Mira shouted, her digitized voice cracking with genuine panic. Run before it sees—
The creature turned.
Its eyes met his. A thin smile stretched across its jaw—disturbingly human, and utterly predatory.
Too late.