Tianhan pushed his way through the darkness as the forest grew thicker, the air heavier… saturated with the scent of earth and savagery.He had not yet reached the mountain's depths, but something in the atmosphere suddenly shifted.
A suffocating silence…No insects…No birds…No movement.
Then—
A faint tremor in the ground.
Tianhan stopped, lowering his stance slightly, his faint crimson-tinged eyes scanning the pitch-black forest slowly.
"Something big… is coming."
The scent rose.
It wasn't the scent of a single beast.It was the scent of… a pack.
Suddenly, the first pair of yellow eyes emerged from the shadows.Then a second… a third… a tenth…
Fifty—maybe sixty—pairs of glowing eyes surrounded him from every direction.
Stonefang Wolves.
The fastest pack in the lower mountain.They didn't leave a prey alive.
Tianhan smiled faintly… a tense smile, not confidence—just acceptance of reality:
"This is my first real fight… alone."
He raised both hands, fingers bending, bones tightening, skin drawing taut…Devil Claws began to take form.
But what happened in the village?That bloody explosion?That feral, lightning-quick attack he didn't even think about?
He remembered it clearly.
And now, as he shaped the claws himself, he understood the truth:
"That wasn't me…That was the blood controlling my body."
This time…
He was alone.No blood awakening.No blind demonic power.
"Good… let's see how much I can actually fight."
The first wolf lunged.
Tianhan spun on his foot and slashed it with his claw.But the wolf didn't die—only got wounded.
"Oh… that hurts."
He hadn't realized how weak he was without the blood awakening.
A second wolf rushed from behind.A third from the right.A fourth leaping at him from above—
He pushed himself sideways, dodging a claw that scraped past his face.He dipped his shoulder to avoid an open maw.He slashed another, but felt the bones in his fingers shake from the wolf's tough hide.
He was taking hits.Getting wounded.Bites and gashes forming on his arms, shoulder, ribs.
"Devil Claws alone… aren't enough!I need more strength—"
But there wasn't any.
Nothing except himself.His body.His will.And just a few days of training.
The circle tightened.
The wolves attacked in formation.In waves.Each lunge nearly tearing a piece of flesh from him.
His breathing grew heavy.His head spun.His knee trembled.
"This is… bad."
But he didn't break.He didn't fall.He didn't scream.
He fought—slow, strained, but completely conscious.
For the first time, he felt the true weight of battle.
He realized something terrifying:
"In the village… I was like a beast.No pain… no fear… no thought…"
Here?
He felt everything.Every wound.Every breath.Every strike.
A large wolf leaped onto his back, fangs reaching for his neck.
Tianhan clenched his teeth, then threw himself backward with force, smashing the beast into the ground.
But before he could breathe—
Two more wolves attacked from both sides.He kicked the first.Took a bite from the second.Split the throat of a third with his claw.
But the fourth cut into his shoulder.
"Damn… at this rate, I'll die."
There was no decisive moment yet.He was still fighting…
But his body was beginning to fail.
His knee gave out.The ground trembled.His vision blurred.
And then a massive wolf crouched for the killing leap—Two meters away.
That single attack… would end him.
At that moment, from the deepest depths of his body…
Something shook.
A pulse.Then a second pulse.
Like a war drum.
A burning heat surged through his veins.Not like last time—Not total possession.Not madness.
But… guidance.
Words appeared inside his mind—Clear… deep…Like a voice rising from his own blood:
"Bone-Shattering Punch."
Tianhan opened his eyes.
He felt an inhuman force gather in his fist.His bones hardened.His skin tightened.His muscles coiled.
He raised his hand.The wolf leaped.
And he struck.
BOOOOOM—!
The wolf's skull exploded like fruit.Blood and bone fragments sprayed backward.The beast died without a sound.
Tianhan stood there—Swaying, panting… but smiling for the first time in ten minutes.
"I understand now…The blood will only interfere… when I'm about to die."
He lifted his fist.It still trembled with power.
"And this technique…It's not a gift.It's a warning."
He looked at the entire pack.
He no longer felt fear.Nor savagery.
Just one thing:
The right to survive.
He stepped forward—Claws burning—Fist vibrating—Eyes glinting in the dark.
Then he charged.
It didn't take long.
Once the Bone-Shattering Punch awakened…Wolf corpses began hitting the ground one after another.
One punch shattered a wolf's spine.One claw opened another's throat.One kick crushed a third's ribs.
He didn't stop until the last body fell.
Then he stood among dozens of corpses…
Chest rising and falling…Heart beating like war drums.
He whispered to himself:
"Now… this was my first battle…A battle that was me."
He looked at his blood-covered hand.
He didn't feel pleasure.He didn't feel fear.
He felt only one thing:
"I am not a slave to the blood…But blood will be my weapon."
And with that…the pack was finished.