The massive iron gates of Silver City were locked.
Guards stood atop the battlements, trembling. They had orders to keep the "Calamity" inside until the Frost Sect reinforcements arrived.
Kaelen stood at the base of the fifty-foot wall.
He didn't look for a ladder. He didn't look for a hidden tunnel.
He bent his knees.
**Strength: 100 (Max Mortal).**
*BOOM.*
He launched himself. The cobblestones where he stood turned into powder.
He soared fifty feet into the air, clearing the battlements with room to spare. He landed on the other side with a heavy thud, cracking the earth.
He didn't look back at the city. It was small now. A cage he had outgrown.
Ahead of him stretched the **Beast Wilderness**.
It was an ocean of green. Ancient trees as tall as skyscrapers blocked the sun. The roar of beasts echoed from the depths—sounds that would make a normal cultivator wet their pants.
"Home sweet home," Kaelen smirked.
He walked into the tree line.
***
**One Hour Later.**
Kaelen sat on the root of a massive Spirit Oak. He held a silver ring in his hand.
**Elder Frost's Spatial Ring.**
Usually, these rings were locked with a blood seal. If the owner died, the seal would self-destruct the contents.
"System," Kaelen said. "Pick the lock."
> **[Analyzing Spirit Lock...]**
> **[Brute Force Protocol Engaged.]**
> **[Devouring Qi injected.]**
Black energy flowed from Kaelen's fingers into the ring. The delicate spirit seal didn't stand a chance. It was eaten alive.
*Pop.*
The ring opened.
Kaelen dumped the contents onto the mossy ground.
It was a treasure trove.
* **12,000 Spirit Stones (Mid-Grade).**
* **3 Vials of Ice-Heart Pills (Healing).**
* **A Manual: "Glacial Arts" (Earth Tier).**
* **A Communication Jade.**
Kaelen picked up the stones. Mid-Grade stones were worth 100 Low-Grade ones each. This was a fortune.
He tossed the manual aside. "Trash."
He picked up the Communication Jade. It was buzzing. A red light pulsed rhythmically.
Kaelen injected a tiny bit of Qi.
A holographic projection flickered to life.
A face appeared.
It wasn't young like Jian Chen. It wasn't angry like Elder Frost.
It was an old man with eyes like dead stars. He sat on a throne of ice.
**Sect Master Han.** **Foundation Establishment Realm.**
The projection looked at Kaelen.
"You are the boy," the Sect Master said. His voice was calm. Terrifyingly calm.
"I am," Kaelen replied, taking a bite of a dried ration bar he found in the ring.
"Do you know what you have done?"
"I took out the trash," Kaelen said.
The Sect Master paused.
"Elder Frost was my brother."
"He died screaming," Kaelen informed him. "If you hurry, you might find his head before the wolves do."
The image flickered. The killing intent radiating from the projection was strong enough to distort the signal.
"Enjoy your victory, boy," the Sect Master whispered. "I am coming. I will flay the skin from your bones. I will make you beg for the release of death."
"Come," Kaelen challenged. "Bring the whole sect."
He crushed the jade in his hand.
*Crunch.*
The hologram vanished.
Kaelen stood up. He dusted the jade powder off his hands.
"Three days," Kaelen muttered. "In three days, a Foundation Establishment monster arrives."
Foundation Establishment was a qualitative leap. They could fly for real. Their Qi was liquid. They could cast spells that leveled mountains.
Currently, Kaelen was **Body Refining Stage 9**. Strong enough to kill Qi Condensation experts, but a Foundation Establishment expert?
"I need to evolve," Kaelen concluded.
He looked deeper into the forest.
> **[Quest Alert]**
> **Objective: Break the Mortal Limit.**
> **Method: Consume the Core of a 'Beast King'.**
> **Target Detected: 50 miles North. 'The Thunder-Spine Ape'.**
Kaelen grinned.
"Monkey brains for dinner."
***
**The Outer Ring.**
A pack of **Iron-Tooth Wolves** (Stage 4) was prowling. They were apex predators in this area. They saw a lone human walking casually through their territory.
Fresh meat.
The Alpha howled. The pack—twenty wolves—charged.
They moved like grey lightning. Fangs bared.
Kaelen didn't stop walking.
He didn't draw his sword.
When the first wolf lunged for his throat, Kaelen simply backhanded it.
*Smack.*
The wolf's head exploded.
The second wolf bit his arm.
*Crunch.*
The wolf's teeth shattered on Kaelen's skin. The wolf yelped, confused.
Kaelen grabbed the wolf by the tail and used it as a flail to beat the third wolf to death.
It was a massacre.
In thirty seconds, the pack was dead.
Kaelen stood amidst the corpses.
"System. **Gluttony Mode: Area of Effect.**"
Black mist rolled off his body. It covered the wolf carcasses.
The blood, the Qi, the muscle mass—it all dissolved into red energy and flowed into Kaelen.
> **[Energy Absorbed.]**
> **[Body Refining Stage 9: 2% Progress.]**
"Too slow," Kaelen frowned. "Fodder won't get me there."
He needed quality.
He looked North.
Toward the darker, denser part of the forest. The **Inner Zone**.
Where the real monsters lived.
Kaelen started to run.
He moved at 60 miles per hour. A blur of motion tearing through the underbrush. Trees became a tunnel of green.
He ran toward the storm.
Because only in the eye of the storm could a Calamity truly be born.