WHOOSH.
The wind pressure from the charge nearly knocked him over. The boar slammed into a tree behind him.
CRACK.
The tree, thick as a man's waist, snapped like a toothpick.
The boar shook its head, unbothered, and turned around with surprising agility.
"Monstrous," Kai grit his teeth. "If that hits me, my body would have turn to paste."
He needed a weapon. He needed to cut that hide.
But his hands were empty.
"Damn it!" Kai cursed, realizing his mistake. "The blood lock!"
He couldn't just summon a sword. He had to unlock the ring first.
The boar charged again.
"Physical attacks won't work," Kai realized, breathing heavily as he scrambled back. "It's a walking fortress. I can't punch through rock."
He stared at the beast. It was preparing for a third charge, its hooves scraping the mud. It knew it was winning. It knew the soft, pink human couldn't hurt it.
'Think, Kai. Use what you have.'
His mind flashed back to yesterday. The Vale Panther. He hadn't beaten it with speed alone; he had beaten it by holding the charge. He had compressed the Aether Qi until it became a bomb in his hand.
"The same method," Kai whispered, his eyes narrowing. "But this thing is tougher. I need more time. More density."
The boar squealed and launched itself forward.
Thump-Thump-Thump.
"Come on!"
Kai didn't attack. He began to run.
He weaved through the trees, using the uneven terrain to his advantage. As he ran, he clenched his right fist.
'Gather.'
He pulled at the rough, heavy Aether Qi of the forest. He forced it to coat his knuckles, layer by layer. The air around his hand began to distort, heavier and heavier.
Usually, a Phantom Strike took five seconds to charge.
Kai held it for ten.
The boar crashed through a rotting log, missing Kai's ankles by inches. Kai rolled, feeling the wind of the tusk, but he didn't let go of the energy in his right hand. He kept dodging.
Thirty seconds. One minute.
His right arm began to tremble violently. The veins bulged, turning dark. The pressure was immense; it felt like he was holding a spinning grindstone.
'Not yet. It's not enough to break that armor.'
He gritted his teeth, dodging a side-swipe that shredded his sleeve.
Two minutes.
The energy in his right fist was screaming. The distortion was so intense that his hand looked like a blur of grey static.
"NOW!"
Kai stopped running. He pivoted on his heel as the boar lunged.
He didn't aim for the head. He aimed for the neck—the junction where the armor plates shifted slightly when the beast turned.
'Phantom Strike: Full Discharge.'
BAM.
He slammed his fist into the side of the boar's massive neck.
It felt like punching a solid iron wall.
"Gah!" Kai cried out.
A jolt of agony shot up his arm, rattling his teeth. His knuckles felt like they had shattered.
But the effect was undeniable.
The massive boar didn't shrug it off this time. The impact sent a shockwave through its spine. It squealed in pain and staggered sideways, its legs crossing over clumsily. It crashed shoulder-first into a tree, shaking the leaves down.
Kai cradled his throbbing right hand, retreating instantly.
"It works..." Kai panted, sweat dripping into his eyes. "But it didn't kill it."
The boar shook its head, snorting blood-flecked foam. It turned back to him. Its eyes were red with rage, but Kai noticed something—its movements were sluggish. The strike had damaged something deep inside the neck, perhaps a vertebrae or a nerve cluster.
"One more," Kai hissed. "Right hand is useless. Left hand then."
The boar charged again, but it was slower now. The thunderous momentum was gone.
Kai began the dance again.
He dodged left. He ducked right.
He clenched his left fist.
'Gather. Compress. Hold.'
The pain in his right arm was blinding, but he used it as focus. He poured every ounce of his concentration into his left hand.
Ten seconds. The boar lunged, but missed wide. Kai stepped past it.
Twenty seconds. The Aether Qi wrapped around his left fist like a gauntlet of invisible lead.
Thirty Seconds.
"End this!"
Kai roared. He stepped into the boar's guard, risking everything.
The boar tried to gore him, lifting its head. This exposed the exact same spot on the neck where Kai had struck before.
Kai unleashed everything.
'Phantom Strike.'
CRACK.
This time, the sound wasn't like hitting a wall. It was the wet, sickening sound of bone giving way under impossible pressure.
The boar didn't squeal. It just dropped.
Its front legs buckled. Its massive head slammed into the mud.
Kai stumbled back, watching intently, his chest heaving. His left arm hung limp, numb from the recoil.
"Get up," Kai wheezed. "Try getting up."
The boar twitched. It tried to push itself up, but blood began to pour from its neck—dark, thick arterial blood that turned the mud crimson. The strike had crushed the windpipe and severed the main artery.
It gave one final, shuddering kick, and then went still.
The forest fell silent.
Kai stood over the corpse, gasping for air. His body was screaming. His arms felt like they were on fire, and his ribs ached from the earlier graze.
But as the adrenaline from the life-and-death struggle began to fade, Kai felt something else.
It started in his chest. A warmth.
It wasn't the warmth of the sun. It was internal.
His heart gave a slow, heavy thud. Thump.
The heat spread through his veins, washing away the cold numbness in his limbs. It felt like he had just swallowed a mouthful of hot soup on a winter day.
"My blood..." Kai whispered, looking at his trembling hands. "It's getting hot."
Su Qing's words echoed in his mind: "When you are on the brink of dying, your blood flows fastest. Your marrow works hardest."
He realized with a thrill that the battle hadn't just weakened him; it had tempered him. His Blood Awakening cultivation was advancing, fueled by the violence.
"One down," Kai whispered, a savage grin touching his lips as he wiped the blood from his thumb to activate the ring. "A thousand to go."