By dark-kingxu
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Xu Ming moved like a shadow through the thick underbrush, each step silent, measured, deliberate. The forest had changed—no, he had changed. Every tree, every rustle, every flicker of movement now seemed part of a greater web that only he could see.
Threads shimmered faintly around him, crisscrossing the air like strands of fate. Some whispered of danger, others of opportunity. But all of them told him one thing:
> There is no rest on the road to power.
And Xu Ming had no intention of resting.
He had spent the night seated atop a high boulder, refining the panther's core until the sun began to rise, washing the forest in dim gold. His body had absorbed every wisp of energy, his meridians tighter, cleaner—his perception deeper.
Qi Spark, Stage Three.
Yet it wasn't enough.
Not yet.
—
It wasn't long before the next trial found him.
A growl echoed through the trees—not bestial, but almost human in its rage.
Xu Ming turned calmly, the threads already outlining the approach.
A large brute burst through the foliage—its skin a dark bronze, eyes yellow and bloodshot. It had the body of a man but the face of a beast, with horns curving back from its temples. Its claws glistened with venom.
> "A Bronze-Tusk Brute," Xu Ming muttered. "Stage Three. And enraged."
The brute charged, each step cracking branches and uprooting shrubs. Xu Ming didn't retreat. His threads were already wrapping around the beast's movements, reading its rage, its pain, its desperation.
> "You're protecting something," he realized.
He caught a glimpse past the brute—nestled against a tree root was a patch of glowing red flowers. Soulmelt Blossoms.
A rare spiritual medicine. Known to amplify spiritual perception if refined correctly.
Xu Ming's eyes sharpened.
> "Then you'll die protecting it."
The brute's fist came crashing down. Xu Ming sidestepped, blade slashing across its forearm. A shallow cut—but the beast howled in agony.
> "So, your weakness is the nerve threads near your joints," Xu Ming whispered.
The brute charged again, swinging wildly. Xu Ming danced backward, dragging his dagger in short, precise arcs, slicing tendon after tendon. Black ichor sprayed across the forest floor.
With a final lunge, Xu Ming ducked under a clawed swipe and drove his blade into the brute's throat. The beast gurgled, fell, and twitched no more.
Xu Ming took a breath, wiped his dagger clean, and approached the flowers.
> "Two days ago, I would have died fighting that thing."
> "Now?"
He knelt, carefully harvesting the blossoms, storing them in a sealed pouch. He'd refine them later—when the time was right.
—
The forest grew darker as he moved deeper.
Here, the air was thicker. Not just with mist or heat, but with killing intent.
Even the trees looked warped—twisted by some ancient presence. The threads here trembled more violently. Unstable. Unpredictable.
A warning.
But Xu Ming kept walking.
He needed the pressure.
He needed the edge.
Hours passed. Or maybe more. Time was beginning to blur. He had fought two more beasts—a pair of crimson-eyed apes that attacked together in a frenzy. They nearly crushed his ribs, but he broke their necks in a brutal counterattack using the threads of their own momentum against them.
Now, blood matted his robes. His arm throbbed where a claw had raked across muscle.
But his eyes? They blazed.
And then—he saw it.
A shimmering pocket of light, floating like mist between the trees.
Xu Ming slowed.
Threads clustered tightly around it, tangled and unnatural. As if something was twisting fate itself.
He stepped through.
And found himself in a hollow glade, utterly silent.
At its center stood a twisted tree—dead, blackened, yet glowing faintly from within.
Beneath its roots, nestled in a bed of stone and ash, pulsed a single fruit.
It radiated heat, its surface cracked with lines of fire.
> "Flameheart Fruit," Xu Ming breathed. "A treasure for body refinement…"
He took a cautious step forward—
And the ground exploded.
A beast emerged—massive, draconic in shape but lacking wings. Its scales were dark red, its eyes ember-like coals. Flame rippled from its jaws with each breath.
Stage Three. Nearly Four.
A Flame Lizard King.
It hissed, smoke curling from its nostrils, and lunged without warning.
Xu Ming rolled, barely escaping the torrent of fire that scorched the ground behind him.
> "This fight… will push me to the edge."
And that was exactly what he wanted.
He sprang into action, eyes locked on the threads weaving around the beast. It was fast, stronger than anything he'd faced before. Every movement was a storm of fire and muscle.
Xu Ming couldn't match it in strength.
So he used Sight.
He baited attacks, dodged half a heartbeat too late to trick the beast into overcommitting. He led it in circles, slashing at its legs, cutting shallow but vital lines. Steam hissed from every wound.
His ribs cracked under a tail swipe. His left arm went numb from a grazing claw.
But still he moved.
Until finally—he saw it.
A moment of imbalance. The beast raised both claws, flames gathering for one final breath attack.
Xu Ming rushed forward, ignoring the pain, ignoring the fire.
With a cry, he jumped, his dagger glowing with all the Qi he could muster.
He slashed—down the beast's eye, across its throat, deep into its chest.
The flame sputtered.
The beast collapsed.
Dead.
Xu Ming fell to his knees.
He didn't speak. Just breathed.
Then smiled.
> "Now… that was a test."
—
He refined the core slowly, methodically. Its power was immense—burning through him, pushing his body to the brink. Ash and filth seeped from his pores, burned away by the surging energy.
His skin gleamed faintly. His limbs felt lighter. Stronger.
Qi Spark – Stage Four.
> "One more step."
He looked to the fruit.
The Flameheart pulsed in its cradle of ash.
He reached out, took it gently, and stored it in his ring.
Not yet. He'd wait for the right moment.
He turned, body aching, soul alight with fire.
> "One more stage," he whispered.
> "Then I leave this forest."
But even as he walked away, the burned glade behind him trembled—as if something buried deeper beneath the tree had just awakened.
And it had felt his Sight.
Author's Note:
Xu Ming continues to rise, facing fiercer beasts and enduring harsher trials. He's now at Qi Spark Stage Four and carrying powerful spiritual medicines for both body and soul. But the forest hides more than beasts… and the ruin may not have been the only ancient force watching him.
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