Cultivation World - Eastern Continent, Ruined Wasteland
Xotl moved through the devastated landscape his fleshy shadow body shifting between realms as he traversed the eastern continent that had once been home to thriving sects and bustling cities. Where the Flaming Saber Sect had stood, only a perfect shadow of it was left imprinted on the ground.
But Xotl paid no attention to his past work. His mind was fixed on the western horizon, where the narrow land bridge connected this continent to the vast mainland beyond. His massive consciousness processed a dozen different streams of information simultaneously—reports from his scattered hordes, memories stolen from the minds of the dead, and most importantly, the remembrance of his spawn that betrayed him.
The artifact, he thought, there was more she had than her massive qi reserves and dantian. She carries something that should not exist in this outskirt planet.
Three days ago, he had returned to the shard where the girl had first acquired her his spawn. The spatial rift had been unstable, collapsing and reforming randomly, but Xotl's mastery over the shadow dao manipulation allowed him to step through the chaos with ease.
The shard realm had been crawling with Corpse Cleansing Sect cultivators, their green robes marking them as the same organization that had been hunting the girl. They had been systematic in their search, using detection formations to scan every inch of the ancient fortress for hidden treasures.
Xotl had killed them all, of course. Their deaths had been swift but thorough—not the dramatic consumption he had brought upon the Flaming Saber Sect, but the efficient elimination of insects that held information he wanted. Their final moments had provided him with crucial intelligence.
The memories he had torn from their dying minds painted a picture that stretched back millennia. The Shard had once belonged to a master of the Flowing Water Sect—not the recent incompetent fool that had been destroyed, but an ancient member from the sect's greater days. A cultivator who had achieved such power that he had transcended this world entirely, taking his knowledge and artifacts to the stars and the inner galaxy..
Aquila WorldWater. The one who bound me. The one who sealed me to the Forrest for thousands of years.
Xotl's form rippled with barely contained fury at the remembered name. Aquila had been different from the other cultivators who had opposed him—not just powerful, but clever. Understanding. He had fought Xotl not with brute force, but with comprehension of the Dao's.
The sealing formation that had trapped Xotl for millennia hadn't been a cage of qi. It had been something far more elegant and infuriating—a perfect understanding of Xotl's own nature turned against him. Aquila had used Xotl's nature of shadow against him and created chains and an anchor in the realm of water that bound the shadows below it. The Joining point of these chains between realms was the Flowing water sect.
But now, according to the memories he had stolen, the girl carried something that had belonged to that same master. An artifact of such importance that the Corpse Cleansing Sect had orchestrated the destruction of an entire sect and were willing to create countless enemies to get it.
What did you leave behind, old enemy? Xotl wondered as he moved through the ruins of what had once been a thriving trading city. What treasure did that child stumble upon in your forgotten vault?
The artifact itself was a mystery. The stolen memories showed only glimpse of what they were looking for. A globe of crystal and mist, warm to the touch and strangely enough it could not be stored in a storage ring. It appeared only the top members of the Corpse Cleansing Sect's knew what it was.
Xotl paused in his journey, his consciousness extending through the shadow realm to survey the continent around him. His beast hordes were performing their assigned tasks perfectly—waves of qi beasts striking at every major city and sect simultaneously, creating chaos and terror that would occupy the attention of every military force on the eastern continent.
The reports flowing back to him painted a picture of perfectly orchestrated destruction. Ironhold was under siege by a coordinated assault of earth-attributed beasts that effective against its massive walls and impervious to the cities canons while attacking from underground. The port cities along the southern coast were being overwhelmed by aquatic creatures that had emerged from the deep ocean trenches. Smaller settlements throughout the interior were simply being consumed, their populations fleeing toward the larger strongholds.
But these attacks were all a diversion. The loses from the qi beasts would be massive and the eastern continent would take hundreds of years to recover. This didn't matter to Xotl as he was planning to move on from this continent.
The beast waves were driving a massive refugee crisis toward Bridgetown—the only safe passage to the main continent. The narrow land bridge was becoming clogged with displaced populations, merchant caravans, and military units all trying to reach sanctuary simultaneously.
Perfect chaos to mask his own movements.
Xotl's main force—the truly dangerous creatures under his direct control—had already reached the eastern coastline. While the lesser beast hordes created noise and distraction, his elite units were disappearing beneath the waves, beginning a journey that would take them far from the attention of surface dwellers.
The ocean depths reminded him of Aquila. Water and darkness had always been intwined realms. His elite beasts could travel underwater faster than most flying vessels, following ocean currents and underwater canyons that would bring them to their destination hidden from the Humans.
The Crimson Crater Kingdom sat at the north eastern half of the main continent, protected by its natural geographic barriers and defensive formations. But their protections were designed to repel attacks from above or from land. No one had considered the possibility that an ancient horror might approach through the very underground springs that fed their precious lake. The Ocean linked to a massive link of underwater caverns that spread across the main continent. This was part of the secret that fed the life energy to the spring of the crimson continent. Xotl the qi beast king of shadows knew the secret paths of this world
The tournament, Xotl mused, his alien thought patterns touching on concepts of timing and opportunity. When their defenses are spread thin to accommodate competitors. When their attention is focused on political theater rather than true threats.
The Inter-Realm Competitions would provide the perfect cover for his operation. Hundreds of cultivators from across the known world would be gathering in the crater kingdom, their spiritual pressures masking his own approach. The tournament grounds would be packed with spectators, competitors, and political dignitaries—chaos that would make it impossible to track any single entity.
He would emerge from the lake itself during the height of the competitions releasing his army of qi beasts. They were all disposable and their distraction should allow him to eliminate the girl, claim the artifact, and disappear back into the depths before anyone could mount an effective response.
As the sun set over the tumultuous eastern continent, Xotl's form began to shift and flow, preparing to join his elite forces in their underwater journey. His shape dissolved into something more suited for ocean travel—a mass of living shadow and wormy flesh that could exist in the crushing depths as easily as it moved through air.
Cultivation World - Bridgetown, Refugee Processing Center
Captain Zhang Wei stood atop the city's walls, his weathered face grim as he surveyed the chaos below. What had been an orderly trade center just days ago was now a sprawling refugee camp filled with hundreds of thousands of displaced people fleeing the beast waves.
"The reports keep getting worse," his aide said quietly, passing him another scroll filled with updates from across the continent. "Ironhold is requesting immediate military assistance. The southern port cities are completely cut off. And we're receiving scattered reports of settlements just... disappearing."
Zhang Wei nodded grimly, his experienced eye taking in the tactical situation. "The beast attacks are too coordinated to be natural. Someone is directing this."
"The Beast King?"
"Has to be. But why now? Why such a massive, continent-wide assault?" Zhang Wei gestured toward the refugee camps below. "This level of coordination suggests intelligence and long-term planning. But to what end?"
His aide was quiet for a moment, then voiced the thought that had been troubling them both. "Sir, what if this isn't the real attack? What if this is just distraction?"
Zhang Wei's blood ran cold as the implication hit him. "Distraction from what?"
"From whatever the Beast King is really planning. If I wanted to move forces without being detected, I'd create exactly this kind of chaos to occupy everyone's attention."
Below them, refugees continued to stream across the narrow land bridge toward the main continent. Families carrying everything they owned, merchants abandoning their caravans, even military units retreating in good order but clearly overwhelmed by the scale of the assault.
"It doesn't matter the nascent soul level cultivators can stop him at Bridgetown. A Demon slaying Sect nascent soul level cultivator has been hired to defend the crossing." Zhang Wei said with certainty that this city would not fall.
Earth - Abandoned Warehouse District, 1:43 AM
Derek Morrison crouched beside his latest victim in the third anchor point location, his fingers tracing the final symbols of the ritual circle as dark energy pulsed through the carved concrete. The homeless woman had been perfect—no identification, no family, no one who would miss her disappearance from the streets.
But Derek himself looked far from human now.
Red lines streaked across his pale skin like veins of molten metal, pulsing with each heartbeat as the stolen life force circulated through his meridians. His eyes had taken on a reddish tint, and when he smiled, his teeth seemed slightly too sharp. Dozens of demonic murders had transformed him into something that wasn't human anymore.
"Level 3 Qi Refining," he murmured, examining his hands as red energy crackled between his fingers. "Not bad for a qi-dead world."
The technique he'd inherited from Vex Spiritbane's memories was elegantly efficient. Each murder provided two distinct benefits—the victim's life force went into powering the formation anchor points, while the soul was refined into qi that his dantian could absorb. Death was both fuel and cultivation method.
Derek stood and surveyed his work. The third anchor point was complete, its symbols glowing with accumulated death energy that would remain stable until the final formation activation. Three down, two to go.
"Twenty more deaths," he said to the empty warehouse, his voice carrying a desire to ascend beyond mortality. "Twenty more, and then this entire city becomes my cultivation ground."
The red lines across his skin pulsed brighter as he imagined the moment of activation. A million lives drained simultaneously, their combined life force channeled directly into his dantian. He would advance from Qi Refining directly to Foundation Establishment in a single night, possibly even further.
Derek picked up his bag of tools and walked toward the warehouse exit, leaving the ritual circle to maintain itself. The northern anchor point was already prepared and waiting. Two more locations before the final activation at the central park and then he could begin the harvest that would make him powerful enough to rule this uncultivated world.
Cultivation World - Palace Guest Quarters
Lia reclined against the silk pillows of her luxurious bed, her legs curled beneath her as she examined the mysterious globe in the soft glow of the formations that lit her chambers. She wore a set of pale blue silk pajamas that Elena had provided—delicate fabric that felt amazing against her skin, the pants flowing around her legs while the loose top gave her breasts the breathing room they needed.
Her fingers traced the crystal surface of the orb with careful precision. The artifact was warm to the touch, always maintaining the perfect temperature regardless of its surroundings, and the mist within seemed to swirl in response to her presence.
"What are you?" she whispered, bringing the globe closer to her face. Her purple eyes reflected in its surface as she tried to extend her spiritual senses into its depths.
Nothing.
Despite her advancement to Foundation Establishment level 4, despite her massive qi reserves that dwarfed most cultivators, the orb remained opaque to every form of qi investigation she attempted. It was as if the artifact existed in a space completely separate from the normal flow of qi and energy.
Lia set the orb on the silk sheets beside her and looked down at the shadow leech that covered most of her left side now. The creature had grown significantly during her rapid advancement, its form spreading across her chest and down her arm like living armor made of writhing darkness.
"I need to see more," she said to the creature, dreading what she was about to request. "Can you... help me?"
The shadow leech pulsed with understanding, then began to flow upward across her neck and face. The sensation was alien and deeply unsettling—living shadow-flesh wrapping around her features like a second skin. The creature's warm, writhing mass covered her eyes, nose, and part of her forehead, leaving only her mouth exposed.
When the transformation completed, Lia's reflection in the nearby mirror was horrifying. A mask of shadowy flesh covered half her face, its surface constantly shifting and moving like a nest of ethereal worms. Along the shadowy surface, she could see multiple closed eyes—organic-looking orbs that seemed to peer through dimensions she couldn't normally perceive.
Taking a deep breath, Lia opened the first eye.
Normal sight returned, but enhanced. She could see the fine details of her room with supernatural clarity—every thread in the silk sheets, every formation line carved into the walls, every mote of dust floating in the air. The orb beside her looked exactly as it always had.
She followed the leeches guidance and opened the second eye.
The world exploded into patterns of flowing water and moisture. This was the Dao of Water made visible—she could see the humidity in the air as gleaming streams, the water content in the wooden furniture as faint blue glows. Her comprehension was limited to level 1, showing her only the surface of this realm's mysteries, but it was beautiful beyond description.
The orb, however, appeared exactly the same. No connection to the water realm, no interaction with the Dao that filled everything else in her vision.
Lia felt the leech push her to open the third eye.
The shadow realm overlay revealed itself—a parallel dimension of darkness and hidden spaces that existed alongside normal reality. She could see the shadows cast by every object, the dark spaces between things, the hidden pathways that connected distant locations through darkness itself. Again, her limited Dao comprehension meant she was seeing only fragments of this realm's true nature.
But the orb remained unchanged, unconnected, completely separate from the shadow realm just as it had been from the water realm.
"That's impossible," Lia breathed, her voice muffled by the shadow mask. She cycled through all three eyes rapidly, comparing what she saw. "Everything is connected to some aspect of the Dao. Water, earth, fire, shadow, light and millions of other Dao's—all objects resonate with at least one fundamental principle."
The orb sat on her silk sheets, completely isolated from every realm she could perceive. It wasn't hidden or protected—it simply existed outside the normal framework of cultivation reality entirely.
"What kind of artifact exists separate from all Dao?" she whispered, reaching out to touch the globe again. The moment her finger made contact, all three of the shadow mask's eyes suddenly closed as if seeing something too bright.
The shadow leech began to writhe more frantically, its form rippling with what felt like excitement mixed with deep unease. Through their bond, Lia sensed the creature's confusion and growing hunger—it wanted to touch the orb, to taste whatever power lay within, but something was holding it back.
Fear.
The shadow leech was afraid of the artifact, even as it was drawn to it.
Lia closed all three of the mask's eyes and allowed the creature to flow back down to its normal position across her chest. Her own eyes, once again unenhanced, stared at the innocent-looking globe that had somehow achieved the impossible—complete independence from the fundamental forces that governed all of existence.