The "Blood Qi" of peak third-level Qi Condensation throbbed with cold power in Wei Shen's Dantian, like a predatory beast poised to strike. His dark cave, once merely a desperate refuge, had now become his lair and private laboratory, a testament to the rise of his dark power and his harsh experiments. After draining the essence of the "Steel-Clawed Rock Tiger," the "Blood-Devouring Stone" awaited more, and Wei Shen himself felt that insatiable thirst for more power, for more "fuel" that would propel him towards the fourth level and beyond.
As usual, Wei Shen exited the cave with the first threads of dawn, not just searching for food to sate his hunger, but seeking a new spiritual beast, a finer offering for the stone. He now moved through the "Forest of Lost Souls" with greater confidence, his senses, sharpened by his dark cultivation, scanned his surroundings with merciless precision. His two ivory daggers, along with the short, steel-claw-tipped spear, felt like natural extensions of his lethal will.
After hours of silent tracking in a previously unexplored part of the forest, where the trees were larger and the shadows deeper, he suddenly heard the violent sounds of a battle. It wasn't just the roar of a beast; it was mingled with sharp human cries, the clang of weapons, and powerful fluctuations of clashing "Qi."
Wei Shen stopped immediately, hiding behind the trunk of a tree, his cold eyes observing the source of the sound with extreme caution. "A conflict… between a spiritual beast and a cultivator," he thought, with no intention of immediate intervention, only a cold curiosity to assess the situation and look for any potential opportunity.
As he crept closer, moving like a shadow through the dense thickets, he saw the scene clearly.
A young girl, seemingly in her late teens, was fighting with desperation and courage against a massive, terrifying spiritual beast. The girl wore fine, sky-blue clothes, embroidered with delicate silver threads on the sleeves and collar—the distinctive attire of inner disciples of the "Fallen Leaf Sect"—though they were now torn and bloodstained in several places. Her long black hair, once elegantly coiffed, was now in disarray across her beautiful face, which was pale from fear and exhaustion, and covered in beads of sweat and dust.
Despite her wretched state, a trace of captivating natural beauty and clear stubbornness could be seen in her wide, dark honey-colored almond eyes, which were fixed with desperate concentration on her opponent. Her thin, long sword radiated a faint blue "Qi" light, and she wielded it with evident skill, but it was clear her energy was nearly depleted.
"An inner disciple from the Fallen Leaf Sect… and at the fifth level of Qi Condensation," Wei Shen quickly assessed her strength from the Qi aura surrounding her and the power of her strikes. "Truly interesting. Not just an ordinary disciple."
Before her stood a "Rock Thunder Beast," a massive creature apparently at the sixth level of Qi Condensation. Its body was covered in what looked like natural stone armor of a dark gray color, and a single short, thick horn protruded from the center of its massive head, from which faint blue electric sparks flew with every movement or violent roar. The girl was already suffering from several bleeding wounds on her arm and shoulder, her movements had become visibly slow and uncoordinated, and it was clear she was on the verge of collapsing under the beast's violent, successive attacks, which were growing fiercer.
Wei Shen watched the raging battle from his hiding place, that mask of coldness and indifference covering his features. No sign of pity or desire to help showed on his face. He was merely an observer, analyzing, assessing.
"The beast is very strong, and the girl is about to fall," he thought coldly. "If I intervene now, at the precisely right moment…"
He waited with the patience of a predator that knows when its prey is at its weakest.
When the Rock Thunder Beast raised its massive front claw, which resembled a stone hammer from which bright lightning sparks flew, to deliver the finishing blow to the girl who had fallen to her knees, her sword having slipped from her trembling hand, and her eyes closed in despair, surrendering to her inevitable fate, Wei Shen launched himself from his hiding place like an arrow, a phantom emerging from nowhere to strike.
Neither the girl awaiting death nor the beast focusing all its power on its final strike saw him until the last moment when it was too late for any effective reaction.
Wei Shen appeared like a phantom between the collapsing girl and the raging beast, his ivory daggers gleaming in his hands with the faint red sheen of the venomous "Blood Qi" that circulated in his body like a cold storm. He didn't target the beast's armored body directly; that would be a waste of time and energy at this critical juncture. Instead, he aimed for its small, reddish eyes that shone with savage cunning, a weak point he had noted and precisely identified while observing the battle.
It was a lightning-fast, precise strike, lethal in its intent.
The Rock Thunder Beast shrieked a horrific cry of pain, not a roar this time, but more akin to a sudden, tormented howl. It stumbled backward blindly, black blood gushing from its injured eyes, which Wei Shen's ivory daggers had pierced deeply, as if they were red ice picks.
Here, in this moment of chaos and the beast's agony, the girl intervened, her eyes opening with a mixture of astonishment, terror, and unbelievable hope. She saw this strange young man who had appeared from nowhere and saved her at the last second. With the last remnants of her strength and conviction, she picked up her sword, which had fallen beside her, and lunged towards the beast as it thrashed blindly in pain, thrusting her sword with all her might into its massive neck, exploiting the confusion caused by Wei Shen's sudden, masterful attack.
It wasn't an easy battle even with Wei Shen's sudden and skilled intervention. The beast, despite being injured in its eyes and losing its sight, still fought with incredible ferocity, its sixth-level power immense. It struck out with its claws randomly, sending rocks and lightning shards flying in every direction. But Wei Shen, with a combat intellect far exceeding his age and the experience gained from his previous battles, cooperated with the girl, who had regained some of her composure and courage.
After a bitter struggle lasting several minutes, during which Wei Shen also received some blows and bruises while "defending" the girl from the beast's blind attacks, they finally managed to finish off the "Rock Thunder Beast." Wei Shen delivered the coup de grâce with his short, steel-claw-tipped spear directly into the beast's heart, exploiting an opening in its stone armor that one of the girl's desperate sword strikes had created.
The massive beast crashed to the ground, sending a tremor through the earth beneath their feet. Dust and ash scattered everywhere, and then, an oppressive silence fell.
The girl stood panting heavily, looking at Wei Shen with eyes full of tears, gratitude, and indescribable amazement. "You… you saved my life!" It seemed she had been fighting the beast for a long time before Wei Shen's appearance, and this might have been its second or third assault on her.
Wei Shen didn't respond immediately. He too was catching his breath and assessing the minor injuries he had received. Then, he went straight to the beast's carcass and, with ruthless speed and efficiency, began to collect its precious blood in his large leather waterskin. Next, he extracted the beast core, which radiated a strong sky-blue light—a sixth-level core, a truly priceless treasure. He completely ignored her as she spoke, focusing all his attention on the valuable spoils.
After he had finished collecting everything of value from the beast's carcass, he turned to her. She was still looking at him, waiting, her hands trembling.
"Thank you! Truly, thank you!" she said in a trembling, weak voice, trying to smile despite the pain and fear that still gripped her. "You saved my life! I am Lin Fei, an inner disciple of the Fallen Leaf Sect. Please, tell me your name, and how can I repay this immense, priceless favor?"
Wei Shen looked at her, that mask of coldness and indifference covering his features, though he allowed something resembling feigned interest to appear in his eyes for a moment.
"Wei Shen," he said his name simply, in a neutral tone. Then, after a moment of silence, he added in a tone carrying surprise, "From the Fallen Leaf Sect as well. It's very rare to see inner disciples from our sect in these desolate depths of the forest, especially alone."
Lin Fei's eyes widened in genuine surprise this time, and a glimmer of familiarity and hope began to replace the fear in her gaze. "Really? You too are from the Fallen Leaf Sect? Heavens! I've never seen you in the inner disciples' section! But… how did you manage to defeat this beast with such strength? You seem…" She hesitated slightly, not finishing her sentence, but the meaning was clear. *You seem like just an outer disciple, or perhaps a new inner disciple who hasn't reached my level yet, so how do you possess such strength and terrifying calmness?*
"Appearances can be deceiving sometimes," Wei Shen said coldly, offering no further explanation. Then, he looked at her wounds, which were still bleeding profusely, and at the pallor of her face. "Your wounds look very bad, and your Qi is completely depleted. You need a safe place to rest and immediate treatment, or your life might be in danger."
Lin Fei nodded weakly, a wave of dizziness beginning to wash over her. "Yes… I… I feel very weak, and cold."
"My cave isn't far from here," Wei Shen said, his voice carrying a tone of kindness. "It's a humble and primitive place, but it's safe from most of the beasts in this area, at least. And I have some rare medicinal herbs I collected from the depths of the forest, the preparation method of which I inherited from a wise elder I once met. I believe they might help your wounds heal quickly and restore some of your energy."
Lin Fei looked at him with eyes full of gratitude and boundless trust. This young man, despite his coldness, strangeness, and frightening power, had saved her life and was now offering her help and treatment. She had no reason to doubt him, especially since he was from her own sect.
"Will… will you really help me? Can I go with you?" she asked in a faint voice, full of entreaty and weakness.
Wei Shen nodded slowly, maintaining his calm, neutral expression. "Of course. We are disciples of the same sect, and we must help each other in this harsh forest. But we must move quickly. The scent of this dead beast and its blood might attract other, more dangerous beasts."
Then, he noticed her swaying, barely able to stand. "It seems you're too weak to walk on your own. It's alright, I'll carry you."
And before she could protest or feel excessively shy, Wei Shen bent down and lifted her into his surprisingly strong arms. She was very light, like a feather.
He began to walk with her through the dense trees, away from the bloody battle scene, heading towards his dark cave several miles away. Lin Fei, in his arms, felt a mixture of gratitude and shyness, and a strange sense of safety and warmth despite everything. She closed her eyes, surrendering to the extreme exhaustion that overwhelmed her, and to the blind trust she placed in this mysterious, powerful "savior."
As for Wei Shen, he walked in complete silence, his cold eyes fixed on the path ahead, showing no trace of interest or pity. As the girl succumbed to sleep or unconsciousness in his arms, Wei Shen felt with the fingers of his right hand, which was carefully supporting her back…
"An interesting experiment is about to begin," he thought, a hint of a cold, savage smile—the smile of a scientist about to dissect a rare and precious specimen—playing on his lips, unseen by anyone in this world. "The essence of a fifth-level female cultivator… What kind of power will this grant the stone… and me? And will it be different, as I suspected, from the essence of spiritual beasts?"
The Demonic Heir had laid his bait with extreme care, and the prey, who thought herself saved from death, was now on her way to his private altar, completely oblivious to the dark fate awaiting her in that cave where she had been promised safety and healing.