With his heart still racing from the memory of death, but his body humming with newly discovered power, Long Chen didn't waste any time. The night was still young, and the chance to grow even stronger was literally in his hands. He sat on the bed, the black, smooth core of the Three-Eyed Black Tiger cold against his palm.
He took a deep breath, calming his mind and focusing. With the experience gained in the Ancestral Spiritual World, he began the [Soul Nourishing Technique], guiding his newly strengthened Soul Force toward the core.
The core of the Three-Eyed Black Tiger glowed faintly in his palm, radiating a heavy and silent energy. The room was dark, lit only by the pale moonlight leaking through a crack in the window.
The beginning felt familiar.
The core warmed up, and a stream of energy began to be drawn into his hand. However, something was different. The energy was incredibly pure, more refined than that of the Rabbits or the Demonic Bear, without the wild brutality he had expected.
However, to his surprise, the volume of energy seemed much less dense than it should have been for a Five-Star Bronze-Rank beast.
"Strange..." he thought. "It's clearly the core of a stronger beast, but... it feels like there's much less of it compared to the Demonic Bear."
Suddenly, as if his doubt had triggered a hidden trap inside his body, a searing pain unlike any physical pain he had ever felt exploded directly into his soul.
"AAAAAARGH!"
A scream of agony escaped his lips before he could even think to hold it back.
He dropped the core, which landed on the bed with a dull thud, and grabbed his head with both hands. It was as if icy needles were piercing his consciousness. Yet the demonic core on the bed didn't stop the process. It finished dissolving and flew into Long Chen's head as micro particles of glowing purple light.
Long Chen then collapsed onto the bed, his body convulsing. His eyes, once as black as the night, began to glow with an intense and supernatural purple light. In the next moment, his vision darkened, and the world of his room vanished, replaced by an infinite void.
...
Long Chen suddenly opened his eyes.
"What the hell is this? Where am I?" he asked himself, looking around the unfamiliar place.
His soul was floating in a place that looked like the very fabric of the starry universe. Distant nebulas swirled in vibrant colors, and stars sparkled like diamonds on black velvet. And there, at the center of it all, stood the silhouette of the Three-Eyed Black Tiger. It wasn't a creature of flesh and blood, but a form made of pure shadow and light.
"That... that was the demonic beast I killed earlier!" Long Chen recognized it with a single glance.
He tried to shout or get its attention, but the demonic beast gave no response. Instead, it began to move.
It didn't run, but glided like a shadow, becoming a smear of darkness that slipped between the stars. Long Chen could barely follow its movements. It looked like a speed and stealth technique that defied logic.
These were the [Shadow Steps].
Then, the creature stopped and stared at him. Its three eyes glowed—not with the red light of fury, but with the same purple hue that now stained Long Chen's eyes. A pulse of invisible energy emanated from the third eye, and for an instant, Long Chen's soul froze, immobilized by a terrifying pressure. The [Soul-Paralyzing Eye].
Long Chen recognized the technique. It was the one that had hit him before, followed by the claw strike that slammed into his chest and threw him back. Just thinking about it brought a sweet, bitter taste to his mouth.
But the demonic beast wasn't done. In the next moment, the silhouette of the tiger shattered into countless particles of purple light, which shot like a comet toward Long Chen's soul, fusing with him.
"What! What the hell is going on?" he panicked, trying to take a step back to escape, but his soul was frozen in place.
In that instant, a new and instinctive knowledge flooded his mind. The techniques the tiger had just shown were no longer just something he had seen—they were something he had now learned, instantly.
But just as quickly as it began, the vision ended.
Long Chen woke up with a start, panting, cold sweat dripping from his forehead. The pain was gone. He sat up again, feeling a new surge of power—much stronger than before—solidifying within him.
"I made another breakthrough?" was the first thing he realized.
He could feel his Soul Force had crossed the threshold of Three Stars and stabilized firmly at the peak of the Four-Star Bronze Rank.
But that wasn't all. Something else had changed. He picked up a small polished bronze mirror from his desk. In the reflection, he saw his own face, still handsome, but his eyes... they were a hypnotic shade of purple. As he watched in shock, the vibrant color slowly faded, returning to its normal dark tone.
"But what...?"
He stood up, his mind spinning. Looking across the small room, he then focused his intent, recalling the sensation of the tiger's movement in his vision. He attempted the [Shadow Steps].
Swoosh!
In an instant, his body seemed to dissolve into flickering shadow and, in the next second, he was there. On the other side of the room. Silent—as if he hadn't taken a single step. The transition was so smooth it left him momentarily disoriented.
A wide smile spread across his face. "This... this is incredible!" he whispered, excitement bubbling in his chest. He hadn't just grown stronger—he had gained two new abilities!
But before Long Chen could celebrate or test the other ability, the sound of hurried footsteps in the hallway pulled him back to reality.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
The knock at the door was followed by his mother's worried voice. "Chen'er? Are you okay? I heard a scream and a strange noise, like something fell!"
Long Chen held his breath.
Panic replaced the euphoria. He looked at the core—the bag full of demonic cores on the bed—and at the bloodstained Glory Staff on the floor, which he had dropped in shock.
Long Chen took a deep breath, forcing calm into his voice. "I'm okay, Mom! I just... had a nightmare and fell out of bed! It's nothing, sorry for worrying you!"
There was a pause on the other side of the door. Long Chen could imagine her frowning, unsure. "Are you sure, my son? You sounded like you were in a lot of pain."
"I'm sure! Just a bad dream. I'm going back to sleep," he replied, trying to sound as sleepy and normal as possible.
He heard a resigned sigh and, finally, his mother's footsteps retreating down the hall. Long Chen leaned against the door, his heart still pounding, and let out a long breath of relief. His night's journey had been far more intense—and rewarding—than he ever could've imagined.