Drip... drp... drip.
Rain crawled from leaf to leaf before falling to the forest floor.
Trk... trk...
Raindrops struck the exposed roots like quiet beads on a zither string.
In the night, swollen clouds pressed low.
Toads echoed in the distance—gurrp... gurrp...
Crickets stitched the wet with needle-thin chirps., and the faint, cold wind brushed through the trees—each leaf trembling, shedding droplets that hit the ground with a soft tik... tik... tik...
Amid this chorus, Han Tianci's seventh shadow slipped through the forest.
A thin silhouette, neither fully physical nor ghost, born from technique manuals and Han Tianci's own heart.
One of the Seven Emotion Shadows—this one was "Suspicion."
Its senses were sharper than its strength, its instincts colder than its master's.
A lesser form of divine sense projection, barely solid, barely visible, only shaped by will.
It had watched the girl for three days.
She walked like rain. Silent. Slipping through everything.
Ningyue.
The runaway bride.
On the surface just a timid girl fleeing her wedding.
But he sensed she was a cultivator the moment she stepped past the caraige—
her breath, her pulse, the way she walked without disturbing the mud.
A ghost cultivator, He assumed.
A harmless one.
Yet something about her made his consciousness-body waver, like smoke in rain.
But the Shadow... the Shadow disagreed.
It had no voice, but its thoughts pressed into Han Tianci's mind like ripples under still water.
Danger. Danger. Danger.
At first, he thought the Shadow misjudged.
Until tonight.
Rustle... sssk... krhr—
Leaves trembled violently.
The Shadow halted, flattening against the trunk of a giant tree, its body flickering with each raindrop passing through it.
Ahead, Ningyue stood still, drenched by the rain.
Her fan lay forgotten at her feet.
I felt it clearly.
A thin thread of killing intent.
Almost too faint to detect.
Perfectly concealed.
Slipping between raindrops like a needle.
I felt it because my consciousness had been tempered through a lifetime of danger.
Even ghosts and monsters rarely triggered this instinct.
The Shadow felt it more harshly.
Its form distorted slightly, like ink dissolving in water.
She knows I'm watching.
Han Tianci frowned.
Only seasoned killers could notice his Shadows.
Even cultivators of his level usually couldn't feel it unless he wanted them to.
But this girl—
This runaway bride—
This supposed ghost cultivator—
She lifted her head.
"...You again."
Her voice was soft.
But behind her eyelids, behind her calm expression, behind her rain-washed face—
there was something bottomless.
And then—
She attacked with yin elemental qi.
The shadow shifted underground.
She knew someone was following her.
And she knew exactly where my projection was.
And I knew that she knew.
Yet neither of us broke the balance.
Two hunters walking in the same forest, pretending not to see each other's knives.
When she stepped toward the cave, she glanced once—
not behind her, not at the trees—
but at the darkness to her right, where my projection drifted.
A glance that carried meaning:
If you follow, then follow.
But don't blame me for what you see.
Then she walked in.
I followed.
Both knowing exactly what the other was doing.
Both pretending it didn't matter.
Both preparing for what would inevitably come next.
Inside the Nest – Through the Shadow's Eyes
The Seventh Shadow slipped after her, silent as fog.
The nest reeked of venom and wet stone.
Eggs pulsed along the walls.
Each step released a wet squelch.
Rainwater dripped inside from cracks above, creating a rhythm:
drip... drip... drip...
Ningyue didn't flinch.
She didn't even breathe faster.
She walked like someone passing by.
The Shadow perched on the ceiling, its black form blending with the darkness—watching.
Hairpin turning into spear, yin turning into flame, spiders dying from within as she devoured their vitality.
It was only when she pressed her palm to the ground—
sealing the entire nest with a curtain of burning yin—
And then the Spider Queen screamed.
SKRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK—!
A Golden Core beast, massive and armored, venom dripping from fangs thicker than a man's arm.
Ningyue simply raised her hand.
No fear.
No hesitation.
No spiritual technique.
Just—a gesture.
And the spider lunged.
The battle was a blur of limbs and blood.
Poison splashed against stone.
Silk strands shot like arrows.
The spider's roar shook the cavern.
But her shadow...
Her shadow moved differently.
It wasn't the Seventh Shadow's sibling.
It wasn't a ghost technique.
It wasn't illusion or qi.
It was hunger.
A distorted aura surged from her back—
something primal, ancient, hungry.
The Seventh Shadow trembled violently.
She is no ghost cultivator.
She is—
The moment the spider queen crashed into her—
she bit it.
Not metaphorically.
Her mouth opened and spiritual energy poured out like a black tide, swallowing venom, flesh, qi, life.
The spider shrieked.
Its Golden Core cracked.
The Shadow staggered, nearly falling from the ceiling.
And Han Tianci finally understood.
The name came to his mind.
The name demons and righteous cultivators used to fear.
The existence no one had seen for a hundred years yet every elder warned their disciples about.
Heaven Devouring Demon.
One of the demons who stood belong Li Qiong, One of the founding elders of Paradise Peak.
His shadow shivered violently
Han Tianci's pulse jumped.
She didn't just kill the Golden Core spider.
She devoured it—its body, its core, its life.
Every last drop.
When she finished, she wiped her lips with her sleeve like brushing rain from her face.
I saw her true nature with my own consciousness.
I was witnessing a calamity wearing the body of a beautiful girl.
And she knew I saw.
Her shadow brushed mine—intentionally—
just for a heartbeat, just enough for me to feel the cold.
Not a warning.
Calm.
Unhurried.
Almost gentle.
"...Annoying pest."
She didn't mean the spider.
Not a warning.
Not a threat.
A message.
A demon stands beside Li Qiong
A name whispered through the continent years ago.
Ningyue—
Heaven Devouring Demon.
Unfought, but famous.
One of the three terrifying Demons around Li Qiong.
I exhaled slowly.
So it was her.
So I had been watching her all along.
No wonder she sensed me.
The one who grew stronger the more she fed.
Han Tianci exhaled slowly.
The world inside the cave blurred for a moment—
rain outside dripping faintly through cracks in the stone.
tak... tak... tak...
My shadow leaned closer, watching her burn through the nest.
Then it happened.
As she knelt beside a trembling juvenile spider, feeding it a thread of Yin, her gaze shifted—
not toward the cave wall,
not toward her surroundings,
but toward me.
Toward the shadow I was projecting.
Her eyes met mine.
Calm.
Cold.
Beautiful.
And absolutely merciless.
A small smile touched her lips, faint as moonlight.
Not soft.
Not polite.
A threat. Clear as thunder.
It wrapped around my consciousness like a blade of ice
My shadow flickered—
once—
and shattered.
The connection snapped in an instant.
A cold lance shot straight through my real body.
Not fear.
Rage.
Pure Rage
I stopped walking abruptly.
The soldiers behind me froze in confusion.
The prince almost collided into my back.
The commander's hand hovered over his sword.
I clenched my jaw.
"That woman..."
A storm of qi surged up my spine.
"She dares threaten me?"
My fingers tightened.
Fine.
If she wants to see what a threat really looks like—
I raised my hand skyward.
Qi erupted from my body like a detonating star.
The ground cracked.
The air roared.
Leaves shook violently from the trees.