The bitter aftertaste of the Moonlight Orchid lingered on Tian Yu's tongue long after he swallowed the last shred of its glowing petals. A cultivator would normally refine such a rare herb through fire, alchemy, and carefully guided qi circulation. He had no such luxury. No cauldron. No meridians. Only a frail mortal shell that groaned every time he forced even the faintest trace of energy through it.
The orchid's essence surged within him like a restless tide. His stomach tightened, his veins stung, and his bones ached as if splintering from within. Yet Tian Yu sat cross-legged beneath the twisted roots of an ancient tree, his expression oddly serene.
"So this is what I've been reduced to," he muttered under his breath, lips curling into a wry smile. "A cosmic fiend gnawing on leaves like some goat in a farmer's pen. If the heavens could see me now, they would choke on their own laughter."
Despite his mocking words, Tian Yu's eyes gleamed with sharp calculation. He could feel threads of cold lunar energy weaving through his blood, searching for a path to settle. Normally, the body's meridians would guide it, but his host had none. It should have dispersed uselessly, wasted to the night air. Instead, something unexpected happened.
His flesh drank it in.
Not smoothly, not harmoniously rather like dry soil greedily soaking up rain after years of drought. His muscles trembled, his skin prickled with faint silver lines before fading away. The Orchid's essence was not forming a foundation in the traditional sense, but it was carving a new one altogether.
Tian Yu exhaled slowly, letting his consciousness dive inward. Within the hollow darkness of this body, he glimpsed no river-like meridians, no glowing dantian core. Only a void. An endless, gaping void.
Fitting.
A low chuckle escaped him. "The heavens crippled me with chains, yet they overlooked one truth. The void… is what I am."
The realization set fire to his thoughts. He didn't need meridians. His existence was already built on devouring, on molding emptiness into power. If mortals cultivated through channels, then he would cultivate through absence.
But the process was brutal. Each pulse of the Orchid's energy tore at his flesh as if reshaping it into something barely human. He coughed, tasting iron. Warm blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, dark against the pale glow of moonlight filtering through the leaves.
"Good," he rasped, wiping it with the back of his hand. "Pain means progress."
The night deepened around him. Insects hushed, leaves rustled, and the forest seemed to hold its breath. The aura of the Orchid had spread faint traces into the air, subtle but enough to attract unwanted guests.
A low growl rippled through the underbrush.
Tian Yu's eyes narrowed. "Already?"
A pair of gleaming eyes appeared in the dark, followed by the lithe silhouette of a wolf-like beast, its fur streaked with faint spiritual light. The creature was no high-tier monster its cultivation was shallow but to a mortal body still reshaping itself, its fangs could be fatal.
The beast bared its teeth, saliva dripping, drawn by the lingering herbal scent clinging to Tian Yu. It lunged.
Tian Yu did not rise. He waited. His body screamed with weakness, but beneath it slumbered the ember of something older, darker. As the beast leapt, he tilted his head and whispered, "One percent is enough."
A ripple of shadow flared from his palm, subtle yet deadly. The wolf-beast froze mid-air as if invisible claws had seized its spine. Its eyes widened with terror before its body slammed against the ground, convulsing violently.
Tian Yu staggered, chest heaving. Sweat drenched his brow, and his arm trembled from the effort. Even that sliver of power had nearly shredded the fragile shell he wore. His breath was ragged, his pulse erratic.
"Pathetic," he hissed not at the beast, but at himself. "Once, a single thought of mine could erase a mountain. Now, I can barely swat a mutt without tearing my lungs apart."
Still, as he gazed at the twitching carcass, he felt no despair. Only cold determination. Every strain, every wound, every humiliating gasp of weakness was proof that this body was adapting.
Slowly, painfully, but surely.
The silver traces left by the Orchid were still faintly glowing beneath his skin. His muscles, though trembling, already felt subtly tougher. His senses sharpened, able to catch the minute rustle of leaves half a dozen steps away.
This was not the path of a human cultivator. This was the path of a void-born fiend learning to wear mortal flesh.
And Tian Yu would walk it to the end.
The bitter taste of crushed herbs still lingered on Tian Yu's tongue. He walked deeper into the forest, every step echoing a strange duality frail human flesh carrying the shadow of a cosmic predator. The mist thickened, coiling like wary serpents around the trees, yet it parted subtly before him as though it sensed its master.
His body still trembled faintly from the raw energy he had forced into it. Threads of spiritual essence fought against his fragile human frame, scraping the inside of his meridians like jagged glass. But Tian Yu's lips curved into a smirk. Pain was nothing compared to what he had endured in the abyss.
From the corner of his eye, a glimmer of light flickered among the undergrowth. A cluster of rare herbs thin stalks glowing faintly under the moonlight. Their scent carried vitality, their qi fresh and unspoiled. He crouched, fingertips brushing the leaves with casual familiarity.
"Not bad… A decent foundation. You'll serve me well," he muttered.
He plucked the herbs, chewing them without hesitation. The bitterness flooded his mouth once more, but his pulse steadied as the energy sank into his core. His body groaned, muscles tightening, skin prickling, yet he suppressed every reaction with sheer will.
Tian Yu closed his eyes briefly, sensing the shift. The sealed abyss within him remained locked, yet tiny cracks spread, threads of his original power seeping into the human shell. His smirk deepened.
Then rustling. Not far away.
The forest carried whispers: hurried footsteps, uneven breaths, the nervous clatter of weapons. Tian Yu didn't move. He merely straightened, hands behind his back, as though waiting for entertainment to arrive.
Shadows stretched between the trees, and soon several figures appeared disciples, their robes marked with another minor sect insignia. Their faces were drawn with hunger, not for survival, but ambition.
"Did you feel that? The spiritual surge it came from here!" one hissed.
Their eyes darted around until they landed on Tian Yu's lone figure standing calmly in the moonlight. A man with ragged robes, pale skin, yet an aura that made their chests tighten with unease.
Tian Yu tilted his head, his voice low, edged with casual mockery.
"Again? Do ants never learn?"
The disciples stiffened. Some tightened their grips on their swords, others hesitated, but all felt the weight pressing from his presence.
One finally stepped forward, forcing bravado into his tone.
"Stranger hand over what you've taken, or don't blame us for being ruthless!"
Tian Yu's smile was faint, almost kind, yet his eyes gleamed like cold stars.
"Ruthless? You wouldn't even survive a breath in the void."
The air seemed to shiver. The mist thickened, and before the disciples could react, Tian Yu's figure blurred, melting into the shadows.
The forest deepened, cloaked in a silence too heavy for ordinary wilderness. Each step Tian Yu took was deliberate, his bare feet brushing against damp moss, his senses stretched outward like a net. The faint pulse of spiritual energy leaked through the trees, guiding him toward his next quarry not human this time, but something older, wilder.
The mist parted to reveal a clearing where a single stalk of luminous grass grew, its silver leaves shimmering faintly under the moonlight. A rare herb, long sought by alchemists, known as Moonveil Grass. Even in his prime, cultivators would slaughter each other for a single sprout of it. Now, weakened as he was, Tian Yu regarded it with a half-smile.
"Moonveil Grass… and they say fate no longer favors me," he murmured, crouching low. His pale fingers brushed the stalk gently before plucking it whole. The herb pulsed faintly in his palm, its spiritual essence fragile yet untainted.
Without hesitation, Tian Yu placed it between his teeth and chewed. The bitterness spread instantly, seeping down his throat like fire wrapped in ice. He exhaled slowly, suppressing the violent surge threatening to rip his fragile vessel apart.
His brows furrowed. Even a single herb strained his current body to its limits. Cracks of invisible pressure ran through his meridians meridians that technically should not exist in this mortal shell. Yet through sheer will, he forced the energy to settle, weaving it into the void-like reservoir that defined his true self.
"Still fragile," he muttered, wiping a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth. "But one step closer."
The forest answered with a low growl. From the treeline, a pair of glowing eyes emerged then another, and another. A pack of spirit wolves crept into the clearing, their fur streaked with faint silver patterns that glowed under the moonlight. Their hunger was not for flesh alone, but for the herb Tian Yu had just consumed.
One wolf howled, the sound reverberating like an ancient horn. The rest lunged forward, claws tearing into the earth, fangs bared.
Tian Yu straightened, expression calm, almost amused.
"Beasts that crave power, yet know nothing of it… fitting."
The wolves charged, but Tian Yu did not retreat. He stepped forward, the motion so fluid it seemed detached from reality itself. His hand flicked outward, striking a wolf mid-air. The beast twisted violently, crashing into the ground with a strangled whimper. Another lunged at his flank, only to find itself frozen mid-leap as Tian Yu's fingertip brushed its temple. It collapsed, twitching helplessly.
But there were too many. Ten wolves, maybe more, circling with predatory intelligence. Tian Yu's body strained, his mortal vessel trembling at every exertion. His smile widened, sharp as a blade.
"Perfect. Let's see how much this body can endure before it breaks."