The forest was no longer quiet. The echoes of the fleeing disciples had faded, but their fear still clung to the air like damp mist. Tian Yu remained where he was, one hand pressed against the black scroll beneath his robes. Its pulse had not ceased since he first unrolled it, as though some buried entity within the parchment sought to reach him.
He lowered himself to the moss-covered ground, crossing his legs with deliberate calm. The pale light of the moon fell over his shoulders, illuminating his expressionless face. Yet within his eyes, storms gathered.
"A fragment of the Primordial Dao…"
The words lingered in his mind, heavy as iron chains. It had taken everything for the celestial deities to bind him here, stripping away his essence and forcing him into fragile mortal flesh. And yet, the scroll whispered of a key of cracks within the very prison they had crafted.
The runes he glimpsed earlier shimmered faintly, even with the scroll tightly shut. Their resonance seeped into his bones, subtle, corrosive, irresistible. He could almost hear them speaking, not in words, but in patterns, as if the language of creation itself brushed against his mind.
A sardonic smile touched his lips.
"So even the heavens left behind tools they themselves cannot master. How… poetic."
The forest stirred. Not with wolves this time, but with something heavier. The ground quivered softly, distant but growing nearer. Tian Yu tilted his head, listening. His mortal vessel struggled to process the vibrations, but the void within him caught them instantly. Something massive approached.
He rose in silence, his ragged robes brushing the damp earth. As he stepped forward, the scroll pulsed harder, almost in warning or in anticipation.
Branches cracked in the distance. The mist parted, and from the shadows emerged a beast unlike the lesser spirit wolves he had slain. This creature's fur gleamed like obsidian, its eyes burning with a faint red glow. Antler-like horns twisted from its skull, and every breath it exhaled carried sparks of spiritual flame.
A Midnight Stag.
Not a divine beast, but a predator high in the food chain of these woods. Its aura alone pressed against Tian Yu's frail vessel, weighing on his lungs, forcing shallow breaths.
The stag lowered its head, horns gleaming under the moonlight, ready to charge. The scent of blood and herbs clung to Tian Yu, drawing the creature's hunger.
He exhaled slowly.
"A mortal shell cannot withstand you head-on. But…" His fingers traced the scroll beneath his robe. "I am no mortal."
The stag thundered forward, hooves pounding the earth like war drums. Tian Yu moved only at the last instant his body dissolving into shadow, reforming just to the side of the beast's path. Pain flared through his limbs from the exertion, but he ignored it, eyes sharp with predatory focus.
With a flick of his wrist, the scroll slid free, unrolling slightly. The air rippled as faint starlight spilled from its surface, illuminating the clearing in shifting constellations.
The stag froze mid-step. Its eyes widened, not in fear, but in primal recognition of something beyond its understanding. Its body trembled, instincts screaming at it to flee.
"Too late," Tian Yu murmured.
The constellations shifted, forming a sigil that glowed like molten silver. A thread of that light lashed outward, striking the stag across its flank. Flesh burned instantly, the beast howling in agony as its body toppled, crashing through the undergrowth.
Tian Yu swayed, his face pale. Even channeling the smallest fragment of the scroll's power had nearly shredded his human vessel. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, and blood welled at the corner of his mouth.
Yet his eyes shone with fierce triumph.
"Even bound, even crippled… one fragment of the Dao bends beasts to their knees."
The stag writhed weakly, its antlers shattered, its body twitching as the sigil burned into its hide. Tian Yu stepped closer, resting a hand lightly upon its skull. The creature's aura still flickered, strong yet dying.
"You will serve a purpose," he whispered.
The void within him stirred. A sliver of its abyssal hunger slipped free, coiling around the stag like invisible chains. Its life essence poured into him not as qi through meridians, but as raw power consumed by emptiness itself.
Pain tore through Tian Yu's veins, but beneath it came something else: strength. His muscles tightened, his senses sharpened, and for the first time since awakening in this body, he felt a fragment of the predator he once was.
The stag's glow dimmed. With a final shudder, its body collapsed lifelessly into the earth.
Tian Yu straightened, wiping blood from his lips. His smile was faint, cruel, but resolute.
"Step by step… this shell will no longer bind me."
He looked once more at the scroll, its pulse slowing, as though content. The sigils faded back into silence, waiting for him to dare again.
Above, the moon slipped behind a veil of clouds, and the forest darkened. But for Tian Yu, the night had only just begun.
The clearing reeked of iron and smoke. The Midnight Stag's body lay twisted in death, its once-burning eyes dulled to glass. Tian Yu stood above it, calm yet pale, every breath shallow as the fragile vessel protested against the power he had forced into it.
The silence did not last.
Leaves rustled. A faint whistle of air shifted through the canopy too precise, too sharp. Tian Yu's gaze flicked upward just as a streak of light carved through the night, striking the ground where he had stood. Soil exploded, roots tearing apart.
He moved a half-step back, robes brushing against the torn earth.
From the shadows emerged three figures. Their robes bore the insignia of a minor sect, but their posture and weaponry betrayed something more dangerous than ordinary disciples. They carried themselves like hounds sent to hunt.
One of them, a man with hawk-like eyes, studied the stag's corpse and the faint shimmering residue left by the scroll. His lips curled into a thin smile.
"So it's true. Someone is stirring forbidden power in this forest."
Tian Yu regarded them without shifting his stance, hands clasped loosely behind his back. His voice was soft, almost amused.
"And here I thought rats only scurried after scraps. It seems some learned to sniff the scent of gods."
The hawk-eyed man's smile widened, though his hand tightened on the hilt of his blade.
"Hand it over. Whatever you've uncovered, it belongs to us now. Spare yourself pain."
The words rippled faintly with qi, as if woven with intimidation. But Tian Yu only chuckled, low and sharp.
"You speak of pain as if you've tasted it. Do you even know what the void does to screams?"
The three hesitated, their instincts pricking. The figure before them looked ragged, frail, blood still staining his lips. Yet something pressed against their chests a suffocating weight that their training could not explain.
The youngest of the trio shifted nervously. "Senior… something's wrong with him."
"Silence," the hawk-eyed one snapped. His gaze never left Tian Yu.
Tian Yu tilted his head, curious.
"You sense it, don't you? The abyss gnawing at your soul. Even in this broken shell, I cannot hide it."
He stepped forward once, lightly, as though testing the ground. The forest itself seemed to lean closer, shadows bending with his movement.
The second man drew his spear, thrusting it toward Tian Yu's chest in a blur of light. The tip whistled through the air, fast enough to pierce stone.
It met nothing.
Tian Yu dissolved into smoke, reforming at the man's side. His lips brushed the disciple's ear.
"Too slow."
A flick of his fingers across the spear's shaft sent a vibration coursing down the weapon. The disciple cried out, arms numb as if struck by lightning. He stumbled back, weapon clattering to the ground.
The youngest panicked, swinging his sword wildly. Steel cut through Tian Yu's robes, grazing skin. The blade shivered not from the impact, but from the oppressive chill seeping into it. Frost bloomed across the steel, cracking it apart.
The youth dropped the hilt, his hands blistered from the sudden cold. His knees buckled, fear overtaking him.
Only the hawk-eyed leader remained steady, though his jaw tightened. He raised his blade, a faint glow enveloping it clearly a refined weapon, forged to withstand spiritual strain.
"You're no ordinary cripple," he said, voice steady despite the sweat at his brow. "But you bleed. You strain. Whatever you're wielding, it's tearing you apart. You can't last."
For a moment, Tian Yu was silent. Then his smile returned, sharper than before.
"You're right."
He extended a hand, letting the faint pulse of the scroll leak outward, not enough to kill but enough to let the air tremble, the earth crack. Constellations flickered in the mist, briefly forming jagged patterns that made mortal eyes ache.
"This shell breaks every time I move. Every breath is rebellion. Every heartbeat a war."
He stepped closer, eyes gleaming like twin abysses.
"And yet… I still stand. Tell me, mortal, if weakness itself terrifies you what hope do you have against the void?"
The leader faltered, just slightly. It was enough.
Tian Yu blurred forward, his palm striking the man's chest. Not with strength, but with emptiness. The void hissed outward, swallowing the qi barrier around him. The leader gasped, eyes wide as the glow of his sword dimmed. His knees gave way, and he collapsed, breath shallow, spirit fractured.
The clearing was silent again, save for the ragged panting of the two surviving disciples. They scrambled to their leader's side, dragging him away without daring to meet Tian Yu's gaze.
He let them go. His body trembled, sweat dripping down his temples. Every use of power shredded him further, but within the pain burned satisfaction. His strength was returning not as it once was, but as something new, something reborn through absence.
Tian Yu crouched once more beside the stag's corpse, retrieving its shattered antlers. He studied them, then tucked them into his robes. Even broken relics could serve a purpose.
Above, thunder rumbled faintly, though no storm had formed. The heavens, it seemed, had begun to take notice.
Tian Yu's smile was faint, almost serene.
"Good. Watch me. Watch how your prison cracks."