The perimeter fence of the Iron Sword Sect was a rotting joke. It was a line of decaying cedar posts held together by a low-grade Alarm Array that hummed with a lazy, rhythmic buzz.
Bzzzt... (silence)... Bzzzt...
Jiang Chen crouched in the tall, wet grass. He could smell the ozone radiating from the invisible barrier. It smelled like a thunderstorm trapped in a bottle.
He wasn't breathing. He didn't need to.
[Serpent's Breath: Active]
His heart rate dropped. Four beats per minute. To the magical sensors of the array, he was indistinguishable from the moss-covered stones at his feet.
'Now.'
He moved.
He didn't run; he flowed. With 2.5 Agility, he cleared the ten-meter gap between the pulse and the silence in a single, fluid motion. He landed on the other side—the forbidden side—without a sound.
Ahead lay the Black Spirit Forest.
It didn't look like a forest. It looked like a mouth. The trees were twisted, their bark black and slick with a slime that smelled of mildew. The canopy was so thick it strangled the moonlight, leaving the forest floor in a suffocating, inky gloom.
Jiang Chen felt a shiver run down his spine. This was where Outer Disciples died.
'Go back,' his human mind whispered. 'It's safe in the woodshed.'
[ hunger. ]
The text glitched in his vision, red and jagged.
Jiang Chen touched his stomach. It wasn't growling; it was vibrating. The fear evaporated, replaced by a hollow, aching need that made his mouth water.
"Fine," Jiang Chen whispered, his voice raspy. "Let's eat."
He crept deeper into the treeline.
Two hours later.
Jiang Chen was perched on the thick branch of a rotting oak tree, looking down. His fingernails dug into the wood, leaving deep gouges in the bark.
Below him, in a small clearing, was a beast.
It was an Iron-Hide Boar.
It was a monstrosity of muscle and aggression, easily four hundred pounds. Its fur was matted with dried mud and the blood of whatever it had killed last. Two yellow tusks, jagged as broken daggers, protruded from its lower jaw.
It was rubbing its flank against a boulder. Scrape. Scrape. The sound grated on Jiang Chen's nerves.
[Target: Iron-Hide Boar]
[Rank: Mid-Tier Spirit Beast]
[Est. Strength: 5.5]
[Est. Constitution: 8.0]
[Advisory: Target hide is impervious to blunt force. Soft tissue strike required.]
"Strength 5.5..." Jiang Chen licked his lips. He was at 4.0.
Mathematically, this was suicide. The boar was stronger, tougher, and heavier.
But Jiang Chen didn't see a threat. The [Predator's Instinct] painted the world in shades of gray, except for the boar. The boar glowed with a pulsating, appetizing red heat. He could see the jugular vein throbbing under the thick neck muscles.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
It was calling him.
'Do I have a weapon?' Jiang Chen checked his belt. He had forgotten the axe. He only had his hands.
[ You are the weapon. ]
Jiang Chen dropped.
He didn't scream a battle cry. Predators don't scream.
He landed on the boar's back with a heavy thud, his legs locking around the beast's torso like a vice.
ROAR!
The boar squealed—a high-pitched, grinding noise like bending metal. It bucked violently, launching itself backward to crush its rider against the boulder.
Jiang Chen saw the rock coming.
[Iron Skin.]
He hardened his back muscles. Qi flooded his skin, turning it the color of lead.
CRACK.
He slammed into the boulder. The impact knocked the wind out of him, bruising his ribs, but his spine didn't snap.
"Die!" Jiang Chen hissed.
He raised his right hand. He didn't make a fist. He stiffened his fingers into a spear-hand, channeling every ounce of his Qi into the tips. His fingernails seemed to lengthen, becoming jagged and gray.
He struck.
Not at the tough hide on the back, but deep into the soft, wet flesh behind the ear.
Squelch.
It was wet. Warm.
His hand buried itself up to the wrist. He felt muscle fibers tear. He felt the hot pulse of the artery.
He grabbed it and pulled.
The boar thrashed, throwing Jiang Chen into the mud. It staggered, blood spraying from its neck like a geyser, painting the black moss crimson. It spun around, trying to gore Jiang Chen, but its legs wobbled.
It took three steps. Two. One.
It collapsed with a heavy, wet exhaled breath.
Jiang Chen lay in the mud, gasping. His back throbbed. His hand was coated in gore. He felt disgusting. He felt... electric.
DING.
[Target Eliminated.]
[Biomass Acquired.]
[Reward: 35 EV.]
"35..." Jiang Chen laughed breathlessly, staring at the corpse.
His stomach roared.
[ Consume. ]
Jiang Chen crawled over to the carcass. The smell of raw blood, which should have made him retch, smelled sweet. Like honey. Like life.
He lowered his head to the wound.
'Just a sip,' he told himself. 'Just to heal the bruise.'
He drank.
It was warm, metallic, and thick. As it hit his stomach, the System broke it down instantly. A rush of heat exploded in his core, rushing to his bruised back, knitting the capillaries back together.
He drank more. He tore a strip of meat from the neck and swallowed it without chewing.
He didn't stop until he was full.
He sat back, wiping his mouth with a blood-stained sleeve. He looked at his reflection in a puddle of rainwater. His eyes were glowing with a faint, vertical slit pupil that vanished when he blinked.
DING.
[Biomass Assimilated.]
[Attribute Update:]
[Constitution: 3.1 -> 3.3]
[Strength: 4.0 -> 4.1]
[Current EV: 29 + 35 = 64]
Jiang Chen stood up. He felt heavier, denser.
"64 EV," he whispered. "I have enough."
He opened the System Shop.
[Shop]
Skill: Shadow Step (Movement) - 50 EV Skill: Rending Claw (Offensive) - 60 EV Item: Mask of the Faceless - 70 EV
He looked at the options.
He needed a weapon skill. He had brute strength, but his technique was sloppy. If he fought a real cultivator in the tournament, he couldn't just hug them to death.
"Rending Claw," Jiang Chen selected. "The boar's hide was tough. I need something that cuts."
[Purchase Confirmed: Rending Claw (Level 1).]
[Cost: 60 EV.]
[Remaining EV: 4.]
AAAARGH!
Jiang Chen fell to his knees as a spike of agony shot through his hands. It felt like someone was peeling his fingernails back with hot pliers.
He watched in horror as the Qi meridians in his hands were forcibly re-routed. The bones in his fingertips elongated slightly, becoming denser, sharper.
The pain lasted ten seconds.
When it stopped, Jiang Chen looked at his hand. It looked normal... mostly. But when he pushed his Qi into it, his fingers curved into terrifying, hook-like claws enveloped in a faint red aura.
He slashed at a nearby sapling.
Swish.
The tree was severed cleanly, as if cut by a razor.
Jiang Chen smiled. It was a jagged, bloody smile.
"Let the tournament begin."