Chen Feng woke to the sound of evening cicadas, their rhythmic chorus filtering through the paper window of his small room. The afternoon had passed while he slept, and the quality of light suggested the sun would set within the hour. His body felt heavy, as though he had been laboring in the forest all day rather than simply experiencing a single strange encounter.
The mark on his forehead still throbbed with residual heat, a constant reminder that the morning's events had been real rather than some fever dream. Chen Feng sat up slowly, pressing his fingers against the symbol. The raised skin felt warm to the touch, and the moment his fingertips made contact, his vision shifted again. The walls of his room, the simple wooden furniture, even the air itself became overlaid with those intricate lines and connections he had first perceived at the shrine.
He pulled his hand away quickly, and the enhanced vision faded to a more manageable level, though it did not disappear entirely. It seemed the ability was tied to his focus and intention. When he deliberately tried to see the connections, they became clearer. When he relaxed his attention, they receded to the background of his awareness.
This discovery provided some measure of relief. If he could learn to control this strange sight, he might be able to maintain a semblance of normalcy until he understood what had happened to him. Chen Feng rose from his bed and moved to the small bronze mirror that hung on the wall. In the dim light of approaching evening, he studied his reflection carefully.
His hair had fallen forward during his sleep, partially concealing the mark, but when he pushed it back, the symbol was clearly visible. The geometric pattern seemed less aggressive now than it had appeared immediately after its manifestation, though it still possessed an otherworldly quality that would draw attention if anyone saw it clearly. Chen Feng experimented with different positions for his hair, eventually finding an arrangement that provided adequate coverage without looking deliberately styled to hide something.
A knock on his door interrupted his examination. His mother's voice came through the thin wooden partition, gentle but carrying an undertone of concern that Chen Feng recognized immediately. "Feng'er, are you feeling better? Dinner is ready."
"I'll be right there, Mother," he replied, taking one last look at his reflection before turning away from the mirror. He would need to be careful. His parents had known him his entire life and would notice any significant changes in his behavior. The key would be to act as normally as possible while he worked to understand his new circumstances.
The evening meal was similar to breakfast in its simplicity, but his mother had prepared Chen Feng's favorite dish of stir-fried vegetables with bits of pork, likely as a gesture of comfort after noticing his pale appearance earlier. His father was already seated at the small table, having returned from the forest while Chen Feng slept. Chen Wei's hands bore fresh calluses and small cuts from the day's work, testament to the honest labor that sustained their household.
They ate in relative quiet for several minutes before Chen Wei spoke, his tone casual but his eyes observant. "You seemed troubled this morning. Did something happen in the forest?"
Chen Feng had anticipated this question during his walk back to the village. He had prepared a response that contained elements of truth without revealing the full extent of what had occurred. Deception did not come naturally to him, but he recognized that the complete truth would only bring worry and confusion to his parents, neither of whom had any experience with the cultivation world that might help them understand what the mark signified.
"I encountered a Mountain Bear near the boundary shrine," Chen Feng said, meeting his father's gaze directly. Lying was made easier by maintaining eye contact, he had heard, but he found the opposite to be true. Looking his father in the eye while withholding information felt far more difficult than he had anticipated. "It was startled by my presence and retreated back into the deep forest. The encounter left me more shaken than I realized."
This explanation was technically accurate, even if it omitted the crucial details of how the encounter had actually resolved. His father nodded slowly, processing this information with the careful consideration he brought to all matters of potential danger.
"The bears have been coming closer to the village lately," Chen Wei observed. "Old Man Zhang mentioned seeing tracks near his field last week. The autumn harvest must be poor in the deep forest this year, driving them to seek food in more accessible areas." He paused, then added with a meaningful look, "You should carry the hunting spear when you go into the forest from now on. A small knife is insufficient protection against such creatures."
"Yes, Father," Chen Feng agreed, grateful that his partial truth had been accepted without deeper scrutiny.
His mother reached across the table to pat his hand, her touch warm and comforting. "The Mountain Lord must have been watching over you. We should make an offering at the shrine tomorrow to give thanks for your safe return."
The mention of the shrine caused Chen Feng to tense involuntarily, though he hoped his parents had not noticed. The idea of returning to the place where the mark had first appeared filled him with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. Would something else happen if he touched the cracked stone again? Or had the shrine merely been the catalyst for something that was always going to occur?
"I'll go with you," he said, deciding that avoiding the shrine would be more suspicious than confronting whatever mysteries it might still hold.
After dinner, Chen Feng helped his mother clean the dishes while his father sat by the small fire, mending a tear in his work clothes. The domestic routine was comforting in its familiarity, a reminder that despite the strange turn his life had taken, he was still the same person who had woken up that morning. The mark on his forehead might have changed his perception of the world, but it had not changed who he was at his core.
As darkness fell completely, Chen Feng excused himself and stepped outside into the cool night air. The village was quiet at this hour, with most families gathered in their homes for the evening. A few lights flickered in distant windows, and the smell of wood smoke drifted on the breeze. He walked slowly through the empty paths between houses, his steps taking him toward the edge of the village where the forest began.
He stopped at a point where he could see the dark mass of trees silhouetted against the starlit sky. The Redwood Forest at night was a place of mystery, where strange sounds echoed through the darkness and even experienced hunters stayed close to marked trails. Chen Feng had always felt a healthy respect for the forest's dangers, but tonight he felt something additional, a sense that the trees themselves were watching him with new interest.
His enhanced vision, which had been relatively quiet during dinner, suddenly sharpened without his conscious intention. The connections between things became visible again, but this time they extended far beyond the immediate surroundings. He could see threads of relationship reaching from the village into the forest, connections between the people and the land they had inhabited for generations. Some threads were strong and vibrant, representing deep bonds. Others were faint and fraying, suggesting relationships that had weakened or were about to sever naturally.
More disturbing were the connections that seemed to originate from deep within the forest, extending like reaching fingers toward the village. These threads had a different quality to them, darker and more aggressive in their coloration. Chen Feng focused on one such connection and followed it with his enhanced sight. It led to a small house near the center of the village, the home of the widow Feng and her young daughter.
Something in the forest had formed a connection to that household, and the nature of that connection suggested predatory intent. Chen Feng felt a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature of the night air. His new ability was showing him something important, a threat that his normal eyes would never have perceived.
He needed to understand more about what was happening to him, and he needed to do so quickly. The representatives from Azure Peak Sect would arrive in three days for the autumn harvest festival. Perhaps they would have knowledge about marks like the one on his forehead. Perhaps they could explain what he was seeing and how he might protect the village from threats his enhanced perception was revealing.
The decision crystallized in Chen Feng's mind with sudden clarity. He would test his aptitude for cultivation when the sect representatives arrived. Whatever the results, at least he would have tried to find answers rather than remaining in ignorance. The mark on his forehead had given him abilities that went beyond anything a normal mortal should possess. That suggested he might have the potential for cultivation that he had always assumed he lacked.
A sound from the forest made him turn his attention back to the dark tree line. It was a low growl, barely audible but unmistakable in its menacing quality. Chen Feng's hand went to the knife at his belt, though he knew it would be inadequate if something dangerous emerged from the shadows. His enhanced vision showed him multiple presences in the forest, creatures moving through the undergrowth with purposes he could not fully discern.
One presence in particular drew his attention. It was moving along the same dark thread he had noticed earlier, the connection that led to the widow Feng's house. The creature was still deep in the forest, but it was approaching steadily, following that thread like a hunter following a scent trail.
Chen Feng made another decision in that moment. He could not simply return to his house and pretend he had not seen this threat. Whatever was coming, it would reach the village tonight, and an unprepared victim would likely die. His new abilities had given him knowledge that came with responsibility. He could not stand by and allow harm to come to his neighbors through his inaction.
He returned to his house quickly but quietly, retrieving the hunting spear from where it rested against the wall near the door. His father looked up from his mending with a questioning expression, but Chen Feng simply said, "I'm going to check the perimeter. I have a strange feeling about tonight."
Chen Wei studied his son for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Trust your instincts. Take the horn as well. If there's real danger, sound the alarm and the men of the village will come."
Chen Feng took the curved horn from its place on the wall, a simple instrument made from a Mountain Goat's horn that could produce a sound loud enough to wake the entire village. Thus equipped, he stepped back out into the night, moving with purpose toward the widow Feng's house.
The dwelling was small and somewhat isolated from the main cluster of village buildings, a consequence of the widow's reduced circumstances after her husband had died three years prior in a logging accident. Her daughter, a girl of perhaps eight years named Feng Ling, was known throughout the village for her bright spirit and helpful nature. The thought of either of them coming to harm because Chen Feng had failed to act was intolerable.
He positioned himself in the shadows near the house, the spear held ready, his eyes fixed on the point where the forest met the cleared land around the village. His enhanced vision showed him the dark connection growing stronger as whatever was following it drew closer. The thread pulsed with an ugly energy, and Chen Feng realized he could perceive intent within it. The creature approaching was not simply hunting for food. There was malice in its purpose, a desire to harm that went beyond natural predation.
Minutes passed with agonizing slowness. Chen Feng remained motionless in his concealment, controlling his breathing and maintaining his focus. The sounds of the night continued around him, the normal chorus of insects and small animals going about their business. Then, gradually, that natural symphony began to fade. The creatures of the night sensed a predator and fell silent.
A shape emerged from the tree line, moving with unnatural fluidity. At first, Chen Feng could not identify what he was seeing. The creature was roughly the size of a large dog, but its proportions were wrong, distorted in ways that suggested it was not entirely natural. Its fur appeared matted and diseased, and its eyes glowed with a faint reddish light that had nothing to do with reflected illumination.
Chen Feng's enhanced vision provided additional information that his normal sight would have missed. The creature was infused with dark energy, a corruption that had transformed it from whatever it had originally been into something monstrous. The connection it followed led directly to the widow's house, and the creature's singular focus on that thread was absolute.
The monster paused at the edge of the clearing, its nose lifted as if scenting the air. Then it began moving again, directly toward the widow's door. Chen Feng knew he had to act, but he also recognized that he was facing something far beyond his limited combat experience. A corrupted beast was not the same as a normal animal. It would not be frightened away by noise or deterred by a show of force.
He stepped out from his concealment, placing himself between the creature and its intended target. The movement drew the monster's attention immediately. Its glowing eyes fixed on Chen Feng, and for a moment, the two regarded each other across the small distance that separated them.
Chen Feng raised the spear to a guard position, his mind racing through the limited combat training his father had provided for dealing with forest predators. The standard tactics involved using the spear's reach to keep dangerous animals at a distance while looking for an opportunity to strike at vulnerable areas. But this creature's corruption made it unclear whether normal vulnerabilities would apply.
The monster moved with shocking speed, closing the distance in a blur of motion that gave Chen Feng barely enough time to react. He thrust forward with the spear, aiming for the creature's chest, but it twisted aside with unnatural agility. The spear point scored a shallow cut along the monster's flank, drawing a thick, dark fluid that seemed wrong in consistency and color.
The creature snarled and lunged again, this time from a different angle. Chen Feng managed to interpose the spear shaft between himself and the attacking jaws, but the force of the impact drove him backward. His feet skidded in the dirt as he fought to maintain his balance. The monster's strength was far greater than its size suggested, another consequence of the corruption that had transformed it.
Chen Feng's enhanced vision showed him the creature's structure, the connections that held it together and allowed it to function. In that moment of pressure and danger, inspiration struck. He had severed the bear's connection to the ground that morning. Could he sever something more fundamental? Could he cut the connections that allowed this corrupted creature to maintain its cohesion?
The mark on his forehead burned with sudden intensity as Chen Feng focused his will. He could see the threads of dark energy that ran through the monster's body, corrupting and sustaining it simultaneously. Those threads connected to something deeper, a source of the corruption that lay elsewhere. If he could sever those connections, perhaps he could end the immediate threat.
The creature lunged again, and this time Chen Feng did not try to block with his spear. Instead, he dropped the weapon and thrust his hand forward in that same instinctive gesture he had used against the bear. His fingers traced a pattern in the air, and something invisible extended from his will to touch the connections within the corrupted beast.
He did not try to sever all of them at once. That would likely require more power than he currently possessed. Instead, he focused on a single crucial thread, the connection between the dark energy and the creature's vitality. With a mental twist that felt like cutting through physical resistance, Chen Feng severed that single thread.
The effect was immediate and dramatic. The creature's forward momentum faltered as its corrupted energy suddenly lost its anchor point. The reddish glow faded from its eyes, replaced by confusion and pain. The monster stumbled, its coordination failing as the corruption that had been driving it lost cohesion.
Chen Feng grabbed his fallen spear and struck while the creature was vulnerable, driving the point deep into its chest. This time, the weapon found its mark, and the corrupted beast collapsed with a final, rattling breath. The dark energy that had sustained it dissipated into the night air, leaving behind only a normal forest wolf, its body thin and ravaged by the corruption that had consumed it from within.
The entire encounter had lasted perhaps thirty seconds, but Chen Feng's heart was pounding as if he had been fighting for an hour. He stood over the fallen creature, breathing hard, trying to process what he had just done. He had not simply fought and killed a corrupted beast. He had used his strange new ability to cut away the very thing that made it dangerous, reducing it to something his physical weapons could handle.
The door to the widow's house opened, and Feng Ling's mother emerged, a kitchen knife held in her trembling hand. Her eyes widened as she took in the scene before her, Chen Feng standing with his spear over a dead wolf in her yard.
"Chen Feng? What happened? I heard strange sounds..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at the dead creature more closely, recognizing signs of corruption that even a non-cultivator could perceive.
"A corrupted beast from the deep forest," Chen Feng explained, his voice steady despite his racing pulse. "It would have attacked your house if left unchecked. I happened to be nearby and was able to intercept it."
The widow's hand went to her mouth, her eyes filling with tears of relief and fear. "Thank you. Thank you so much. If you had not been here..." She could not finish the sentence, the implications too terrible to voice.
The commotion had attracted attention from nearby houses. Chen Feng's father arrived first, carrying an axe and moving with the careful alertness of someone expecting danger. Other men of the village followed, emerging from their homes with whatever weapons they had readily available.
Chen Wei took in the scene with a single comprehensive glance, his eyes moving from the dead wolf to his son to the frightened widow. Understanding came quickly to his experienced gaze. "Well done, Feng'er. Though we'll need to organize patrols if corrupted beasts are coming this close to the village."
The arrival of other villagers turned the immediate area into a scene of controlled chaos as people talked over each other, examined the dead creature, and discussed the implications of its presence so near their homes. Chen Feng found himself answering questions and accepting praise with a modesty that came naturally to his temperament. He deflected suggestions that he had shown exceptional bravery, instead emphasizing that he had simply acted on instinct when he noticed something amiss.
Through it all, he was careful to keep his forehead concealed, aware that the mark there might raise questions he was not prepared to answer. His father, perceptive as always, seemed to sense that there was more to the story than Chen Feng was revealing, but Chen Wei said nothing in front of the other villagers. That conversation would come later, in private.
As the excitement gradually subsided and people began returning to their homes, the village chief arrived to assess the situation. Chief Han was an older man with grey in his beard and the weathered appearance of someone who had spent his entire life in the mountains. He examined the dead wolf carefully, his expression growing grave as he noted the signs of corruption.
"This is troubling," he said quietly to Chen Wei and the handful of other senior men who had remained. "Corrupted beasts should not be able to approach this close to human habitation. Something is wrong in the deep forest."
One of the other men suggested sending word to the nearest town, requesting assistance from cultivators who specialized in handling such threats. The chief nodded in agreement, but added, "The Azure Peak Sect representatives will be here in three days for the festival. They should be informed of this situation. Perhaps they can investigate the source of the corruption while they're in the area."
Chen Feng listened to this discussion with growing understanding. The timing of the corrupted beast's appearance, coming so soon after his own strange transformation, could not be coincidental. Somehow, the emergence of his mark and abilities was connected to the disturbances in the forest. He did not yet understand the nature of that connection, but he could feel its reality with the same certainty that allowed him to perceive the threads linking all things.
Eventually, the gathering dispersed completely, and Chen Feng found himself walking back to his house alongside his father. They moved in silence for a time, each occupied with his own thoughts. As they approached their home, Chen Wei finally spoke, his voice low enough that it would not carry to any potential listeners.
"You've changed, Feng'er. Since this morning, you've become different in ways I cannot fully articulate. Would you care to tell me what really happened in the forest?"
Chen Feng had known this moment would come. His father was too observant and knew him too well for partial truths to suffice indefinitely. He stopped walking and turned to face Chen Wei directly, meeting his father's concerned gaze.
"I discovered something about myself," Chen Feng said carefully, choosing his words with precision. "Something that has always been part of me but only awakened today. I don't fully understand it myself, Father. But I know that it's the reason I was able to sense the danger to the widow's household and defeat the corrupted beast."
Chen Wei studied his son's face in the dim starlight, and Chen Feng saw the moment when his father noticed the mark on his forehead, partially visible despite his attempts at concealment. The older man's expression shifted from concern to something more complex, a mixture of pride, worry, and resignation.
"You're going to test for the Azure Peak Sect when they arrive," Chen Wei said. It was not a question.
"Yes," Chen Feng confirmed. "I need to understand what's happening to me, and they may have answers that I cannot find here."
His father was quiet for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Your mother and I have always known you were meant for more than a woodcutter's life. We've seen it in the way you think, the way you observe the world around you. If the cultivation world is calling you, then you must answer. But promise me this: remember who you are and where you come from. Power can change people, but character is what matters in the end."
"I promise, Father," Chen Feng said, and he meant it with every fiber of his being.
They returned home together, and Chen Feng lay in his bed listening to the sounds of the night, knowing that sleep would be long in coming. His life had irrevocably changed in the span of a single day, and the full implications of that change were only beginning to unfold. The mark on his forehead pulsed with gentle warmth, a constant reminder that he had stepped onto a path from which there could be no turning back.
Outside, in the depths of the Redwood Forest, other presences stirred in response to what had occurred. The death of the corrupted beast had been noted by entities that existed beyond the normal perception of mortals. Some of these presences were malevolent, viewing Chen Feng's emergence as a threat to be eliminated. Others were simply curious, wondering what this new variable might mean for the carefully maintained balance of forces in the region.
And in a place far distant from the small mountain village, in chambers where decisions affecting the fate of kingdoms were made, a certain conversation was taking place. The words spoken would not reach Chen Feng's ears for many months yet, but their consequences would shape the trajectory of his journey in ways he could not possibly anticipate.
For now, though, he was simply a sixteen-year-old boy trying to understand the strange gift he had received and wondering what the future might hold. Three days remained until the Azure Peak Sect representatives arrived. Three days to prepare himself for whatever tests they might administer and whatever revelations those tests might bring.
Chen Feng closed his eyes and focused on the sensation of the mark on his forehead, trying to understand its nature and purpose. In the darkness behind his eyelids, he saw connections stretching out in all directions, linking him to people and places and possibilities he had never imagined. His life as a simple villager was ending, and something new was beginning.
He was ready to discover what that something might be.