Shadows in the Mountain Forest

His scabs hadn't even fallen off yet, his new skin as tender as a peeled egg, yet beneath it lay a hardness like iron. Li Yuan paced the courtyard a few times, but the restless energy within him didn't subside; it only grew fiercer. The food and medicinal baths from the Class A Room were like adding dry firewood to a glowing furnace, crackling and spitting.

No, I have to get out.

Not to the training grounds; there were too many rules there, and he couldn't move freely. He needed a place where no one would be, a place to properly gauge the strength of these newly refined muscles and bones.

Before the sky had fully brightened, he pocketed the increasingly sharpened Iron Rod and silently scaled the back wall of the Martial Arts School. The morning mist hung on the bare branches like shredded cotton. He avoided the main paths, choosing instead the narrow trails made by wild beasts that hugged the ridgeline, plunging deeper into the Black Mountain Forest.

The deeper he went, the taller the trees grew, the dimmer the light, and the stronger the scent of decaying leaves and wild animals. In the past, he would have been on high alert, but now he only felt… exhilarated. The humus underfoot was soft, yet with each step, he felt the solid ground beneath. When his arm brushed against a sapling as thick as a bowl, the trunk shuddered violently, and a shower of leaves rained down.

He stopped in a small clearing, taking a deep breath of the cold air. His lungs expanded, filling with the crisp scent of vegetation that reached the very core of his being. He struck a stance, not using any fixed forms, but simply channeling the heavy, warm Qi and Blood within him according to his will.

He threw a punch, not at any target, but purely for release. His fist tore through the air, emitting a short, muffled "whoosh." His feet moved, crushing dry branches underfoot with a crackle. His movements grew faster, his body weaving through the clearing, sometimes like a charging bear, steady and powerful, other times like a coiling serpent, agile and sharp. The newly refined Qi and Blood flowed smoother than any single technique he had ever practiced; as soon as he willed it, the strength was there.

Just as he was hitting his stride, his ears twitched.

It wasn't the wind, nor the roar of a beast. It was an extremely faint rustling, the sound of fabric brushing against grass, mixed with a suppressed, strangely rhythmic chanting.

Li Yuan instantly ceased his movements, drawing all his energy back into his body. He moved silently behind a large, ancient tree, big enough for two people to embrace, like a rock that had suddenly lost its life, his gaze sharp as he peered towards the source of the sound.

Through the gaps in the dense bushes, he saw a few figures in a slightly lower clearing not far away. They all wore cloaks of a dark, almost moss-green color, blending almost perfectly with the surrounding moss and shadows. They formed a small circle, and in the center of the ground, a distorted symbol was drawn with something dark red. It looked like an eyelidless eye, and in its center was a black object, resembling some kind of bird's leg bone, with a cloudy bead embedded at its tip.

The faint, chilling aura emanating from the symbol and the bone, the one that made the "Crimson Sun" within him stir restlessly, was present in the air.

The Netherworld Cult!

Li Yuan's pupils contracted. He recognized the symbol; it was similar to the one he had seen at the underground altar before, only cruder.

He held his breath, watching as one of the cultists picked up a worn leather pouch and poured a thick, dark red liquid onto the symbol. It was blood. The chanting suddenly intensified, filled with a skin-crawling fervor. The symbol on the ground seemed to come alive, glowing faintly, absorbing the blood, and the chilling aura intensified abruptly.

Li Yuan could even feel a fine layer of goosebumps forming on the surface of his newly formed skin. It wasn't fear, but a sense of offense, a primal disgust. The "Crimson Sun" in his Qi Sea felt as if it had been doused with cold water, transmitting a clear sense of repulsion and… a hint of hunger.

Just then, his foot accidentally stepped on a completely dry, thin twig.

"Snap."

The sound was piercingly clear in the silent forest.

The chanting stopped abruptly.

All the green-cloaked figures turned sharply, their hoods revealing gazes as cold and vigilant as ice, fixing directly on Li Yuan's hiding spot.

"Who's there?!"

The closest cultist hissed, reacting with lightning speed. He lunged forward, a flash of cold light beneath his cloak—a short blade coated in green, aimed directly at the ancient tree!

Li Yuan knew he couldn't hide anymore.

Instead of retreating, he charged towards the glint of steel, stepping out from behind the tree! Without dodging, his left hand shot out like lightning, his fingers like hooks, precisely clamping onto the wrist of the cultist holding the blade!

The cultist felt as if his wrist were caught in a red-hot iron clamp. A searing pain shot through him, and he could no longer hold the short blade, which clattered to the ground. He looked up in horror, meeting Li Yuan's eyes, which shone terrifyingly in the dim light.

Li Yuan gave him no time to react. With his left hand gripping the wrist, he yanked the cultist towards him. His right fist, like a cannonball fired from its barrel, shot upwards from below, smashing into the cultist's unprotected abdomen!

"Thump!"

A muffled sound, like a heavy hammer smashing a sack full of grain.

The cultist's eyes bulged instantly. His body arched like a shrimp, and he was lifted off his feet by the punch, flying backward to crash against the tree trunk, slumping down limply, silent.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

The remaining cultists were shocked and enraged.

"You're looking for death!"

"Kill him!"

Two of them lunged simultaneously. One threw a punch directly at Li Yuan's face, the wind of his fist carrying a chilling aura. The other silently circled around to the side, his fingers bent like claws, aiming for Li Yuan's waist.

Li Yuan advanced instead of retreating. He met the punch head-on, not dodging, using his forehead to smash into it!

"Bang!"

The fist met his forehead, emitting a bone-jarring thud. The cultist who threw the punch felt as if his fist had struck red-hot iron. His finger bones screamed in pain, and a searing heat surged back, numbing his entire arm instantly. He turned pale with shock. Before he could comprehend what had happened, Li Yuan's knee, like a heavy hammer, struck him in the crotch.

The scream was cut short as soon as it began.

Almost simultaneously, the vicious claw attack from the side arrived. Li Yuan's abdominal muscles tensed instantly, like a layer of slippery rubber had covered him. The claw struck true, but it felt as if his fingertips were gripping oiled rhinoceros hide; the attacker couldn't exert any force, and his hand slid to the side.

Li Yuan's elbow slammed backward!

"Crack!"

A clear sound of bone breaking. The flank of the sneak attacker caved in, and without even a grunt, he collapsed to the ground, spitting blood.

In a flash, three men were down.

The last one, the one who had been presiding over the ritual, revealed a pale, terrified face beneath his hood. He looked at Li Yuan as if he were a ferocious beast crawling out of hell. He thrust the black bird bone with the embedded bead in his hand towards Li Yuan, uttering a sharp incantation.

A visible stream of gray-black energy, carrying a potent stench of decay and malice, shot towards Li Yuan like a venomous snake!

Li Yuan's pupils contracted. He could feel the malevolence of this power. Almost instinctively, the newly refined Qi and Blood within him surged madly, his muscles bulging instantly, his physique visibly expanding by another circle, the dark red glow beneath his skin becoming suddenly prominent!

He didn't dodge. With a low roar, he met the gray-black stream with a punch! His fist steamed with Qi and Blood, carrying a scorching, wild masculine energy!

"Ssss--!"

The gray-black stream collided with his fist, dissolving like snow in boiling water, emitting a piercing hissing sound as it rapidly dispersed and evaporated! The residual chilling energy attempted to penetrate his arm, but it was blocked by the solid barrier beneath his skin, eventually being completely dispersed and devoured by the surging Crimson Sun Qi and Blood.

Li Yuan only felt a slight numbness in his fist, which quickly returned to normal. On the other hand, the "Crimson Sun" in his Qi Sea seemed to have solidified by another sliver.

The cultist presiding over the ritual was utterly stunned, the hand holding the bird bone trembling like a leaf in the wind. His strongest curse had… had actually been shattered by the opponent's bare fist?!

Li Yuan didn't give him a second chance. He exerted force with his feet, the ground sinking slightly, and he surged forward like a gale, reaching the cultist in an instant. With a sweep of his large hand, he grabbed the man by the throat, crushing the remaining half of his incantation into silence.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Li Yuan's voice was low, carrying the bloody scent of recent slaughter as it poured into the cultist's ears.

The cultist's eyes rolled back as Li Yuan choked him, a gurgling sound coming from his throat. Staring at Li Yuan's monstrously muscled body up close, and the undisguised predatory glint in his eyes, his mental defenses instantly crumbled.

"I… I'll tell you… it's… it's a marker… for 'Sacred Sacrifice'… for… positioning…" he stammered, incoherent.

Li Yuan's brow furrowed. Sacred Sacrifice? Positioning?

Just as he was about to ask for more details, he suddenly felt a premonition and looked sharply towards the deeper part of the forest. A stronger, heart-pounding chill was rapidly approaching their location!

His eyes turned cold, and he hesitated no longer.

His fingers tightened.

Crack.

After a crisp bone-snapping sound, the hand in his grip went completely still. He casually tossed the limp corpse aside like a bag of trash.

He glanced at the sinister, faintly glowing symbol on the ground, then sensed the powerful aura rapidly closing in. Li Yuan had no intention of lingering for a fight. He turned and left, disappearing into the dense woods in a few leaps, leaving behind only the mess and the rapidly cooling corpse.

The mountain forest returned to silence, with only the wind whistling through the treetops, sounding like a lament for the brief and bloody encounter.