After an entire day of rest, Yun Che slipped back into the quiet rhythm of slaughter and cultivation. The 70% experience debuff was finally gone. Every beast he killed now fed him full Reishi, and every breath brought him closer to the True Profound Realm.
Trees blurred past him as he carved through the forest, Zangetsu sweeping in arcs that were becoming cleaner, sharper, more decisive. His footwork was turning instinctive; each breath was synchronized with his strike. His movements were becoming less like a cultivator and more like…
…a warrior forged in battle.
Behind him, Jasmine watched in silence.
She didn't speak at first. She didn't even blink.
Because every time Yun Che moved…
…a memory overlapped him.
A tall youth.
Gentle eyes.
A sword held with the same stubborn, reckless confidence.
A smile that refused to dim even in bloodshed.
Brother…
Her chest tightened.
Her breath hitching for just a heartbeat.
Why… why does he resemble you more and more?
She hated the feeling. Memories she sealed away long ago—the ones she swore would never surface again—were returning with every hour she spent with him.
His resilience.
His innovation.
His reckless courage.
His habit of looking back to check if she was safe.
It was the same.
Too similar… unbearably similar…
She forced herself to look away.
Meanwhile, Yun Che finished off another demonic beast with a clean flash-step strike, landing lightly beside the corpse as its Reishi scattered and flowed into him.
=================
[Ding… Experience: 70% → 72%]
=================
He let out a tired groan and dropped onto a patch of grass, checking his bar.
"Tch. Still not enough. Should've killed that Puma tomorrow…" he muttered. "Thirty percent more."
Just as he was debating whether to grind another three hours, Jasmine's soft voice descended from behind him.
"So… how long do you plan to keep doing this?"
He didn't turn, but he did notice something.
She was standing closer than usual.
Again.
She's been doing this a lot lately, he thought. Not that I mind, but… it's very un-Jasmine.
"I don't know," Yun Che shrugged. "Until I find this region's boss. When I scanned the area earlier, the strongest presence was Early Spirit Profound Realm. But we spent all day looking, and nothing."
Jasmine stepped beside him, folding her arms. "Maybe it's afraid of you."
Yun Che snorted. "Afraid? Of me?"
She smirked. "You look like a demon when you go on your level-up rampages."
Yun Che turned his head and smirked right back.
"Oh? You don't look too bad yourself."
"…Are you saying I look like a demon?"
"Maybeeee… Might explain why every beast within ten miles refuses to show up. Someone way scarier is standing right next to me."
Her eyes widened.
"You—!"
And just like that, the bickering began.
Jasmine puffed her cheeks in indignation. Yun Che poked at her pride. She retaliated with snark. He countered with sarcasm. Their arguments flowed with the ease of people who—without noticing—had become far too comfortable with each other.
But mid-banter, both of them froze.
Because they felt it simultaneously—
Multiple profound signatures.
Fast.
Focused.
Approaching their exact location.
Jasmine's expression sharpened.
Yun Che's eyes narrowed.
"…Looks like we've got company," he murmured, hand drifting toward Zangetsu.
Jasmine's red eyes flashed, her aura tightening around her false body.
Unspoken between them was the same thought:
Who found them…
…and why now?
"Those signatures… Profound cultivators?"
Yun Che's voice dropped lower as his senses sharpened. Jasmine beside him tensed as well, her red eyes narrowing slightly.
She extended her perception, delicate brows knitting.
"…Five mid-stage Nascent Profound, two peak Nascent, and one True Profound Realm cultivator."
Her voice was calm, but her expression wasn't. "Strange. They're coming fast. Purpose unclear."
Yun Che rose to his feet instantly, sliding Zangetsu over his back.
"Great. Either I attracted attention with all that racket… or someone else finally wandered into this region."
He clicked his tongue and scanned the forest canopy. "Doesn't matter. We'll go check. Better to watch them… than be surrounded by them."
Jasmine nodded once.
"Agreed."
In the next heartbeat—
Shup—!
Yun Che vanished from the spot, Flash Step cracking the air almost soundlessly as he leapt to the nearest branch. Jasmine followed right after him, her movement technique leaving a faint, shimmering afterimage.
The two figures darted through the towering trees—one black, one white—moving like twin ghosts weaving through the forest.
The wind howled past Yun Che's ears.
The profound signatures grew clearer with every step.
"Distance?" he murmured.
"Three hundred meters." Jasmine replied. "They're not trying to hide their presence. Either arrogant… or confident."
"Or stupid." Yun Che muttered. "Let's see which."
============================
"Young Master Kuangyun, the disturbance came from that direction."
Xiao Moshan pointed stiffly toward the deeper part of the forest, his voice respectful yet cautious.
"It must be some random cultivators training or hunting beasts," one of the guards added, though his tone betrayed uncertainty.
Xiao Kuangyun sneered.
"Hmph. If that explosion earlier was caused by them, then they should rejoice." He folded his hands behind his back with swaggering arrogance. "Being recruited by this young master is a blessing their ancestors could not earn in ten lifetimes."
His attendants exchanged glances but kept silent.
Xiao Kuangyun swaggered forward through the trees, his robe swaying as if the entire forest bowed before him. The mountain air was cold, crisp… but not cold enough to cool the ugly bitterness twisting his expression.
For three months, he had traveled between Cyan Town and its neighboring regions, wasting resources and manpower to track down a single name.
Yun Che.
The humiliation he suffered in the Xiao Clan replayed in his mind again and again—Xia Qingyue rejecting him coldly, Xiao Lingxi standing before her, and that mysterious blue barrier flinging him back like refuse.
If not for his luck and pride, he would have crawled away.
A deep scowl twisted his face.
The barrier.
The necklace.
The two women he desired.
The rage of being rejected burned hotter than any flame.
"Yun Che…" he muttered venomously, crushing a fallen branch beneath his boot. "You dared humiliate this young master. You dared marry the goddess of Floating Cloud City. And that aunt of yours… I'll make her kneel before me."
All his attendants stiffened but said nothing. The air around Xiao Kuangyun grew darker the longer he spoke.
"I don't believe a cripple can be an emperor. I don't believe he cut a mountain. What emperor hides in a village and runs away like a dog?" Xiao Kuangyun spat on the ground. "A fake. A liar. I'll expose him myself."
His eyes flashed with greedy light.
"And when I return with him in chains… both Xia Qingyue and that Xiao Lingxi will belong to me. Those treasures will belong to me. Everything he touched will belong to me."
He licked his lips in anticipation.
"This young master will break him first—physically, mentally, and spiritually—before taking what he cherishes."
Behind him, several attendants exchanged uneasy glances. Even for them, the malice dripping from his words felt too heavy.
But none dared intervene.
They moved like a small hunting squad—five mid-stage Nascent cultivators, two at the peak, and Xiao Moshan standing as the only True Profound Realm among them. Yet to Yun Che and Jasmine, watching silently from atop the tallest tree in the region, they looked like nothing more than a wandering group of mortals pretending to be predators.
Neither of them even registered Xiao Kuangyun as a threat.
The arrogant young master's cultivation was so laughably weak—Third Level Nascent Profound Realm—that Yun Che's spiritual sense nearly skimmed past him completely.
"Pathetic," Yun Che muttered under his breath. "Like bugs following the scent of meat."
Jasmine nodded, her face indifferent. "Their combined aura isn't even enough to entertain me."
Yun Che was about to turn away—this forest was enormous, and he had beasts to hunt—when the next words drifting up from the group snapped his attention back.
"Young master, why are you recruiting experts from the nearby city to find that trash?" Xiao Moshan asked respectfully.
"Hoho… he robbed the treasury and created that blue barrier, didn't he?" Xiao Kuangyun replied with a smug grin. "This young master wants to capture him and present him to those two women."
Yun Che froze for a heartbeat.
He's here. Grandfather and Little Aunt actually tricked him into this.
He leaned forward on the branch, eyes narrowing as the conversation continued.
"Young master, instead of searching the mountains, wouldn't it be easier to lure him back? The forest is too dangerous for—"
"Hmph! If it's dangerous, then why are you here?" Xiao Kuangyun snapped. "I need strength to capture Xiao Che. I'll tie him to my carriage and drag him back through the city streets."
Jasmine heard the threat. She saw Yun Che's smile—slow, sharp, and filled with murderous intent.
"He knows nothing," she whispered.
"Of course he doesn't," Yun Che replied softly, his tone dark. "Rats rarely understand how close the cat is."
Below, Xiao Kuangyun continued gloating loudly, completely unaware his voice was being dissected by the man he was hunting.
"That bastard married the Floating Cloud City's flower. I fancied her the moment I saw her portrait! If it weren't for that damned barrier, I'd already have taken Xia Qingyue and that Xiao Lingxi for myself!"
Several of his hired experts exchanged uneasy glances.
Yun Che's smile widened, turning almost serene.
So the barrier worked perfectly.
And this trash became the first test subject.
Xiao Kuangyun wasn't done.
"Moshan! If we get the secret of that blue barrier, not even experts from major sects could touch us! We'll beat it out of Xiao Che before dragging him behind the carriage like a dog!"
The forest fell silent for a moment.
And then—
=====================
[Ding… Mission triggered.]
[Objective: Kill Xiao Kuangyun.]
=====================
Jasmine's gaze shifted to Yun Che. His expression had shifted into something cold, predatory.
"Oh, look at that…" Yun Che murmured. "A quest. With a free head delivered right to me."
His spiritual pressure began to ripple subtly around him.
"Hunter becomes the hunted, huh?" His voice lowered, almost playful. "Since my guest came crawling all the way here… it's only polite that I welcome him properly."
Before Jasmine could speak, Yun Che vanished from the treetop—slipping into the forest with a predator's silence.
Jasmine exhaled softly, arms crossing under her sleeves.
"Foolish human," she murmured, looking down at the walking disaster below. "You spent three months searching for death… and now death comes for you."
She stepped off the branch and faded into the shadows.
The hunt had begun.