"AAAAWOOOOO!!!"
A blizzard of snow burst from the Elemental Beast.
Its maw gaped wide, forming a funnel of frost and spiraling Qi-laced wind.
Within the storm, three crystalline shards shimmered to life, their tips pulsing with killing intent.
Liang Wei's weapon blazed like a comet, carving through the storm—each strike tearing fire against frost.
The wolf snapped its jaws shut with a deep growl — and launched the three shards from its snout into the storm, aiming for his blind spots.
Liang Wei smiled.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
He deflected each one in a whirling flourish, embers streaking into the air. Then he raised his saber high.
"Crimson Harvest!!"
A vertical inferno erupted from the ground, splitting frost and stone in a blazing line.
The wolf howled, its body flung skyward along the curve of the fiery arc.
Liang Wei moved his fingers behind him to the small paintbrush strapped to his back and completed his first weapon change.
He poured his intent into the brush—Wuuummm!
It extended and grew into a staff as he followed. "Twisting Leap! Ember's Blade! Bloodfire Transmutation! Dao Burst!"
Flames spiraled around him as he launched after the beast, his aura flickering between crimson and violet.
In Dao's Rising, he thought, you could chain any skill together — low-tier, high-tier, it didn't matter. Unless they had synergy, they'd never fuse or evolve.
The game wouldn't let them.
He grinned, flexing his muscles. But this isn't the game anymore.
What if I force them all together? What if I stitch every skill into one—the catalyst of all others… "Wild Beast Calligraphy!"
A flash of fire and pure Ink Qi burst outward.
BOOM—
Then the energy collapsed inward before erupting outward again as he flew into the sky, transforming into a blazing avian shape — wings of scarlet fire and a body of molten gold.
A flaming bird took flight, screeching through the storm as it spun toward the wolf midair.
The Frostfang barely had time to brace.
Its armor of ice shattered as the flaming bird struck, wrapping its wings around the creature and detonating in a roaring column of light.
The explosion carved through the inferno storm, painting the sky in streaks of goldish-orange and crimson.
BOOOOOOM!!!
Frost turned to steam. The ground below heated to a new degree.
The Frostfang Wolf screamed as it was hurled from the sky, crashing into the arena with a thunderous impact that sent ripples through the earth.
When the flames finally faded, the battlefield was a smoldering mass of half-melted ice that had been made to keep him contained.
Liang Wei sensed a shift in his Vitae Skill Tree, brush still glowing faintly, eyes reflecting the new notification that slid before him.
Dao Beast Seedling: Incomplete Phoenix (Cooldown: 1h 25m)
(by harnessing five of your techniques, you have stumbled onto a different branch for your ultimates, turning inconspicuous skills into something greater)
The wolf twitched at the edge of the arena, its icy armor fractured and smoking, faint traces of blue Qi leaking from its wounds.
Liang Wei exhaled slowly, smirking.
"Looks like my theory works… Incomplete Phoenix, huh?"
The beast's body lay there trembling but alive as he held back at the last second. "Now that I think about it… something about you really caught my eye."
He traced the ice with the reflection of light.
"You and that person might share a similar ability," he murmured, recalling RadiantDaoEmpress's cathedral summoning.
Comparing that to this spirit beast's Frozen Dominion, the two might as well have been in different leagues, but they remained the same in essence — both closed the target off from the rest of the world.
He walked up to the wolf, shrinking his brush. He twirled his cleaver and smiled sinisterly, glancing off to the side to make sure at least one of its pack members was still alive.
"That Area Confinement skill of yours~"
His eyes darkened. "Can I have it?" His robes billowed, dancing in the breeze.
He knelt at the Elemental Beast. It growled, trying to get up, but Liang Wei didn't hesitate, pinning its head and cutting—
"Whimper—!"
Its body tensed, bleeding down the line of its neck. Its eyes twitched once as it stared at him, its head slowly detaching in a haze of frost.
Demonic Cultivation Manual Technique: Twisted Flame Alchemist Arts
Liang Wei rolled the wolf carcass onto its back.
The Bloodfire Transmutation flames he'd been using coiled around his free arm; his skin seared, fat rendered, and muscles charred.
▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱
Blood Qi: 14/57
His flesh seeped with blood Qi, turning back to crimson. Blood flowed, and his nails grew into demonic claws.
[Sub-Demonic Cultivation Art: Devil's Claw.]
Function: Qi-Blood Harvesting
Warning: Extracts residual energy from player or in-game mobs.
"Let's begin," Liang Wei murmured.
His clawed hand phased into the corpse. Crimson light spread beneath the skin as a red silhouette rose — the beast's spiritual echo.
[Qi-Blood Figment Extracted]
Liang Wei tilted his head, studying it. "To think I'd experience the sight of a blood vestige in this lifetime." He was amused, remorseful, and intrigued.
This would be his first act of undeniable sin — the act of preventing a soul's departure to the afterlife or digital landscape it originated from.
His eyes fixed on the creatures, bleeding out before him. At that moment, an old memory surfaced—one he hadn't recalled in years.
He saw blood, a yellow feather, a hammer...
Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Look at what I got for you, Wei'er." A woman in an apron smiled, her glasses coated with blood splatter as she held up a hammer.
He remembered walking to a counter where a metal bird cage sat on the stovetop. He rubbed his eyes with tiny fingers. "Mama… where Yoyo?" Liang Wei asked, only for his mother to scoop him into her arms.
She lifted him up to look over the blood-stained counter.
He froze, seeing his pet bird crushed into a pulp. His sleepy face morphed wide awake.
"Shh." His mother smiled softly, holding a finger to his lips. "You told me Yoyo was mean to you, right? So mommy was a little mean back to Yoyo, okay?"
That was the first time he'd seen his mother so happy. It was pure, unbridled joy — so contagious it made him feel warm.
"Hmm, he bit me, so he deserves it." Liang Wei nodded with a smile of his own.
"Thank you, mommy."
Cleave!
He raised his cleaver and cut again—Cleave! Cleave! Cleave! He sliced through the wolf's red figure.
"You're welcome, Wei'er~"
+1 False Limb
+12 Spirit Residue (Ice Type)
+1 Blood Memory Fragment (Defensive Skill Trait: Glasore Plates)
Liang Wei panted, holding the spirit leg in his arm. He read the notifications and put the crimson limb aside.
Then he moved the ghostly torso and hacked at its other front leg.
The scene of his mother cleaning, deboning, and starting to make a pot of stew played out.
+1 False Limb
+7 Spirit Residue (Ice Type)
+1 Blood Memory Fragment (Defensive Skill Trait: Glasore Plates)
She rinsed his pet bird under water, washing out the blood and gutting it properly. She hummed and diced herbs to put in the stew.
"It's done — get to your seat, okay~"
+9 Spirit Residue (Wind Type)
+1 Blood Memory Fragment (Confinement Skill Trait:Frozen Dominion)
+15 Spirit Residue (Mixed)
+1 Alchemical Catalyst: False Heart of Valor
She set the table, putting the bowls of soup out just for the two of them.