The night had not yet passed when Tianhan opened his eyes inside the narrow cave.The stone wall beside him still carried the splatters of blood he had coughed out after the battle, and the heavy scent of iron hung like a suffocating veil over the place. His body felt like a mound of hardened pain—arms trembling, chest rising only with effort, ribs screeching sharply every time he drew in breath.
And yet… he was alive.
He slowly lifted his hand, dragging his fingertips across the half-healed wounds. Each scar stung as though remembering the beasts that carved it into him.He muttered under his breath:
"If that blood hadn't saved me… I'd be a corpse torn between the fangs of those hounds."
As if the spiritual blood inside him had heard the thought, it stirred—slowly, heavily—flowing through his veins like molten, living fire. In the next heartbeat, Tianhan heard a voice within himself. It wasn't male, nor female. It was more like a muted, distant roar echoing from the abyss.
[It is time… practice the Art of the War Devils.]
Tianhan froze.
This art was not a simple technique.It was a path.A promise of strength… and a price he did not yet know.
He closed his eyes, allowing the fiery current to gather at the center of his chest. The War Devils cultivation art stirred on its own, as if the blood itself guided each movement, each breath, each pulse. Lines of red energy crawled beneath his skin, stretching across his arms and up his neck—pulsing in a slow rhythm, like the heartbeat of a colossal beast.
Then came the pain.
His body shook violently. Every open wound ignited from within, as though fire fed upon his flesh to reshape it. He clenched his teeth until blood leaked from his lips, but he did not stop. He allowed the red power to flow where it wished.
He heard it—the sound of bone hardening… tightening… forging.The sinews of muscle rewove themselves in new patterns. Even his skin grew hotter, darker, as though dipped in blood.
But the marks remained.Deep gashes, torn-skin streaks, tooth marks—all of them stayed etched upon him as if the art itself refused to erase them.
He whispered:
"My wounds… didn't disappear."
The voice replied, steady and cold:
[The witness must remain… so that you never forget the path.]
Tianhan did not know whether that voice was the echo of his blood or something older that dwelled within it.He did not argue.He simply breathed, watching the thin wisps of red mist rise off his skin as the last waves of agony faded.
Slowly… something else took the place of pain.
Strength.
Pure, solid strength—as if his bones had become stone pillars.He tightened his fist, and a deep crack sounded from within, as though his bones squeezed the air itself.
He stood.Despite the pain.Despite the exhaustion.Despite the wounds.
Then something unexpected happened.
A surge of energy exploded upward from his core, rushing into his skull like a silent lightning strike. Tianhan felt something open—a lock within him snapping apart.
The air around him shifted,dense… then thin… then steady.His entire body flooded with new energy—clean, stable, fierce.
He stared at his trembling hands and breathed:
"Did I… break through?"
He lifted his gaze toward the cavern ceiling, as if awaiting the mountain's judgment.
Then came the voice of the blood again—calm, chilling:
[Bone-Refinement Realm — Third Level.]
He did not smile.He did not shout.But something stirred in his chest—a quiet blend of satisfaction and hunger for more.
Yet Tianhan still lacked something vital:
a measure of his own strength.
He sat on a stone and released a long breath.
"How do I gauge my power now?"
It was a simple question…but the void of not knowing stretched wide before him.
He had no master.No clan.No teacher.
He did not know whether his breakthrough was tremendous…or merely a small, meaningless step.
He lifted his hand—the same hand that only hours before had trembled in fear of death.
"Perhaps… I should follow my own way."
He stood.
His steps were heavy…yet firm.
He walked toward the mouth of the cave, the cold air slicing against the wounds still open upon his skin. Each step echoed with a voice from within:
"If you wish to build a clan…You must first understand the power of your own self…before leading anyone else."
He stepped out of the cave and raised his eyes toward the vast, unfathomable mountain before him.
This was not merely the beginning of his strength.
This was the beginning of the path that would one day make the world remember a name—
Tianhan.