The silence of the Bone-Eating Forest was not empty; it was heavy. It was the silence of a held breath before the scream.
Lin Kai stood frozen near the riverbank, his wet clothes clinging to his frame like a second skin. His chest heaved rhythmically, forcing his breath to slow down, forcing his heart to match the cold, calculating beat of the predator he needed to become.
Rustle.
The bushes to his right parted slowly, not by wind, but by muscle.
A creature emerged. It moved with a liquid grace, its body low to the ground, shoulders rolling like pistons under a coat of midnight-blue fur that seemed to absorb the dappled sunlight.
It was a Vale Panther.
Lin Kai didn't know the name. The archives of the Lin Clan rarely discussed the fauna of the wilderness, considering it beneath them. But his instincts screamed that this was dangerous.
The beast was massive—easily the size of a small horse. Its eyes were a piercing, luminescent green, slitted vertically. Muscles rippled visibly beneath its sleek hide, promising explosive power. It radiated an aura of the Late Stage of Rank 2—nearly touching the threshold of Peak Stage.
It was faster than him. Stronger than him. And it was hungry.
The panther paused, its tail twitching like a metronome. It gazed at Lin Kai, licking its chops, revealing rows of serrated, ivory fangs. It assessed him—a hairless ape, smelling of strange chemicals and weak blood.
But then, its green eyes shifted downward. They locked onto Xiao Bai.
The moment the panther saw the white fox, a guttural growl vibrated in its chest. The hunger in its eyes intensified tenfold. To a beast, the bloodline of a Spirit Fox—even a dormant one—smelled like the finest elixir. Eating her wouldn't just fill its belly; it would trigger its evolution to Rank 3.
Growl.
The sound was a low thunderclap that vibrated in Lin Kai's bones.
"You want her?" Lin Kai whispered, his voice dangerously calm.
He shifted his stance, sinking his weight low.
He didn't have a weapon. He only had his body and the technique he had practiced on the tree.
'Draw.'
Lin Kai opened his pores. He mentally pulled at the Aether Qi permeating the forest air. Unlike the filtered, gentle Qi of the Clan, the Aether here was wild and rough.
As he pulled the energy into his meridians to coat his limbs, something strange happened.
Deep in his marrow, the Grey Qi—the toxic waste energy he had unknowingly absorbed in the underwater tunnel—stirred. It hadn't dissipated. Instead, his Dark Affinity had silently trapped it. Now, as he channeled the fresh Aether Qi, the heavy, corrosive Grey Qi surged up, mixing with the flow.
Lin Kai didn't realize it. He only felt his arms become strangely heavy, as if lead was flowing through his veins instead of blood.
The panther didn't wait for a signal.
SNAP.
It vanished.
It didn't run; it launched itself like a ballista bolt. One second it was ten meters away; the next, a blur of blue fur and razor claws was occupying the space where Xiao Bai stood.
"No!"
Lin Kai didn't think. He didn't analyze. He moved.
Phantom Strike: Explosive Step.
He channeled the Aether mixture into his calves. The muscle fibers expanded and contracted violently.
BOOM.
He threw himself sideways, scooping Xiao Bai into his arms just as the panther's claws shredded the air where they had been. The wind from the swipe cut a shallow gash on Lin Kai's cheek, drawing a line of bright red blood.
They rolled across the grass. Lin Kai scrambled to his feet, putting himself between the beast and the fox.
The panther landed, its claws tearing deep gouges into the riverbank mud. It turned instantly, hissing in frustration. But as it pivoted to launch a second attack, it stumbled.
Whimper.
The creature let out a sharp cry.
During the dodge, Lin Kai hadn't just run. As he snatched Xiao Bai, his left hand—coated in a heavy layer of transparent, distorted Qi—had grazed the panther's hind leg.
It wasn't a deep cut. It was barely a scratch.
But the Dark Affinity, combined with the toxic Grey Qi, was tyrannical. Even that brief contact had caused the flesh around the panther's ankle to wither instantly. The muscle turned grey and stiff, seizing up as if aged by decades in a second.
The panther shook its leg, confused by the lingering, cold pain spreading through its nerves. It looked at Lin Kai with newfound caution. The prey... bit back.
"Stay behind me," Lin Kai commanded Xiao Bai, dropping her near a tree root.
The panther began to circle.
It moved slowly now, pacing clockwise. Lin Kai mirrored it, turning to keep his front facing the threat.
The standoff began.
Lin Kai's heart was hammering against his ribs. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. This wasn't a spar with wooden dummies. This was real. One mistake, one slip on the wet grass, and his throat would be torn out.
He clenched his right fist.
'I need power. More power. A simple strike won't pierce that hide.'
He began to channel his Phantom Strike.
Usually, he would charge it for thirty seconds and release. But the panther was too fast. If he missed, he was dead. He needed a guarantee. He needed a hit that would shatter bone.
He held the charge.
Ten seconds.
He drew more Aether Qi from the air. The air around his fist began to distort and ripple, like heat haze over a summer road. The invisible weight grew denser, the hidden Grey Qi compacting into a solid mass of pressure.
Thirty seconds.
The panther watched him, intelligent eyes narrowing. It sensed the rising energy. It knew the human was preparing something dangerous. It kept circling, testing Lin Kai's patience, feinting small lunges to make him flinch.
One minute.
The veins on Lin Kai's arm began to bulge. The pain was excruciating. The condensed Aether was vibrating, trying to explode outward. His bones groaned under the pressure.
'I can't hold this much longer,' Lin Kai realized, sweat stinging his eyes. 'If I don't release this in the next minute, my meridians will burst, and I'll blow my own arm off.'