The air at the edge of the Great Forest changed within hours. The scent of pine and damp earth was replaced by the heavy, oppressive aroma of high-grade incense and the shimmering heat of collective Qi. The Royal convoy had arrived. More than a hundred carriages made of spirit-wood rolled across the border dirt, their wheels reinforced by formations that left glowing tracks in the mud. For the soldiers stationed at the grain storehouses, it was like a dream descending into a nightmare. They scrambled to clear paths, their heads bowed so low their foreheads nearly touched the ground.
Xuan Ye stood at the edge of the granary entrance, his hands tucked into his sleeves. He watched the parade with the detached interest of a biologist observing a new species of insect. He could feel it now. The Absorption of the Stone Body a rank seven elementary body type had sharpened his physical senses beyond the limits of a normal mortal. He could sense the weight of the people inside those carriages. Some were like small candles, others like roaring furnaces. To his eyes, they weren't people. They were containers.
"Move, you trash!"
A whip cracked in the air, narrowly missing Xuan Ye's shoulder. A rider on a Flame Hooved Horse glared down at him. The rider wore the silver armor of the Royal Guard, his cultivation at the 5th Step of Qi Gathering.
"Do you want to be trampled? Clear the way for the Third Princess!"
Xuan Ye stumbled back with a look of genuine terror, tripping over his own feet and landing in the dirt. "My apologies, Great One! I was just stunned by the majesty of the Royal House!"
The guard snorted in disgust and rode on. Xuan Ye sat in the mud, brushing off his plain grey robes. His heart hadn't sped up by a single beat. He was looking at the central carriage, a massive structure made of white jade pulled by four Snow-Leopard beasts. The energy coming from that carriage was cold and piercing. It felt like a needle trying to stitch through the fabric of reality.
Third Princess, Zhao Ling. Born with a talent from the Heavenly Eyes rank. He knew the hierarchy. Heavenly Eyes wasn't a single type of vision All eyes within the Heavenly rank shared one commonality they could see through the illusions of the lower worlds.
She can see the flow of Qi in the meridians, Xuan Ye thought as he watched the jade carriage pass. But can she see a book that isn't written in the language of this world?
He felt the cold thud of the Book of Fate in his soul. It was reacting to her presence like a shark sensing blood in the water.
[Target identified: Zhao Ling]
[Unique Trait: Heavenly Eyes Rank
(Type: Truth-Seeking Vision)]
[Status: 9th Step Qi Gathering - Peak]
[Absorption probability: 5% - Too high level for current Vessel]
Five percent. Xuan Ye didn't feel discouraged. That five percent was a roadmap. It meant he was currently too weak to digest her, but it also meant she was a resource that could be harvested once his Mortal Vessel reached the necessary state.
"What are you doing out here?"
The voice was sharp and familiar. Xuan Ye turned to see a group of young nobles walking toward the granary. At the front was Xuan Feng, looking even more radiant than he had in the capital. Beside him were two other youths from the Xuan family, their expressions full of the same casual cruelty they had practiced for years.
"I am just fulfilling my duties, Cousin Feng," Xuan Ye said, bowing low. "The grain must be accounted for before the Hunt begins."
Xuan Feng laughed, stepping forward and planting a heavy hand on Xuan Ye's head he used a trace of Qi to press Xuan Ye's face down toward the mud.
"Still counting rice while we prepare to hunt Spirit Beasts," Feng mocked. "Tell me, did you hear about the Demon that attacked the Captain? The one you were supposed to be reporting to?"
Xuan Ye kept his face down, his voice muffled by the pressure. "I heard, Cousin I am very afraid."
"You should be" Feng sneered, leaning closer. "The Captain was a 4th Step expert with a Lesser Stone Body. If a Demon can turn him into a mortal in one night a piece of trash like you wouldn't even leave a bone behind Stay inside the stone walls Don't let your bad luck infect the rest of us."
Xuan Feng pulled his hand away wiping it on a silk handkerchief as if he had touched something rotting The group walked away, their laughter echoing in the cold air. Xuan Ye straightened his back. He didn't look at them. He looked at the Great Forest.
He accessed the data he had stolen from Captain Hu. In Hu's 32 years of experience, there was a specific location deep in the western woods. It was a cave hidden behind a waterfall where a Rare-Grade Blood-Vine grew. It was a resource that could strengthen the blood to match stone dense bones.
Blood Vine Essence Xuan Ye calculated. The perfect catalyst to bridge the gap for my Mortal Vessel.
The sun began to set casting long twisted shadows across the border. The Hunt would officially begin at dawn. The nobles would enter the forest with their guards, looking for glory and Spirit Beasts. Xuan Ye went back to his room. He didn't pack food or water. He checked the jagged obsidian dagger he had stolen. He looked at his own reflection in a bucket of water. The shamed, broken mortal was a lie. What remained was something that the world had no name for yet.
He sat on his bed and pulled out the Book of Fate.
"If the Princess has eyes from the Heavenly rank" he whispered, "then I need a way to move without being caught in her sight The Stone Body is a physical law. I need a conceptual one."
He flipped the pages. The book remained silent, but he noticed a change on the second page. A faint image was forming. It looked like a tree but its branches were made of names Some were bright gold, like Xuan Feng and Zhao Ling. Others were grey and fading, like Captain Hu. At the very bottom, his own name was written in shifting shadow-ink
[The Anomaly is currently unrecorded]
"unrecorded"he repeated "The world's logic hasn't found me yet I need to keep it that way."
He used the night to digest the Northern Border layout from Hu's memories He memorized every tree and stream He practiced the breathing techniques Hu had used not to gather Qi but to suppress his heart rate and body temperature to zero
At midnight a mournful horn sounded from the Royal Camp It signaled the Opening of the Veil Xuan Ye slipped out of his window. He didn't use the front gate He moved through the drainage tunnels, his feet barely making a sound on the wet stones. When he emerged at the edge of the forest the guards were miles away focused on the brightly lit Royal tents.
He stood at the tree line The Great Forest was a wall of absolute darkness.
"They think they are the hunters" he said softly.
He stepped into the shadows. The temperature dropped instantly. The air was thick with the smell of rotting leaves. In the distance, the roar of a Spirit Beast challenged the intruders He simply vanished into the brush, moving toward the western waterfall.
[Warning:Unknown variable detected in the western sector]
[Status:Non-Standard logic]
Xuan Ye stopped and crouched behind a thicket of thorns. Something else was here. Something that didn't belong here He felt a cold thrill. If there was another anomaly in this forest, he wanted to see if it was edible. He gripped the obsidian dagger.
The silence of the forest was broken by the sound of something dragging itself across the ground. It wasn't a beast. It wasn't a human. It was a sound that defied the rhythm of the forest. Xuan Ye narrowed his eyes. He didn't feel fear. Fear was for people who had something to lose.
He began to crawl toward the sound, his shadow merging perfectly with the blackened roots of the trees. The Hunt had officially begun but the prey had just become the predator.