The pair of young cultivators – the man and woman Bai Hao had spotted earlier huddled near the jagged rock outcrop – were the most enraged of the group, their faces twisted with fury as they glared at the figure who'd drawn the mountain apes' attention.
After all, they lacked Bai Hao's refined spiritual cultivation and combat experience, making them woefully unprepared to stand against even a single fully grown mountain ape, let alone a horde.
The steep, craggy mountain terrain where Bai Hao now stood was ill-suited for large ape colonies; its sharp cliffs and sparse vegetation offered little sustenance or shelter, so their numbers here remained small. But across the ridge, on the rolling, gentler slopes stretching north toward the mist-shrouded valley, lay an enormous mountain ape stronghold – a labyrinth of caves and tree nests home to countless beasts that had made it their primary nesting ground for generations.
The golden-clawed man's panicked shouts shattered the profound silence of the peaks, his voice echoing off stone walls and rippling through the treetops to reveal their presence to every ape in the vicinity.
Within seconds, echoing howls rose and fell across the jagged skyline, while countless brown shapes stirred restlessly in the shadowed forest depths and along the sheer cliff faces above. In the blink of an eye, a horde of apes – large enough to match a fully equipped military company – had formed in perfect, terrifying coordination, spreading like a living tide across the entire mountainside!
Deafening screeches tore through the air, mixing with the thunderous rumble of dislodged rocks that cascaded down slopes and shook the very foundations of the peaks themselves. Dust clouds billowed into the sky, and the ground trembled beneath their feet.
"Meeting an idiot like him is truly the luck of the draw in this life," Bai Hao cursed under his breath, his face paling to ash as he assessed the scale of the threat – hundreds of apes with matted fur, razor-sharp fangs, and eyes glinting with predatory hunger.
The situation had deteriorated far too quickly, spiraling from tense caution to all-out crisis in mere moments. Without hesitation, he spun on his heel and bolted down the steeper, rock-strewn slope behind him, his boots finding purchase on narrow ledges and worn paths only his trained eyes could discern.
Open ground had been an advantage when facing just two apes – offering clear lines of sight and room to maneuver his light-based techniques. But against a horde this size, it had become a death sentence, with enemies closing in from every direction, leaping from trees and scrambling over boulders to cut off his escape routes!
Two fists couldn't hope to beat four hands – let alone more than twenty? Especially when those hands were armed with razor-sharp claws that could slice through solid wood and stone alike. They needed to escape this exposed area immediately; it offered no cover, no strategic advantages at all.
Wind whistled past his ears as Bai Hao's figure blurred into a fleeting shadow, his movements enhanced by spiritual energy as he streaked through dense clusters of trees and tangled undergrowth with barely a sound, leaving only disturbed leaves and snapped twigs in his wake.
Watching Bai Hao flee, the golden-clawed man – the one who'd caused this mess by firing off unprovoked spiritual blasts – hesitated, gold flashing in his amber eyes. He'd wanted to call out, to tell Bai Hao he could hold off the apes with his bloodline abilities, but Bai Hao had moved too fast. In just three powerful leaps, he vanished behind thick curtains of vines and towering boulders, leaving no time for words to be exchanged.
Even if the man could handle the apes – and he was confident in his dragon-blooded strength – it would take precious minutes, maybe even hours, to thin their ranks enough for safety. And Bai Hao had no intention of waiting or trusting his life to someone so reckless, someone who'd endangered the entire group for no reason but pride.
"Dammit! He might get killed because of this!" the golden-clawed man snarled, slamming a fist against a nearby rock so hard it shattered into gravel.
The power of his ancient dragon bloodline surged uncontrollably within him then, responding to his rage and concern. A deep, earth-shaking roar – carrying the weight of millennia of authority – echoed through the air, sending birds scattering from their nests and making smaller creatures burrow deep into the earth!
Blinding golden light burst from every pore in his body, so bright it painted the gray rocks in shades of molten gold. His hands twisted and elongated, bones shifting and reshaping until his fingertips morphed into fearsome, curved claws. Thick, gleaming golden scales – sharp as polished steel and etched with intricate patterns – spread from his wrists up his arms, across his cheeks, and over his clavicles, creating armor that caught the light like liquid metal.
"ROOOOAR!!"
A dragon's shriek tore from his throat – a primal, resonant sound that was more force than noise, a perwujudan of the dominion his bloodline held over all lower creatures!
The dozens of apes that had been roaring fiercely, their muscles coiled to tear the three of them apart, froze instantly at the sound. Overcome with instinctive terror – a fear written into their very DNA – they trembled uncontrollably and collapsed to the ground, pressing their bellies against the dirt and not daring to move an inch, their fierce eyes wide with submission.
[Dragon's Descent]
Grants unrivaled bloodline suppression against low-level magical beasts, forcing submission or paralysis in all creatures with lesser heritage. This is a secondary effect of his core talent [Dragon Transformation], which unlocks greater physical and spiritual abilities tied to his dragon ancestry.
The man had planned to chase after Bai Hao immediately to offer backup, but a glance from the corner of his eye stopped him cold. The young couple he'd been traveling with had gone pale as fresh linen; the woman lay sprawled on the ground, her breathing shallow and uneven, while the man leaned against a rock with his back to them, his tunic soaked crimson and torn open to reveal gruesome, deep gashes that oozed blood and spiritual energy. They were barely clinging to life, their bodies weakened by the sudden surge of fear and the apes' initial assault.
Seeing this, he had no choice but to stay and deal with the apes here first. His responsibility, however reluctantly accepted, was to protect those who couldn't protect themselves – even if they'd been foolish enough to follow him into danger.
After several long seconds of silence, the couple realized the apes weren't moving, that the threat had passed. They slumped against a large, flat-topped boulder with profound relief, their shoulders sagging as tension drained from their bodies.
"We… we made it!" the injured man gasped, his voice cracking as he struggled to sit upright. His back burned as if branded with hot iron, every nerve ending screaming in agony, and even the smallest shift of his weight sent waves of pain crashing through him.
Still trembling from terror and pain, he tried to turn toward the woman, his face etched with what he hoped looked like selfless concern for her safety – relief at surviving the ordeal mixing with calculations about how his "bravery" would play in her eyes. "Darling, are… are you hurt? Did any of those monsters touch you?"
He spoke with exaggerated tenderness, imagining that his willingness to face the apes (even if he'd been the cause of their arrival) would move her deeply – maybe even earn him the affection he'd been pursuing since they'd joined the exam together.
"Useless piece of trash! You almost got us killed!" the woman shrieked, pushing herself up on shaking arms and glaring at him with tears streaming down her face. "I told you three times I didn't want to take this cursed Weeping Sky Martial Exam! But you had to show off your half-baked cultivation, had to prove you're better than everyone else! If we hadn't been saved by… by whatever that was, I'd never have made it back to my family… Waaah…"
She dissolved into sobs then, burying her face in her hands as the stress and fear finally broke through her composure.
The dragon-blooded man paid no attention to their argument, his focus fixed on the paralyzed apes scattered across the clearing. With swift, precise sweeps of his golden claws, he moved among them like a butcher among sheep, dispatching each beast mercifully but without hesitation. He needed to act while his dragon power was still strong, thinning their numbers as much as possible to prevent further attacks once the suppression effect faded – and to ensure the couple would be safe long enough for him to catch up to Bai Hao.
Meanwhile, miles away on the steeper southern slopes, Bai Hao faced his own crisis, his breath coming in harsh gasps as he pushed his body to its limits.
The apes' agility and sure-footedness were perfectly suited to this rugged terrain. They moved at breakneck speed, swinging from thick vines with acrobatic grace or clinging directly to near-vertical rock faces, their clawed fingers finding purchase in the tiniest crevices. Using all four limbs, they flowed over the landscape like ground-hugging phantoms, never losing ground as they pursued their prey with single-minded determination.
Shrill screams of rage and hunger echoed behind him, mixing with the sharp crack of stones thrown with deadly accuracy that formed a deadly net closing in from every side. One large rock glanced off his shoulder, leaving a bruise that throbbed with pain, but he didn't slow down – to stop even for a moment would mean death.
Then, through a gap in the trees, he spotted it: a narrow stone path winding ahead through the rocks, carved into the mountainside centuries ago and barely visible beneath layers of moss and fallen leaves. Maybe this is my chance! he thought, a spark of hope flaring in his chest.
Taking two steps at a time, his boots skidding on loose gravel, he nearly leaped down the slope toward the path. With a soft whoosh of displaced air, he squeezed into a crevice at its entrance – a space barely wide enough for one person to pass through, its walls slick with moisture and covered in sharp, jagged crystals.
The apes pursuing him released their grip on the vines and leaped onto the cliff face without hesitation, their powerful limbs propelling them forward as they continued their chase using their clawed hands and feet to scale the rock.
The stone path wasn't short – it twisted and turned for nearly a quarter-mile, following the mountain's natural curves and occasionally narrowing so much he had to turn sideways to proceed. But eventually, it ended in a dead end: a sheer cliff face dropping hundreds of feet to a raging river below, its waters churning white as they crashed against boulders and carved through the valley floor.
At the cliff edge, Bai Hao stopped so abruptly he sent a cascade of loose stones tumbling into the chasm, their faint clattering sounds lost in the roar of the river. As he spun around to face his pursuers, several lead apes – larger and more aggressive than the rest – emerged from the narrow passage behind him, their lips pulled back to reveal rows of yellowed fangs and their breath reeking of rot and fresh meat!
No way back now. The crevice he'd come through was blocked by more apes pouring forward, and the cliff behind him offered only a plunge into waters that looked more than capable of smashing his body against the rocks below.
A sharp glint of resolve flashed in his dark eyes. If that's the case, we have no choice but to take a risk – to use everything I have left, he decided, his mind racing as he calculated his chances.
With quick, steady movements, Bai Hao planted his feet firmly at the cliff's edge, spreading them shoulder-width apart and lowering his center of gravity to stay balanced on the uneven ground. His hands clapped together in front of his chest at lightning speed, fingers interlacing then separating to form intricate seals he'd practiced thousands of times. Powerful light-based spiritual energy responded to his will, gathering and swirling in his palms until they glowed with intense warmth – like a miniature sun being forged in his grasp, its light pushing back the shadows of the cliff face!
Blinding golden-white light threatened to overflow from his hands at any moment, casting stark shadows across the rock and making the apes recoil briefly, their eyes unable to handle the brightness.
Do you believe in light?
He whispered the words to himself, his voice carrying a hint of resignation but also fierce determination – a question he'd asked himself countless times during his cultivation journey, when all seemed lost.
BOOM!
The moment he channeled every last ounce of his spiritual strength, a thick beam of light – as wide as a wooden bowl – shot forward from his palms like a divine command! It curved through the air with impossible precision, bending to follow the narrow path and vaporizing the ape shadows in its path in bursts of smoke and ash!
The highly destructive rays – hot enough to melt steel and sharp enough to slice through stone – pierced through the air, precisely tearing through the chests and bellies of the first few apes to charge forward. The impact sent their bodies flying backward like skewered hawthorn candies tossed by a child, splattering the rock walls with shocking bright red streaks that stood out against the gray stone!
"Amazing… that's impressive," Bai Hao breathed, watching as the beam of light dissipated, leaving a scorched, smooth path in its wake.
"Only… the energy cost is far too high," he added, swaying slightly as dizziness washed over him. The attack had pushed back the enemy, buying him precious seconds, but it had also drained every last drop of spiritual energy from his body – leaving him weak, trembling, and vulnerable.
The acrid stench of blood and the sight of their fallen companions awakened the remaining apes' savage instincts, overriding their fear of the light. Instead of retreating, they fell silent for a brief, tense moment before letting out even fiercer roars that shook the very air around him. Their eyes glowed bright red with bloodlust as they charged forward without hesitation, their claws extended and ready to kill!
Sharp claws and fangs closed in from all sides, determined to tear Bai Hao apart piece by piece!
"Is jumping into the river the only way to survive?" he wondered aloud, his thoughts racing as he glanced between the charging apes and the churning waters below. The fall would be deadly if he didn't time it right, but staying meant certain death at the hands of the beasts.
He tensed his muscles, preparing to leap, his fingers curling around the edge of the cliff as he calculated the best angle to enter the water and avoid the rocks.
At this critical moment, just as the lead ape's claws were inches from his throat, the calm, dormant sea within his spiritual consciousness – the well of power he'd cultivated with such care over the years – suddenly surged with towering waves, its surface roiling and churning as if awakened from a deep slumber!
It was as if every cell in his body had responded to the intense aura of death from the outside world and his fierce will to survive, unlocking something hidden deep within his soul.
A vast, boundless chaotic power – raw and untamed, with the potential to expand infinitely – burst forth from his spiritual sea like a breached dam, surging wildly through his dry, exhausted spiritual meridians! The energy was hot and overwhelming, but it didn't burn him – instead, it filled every empty space in his body, chasing away the weakness and dizziness.
His exhaustion vanished instantly, replaced by a surge of incredible, overwhelming power that filled his limbs and bones once more – making him feel taller, stronger, and more alive than he'd ever felt before!
But this power was nothing like his gentle, controlled light-based psychic energy. It was primitive and violent, crackling with raw force and filled with a primal intent to destroy anything in its path. It felt like holding a hurricane in his hands – powerful beyond measure, but impossible to fully contain.
Yet this chaotic power was also extraordinary, with a consciousness all its own. It couldn't be used to activate his other innate abilities – his light techniques, his speed enhancements, none of them responded to this new energy – but it pulsed with potential, promising strength beyond his wildest dreams.
"This feels… like the second phase of a boss fight that triggers when your character is low on health in a game," Bai Hao mused, a faint smile touching his lips despite the danger surrounding him. The strange thought popped into his mind for no clear reason, a moment of levity in the midst of chaos.
The surging chaotic power spilled uncontrollably from his body then, flowing out through his skin and clothing to pool around him like black smoke. It roiled and condensed in the air behind him, twisting and shaping itself into intricate patterns that glowed with a faint purple light!
THUMP!
A deep, resonant sound echoed through the valley as a massive demonic god phantom rose up behind him, its form stretching nearly thirty feet tall as it towered toward the sky. Wreathed in thick black flames that didn't burn or consume anything around them, it manifested silently, its features sharp and terrifying – with horns that curved toward the heavens and eyes that glowed with the same chaotic power flowing through Bai Hao's veins!
A heavy, mysterious, and destructive aura filled the air around the cliff edge, so powerful it made the air feel thick and heavy to breathe. Even the howling wind that had been whipping through the valley fell silent, frozen in place by the phantom's presence!
A flood of information flooded his mind then, delivered not through words but through pure understanding – as if every use, every nuance, every secret of this chaotic power had been imprinted directly into his memory since the day he was born.
Besides its ability to devour and destroy, it seemed the power granted other special effects – including the ability to shape and manifest energy into physical forms.
Simulation…
The word echoed in his mind, and with a single thought, he focused the chaotic power swirling around him, using it to simulate a [Projection] – a solid form made of pure energy.
The massive demon statue behind him moved in perfect sync with his will, its arm raising as Bai Hao raised his own.
The boundless chaotic power converged instantly, drawn to his outstretched hand like moths to a flame. In the blink of an eye, it condensed and solidified into a weapon: a savage demon sword nearly nine feet long, its blade wide and curved, its hilt wrapped in what looked like twisted shadow!
The sword was as black as fresh ink, and its blade radiated waves of dark energy that made the air shimmer and distort around it. Its mere presence made the air feel thick and suffocating, and the apes charging forward stumbled to a halt, their red eyes wide with a new kind of fear – not of light, but of the raw destruction standing before them!
In terms of quality, this power far