The forest exploded into motion.
Kael burst forward as the shattered formation collapsed behind him, shards of golden light dissolving into the air like burning ash. The pressure crushing his body vanished instantly, replaced by raw momentum as his feet struck the ground harder than ever before.
Trees blurred past him.
Branches whipped against his arms and face, leaving shallow cuts that barely registered. His lungs burned, yet each breath felt deeper, fuller, as if his body had learned how to draw more from the air itself.
Behind him, the Ironclaw Sect cultivators shouted.
"Stop him!"
"Seal the area!"
Spells ignited the forest with flashes of light. A blast of energy tore through a tree Kael had passed moments earlier, splintering it into fragments that rained down violently.
Kael did not slow.
The warmth inside him surged like a roaring tide, guiding his movements instinctively. He leapt over roots, slid beneath fallen trunks, and veered sharply whenever danger pressed against his senses.
This was not escape.
This was survival.
He ran until the forest changed.
The trees thinned slightly, their bark darker and twisted. The blood signatures here were fewer but heavier, older. The ground dipped into a shallow ravine filled with mist.
Kael dove into it without hesitation.
The moment his feet hit the damp earth, he rolled forward and pressed himself against the ravine wall, forcing his breathing to slow.
Above him, voices echoed.
"He went this way."
"No, the trail vanishes here."
Kael held his breath.
His heart thundered in his chest, loud enough that he feared they could hear it. The warmth pulsed steadily, urging him to strike while they were close.
Consume.
He clenched his teeth.
Not yet.
Footsteps paced the ravine's edge.
A cultivator leaned over, scanning below. His blood burned brightly in Kael's senses, rich and refined.
The warmth surged harder.
Kael's vision narrowed.
The man frowned suddenly, his hand moving to his chest.
"Something is wrong," the cultivator muttered.
Kael acted.
He launched upward, fingers digging into the earth, body moving with explosive force. His hand clamped around the cultivator's ankle and yanked.
The man screamed as he was dragged down into the ravine.
Kael did not hesitate.
The warmth erupted.
Blood poured into him like fire.
The cultivator convulsed once, then went limp.
Kael caught the body before it hit the ground, lowering it silently.
Power settled into him with frightening ease.
Shouts erupted above.
"Below!"
"They took one!"
Kael bolted deeper into the ravine, clutching the corpse briefly before releasing it into the shadows. He could not afford to carry evidence.
The forest responded violently.
Beasts roared in the distance, disturbed by the sudden surge of blood and power. The air itself felt tense, charged.
Kael burst out of the ravine and into a dense thicket, tearing through it without slowing. Thorns sliced his skin, but the wounds closed almost as quickly as they formed.
His body was changing.
He could feel it now, clearly.
Not growing larger or monstrous.
Becoming efficient.
By nightfall, the pursuit slowed.
Kael crouched atop a rocky outcrop, staring down at the forest below. Fires burned faintly in the distance as the Ironclaw Sect regrouped, their blood signatures clustered and restless.
They were afraid.
That realization struck him harder than any blow.
They were cultivators.
And they feared him.
The warmth purred faintly.
Consume.
Kael closed his eyes.
If he stayed here, they would surround him by morning. More would arrive. Stronger ones.
He needed to disappear.
The forest offered only one direction left.
Deeper.
The land shifted as Kael descended.
The trees grew warped, their trunks fused together in places. The air carried a metallic tang, heavy with ancient blood that had long since soaked into the earth.
This was a place even beasts avoided.
Kael felt it immediately.
A boundary.
Crossing it made the warmth shudder violently, as if reacting to something older than itself.
He stepped forward anyway.
The forest went silent.
No insects. No distant calls.
Only his breathing.
Kael's foot sank slightly into the ground, which felt softer here, almost spongy. Dark shapes jutted from the earth, half-buried bones far larger than any creature he had seen.
A graveyard.
Not recent.
Ancient.
The dream took him the moment he collapsed from exhaustion.
He stood on the black stone plain again, but this time the shadows did not kneel.
They watched.
The presence emerged slowly, its shape more defined than ever. The broken crown hovered above it, mending itself piece by piece.
"You ran," it said.
"I survived," Kael replied.
The presence studied him. "You fed."
"I had no choice."
A pause.
"You are beginning to understand," it said. "Blood has weight. Every life you take pulls you closer to what you are."
Kael's fists clenched. "Then tell me how to stop it."
The presence laughed softly.
"You do not stop a law," it replied. "You master it."
Kael woke with a sharp gasp.
Pain flared through his body.
He rolled onto his side, gasping as something burned beneath his skin. Dark lines spread across his chest briefly before sinking back down.
His heart pounded painfully.
Then it changed.
The rhythm slowed.
Deepened.
Each beat sent power through his limbs.
Kael stared at his hands as strength flooded them.
He had crossed something.
A threshold.
Not a full transformation.
But a beginning.
He sensed them before he saw them.
Three blood signatures approached cautiously, stronger than the ones before. Their movements were controlled, coordinated.
Elite cultivators.
Ironclaw Sect had sent real hunters now.
Kael rose slowly.
Fear stirred.
The warmth answered immediately.
Consume.
This time, Kael did not deny it.
He breathed in.
He grounded himself.
Then he smiled faintly.
"If I am to be hunted," he whispered, "then I will decide the cost."
The forest seemed to lean inward, shadows stretching unnaturally as the hunters closed in.
Far above, golden light pulsed violently.
The Heavenly Sovereign's voice echoed through the upper heavens.
"The devil is evolving."
"And he has learned how to hunt back."