The auxiliary ridge was silent when Lan Qingyun arrived. Crimson Cloud had claimed the outer territories, but they had not occupied every inch. The western auxiliary node lay neglected, dismissed as depleted decades ago when Azure Wind began its decline. Which meant it was still useful. Neglect was often the greatest camouflage.
Lan Qingyun descended between fractured stone pillars and landed lightly beside the dormant vein channel. The concealment talisman suppressed his aura to a muted haze, barely stronger than a wandering Foundation Establishment cultivator. He knelt and placed the Earth Core Fragment against the exposed channel.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then Golden Core qi flowed from his dantian in a steady, disciplined stream. He did not force it. He guided it. Formation lines beneath the earth responded like long-dormant nerves awakening, thin threads of spiritual light tracing outward and reconnecting to severed pathways. The Earth Core Fragment pulsed faintly once, then twice, before fusing into position. The ground trembled subtly.
Lan Qingyun extended his senses outward through the underground lattice. Flow redirected. Pressure stabilized. The auxiliary node did not roar back to life; it whispered. But whispers were enough. Sixty-two percent projected stabilization once the main formation integrated the shift.
He allowed himself one slow exhale The first minor task was nearly complete.
Remaining in place, however, was foolish.
A faint fluctuation brushed against his spiritual perception. Low Golden Core. Probing. Crimson Cloud patrol.
Lan Qingyun withdrew his senses immediately, dispersing his aura signature into the surrounding terrain. The concealment talisman dimmed his presence further, smoothing the residual pulse left by the activation. The patrol did not approach directly. They circled, suspicious but uncertain.
He moved without flying, stepping between rocky outcroppings and using terrain to mask line-of-sight fluctuations. Each step was measured, breathing controlled, heartbeat regulated. Within minutes, the probing sensation faded. He did not slow until the auxiliary ridge disappeared behind layers of forest canopy.
Only then did he allow his aura to settle fully.
The Beast Forest rose ahead like a living wall, dark, ancient, unforgiving.
If the auxiliary node restored survival, the forest would fund revival.
He adjusted the concealment talisman's flow and stepped beneath the treeline. The forest air was thick with wild spiritual energy, untamed and chaotic. Unlike sect grounds, where energy circulated in refined patterns, here it flowed in violent currents, eddies forming around ancient trees and rocky clearings.
Lan Qingyun did not release his Golden Core aura. Predators sensed strength, but they also sensed hunger. Better to be a shadow.
His spiritual sense extended cautiously, skimming the surface of the forest. Beasts did not mask their presence through technique; they radiated it brutally.
The first signature he found was a Thornback Ironhide Boar at Low Golden Core. Its body was the size of a carriage, hide plated in layered iron-like scales, crimson bristles rising along its spine as it fed near a mineral-rich stream.
Lan Qingyun circled downwind and studied its breathing rhythm. Boars relied on explosive charge strength and short bursts of terrifying momentum. He waited until it lowered its head to drink before surging forward in a controlled burst, suppressing aura until the final instant.
Sword qi flashed from his palm, compressed and focused.
The boar sensed him half a heartbeat too late and roared as iron hide flared with defensive energy. Lan Qingyun pivoted instead of clashing head-on, his blade of condensed qi slipping between plate seams behind the shoulder joint. He did not aim to overpower; he aimed to sever.
The sword qi pierced muscle and heart channel alike.
The boar convulsed and charged blindly, collapsing into a tree under its own momentum.
He confirmed death and extracted the Low Golden Core beast core cleanly, ironhide plating intact and worth six to eight thousand mid-grade spirit stones. He stored it and left immediately. Blood scent traveled quickly.
By the second day, he had penetrated deeper into mid-tier territory. The concealment talisman proved invaluable. Normally, entering this depth would trigger multiple territorial responses from apex predators sensing a rival Golden Core presence. Suppressed to near invisibility, he moved like an anomaly.
The second hunt was less clean.
A Mistfang Shadow Leopard at Mid Golden Core attacked from above, lean and fast, its body shimmering faintly under spiritual distortion. It detected him not through aura but through instinct.
Lan Qingyun sensed the displacement a fraction before impact and twisted sideways as claws sliced across his shoulder.
He did not retreat Leopards thrived on momentum.
Instead, he collapsed his aura further, vanishing from its spiritual perception. Confusion flickered through the beast for half a second, and that was enough. He stepped inside its guard and released a compressed spiral of sword intent into its lower ribcage.
The force detonated internally.
The leopard shrieked and lashed violently, scoring another shallow cut before he ended it with a thrust of qi through the skull.
Mid Golden Core core secured. Leopard hide intact and highly prized. He wrapped the carcass quickly and departed. Two kills in mid-tier territory would not go unnoticed forever.
By evening of the second day, he found the first herb.
A cluster of Moonlit Serpent Grass grew beside a shallow ravine, three pale silver stalks under dusk light, guarded by a Stone jaw Earth Lizard at Low Golden Core.
Lan Qingyun baited it with a fragment of boar meat and struck as it lunged, driving a blade of qi through the back of its skull where armor thinned.
The herb cluster alone was worth fifteen thousand.
He harvested carefully, preserving root integrity.
By the end of the third day, he had slain three Mid Golden Core beasts and seven Low Golden Core beasts while securing three high-value spiritual herbs. Total projected market value approached eighty thousand mid-grade spirit stones.
Substantial not life changing but transformative for a declining sect.
The concealment talisman's glow had dimmed slightly. He felt it. Its array threads were thinning.
He stood atop a ridge overlooking deeper forest shadow, Golden Core rotating steadily as he calculated his options.
He had stabilized survival and secured capital.
Now came the gamble.
He stepped forward toward darker territory.
The forest did not protest.
It simply waited.