Hope’s figure emerged into the forest, silent as a shadow, his movements deliberate and cold. The thick canopy above offered a fragmented patchwork of light, the sun filtering through in scattered beams. He didn’t notice the beauty; his eyes were focused solely on the task ahead.
For the next several days, Hope planned to train in the wilderness.
The Path of Eternal Flesh would be his focus—a discipline that would push his physical form to its absolute limits, breaking it down and rebuilding it in ways that defied the natural laws of the world. To endure this path, a cultivator had to embrace suffering, not as a hindrance, but as an essential part of the journey.
Hope’s expression remained unchanged as he surveyed the vast wilderness. This place was more than an ideal training ground—it was where he would perfect his body, pushing it far beyond mortal limitations.
The forest, alive with the sounds of the unseen, grew still for a moment as the first challenge emerged from the underbrush.
A hulking figure, primal and untamed, materialized between the trees—a Feral Awakening Beast. Its form resembled a massive wolf with a muscular, jagged frame, its fur mottled and coarse, and its fangs gleaming in the dappled sunlight.
Still in the early stages of its awakening, its power mirrored that of a cultivator at the early Body Transformation stage. The beast’s eyes burned with the unrelenting fury of a predator, and its claws scraped the earth as it coiled, ready to strike.
Hope’s eyes narrowed, his expression unchanged. This wasn’t a fight for survival—this was part of the process.
His body, already attuned to the flow of Qi, readied itself for the challenge ahead. As the beast lunged with terrifying speed, Hope sidestepped, narrowly avoiding its claws. His reflexes were faster, his body moving with fluid precision, while the beast’s instincts were honed for battle.
The creature crashed into a nearby tree, but it recovered quickly, its hunger not sated.
As it lunged again, teeth bared, Hope allowed it to sink its jaws into his shoulder. Pain flared, but before the beast could dig in, Hope’s Qi surged, mending the wound almost instantly. He felt a strange pulse of energy coursing through him as the beast’s essence began to flow into his body.
Hope’s eyes widened briefly in surprise. Primal energy? he thought. He had read about it, but he didn’t expect to feel it so directly. It was the raw force of nature, the very power of life and survival, and it was fueling his cultivation.
His body instinctively absorbed it, feeding his strength, and he twisted the beast’s neck, ending its life in a swift motion. The Primal energy of the beast surged within him, but Hope felt no satisfaction—only the drive to push further. This was just the beginning.
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By the next day, the forest had become a battlefield. Hope’s body had already begun adapting to the strain of the Path of Eternal Flesh, his flesh evolving in response to each trial. His cells were becoming more resistant to damage and better attuned to the flow of Qi. Yet, despite the progress, Hope knew this was only the beginning.
His body needed more. It needed something to accelerate the transformation, something that would push him beyond the limits of what he had endured so far.
The answer came in the form of a Primal Surge Beast. A creature far stronger than the Feral Awakening Beast from the day before. It was an apex predator of the wilds, capable of tapping into elemental energies, larger and more terrifying than any Hope had faced and equivalent to a Soul Resonance cultivator.
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With thick, electrified fur crackling with the pulse of elemental energy, its eyes glowed with a ferocity matched only by the storms it summoned.
The beast had learned to channel the very elements of nature, a creature of pure elemental fury.
Hope had been tracking it for hours, waiting for the right moment.
He knew this would be no simple fight. The Stormfang, a towering creature of muscle and raw power, was known for its ability to channel lightning to overwhelm its foes.
It resembled a massive bear, standing around 3 meters tall at the shoulder, with thick, matted fur that crackled with static energy. Its eyes glowed an eerie blue, reflecting the intensity of the storms it could conjure.
The beast's massive paws were tipped with claws as long as daggers, capable of tearing through rock and wood with ease. Its body rippled with the power of elemental energy, and its tail, long and whip-like, was charged with an electric charge that would strike like a bolt of lightning.
It was a predator that hunted with the ferocity of nature itself.
At last, he found it.
The beast was resting beneath the shade of a great oak, its eyes half-closed in a moment of respite. Its heavy breath stirred the surrounding air, but its attention was elsewhere.
Hope’s heart beat steadily in his chest as he crouched low, his body a whisper of movement within the dense foliage. He had learned that the key to surviving in this wilderness wasn’t just strength—it was patience.
With a final breath, Hope pushed off from his position, launching himself toward the beast with all the speed he could muster. The moment the beast’s ears twitched, Hope was upon it, his fist lashing out, aimed at the beast’s exposed neck.
The beast reacted in a flash.
Its powerful jaws snapped toward him, and its claws swiped through the air with a speed that defied its massive frame. Hope barely managed to twist his body out of the way, but the claws grazed his shoulder, leaving a deep gash.
Pain flared, but Hope’s Qi surged to counter it, knitting the wound shut almost instantly.
The beast roared in fury, its body crackling with elemental power.
Lightning danced along its back, arcing through the air and striking the ground around it. Hope gritted his teeth, his own Qi flaring to shield him from the brunt of the attack. The forest around them shuddered with the force of the storm the beast had summoned.
Hope didn’t hesitate. He knew the key to victory wasn’t in brute force—it was in outlasting the beast, wearing it down.
He sidestepped, narrowly avoiding another swing of its claws, and then struck, his elbow crashing into the side of the beast’s skull. But the beast didn’t go down. It shook off the attack, its body rippling with raw, untamed energy.
The Stormfang was relentless. It launched itself at Hope again, this time with a deafening roar, the wind whipping around it as it summoned a cyclone of force.
Hope was caught in the maelstrom, the wind slamming into him like a wall. His body was lifted off the ground, but he managed to stabilize himself in mid-air, his Qi anchoring him to the earth as he landed hard on the ground.
The beast lunged again, and this time, its claws connected with Hope’s torso, raking deep into his flesh.
Blood spurted from the wounds, but Hope gritted his teeth, his Qi flaring to seal the injury. His body was already recovering, but the strain was immense.
Despite the pain, he held his ground. Each attack from the beast, each surge of elemental energy, made his body stronger. His Qi pulsed in rhythm with the beast’s fury, adapting to its power. The Stormfang’s fury only grew, but Hope had learned how to fight with endurance, not just speed.
Finally, with a movement too fast for the beast to react, Hope grabbed its massive jaw, his hands tightening with unnatural strength. He twisted violently, using the momentum of the creature’s rage against it. With a sharp crack, the beast’s neck snapped, and it crumpled to the ground in a heap.
Hope stood over it, his body trembling from the exertion. The Stormfang’s energy flooded into him like a torrent, its elemental power crackling through his veins.
Hope felt the raw, untamed energy surge within him, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy him. He had learned to refine such energy—he needed it to fuel his Eternal Iron Root cultivation.
Without hesitation, Hope sat down and began refining the beast’s essence. His Qi flowed in a new, focused pattern, filtering the elemental energy, purifying it, and transforming it into something usable. The raw power of the beast was transformed, becoming part of him.
As the Stormfang’s energy melded with his own, Hope’s body became more resilient, more in tune with the elemental forces it had wielded.
But he knew this process was far from complete.
The energy needed time to fully assimilate, to refine itself within his body. Yet, with each moment, Hope could feel his cultivation strengthen, pushing him ever closer to the next stage of his path.
Tomorrow would bring new challenges, each more grueling than the last. But it didn’t matter. His flesh would be forged in blood, and from that blood, it would become eternal.