Under the watchful gazes of the moon and many stars, Ray wove his way to the outskirts of the Chiura Forest.

He had been to here many times than he could count, but never in the night. Word was that the forest came to life once the almighty sun closed his eyes. That the flesh-eating trees would swing their branches to whip up a gentle breeze to attract the hikers — to wring their head and gobble them up, of course. That some chimeras — such as a leopard with horns, a rabbit with blood-stained needle-like teeth, a fox with wings — would begin the hunt for quarry.

Gotten familiar with the thick forest, Ray thought it had no more surprises for him. But now, he began to have second thoughts about it. He realized the forest got a new face for the night.

The forest was strangely still and eerily silent. Crickets didn’t chirp, leaves didn’t rustle. There was no breeze. It was as if the world itself froze. And yet, Ray heard the branches sway — like a slow, chilling creak of a door. All the tales about the Chihura Forest he had brushed off came rushing back, haunting.

Ray’s heart pounded hard against his chest. His steps quickened. The fallen leaves and tiny branches snapped and crackled at the weight of his feet. It only spiked up his heart beet even more. His furry moccasins were only good on the hard land. He hurriedly collected the moccasins and began to walk on toes.

Luckily, the hideout wasn’t far. It was a tree cave with a slit of an opening, but inside, it was big enough to host four grown men. Ray crawled in through the slit. He groped for the wooden pad he made in the darkness and closed the cave. Only then did he heaved a sigh of relief, wiping the pool of sweat over his brows with the back of his hand.

Things had gotten a bit spooky.

But no matter. Once he successfully cultivated, he would be able to blast through all the enigmas this damnable forest had in its store.

He whisked out the wooden box and contained the blood vials. The dragon blood was bluish and basaltic turtle’s brownish. With these, he could change his destiny.

Blood was the essential part of a body. It decided the race you belonged to. It dictated your physical growth. Pretty much every physical quality was directly or indirectly affected by the blood.

And this blood generated from the bone marrow.

There were many methods to improve the blood marrow, but no technique would ever be able to change the very nature of the bone marrow from that of a human’s to a beast’s. Actually, such a situation had never occurred. However, Ray’s spirit, with its tenacious will, managed to alter his bone marrow at its roots which was why the old ghost called it a miracle.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Ray couldn’t help but wonder about his future prospects. Beats and humans had different cultivation systems. Humans needed spirits to sense the chi, but beasts didn’t. By birth, they were graced with an ability to sense chi.

And now, he was going to get a beast body and yet retain his spirit body!

If he could cultivate in both of them without any problem, he could wipe the floors with anyone that was in the same cultivation realm as him. But if they gave him trouble, his cultivation might become stagnant. He didn’t know if it was a curse or a blessing.

Ray shook his head. Now was not the time to worry about this. Out of the several techniques he knew of, he picked out the most harshest and efficient one: Marrow Forging Technique.

He took out the needle which had the length of a palm. He drove it in at his hips till it pierced through the bone, past the spongy bones. The pain was astronomical. His teeth chattered, and his body drenched in sweat. But he managed to bear it.

The other end of the needle was a funnel. He picked up a vial and poured the bluish blood essence in and then the brownish blood essence. He repeated his actions in several locations. By the time he was done, he lay paralyzed on the ground, shivering and panting.

He continuously circulated the blood according to the Marrow Forging Technique. The blood essence was improvising the bone marrow like a weapon forged in the lava. It melted the bone marrow, purified it and remolded it.

The whole process was tormenting, to say the least.

Gradually, his body got accustomed to the changes. And Ray sensed the power in his blood.

Soon, he sensed tiny colorful spots around him even with his eyes closed. Each spot gave him a different feeling. Some warm, some cold, some gentle, some harsh… his eyes sparkled with excitement. He knew this was chi. Now he could sense chi. He could cultivate!

For the first time, the tattoos on his back moved. He couldn’t see them, but he could feel them.

The dragon and turtle raised their heads and roared. Their roar tore through the tree and rippled across the forest and echoed throughout the island. Majestic and arrogant, it was like a declaration of the advent of the supreme being.

The sky changed colors. Earth shook. Countless hearts shuddered.

His spirit, the primal spirit, was awakened.

The tattoos opened their mouth and gulped the chi around him. The surrounding chi stirred and poured into him, swirling. It stormed into his spirit body and settled in his dantian. And like that, Ray took the first step into the path of immortality.

His cultivation began to rise. Spirit Opening Realm initial stage. Spirit opening Realm initial stage peak. Spirit opening realm middle stage… It shot all the way up to the peak of Spirit Opening Realm late stage.

Ray’s eyes moistened. How many years did he dream of this day? How much humiliation and pain did he endure to feel the faintest bit of chi inside him?

And now it was there. Not in bits and pieces but in streams and rivers.

Ray sobbed. Dada, I did it. I can cultivate now. And I can personally avenge you. Just wait.

The day he dreamed of had come. He grew light-headed with joy. His heart was aflutter.

Soon, he calmed down and inspect the changes in the body. Just then—

Bang!

A gigantic claw swiped the tree. Ray was blown away along with the splinters. His skin scraped against the hard ground and his innards were rattled.

He coughed up mouthful blood. Through the swirling dry leaves and dust, he saw the attacker.

The leopard with horns!

With the size of a big bull, it dwarfed Ray by quite a margin. Its steely eyes settled on him even when it was circling around for a clean strike. Even on the spread of fallen leaves, its paws made no sound. Its strangest feature was the antlers… they looked as if they were hewn out of steel with blade-like tines.

Its growl rumbled through him.

Ray’s heart was drumming against his chest. For a moment, he fell into a freezing hell. The beast came for him and he had no idea how to fight it off. All these years, he never fought. What do I do? What do I do?

The beast didn't give him any time to consider. It jumped at him and swiped.