The sunset was dipping below the horizon; barely any light was left as the world shifted into darkness. Typically, this was when the mountains became less active; there were very few Vicious Beasts that chose to be active during the night. And yet, if anyone was deep enough into the Crimson Tide Mountain Range, shockwaves were resounding, echo’s travelling in every direction.

The source of these sounds, Lute and his opponent the Vicious Beast, it was the strongest one he’d faced yet, three levels above him which included one great realm level. The disparity lying in the fact Lute hadn’t entered the Nascent Qi Realm; his dantian hadn’t expanded to store more Qi.

They hadn’t been in combat long, yet the previously dense forest foliage was all but gone. The ground was broken, trees had claw marks, and some even had large portions of wood blown off the trunk.

Lute wasn’t faring much better, with the last paw he took from the bear, he was sent flying. Standing up, he spit out a mouthful of blood. His arms were riddled with claw and acidic burn marks. His Qi, while being extremely pure and of a higher plane, it still couldn’t completely block the attacks because of the difference that was cultivation levels.

But he was still faring much better than anyone else would have, even if they were the same level as the bear. This was because Lute’s body was increasing in strength each day, becoming stronger and firmer, it had even surpassed his opponent’s physique by a small degree.

But it wasn’t omnipotent, there would be a bottleneck. Once Lute came to the peak of the Divine Chronicle of the Primordial Way’s first level, he would stagnate, all the passive effects granted by it, while they didn’t outright stop improving Lute’s body as vessel for power, would become imperceptible as the rate would drastically slow down. As it was an Art hardly relying on one’s cultivation, it was a matter of comprehension. But once Lute stepped into the second level of the Art, he’d immediately and explosively increase in strength on a physical level once again. All the passive effects would increase many times over until he once again reached the peak and stagnated.

Thanks to this Art, it was the only reason Lute was surviving this fight. The Spiritual God’s inheritance had proved useless thus far, as Lute still didn’t have any thought as to what powers he had gained from it. His only clue, the five doors that were in a pentagonal formation around his dantian, but if he opened one he’d likely incur massive injuries.

Combined with the combat stances he was learning each day from Isla, whenever Lute struck it was as if a hammer was bludgeoning its target to a pulp. The only problem, the Vicious Beast before him was anything but a mass of crushed flesh. Its physical body was much closer to Lute’s in physical strength than anyone he’d met.

The both of them had suffered injuries on par with one another, Lute with burns and deep gashes along his arms and bruises upon his chest, and the Vicious Beast, it had visible dents within its ribs, and they weren’t broken, but fractured from Lute’s heavy strikes. It also had a cut above its right eye, blood dripping down upon it. This forced the bear to blink rapidly in the right eye, its vision deteriorated.

The blinding wound upon the Vicious Beast had been made at the expense of Lute’s short sword. As it wasn’t anything other than iron, which any mortal could acquire, it had broken under a heavy paw strike from the bear in retaliation, saving Lute from another nasty bruise and burn marks upon his chest. It hadn’t even proved that useful as even if the bear was blinded, Lute was positive it would fight using its hearing and smell. Until he acquired a weapon made specifically for a cultivator, he might as well use his fists which were stronger than any weapon a mortal could possibly make.

Lute, despite having injuries, was still stable mentally and physically. The pain he felt was nothing compared to being rebuilt all the way down to his body’s smallest units by the Spiritual Gods Blood. Although he should be worried about his life, he wasn’t, although he had already used more than half his Qi, he didn’t dare run away, even though he felt like he could now that he’d gotten a grasp of the bears strength.

It was his thirst for battle that demanded he stay, he might be calm but that didn’t mean completely rational, if he was, he would’ve retreated from the very first exchange of blows because the chances of him coming out of this with anything less than a serious injury was miniscule.

Despite all the strategical and logical reasons about why he should escape floating around his head, Lute ignored them, in a battle of no rules, while he portrayed himself as calm on the outside, Lute was in actuality aggressive, there was nothing like the thrill of teetering on the very edge of death like he was. It made him truly feel alive; everything seemed so much more vibrant and less dull when he felt like this. This was the trait that all cultivators who decide to live on the battlefield share; they simply couldn’t escape this feeling, the most common thing they all share in common, dying with a smile or laughing as they die at the hands of their opponent.

Although he was injured, Lute took the initiative, with the trademark cold smirk upon his face as he approached his adversary, his eyes were clearly showing murder in them, he wanted to kill his opponent if it was the last thing he did. The more he thought about victory, the stronger his Slaughter Aura became.

Revolving what limited Qi he had left, Lute decided to focus all of it into his arms, instinctively deciding to put his faith in the strength of his body, he disregarded using any of his leftover Qi for any other defense. It was all within his arms, prepared to be unleashed at a moment’s notice. Without a shred of fear or anxiety, Lute continued his approach, there was nothing else but to end it here and now, if he didn’t then the chances of escaping would significantly drop the moment he used up all his Qi.

The bear before him bent down, its leg muscles visibly contracting in a ripple effect as it channeled its strength, and within a second it leaped forward surprising Lute. He quickly lifted up an arm as he had no time to dodge. A stinging sensation started to travel up and down his left arm, and it began to lose feeling.

The bear had cleverly gathered up all the acidic saliva it had and spit it at Lute as it leaped in for the kill. In mere moments it was about to be upon Lute, shaking off the saliva, Lute furiously revolved all of his remaining Qi, he planned to use all of it in this final strike.

Stepping into the bear instead of attempting to back away, Lue planted his body firmly into the ground before him, he became an immovable sentinel. The Slaughter Aura he had emitted never weakened once, instead throughout this trial it was steadily growing stronger, until now, it had finally overtaken the pressure of the bear.

With a final fist, Lute used up all of the Qi in his arms, sending it out through his left fist, he made contact with the snout of the bear. A bludgeoning sound resounded through the area; both of them were mutually thrown backwards from the force of their own attacks.

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Lute flew backwards, slamming into a tree, putting a major dent into the wood. All of his breath was knocked out of him. He slowly sunk down until he was on the ground, in that last attack he certainly felt his left hand start to give way, there was most definitely a slight fracture in his hand. But it was only a slight fracture; it’d heal within a week due to his physique.

The bear on the other hand was worse off, its snout was mangled and portions of it fangs were knocked out of its mouth or chipped off. Colliding with Lute who was like a mountain when he didn’t want to move, had caused a rebound in force for the both of them, this caused the fractured ribs to be on the verge of shattering.

Lute finally sat up and looked towards the bear, looking to see if he finally won, “Did I finally do it?”

Almost immediately after he said those words, it was like a challenge was sent to the bear, it opened its eyes, even the one clogged with blood, and then it stood up. Its body was much frailer, but it planned to kill Lute, it wouldn’t let its prey get away.

Lute laughed dryly, and almost without any energy, his entire body felt extremely heavy and lethargic, even keeping his eyes open was a hassle. This was the difference between the Nascent Qi Realm and the Foundational Qi Realm. Lute’s reserves despite being many times more than the average weren’t enough. And the Divine Chronicle of the Primordial Way wasn’t enough either, despite the autonomous intake of Qi, even though that was all he focused on right now, trying to increase his absorption speed of Qi, it wasn’t enough compared to what Qi the bear had left stored in its core.

All that the bear had to do was use its leftover Qi and with a little bit of time, it’d be able to tear Lute to shreds even with his physique. Slowly it approached with a severe limp, and yet Lute still held no fear towards death, a defiant grin and murderous look was still easily discernable from him. He didn’t plan to go out without fighting till the last moment.

Slowly standing up, Lute was trembling slightly, he really had no energy left, and the Qi was even more pitiful, he’d only managed to absorb a small amount within those few minutes he was on the ground slumped against the tree. Hair thin strands were flowing through his body, and with the size of his meridians, Lute felt like an empty vessel once again as the amount of Qi was so small they might as well be nonexistent in his meridians.

He didn’t feel deterred though, the shroud of death, he could clearly feel it, and yet Lute felt tranquil. But it was at this moment, with the bear almost upon him, Lute felt a sudden change within his inner body. A sound of chains rattling like someone wanted to break them was all Lute could hear.

Of the pentagonal formation in his body, at the top most point, closest to his heart, Lute felt the door furiously struggling. He could actually see within himself the door moving, trying to force itself open. Apparently the doors were sentient or partially sentient, but Lute couldn’t worry about that at the moment as the specter of death was looming ever closer towards him.

But, a small smile appeared once again on Lute’s lips, a knowing look showing upon his face, the message was clear from how fiercely the door was struggling. It wanted to be opened, it clearly felt danger to Lute’s life, and at that moment, Lute knew the doors didn’t want to kill him; they wanted to be used by him. Perhaps, if the first door was struggling so much, he could open it for at least a second, and if he closed it quick enough, he might survive. That was what flashed through Lutes mind.

Well, there’s no reason not too, it is a gamble I am willing to take. If I can’t place my trust in these doors entrusted to me through the blood, why should I be allowed to use them then?

With this final thought, the door seemed to feel Lute having come to terms with what he was going to do, it began to forcefully struggle even more, so much so that a small crack appeared and it opened slightly before slamming shut again, but that small crack of the door opening was enough, Lute felt knowledge rush into him, and it was precisely how to open the doors.

Without another second to delay, Lute moved what pitiful amount of Qi he had left; he sent it to the first door and forcefully bombarded it against the door that was working as hard as it could to open. Over and over again, he slammed it against the door, and eventually some of his Qi disappeared through the slightly open crack he and the door mutually made. The small cracks of the opening door expanded a thunderous occurred roar within his body, the door finally opened. Information rushed into Lute’s mind but he couldn’t pay attention to any of it at the moment.

With the opening of the door, Lute’s wounds instantly expanded, the cuts on his arms exploded, cracks appeared all over Lute’s skin, blood bled from his seven orifices’. But that wasn’t the worst of it, an unimaginable pain, even worse than when he inherited the Spiritual Gods Blood assaulted Lute. His whole body felt as if it was going to spontaneously combust, sharp pain assaulted his mind and his nerves overloaded, breathing was so painful he didn’t want to breathe. Even worse, his dantian and meridians felt as if they were going to rupture.

But with this came his Qi as well. Lute retained enough consciousness to just barely think and move. He was able to tell that the amount of Qi he had didn’t increase at all. There was no change in quantity; but the quantity of Qi was now emitting a power far stronger than it did before. It also had expanded; it was no longer just a hair’s width. If he had to compare it to something, then it’d be density. If before his Qi was like vapor, then now it was like an extremely thick syrupy substance. The difference between the density of his Qi from a moment ago and now was a vast difference.

The purity was the same, the amount hadn’t increased, but now if he used the same amount of Qi, it seemed he would get a lot more power out of it than before. He could use less Qi to achieve the same outcome, what a terrifying concept.

The bear on the outside actually stopped in its tracks, it had been slowly moving towards Lute to finish him off. With its severe limp and mangled body, it was very hard to move, but now, what appeared in front of it was not the boy it saw earlier. Now there was a bloody beast in front of it. At the sight and sound of Lute, it actually began to feel fear and struggle to turn around and escape.

Lute however didn’t completely lose his sense of reason. He was a bloody beast though, the bear was right in thinking that. His entire body was breaking apart, he didn’t look human anymore and he was howling an extremely unnerving and inhumane cry due to the pain. But he wasn’t going to let the bear get away now that he came this far.

From the first second he opened the door, Lute could tell he had roughly thirty seconds before he died from spontaneous explosion. Taking one painful step after another he approached the bear. The only part of Lute’s body that wasn’t dyed a scarlet red was his piercing sky blue eyes which had an extreme murderous intent.

With his Slaughter Aura surging, and his will to annihilate all before him, Lute raised his right fist and converged all the Qi within it. But just as he was about to punch, an image of a technique flashed through his mind. With roughly half of the time left that he could bear to keep the door open, Lute instinctively changed how he revolved his Qi and attempted the technique whose name was simply oppressive.

With a final bloodcurdling scream, Lute connected the technique, known as Shifting Time Collapsing Void with the bear. Almost instantly, the lower ribs where Lute attacked exploded from the force behind the technique. A massive gaping hole went through the bear, and the ground below both it and Lute collapsed and broke apart. The force of that techniques shockwave actually sent a complete see-through hole in the trees surrounding him.

The scene of this battle didn’t look anything like that of Nascent or Foundational Realm cultivators and beasts, it looked much more like a battle involving Spirit Opening Realm cultivators.

The bear immediately died on the spot, half of its body blown to shreds, gaping holes everywhere below the shoulders. Even though its skull wasn’t damaged in that strike, there was a chance from the strength behind it that the core of the now dead Vicious Beast would be damaged and leak out all of its energy.

Lute, covered in wounds and blood collapsed upon the ground, he didn’t even close the door, and it seemed to do it on its own when it knew the Vicious Beast was dead.

This was where the Divine Chronicle of the Primordial Way would become the most useful. As Lute lay there unconscious, his meridians and dantian were on the verge of rupturing, his skin and muscle had broken down a significant degree, he was covered in burns, bruises, and now, most of his bones had fractured from releasing a door and technique his body wasn’t ready for. But all of this could be healed.

It might take weeks, but although this was something an ordinary cultivator might not completely recover from, the Divine Chronicle of the Primordial Way would allow Lute to reach one hundred percent again. When he healed, his body would become even more durable and closer to the second level of this Art than before. As long as he wasn’t crippled or lost a limb or organ as he didn’t reach the level where growing limbs and organs were possible, a complete recovery would always happen.

Even now, the healing was already starting to take place, Lute was absorbing Qi and his body had already clotted the blood. At the moment he was in no danger of dying, that much Isla could ensure, she also thoroughly released her Slaughter Aura, and although she couldn’t actually kill anything, the Vicious Beasts were too low in cultivation to know that this was all just façade, if it was a beast at the Heavenly Emperor level, they would certainly feel fear but come to realize that Isla couldn’t do anything. But with these levels of beast, Isla could ensure Lute a few days to simply heal and do nothing before any of the Vicious Beasts returned.