Eastern

Chapter 44

The cave loomed before me, gaping wide and silent, like the maw of some ancient, forgotten beast. An unnatural chill poured forth, heavy with the stench of damp decay. I wrinkled my nose and again cursed my enhanced senses, they were a blessing and a curse.

I stared into the darkness, my stomach twisting with a nauseating familiarity. The air carried a scent—sharp and metallic—that pulled at buried memories. My grip tightened instinctively around the sabre’s hilt, knuckles whiteni...

Chapter 43

The forest grew darker as I approached the cave, not just because the daylight faded beneath the thickening canopy but due to something deeper, something unsettling. The trees here leaned at odd angles, their branches twisting subtly toward the cave entrance like fingers reaching for hidden warmth. The moss underfoot, lush and vibrant at the grove, now appeared bruised and mottled grey, dampening my steps as if the ground itself was sickened. The scent of decay lingered heavily, clinging to t...

Chapter 42

The Sundered moved like a phantom — flesh stretched taut over wiry muscle, red eyes glinting with a kind of manic hunger. I braced myself, but even with Qi thrumming in my veins, he was fast. His feet barely touched the ground as he danced through the clearing, twin daggers glinting from the sunlight. Before I could comprehend what was happening I felt the cold bite of metal, a flick across my shoulder that I barely registered before the second followed, carving a cruel line on my hip. I wi...

Chapter 41

I opened my eyes. Golden Qi was still swirling around me, drifting in the afternoon light. It clung to the air, soft and warm, tracing slow spirals above my skin before fading back into nothing. The sensation of it pulsing through my meridians was faint now, less like a storm and more like the trickle of rain once it had passed but the lingering effect was undeniable. My body felt better. I rotated my shoulder, the skin pulling tight but the pain a lot more manageable. Cycling Qi through my b...

Chapter 40

Qi Absorbed

System Sync in Progress…

Stat Increase:
Strength: 22 → 26
Agility: 22 → 26
Constitution: 32 → 36
Spirit: 36 → 40

Progression Achieved:
Qi Refinement 1/10 → Qi Refinement 2/10

I smiled, it had taken a long time. Or what felt like a long time but was actually only a couple days,...

Chapter 39

Lucien was breathing hard. His chest rose in ragged jerks, and his eyes, still glowing with that sick, red light locked onto mine with a mix of hatred and fear.

I crouched beside him, my sabre still slick with his companion’s blood. My own shoulder pulsed with pain, the wound festering like an open furnace. The arrowhead’s toxin was still eating away at the muscle. I could feel it creeping through my tissue, blackening the nerves as it went. Last Stand was fighting it but even with ...

Chapter 38

The sundered fired another arrow at me, I pushed Qi through my limbs, adjusting my stance in a sharp sidestep. The arrow whistled past, close enough to brush my sleeve, until my blade flashed upward, cutting it clean from the air.

My heart was hammering now. This was going to be a two-on-one.

My heart thundered against my ribs. I’d fought beasts and monsters. But this felt different. The Sundered moved like people, even spoke like people. There was purpose behind their actions, ...

Chapter 37

The system notification hovered in my vision, its golden light casting a faint shimmer over the ruined forest floor. I stared at it for a moment, letting the words settle in.

Quest Generated
Objective: Destroy the Sundered Encampment
Reward: New Skill

I exhaled slowly. I didn’t need the system to tell me what needed to be done. Just looking at those things, those abominations, filled me with a sick sort of revulsion. It wa...

Chapter 36

A rock slipped out from under my foot, skittering off the ledge with a sharp crack. My stomach fluttered as I watched it bounce once, twice, before vanishing into the trees far below. It took a full five seconds before I heard the faint thud of impact. That didn’t exactly help the vertigo.

I let out a slow breath and steadied myself against the cliff wall. The stone was slick in places, worn smooth from centuries of wind and rain. Moss clung to the cracks and my boots found poor purch...

Chapter 35

I walked out of the clinic, my sabre by my side and my dagger on my hip. Master Kai had given me a couple of outfits and a side duffle bag that I strapped over my shoulder. Inside, I had some dried meat and a few other little things to get me by.

I took a deep breath. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.

I was about to set out, straight toward where the beast wave had supposedly come from. And I was going alone. Sure, maybe that was for the best. Having someone else along ...

Chapter 34

I opened my eyes, still seated in the middle of the ruined rice fields. Golden strands of Qi drifted lazily through the air around me, like sunlight caught in slow motion. I breathed in, and the energy settled through my meridians with a warmth I hadn’t realized I’d missed. It felt… right. Like something that had been ripped away was finally back in place.

I hadn’t noticed how hollow I’d felt until now. The exhaustion from the Spirit Beast fight was gone, replaced by a low hum...

Chapter 33

I woke to the sound of birds chirping. Sunlight streamed through the window and I could hear people moving about in the street outside. I pulled myself up out of bed, still groggy from my sleepless night. I expected to feel the deep, bone-deep ache but was pleasantly surprised when everything felt relatively okay. The only issue was my internal Qi. It was still depleted, but I knew that was expected. Meditation would restore my reserves in time. I just hadn’t bothered last night. I’d been...

Chapter 32

I wiped the rain from my face and adjusted my grip on the sabre, now hanging loose in my hand. The sky was a dull wash of grey-orange, the last edge of the sun slipping beyond the mountains. The drizzle softened the air, but it couldn’t wash away the stench of death.

Bodies littered the streets.

Human and beast alike.

Steam rose from the fresh corpses where blood still ran hot. There was a hush across the village. A kind of silence that only followed carnage.

Wei Lin...

Chapter 31

The Spirit Beast dropped to all fours and began barreling toward us, its muscles rippling beneath thick black fur. It didn’t weave or dodge, it didn’t need to. Every lesser beast in its path was flung aside like rubbish, crushed underfoot or batted away with a flick of its arms.

It was fast.

Terrifyingly fast.

Beside me, Elder Tian took an instinctive step back. His axe wavered in his hands.

“By the heavens…” he muttered, eyes wide. “We—we’re all doomed...

Chapter 30

I looked down at the Duskcreeper, it limped in slow, defiant steps, one leg lifted uselessly off the ground. My dagger was still embedded in its shoulder, buried to the hilt. Still it limped forward. Beasts like this didn’t know when to die. They were all instinct and rage.

Still… I couldn’t believe I’d thrown that blade so fast. So clean.

Even now, my hand tingled with the memory of the motion. I had always had the skill. But now with the power as well. It was on another ...

Chapter 29

Fi Yan knew what she was doing was wrong.

She knew, and she did it anyway.

She had to see what was going on.

So she slipped out of the sect building and away from her mother’s distracted gaze. That part wasn’t hard. There were people standing outside the doors, weapons in hand, watching the streets for beasts. She crept behind a man and a woman and smirked to herself.

She was getting good at this.

She darted, quick across the yard, then down a side alley behi...

Chapter 28

Wei Lin woke to the smell of smoke and herbs.

For a long moment, he simply lay there, blinking up at the unfamiliar wooden ceiling.

The weight of a blanket pressed against his chest, and somewhere in the distance, he could hear shouting. The sound of a hammer hitting something in the distance.

He shifted slightly before stopping, startled.

There was no pain.

No ache in his stomach, from the wolves claws, no nothing. Just a strange emptiness. Like a wound that had...

Chapter 27

I made my way back across the gravel road toward the healer’s clinic, the pill still clutched tightly in my hand.

My body felt stiff, sore in all the usual places, but the pain was dulled now. Muted under the steady thrum of Qi running through my veins. I was healing faster than I had any right to.

As I approached, I spotted Master Kai and Madam Shen sitting at a small wooden table on the porch. Their heads were bowed slightly toward each other, talking in low tones, their hands...

Chapter 26

All the village folk were gathered around his cart, pressing in like moths to a flame.

Jin Tao dropped the sides down with a theatrical flourish, revealing what looked like a trove of goods packed tight into the space. Weapons, armour, dried goods, farming tools, anything the village could possibly need and more.

He started pulling items out of the chest like some traveling magician, laying them neatly along the edges of the cart as makeshift counters.

“Step right up to Ji...

Chapter 25

My head jolted off the wall where I’d been leaning, snapping me awake.

I blinked, disoriented for a moment, before remembering where I was. Still sitting in the chair beside Wei Lin’s bed. My body was stiff, my muscles sore. I twisted my neck carefully, feeling the pull of stitches at the back. I wasn’t meant to fall asleep here—but exhaustion had clearly won that battle.

I rubbed the grit from my eyes, the wooden chair creaking as I shifted. I decided to do what I was sup...

Chapter 24

One of the elders stepped forward.

He was younger than most of the others—maybe late forties—with a thick brown beard and a long scar cutting down his right cheek, breaking the beard into a ragged line. His robes were plain, stitched at the shoulders where heavy use had worn them thin. Still, he carried himself with a kind of steady weight.

He raised one hand, and the crowd quieted further.

When he spoke, his voice was rough but clear, carrying across the square without ...

Chapter 23

The world returned in pieces.

First, there was a deep and throbbing ache, pulsing at the back of my neck and side.
Then the scents—smoke, herbs, and blood—heavy in the air.

I blinked slowly, fighting through the fog clouding my mind.

Wooden beams stretched across the ceiling above me. Faint lantern light flickered against rough walls, almost drowned out by sunlight filtering through the open window.

I tried to move and immediately regretted it.

Pain flared...

Chapter 22

The middle wolf crouched low, its head dipped, violet eyes locked on me. A guttural growl rumbled from deep in its chest.

The other two began to circle.

One to the left. One to the right.

They moved with practiced precision. Their paws silent against the blood-slick floorboards, their breath misting in the cold air as it ghosted through the shattered doorframe.

I adjusted my grip on the sabre. My fingers were slick, either from sweat or blood. I couldn’t tell anymore...

Chapter 21

I didn’t move for a while.

The golden flecks had long since faded, pulled into my body or back into the earth. That deep calm—that strange quiet that had opened something in me—was already slipping through my fingers.

But the system hadn’t.

Qi absorbed.
System sync in progress…

Stats increased
Spirit: 14 → 16

Progress: Mortal 3/10 → 4/10

I closed my eyes...

Chapter 20

I woke up groggy, something pressed against my face. I pushed it off with a grunt, and a mumbled protest followed.

Wei Lin.

We were both sprawled out on the floor of his home. At some point in the night, his leg had ended up across my head.

“Move it,” I muttered, my voice rattling in my skull.

He mumbled something incoherent and rolled over, snoring softly.

We must’ve drunk too much.

I pushed myself up onto my elbows and took a deep breath. My head th...

Chapter 19

We were back in Fallen Mist.

Wei Lin had once again bartered away our kill—apparently, the beast was called an Armour Boar. Fitting, if a little on the nose. There must’ve been some translation oddity in the name.

I still let him handle the trade. Bartering wasn’t something I understood yet. I was used to set prices and no negotiations. It didn’t help that this world’s currency felt like stepping back in time. There were no paper notes or credit chips—just coin. Three ...

Chapter 18

I crouched beside the hedgebeast’s corpse, catching my breath. My hands still trembled a little, though whether from the fight or the Qi, I couldn’t say.

Wei Lin stepped around the body and drew his knife. “We should take what we can. Bristles are worth something if they’re intact.”

I nodded and set to work.

The thing was heavy, but not unmanageable. Wei Lin pointed out which parts were worth keeping—claws, tendons, scent glands, even a few blood sacs that could ...

Chapter 17

The mud felt different under my boots.

Not because the fields had changed—but because I had.

A week ago, walking between the rows of rice stalks had been unfamiliar and awkward. Now it felt routine. Almost calming. Even the soreness in my body was manageable, fading from agony into a dull reminder that I was still healing.

I drove the blunt end of the hoe into the earth and exhaled. A warm breeze rustled the paddies around me, carrying the scent of wet soil and the promise...

Chapter 16

The quiet didn’t last.

Somewhere in the underbrush, something moved. A branch snapped. Leaves rustled. The sound was soft, cautious—but it was there.

I tensed, one hand sliding toward the billhook lying in the blood-soaked dirt beside me. My other hand pressed against my side, barely holding back the steady trickle of blood. I wasn’t ready for another fight. Not even close.

The noise came again. Closer this time.

I gritted my teeth, forcing myself upright, ready ...

Chapter 15

A few more days passed, most of them quiet. I kept to myself. Wei Lin tried to make small talk now and then, but I wasn’t in the mood. Too much on my mind.

Back on Earth, I’d seen things like what happened at the gate. Hunters abusing their power, throwing their weight around because they could. I hated it then. I still hated it now.

The only difference? Maybe—just maybe—I had a chance to actually do something about it here.

I’d been asking questions when I could, ...