Su Yan sat before a small campfire, its warmth doing much to dispel the chill of the night.
The long black case holding the Soul Bone rested in front of him, silent and heavy, while he contemplated the last two days.
After obtaining the Soul Bone and taking Ah Yin from the hidden cave, they had left the area with all possible speed.
Su Yan was almost certain Tang Hao had gone with Tang San, but he had no intention of betting his life on "almost." Not this early. Not while he was, in the bluntest possible terms, stealing from the man.
He and Nihilister had even taken winding detours to reduce any chance of leaving behind a trail Tang Hao could follow, much to Nihilister's chagrin. She had made it very clear that she wanted out of the wilderness already.
Speaking of Nihilister, she was currently making rounds around the camp, ensuring no one would disturb Su Yan's absorption process.
Her patience with him was wearing thin. The detours had been bad enough, but what seemed to irritate her most was that Su Yan had been taking actual care of Ah Yin. Every morning, he took the Blue Silver Emperor out to bask in the sun, watered her carefully, and checked the condition of her leaves like some overly cautious gardener.
Compared to when they had first taken her from the cave, Ah Yin's leaves now looked more lustrous and vibrant, carrying a faint blue-gold sheen beneath the firelight.
Nihilister had not said much about it.
But Su Yan could tell that if they spent another few days out in the wilds, she would genuinely lose her temper with him.
Su Yan shook himself from his thoughts and refocused on the case. Slowly, he opened it.
A wave of refreshing energy immediately spilled out, filling the small clearing.
Su Yan took a breath.
It felt almost like inhaling mint—sharp and chilly at first, but undeniably comfortable, as if the air itself had been washed clean.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ah Yin's leaves begin to stir, slowly waving and dancing as though brushed by an invisible breeze.
Reaching into the case, Su Yan carefully lifted out the Soul Bone and inspected it.
It was blue-cyan and slightly translucent, like polished jade with light trapped beneath its surface. Sparse threads of gold wound through it from end to end, pulsing faintly every few seconds, so subtle that he almost thought he had imagined it.
It looked magnificent.
After admiring it for a few moments, Su Yan slowly but firmly pressed the Soul Bone against his right leg.
A faint vibration passed through it, soft at first, then deeper, until the sensation travelled through his palm and into his bones.
For a long moment, nothing else happened.
Then the Soul Bone broke apart.
It dissolved into a dense cloud of blue-gold light, gathering around his right leg like drifting fireflies. The lights circled him once before sinking into the limb, slow at first, then faster with every passing breath.
Su Yan's breath hitched.
A vast amount of energy entered through his right leg, spreading from the point of contact into skin and muscle before reaching deeper into bone and meridians. Only then did the blue-gold current begin to flow through the rest of his body.
He immediately sat down cross-legged and tried to control the flow.
He guided the energy along the paths he knew, forcing his breathing to stay even and his Spirit Power to circulate in rhythm with that vast blue-gold current.
For a short while, it worked.
Then the flow kept growing.
Within a few breaths, the current had become too large for him to guide. It slipped past his control and surged through his body on its own.
Su Yan braced himself for pain, but it never came.
His bones creaked and groaned as if they were being pulled apart and set back into place. His muscles pulsed, his heart beat faster in his chest, and his meridians stretched at an astonishing speed under the pressure of the blue-gold current.
Yet there was no tearing.
The energy was overwhelming, but not cruel. It did not force its way through him like a blade. It moved more like cold spring water, washing through old blockages and widening every path it touched.
Bit by bit, Su Yan's panic left him.
Unable to control the current, he stopped fighting it and slowly relaxed into the flow.
The change was immediate.
The wild surge softened. It did not become weak, but it became steadier, as if the energy had never been trying to hurt him at all.
Su Yan understood then.
His attempts to seize control had been the problem. He had treated the Soul Bone's power like something that needed to be forced into obedience, and in doing so, he had turned a gentle current into a flood.
If this energy had been violent by nature, that mistake would have injured him at best.
At worst, with his current body, it might have killed him.
As he sat there, Su Yan made himself a quiet promise.
He would be more careful in the future.
The blue-gold energy continued to circulate through his body, steady and unhurried, showing no sign of stopping soon. Su Yan waited for a while longer, listening to the faint crackle of the campfire and the slow rhythm of his own breathing.
Eventually, his thoughts began to drift.
Before long, he sank into sleep while the Soul Bone's energy continued its work.
Su Yan started awake when cold water splashed across his face.
His eyes snapped open to find Nihilister standing in front of him, a waterskin in one hand as she poured the last of it directly over his head.
"What the hell was that for?!"
Nihilister stared down at him with thoroughly unamused eyes.
"You stink."
With that, she turned and walked to the other side of the small clearing, keeping her back to him while still watching the surrounding woods.
Su Yan looked down and finally saw the thin film of dirt-like residue covering his body. He took one cautious sniff, his nose immediately wrinkled, and he flinched back despite himself.
No wonder Nihilister had poured water all over him.
"I'll be back," he muttered, pushing himself to his feet. "I'm going to wash off all this crap."
Su Yan made his way to the small stream nearby. After stripping off and beginning to wash away what he assumed must be impurities, he started inspecting his own body.
The tempering from last night had changed him more than he expected. His skin felt cleaner and more supple, his muscles were a little more defined, and even the old thinness in his face seemed to have softened into something sharper and healthier.
He looked down at his reflection in the water.
His short dark hair hung damp around sharp, youthful features, and the line of his jaw looked cleaner than he remembered.
Su Yan had never paid much attention to his own appearance before, but now that he had a proper look, the resemblance was hard to ignore.
Not exact, perhaps. The Commander's face had always been half-hidden in his old memories, obscured by shadow, angle, or that familiar fall of dark hair.
But the impression was there.
The same dark hair. A similar messy fringe. The same lean line to the lower face, still softened by age but familiar enough to make him pause.
He continued washing until the smell was gone and his skin was clean.
Only then did another problem occur to him.
His old clothes were still filthy. Even if he washed them, he would be stuck wearing wet clothes afterward.
He really should have remembered to grab a spare set before coming over.
Just as he was about to call out to Nihilister, something came flying through the air and landed near the bank.
Clothes.
His clothes, actually.
Su Yan stared at them for a moment, then looked toward the treeline.
Between the branches, he just managed to spot a flash of red.
"You forgot these."
Her voice came from somewhere beyond the trees.
"Try not to take all morning."
Su Yan was not going to complain. He quickly wiped off as much water as he could and dressed.
After glancing at the filthy old clothes, Su Yan still took them back to the clearing.
When he got back, he found that Nihilister had already packed everything away, Ah Yin's bag included.
She really was eager to return to civilisation.
The moment she saw the dirty clothes, however, she immediately took a step back.
"Why did you even bring that foul-smelling stuff back here?"
"I'm going to burn it," Su Yan said. "Preferably with your help."
He moved to the burned-out campfire and dumped the dirty clothes onto it.
Nihilister was all too eager to agree.
Both dragon-headed appendages shifted to her sides and aimed at the clothes.
Su Yan immediately backed off.
Twin gouts of flame roared out, consuming the clothes and the remains of the campfire in an instant.
Then Nihilister kept going.
Su Yan watched, increasingly alarmed, as the fire continued for a full five seconds.
When she finally stopped, the centre of the clearing had been reduced to cracked black earth.
Su Yan stared at the result.
Then he looked up.
Nihilister did not look satisfied.
He frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she muttered. "Just pissed the ground isn't glass."
She turned away.
"Let's just get going already."
Su Yan followed.
It did not take them too long to reach civilisation again. Before they approached the town gates, Nihilister compressed the more inhuman parts of her frame, hiding the dragon-headed appendages, tail, and other obviously mechanical features. Once that was done, she changed into the unusual travel clothes Teacher Lin had once picked out for her, leaving her looking like nothing more than a striking red-haired woman.
Once they were inside, Su Yan found a decent inn and booked a room for a week.
The moment they reached it, Nihilister claimed the bed. She kicked off her boots and flopped down onto it with a heavy sigh.
"I'm not moving until I feel like it," she said flatly.
Then she pointed at Su Yan.
"And don't bother me."
Su Yan stared at her for a moment before wisely retreating to the other side of the room.
Over the next week, Nihilister remained volatile and ill-tempered. Su Yan chose to give her space, keeping his questions to himself and staying out of her way whenever her mood looked especially sharp.
During that time, he took proper stock of what he had gained from the Soul Bone.
The first and most obvious change was his rank. The Soul Bone had pushed him to Rank 20, and judging by how much power had flowed through him that night, there was likely more waiting beneath the bottleneck. He would not know for certain until he obtained his second Soul Ring.
The second change was his meridians.
They had widened far more than he expected, increasing the amount of Spirit Power his body could hold and making its circulation smoother than before. His recovery had improved as well, not as an instant refill, but as a steady vitality that made every cycle feel cleaner and easier.
Everything felt clearer now.
For the past six years, cultivating had been like moving through mud. He had grown used to the resistance, so used to it that he had mistaken it for normal.
Now, for the first time, it felt more like moving through water.
Then there were the Soul Bone abilities.
The regeneration aspect was extremely useful. Even something as simple as easing sore muscles after training made a difference, though the active version still drained Spirit Power quickly depending on the severity of the injury.
Su Yan learned that the hard way when he tried to use the flight ability.
The cost was almost negligible, at least in theory, but having the ability and actually controlling it were two very different things. He did not yet understand how to maintain a steady flow, so instead of true flight, all he could manage was something closer to a double jump.
All the lift came out at once.
That was how he ended up face-first against a tree, and how he learned to use the active healing ability shortly afterward.
At the end of the week, Su Yan returned to the room after morning training and found Nihilister sitting up for once.
The moment he entered, her eyes went straight to the food in his hands.
Since she had already noticed it, Su Yan simply tossed it over.
Nihilister caught it and began eating in silence.
He would have to go and buy more later, but for now, he moved toward Ah Yin, who had been placed near the closed window to catch the morning light. Picking up the water cup nearby, he began pouring a careful amount onto the soil.
Ever since Su Yan had absorbed the Soul Bone, he had felt a faint resonance with her.
Not a bond. Not understanding.
Just a subtle awareness, like the Soul Bone had made her presence easier to notice.
It was odd, but he put it to the back of his mind. He could not figure it out right now anyway.
"Where are we going next?"
Nihilister's question came so suddenly that Su Yan glanced back.
She had already finished the food.
"Well," Su Yan said, setting the cup down, "I've finally reached my bottleneck. That means it's time to hunt my second Soul Ring."
Nihilister's eyes sharpened with interest.
"Combat?"
"Most definitely."
"Ah." Her mood visibly improved. "You really do know how to brighten up a girl's day."
Su Yan sighed in exasperation.
"Whatever makes you happy."
Privately, though, he was relieved.
After a week of volatile silence and sharp moods, seeing Nihilister return to something closer to her usual prideful, violent self was oddly comforting.
After returning Ah Yin to the bag and gathering their supplies, they moved into the surrounding forests to search for a suitable Soul Ring.
Unfortunately, the nearby forests did not seem to contain any Soul Beasts close to the theoretical second-ring limit, never mind beyond it.
The aggressive ones did, however, make excellent punching bags for Nihilister.
What surprised Su Yan was that she did not kill them like before.
She would punch them, throw them, slam them into trees, and leave them dazed or twitching on the ground, but she stopped short of finishing them off.
Su Yan did not question it.
After the past week, he was inclined to let her do as she wished for the most part. Besides, the Soul Beasts were the ones attacking first, and for once, Nihilister was leaving them alive and more or less intact.
Eventually, the woods around them began to feel familiar.
At this rate, if they kept going, they would end up near Nuoding.
Su Yan slowed, frowning slightly.
If these wild forests could not produce a suitable target, he might really have to look for a registered Soul Beast hunting forest after all.
Then he froze.
Something heavy was moving through the underbrush.
The sound came once, then stopped, as if whatever had made it had realized it had been heard.
Su Yan quickly moved back toward Nihilister.
A growl like the rumble of an idling engine came from their right.
Then a shadow rose from the underbrush.
How something the size of an SUV had managed to hide there, Su Yan would never know.
But the first thing he noticed was the horn.
Large and shattered, with a long scar running from its base through one of the beast's eyes.
Then came the sharp teeth.
And the unmistakable hatred in its one remaining eye.
It was staring right at him.
An uncomfortable sense of familiarity rose from the pit of Su Yan's stomach.
This wolf…
It couldn't be the alpha from back then, could it?
"Hey, Su Yan," Nihilister said, a cocky grin spreading across her face. "How about this one? Looks like it might make a decent Soul Ring. And it seems eager to fight."
Su Yan did not take his eyes off the wolf.
"I don't think it's going to give us a choice."
The wolf lunged.
It ignored Nihilister completely, its massive body tearing through the underbrush as it aimed straight for Su Yan.
That was its first mistake.
Nihilister moved.
One hand shot out and caught the wolf's hind leg as it passed. Its momentum carried it another half step before her grip locked down, and then the entire beast jerked to a violent stop.
With a sharp twist of her body, Nihilister hauled it off course, lifted it just high enough to break its balance, and slammed it back into the ground.
The impact shook the ground beneath Su Yan's feet.
The wolf let out a sharp yelp, more startled than truly hurt, before clawing at the earth and twisting back toward them.
This time, its attention settled on Nihilister.
Its fur bristled, its body lowering into a threatening posture as a snarl rumbled from its throat.
Nihilister strode toward it with slow, confident steps.
"Come on, mutt. You were so eager before."
The wolf swung its head.
The shattered horn on its brow glowed, green light gathering along the broken edge. Su Yan braced himself for the large blade of wind he remembered, but that was not what came.
Instead, a storm of smaller wind blades burst outward like a shotgun blast.
They tore toward Nihilister all at once.
She shifted one dragon-headed appendage in front of herself to block them.
In that instant, the wolf vanished from her direct line of sight.
It had already leapt.
Its massive body came down from above, one claw swinging toward her with green energy wrapped around the strike.
"Bastion."
A gold-coloured barrier snapped into place in its path.
The moment the wolf saw it, the fury in its remaining eye sharpened.
It did not pull back.
If anything, it attacked harder.
Its glowing claws slammed into the barrier, cracking the surface in a single blow. The second strike shattered it outright, but that brief delay was all Nihilister needed.
One of her dragon-headed appendages drove upward like a fist and punched the wolf out of the air.
The beast hit the ground hard.
Nihilister turned her head slightly, crimson eyes narrowing toward Su Yan.
"I had that."
"Maybe," Su Yan said. "But I'm doing my job too. We're a team, remember?"
Nihilister scoffed, as if the word offended her.
"Call it whatever you want. I don't need help with something this weak."
Su Yan did not say anything more, simply keeping his eyes on the fight and the surrounding forest.
The wolf dragged itself back to its feet, shaking dirt from its fur as green light gathered once more around its horn.
Another barrage of wind blades tore toward Nihilister.
She shifted one dragon-headed appendage in front of herself to block them, but this time the wolf charged straight after the attack.
Nihilister swung the blocking appendage in a casual arc, looking to catch it mid-charge.
The wolf stopped short.
Its claws dug into the earth, killing its momentum in an instant, before it sprang backward and opened its maw wide.
A red glow gathered in its throat.
Su Yan's eyes widened.
Fire?
A large gout of flame rushed out, washing over Nihilister and forcing Su Yan to raise an arm against the sudden wave of heat.
He staggered back, squinting through the glare.
For one tense moment, he could not see her.
Then two arms punched through the flames.
Nihilister stepped forward, seized the wolf by the throat and shoulder, and yanked it close.
The wolf's remaining eye blinked in shock.
Nihilister's smile was all teeth.
"You really tried to use those weak flames on me?"
The dragon-headed appendages snapped up to either side of her, their throats brightening with orange heat.
"Let me show you how it's done."
The wolf struggled, claws tearing at the ground, but Nihilister's grip held like iron.
The flames erupted.
They completely engulfed the wolf.
Its cry of pain was immediate, sharp enough to make Su Yan's chest tighten, but for one stunned moment he did not move. Over the past few days, Nihilister had battered every Soul Beast that attacked them and still left them breathing.
He assumed this would be the same.
Then the fire kept going.
"Nihilister!"
"Tch."
The flames cut out.
The wolf was still held in Nihilister's grip, but it looked miserable. Most of its silver-white fur had been burned away, and thin wisps of acrid smoke curled from its body.
For half a heartbeat, Su Yan thought he was looking at exposed flesh.
Then he realized the red beneath was not raw meat.
It was scale.
Dark red scales covered parts of the wolf's body beneath the burned fur, gleaming faintly through the smoke. At the centre of its chest, half-buried between those scales, a red gem pulsed once.
Su Yan was still trying to understand what he was seeing when the ground shook.
The wolf collapsed.
Nihilister gestured to the fallen wolf.
"All yours."
Su Yan quickly moved beside it.
The wolf was barely breathing.
There was no point dragging this out.
He drew his knife and quickly ended the Soul Beast's misery.
A yellow Soul Ring slowly rose from the wolf's body.
But it was not the pale yellow of an ordinary hundred-year Soul Beast.
Its colour was deep and heavy, almost golden, and at the edges Su Yan could see a faint purple haze flickering in and out of sight like an illusion.
It had not crossed into the thousand-year range, but it was almost certainly over the theoretical second-ring limit. Given how much the Soul Bone had changed his body, this was a risk he could take.
"Nihilister, keep watch," Su Yan said. "I'm absorbing this one."
He sat down, summoned Gatekeeper, and drew the Soul Ring toward it.
The moment the ring touched, it latched on.
Su Yan immediately felt the difference.
His first Soul Ring had settled with only faint resistance. This one pressed down on him with a weight that made his breath tighten, its energy pushing against his meridians as if trying to force its way through all at once.
He braced himself for pain.
Instead, a cool, gentle current flowed from his right leg.
The Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone stirred, sending a soothing vitality through his body. It did not erase the pressure, but it softened the sharpest edges, smoothing the places where the Soul Ring's energy scraped too harshly against his meridians.
Su Yan's thoughts steadied.
Only then did he realize how much he had misjudged.
He had not been wrong to be cautious.
But he had underestimated just how much the Soul Bone had changed his body.
As the Soul Ring continued to merge with him, Gatekeeper began to change.
Its central core lit up with a bright red glow, and lines of the same colour crawled outward across its surface, filling the circuit-like patterns one by one. The orbiting segments began to move, slow at first, then faster as the pressure in the air climbed.
Gatekeeper expanded.
The red lines spread further, almost covering its entire frame before the pressure finally reached its peak.
Then came a flash of red light.
The glow did not fade. It gathered in front of Gatekeeper, condensing slowly into a humanoid silhouette.
Through the glare, Su Yan could just make out a few details.
Heeled boots.
A skirt.
And something small floating behind the figure.