The Black Spirit Forest lived up to its name. The ancient trees, twisted like the limbs of tortured giants, groaned under the weight of an unnatural fog. But for Shen Yuan, this place felt like home. Darkness was his element, and shadows were his soldiers.
"They are close," Ye Lin whispered, her hand trembling as she gripped her jade sword. She could feel the vibration of heavy footsteps and the sharp tang of killing intent. "At least twelve men. Two are at the 6th layer of Qi Condensation."
"Twelve lambs to the slaughter," Shen Yuan replied, his voice barely a breath. He pulled the [Bone of the First Ancestor] from his robe. The necrotic energy within the bone began to hum, sensing the death-rich soil of the forest.
He turned to the siblings. "Hide behind that hollow trunk. No matter what you see, do not step into the moonlight. Shadows only serve me when the light is kept at bay."
Ye Fan nodded frantically, dragging his sister into the hollow tree.
Shen Yuan stood alone in a small clearing. He knelt and pressed the yellowed finger-bone into the dirt.
"[Second Gate of the Void: The Reaper's Harvest]"
He didn't draw a circle. He drew a line of blood from his palm across the bone. Instantly, the shadows of the surrounding trees began to stretch, crawling toward the clearing like ink spilled on a page. They didn't just move; they detached from the ground, becoming three-dimensional blades of darkness.
"There he is! The brat with the treasure!"
A shout erupted as the Lin family pursuers burst into the clearing. Leading them was a man with a scar running across his face, wielding a massive battle-axe. He stopped, seeing Shen Yuan sitting calmly in the center of the dark, writhing shadows.
"Hand over the bone, servant, and I'll make your death quick," the scarred leader sneered, his axe glowing with a fierce yellow Qi.
Shen Yuan looked up. His eyes weren't just black—they were voids that seemed to swallow the light of the moon.
"You speak of death as if you own it," Shen Yuan said, his voice echoing from every direction at once. "But in this forest, death is my servant. And today... it is hungry."
Shen Yuan slammed his palm onto the bone.
"Rise."
The ground groaned. From the very shadows of the Lin family soldiers, skeletal, obsidian-black hands erupted.
"What in the—?!" One soldier screamed as his own shadow reached up and grabbed his throat.
The shadows didn't just choke them; they began to liquefy the soldiers' Qi, pulling it into the ground. It was a massacre of silence. No swords clashed, no spells were cast. There was only the sound of snapping bone and the desperate gargles of men being dragged into the earth by their own reflections.
"Demonic arts! You're a monster!" The leader roared, swinging his axe in a desperate arc. The blade cut through a shadow, but the darkness simply reformed, wrapping around the axe and creeping up the man's arms.
Shen Yuan stood up and walked toward the leader, his footsteps silent. "Monster? No. I am the natural conclusion of your greed."
He reached out and touched the leader's forehead. The [Bone of the First Ancestor] beneath the soil pulsed, and the man's entire life force was vacuumed out in a single, agonizing second. His body turned to ash before it even hit the ground.
A wave of pure, refined spiritual energy flowed through the ground and into Shen Yuan's feet.
BOOM.
His aura flared. 2nd Layer of Qi Condensation... 3rd Layer... It didn't stop until he reached the peak of the 3rd Layer. His new body was being tempered by the very souls of his enemies.
Shen Yuan exhaled a cloud of grey mist. He looked at the bone in the ground—it was now glowing with a faint, ghostly light.
"Han...?" Ye Fan stepped out of the hollow tree, his face devoid of color. The clearing was empty. No bodies, no blood. Only the lingering scent of ozone and the terrifyingly calm servant.
"The debt is partially paid," Shen Yuan said, retrieving the bone. He looked deeper into the forest, toward the border of the kingdom. "But the Lin and Zhou families still exist. That is an error I intend to correct."
He looked at Ye Lin, who was staring at him with a mixture of fear and newfound worship.
"Your 'Hidden Ice Physique' is beginning to awaken because of the Yin energy I released," he said coldly. "If you want to master it, follow me. If you want to stay weak, die here."
He didn't wait for an answer. He walked into the deep dark, the shadows parting before him like loyal subjects before their king.