Chapter One: Dark Clouds

He raced south with all his might. No one knew how far he ran until the cries of slaughter behind him finally faded away, and only then did a little relief settle in his heart.

The moment he stopped, he began to gasp frantically. After taking the Foundation Pill earlier, he had been running the entire time and had not felt anything amiss. But once he halted, he immediately felt as though his lungs were on fire, and he panted so hard that it seemed his windpipe would burst.

That agony he could still bear. After all, it was only due to lack of air, and a short rest would restore him. What he could not endure was the torment caused by the internal force within him. The power in his body was now increasing at an exponential rate, and that vast surge was revolving continuously in his dantian, close to bursting him apart.

The force tore through his meridians at will, splitting his skin in many places as blood burst forth at the same time.

What should he do? What should he do? Unease filled him, while beads of sweat kept streaming from his forehead. He gritted his teeth and spread his strange power outward, searching for a place to hide and rest. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. About a mile to his right was a pit. In a flash, he had already reached it as the force within him turned.

It was a pit about ten feet across and several dozen feet deep. No, it should be called a trap: an ordinary hunting pit, its top covered with wet grass, while below were rows of sharpened bamboo stakes. If not for the rain, which had caused the grass to pile together, he would never have noticed it.

Without the slightest hesitation, he leaped straight down. Power poured into his feet like a collapsing mountain. With a thunderous impact, the moment his feet touched the ground, the sharpened bamboo stakes around him were instantly crushed to powder by the force of the blow.

The force swelled again, and several more cracks opened across his skin, blood spurting from them in thin streams.

After dropping into the pit, his consciousness even began to blur. He braced himself against the earthen wall to steady his body, knowing that if he let this power rage on, his body would explode. There was no time left for further thought. He sat cross-legged at once, focused his mind upon his entire being, and took his whole body as one vast dantian.

With a single movement of thought, the force in his dantian shot outward through his meridians like rays of light, slowly seeping along them into his skin, bones, and flesh. If anyone had looked at him from outside at that moment, they would have seen a faint glow enveloping his body.

As time passed, the force in his dantian seemed to find release, and the furrow in his brow gradually eased. The earlier feeling of being stretched and swollen vanished completely, replaced by warmth, by a soothing comfort like sinking into a hot spring, so pleasant that a faint groan escaped him.

Then he frowned again.

The force that had been packed so full it made him feel swollen had suddenly vanished in an instant, leaving behind only a hollowed-out sensation. It was an extremely strange feeling. If it had to be defined, it was like hunger, and not ordinary hunger, but severe hunger.

It came on with frightening speed, and the pain was like being cut by a blade, leaving him no time to think. He could only try to use the Foundation Pill to ease the suffering. Oddly enough, the moment the pill entered his mouth, that hollowed-out sensation disappeared at once, and the feeling of comfort returned once more.

That comfort did not last long. In the blink of an eye, the hollow feeling appeared again. This time, however, he seemed already prepared for it. The instant it arose, he shoved another Foundation Pill into his mouth.

Thus it went on, alternating again and again. No one knew how much time had passed before the sensations of being emptied and filled no longer appeared. He clearly felt the force within him becoming abundant, and faintly overflowing.

Peak Innate Realm!

He suddenly opened his eyes and exclaimed, "I can't believe that a whole bottle of Foundation Pills has actually brought me to the peak of the Innate Realm!"

If those cultivators still fighting bloody battles over a single Foundation Pill were to hear him, no one knew what they would think.

A faint sound reached his ears, and at the same moment the flower spirit on his chest began twisting wildly. He instinctively looked down and saw that the flower spirit seemed terribly anxious to leap from his body, yet it was tangled in his clothes and could not get out. He smiled and pulled open his collar, and the flower spirit immediately darted out.

The moment it landed, it waved its green leaves and cried out at him.

He found it strange. This flower spirit had been with him for some time. Normally it only curled up in his embrace, and after the last time it had sucked blood, it had even fallen into a deep sleep. Why had it suddenly awakened, and in such agitation at that?

He could not make sense of it and could only mutter helplessly, "What is wrong with you? Ah... if only you could talk!"

No sooner had he spoken than the flower spirit grew even more frantic, its green leaves whipping toward his chin.

Seeing it strike at him, his first thought was that the flower spirit had gone mad. His right hand shot out like lightning and seized it.

"Damn it, after all the blood essence I used to feed you! Hm? No, that’s not right."

Watching the flower spirit cry out in his grip, he immediately sensed that something was wrong. Though it had only recently taken form, it should not have been this weak. And after being caught, it did not resist at all, only kept crying out. "What exactly are you trying to tell me?" Unable to communicate with the flower spirit, he was starting to go mad with frustration.

In just a few breaths, from the way the flower spirit struggled, he seemed to notice a pattern. He raised his head and looked to the sky.

Above him, patches of pitch-black cloud were gathering. The rolling black mass slowly descended as though under immense weight, and it seemed to possess a strange attraction, drawing in and assimilating the clouds around it.

He froze. This was the first time he had ever seen clouds so dark. Lowering his head, he asked, "Xiaolan, are you trying to tell me this?"

The flower spirit seemed to answer him with a trembling cry.

"What on earth is this?"

He looked up once more. The dense black clouds were sinking lower and lower, and at last, as if to prove their very existence to the world, the smoke-black mass emitted a deep rolling thunder.

The deafening sound echoed in his ears, and with that rumble, he suddenly felt an immense pressure crashing down from the black clouds above. It was as if a mountain had fallen from the sky and was pressing upon him.

Happy New Year, everyone. Heh... a new year, a new chapter.