["If someone else is dumb enough to die chasing a beast, the least I can do is take the credit." – Wu Feng]
-
The day after Linchuan's secret auction, the city began whispering about a different prize.
No scrolls. No jade tokens. No sealed vaults.
This one bled when you cut it.
A spirit beast—rare, ancient-blooded, and apparently in heat, meaning its essence would be at peak potency. The kind of thing that drove core sect disciples, beast tamers, and wild cultivators into a frenzy.
The rumor came from a courier who dropped a scroll near Wu Feng's table while fleeing from an angry creditor.
Wu picked it up casually and read the open edge.
Spirit Beast Hunt Brief
"Target: Starflame Serpent — Rank: Mid-Awakened (Quasi-Spirit Level). Location: Black Hollow Basin, 12 li west of Linchuan. Restrictions: Entry by permit only. Sect-authorized hunters preferred. Reward: Beast core extraction rights. Title credit upon success."
[+5 PP – High-Risk Opportunity Identified (Without Invite)]
"Permit only. Good. Means the ones inside will think they're safe from outside interference."
He pocketed the scroll.
Then spent the rest of the day doing what he did best: forging, planting, and redirecting.
Step 1: Steal the Map
He visited a traveling beast-tamer caravan that had a "scouting table" set up for young disciples to view Black Hollow Basin's perimeter.
Most were arguing over terrain traps and beast migration routes.
Wu lingered. Memorized. Then used Perception Drift to walk past the booth and lift one of the spirit-ink route scrolls.
No one noticed.
[+10 PP – Map Stolen (Mid-Grade Spiritual Chart)]
Step 2: Forge a Permit
Using his Narrative Artifact Engraving Kit, Wu replicated a Red Feather Sect approval seal—a minor sect known for beast-focused disciples. Their paperwork was notoriously lazy.
He attached the permit to a new identity: Han Bei, rogue cultivator licensed under Red Feather trade agreements.
Then dirtied the edges, cut the corner, and reapplied dried beast blood to simulate "field use."
[+10 PP – Permit Forged (Low-Verification Quality)]
Black Hollow Basin – The Hunt Zone
The basin was wide, dense with foliage, riddled with stone paths that occasionally collapsed into sinkholes. Qi there felt sticky—thick with beast-blood influence and residual spiritual essence.
Only ten groups had been let in.
Each consisted of 2–5 cultivators.
Some were small clans.
Some were inner sect teams.
One group wore matching crimson-black robes with beast-hide gauntlets.
"Beast-Forged Path," Wu muttered. "Body cultivators who merge with beast traits. Brutal. Arrogant. Easy to bait."
He didn't approach them.
He watched them.
Wu thought the Starflame Serpent wasn't a prize for someone like him to fight directly.
Instead, he would:
Redirect one of the teams toward the beast using a forged signal
Track them from the shadows
Let them bleed, weaken the serpent, and fight the others
Then extract the beast core—or steal it before they realize it's missing
Classic cultivation economy: high gain, low effort, maximum disrespect.
Step 3: Fake the Signal
Wu crafted a small flare talisman with Spirit Echo Ink, mimicking a distress or discovery marker.
At dawn, he placed it inside a ravine where multiple paths intersected—just where the serpent's old skin had been left by the caravan scouts.
He made sure it glowed faintly.
Then trailed two teams from a safe distance.
The Beast-Forged Path squad triggered the signal.
They charged in, roaring challenges.
A second team—Silver Veil Disciples—rushed in after, trying to claim the kill.
The serpent emerged.
It was huge—scaled in silver fire sheen, fangs like forged sabers, aura pulsing in rhythm with the qi veins of the land.
The two teams fought the beast.
Then each other.
Blades flashed.
Spells collided.
Wu watched from a high ledge, chewing dried peach slices.
"If only I could sell tickets to this."
[+15 PP – Scheme Execution Without Exposure][+5 PP – Damage Indirectly Caused (3+ casualties)]
After fifteen minutes of battle, three were down. The serpent was panting, coiled in defense, but its core was glowing through a slit under its front scale.
Wu used Silent Wind Step and Perception Drift to descend unnoticed.
He launched Foot Shadow Echo and timed his steps with the chaos rhythm.
The serpent didn't sense him.
The disciples didn't look his way.
He reached the body.
Plunged a bone-etched talon blade between the scales.
Twist.
Pop.
Core extracted.
He vanished.
Item: Starflame Beast Core (Grade: Quasi-Spirit)
Properties: Amplifies movement techniques and can be refined into a flame-step auxiliary art.
Trade Value: 1,500–2,000 stones (or bartered for rare scroll access)
[+30 PP – Beast Core Stolen Mid-Battle][+10 PP – No One Noticed Until Much Later]
Thirty minutes later, the two factions defeated the beast—and realized its core was gone.
Accusations exploded.
Blades were drawn.
Three more dead before the rest fled.
The core?
Already hidden in Wu's pouch.
That Night – Wu's Campfire
He studied the core by moonlight.
It pulsed. Brighter than most. Likely had absorbed something strange from the land.
Instead of refining it directly, Wu cracked it open halfway—a dangerous move—and drained the residual memory pulse into a jade slip.
It showed him a movement pattern: a spiraling, high-acceleration flicker technique that blurred steps mid-motion.
"Star-Split Displacement," he whispered. "Not recorded. Probably forgotten."
[+15 PP – Claimed Legacy From Beast Memory]
System Update
Petty Points: 710
New Technique Added: Star-Split Displacement Lv. 1 – Step technique that creates two false trails when used while moving at peak acceleration
Cooldown: 3 seconds
Effect: Can force low-tier spiritual arrays to misfire
New Shop Items:
Beast Core Fission Kit
Movement-Based Illusion Marker
Distraction Firework Scrolls (for scheme escalation)
Wu Feng left the basin quietly.
Passed guards.
Showed a fading permit from a sect that didn't care.
And left behind a rumor:
"The beast core vanished mid-fight."
"Some say the Meme Cult sent an agent."
"Others say it was a beast spirit. Or a rogue soul technique."
"But no one knows who got the prize."
Wu muttered: "Exactly."