Cade exhaled slowly, his voracious heart pulsing with eager anticipation.

  Since he had learned that Yin Tian invented the Law Severing Art, it became obvious the ancient Asura had strong ties to the monastery. Him actually founding Sword Dao was something Cade had mused about. Naturally, this could all be conjecture; Yin Tian could have taught the Art to someone who then claimed it as their own personal discovery, and using this knowledge established the monastery. However, considering that Legion was left here with clear instructions from Yin Tian himself, it was more likely the simple and straightforward explanation was the correct one.

  “Anyway, it’s all ancient history. Who even knows if it’s true?” Erendriel’s voice cut through Cade’s thoughts. “Try it out. You can put the puppet in demonstration mode first. After initiation, you’ll hear a voice message in one of the long-forgotten ancient languages. You can’t skip it, so just wait it out. If the move timing feels impossible to match, don’t force it—take your time. But remember,” his tone turned serious, “this is for your eyes only.”

  Cade accepted the tiny crystal with a sense of reverence. “Thank you, Grandmaster! I will do exactly as you say,” he nodded eagerly, unable to hide his excitement.

  “Good. Is there anything else?”

  Cade shook his head.

  “Off you go then,” Erendriel dismissed him with a lazy wave, a small smile tugging at his lips.

  Cade bowed, cupped his fist, and forced himself to walk toward the transportation circle at a measured pace. His anticipation was so intense he might’ve flown there if it would’ve gotten him to the training chambers faster.

  “How was—” Joana didn’t get to finish her question before Cade’s figure disappeared around the corner.

  “Thank you, Sister!” an excited shout reached her from a distance.

  The young clerk let out a soft sigh, and returned to her work.

  Cade knew he was supposed to rest and recover, but how could he wait? He sprinted towards the training chambers, a blur of motion as he passed through two more transportation formations.

  “How’s it going, Cade? I thought you were taking a break?” Aien smiled, lifting his eyes from the heavy, old tome he was reading. This time the runic script on its cover was completely intelligible to the Asura.

  “Just an hour today. I want to try out something,” he grinned, greeting the clerk.

  “Alright, well, you know what to do,” Aien nodded, already returning to his book.

  “Sure, thanks!” Cade promptly paid the fee, then entered the chamber. He was greeted by the same sight as always: a silent, black puppet standing still in the middle of a huge, stark white room.

  He approached the automaton and checked the back of its head, quickly locating a small, almost invisible indentation. After pressing on it lightly, a slot popped open with a soft click, its size matching the memory crystal perfectly. He took out the original crystal card, and slid in the one he had received from the Saint.

  “Greetings, young one.”

  Cade’s eyebrows shot up. What the hell?! The puppet spoke in Chthonic! The voice sounded neutral and emotionless, just as he imagined an automaton would speak.

  “This memory crystal is divided into two sections. The first contains Four Faces of War—an offensive style for both sword and spear, used primarily by the Asura Shock Troops. It will serve you well. The second part—accessible only to you—teaches Feral Path, a powerful martial art born in an age no longer remembered, when the universe itself was still young. It has exceptional synergy with War Form. To access it, inject a small amount of qi into the card, channel it according to the standard ignition diagram, and open your mind. Good luck.”

  No wonder nobody could understand the message. And even if they did, the ignition diagram had to be learned from the Book of Life. The Sword Dao Monastery turned out to be a gift that kept on giving. There was a scheme at play here, one he couldn’t yet piece together, just like it was impossible to tell the shape of a loaf with a few breadcrumbs on hand. At least for now, it seemed its purpose was to help him.

  Sighing, Cade removed the card from the puppet, then followed the voice’s instructions. A sudden torrent of information was instantly pushed into his mind before his overloaded consciousness retreated and he fell into darkness.

  “...ade? Cade!” Aien shook his arm.

  “Mhm…? Shit, I must have passed out,” he grunted. His head was pounding, his memory now filled with a chaotic storm of scenes, and images—many of which were extremely violent.

  Feral Path.

  “It seems so,” the elf nodded. “Your time went over the limit, and I know you never do that, so I decided to use the master key and check on you. I hope it’s alright?” Aien asked unsurely. One of the greatest taboos was infringing on another cultivator’s secrets.

  “No! I mean, yes. I’m grateful. Thanks, Brother.” Cade smiled through clenched teeth, revolving ignited blood qi to try and get rid of his splitting migraine. Grabbing Aien’s forearm, he pulled himself to his feet, hiding the memory crystal in his hand. “How much time did I overstay?”

  “Damn, how much do you weigh?! You body refiners really are a different breed,” the elf huffed, straining to help him stand up. “Not too long, a quarter of an hour.”

  Cade had no idea what his weight was now, but it surely was more than 500 pounds. Every unknown chair he was about to sit on was a gamble. “Ah, that’s not too bad then. I really need to catch up on sleep, though. It occurred to me that I might have been training a little too much,” the Asura winced. It wasn’t hard to make up an excuse; he was definitely overworked. For all he knew, it might have been the main reason for his blackout.

  Aien didn’t know exactly how many hours Cade spent with the automaton every day, but he knew it was a daily, strenuous effort. “Yeah, I’m not surprised. You’ve been working your arse off. The expense on healing pills alone… I don’t know how you can afford all that. Honestly, why not share some crystal-making tips with your monastery brother?” the clerk jested.

  “Ah, well. What can I say? I rely on the tried and tested approaches: protection, robbery, blackmail…” Cade’s smile stretched from ear to ear.

  “Fine, whatever,” Aien chuckled. “But if you find an opportunity to get rich and need some help, keep me in mind,” he added in a semi-serious tone.

  “I will do my best. And once again, thanks for checking up on me. I really appreciate it,” Cade patted the elf on the shoulder.

  Heading back to the outer dormitories, he took a peek into the Feral Path. It didn’t take him long to realize it really was perfect for his purposes. This was essentially his ideal style of hand-to-hand combat, but now given proper structure, polish, and thousands upon thousands of years of continuous refinement. Just by taking a quick look, he already saw many areas where he wasn’t taking advantage of his powerful physicality. The Feral Path provided a brutally efficient system for defeating opponents while using all the tools an Asura possessed, and contained many complicated ability diagrams.

  Cade replayed in his mind what he assumed was a memory from an ancient battlefield, where an unknown Asura in his War Form fought against three large humanoid enemies from a blue-skinned race. His massive, green-scaled silhouette zigzagged against a sky torn by gigantic explosions and filled with qi projections the size of mountains. Whatever the Asura could not evade, he crushed with nothing but his armored fists. His punches rent the air, creating fissures in the fabric of space like scars on reality, followed by devastating shockwaves. He used his claws, jaws, and ridiculous strength to dispatch his opponents in a remorseless fashion. Many alien cultivators in the memory were unable to resist this overwhelming physical power, their bodies disintegrating into crimson clouds under his blows. Scraps of flesh flew in all directions, and blood literally rained from the sky.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Asura War Form with Feral Path is terrifyingly strong! He felt his own blood come to a boil just from watching the scene in his realm of consciousness. He had to advance to the inner court and reach the peak of early Flesh Fortification as soon as possible.

  In ladder duels, all disciples fought mainly by using their preferred sword style and the Law Severing Art. Battle arts were allowed, though sometimes frowned upon, mostly by the disciples themselves. Hand-to-hand combat wasn’t banned either; it was just that usually nobody wanted to face a sword with nothing but their fists. However, from what he could tell, Four Faces of War and the Law Severing Art synergized incredibly well, assuming their moves were executed properly—this was probably the timing the Grandmaster had referred to. In addition, Feral Path appeared to supplement them perfectly, allowing him to combine sword and hand-to-hand attacks into one fluid fighting style.

  As the young Asura approached the outer dormitories, there weren’t many disciples around. Unexpectedly, he picked up a flicker of Jade’s smiling face in the distance. He was in such a good mood that he immediately rushed forward, determined to make things right between them, despite the hour growing late.

  Instead, in the very next moment, he froze mid-step. Next to her petite figure stood a tall, thin man wearing white martial robes. Jade laughed and gesticulated lively, pointing at the door leading to her room. The core disciple nodded, turning around with a smile on his face, then they both entered her chamber.

  Castien.

  Cade’s good mood evaporated in an instant, replaced by bloodthirsty fury. There was no warning, no buildup—the river of rage broke through the dam guarding his consciousness like it was built of loose twigs. Red fog immediately seeped into his vision. His nails slowly extended, turning black and cutting into his clenched palms. His eyes filled with blood, turning into scarlet pools split by thin black slits. His fangs extended to their full length, grinding against his gritted teeth. The muscles in his jaw began to ripple, shifting under the skin, accompanied by the sound of popping joints.

  What… the hell…

  As his throat released an involuntary growl, low and resonating, Cade fought to regain control with everything he had. Visions of carnage crashed into his mind like a massive, unstoppable wave, and red droplets fell from his tightened fists. His voracious heart flared with gnawing hunger, his whole body shaking as he desperately clung to the last vestiges of self-restraint. Unable to pull himself away from the overwhelming rage, he bit down on his tongue, nearly severing it in half.

  Thankfully, the sharp spike of pain earned him a brief moment of clarity. In that time, his silhouette zipped through the empty corridors, and no more than half a breath later he disappeared inside his room, forcefully slamming the reinforced door behind him. If not for the protective formations, it would have doubtlessly shattered into splinters.

  “For fuck's sake, go to sleep!” someone in the neighboring room yelled out.

  Cade’s chest heaved, his body drowning in hot sweat as he swallowed mouthfuls of blood from his bleeding tongue, slowly wrestling control from the bloodthirsty demon inside him. As he began to regain his sanity, the crimson specks covering his vision gradually thinned, then disappeared entirely. The Asura fell to his knees, supporting himself with bleeding hands, his breath a ragged rhythm in his chest.

  It seemed learning the Feral Path had an adverse effect of feeding his Asura side with what it loved the most—brutal, unforgiving violence. Its visions were too real, almost like his own memories. In this state, watching Castien, with his suspicious, diseased life signature behave like Jade’s good friend—all fake smiles and fawning words—was clearly enough to trigger the eruption of rage. It probably didn’t help that his heart was low on blood qi.

  Luckily, he had managed to retain a sliver of sanity, enough to retreat to his room. Cade didn’t want to imagine what would’ve happened otherwise. He breathed out in relief, wiping a sheen of sweat off his forehead.

  Someone knocked on his door. “Boss? Are you alright?” he heard King’s muffled voice.

  Huh? What is he doing here?! Oh, right. I did tell him to keep an eye on Jade.

  “One moment,” he said hoarsely. Cade forced his nails and fangs back into their human shape, reversed the changes to his eyes, and pushed a trickle of ignited blood qi into healing his tongue. He then opened the door, pulling the ex-bandit inside.

  “Boss, what happened? I saw you shaking, and then you…” King asked, but Cade impatiently cut him off.

  “Just a hard training session, nothing to worry about,” he brushed it off. “Now tell me, since when did Jade become so friendly with that snake?” he asked in a tense voice, forcing down his killing intent.

  “You don’t know? He’s been giving her lessons in the sword for the last two weeks.”

  “How the fuck would I know?! I was busy! You were supposed to keep an eye on her!” Cade barked with irritation before taking a deep breath and revolving blood qi to calm his voracious heart. He gave the frightened King an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, King. I’m a bit tense today. It’s not your fault. Now please, tell me what you’ve learned.”

  The ex-bandit proceeded to relay everything he had witnessed and overheard. “Boss, Jade is a friendly person. She often invites others for a cup of tea in her room after lectures. Me and Brickwall have been there twice, so for her, it’s not something out of character. Though there’s no denying she's been spending a fair bit of time in Castien's company,” King commented, relieved that Cade had mostly calmed down.

  “King, do you know why she’s still ignoring me?” This was what puzzled him the most.

  “Boss…” the man winced, clearly not wanting to add salt to the wound.

  “Give it to me straight. Is she still angry at me?”

  “It’s just my opinion, but… I think she believes you have abandoned her. All the slapping aside, you took a wagonload of crystals from her Master, and never spoke another word to her. She was a bit angry before, true, but now she’s just sad. And trying not to show it,” King answered after some thought.

  Cade stopped, his gaze unfocusing as he replayed their interactions from the last few weeks in his mind. He then forcefully slapped his forehead, the sound echoing sharply through the room. “Shit. I forgot about the crystals. From her point of view, that’s exactly how it would appear. And now that worm has used this to crawl into her good graces,” he snarled, mad at himself.

  King coughed, unsure of what to say. From his perspective, Castien was an unmatched expert, and Cade’s reaction sounded more like a bout of jealousy. He didn’t understand the instinctive reaction triggering his Asura nature when encountering the core disciple.

  “Thanks, King. I owe you,” Cade sighed, sitting down on the bed. “Are you and Reeve good on crystals? I’ve been so immersed in training, I completely forgot about everyone,” he asked, a tinge of guilt in his tone.

  “I know you mean well, Boss. We’re fine for now, but there’s no denying it’s a matter of time before we’ll run out of funds. It’s really hard to make a good living around here.”

  “Let me know when you’re running low; I’ll help out. My mother used to say that sharing is caring, mostly when it was my father’s turn to share,” Cade’s expression softened momentarily, and he even let out a brief chuckle. He then shook his head, as if chasing the memory away, shifting his gaze to his friend. “Stick around her. She likes you, so it shouldn’t be too hard. I know we have little time for anything, with all the work and lectures, but do what you can. I need to think about how to best deal with that man. Something isn’t right about him.”

  “Boss, you know me—I won’t say no to your crystals. But… are you sure about Castien? He’s polite, calm, and treats everyone with respect. He’s a human as well, maybe he wants to befriend a pretty Brightheart?” the ex-bandit asked tentatively.

  The reasoning was sound and probably in line with King’s own motivations. Cade couldn’t exactly tell him that he had read Castien’s life signature fluctuations, and didn’t like what he saw. “You remember when we talked in Kettle, and I mentioned that if you don’t change your ways, eventually someone else would come who would be nowhere near as nice as me?” Cade asked.

  King gave him a careful nod, unsure where this was going.

  “Castien is such a person. I’ve met someone like him before. I’m not certain what their kind is called. Essentially, they feel very little emotion towards other people. Don’t ask me how I know. If he wants to get close to her, it’s not because he’s a friendly fellow at heart.”

  The ex-bandit frowned, then his eyes suddenly lit up. “Boss, I think you might be onto something!” he exclaimed, then immediately flinched, lowering his voice. “Sorry. When I saw Castien smile at Jade… it’s a smile that’s not really a smile, you know what I mean? It’s like there is something lurking behind it. I thought I was imagining things, but now… If that’s truly the case, then what can we do?”

  “See if you can dig up anything on him. Explain what I told you to Reeve; maybe he’ll think of something. And since I messed up, it’s only right I make amends. Besides, I did get paid a lot to protect her, and I'm convinced that Castien is bad news. Nothing will frustrate that lanky fuck more than my return into her good graces. In fact, there’s another saying my mom often used…”

  King gave him a questioning glance.

  “…no time like the present.” Cade’s lips pulled back in a wolfish grin.