The needle struck.
It embedded cleanly into the stag's side — a glint of metal lost beneath golden fur.
The beast didn't react, a clear sign of Riven's increased proficiency with using the skill.
But when Yue Lin leaped out, it recoiled, startled.
She had her blade in hand. Her knife pale with that strange muted qi, a thin outline of power humming just along the edge.
The moment the stag tried to dodge, Riven detonated the needle.
Not a loud explosion — just a sharp internal burst. Enough to stagger.
Yue Lin's dagger sliced in deep, carving a long, clean line across its flank. The stag let out a strangled cry.
Riven surged forward.
He'd meant to punch — to test his strength using Vaern's Basic Martial Arts. But the timing felt wrong. This fight didn't feel like one meant to stretch.
So instead—
He kicked.
Falconburst.
His foot struck low, then climbed sharply — a blur of motion that cracked through ribs and spine. A loud, sickening snap echoed through the clearing.
The stag collapsed.
Yue Lin added a second strike, quick and sure.
Dead.
No core, unfortunately.
They both exhaled and dragged the body back to camp.
>>>
The next stretch of time passed in relative ease.
They hunted only the isolated ones — lone stags near the forest's edge or those slightly separated from the herds. They never got greedy. Never lingered after a kill.
It worked.
Yue Lin improved steadily — refining her bladework, sharpening the flow of that soft grey energy across her knife. The technique wasn't flashy. But it was efficient. Lethal.
Riven, meanwhile, learned something important.
Vaern's Basic Martial Arts — as efficient as it was — didn't combine cleanly with Falconburst Kick.
The qi structures conflicted. If he tried to overlay both, his flow destabilized.
So he had to choose the correction option midfight.
Vaern's Basic Martial Arts for cheap sustainable fights.
And Falconburst Kick for burst of damage and faster fights.
And with the way they were hunting, the kick was often the better choice.
So with the continous use of that, something eventually shifted.
A breakthrough.
Greater Mastery.
Another 15% boost layered onto what he already had. A total of 65% increased kick speed. The difference wasn't just technical — it was felt.
When his foot moved now, it cut the air like a whip.
Devastating in short bursts. Enough to end fights before they dragged on.
They made progress.
And with it, came cores.
Two more golden ones — brilliant, warm, pulsing faintly in his palm before turning to golden dust beneath his skin.
Riven took them both.
His bloodline now pulsed at 8.3% coverage — more gold than silver, each speck brighter than before.
If before he had used any cores, just his beast-lineage body let him stand equal to early Inner Essence cultivators…
Now?
He was confident he could challenge some who had just reached the late Inner Essence Realm.
And that was not all. With the density of qi in this trial, he steadily climbed upward the realms, his qi cultivation coming close to reaching the Mid Inner Condensation realm.
Even the whole chained together situation didn't seem as dramatic anymore.
The chain had become normal now.
They were used to always staying close — eating, training, sleeping within each other's reach. The small accommodations and unspoken movements that once felt awkward had long since settled into habit.
But even so, there was one thing that still managed to fluster him.
The water.
With Yue Lin's flask still lost during their scramble through the desert, they only had his left.
And whenever she wanted to take a few small sips she'd use his.
He also obviously used his own flask.
Over time he found himself often staring at her faintly glistening lips, especially right before drinking from the flask.
They'd done this plenty over the past few days. But even so—
His heart always seemed to skip a beat.
Ridiculous.
But there it was.
>>>
But good times rarely lasted.
The stags changed.
They grew cautious. Tighter. More coordinated. They started moving in pairs, then trios. By the end of the week, it was rare to find even one alone.
The weaker ones had all but vanished.
Their hunting slowed.
After another failed loop, they checked the stone slab again.
[10:04:37]
Ten days left.
Not much.
But also not little.
The food was thinning. The weaker stags were gone or in groups. And with the golden cores and most importantly food growing rarer, they had to take a risk eventually.
So they did.
A pair of stags — spotted deep in the woods, not far from the ridge they'd patrolled a dozen times. Both bore faint golden patterns across their horns, bodies lean and powerful. One of the weaker variants it looked like.
But still not that weak, both roughly around the level of Mid Stage Inner Condensation Realm.
Nestled between
the antlers of one of the stags, barely visible through the tangle of fur and bone, was a bird.
One of those birds.
Riven's jaw tensed.
Something was weird.
But it was rare finding a pair of weaker stags.
They couldn't miss this chance.
So they spread out, as far as the chain allowed — flanking just like always — and prepared to strike.
But the moment he stepped forward—
The bird shrieked.
A sharp, echoing cry — not quite natural. The stags instantly jerked back, hooves skidding across the mossy ground, their muscles already coiled for movement.
Riven threw a needle on reflex, aiming for the closer one's shoulder.
It missed.
The needle struck bark instead, quivering deep in a nearby trunk.
"…It warned them," Yue Lin muttered, voice low.
The bird scrambled upward, flapping awkwardly as it launched itself into the trees, perching high above to watch.
If it could even be called that when you were blind.
The two stags stepped in closer now, not fleeing, but advancing — heads lowered, eyes locked, bodies angled to flank them back.
Riven glanced at Yue Lin. She didn't speak — just nodded.
They didn't have time for doubts.
This wasn't going to be another ambush.
It was a proper fight.
But they were confident they could still win.
Riven's feet slid into stance almost instinctively — low, stable, breath already syncing with the rhythm of Vaern's Basic Martial Arts.
This wasn't a fight to end in a single blow.
There was no reason to opt for Falconburst Kick here.
The first stag lunged — antlers down, golden lines pulsing faintly along its sides as it seemed to cross more space than it should. Riven moved to meet it. His palm deflected the first charge, a grazing clash of flesh against bone that jarred his shoulder. But the technique held — his limbs reinforced with steady streams of qi, and his physical body supplying it with power.
The stag twisted, trying to hook him with a sweeping horn. He ducked low, driving a sharp kick into its foreleg. Not enough to break anything — but it staggered, just slightly, just enough to throw off its rhythm.
He didn't press.
Not yet.
His eyes flicked sideways.
Yue Lin was already in motion — a blur of gray-tinged blade and precise steps. Her dagger flicked out, aiming for a tendon just behind the other stag's knee — but the beast twisted away with unnatural awareness, its antlers almost intercepting the strike.
Too aware.
Too ready.
Riven narrowed his eyes.
Riven gritted his teeth, shifting his weight as his stag circled him warily.
This was going to drag.
And that was the last thing they needed.
The longer the fight went, the higher the risk. More stags could appear — maybe even the stronger ones they'd been avoiding for days now. And while he might be able to take this one down eventually, it'd be a slog. His strikes wore down the beast, yes — but not fast enough.
Yue Lin, though…
She didn't need time.
Her technique was meant to end things in a flash — her dagger enhanced with that sharp, muted qi that sliced through even reinforced hides. All she needed was an opening.
Just one.
His mind shifted.
He didn't need to win.
He just needed to stall.
And find an opening for Yue Lin.
So he stopped pressing and started playing the defense, using Vaern's Basic Martial Arts not to dominate — but to delay. Flowing between steps, turning glancing blows into controlled disengagements, breathing in sync with each shift of weight.
And as their fights shifted, as they moved in and out of trees, circling and lunging—
The two stags drifted closer together.
Just enough.
Riven's eyes flashed.
Now.