As Kellan walked back toward the clan, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye,
And, unfortunately for him, the moment he noticed them, they noticed him too.
"Crap, I found two more," he muttered.
Two red-tipped boars, startled by his fight with their companion, woke from their afternoon nap and saw him carrying their dead comrade on his shoulder.
Without waiting for them to attack first, he dropped the boar from his shoulder and charged the two remaining boars.
Enraged at the sight of their dead companion, they charged at him as well.
The first boar reached him and tried to impale Kellan's arm with its tusk.
Fortunately, Kellan narrowly avoided it by redirecting the boar to the side.
But just as he relaxed for a moment, the second boar slammed into him from the side, throwing him off balance and making him stumble to the ground.
"Shit, both of them are at the second level of the blood solidification realm, while the other one was just at the first level," he thought.
Kellan quickly focused, and as he stood up, his eyes glowed golden.
Time seemed to slow, allowing him to see the boar that had knocked him down charging again. This time, Kellan was ready.
By slowing his perception of time, he sidestepped the boar's charge at the last moment and punched it square in the mouth.
The boar stumbled back, blood filling its mouth as it let out a soft roar, looking slightly afraid.
"I need to find a way to separate the two of them," Kellan muttered, breathing heavily.
He ran to the nearest bush to hide, hoping to set up an ambush.
But before he could, the other boar found him, ramming him into a tree.
Blood filled Kellan's mouth as he felt dizzy.
"I need to calm down, I need to think. If I don't get out of this, I'm going to die,"
He thought, feeling panic start to creep in. Yet, he forced himself to calm down.
He filled his body with Temporal Qi, and his eyes glowed golden, now reflecting a dangerous determination.
"If I don't learn how to kill others, they'll kill me," he resolved.
Right as the boar that had slammed into him prepared another attack, Kellan moved fast, charging first and slamming his fist into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The red-tipped boar, confused, hesitated, giving Kellan the opportunity to focus his Temporal Qi at the tip of his finger and stab it into the boar's eye.
The boar screamed in pain, and Kellan backed off.
But before he could catch his breath, the other boar rushed at him, its tusks gleaming red like blood.
Time slowed again as Kellan jumped onto the boar's back.
He gathered his spiritual energy into his fist and slammed it down onto the boar's head with all his strength.
"Boom." The boar screamed, blood spurting from its head as its skull cracked.
It staggered forward a few steps, then collapsed, dead.
Kellan breathed heavily, his fist bloody from the impact.
"My knuckles feel like they're going to break. Why the hell don't I have a weapon?"
Kellan thought, feeling himself grow faint.
Focusing Temporal Qi at a single point, especially in combat without prior practice, had drained his spiritual energy.
"It's inefficient. I need to manage my spiritual energy better. If I run out of it mid-battle against a person, I doubt they'd let me use any spirit stones to recover,"
he thought, pulling a handful of spirit stones from his storage bag to replenish his spiritual energy.
"I need to move quickly, while I still have time," he decided, speeding up and rushing at the wounded boar from earlier.
The remaining red-tipped boar, bleeding from its eye, seemed to go into a frenzy at the sight of its fallen companion.
It roared and rushed at Kellan, but he was ready.
Before he moved, he had ripped out a tusk from the dead boar and now stabbed it into the frenzied boar's back.
Blood poured from the wound, but before Kellan could celebrate, the red-tipped boar, seemingly unfazed by the pain, thrust its tusk toward Kellan's left arm.
"AHHH!" Kellan screamed in pain.
Thankfully, he slowed time again just before the tusk could fully impale his arm, managing to dodge at the last second.
The tusk left a deep gash but didn't go all the way through.
"I need to finish this now, or I'm going to bleed out,"
Kellan thought, ripping the tusk out of the boar's back.
Taking advantage of their close range, he stabbed the boar in the throat.
The boar tried to make a noise, but no sound escaped.
Bleeding from both its back and throat, it still attempted to attack Kellan one last time but finally collapsed, lifeless, on the ground.
Kellan breathed heavily, then collapsed as well.
"I'm weak. I can't believe I almost died again. Why does this keep happening to me?"
Blood pooled around his wounded arm, and he felt himself fading.
"I need to cultivate, I need to cultivate right now,"
Kellan muttered, immediately sitting down cross-legged and taking all of the demonic cores from the three dead red-tipped boars.
Once he steadied his breath, he consumed all three demonic cores at once, forcing himself to focus and absorb the surrounding spiritual energy.
The world, as if sensing Kellan's dire straits, channeled spiritual energy toward his body, seeking an outlet.
As the demonic cores melted within him, Kellan used the temporal breathing technique to pull in spiritual energy, causing him to glow with a golden aura.
Just then, a voice echoed in his mind.
"Why are we giving special attention to this child? Have we not seen talented youths before?"
Kellan, still in his life-and-death struggle, felt confusion creep in. "Am I hallucinating?"
"Child of the Shi Clan, we will grant you a gift, but in exchange, we ask for a favor," the voice continued.
"Am I actually going to die? I'm hearing voices in my head," Kellan shivered, his heart racing.
"Bah! Why are we putting our hopes on this kid? That Shi Lin seems far more promising," another voice grumbled.
"These must be ghosts. Damn it, what do I do? Am I going to lose my life to ghosts?" Kellan's face turned pale.
"Do not be afraid, child. We are merely spirits dwelling at the Mystfall Springs.
We have resided there since time immemorial," the first voice explained.
"Once, other clans persecuted us, killing and refining us to be used as cultivation materials, but the Shi Clan's old ancestor saved us.
He placed an array formation around Mystfall Springs to protect us, striking at anyone who harms a spirit."
Kellan's jaw dropped. "A spirit? Like... the Spirit Race?"
"Yes, you dumb idiot. We are of the Spirit Race!" another voice snapped, sounding annoyed.
Kellan grumbled, "Is that how you ask someone for a favor?" But before the spirit could respond, another voice interjected.
"Child of the Shi Clan, we have little time. By leaving the protection of the array formation, we are putting ourselves in danger.
There are those who can sense when we exit the array made by your ancestor, and they are in this forest right now."
Kellan's mind raced. "Is it Yuki and Yukino?"
"Yes, it is them. Although they are strong, it is their backer that we fear.
The Frey Clan is the most powerful clan in the eastern Yan Empire.
In its heyday, the Shi Clan could barely hold them off thanks to Shi Ming's strength.
But now, with the Shi Clan's influence waning due to Shi Ming's disappearance, the Frey Clan is closing in.
The patriarch of the Frey Clan is on the verge of a breakthrough.
If he uses us as cultivation materials, he will break through his bottleneck and ascend to a higher realm."
Kellan felt a wave of dizziness.
"The Frey Clan's patriarch? Someone that powerful could destroy all the tribes in this part of the Yan Empire single-handedly!"
"The Frey Clan has allied with the Nightshade Clan to gain control over Mystfall Springs.
Their agreement states that if the Nightshade Clan wins the upcoming inter-tribe trial by fire and secures the majority share of the Mystfall Springs, they must hand it over to the Frey Clan.
In return, the Frey Clan will supply them with ample cultivation materials to help the Nightshade Clan grow stronger and devour the other tribes nearby, making them the sole rulers of this area."
"But what can I do to help? I'm just a kid at the second level of the Blood Solidification Realm! There are many others in the clan stronger than me!"
Kellan exclaimed, frustration etched on his face.
The other spirit replied with a sigh,
"I'm asking myself the same question, kid."
"I have seen your progress so far, and I believe you have more potential than any other promising youth of your generation," the spirit said.
"I believe you can help us."
"But you haven't even told me what I should be doing," Kellan replied.
"All you need to do is ensure the Shi Clan secures the majority share of the Mystfall Springs in the upcoming inter-tribe trial by fire.
If the Shi Clan claims it, the Frey Clan can't forcibly intervene and take control of the springs."
"But… why can't they just take it by force?" Kellan asked, frowning.
"Because of the strength of the Yan Empire," the spirit explained.
"The emperor has banned the use of spirits for cultivation.
If he finds out what the Frey Clan is doing, he'll use it as an excuse to wipe them out of the empire."
Kellan looked uncertain.
"Aren't you thinking too highly of me? I'm only at the second level of the Blood Solidification Realm!"
"That's why I said we're giving you a gift," the spirit said, nodding to the other. "It's time, Onru."
"Bah, whatever. You'd better know what you're doing, Lehen," Onru muttered, giving Lehen a glare but complying.
As both spirits combined their powers, the spiritual energy in the surroundings surged, channeling toward Onru and Lehen.
They concentrated the energy into a diamond-shaped gem, radiant with rainbow colors.
"This is a treasure of our Spirit Race, called a Spirit Diamond," Lehen said.
"Do you remember that rush of spiritual energy when you cultivated? That was us.
Each time, we concentrated the spiritual energy around you to test how much your body could handle.
And we noticed something peculiar—you're exceptionally compatible with spiritual energy. You absorbed it easily, without collapsing, unlike most cultivators who would have been overwhelmed."
Lehen's voice softened as she explained further
"But we can't stay with you forever. It's too dangerous, especially with the Frey Clan lurking nearby.
So we will give you this Spirit Diamond. It will double your cultivation speed in the Blood Solidification Realm.
And when you reach the Bone Sacrifice Realm, you can use it to improve the quality of your spirit bones, enhancing your talent even further."
Kellan stared, wide-eyed.
"What! I can't accept something that valuable! What if I fail?"
"Then not only will our years of work be wasted, but we'll be captured and enslaved as cultivation materials for the Frey Clan," Onru huffed.
"It's alright, child," Lehen said with a gentle tone, though her eyes grew serious.
"This is a gamble on your part as well."