Chapter 147 - Beast Inheritance

The bloodwing bats erupted from the cave in a terrifying swarm, their chittering screams filling the air as they descended upon the group.

"Grrr!" their collective hunting cry echoed through the forest.

Xiong’s face went pale.

"What are you looking at? Run!" she screamed at her companions.

"Can’t we fight them?" one of them asked desperately.

"Are you an idiot? Look at those numbers! Fight if you want to. I’m running away from here!" she snapped, already moving.

And they fled into the forest.

Cale jumped through the dense vegetation, his mind working at the same time.

’Shit, it’s a formation! We’re trapped in a formation. Did those bats coming out act as a trigger of sorts?’

Then realization struck him — this wasn’t just a cave full of monsters! This was a carefully constructed trap, likely designed by the inheritance site itself to test and filter cultivators.

Hiding through the shadowed areas of the forest, Cale eventually reached a desolate clearing... and found the same group sheltering there.

’Sigh...’

His irritation spiked. Why couldn’t these people just disappear? Why did fate keep throwing them back into his path?

The man from before, stepped forward with a sneer.

"Look who decided to show up. A cultivator faking his realm," he teased.

Cale stared at him coldly.

Then he infused a small fraction of his divine consciousness and sent it directly at the man’s soul—a mild soul attack.

The man’s insides trembled violently. He dropped to his knees and vomited with force.

"Kuarghhh!!... wh...what... kughh!"

With just that single demonstration, the rest of the group went completely silent. They now understood that this person was far beyond their capacity to challenge.

Xiong approached Cale with visible hesitation, her vermillion eyes wide with uncertainty.

"Who... who in the hell are you? Are you a spy from some sect?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.

Cale smirked.

"Your clan guys are the ones who kidnapped me~... Oh right, let’s play a game now, shall we? Isn’t it fun — hiding from deadly monsters and playing a death game at the same time?"

Xiong’s expression stiffened.

"W-what are you talking about? Shouldn’t we fight it together?" she asked, attempting to appeal to his sense of survival.

"Hmm? Together, you say? And weren’t we together when I was made bait for you guys?"

Their expressions froze.

"You see, I tried to hold back," Cale continued. "But now you’ve gone beyond my mental capacity. So I have to do something to lower my cortisol levels... heh."

With a flick of his hand, one blade of the Thorned Lotus shot out.

A girl screamed as it pierced her heart.

Flick.

Another one fell.

"Oh no! He’s killing us!" someone wailed.

"Ahh! Save me!" another cried.

"R-run! We have to run away!"

Zoop. Zap. Zoop.

With each flick of his fingers, another cultivator fell. The Thorned Lotus blades moved with perfect precision, each one finding vital organs.

Within moments, everyone except Xiong and the man who’d been infatuated with her lay dead, their bodies cooling on the forest floor.

Xiong’s mind raced and fear erupted in her heart.

’This person is not weaker than me. Rather, he might be even stronger and simply hiding his current stage. What should I do? What to do?’

She turned toward Cale, walking toward him hesitantly.

"What are you coming here for? The game is about to start."

Cale looked at the remaining man... and smiled coldly.

"You. You’re infatuated with her, aren’t you?"

The man hesitated, but then nodded, unable to resist the truth.

"Y-yes. I like her very much."

"Then what will you do if I let you do whatever you want to her?" Cale asked. "And after that, I’ll kill you. What do you say?"

The man’s eyes widened with greedy lust.

"I-I can do whatever I want?" he asked, his gaze turning toward Xiong with the hunger of a predator.

Cale nodded.

’Sigh, this idiot.’

Cale looked directly at Xiong, his expression cold and analytical.

"See that? That’s the kind of guys your sect has been raising. He would rather do unspeakable things to you and then happily die, rather than stand with you and fight back."

Xiong started sobbing, the reality of her situation crashing down on her.

Cale looked back at the man.

"Well, go now. Do your thing."

The man moved like a hungry wolf, removing his top with frantic urgency. He jumped toward Xiong, attempting to pin her down.

She dodged, her cultivation allowing her to move faster than a normal person.

He tried again, this time managing to tackle her to the ground, pressing his weight down on her.

"Hahaha! Lady, stay down! I promise it won’t hurt! Hehe, you’ll even like it!"

"Ahh... nooo!" she cried out in desperation.

But before his hands could do anything further, a blade erupted through his back.

Pierce!

Blood fountained from the wound and sprayed across her body, staining her clothes and skin with crimson.

"Ahhhh! Nooo! You! You killed him!" she screamed, shock and confusion evident in her voice.

Cale had killed the man at the precise moment he’d mounted her, first to make her fear him and obey, second to have some fun with revenge.

"Alright, go..." Cale said.

There was a specific reason Cale had let her live. Because there was a high probability that she would become the inheritance’s inheritor. If Cale simply took the inheritance himself, he wouldn’t be able to fully plunder her fate through the Fate Shattering Technique.

But if he let her obtain it first, and then took it from her, his technique’s influence would multiply exponentially. Fate that had already been touched and shaped would be far easier to manipulate and absorb.

Since he couldn’t locate the inheritance site through conventional means and couldn’t sense its location directly, letting her live served a strategic purpose.

"I-if you let me live..." Xiong began, desperation making her voice crack. "I can give my body to you! Yes! I can ask my father to engage us! And then maybe we—"

Cale raised his hand, silencing her.

’Ah, put some pressure on them and they start throwing their bodies at you.’

"Obviously, you’re going to tell your clansmen to kill me as soon as we meet them, right?" he smirked. Who was she fooling?

"O-of course not! Why would I—"

"Shut up," he shouted. "Now, tell me — do you sense anything? Anything at all?"

He closed in on her, his face dangerously close to hers.

"I..." she started, her voice faltering.

Cale sighed internally.

’This means she does feel something around here but doesn’t know its location.’

He hit her on the back of her neck, rendering her unconscious.

Then, using a technique he rarely employed, Cale absorbed a fragment of her soul... just enough to gain access to her recent memories.

’Hmm? It was there?’

The memory was clear now. An image of a massive black tree, its bark twisted and corrupted, bearing unusual fruits.

Cale ran through the forest, his senses extended to their maximum.

He found it in just a few minutes. They were quite close to it, a large tree with bark as black as obsidian and strange fruits growing from its twisted branches.

He tightened his grip on the trunk.

SMASH!

The tree shattered under his strength, revealing a small hole — barely large enough for a single person to pass through.

Cale entered.

Inside, he found it.

The Beast Phantom Scroll lay upon a coffin, positioned as if waiting for someone worthy to claim it. Around it were various weapons—swords, scimitars, polearms—all of exceptional craftsmanship, all enhanced with ancient cultivation techniques.

Cale placed his hand on the Beast Phantom Scroll.

A system notification appeared:

[New Technique acquired: Beast Phantom Technique Scroll]

[Beast Phantom Technique]

[A profound technique that allows the user to condense their physical strength, spiritual energy, and killing intent into the phantom of a mighty beast.]

[The manifested beast phantom mirrors the user’s movements, augmenting their attacks with the characteristics and might of the chosen beast.]

[The stronger the user’s physique and mastery of the technique, the more tangible and powerful the beast phantom becomes.]

[At higher levels of mastery, multiple beast phantoms may be manifested simultaneously, allowing their powers to merge with the user’s attacks.]

[The beast phantom is not a true living creature, but a manifestation of the user’s strength and will.]

Cale absorbed the knowledge contained within the scroll, understanding flooding through his consciousness.

’So this is what the inheritance offered. A technique that allows me to project my power in beast form without requiring actual transformation. This means I can use multiple beast phantoms at once... a chaos dragon, phoenix, kunpeng, all simultaneously manifested as extensions of my will.’

He looked at the weapons scattered throughout the chamber.

’These would stock my Arsenal of the Infinite Heavens nicely.’

Within minutes, Cale gathered the weapons and activated the Arsenal of the Infinite Heavens, storing them all in his extradimensional armory.