The Solitary Path to Divinity

But Quincy's small, satisfied glance didn't land on anyone who cared. When she looked at Leo, he was already sitting on a relatively clean patch of ground, meditating to restore the spiritual power he had just burned through.

Only then did Quincy realize how much more spiritual power she had burned through. Controlling two magic artifacts at once—even with mid-grade spirit stones to supplement—had left her elixir field only twenty or thirty percent full. Vera was probably in the same boat, maybe a little better off. The three of them were spent. If one or two more of those lizards showed up, the next fight would be even harder.

Watching Leo, Quincy felt a quiet pang of shame. She began to understand. On paper, she was stronger. Two artifacts. A Flame-Eye Unicorn Rhinoceros. She should have been the one carrying the fight. But from the moment they met in the Bloody Battlefield, Leo had always done more. His strength wasn't just in his cultivation—it was in his mind. His discipline. He used every spare moment to improve himself, to stay as close to peak condition as possible. He didn't waste time on pointless comparisons. Who was stronger? Who was weaker? That was a child's game.

The Bloodshadow Lizard was valuable from head to tail. Leo was tempted. But storage pouches had limits. A beast this size would fill one entirely—maybe overflow it. And he couldn't smuggle the parts into his boundary space without Vera and Quincy noticing. More importantly, they needed to keep moving. Search. Find a way back to the surface. After thinking it through, Leo took only the demon core once his spiritual power was restored.

The Bloodshadow Lizard core was valuable, but Quincy came from wealth. She couldn't care less. Vera knew her place—she owed Leo her life, more than once. He took the core without asking. She had nothing to say.

After their first fight, the three of them had grown smoother in their coordination. Leo calculated. Without using his hidden cards, they could handle two Bloodshadow Lizards together—cover each other's weaknesses. A third lizard, though? That would be a problem. He could hold his own. Quincy, with her multiple artifacts, could too. But Vera? Her family wasn't as wealthy as Quincy's, and her cultivation wasn't as refined as Leo's. One lizard alone was dangerous for her.

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Leo wondered how many of these creatures lurked in this place. He hoped luck would be on their side. Core disciples could fight back. Ordinary disciples with only spirit artifacts? Their weapons barely scratched the lizards' scales. When they met, it wasn't a fight. It was a slaughter. The corpses of Angus and the others—drained dry, barely a struggle—proved that. At least there was no sign of fourth-grade beasts. The third-grade Bloodshadow Lizards were already a nightmare.

Dark blue shapes flickered through the tall grass from time to time. One by one, the lizards returned to the teleportation array, vomiting the cultivator blood they had stored into a small cyan stone trough beside it. The blood trickled through the channel and vanished beneath the array.

"Not bad." From the shadows of the array, a green-armored skeleton watched, its figure sinister and terrible. It laughed softly to itself. "So many human cultivators have wandered into this place. I wonder what's happening outside. Once I've refined the Blood Shadow Banner, I'll carry human essence. Even powerful human masters won't sense me."

But as time passed, fewer lizards returned. The skeleton's amusement faded. "These cultivators are stronger than I thought. They're killing my lizards." It paused, then let out another low laugh. "Good thing I have other plans."

Days later, another Bloodshadow Lizard crashed to the ground under a coordinated assault, dust exploding where it fell. Quiver, Frost, Solon, and the other survivors let out a collective breath. They rested for a moment, then moved in to dismantle the beast.

Leo's team had grown to eight. Himself, Quincy, Vera—and Quiver's group of five. The others had either been crushed by falling rocks or drained dry by lizards. Quiver's people had been fleeing for their lives, the lizards closing in, when they ran into Leo. It was luck. Pure luck. Now, watching the dead lizard, all they felt was relief—and the cold aftertaste of fear.

"Senior Brother Leo, we're saved. You have no idea—" Solon clutched his chest, his voice shaking. "Another few seconds, and we'd have been lizard food."

"Oh, right—we saw Senior Brother Lowell on the way. He was running from two Ice Profound disciples. He looked pretty beat up. But we were running from the lizards too—couldn't stop." Quiver slapped her forehead. How had she forgotten? "We need to go back. Maybe we can still save him."

"Lead the way." Leo's eyes narrowed. Lowell was tougher than he looked. He had assumed Monty had at least crippled him. But here he was, still alive. The grudge between them hadn't been settled. But this place was a death trap. Lizards everywhere. They had already killed five or six. Who knew how many more were out there? One more fighter—even an injured one—could mean the difference between life and death.

"Senior Brother Leo, I never knew you were this strong. You're right up there with any core disciple." Solon couldn't stop talking. "How did you find Senior Sisters Quincy and Vera anyway? Back in that cave, you saved us all. Now that we're together again, we can take on anyone. Those Ice Profound bastards—next time we see them, they're dead."

On and on he went—praising Leo, cursing the Ice Profound Sect, telling the story of how he had fallen into this nightmare, how he had barely escaped the lizards.

Leo didn't answer. He just said, quietly, "In this place, anything can happen. People you don't expect. Things you don't expect."