Cairen took deep breaths, trying to sink the last echo of the vision into the sa dark place it had co from, when the door to his room swung open forcefully, without ceremony.
Ling entered, her silver eyes sweeping the room quickly until they landed on him, still seated on the bed.
The thin layer of sweat on his forehead and his slightly quickened breathing did not go unnoticed.
"What happened?" she asked, straight to the point, her voice like a cutting thread of silver.
Cairen blinked, pushing away the last image of the mark darkening the back of the boy he once was.
"Nothing." He lied, shifting on the bed.
"Don’t tell it was ’nothing,’" she retorted, crossing her arms.
"The bond between us was... burning. As if you were in the middle of sothing extrely horrible. I felt it. So I repeat. What happened?"
He frowned. She was right. The connection made things obvious, especially sothing as visceral as pain and trauma. He couldn’t simply hide such a large disturbance.
"It was just a terrible dream. Nothing you need to worry about. It’s already over." He conceded half a truth, slipping out of it more easily.
Ling kept her gaze fixed on him for a long mont, studying every microexpression on his face.
He did not lower his guard, but he also offered nothing more. Finally, with a light and almost imperceptible sigh, she turned away.
"So be it." Then she left, closing the door with a soft click.
As soon as solitude returned, Cairen looked at his own hands. There was a different sensation in them, a density of sothing that had not been there before. Moved by impulse, he extended his right palm.
’Shackles of the False Genocide.’
The chain of dark, hissing energy appeared, as familiar as it was sinister. But then, sothing new happened.
From his left hand, a second identical chain materialized, slithering through the air like a twin serpent to the first.
Cairen stood still, watching the two chains now emanating from his body.
His strengthening of the original bloodline had not been theoretical. It was tangible. He gripped the chains, feeling their texture. They weren’t just more nurous but denser, more solid.
Before, he felt that if a cultivator of the Qi Liberation Realm were his opponent, they could break them or use their Qi to prevent the chains from even reaching them. But now he wasn’t so sure that would work. The quality of the tal had advanced by several layers.
He sighed, dissipating the chains back into his body. The vision, the mories, the growing power... a whirlpool of information he could now process but didn’t want to.
Cairen imagined that, due to his strong soul, perhaps mories of the past were starting to return...
The door suddenly opened again.
This ti, Ling entered carrying a carved wooden tray laden with food. Fresh fruits, warm bread, slices of at, and a bowl of sothing that slled like stew. She set the tray down with a soft thud on the central table of the room.
"You don’t look well. So, eat." She ordered, her voice losing so of its usual coldness, replaced by pragmatism.
"And I will fulfill your earlier request for beasts. We will leave today for the forest to hunt and train. We’ll stay away from the castle for quite so ti. So eat as much as you want."
She turned to leave but stopped at the door.
"When you’re finished, go to the castle dock. We’ll travel by ship to the place where we’ll stay."
And then she left, leaving him with the tempting aroma of food and the promise of action at last.
Cairen sighed once more, rubbing his face.
He actively tried to push the mories of the church, of Leo, and of the mark into the deepest recesses of his mind. There was too much in the present to worry about.
But the vision had lit a new fire within him. Colder, more determined than ever. He would never again be at the rcy of others. Never again a lab rat, a disposable piece for soone else.
He needed to grow stronger, but he also needed to understand. The fact that his mories were fragnted in such a way that he didn’t even realize what he had suppressed, this was not normal.
He rose and attacked the food suddenly. Each bite was a step toward regaining his strength, preparing for what was to co.
Shortly after, he headed to the dock. Princess Ling and the Old Guardian were already there, the latter unmoving like a statue.
They boarded the luxurious royal airship without a word, and the vessel lifted off almost imdiately, pulling away from the castle mountain.
"Where exactly are we going?"
Cairen asked, breaking the silence as he watched the white capital shrink below them.
"To the Misty Mountain Range," Ling replied, her gaze fixed on the horizon.
"A place teeming with beasts of all kinds. We’ll stay for two weeks. Long enough for you... to let loose."
Cairen nodded in silence. It was exactly what he needed. Hunt, strengthen, and train. A physical distraction for a slightly tumultuous mind.
"What’s special about those mountains?"
He asked, seeking more information.
"They are near Rhyne’s border," she began to explain with a firm voice.
"They stretch across several kingdoms, a neutral and inhospitable territory considered to be ruled by beasts."
"You can find everything there. From easy prey in the Awakening Realm to ancestral monsters in the highest peaks and hidden places where the mist never dissipates."
"We’ll stay in the outer areas, of course. Dangerous enough to serve as training. But not so much that we’ll be devoured by sothing even the old man there couldn’t contain."
Cairen nodded, absorbing the information. He leaned back against the ship, feeling the wind on his face as the vessel cut through the clouds.
The scenery below shifted into a swirl of greens and blues. Cultivated fields gave way to dense forests, which then beca rolling hills.
The air, once infused with the scent and power of the royal capital, now carried the wild sll of pines, damp earth, and the cries of beasts.
Cairen remained reclined, his body absorbing the vibrations of the flying ship.
The agitation in his soul, stirred by mories of the past, began to quiet, replaced by a focused anticipation.
He was eager. Every beast he encountered would be a step, a piece of fuel to forge his foundation of power. And perhaps, in the silence of battles, his mind would find answers that the castle walls seed to suffocate.
Hours passed. The sun was already tilting in the sky when an imposing barrier appeared on the horizon. The Misty Mountain Range. The na was not poetic but descriptive.
Jagged, sharp peaks pierced the clouds, their bases shrouded in a thick mantle of whitish-gray mist.
Even from afar, one could feel the pressure of the place, ancient, indomitable, and filled with countless beastly presences.
The ship slowed, hovering over a rocky clearing on the edge of the mist, where the forest t the rise of the mountains.
The air was cold and damp, the silence deep, broken only by the distant roars of beasts echoing between the peaks.
The Old Guardian, who had remained a statue throughout the entire journey, moved for the first ti.
His bones did not creak. He turned to the two of them, his deep eyes resting first on Ling, with the familiarity of one who had watched her grow, and then on Cairen.
"Two weeks." His voice ca out surprisingly soft, yet carried authority.
"The ship will return to this exact place. Until then, you’re on your own. Survival is the most fundantal training in a cultivator’s life, do not expect intervention."
Without another word, without even a gesture of farewell, he stepped back. And then, the ship departed with him aboard.
Silence followed. Before, filled by the hum of the ship and the old man’s presence. Now, a living silence, full of whispers of the forest and the threat of the mist. They were completely alone.
Ling seed to inhale the forest’s freedom as if it were a rare fragrance. Her silver eyes shone with a predatory light.
"Finally." She whispered more to herself than to Cairen.
The grass there was tall, the cold air entering the lungs in a refreshing way. He raised his face to the wall of mist and stone rising before them.
Here, in this no man’s land, he was not the forced groom, not a prisoner or an experint. He was Cairen. And it was ti to hunt.
"Where do we start?" he asked, his voice sounding strangely calm and clear in the vast silence.
Ling pointed to the edge of the mist, where the forest grew denser and darker.
"There. The mist hides dens and nests. That’s where the cleverer prey lurk."
A cold smile curved Ling’s lips as she stepped forward first.
Cairen followed behind. As soon as he entered the forest, he briefly closed his eyes, allowing his spiritual sense to spread.
Imdiately, he realized. The range at which he could perceive with his spiritual sense had been greatly reduced, half the distance compared to outside the mist. But still enough to notice that the place was absurdly teeming with beasts lurking on all sides.
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