Dawn arrived quietly over the forest.
Golden sunlight filtered through countless layers of leaves and branches.
Morning mist drifted between ancient trees like a pale river winding through the undergrowth.
Droplets of dew clung to every leaf and blade of grass.
Birds sang from hidden nests.
Insects stirred beneath fallen leaves.
The forest gradually awakened from its slumber.
High above the ground, Kaelan perched upon a thick branch.
His black feathers blended naturally with the shadows beneath the canopy.
A rabbit lay pinned beneath one of his claws.
Its body was still warm.
Fresh blood stained the pale bark of the branch.
Kaelan lowered his head and tore away a piece of flesh with his beak.
He chewed slowly.
The taste neither pleased nor disgusted him.
Food was simply food.
The rabbit was merely fuel for the body he currently occupied.
He swallowed the meat and tore off another piece.
As he ate, his attention remained fixed on the panel within his mind.
**Name:** Kaelan
**Species:** Crow (Void Monster)
**Life:** Immortal
**Essence:** 0.2 (0)
**Energy:** 0.08 (0)
**Spirit:** 3.98 (2)
This was the panel he had created after gaining control of the crow.
His spirit allowed him to perceive every aspect of his body, but perception and observation were not the same thing.
His life was listed as immortal because of the Void Monster Essence hidden within him.
As long as he consumed enough food, he could replenish his vitality indefinitely.
The next categories were Essence, Energy, and Spirit.
According to his inherited memories, transcendental cultivation began with the improvement of one of those three foundations.
The numbers within the brackets represented their tiers.
His Essence and Energy remained at the mortal tier.
His Spirit had already reached Tier Two Transcendence.
His Essence remained mortal because he could not reveal his Void Monster Essence.
His Spirit remained at Tier Two only because a fragment of his True Spirit resided within the crow's body.
Without it, the fragile body would not have been capable of sustaining such power.
After finishing his meal, he kicked the rabbit carcass from the branch.
His next objective was clear.
He needed to explore the world and obtain a transcendent cultivation technique.
Spreading his wings, he launched himself into the sky and flew deeper into the forest.
His spiritual perception extended over two kilometres in every direction.
Everything fell within his awareness.
Worms burrowing beneath the soil.
Predators stalking through the undergrowth.
Birds nesting among the branches.
Nothing escaped his perception.
Yet he found no signs of a transcendent cultivation path.
There was one place he knew was almost certainly connected to transcendence.
The floating islands above the clouds.
Unfortunately, he did not dare approach them.
Even from a distance, he sensed numerous Tier Three Transcendents dwelling there.
More importantly, he sensed the presence of two Demigods.
Cultivators who stood between Tier Three and Tier Four were known as Demigods.
The gap between Tier Three and Tier Four was greater than the gap between a mortal and a Tier Three Transcendent.
Because of that enormous barrier, Tier Three cultivators first advanced into the Demigod Realm before reaching Tier Four.
With his current strength, fighting a Tier One Transcendent would already be difficult.
A Tier Three Transcendent could likely kill him with a single attack.
As for a Demigod, he could not even consider challenging one.
The deeper he ventured into the forest, the more beasts he discovered carrying traces of transcendent energy.
However, their cultivation was instinctive rather than systematic.
They absorbed and utilised energy naturally.
None of them had reached Tier One.
Kaelan carefully studied their breathing patterns and observed how they absorbed and refined the world's transcendent energy.
Drawing upon those observations, he created a cultivation method for himself.
Soon, he discovered a cave hidden within the upper slope of a hill.
He entered and began cultivating.
Transcendent energy flowed into his body.
He refined it into personal energy.
His Energy steadily increased.
The refined energy circulated through his blood and nourished both his Essence and Spirit.
His Spirit remained unchanged.
His Essence slowly increased.
Time passed unnoticed.
As an immortal, he had little reason to care about the passage of time.
Only hunger interrupted his cultivation.
Whenever it appeared, he hunted before returning to practice.
After many cycles, he finally stopped.
His dantian had reached its limit.
Opening the panel, he examined the results.
**Name:** Kaelan
**Species:** Crow (Void Monster)
**Life:** Immortal
**Essence:** 7.27 (0)
**Energy:** 9.99 (0)
**Spirit:** 3.98 (2)
His Energy had reached the peak of the mortal tier.
The only way forward was evolution.
He had previously created the magical power that transformed his body into void energy.
That gave him a unique understanding of void energy itself.
Naturally, he chose to evolve his Energy in that direction.
He controlled the particles of Energy within his body and forced them to collide.
Every collision released a burst of power.
Again and again, he drove them together.
The process continued until every particle was shattered and refined.
Only then did he reopen the panel.
**Name:** Kaelan
**Species:** Crow (Void Monster)
**Life:** Immortal
**Essence:** 7.43 (0)
**Energy:** 8.04 (0)
**Spirit:** 3.98 (2)
His Energy had decreased instead of increasing.
That result was expected.
The evolution process purified the Energy, removing impurities and condensing its quality.
As he prepared to resume cultivation, his spiritual perception detected a rapidly approaching Tier One energy signature.
He frowned.
Before he could decide what to do, three more Tier One signatures entered his perception range.
Kaelan concealed his energy fluctuations with his Spirit and flew out of the cave.
High above the forest, his eyes locked onto a running figure.
The figure possessed fox ears and a fox tail.
Kaelan did not recognise the race.
For simplicity, he labelled the man a foxman.
The foxman clutched a baby with fox ears in his arms while three human males pursued him.
Kaelan followed from above.
Although he could hear them shouting, he could not understand their language.
The chase eventually ended at the edge of a cliff.
The foxman gently placed the baby on the ground before turning to face his pursuers.
The four exchanged heated words.
Moments later, the battle began.
Energy armour appeared across the upper bodies of the three humans.
Their weapons became enveloped in energy.
The foxman responded by conjuring flames that forced them back.
Initially, he held the advantage.
His flames prevented the three men from approaching.
However, Kaelan quickly noticed the flaw.
The foxman's Energy was draining rapidly.
At this rate, defeat was inevitable.
Kaelan decided to intervene.
The baby was the primary reason.
Two thousand years had worn away much of his humanity, but not all of it.
A trace of pity still remained.
The foxman could also become a useful source of information.
Kaelan released the full power of his Spirit.
An invisible pressure descended upon the battlefield.
His Spirit possessed the strength of a Tier Two Transcendent.
Unfortunately, he lacked techniques capable of utilising that power properly.
In truth, he was little more than a paper tiger.
The humans did not know that.
All four combatants froze.
Fear filled their eyes as they looked toward the sky.
Using his Spirit, Kaelan projected a single command into their minds.
"Leave."
The three humans exchanged uncertain glances.
None of them moved.
Kaelan struck their minds a second time with spiritual pressure.
This time, they turned and fled without hesitation.
Once they disappeared, Kaelan withdrew his Spirit and looked down at the foxman.
The pressure vanished.
The foxman hurried to pick up the baby before looking toward the crow perched above.
He bowed deeply.
"Thank you, Senior. I will be forever grateful."
Kaelan could not understand a word.
Instead, he extended his Spirit toward the foxman.
The foxman sensed the contact and released his own Spirit.
The moment their spirits touched, he felt as though a small river had connected to an endless ocean.
Awe filled his heart.
"The Crow Senior's Spirit is even stronger than the Patriarch's."
He found nothing strange about the crow's silence.
Many powerful demons disdained mortal languages.
Using spiritual communication, he spoke again.
"Thank you, Senior. I will be forever grateful."
Kaelan finally understood.
"Why were they chasing you?"
The foxman gently rocked the baby until its crying ceased.
"Because I fell in love with a human woman."
His gaze softened as he looked at the child.
"And we had him."
Kaelan nodded.
Without another word, he spread his wings and vanished into the sky.
The foxman, whose name was Denver, watched him disappear.
After a long moment, Denver resumed his journey.
Kaelan followed from a distance.
Denver ran through the forest before eventually reaching a wide river.
On the opposite bank, Kaelan sensed numerous humans.
That must be human territory, he thought.
Denver stepped onto the river's surface and walked across it.
Kaelan watched silently.
Was the foxman truly foolish enough to return to human territory?
The answer soon became clear.
After crossing the river, Denver avoided the roads entirely and headed deep into the wilderness.
Long before Denver arrived, Kaelan discovered his destination.
A region of dense woodland covered with low hills.
A thick mist blanketed the area.
Even Kaelan's spiritual perception could not penetrate it.
Denver disappeared into the fog.
Kaelan did not attempt to investigate.
Instead, he turned toward the nearby human town he had detected earlier.
Using his energy vision, he identified every Transcendent within it.
Eleven Tier One Transcendents resided there.
Among them were the three men who had pursued Denver.
The remaining inhabitants were mortals following various cultivation paths.
Kaelan ignored the cultivators.
Instead, he focused on a lone mortal who lived in isolation at the edge of town.
Night had already fallen when he arrived.
Silently, he entered the house.
Then his Spirit slipped into the mortal's Soul Space.