Chapter 100: Near Death, Devourer Unleashed
The chase had stretched on for grueling minutes. Hunter and hunted tore through the forest depths, covering kilometers with each thunderous exchange of distance and desperation.
By now, Su Tianhao's endurance was nearing its limits. The poison had spread—purple veins spider-webbing across his arm, creeping toward his neck like death's fingers reaching for a final hold.
"Damn it—Damn it!" he roared through gritted teeth, forcing his legs to keep moving despite the agony. It wasn't just his physical strength fading. His inner energy was draining too, leaking from him with every labored breath.
"Hahahaha! It's futile!" Blood Grin's voice echoed close behind—dangerously close. "I don't even need to touch you. With my poison spreading, you're already a dead man walking."
Su Tianhao pushed on, vision dimming at the edges.
'Am I really going to die here...?'
His face had gone pale as ash. Deep down, he already knew the truth—the only reason he was still breathing was because his enemy hadn't gotten serious yet. Blood Grin was simply tailing him, like a predator savoring the fear of its prey before the kill.
---
They had reached the very edge of the outer region. One more stretch and they would cross into the inner region—home to grade three beasts and above.
There, the danger wouldn't just be Blood Grin.
It would be everything.
"Looks like this is where you die."
Blood Grin's voice drifted in—quieter this time. No mocking. No laughter. No games.
Just death.
A cold chill ran down Su Tianhao's spine. That presence pressed against his back like a shadow with weight. He turned instinctively—
And saw him.
Blood Grin. Standing just meters away, locked onto him like death given form. His single eye blazed with killing intent. The lifeless one sat pale and empty beside it. The twisted scar on his face warped further under the weight of his grin.
In that moment, he no longer looked human.
"Ghost Reaping Claw!"
The air around his arm twisted violently—warped by a surge of sinister energy. A dark, mist-like aura erupted from his hand, spiraling around his fingers like smoke laced with killing intent.
Crack—Crack—Crack!
His fingers elongated unnaturally, veins bulging as sharp, claw-like extensions of spiritual energy formed over them—ghostly, translucent, yet solid enough to shred steel. The aura condensed with a sound like wailing—as if the souls of the dead had been woven into the technique itself.
'Spiritual energy manifestation. Strength amplification.'
Su Tianhao's eyes widened in horror. This was the ability that separated Martial Adepts from Martial Disciples—spiritual energy amplifying raw strength, manifesting into physical force. Against this, anyone within the Martial Disciple Realm was no more than a lamb for the slaughter.
"Die!"
Blood Grin vanished.
He closed the distance in a heartbeat, the ground exploding beneath each step as he pounced. The Ghost Reaping Claw drove straight for Su Tianhao's heart—silent, savage, and merciless.
Su Tianhao screamed in defiance, throwing himself sideways with everything he had left. Deep down, he already knew—it was nearly impossible.
His heart tightened.
Then something shifted.
The air trembled.
A powerful suction force erupted from within Su Tianhao's body without warning, threatening to consume everything in its path. The space around him distorted and rippled violently. Whirlpools of air formed in every direction, pulling leaves, dust and debris into spinning chaos.
The devouring ability had activated on its own—again. This time more powerful than ever.
Su Tianhao's eyes lit up. He didn't know what it meant this time, but he seized the change like a dying man grabbing a lifeline.
"Devour!"
He roared, pouring every shred of his will into the force.
Whoosh!
The dormant vortex within his dantian came roaring to life. Phantom dragon cries echoed from deep within his core as if answering his call. This time, he held nothing back—the devouring ability burst forth, wild and completely unrestrained.
His golden eyes were glowing now—radiant, fierce, no longer human. His pupils had slanted to sharp vertical slits.
Not the eyes of a man.
The eyes of a dragon.
The air turned chaotic. Waves of spiritual energy surged from a twenty-meter radius in every direction, rushing toward his body like rivers converging into a sea. Blood Grin halted his advance instantly, instinct screaming at him. Warning bells rang through every fiber of his being.
His blood and spiritual energy churned violently. Heat surged through his veins. His very soul thrashed as if trying to flee his body.
Primal fear overtook him.
He bolted—unleashing his full aura, burning every reserve of strength to tear himself free of the suction range.
His instinct had been right.
The moment he cleared it—
BOOOM!
Su Tianhao's aura detonated outward like a collapsing star. The Shrouded Dragon Veil could no longer contain it. But this was no longer the aura of a 4th level Martial Disciple.
It was the aura of a dragon.
A supreme dragon.
The moment it touched the world, the air trembled. The ground shook. From somewhere deep in the forest, beasts roared—then fell silent—then fled. Grade one, grade two, grade three—it made no difference. Every living creature within range vanished, tails tucked, driven by a fear older than cultivation itself.
But that wasn't the most terrifying part.
Within seconds, every tree and plant in a twenty-meter radius began to wither and die. Their vital energy stripped clean—devoured completely. Leaves curled to ash. Bark cracked and peeled. The earth beneath them seemed to exhale its final breath.
What remained was barren. Desolate. Utterly lifeless.
"This..." Blood Grin breathed, his voice barely a whisper. Even someone as twisted as him felt dread crawling up his spine. "If I hadn't gotten out just now..."
He didn't finish the thought. He didn't need to.
He would have been annihilated—not even his bones left behind.
Inside the lifeless zone, Su Tianhao stood still. His body drank in the swirling torrents of spiritual energy like a void that could never be filled—absorbing, refining, converting everything into revitalizing force that surged through his veins and meridians. The spreading poison was devoured alongside everything else, broken down and transformed into raw energy without ceremony.
The vortex roared. His dragon eyes closed. The destruction continued around him, and he remained untouched by all of it.
Then—his broken body, which moments ago had teetered on the edge of collapse, felt reborn.
Aah~
Su Tianhao exhaled deeply, releasing a gust of foul air—thick with spent energy and purged toxin, like rot finally clearing from a sealed space.
His eyes opened slowly. The dragon's gaze burned brilliant and ancient for one fleeting moment—as if those eyes alone could illuminate the world—before dimming back into their familiar golden hue.
He looked around.
The vortex in his dantian had quieted, but the devastation it had left was unmistakable. The land around him was stripped bare—blackened, hollow, lifeless. Trees stood twisted and grey, bark cracked like scorched skin. The air still reeked of decay and spent vitality.
"I doubt anything will grow here for years to come," Su Tianhao muttered, his voice low. His body brimmed with revitalized energy—so potent that if he weren't deliberately suppressing it, a breakthrough would have come on its own.
His gaze swept the clearing and landed on Blood Grin—frozen mid-step, wide-eyed, body locked. Still in shock. Still rooted by what he had witnessed.
'It's not safe yet. I have to use this chance to escape.'
Without hesitation, Su Tianhao turned and propelled himself forward, vanishing into the dense wilds of the inner region like a phantom dissolving in motion.
Some might wonder why he hadn't struck Blood Grin down while the opportunity was there. But Su Tianhao knew better. A Martial Adept's instincts were razor-sharp—the moment true killing intent surged, Blood Grin would snap back. That kind of gamble might cost him everything.
His decision wasn't fear. It was precision.
Swoosh!
He darted through the trees, weaving like a shadow riding the wind. The beasts of the inner region—normally bloodthirsty and territorial—had all fled before his draconic aura. The path ahead lay eerily clear.
---
Several minutes after Su Tianhao vanished, Blood Grin finally snapped out of his daze.
His lone eye still carried a shadow of fear. His gaze swept over the desolate, withered land around him—the air still heavy with residual force, thick and oppressive even now.
"I was right all along..." he muttered, voice rough, almost reluctant in its reverence. "That brat has a lot of secrets."
Then his lips curled.
Fear faded. Something darker replaced it.
Greed.
"Jejeje... when have I, Blood Grin, ever backed down from a target?" A low, unsettling laugh cracked through him. "If I can get my hands on him... all his secrets will be mine. I'll soar—like dragons and phoenixes..."
Hunger dripped from every word.
Su Tianhao was no longer just a target. He had become an opportunity. A path to power.
'He couldn't have gone far... I can still catch him.'
Blood Grin's figure vanished into the forest in a burst of speed.
But fate had other plans.
He would not find Su Tianhao again—at least, not this time.