Chapter 80 - 62 : Behind him (1)

Chapter 80: Chapter 62 : Behind him (1)

Ethan opened his eyes.

For several seconds, he didn’t move. A rough ceiling of stone filled his vision. It was close enough that he could reach it if he stretched out his arm, and the narrow space around him was barely wide enough for him to turn comfortably. He could hear the sound of water dripping somewhere beyond the darkness.

Drip.

Drip.

Ethan blinked.

Where...

His thoughts were slow to form. He had no idea where he was, only that his back was pressed against cold stone and his clothes felt stiff from having been soaked.

Then the memories came rushing back; the mist, the Azure Cloud Sect, the questions that had turned into an attack, the wound that had nearly drained his Living Blood, and the desperate escape through the river.

Ethan’s eyes opened fully. He remained still for another moment, letting his thoughts settle. So he had escaped. As he slowly pushed himself upright, expecting the movement to pull at his side.

Nothing.

Ethan lowered a hand to the place where the Qi attack had torn through him. His fingers met smooth skin. He pressed harder, searching for the soreness that should have remained after such an injury.

There was nothing left. The wound had completely closed, leaving behind smooth skin without even a trace of the pain that had been there before. Ethan’s fingers remained there for a moment as he stared down at his side.

Ethan’s expression grew thoughtful. He remembered the injury clearly, the blood soaking through his clothes, the pain, and the strange sight of his flesh pulling itself back together while everything around him had been frozen in that moment of shock.

Back then, there had been no time to think about what he was seeing. He had been surrounded, exhausted, and trying to escape. The strange healing had simply been one more thing happening in the middle of everything else. Now, with nothing forcing him to move, Ethan could finally take a moment to let it really sink in. His gaze moved down to his side, there wasn’t even a mark left.

He released a quiet breath.

"So it really did heal."

The sensation of emptiness he had felt when he first escaped the previous day was gone. His body felt normal again. Whatever Living Blood had remained after the fight had apparently been enough for his body to finish repairing itself while he slept.

Ethan glanced around the narrow space, trying to piece together where he was and how long he’d been unconscious. The place was little more than a natural cleft between several large rocks, with damp stone beneath him suggesting that water had once flowed through it. It was far from comfortable, but the cramped space had been enough to keep him hidden through the night. He remembered crawling into it after leaving the stream.

He remembered making it into the narrow space between the rocks. He remembered the exhaustion, the pain, and the last traces of Living Blood moving through his body. At some point, exhaustion had finally taken over, and he must have slipped into unconsciousness without even realizing it.

Ethan rubbed his eyes and slowly stood. His body felt fine. His clothes were another matter. They were still damp, stained with mud, and torn in several places. One sleeve was nearly ruined, while the fabric around his side had dried stiff with blood. Ethan looked down at himself and gave a quiet sigh.

He had survived a chase with the Azure Cloud Sect only to end up looking like he’d lost a fight with the entire forest.

He took a glance at the ruined sleeve.

"At least I’m alive."

Ethan suddenly remembered the strange sensation he’d felt in his mouth the previous night. His tongue brushed against his upper teeth, almost out of habit, and he paused. He ran it over them again, then frowned. They felt completely normal.

He remembered the sharp points he’d felt before, the unfamiliar pressure against his lower lip. His fangs.

Ethan opened his mouth slightly and checked again, but there was nothing different about them now. He stared into the darkness for a moment.

Perhaps the exhaustion had affected him more than he’d realized. Between the blood loss, the pain, and everything that had happened, it wouldn’t have been surprising if his senses had played tricks on him.

Still, the memory felt too clear to dismiss so easily.

Ethan closed his mouth and sat quietly for a moment. Whatever had happened the night before, he would have to see whether it happened again. He considered the possibility for a moment before letting it go.

He still didn’t understand what had happened. For now, he could only keep it in mind and see what happened the next time.

His attention eventually settled on his belongings, and his gaze stopped on the journal. Ethan reached for it, but the moment his fingers closed around the cover, he felt something was off. The leather had swollen from the water, and when he opened it carefully, several damp pages pulled loose beneath his fingers.

Ethan froze.

The writing had bled across the paper, turning carefully written notes into blurred black stains. Some pages had torn along the edges. Others were stuck together so tightly that trying to separate them only made the paper come apart.

Ethan turned another page. The writing was gone, washed into blurred lines that he could no longer make sense of. He stared at the ruined page for a while, saying nothing.

It wasn’t just a book.

He had started writing in it back when there had been little else he could do. At first, it had only been a place to record observations, questions, and things he couldn’t yet understand. Over time, those notes had grown into a record of everything he had learned and everything he still needed to figure out.

The journal had followed him from one place to another, through changes he had never expected and discoveries he could never have imagined when he first began writing. Now, most of it was gone.

He ran his thumb slowly over the damaged page, feeling the softened paper beneath it.

"That’s unfortunate."

There was no anger in his voice, only disappointment. Ethan closed the journal and slipped it into his clothes. There was little point in looking through it any further. Most of what mattered was already ruined. He would keep it for now and decide what to do with it later, then he went ahead and climbed out of the narrow gap between the rocks.

The morning was grey.

Clouds covered most of the sky, and the forest still carried the dampness of the night’s rain. Leaves sagged beneath the weight of water, and whenever the branches shifted overhead, droplets shook loose and fell through the quiet trees.

Ethan stood beneath the trees and took a slow breath. The cool air carried the earthy smell of rain-soaked ground.

He looked back toward the direction he’d come from. Nothing stirred among the trees, and there were no voices carrying through the forest. Even so, Ethan didn’t trust the silence. He stood there for a moment and extended his awareness into the surrounding woods.

The familiar signs of life returned almost at once. Small creatures moved beneath the roots, while birds shifted among the branches, and something larger made its way through the forest farther away. Ethan let his awareness stretch beyond them, searching the surrounding area more carefully.

Nothing unusual.

He could sense no cultivators nearby, nor any other presence strong enough to draw his attention. He waited a little longer, but the forest remained quiet. Only then did he relax slightly.

The events of yesterday stayed with Ethan as he stood beneath the trees. He had sensed the cultivators long before they revealed themselves, yet that warning alone had not been enough. He had noticed them without understanding their purpose, and by the time the pieces came together, the mist had already closed around him.

Ethan glanced toward the forest behind him. His senses were useful, but they were only useful if he understood what they were telling him. Knowing that someone was there was one thing. Knowing why they were there was another.

Ethan looked down at his ruined clothes.

He needed to keep moving. The farther he got from the place where the cultivators had lost track of him, the better. There was no point rushing blindly, though. He had survived the night, and his body had recovered enough to move normally again.

What he really needed now was to replenish what the healing had taken from him. Food would help with that. Almost as if agreeing with the thought, his stomach gave a low growl. Ethan paused, then let out a quiet breath through his nose.

"Yeah. I could eat."

He adjusted his clothes and continued deeper into the forest

This time, Ethan didn’t use his heightened senses simply out of curiosity. After what had happened the previous day, he was more careful about what he allowed himself to notice and what he did with that information. He kept his awareness spread lightly around him as he moved, checking the forest ahead whenever the terrain changed or the trees grew thicker.

After a while, a familiar presence entered the edge of his awareness. Ethan slowed and paid closer attention. The presence carried the same quiet vitality he’d sensed from animals before, and it wasn’t moving like a person. An animal, most likely.

He adjusted his course slightly and continued toward it. As he drew closer, the trees ahead began to thin, and movement caught his eye between the trunks.

Ethan slowed.

There, partially hidden among the trees, was the source of the presence he’d sensed.