Path of BlooDld

The night in the Great Wilderness wasn't just darkness. It was a living body—breathing, whispering, watching. Beneath that cosmic blackness, Ashen sat cross-legged, bare-chested, his arms covered in thin bloodlines that wrapped around his muscles as if redrawing him anew.

The sound of his blood had become familiar.

But tonight... it spoke.

The technique he had always used instinctively — Direct Blood Control — was beginning to evolve.

Ashen muttered to himself:

"The blood echo... it's not just a tool. It's a path."

He raised his palm in front of him, and thin threads of blood emerged from his fingertips, dancing in the air, writhing like a creature begging to be born.

"Every time I use you, you become more... aware."

He began to guide the threads to draw something in the air—circles, knots, spikes, interwoven extensions... he was sculpting a weapon. Or something like it.

That was when the new technique was born: Blood Carving

An ancient technique, a legacy of his clan, only awakened when the blood itself desired to become a weapon.

"If I draw the shape precisely... and charge the flow with my own blood energy..."

The threads trembled suddenly and started to merge.

"...then imagination turns into substance. And the weapon... becomes a part of me."

What he formed wasn't a sword. Nor a spear.

But... chains.

Dark red chains, each link pulsing slowly, as if made from a beating heart. At their ends were tips shaped like split spears, with tiny spikes that emitted a faint metallic hiss as they moved.

"I'll call you... Blood Chain."

The chains moved on their own, as if they understood, and one of them plunged into his chest—painlessly—leaving behind a dark circular tattoo.

"Part of you... and part of me."

A gray-furred beast appeared, with blood-crystal formations jutting from its skin and eyes full of hunger and hate.

It lunged at Ashen like a meteor, but he didn't move. At the last moment, the chain shot out like a predator.

It struck the beast aside, then wrapped around its leg.

The wolf's howl echoed—not from pain... but from drainage.

The chain's rings began to absorb its life force.

"I can feel it... his blood entering me."

Ashen yanked his arm, dragging the beast's body across the ground, then launched the chain again—this time toward its neck.

Its throat burst slowly, painting the earth with hot blood.

This isn't enough. I need more to test this power.

Three twisted bodies approached—hybrids of insects and bones, crawling on six legs, skinless.

Ashen raised his hand, and three chains branched from his tattoo.

One struck the neck. The second, a leg. The third... the spine.

Each hit bound the creature tightly, then dragged it like a broken doll.

"The chain isn't just an attack..." he shouted inwardly.

"It's a trap—and every trap devours part of its prey."

When all three gathered near him, he spun the chains like a vortex, surrounding the monsters and squeezing.

The result?

A collective blood explosion.

More. More. I need more.

A rare beast appeared—its head split vertically, bearing giant jaws that opened top to bottom, filled with natural, jagged teeth.

Its problem wasn't power—it was speed.

Ashen ran, shooting a chain toward a rock behind the beast. He used it like a grappling hook, dodging the first strike.

In mid-air, he gathered the chains around his arm, forming a massive spear, then hurled it into the open mouth.

The blade lodged deep in its throat, then branched inside, feeding on it from within.

The beast lasted five more seconds... then collapsed.

Ashen sat beside the corpse, slowly reeling in the chains. They trembled—not from exhaustion... but from ecstasy.

"You're evolving... and with you, I evolve."

The Blood Chains technique was still growing. Currently, its range was ten meters, and he could only summon three chains at once. But with the advancement of his refinement level, both the range and the number of chains would increase. Moreover, their strength, sharpness, and durability could be enhanced by letting them drink the blood of many creatures. Yet the most powerful feature of the chains was their ability to drain the enemy's energy and convert it into—

"Each time I understand my blood, I understand my limits. And each time I understand the limits, I can break them."

By the end of the day, Ashen stood in the battlefield, his body drenched in blood, his eyes glowing with something new...

Awareness.

The blood chains circled him like heavenly serpents, each heartbeat echoing like a war drum.

He looked at the sky... and felt it watching. But this time, he didn't feel fear.

He felt... challenge.

"Watch me. But when I break free, there will be nothing left above me."