Chapter 174 - A Gamble Worth Risking Life For

Wen Ran stood in hiding, his eyes locked onto the lifeless body of the crane, a formidable beast of the Nascent Soul level, now crumpled before his eyes in the distance. His heart twisted with a bitter ache, not out of sympathy for the fallen creature, but because its spiritual energy slipped away. What a waste... he thought to himself, his mind lingering on the untapped power. He could feel the hunger building within him, the need to absorb that energy—a hunger that had slowly begun to consume him. It had become a thirst that only killing could satisfy. But there was a rule to it: the energy must be claimed by his own blade.