The Whispering Forest earned its name from the howling wind that never stopped — but the howling wasn't wind.

Yun Che crouched behind a moss-covered boulder, watching the Profound Beast tear through a deer's carcass with sickening efficiency. It stood seven feet tall at the shoulder, its body covered in shimmering green scales that shifted color to match the forest around it. A Jade-Scaled Panther. Spirit Profound Realm, third level.

Its core was exactly what he needed for the Body Refining Elixir.

There was just one problem. In his current state — shattered meridians, no profound energy, barely enough physical strength to walk — he couldn't defeat a house cat, let alone a Spirit Profound Realm beast.

'Think,' he told himself. 'You didn't become the number one genius through brute force alone.'

He studied the panther's movements. It favored its left front paw — an old wound, poorly healed. It also paused every twenty-three seconds to scan the treeline. A predator that was afraid of something larger. That something was probably a Level Four or Five beast deeper in the forest.

Yun Che smiled grimly. He had his plan.

He gathered stones — not as weapons, but as noisemakers. He positioned himself upwind of the panther, then hurled a stone deep into the forest in the direction of the deeper territory. The crash echoed through the trees. The panther's head snapped up, ears flat against its skull. It froze for three heartbeats, then bolted in the opposite direction — straight toward Yun Che.

He didn't try to fight. He simply stepped aside at the last moment, letting the terrified beast crash through the underbrush. And in that moment of chaos, he grabbed what he'd actually been waiting for: the Profound Gathering Grass growing in the patch of soil where the panther had been feeding.

'Two more ingredients,' he whispered, clutching the glowing blue herbs to his chest. 'And then, Profound Handle, I'm coming for you.'