The Beach

Warm sunlight sparkled off the salty waves washing over the shore. A flock of gulls raucously announced their presence as they circled overhead, and a cool blanket of water lapped at Shao Ling's legs. He didn't remember waking up after he fell unconscious after killing the Twin-Headed Hazard Wolf, but at some point he found himself lying on his back on warm, wet sand.

He sensed that he had been lying there for a considerable amount of time, but it seemed that his body had reached a stalemate between being pushed onto the shore and being dragged out to sea.

[How did I get here? Where is the rest of my party?]

Although his eyes were closed, Shao Ling felt a greater awareness of his surroundings than he had ever experienced with his eyes open. The cloudless azure sky, the birds hoping to catch an unwary fish, the crab hiding beneath a sheen of sand in order to avoid its predators. All of it was laid out before Shao Ling with clarity exceeding the most vivid photographs from his previous life. It was a surreal experience, viewing the world not with his sight, but with an awareness that combined all of his senses and at the same time transcended them.

[I wonder if I'll be able to remain in this state if I open my eyes.]

Shao Ling decided to test this, and found himself unable to move his eyelids. He deliberately sought to stay calm by trying it several times, and then methodically tried to move other parts of his body. He shortly discovered that despite being able to perceive the world with unprecedented precision, he was completely unable to move. Shao Ling's heart felt still in spite of the panic that was slowly enveloping his mental state despite his best efforts to remain calm.

Even when Shao Ling's body was ravaged by the late stages of the disease that made every moment of his existence agony, he had still been able to move his body, if only to blink and curl his fingers. The complete paralysis that Shao Ling was currently suffering from blossomed into a greater flower of fear than the primal terror that the Twin-Headed Hazard Wolf has instilled in him.

[I can't move. Why can't I move? Was I injured in the fight? I think I remember collapsing from exhaustion. I killed the Hazard Beast. Why can't I move? I split it down the middle. My fingers, my eyelids, legs, I can't move. There was so much blood. I killed it, right? So much blood. I can't move. Right? I don't feel any pain. I killed the Hazard Beast. It's been so long since I haven't felt any pain—in both lives I was cursed with a body unfit for living. There's no more pain. I killed the Hazard Beast, but did it kill me.... Am I dead?]

[I lost.]

As terror steadily eroded his efforts to calm himself by thinking rationally, a voice interrupted Shao Ling's thoughts. He couldn't sense anybody in the vicinity, and it came as a dim surprise that he could extend his consciousness to scour the entire beach—which was lodged between the sea and a rugged cliff face—in search of another human. It took a moment for him to realize that the voice originated from within his own mind. As soon as the thought entered his consciousness, Shao Ling instinctively knew it was the truth, but the next thoughts to form in his mind deepened his confusion.

[It looks like Empyrean Lords live up to the title.]

Shao Ling would've frowned if he could move his facial muscles.

[Empyrean... That has something to do with Heaven, right? I think I'd remember a flashy title like that.]

Monarchs used the title "Son of Heaven" in Shao Ling's previous and current lives, but the title of Empyrean Lord drew a blank for him.

[He got me pretty good... I expended too much Blood Qi, so it looks like I'll have to sit tight and enjoy the scenery for a while.]

The fight against the Twin-Headed Hazard Wolf voraciously devoured the new type of Qi Shao Ling discovered as soon as it was accessible, leaving him drained from drawing too heavily from his Blood Qi reserves. The term Blood Qi appeared in Shao Ling's mind, and it felt natural to use it. However, it raised a flag in his head.

[Where have I heard that term before? I don't think Master Yao Hu mentioned it. No, if he knew of a method of cultivating Qi with broken meridians he would've told me.]

The only answer to Shao Ling's thoughts was the crash of waves on the sandy surf and the cries of seagulls above.

The sun vanished and appeared on the horizon three times, and Shao Ling fell into a meditative state. Thankfully the scavengers gave his body a wide berth, as he was unable to fend off the smallest crab scuttling in the shallows. Not even the insects bothered him. Time seemed to grow more fluid, and it was hard to distinguish between days, hours, and minutes passing. Although the brilliant sun beat down on him and the cold night air seeped into his body, he only faintly felt both sensations, as if he was simply aware of them, but not physically feeling them.

[That can't be a good sign... At least I don't have to deal with a painful sunburn.]

Shao Ling felt little comfort in that silver lining.

As he laid there, he attempted to sense the Blood Qi he tapped into during his fight against the Twin-Headed Hazard Wolf. He could feel a trickle of Blood Qi, like a stray drop of water clinging to the bottom of an empty waterskin. Shao Ling instinctively knew that this drop of Blood Qi was preserving his life.

[The human body can go three to four days without drinking water.]

The errant musing intruded upon his meditation.

[Time is difficult to keep track of in this state, but if the sun has risen three times since I first gained consciousness, then I should have another day before my body shuts down completely, at most. This wouldn't be the worst way to die, but I'd rather not end my reincarnation here. I've yet to visit a provincial city in this life. Come to think of it, I practically lived this entire life at the Shao family residence.]

Shao Ling had done a lot of traveling for his up-and-coming martial arts career in his previous life, but he lived his second life in a bubble.

[The Old Zombie and Lady Yin were the ones to shatter that bubble and send me on my journey to Liu Provincial City. I can't say I'm grateful to either of them, seeing how it ended up, but if—no, when I am able to make it out of this alive, I will cultivate this new Qi to the peak of martial arts, and I'll force even the transcendent monsters of the martial world to answer to me. Ha, it's nice that optimism is free.]

The sun rose and fell another six times on the beach where Shao Ling remained motionless on the ground. It was an eternity and less time than a heartbeat. To Shao Ling's amazement, the single drop of Blood Qi was able to sustain him long after his body should've shut down completely from dehydration.

[Maybe I died after all, and reincarnated as the spirit of this beach.]

He didn't seriously consider that possibility since he could feel that he had a human body that was distinct from the beach, despite his ability to sense every inch of his surroundings.

Shao Ling took the time to study the drop of Blood Qi in his Energy Center. He was shocked to discover what felt like the echo of an incredibly vast Sea of Qi—the single drop of Blood Qi was the remains of it. As Shao Ling continued to study the drop of Qi, he found that it was formed by a remarkably pure Yin energy. Although theoretically all Qi must possess both Yin and Yang aspects, this Qi was so pure that he couldn't sense any Yang energy within the maelstrom of Yin residing within a mere droplet.

[This must be a higher form of the Blood Qi I was able to tap into while fighting the Hazard Beast. It appears that my body refined the Blood Qi to an astonishing level while I was unconscious... But, is that really possible? I know I'm inexperienced with higher forms of energy than the most basic level of Heaven and Earth Qi, but this energy feels countless leagues above it. I know that I'm far from the level where I can produce Qi of this purity, so how could my body do it instinctively? Wait...]

Shao Ling recalled the night the sky turned red. Before Lady Yin "healed" him, the zombie-like senior sent a stream of extremely pure Qi into his glabella before dying.

[Is this the "opportunity" he spoke of?]

Shao Ling's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something hitherto absent from the beach: human footsteps.

[Looks like I'm in luck.]

As the footsteps grew nearer, another thought that felt like someone else's crossed his mind.

Shao Ling could sense that the person approaching was a lone older man, and seemed to have a slight limp. He was carrying a fishing rod fashioned from a tree branch.

The man said something, but Shao Ling was unable to understand his words. He steadily drew nearer, and Shao Ling felt anticipation rising within him. Before long the old man stood directly above him. His face had deep wrinkles, and messy hair tumbled down to his neck. His clothes were made of some sort of animal hide, and his eyes seemed to contain pity as he looked at Shao Ling. He put his hands together in a gesture that looked like prayer, and a thought rang in Shao Ling's mind.

[Now!]

The droplet of Blood Qi in Shao Ling's Energy Center suddenly ignited, forcing powerful energy through Shao Ling's body. As if yanked by a puppeteer's strings, Shao Ling's body lurched up, and before the old man could react a nightmarish hand—desiccated skin pulled tautly over bone—plunged into his chest.

"Agh!"

The fishing pole fell to the ground, and the old man's eyes widened in surprise and terror before the light faded out of them.

Shao Ling was unable to make a sound or move a muscle as he felt himself rapidly extracting blood from the old man's body. He caught a glimpse of a horrifying visage reflected in the dead man's glassy eyes before the corpse before him was reduced to a husk of dry, cracked skin and bones.

[What... What the hell did I do...]

The bloodless corpse collapsed quietly as Shao Ling stood on the wet sand of the beach as the horizon lightened with the first rays of dawn.