Still Heart

"...I made it back huh?"

When Shui woke up, he saw the ceiling of his room in Kate's house. He wasn't sure if he would be rescued so just being alive was enough for him to feel relief. He tried sitting up in the bed he was in, but was immediately hampered by the pain and bandages around his abdomen. He had no shirt on so the sight of his bandages and the talismans that he had stuck on himself were visible. Unless they ran out of power or he allowed them to, Shui knew these talismans wouldn't come off. This instantly reminded him of his condition so he checked his body once more to see how he was.

'This is bad. I need to hurry!'

His cultivation had dropped to the fifth level in the Mortal Realm. Despite the 'Stasis' talismans he had used, the poison was still corroding his muscles and destroying his mutated veins, albeit to a much slower degree. Still, in his condition it would only be a matter of time until he died. Shui quickly jumped out of bed, but stumbled due to the pain in his thighs. His thighs felt like it had random spots of hot and cold as he felt pain in some areas but couldn't feel anything in others. Fortunately, he could still force himself to move with his transcendent force.

Shui grabbed his satchel that was by his bed and went out of the window in his room. It was night but the full moon was more than enough to guide him to the Primordial Library. He didn't have much leeway to escape pursuers but luckily he felt no eyes on him. After somehow reaching the waterfall, Shui hurriedly dashed into the Library.

"Phew..."

Now that he was in here, the poison moved so slow that it could be considered negligible and he finally had time to think of countermeasures.

"Now then, as for the corroding of my muscles, I can fix it easily. If I didn't have a two-star saint body then I would probably be dead already, but as long as I can get rid of the poison my condition won't degrade. Since I was constantly leaking nature energy, I didn't have enough energy to help me force out the poison but I can do it here."

Shui sat in a meditative position and focused on the ball of poison that was near his stomach. If he kept it here without dealing with it, it wouldn't be surprising if his digestive and excretory functions stopped working. He used his martial intent to remove the bandages and then started expelling the poison through his wound as soon as he also removed the 'Stasis' talismans. Shui had once accidentally spilled beast blood here, so after some experimentation he found out that any organic substance besides himself that touched the floor of the Library would quickly vanish as if being decomposed into pure energy. Therefore it would be easy to dispose of the poison.

It felt like twenty minutes had passed before he was able to get rid of the poison that was inside him along with a large portion of his blood, not enough to make him dizzy though. However even with that black blood gone, the damage it had caused was still there. Fixing his muscles would be simpler than fixing his mutated veins, so he thought of a solution for it first.

The easiest way to repair his corroded muscles would be to use rare-grade herbs. 'We Got That Flora' had mutated flora up to treasure-grade so getting rare-grade wouldn't be too hard since money wasn't an obstacle. However, of the herbs he needed, some only grew in special areas so he wasn't sure if that shop would have all of them.

'I wonder if they have anything?'

Shui took up his satchel and looked at the 'Seal' on it. This reminded him of Cin who was supposed to be in there, so he quickly took off the talisman but Cin was missing.

"Oh yeah, he must not be qualified."

Shui remembered that only those that met the requirements could enter the Library, and apparently sneaking someone in with his satchel wouldn't work.

While thinking that Cin would be able to wait for an hour, Shui searched the knapsacks of the assassins but was swiftly met with disappointment. The ones belonging to the Clite clan only contained rations and water, a few spirit gems, health potions made with common-grade herbs, poison and knives. The assassin from the Tower of Killers had a similar selection but of better quality, with four other items that caught his attention. He had the daggers that the assassin used against him. After this event, Shui was determined to learn more about poison and medicine.

Next were the metal balls with corrosive liquid, these would be good for reference. The other two items were a jade plaque with the words 'Blade Rain' engraved on it, along with a black seal that had a mask on one side and a heart on the other. It was easy to guess that the jade plaque recorded the 'Blade Rain' spell, but he wasn't sure about the black seal though he had good idea.

'It's probably related to the Tower of Killers.'

He wouldn't mind taking some more time to check them out, but he had more pressing matters. Since he didn't have any of the required herbs, he would have to give up on fixing his muscles. That left the problem of his mutated veins. Although he managed to keep a portion of his cultivation, he was still in a very precarious state. Unlike his corroded muscles, his destroyed mutated veins could worsen his condition. It would be fine inside the Library, but outside, the rate of him losing energy would surpass the rate he absorbed it if he didn't focus. Therefore, he would eventually lose all of his energy cultivation.

A 'Seal' talisman would probably stop any leakage of nature energy, but that wouldn't be the best option. If he stopped the leakage then the nature energy that came out from the destroyed mutated vein would build up in the area. If too much nature energy remained stagnant in one area of his body, it would cause him to forcefully mutate. He didn't want to even think of what would happen if that occurred.

'I need a way to allow it to leak while also absorbing enough to keep my cultivation. So should I use 'Stasis'? But I would still need to gather enough, energy. No, no, that can't work. But,'

As he reviewed his situation, Shui came up with an idea, but while it was theoretically sound, he didn't believe it was practical. If he used the symbol of 'Stasis' along with the symbol of 'Gather' he would be able to stabilize his cultivation. But to make it work properly he would need to make the two symbols interact with each other, a high-level inscription technique. He didn't think he could do it, but giving up without trying also wasn't a path he could take.

"What should I do?"

Shui reached for the necklace around his neck. Though it was from his father, it reminded him of his mother as well as the way she wanted him to live. As he held onto the necklace, Shui slowly breathed in and out.

'The chance of success is low and I haven't given up on finding another method. However, this is likely the best method with what I have on hand. If I fail then I'll waste time and concentration, but if I succeed then my problem will be solved for now and I'll improve.'

Now that he had calmly looked over his state again, Shui made the choice to try the method he had thought of. In order to make sure his concentration didn't wane, he took out both the pseudo-true core of the elderly scaled woruse and the wraith's core he had been saving up. With the wraith's core in his hands, Shui closed off his vision.

He used his martial intent to remove two streams of blood from his body. Since the symbols would directly affect his body, and as someone with a two-star saint body, his blood would have the best effect since it could last for as long as he needed it to. To connect the effects of two different symbols, he would not only have to draw them simultaneously, but also needed to imagine both of their effects, how they worked and how the two reacted with each other. After separating the two streams of blood into two balls and putting one in front of him and the other behind, he did a simulation of this task before actually beginning. Shui spent around an hour readying himself before he started using the blood to draw the symbols of 'Stasis' and 'Gather'. Due to his strong soul, he had trained himself to be ambidextrous, but using martial intent was easier.

The speed at which he drew them was the slowest he had ever done since he had to do four things in parallel. But despite how slowly he drew them, the tiny mistake he made while defining the effects ruined the symbols.

"Tch, again."

He discarded the blood that was wasted drawing the ruined symbol, extracted more and started over again. And then he failed in trying to design the way the symbols should interact and failed again. And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again until finally, the wraith's core shattered.

"Damn it, it's finished."

Shui had drawn as much support from the wraith's core as possible, but not even a single case of success. He thought about giving up, just like he said he would if he failed, but now that he got into it he had become stubborn so it was hard for him to stop.

"Just one more time. Just once. This will be my last attempt."

Shui discarded the shattered wraith's core and reached towards the pseudo-true core.

'This, is...'

Just as his hand was about to grab it, Shui saw his face reflected on it. His pale face was expected considering that he was nearing the limit of blood he could take from himself, but it was the unstable breathing that made him freeze in place. As young as he was, the way he huffed and puffed made him look like a drug addict.

"I'm too nervous..."

Shui pulled back his hand and slowly breathed in and out. He realized that if he kept going without calming down, failure would be the obvious result. He tried to forget all distractions, why he was here and for what purpose was he trying to draw the two symbols. Only his objective remained.

When he became like this, Shui reached for the pseudo-true core with his martial intent and focused. He still didn't begin the inscription, he only focused on the self. Unlike with the wraith's core, which was like being partially submerged in a cool stream, using the pseudo-true core gave him the feeling of being alone at the bottom of the ocean. He was at peace, as if captured in an air bubble serenely moving along the ocean currents; there was nothing to worry him. Soon, even sensation was something lost to him. As if he was detached from his own body, he only perceived the two orbs of blood near him as well as the pseudo-true core.

Little did Shui know, for the first time, he had attained the state said to be the dearest wish of everyone with production related paths. He had attained the 'Still Heart' state.