Quickening to the Depths

Even if Zhou Ying is likely to lose, he won't go down without a fight. Upon seeing this determination, the mocking smile plastered on Li Zhao's countenance was replaced by slight irritation. Someone weaker than him showing defiance right in front of him is unacceptable.

"If you kowtow to me once, then I'll go easy on the offense. I'll still win in the end, but you'll be left with less injuries. What do you say?" The act of 'kindness' was looked at with disdain by Zhou Ying. The brown-haired boy took a stance for a moment before rushing in.

The punch he threw was bogged down by exhaustion from yesterday and weariness from a lack of proper sleep. However, even if he was in peak condition, the attack wouldn't have worked.

Li Zhao dodged the punch with grace and threw a basic kick at the weaker student's unguarded body. Pain rippled through the boy's body as he nearly fell forward.

This was expected. Zhou Ying was a Third Rank of the Elementary Profound Realm while Li Zhao was a Fifth Rank. The gap of two stages could not be overcome by a boy who was physically weaker, exhausted, and had less battle experience. Not only that, Li Zhao has the benefit of having family members who teach him martial arts. The battle was settled from the outset, which made the weaker student bitter.

He steadied his body and rose his fists again, not rushing in like last time. He just doesn't have the energy to spare for reckless charges.

"You can always just surrender, you know?" There seemed to be a hint of concern in Li Zhao's voice. He obviously saw the exhausted state his opponent was in, but it appears that he's just now realizing how worn down he actually is. "Defeating a tired weakling won't do anything for me."

"Quit the chatter and continue," Zhou Ying spoke boldly. For those words, a kick launched itself at his temple, one that he was almost to slow to block. His form was also wrong, so he ended up taking the attack with his wrist.

The pain was almost blinding. It was sprained for sure, but it gave Zhou Ying the opportunity to attack at a close range. He hurled his fist straight at his opponents face and managed to slightly graze his chin.

"You little...!" The minor humiliation of even being scratched by someone who was his inferior in everyday was particularly damaging to his pride. Li Zhao had to remedy this immediately.

He slammed his fist into Zhou Ying's stomach. An impact rocked his entire body with the sensation of a fist twisting into his gut. Zhou Ying fell on his knees immediately.

"That's the match." The teacher emotionlessly intoned. "Both of you return to your seats."

He definitely knew that Zhou Ying wouldn't be able to stand any time soon because of the powerful body blow. The Profound Strength that circulated the fist increased the force, nearly causing the boy to black out; the blood seeping from his lips was a testament to the injury he received.

He couldn't afford to offend the instructor any longer though. Zhou Ying picked himself up and stumbled back to his seat with dark thoughts permeating his mind. His talent is low, his strength is low, and his willpower is low. How can he possibly achieve a better standing in the world in the state he's in?

It's no good.

Classes ended approximately thirty minutes later and students were free to practice on their own. Zhou Ying was currently cultivating in an attempt to raise his power, yet an outpouring of sweat was his only reward for his efforts. The circulation of his Profound Energy was slow, so increasing his strength would naturally be slow as well. Acquiring pills and herbs costs money he doesn't have.

"Fuck!" The boy cursed and pounded on the ground with dissatisfaction, like he was forced to consume a whole pile of feces with a smile on his face. The injury he acquired from Li Zhao started acting up at the exact same time, coming back with a force far worse than what it initially was.

Zhou Ying had no pill or herb for internal injuries, so all he could do was circulate his Profound Energy in hopes that would mitigate the injury. Though, either due to a lack of skill in manipulating his energy or a lack of control, he made the injury worse. As a result, he coughed up cupfuls of blood and was on the verge of slipping into unconsciousness.

Zhou Ying dragged himself to his bed and fell asleep all while lamenting his current weakness.

In the period of time where he drifted off, a pale fragment's color darkened in hue as it continued attaching itself to Zhou Ying's soul.

Two horrifying things happened in the midst of the boy's sleep. His soul paled in hue and grew smaller, and the fragment grew in size while having its pallid color darken. Zhou Ying groaned in his sleep, feeling a foreign pain that he couldn't describe, yet he was unable to wake up. An old soul and a new soul began warring against each other and it was only a matter of time until a victor between the two was settled. Zhou Ying's soul was young, fresh and full of life, and whole. The other soul was old, withered and consumed with vapidity, and ultimately a fragment of a whole.

Zhou Ying's eyes flew open. Like a night owl, he became wide awake when the moon and stars made themselves clear in the night sky. There was a sensation of something wriggling beneath his skin, muscle, and even bones. A headache that induced nausea made him want to vomit and slam his skull against the wall to make it stop and a searing pain on his chest took away his voice as he sweat out his body weight.

Zhou Ying was in an extreme amount of pain. He didn't know, but his soul was suffering an assault, one that he woke up in the midst of. He had no Profound Arts or skills that could affect the soul, so he had to rely on its natural instincts to survive. The raw, unfettered emotions of survival made it shift into overdrive while the body was left afflicted by an unholy pain.

The torment didn't even allow him to scream.

It ended an hour later with Zhou Ying completely paralyzed from the aftereffects. The most he could do was twitch his fingers as a reflex in memory of the pain that seared itself like a phantom in Zhou Ying's head.

"W...hat's...happening?" His question wouldn't be answered by anyone.

Another hour later, his bodily functions started reviving. His heart began beating like a drum, the throbbing pain in his chest fading with a surge of vitality. That feeling began spreading all over his body and permeated into his bones before drilling even deeper.

That sensation went to his brain and then Zhou Ying blacked out.

Hours later, birds began chirping, signaling the breaking of dawn. Light peeked through the mildly cloudy skies into Zhou Ying's room, yet the boy remained unresponsive for another thirty minutes.

Eyes blearily and sluggishly opened as if it took a great deal of strength to do something as minor as that. The bed was completely covered in sweat and the sticky sensation all over the boy's body garnered no sign of disgust due to an extreme exhaustion preventing that. When the young cultivator finally acquired the strength to sit up, his eyes took in the world around him.

There was something wrong and he couldn't figure out what.

He... He had to move.

Without changing his clothes, he stumbled out of his room and avoided those around him until he nearly bumped into Li Zhao.

"Oh, Zhou Ying? How is your body treating you on this fine day?" The faux gentlemanly tone he built up and practiced was treated like the air. Li Zhao felt as though he punched a pillow, and he was about to make his annoyance apparent until he saw the lackadaisical expression plastered on Zhou Ying's face.

"...Are you okay?" It was a very rare expression of concern from him. Despite his arrogance and his method of looking down on others, he was still a human being that could feel worry for others. The odd trance that Zhou Ying was in seemed to have pulled that rare side to the surface, yet even that concern didn't faze the boy.

He stopped, looked at Li Zhao with empty eyes, before continuing onward outside.

"Should I send someone to follow him?" For a moment, curiosity seemed to dominate his thoughts. He then shook his head. "Never mind. I still need them to purchase resources."

While he was planning a breakthrough, Zhou Ying absentmindedly wandered to the forest where he nearly met his end. His view was distorted, like he was seeing the world while underwater.

It's obvious to even children that the boy wasn't right in the head. If a high-level cultivator were to peer into his soul right now, their own soul might leap from their chest in shock, for Zhou Ying's core is being depleted.

Particles of his own soul are being consumed by the fragment that latched onto him. It was something that saved him from a premature death in the forest, only for it to ultimately lead to an end later on.

However, Zhou Ying was incapable of figuring out what was going on. This was an incomparable incident with a soul that no other individual on the Profound Sky Continent has ever experienced before, much less those in New Moon City.

The sound of something cracking stole half of Zhou Ying's vision. He became partially blind and lost all sight in his left eye, yet he continued onward aimlessly until he reached the place where he nearly died.

His body then trembled before a mouthful of blood was unwillingly spat out. Zhou Ying's body fell next to a tree and the light in his eyes went out.

The next time the body opened its eyes, it was no longer Zhou Ying's soul that was controlling it. The young cultivator's soul was completely consumed by the fragment and finally gained enough sentience to claw its way back to consciousness, which unfortunately obliterated the consciousness of Zhou Ying.

The soul spoke its first words filled with deep remorse. "I'm sorry."