Chapter 14: Newfound Power

As the poison circulated throughout his body, the boy resisted his convulsions. His muscles continuously twitched visibly, and his veins bulged even more. His entire body was in unimaginable pain. His skin felt as if it was peeling back; he felt an incredible amount of pressure build up in his veins; and his meridians felt as if they were imploding.

His condition continued to get worse, but once every single vein in his body had the same amount of poison, he extracted the needles and began the next step. The boy started to draw in Qi. As he did so, he began reconstructing his body composition. The poison began to seep into his muscle fibres. They began to expand, becoming bloated, which he regulated with the use of Qi. Every single time a muscle fibre began to swell, he compressed it with the Qi he was rhythmically breathing in.

While he was doing so, the fat in his body was visibly being excreted from his pores in the form of a disgusting, sticky, black liquid. It absolutely reeked. There was an almost unending amount of impurities within his body, which was a strange amount even if he wasn't a cultivator. Its smell was so horrible that even people far from him instinctively reacted, almost throwing up.

The muscles within the boy's body quickly transformed, becoming lean and repairing all previous damage by forcing the body into a state of instinctive improvement. His main and lesser meridians had thickened and widened to allow more Qi to run through them. The connection from his main meridians to his lesser meridians to his dantian had also improved, making it easier to use Qi.

The entire process took around 15 minutes, and as the boy finished the physique reconstruction, he got up and tensed his fists. He expelled all the excess Qi within his body through his pores, getting any impurities that got stuck in his body.

The boy turned around and got into position to punch the wall of the hall. He transferred the Qi from his dantian to his lesser meridians where his Qi ran rampant and rushed through his body, then running through his main meridians and finally reaching his fist. His entire fist was covered in a wild and untamed Qi, and as his fist made contact with the wall, a loud BANG rang through most of the hall.

He left a hole in the wall with a 10-metre diameter. He looked at his fist after doing so, obviously satisfied with the results. He felt the rest of his body and was less satisfied. Although his body fat percentage had been reduced to around 12%, if he had had a better poison or a real Qi Root, the process would have made him on par with a Qi Degrading cultivator.

Although he did not achieve his desired results, he did become on par with a Qi Gathering cultivator while still only at the 1st rank of the Impurity Expulsion. This partially explained the number of impurities within his body, as all the impurities within someone's body would get completely expelled once they reach the 9th rank of Impurity Expulsion. This was, of course, a necessary process of cultivation that not a single person could avoid. After all, why would someone want to? But maybe one day it wouldn't be that strange.

The boy, with his newfound power, of course, wanted to test it out, so he began a search for a person of the right level to test his power. So he began running through the almost endless number of people fighting, always checking their cultivation levels. The boy continued to do so before he reached an incredible sight. A cultivator, well, from his current appearance, monstrosity would be more accurate, was surrounded by the corpses of multiple high-level cultivators.

It was an incredible sight for the boy, as he had never seen someone even remotely close to him before. He considered fighting him for a moment before deciding against it because he didn't want to die at the hands of an unknown being. Of course, he did want to fight the cultivator, but his current state was too weak and pathetic to even pose the slightest of threats to the cultivator.

And so the boy continued to look for an opponent who he could test his strength against but who was not strong enough to kill him. He looked for another 4 minutes before he found someone he deemed acceptable to try out his power on. The boy, not sparring his opponent any slack, instantly went for the opponent's throat.

He had used Qi in both his arms and legs to make him move faster and his attacks more powerful. After all, a dishonourable win is a win nonetheless. The man reacted accordingly and counterattacked with a kick. Almost instantly, he raised his leg and swung down with all his might with an axe kick. The boy, on the other hand, had expected this reaction. The intensive training of his legs was quite obvious by the way he stood.

Thus, the boy quickly twisted his torso and avoided his incredibly powerful axe kick. He charged at the man as he threw the golden needles coated in poison toward his eyes. The boy aimed for the lungs; he knew he could do so as his mastery with the dagger was great enough to stab someone between the ribs. The man, on the other hand, had recognised his opponent's incredible mastery of these assassin-like techniques.

Not wanting permanent lung damage or to get poisoned, he flung one of his shoes at the needles, aiming for his eyes while moving further from the boy. He needed to preserve his life, not his honour. He didn't care if he had to run from a kitten or a child who looked as if he was 15; as long as he kept his life, he didn't care who he had to run from. To him, living was more important than honour.

"You, boy. You are worthy to be my opponent. What is your name?" He asked in a rough and coarse voice.

"Stalling for time? Well, I'm not surprised. But if you want to know the name of the one who will be ending your life tonight, I guess you can now. I'm Oscar, Oscar Valentine. " In a mocking but somehow dignified tone, Oscar had responded.

As soon as the man heard Oscar's full name, his entire expression changed to one of shock. He couldn't believe his ears. He thought he had gone insane. How could he be here? He had to be lying, right?