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Now that was an impressive technique! It almost seemed like his slash had cut through the air itself, his qi lingering in the wake of the cut.

He didn't seem impressed that I'd managed to dodge, his face showing hints of frustration. Earlier he'd claimed that defeating us would be a simple matter, but perhaps that was him trying to break our morale?

Looking over the sword cultivator's shoulder I saw the limp body of the cloudy falls sect disciple who'd been fighting him. Hopefully the guy was still alive.

I doubted healing the same person twice would give me the same gains, but it couldn't hurt to try. I also didn't want to see him lose his life when he'd been gaining time for me.

Honestly? I was a little angry.

Angry at the heavens for giving me such poisoned gifts. Angry at these damned cultivators for being so violent and illogical.

And most of all, angry at myself for not realising it sooner. It had quite literally been staring me in the face this whole time—I'd even realised it myself without grasping the importance.

The difference between qi and blood essence was… well it was obvious. Blood essence came from within, used as fuel to refine our bodies as vessels to accept spiritual energy.

Qi originated from the world itself, spiritual energy that was stolen and then twisted to whatever form a cultivator required to become qi. Once refined it forever became a part of a cultivator, but that didn't change the fact it originated from elsewhere.

This whole time I'd been looking inwards for inspiration when the key to advancing further on my path was everywhere around me. It was like someone wearing sunglasses inside and wondering why it was so dark…

This was quite a weighty insight, but it had all come to me in a single moment as I stood there staring at the aftermath of the arrogant young master's beautiful sword strike. Yet I was still furious.

Why? Because even now that I could comprehend the nature of qi a little better, my path was still severed. My spirit roots were shattered, the crucible of my breakthrough forever lost.

Fucking heavens and their shitty oath. I should've just settled down and become a spirit farmer or something… I heard about one guy who did pretty well for himself that way. Then again, I couldn't see myself owning chickens.

Luckily for me I had a perfect target to let my rage out on. Clenching my fists I faced down the sword cultivator and smiled.

"Young Master? More like feeble servant. You can't even land a single slash on this mere Body Tempering whelp. Imagine how much face you will lose when I strike you down," I jeered.

Taunting my opponent to make his focus waver and follow up with a decisive opening strike. It was a perfect plan with no faults.

I was already leaping forwards to punch him in the gut when he suddenly laughed out loud. Not a positive sign, but it was too late to change my course of action.

My fist made contact with his stomach and I even felt him staggering backwards from the force of the blow, but there was too little resistance. It had been too easy.

I glanced upwards, meeting his gaze. His eyes sparkled with glee as he slashed down, his sword flashing towards my shoulder.

"You should pick your battles more wisely," he sneered. "Let this Young Master teach you the error of your judgement."

He moved much faster than I'd expected, which left me in an awkward position. I knew I could not escape injury, but sometimes you had to make sacrifices to come out on top.

So I took another step forward and punched the sword cultivator in his stomach. Once, twice, three times until he doubled over and staggered backwards.

However, I didn't escape unharmed. His sword slash had struck just below my shoulder and carved a deep wound from the top of my arm down to my elbow.

Blood flowed like rivers to the ground, putting me on a timer. Perhaps I had as long as it took to burn a stick of incense to end the battle?

Nonetheless my opponent wasn't in a better condition. My savage assault had left him reeling and he was barely clinging to his sword, coughing blood.

"Not bad, not bad," he said, trying to look imposing but failing when he coughed blood again. "This grandfather commends your skills, but it won't be enough to defeat me. See if you can handle the inherited lineage technique of my Heavy Sword Peak!"

I almost cringed at his cliche shouts but I had to start taking him seriously when his qi rippled and began to gather around his raised sword. Seeming to shrug off the damage from my punches, the sword cultivator had a strained face as he prepared to unleash this mysterious technique.

I figured that waiting and letting him use this overpowered technique he'd inherited was probably a bad idea. So I decided not to let him finish.

His flashy and loud manner of activating his sword technique reminded me of a certain anime protagonist from a show about ninjas… In a way, wasn't I doing him a favour?

Teaching this arrogant young master to be more decisive about activating his skills would help him in future. One could say I was healing his stupidity.

I nodded, satisfied in my decision as I rushed towards him. His eyes widened in surprise when I moved. Had he expected me to stand still and take his technique head on? Foolish.

He seemed to realise he wouldn't have enough time to utilise his technique, but apparently he didn't need to. One step away from him he grunted and the flowing qi coalesced around the tip of his sword.

Suddenly I felt heavy, as though the weight of ten thousand jin of steel was upon my shoulders. My movement grew slow as though trying to walk through water and I couldn't land my strike.

I couldn't follow what happened next either. One moment his sword was raised to the heavens and the moment his qi condensed into a single point at the tip, it appeared above my shoulder.

A desperate attempt to twist my body and dodge failed due to the strange thickness of the air, slowing my movements. I was able to avoid a fatal blow but not the strike itself.

His blade carved through my shoulder, slicing through the bone like soft noodles. I winced at the agonising pain, though it was less than I expected. Perhaps due to it being such a clean cut.

My vision went white for a breath's time, but I soon recovered. Losing an arm was tragic, but if I stopped here I would surely lose the battle. I had to make the most of this opening.

His sword was almost glued to the ground, his arm with it. His whole body was lopsided, the weight of his blade apparently much harder to bear after his technique.

While he expected me to be crippled from losing a limb—which I was, but repeated excruciating breakthroughs had numbed me to this sort of pain—I instead took advantage of his weakness to strike.

"Ha! The Thousand Jin Blade technique is impossible to dodge at this range. How will you fight with just one arm, crippled bast-" he started taunting me before realising I wasn't actually defeated.

I cut him off by punching him in the chest, knocking the wind from his lungs. My next blow caught him on the jaw and sent his head rocking backwards.

To his credit, his sturdy muscles seemed to absorb the blows well but I was only just beginning. Even with one arm my speed was rapid and I continued to punch him over and over.

He refused to let go of his sword even as I pounded the life out of him, the blade itself still buried in the ground as though made of impossibly heavy lead. Not that I was complaining about the advantage.

I was missing an arm, but right now so was he. My attacks continued until blood poured from his nose and mouth, his body covered in bruises.

"Bastard, do you have no face?! Cowardly turtle, attacking in the middle of this young master's tech-"

I cut him off again by planting my fist in the middle of his face, squashing his nose flat. He coughed blood and I delivered a roundhouse kick to his stomach which made him collapse to the ground, finally releasing his hold on the sword.

"Can face help me breakthrough to the Qi Gathering Realm?" I asked the sword cultivator as he lay defeated on the ground. "Can it help defeat my enemies?"

He didn't respond. He was covered in blood and barely moving. I didn't see a reason to injure him further, as it would be needlessly cruel and likely go against my oath.

Self defense was one thing, but torture was another matter entirely. Besides, I could heal him from this state and possibly gain further insights into the workings of qi.

I'd made some realisations but still needed more in order to feel ready to break through into one-star Qi Gathering. This would give me that opportunity.

I clutched my bleeding shoulder, now only a stump where there had once been an arm. That was a big problem.

I'd seen Wang Ren perform the qi healing technique and reattach an almost severed limb, but this was a step beyond that. I had reattached fingers and toes in my past life, but this would be the greatest feat of healing I had ever attempted.

At the very least, I was glad to have been struck so decisively by a sword cultivator. My severed arm was on the ground nearby and still in… well, not good condition but as healthy as a severed arm could be.

One might assume that my first priority would be reattaching my arm, but I hesitated to rush into such a complex task. I wasn't sure such a feat could even be accomplished with only blood essence.

That would be overturning the laws of the world; such a thing could not be done. That was only my theory of course. I'm sure some genius or prodigy existed somewhere who could prove me wrong.

In fact, I might even be able to accomplish it myself, but there was a lingering doubt in my mind. When I was on the cusp of both enlightenment regarding the next realm and such a difficult task I felt it best to trust my instincts.

So the first thing I did after making sure to collect my arm was propping the two disciples of the Cloudy Falls Sect against a nearby tree. They were heavily injured, bleeding and bruised.

It looked as though a tiger had attacked them. However, it was nothing I couldn't heal. I was short on time so I took a risk, attempting to heal them both at the same time.

After all, I had blood essence to spare. It flowed from my chest in rivers and streams, the sparks racing to fix the myriad injuries.

It didn't take long to heal them. Despite the severity of the wounds it was only flesh and blood, nothing I hadn't handled before.

I noticed that the quantity of blood essence I received in return was lower than expected. Either I was beginning to hit some kind of limit due to my cultivation or it was due to the fact I'd already healed them once before.

After all, it would be utterly ridiculous if I could break through in the Body Tempering Realm for a third time… No, I needed to stop tempting the heavens.

They'd already proven a willingness to treat me like the butt of some celestial joke. Best to simply make do with what I had and continue seeking enlightenment regarding qi.

Next up were the three disciples of the Soaring Sword Sect. I turned around to collect the first one and suddenly realised I'd forgotten something.

A flaming spear was pointed at my head, held by an imperious looking cultivator from my old sect. "What kind of demonic technique is that?" he demanded.

"It should be impossible for a mere practitioner to heal those kinds of injuries. And that twisted technique you used on me before resembled the cursed mutations of the Hunger Demon Sect. For the good of the Celestial Jade Empire I will purge you from this world!" he roared, preparing to thrust his spear through my brain.

I hurriedly jumped back and held up my hands in surrender, yelling "Wait, I can explain!" as I did.

He froze momentarily, glancing at his fellow disciples with a conflicted expression. "Tch. This whole mess has become too complicated. I should just burn everything to a crisp and tell Master it was the Soaring Sword Sect," he muttered.

"Damn fraud," I shouted. "You call me a demon after trying to kill your own Junior Brother and Sister, while working with a rival sect?! Have some self respect, you aren't a rat."

He actually physically stumbled backwards at my words, clutching a hand to his heart with shock on his face. "You dare?!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, I dare. And what's more, all this preening about face is ridiculous. Why wouldn't I dare to insult some arrogant cultivator who starts waving his spear in my face. I don't swing that way," I replied, scolding the man.

"Wha- I'm not…" he mumbled, looking embarrassed.

"Also, I'm not from that Hungry Demon Sect you mentioned. My technique is just… unique," I continued, ignoring his protests. "Look, I don't really know what was going on between all of you and to be honest I don't care. I just want to heal everyone and get on with my day."

I took a step towards the nearest sword cultivator and continued when I saw he didn't make a move. Then I dragged the three disciples against a tree while the spear cultivator watched, still figuring out how to react.

My strategy of stunning him into silence was working wonders, but he would soon start shouting about face and demonic sects again. What a nuisance.

Can't a healer use an awful mutation technique without getting accused of being a demon these days? I stumbled suddenly and my vision blurred.

Oh yes, I was still missing an arm. I really had to hurry up. Making a split second decision, I ignored the two weaker disciples and knelt in front of the one who looked more like a gangster than a young master.

"Stop, demon! I won't let you use your foul techniques on another innocent cultivator, even if he is my rival. The face of the righteous sects demands I cleanse you from this world. The six paths will see you reborn into a less corrupted existence!" the fiery spear cultivator shouted from behind.