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I sighed. How could I stop this guy from going on a rampage? I was far from strong enough to defeat him even if I had both of my arms. As I was now he could kill me in a single strike of his flaming spear.

Worse, I only now realised that there were heavy motes of sword qi lingering in the wound. My blood essence had been fighting it all this time and I'd somehow missed it.

Must be the blood loss. On the plus side, more qi to devour and observe would help me in the long run, but only if I could survive.

I clenched a fist and turned back to face the spear cultivator. I still didn't know his name, but it would be quite awkward to ask now.

"Look, an Elder from the Cloudy Falls Sect is already on their way here. I don't know what you intended to do in the first place but it surely won't be beneficial for you or your master if you are caught killing other disciples. Why not head for that Ten Ascensions Lily like the others?" I offered, trying to swap the stick for a carrot.

He paused, considering my words. For a moment I thought I had managed to persuade him to back off, but then he stepped forwards, still holding his spear towards me.

"If that's the case, then it just means I need to finish this before the Elder arrives. No matter what, I'm sure they can't influence Master Wudeng. I can simply frame the arrogant sword bastard for everything," he said, his mouth twisting into a smirk.

"Yes, that sounds like a great plan. I can even claim extra merit with the sect for cleansing the world of a demonic cultivator," he chuckled, now close enough to strike me with the spear.

I cursed inwardly. What was with these cultivators? Every single one of them was arrogant, violent, and refused to obey normal logic.

Not that this was a surprise. The moment I'd arrived in this world I knew this was true thanks to the previous Zhao Dan's depressing memories.

That still didn't make it less annoying to deal with them. Especially these young master types. They seemed to believe the world existed only to serve their whims and desires; that nothing mattered except their own path.

I didn't really want to do this, but there was only one way I could keep my head on my shoulders. In fact, this plan might even end with me making more gains than expected.

However, it would involve risking my life. I was prepared for that. What cultivator didn't risk their life for the sake of advancing on their path?

At least I wasn't trampling on the lives of others like dirt as I struggled to break the chains of mortality. I steeled my resolve.

I raised two fingers, grabbing hold of his spear and taking him by surprise. "Don't move or I'll use my Gluttonous Demon Finger technique again," I warned.

Actually that was a pretty cool name for the technique I'd been calling cancer touch… Was it better to be seen as a demonic cultivator or know that I was inflicting one of the world's greatest evils on a whim? Neither sounded great but at least the made up name had stopped the cultivator in his tracks.

He clenched his jaw and I felt the spear quivering. However, that was only for a breath's time. The disciple soon found his resolve and the spear steadied, gripped between my fingers.

"No matter! I will risk my life to wipe you out, damn demonic cultivator. Those hideous injuries will help my case when the Elder arrives," he retorted with a stoic expression.

I wanted to scream at this guy. Why was he so stubborn? Or perhaps he'd seen through my trickery. I couldn't actually use the technique without skin contact, after all.

No, I had to commit.

"The last time I only used the first ritual of the Gluttonous Demon Finger, but this time I won't hesitate to use the second ritual," I fired back, not wanting to have a spear thrust through my head. "The second ritual is called the Bloated Flesh Feast Ritual, twice as powerful as the first ritual of the technique. You won't survive five seconds."

Honestly I was impressed at how far my bullshido technique had progressed. This nonsense was coming naturally to me, the same way a fish could swim from the day it was born.

He hesitated again, this time for longer. His spear wavered and I knew he was on the edge—it was time to chop nails and sever iron.

I delivered the final blow.

"In fact, there's a secret component to the Gluttonous Demon Finger not known outside of my Master's lineage; even the other zealots of the cult do not know this secret," I said.

His eyes widened in surprise, but I wasn't done yet.

"When the second ritual is used on a target who has already experienced the first ritual, it offers twice the results with half the effort. The technique activates faster and spreads almost three times as fast! You surely won't survive more than a second!" I exclaimed, taking a step forward.

He suddenly yanked his spear out of my grip. That was my signal to move. I had very little time left before he realised I was lying through my teeth.

I was gambling everything on this one throw of the dice; life, face, and my cultivation.

I rushed towards the body of the brawny sword cultivator, grabbing him under the shoulders as soon as I reached him. Less than a breath's time had passed.

My hands had barely touched his bare biceps before I let every scrap of blood essence I had rush into his body. My healing technique had begun, but I was on a timer.

Forget an incense stick, I probably had less than ten seconds to succeed.

Which meant I had to move fast. Right now what I needed wasn't necessarily the extra blood essence from the finished healing technique, but the chance to watch how the sword cultivator's qi travelled through his body and interacted with my blood.

These insights were invaluable fragments of knowledge, every single moment deepening my comprehension of the Qi Gathering Realm and qi itself. Overall my insights were like a drop compared to the ocean of knowledge a true sage possessed, but over time enough drops can fill an ocean.

Or perhaps… a dantian.

Though I would have to figure out how to form one first. That was the major blockage impeding my path forward.

I'd understood the relationship between qi and the world; between qi and blood; all that remained was to connect that minor understanding with a method of forming my dantian without intact spirit roots.

Every step I took on this path had to come from within. I had no predecessors to look up to; no master guiding my path.

I clenched my teeth, sparing a glance towards the spear cultivator. He was still in the same spot I'd left him, but the hesitation was gone from his face and he glared at me like a hungry spirit beast.

There wasn't much time left.

Tearing my eyes away from the cultivator intent on claiming my life was difficult but necessary. I focused everything on the unfolding healing technique.

Unlike the fire cultivator, the sword cultivator's qi was regular qi, yet to take on an affinity. This was normal from what I understood—it wasn't until the Foundation Establishment Realm that one might begin to gain insights into a dao and merge it with their qi.

Although I had made some minor insights into healing in this world and the path I wished to follow, it was still muddled and unclear like a dirty pond. Even now I struggled to stick to my principles. And that was with an oath enforcing them…

Then again I hadn't done evil; no one had died by my hand. Only suffered. In the end I healed all those who fell to my fists, like a merciful war buddha.

Wait…

No, that wasn't quite right. Not only did the whole severing worldly desires thing not mix with my own beliefs, but I actually realised from Zhao Dan's memories that daoist and buddhist cultivators seemed to be opposed.

Not always, but there wasn't much unity between them. Except when it came to fighting off demonic sects; demons were one thing all those who believed themselves righteous would fight to eradicate.

Honestly I didn't see why. I'd been accused of demonic techniques and while I doubted I would ever go down that path, wasn't it hypocritical to claim that one side was righteous and the other evil.

Plenty of the righteous cultivators I'd met were arrogant, violent, and downright cruel. I hadn't met any demonic cultivators yet but I could imagine they might be exactly the same as these arrogant young masters…

I'd been observing the flow of the sword cultivator's qi while having these thoughts. At the same time the fire cultivator had begun running towards me with his spear outstretched. All this took a while to think through but happened in a few breaths of time.

At the final moment when my life was hanging on a thread, a fatal strike heading my way as I tried to finish healing the sword cultivator, I was struck by divine providence. No, to call it providence was wrong.

This was a moment of comprehension born from my own efforts and accumulated insights. All this time my path had been something I cobbled together from other techniques and arts, but ultimately came from my own understanding of the world and a jumbled collection of memories; both inherited and my own.

All this boiled down to one simple realisation.

My path came from within.

At this moment I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It had been staring me in the face all this time. While I cursed the heavens for their poisoned oath, I'd been the one ignoring the gift they granted me.

I realised how much of an ungrateful wretch I'd been as my enemy's spear was thrust towards my heart. Truly a frog in a well.

The Fivefold Medicine Forge Physique was beyond even my comprehension; at its pinnacle it gave one the power to overturn the heavens and split the earth.

An immortal capable of turning the spiritual energy of the world to their own purposes, be it for benevolence or corruption. I was far from that realm, but I had all the tools I needed already.

Spirit roots? Melting one's spirit roots to form the dantian was just a trick, a way to make the process easier and require no thought on the cultivator's part. I realised that through observing the medicinal energy produced by my refined lungs.

A dantian existed in the metaphysical plane, a part of one's body and yet also not. Spirit roots provided an anchor between the two planes during the break through. Thus came my second epiphany.

My strange ability to 'see' qi and blood essence, even when I'd been a mere four-star practitioner. I'd had theories about why I possessed this ability, but one stood out among the rest.

I'd transmigrated to this world as nothing but a soul. If travelling through dimensions as a soul wasn't enough to give me a connection to the metaphysical, then I don't know who was better qualified.

A spirit perhaps? Maybe a ghost…

Nonetheless, I felt confident in my ability to form the anchor myself. I still had spirit roots after all, they were just out of order.

Then came the final fragment of comprehension. The knowledge that tied it all together and would allow me to break free from my mortal fetters.

Blood essence was an innate energy that one nurtured through a cultivation method, growing and developing it while forging and refining the body to withstand spiritual energy. Nothing needed to be said there…

I'd gone above and beyond when it came to the Body Tempering Realm.

I had all the knowledge I needed to attempt the breakthrough. It was well past the time for me to attempt it. I was an eleven-star Body Tempering practitioner for heaven's sake…

There was only one obstacle barring my path. A sharp, flaming spear that was about to penetrate my chest and burn my heart to ashes.

This part of the plan was why I said I was risking my life. Healing the sword cultivator was to give me more insight into the workings of qi and perhaps let me absorb another few strands to study.

The inevitable moment the spear cultivator snapped out of his daze and moved to kill me? This was where I was putting everything on the line.

Dying was not an option. Not after I'd come this far. Throwing away my second chance at life was something I refused to do.

Leaving little Cui behind to fend for herself was something I would never forgive myself for. So, all I had to do was survive this one spear strike.

****

Huo Ze Qiang was frustrated, but more than that he was confused. How had his Master's scheme gone so wrong?

All he'd been supposed to do was work with a few disciples of the Soaring Sword Sect to wipe out some fools who had tried to overturn the heavens. In this case, the heavens were his Master and the fools were disciples who were overdue on their loans…

Usually he would've refused such a mundane request. He was the prized son of the Huo Clan, one of the most talented inner disciples of the Cloudy Falls Sect; such things were beneath him.

In fact he was only a disciple of the Cloudy Falls Sect due to his father wanting to expand the clan's influence. Otherwise he would've preferred to join the Rumbling Mountain Sect, where he could study their endless collection of fire techniques to deepen his comprehension of his own flames.

Not only had the two disciples proven more annoying to kill than Master had suggested, but some strange demonic cultivator had appeared from nowhere like a shadow. His presence had turned the battlefield into a realm of chaos.

For a moment the demon trickster had almost fooled Ze Qiang with his words. He still remembered the sensation of his own flesh swelling and killing itself—that technique was insidious.

However, he reckoned it was a bluff. Throughout the entire battle he hadn't sensed a single drop of qi from the demonic cultivator.

Instead he had actually realised that the demon was a mere Body Tempering practitioner! Such a brazen fool had dared intervene in a battle of his superiors.

Maybe that strange technique had given him confidence he otherwise wouldn't have possessed? Ze Qiang didn't know what the idiot was thinking.

What he did know was that he would lose all face if he allowed himself to be scared of someone at least four stars below him in cultivation. So he'd steeled his resolve and struck.

He didn't have much qi left after being forced to use the life saving treasure from his grandfather to heal, but he had enough to kill this demonic trash. What was the fool even attempting to do?

After his lies, Ze Qiang expected the man to flee. Instead he had raced towards the body of the sword cultivator and was doing something strange.

Another mysterious demonic technique? No matter, it wouldn't stop his spear.

Flames licked the shaft as he gathered and infused his qi into the ornate spear. Another gift from his grandfather.

He'd aimed for the demonic cultivator's heart. He had to give the bastard some credit, because he didn't even flinch when the spear pierced his chest.

A warrior's death was a fitting end. At the very least the man had pride in death where he'd seemingly had none in life.

Huo Ze Qiang closed his eyes and said a small prayer for the man's life, hoping for him to reincarnate into a righteous path. He observed as every last drop of blood essence faded, the demon's eyes glazing over.

When he was sure the man was dead he ripped out his spear, the flames burning away the blood. They soon faded and he stumbled a little.

Qi exhaustion.

He glanced around the clearing at the other victims of the battle. Most were alive, but not all. His gaze landed on the two disciples of the Cloudy Falls Sect his master wanted dead.

Ze Qiang kissed his teeth. He needed to recover in order to have a chance of claiming the Ten Ascensions Lily.

Screw his master. The man was treating him, the heir of the Huo Clan, like some errand boy?

He turned his back on the scene of the battle and began walking towards the peak of the mountain. His priority was his own cultivation.

In his self centred retreat he failed to realise that the spiritual energy in the clearing was subtly gathering in a single place. Around the fallen cultivator.