1

I cracked open one of my eyes, risking a glance around the clearing once I believed the spear cultivator had left. Fiery pain lanced outwards from my chest.

His final spear strike was aimed at my heart but at the last moment I'd subtly shifted my body and it instead pierced my lung. I wasn't sure if he noticed or not, but that wasn't all I'd done to trick him.

In the final moments before my supposed death I had figured out how to break through. Qi Gathering cultivators never possessed any blood essence, which I'd always found strange.

That meant there was something happening during the breakthrough from Body Tempering to one-star Qi Gathering that removed the blood essence. Or, transformed it.

What I'd done after his spear pierced my chest was exactly that. I'd begun my first attempt to break through to the Qi Gathering Realm.

That first step was to gather my blood essence into a single point. Usually I guessed that point would be the spirit roots, but I instead gathered it all into my lungs.

The same pair of lungs which had been refined through my Fivefold Medicine Forge Physique. The spear thrust, empowered with the flaming qi, had actually done less damage than I thought.

The heat cauterised the wound instantly. It was still a devastating technique; certainly intended to deliver killing blows. Fire qi still lingered in the wound, burning away at my flesh.

Without my blood essence my regeneration and ability to fight the qi was almost non existent. The natural regeneration of a Body Tempering practitioner was far from enough to deal with a four-star Qi Gathering cultivator's strike.

Even if said practitioner was eleven-star…

However, even though the wound would soon kill me I wasn't worried. I had actually known this would happen from the beginning and factored it into my strategy.

As the great Sun Tzu said, all warfare is based on deception. Defeating the spear cultivator wasn't possible at that point, but making him believe he'd won was as easy as turning my hand.

I coughed blood as the fire qi continued to worm its way through my chest. My time was limited and even though I believed I had discovered a path forward, there was still a chance of failure.

Without witnessing a breakthrough myself I couldn't be sure, but I guessed that the usual method involved gathering one's blood essence in the spirit roots and using it to 'imprint' onto the spiritual energy of the world, thus forming the dantian and the first drop of qi.

Then again I could be making this all up. Either way it didn't change what I planned to do.

I had this physique, so I was going to make use of it and cheat my way past the bottleneck. Who needs spirit roots anyway?

My refined lungs produced faint trickles of that potent medicinal energy as I breathed. When I'd eaten the healing pills it had been far more effective, but unfortunately I had no spirit herbs to hand, so I would make do.

This process was very similar to how the spirit roots should aid in the breakthrough. My path was that of a healer, so it actually made more sense to try this unprecedented method than to blindly follow in other cultivator's footsteps.

I slowly fed his blood essence into his lungs. Every breath hurt, but I persevered. Slow and steady wins the race. Embody the tortoise, not the tiger.

The next step was forming my dantian. This part stumped me a little. Usually one's spirit roots would merge with the spiritual energy in this step.

Actually I had a little insight into this stage. Zhao Dan had once witnessed one of his cousins breaking through to Qi Gathering and the girl had explained a little to him when he was a child.

Those memories would help here. From what I understood the dantian already existed in the metaphysical plane, but in order to break through one needed to provide an anchor in the physical body that would let qi flow through the dantian and meridians.

Honestly it was all rather complex. I'd likened it to feeling like a medical student again and that held true here. While I tended to veer towards the scientific; trial and error over reckless experimentation; I actually decided to trust my instincts for once.

Rather than trying to force a method that might not work, I would let my body and the spiritual energy of the world guide me. I continued to feed my blood essence through my lungs, but nothing was emerging yet.

I wasn't worried. It felt right.

Next came the riskiest part of the process. I'd already put my life on the line when I took the spear strike, but this moment would mean life or death.

Advancing to Qi Gathering and taking the first step towards immortality or dying as a mortal. I raised my hand in front of my face and let my eyes wander over my fingers.

These hands had saved so many lives. They had taken some too, but every one of those was a hollow memory.

My path was to heal. To bring protection and rejuvenation. I wanted to bring healing and peace to the Celestial Jade Empire, but to attempt that without power was the foolish dream of an idiot.

In order to enforce peace, you needed to wield the sharpest blade. War had taught me that. A few short months in this world proved it once more.

This was a world where the strong ruled over the weak. If the weak lived in peace it was only because the strong deemed it so. To show this world that the path of healing was not a foolish one, I would first have to trample on those who stood in my way.

Even if the one in my way was the heavens itself.

I closed my eyes and thrust my hand into my stomach. I clenched my teeth as I broke the skin, reaching for my shattered spirit roots.

The heavens had crippled me in exchange for its gifts, but it hadn't even done that properly. I was going to finish the job.

I grasped my spirit roots. It was a strange sensation. The actual physical part of the spirit roots felt sort of slimy. Not quite how organs usually felt—I would know after hundreds of surgeries.

At the same time as I grabbed them I felt an icy shock hit my body. It was as though the world itself was telling me not to do this.

So of course I did the sensible thing and squeezed as hard as I could. My spirit roots truly shattered once and for all. Now if my hypothesis was correct this should provide a connection and allow me to absorb the spiritual energy of the world to form my dantian.

At first everything progressed smoothly. A new kind of energy trickled out from the empty hole in my stomach that the spirit roots had occupied.

It was fierce yet stable, pulsing with more power than I had ever seen. This energy was even more potent than the qi I'd seen in other cultivators. Perfect.

I took a breath, exhaling and allowing medicinal energy to trickle from my lungs towards my hollow dantian. However, the moment that energy made contact with the strange energy in my core, everything went wrong.

It was like a nuclear bomb went off inside my body, chaotic energies running rampant throughout. I tried to stay focused and maintain my consciousness but I barely understood what was happening.

Shit…

Where had I gone wrong? Had I miscalculated? This wasn't supposed to happen. I suppose this was the price I had to pay for my hubris.

Going against the will of the heavens rarely ended well unless you were the protagonist. I most certainly wasn't.

Even while my body disintegrated from the inside, my flesh burning in the chaotic storm of qi and blood, I managed to force a small spark of the combined energy towards my dantian. I forced it into the rough shape of a sphere and then hurried to push the rest of my blood essence through my lungs.

If there was one thing that might save me now it was that potent medicinal energy. However, the rampaging energy was too much for me to handle. I'd reached my limit.

As I passed out I tried to guide the healing energy around my body but it was futile. I'd failed to break through.

****

Far above the lower realms, an ancient being stirred from slumber. The simple act of sitting up sent ripples across the endless realm it was in.

Millions of lives extinguished in an instant. Only to be replaced by new life that writhed and twisted, growing from seeds and infants to towering trees and ancient sages in a breath's time.

The entity opened its eyes, revealing endless abyssal orbs that seemed to hold entire universes and the secrets of creation within. Vibrant green mist swirled around its body as its gaze pierced through endless worlds.

"So, an inheritor has awoken. How long has it been since the last? How many eras have passed while I slept? Let me see if they are worthy," it mused, its voice deep and rumbling.

The mere soundwaves from a few sentences caused nearby planets to explode and stars to extinguish. Yet when it breathed out, new ones were born in their place.

Every simple action of this entity contained the mysteries of life and death, of creation and destruction. It found its gaze going far deeper than it expected.

"A surprise indeed… for this one's inheritance to end up in one of the lower realms is… almost insulting," it sighed. "Though I suppose I am long past such childish attachments such as origins and birth. How many prodigies and nobles have died throughout the endless eras, while I have persisted."

"Oh? What's this… a new path, at least to this tiny realm. Using the Fivefold Medicine Forge Physique in this manner… how crude," it muttered while watching the foolish actions of a particular mortal.

What happened next managed to surprise even the ancient entity. One had to remember this being had lived almost as long as creation itself, seeing the infinite possibilities of life and death across thousands of universes and realms.

To surprise the entity took incredible effort. Yet this mortal had managed to do just that. How?

"Releasing his innate vital qi… what a fool. However, I commend the attempt. Since you managed to wake me from my nap I shall help you, but just this once. We do share a physique, after all."

The entity raised a single finger and a tiny piece of the swirling green mist split off from the cloud, passing through endless realms towards the lower realm it was watching. After that, the entity lowered itself down once more.

"Whether or not you can break free from your broken realm remains to be seen…" it mused aloud.

"However, that struggle is yours alone. If you can't even overcome some greedy ants from a middle realm harvesting your realm's opportunities, then you aren't worthy of this one's attention. An interesting era approaches. Perhaps this next nap will be my last before the prophesied time."

Having said that, it returned to sleep. With every rise and fall of its chest billions of lives ran their course, endless plants were born and died. Each breath was a cycle of creation itself, containing infinite energy of creation.

****

I coughed and snapped awake. What the hell? How was I still alive…

The last thing I remembered was breaking my spirit roots and unleashing chaos inside my body. Turning my gaze inwards there was no evidence of the explosion except a few chipped bones and torn muscles which were rapidly healing.

The first thing I checked was where I'd broken my spirit roots. Instead of the empty hole I was expecting to find, there was some kind of void. I prodded it with my mind but received nothing…

That was worrying and mysterious but it was better than being dead. What I saw next shocked me.

Somehow my dantian had formed while I was knocked out, with the empty void in the centre. However, it was empty. I coughed and a bit of blood sprayed out.

The wound in my chest was still there, the fire qi burning away at my lungs. I was confused but grateful.

I felt a faint sense of resonance with the empty void in my dantian but left it alone for now. Best not to mess with things I didn't understand. That hadn't gone so well last time.

Inspecting my body, I came up with a quick checklist of things to do. I was in a strange state of existence right now; no longer in the Body Tempering Realm but not quite a Qi Gathering cultivator yet.

The reason for that being I didn't possess a single drop of qi. It was time to finish what I'd started.

Some of my theories had missed the mark but trusting in my physique was not a mistake. I continued to refine my blood essence and soon it was all used up. After the massive quantity of blood essence was used, I had a single stream of vibrant green medicinal energy, similar to qi but missing something essential.

I guided it towards my dantian, where hopefully I could absorb some spiritual energy from my surroundings to finish the final step. However, the moment the energy entered my dantian I felt a pull I couldn't resist.

I tried to maintain my control but it was like a tug of war between Xuanwu and an ant; the result was inevitable. My energy slipped from my grasp and was greedily devoured by the strange void.

I panicked. That was the only energy I had! All of the blood essence I'd carefully gathered from my healing technique up to eleven-star Body Tempering was contained in that strand of energy…

Was this the end of my path? Another cruel trick by the heavens: keep me alive but make me mortal once more.

However, as I was complaining a loud thump like a heartbeat echoed through my body. A million new sensations assaulted me and I keeled over in shock. The breath of the trees, the mycelium talking beneath the soil, the whispers of the air, and the dazzling caress of the sun throughout.

I was seeing the world in a new light. Most of all I felt the endless, infinite energy that was present in everything. The spiritual energy of the world which now rushed towards my dantian.

The void hungrily absorbed spiritual energy for a few seconds until the entire forest clearing was drained. Then a short moment later, a single drop of verdant green energy was squeezed from the void, splashing against the bottom of my dantian.

A smile crossed my face as I double checked just to make sure, but there was no mistake; that was a drop of qi. Not ordinary qi either, but qi containing potent medicinal properties and other mysterious qualities.

I couldn't even figure most of it out myself. Whatever that strange void had done boosted the potency of my medicinal energy by a ridiculous amount.

However, it was too early to get complacent.

There was still one more step to complete before I could claim to have achieved the Qi Gathering Realm. Simply having a dantian with a drop of qi splashing around wasn't enough.

What allowed cultivators in the Qi Gathering Realm to actually use their qi to perform techniques and arts was the meridians that let it flow. To stabilise my breakthrough and reach one-star Qi Gathering I needed to open the first of eight meridians.

I closed my eyes and tried to feel within my body, searching for the meridian. At first I had little success but I soon found it.

It felt like a knot, blocking the flow of qi from my dantian. First I simply took the drop of qi and smashed it against the knot, but that had no effect.

I facepalmed as I realised my error. I was no brute. My path was not that of a warrior, but a healer. One should not judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree.

Taking hold of the qi once more I tried to shape it, but it was difficult. After dozens of tries my control improved and I was able to find an appropriate form.

I settled on a short, blade-like shape. A scalpel. Taking the scalpel of qi I thrust it into the knot and then slashed.

It carved through the blockage like paper, the qi exploding apart and rushing to fill the meridian. There were many smaller knots and bumps inside—impurities. However, my medicinal qi burned them away.

It was almost like… corrosion. The toxic properties of my blood essence seemed to remain even after going through a metamorphosis.

Once I had cleared the entire meridian my qi rushed through, forming a complete cycle which it flowed through a few more times under my guidance. Every revolution seemed to absorb more spiritual energy from my surroundings, but there wasn't much left so I stopped after a while.

Without realising, the wound in my chest had healed. In fact, every part of my body felt better than ever. My muscles had become quite large during the Body Tempering Realm but after the breakthrough they had condensed.

I would need a mirror or some water to see the full extent of the changes but so far I liked what I saw. My skin was smooth and unblemished, seeming to sparkle in the sunlight.

Next I went around the clearing making sure to heal all of the injured disciples before tying them to a nearby tree. There was supposedly an Elder on the way and I didn't want to be here when they arrived.

My original goal was accomplished. I had reached one-star Qi Gathering. There were many parts which I was confused about and the mysteries I needed to unravel had only multiplied, becoming more enigmatic.

On the other hand I had solidified my path. The largest bottleneck was overcome; my broken spirit roots. The only thing standing in the way of my advance now was my own lack of comprehension and resources.

I'd planned to return to Three River City at this point, but that would be giving up on the opportunity of a lifetime. My gaze turned towards Jagged Sword Peak.

At the top there was a potent spirit spring. Within that pond the Ten Ascensions Lily was going to bloom, a treasure whose every petal could allow a cultivator to advance one star in the Qi Gathering Realm.

I'd been naive when I first transmigrated here, trying to avoid all bloodshed in the hopes of living a peaceful life. I wasn't going to change my mind and search for fights, but I did need to become more powerful if I wanted those around me to have the freedom to enjoy a peaceful existence.

My mind was set and I left the clearing behind. For some reason I felt like a colossal weight had been lifted from my shoulders and my steps were light as I made my way towards the peak.

I was now a cultivator in truth, prepared for whatever heaven and earth could throw my way. I was excited to see what was waiting at the peak.