The dagger I had thrown pierced the skull of the monstrous beast that had broken my arm, killing it instantly. Despite the pain, I looked at my floppy arm with a strange feeling. Surprisingly, I wasn't panicking; I was rather calm overall. It must be the adrenaline.
At the same time, the clan leaders and the governor were killing the rest of the monstrous beasts. So, I had nothing to worry about except for a couple of monstrous beasts who were a bit too close for comfort and were sneaking up on me.
I turned around just as another harpy was about to attack. The monstrous beast froze for a second when it saw that I had noticed it. It narrowed its eyes, making them appear as nothing more than slits on its face. Just like the other harpy, she tried to kick me.
Since their arms were their wings and they used them to move around, it was obvious they mostly used their legs to attack. However, instead of kicking me, this one was trying to use her knee.
I had gotten used to pain and getting injured by now, but that didn't mean I would try the same thing twice and expect different results. So, I raised my arm and formed a Dancing Jade Armor shield, which I was reluctant to use since my Qi was already almost depleted.
But still, her attack barely pushed me back. She noticed that and attempted to bite me on the neck. This time, I raised my foot, aiming to knee her in the chin, as my other arm was already occupied blocking her leg.
I could feel her misty breath as she moved closer, murder radiating through her whole being. She turned and changed targets from my neck to my knee. But it was all for naught, as I used Dancing Jade Armor once again and concentrated better than ever before. Despite how I was fighting, I was strangely calm. Perhaps because the pressure she was putting on me was nothing compared to the four-armed gorilla.
I created coin-sized barriers for each of her teeth, using the minimum Qi needed to block an attack like that.
However, in that split second, I felt something strange. It was like an instant, the kind of thing one felt before they saw it. The closest comparison I could make was the anticipation of the thundering sound after seeing a lightning bolt strike in the distance.
There was no wasted Qi in how I executed the technique, and it achieved its objective perfectly. Not too much Qi, nor too little. No wasted Qi, using the exact reactive force... Everything was perfect.
The Qi around me shifted, and I saw green at the corner of my eye. I could smell jade, even though the stone itself did not necessarily have a distinct smell. There was also no jade around.
Even the cold invading my body was secondary to this feeling. I felt like a stone washing down the river until a young child found me. It was there when the child went to show his parents what he had found.
It was a bewildering thought process I did not comprehend but somehow understood. The natural Qi around me shifted and churned, forming a green armor. Since it was made of Qi, the armor weighed nothing but still protected me from the cold.
With my only viable arm, I used my elbow to hit the monstrous beast biting at my knee. With the pressure of the armored elbow and knee combined, the beast's head was crushed into a mess of blood, gore, and gray sludge. One of her eyes popped out and landed next to my other foot, and I was covered in her brain matter as her body slumped to the ground.
My concentration was at its peak. I could sense, smell, and even feel the Dancing Jade Armor Technique.
Trace… A perfect execution of a technique!
I grabbed one of my daggers and, with just a thought, a green hue covered the blade, extending to form a translucent greenish sword. Despite the added length, the dagger was still as light as ever.
Then, I let Speedy fall and no longer used him as a shield; instead, I sat on his shell, staring at the harpies around us. Some of the Body Tempering Cultivators were having a hard time since the harpies could fly.
I jumped into their midst, and even though I could only use one arm, I cut through two harpies with one swing. Despite my injuries, I moved better than I ever had.
However, despite hitting a Trace, I couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. I knew the chance of hitting a Trace was higher when one was calm, but hitting a Trace would have been much more convenient when I was fighting the gorilla.
But, then again, life was rarely convenient.
Dancing Jade Armor was now officially an Earth Grade Technique. It now formed into actual armor; if I had more Qi in this temporary state, I could have done so much more. What a shame that I couldn't test everything. But next time, if I ever hit a Trace again, I will make sure to have plenty of Qi to try some stuff and get the full benefit of this temporary state of attunement with Qi.
Still, even after this, I should be able to form it into an official armor, and it was much stronger than before, requiring much less concentration to maintain.
"What is that?" asked the Lu Clan Leader.
People around these parts might not be familiar with a Trace, but the governor's look told me he knew exactly what I was doing.
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The monstrous beasts also seemed to instinctively recognize that something was wrong, and the battle was no longer in their favor.
Those bastards broke my arm; there was no way I was just going to let them leave!
I disabled my Dancing Jade Armor and concentrated every ounce of Qi I had into the edge of the blade of my dagger. Since I no longer had the energy to imbue my entire blade with Qi, this was the best I could do to get maximum results.
A familiar feeling spread across my chest as I was about to swing my blade.
Then it happened again. It felt like I was on the moon, looking down on an Earth-like planet and licking my claws. In what felt like faster than a blink, and I was atop a hill, looking at the moon and swiping my claws at it.
This was my will: to swing my claws at the heavens and make the moon fall!
Even though it was daytime, I felt the moonlight behind me. Without turning around, I already knew what was happening.
A two-dimensional full moon the size of a small car had formed behind me, and I didn't need to swing the dagger for what happened next. It was like a machine gun shooting invisible blades, butchering the flying harpy squad and turning them into bloody chunks and mush in an instant!
Usually, I wouldn't have broken my concentration at something like this. Twice, this had happened before and halted my breakthrough into Qi Gathering. But this time, it was too damn much!
Fuck! Why did this shit hit Trace even though I didn't need it? Not once, but twice?! C'mon! I didn't need this shit right now! It was useless! The enemy was already running away, and I had no Qi to practice with it!
The full moon created behind me by Falling Moon Claw shattered, and so did the rhythm I had built up. All that concentration and being in the zone dried up, and Qi no longer seemed like second nature to control.
Usually, I wasn't an emotional person, especially about things I had no control over and couldn't change. In many ways, I never expected my life to bend to my whims.
But even if I didn't expect to hit a Trace while fighting for my life against the gorilla, it was still annoying how I was risking my life out there, and only now could I hit Trace twice in a row!
I slumped and sat on the cold, snowy ground, staring at the sky.
I had no Qi to work with, so it wasn't like being in a Trace would have been that useful anyway. If there was ever the worst time to land a Trace, it was times like these—where it wouldn't save my life, and I couldn't even enjoy it.
"Congratulations, not many cultivators can say they have landed a Trace," said the governor.
I calmed down somewhat and nodded. "Thanks. Make sure to keep an eye on any monstrous beasts trying to escape. From now on, make sure you survive instead of giving chase to anyone else."
We should be safe for now because even if the four-armed gorilla had a companion who was a Foundation Establishment monstrous beast, it didn't know what had happened inside the town. So far, the monstrous beasts had been extremely patient so it was safe to assume they would continue being so. Unless, of course, they grew emotional after the four-armed gorilla died and did something illogical. In that case, we were finished.
I was betting on my opponent being smart here.
The monstrous beasts had lost their army, and any stragglers would retreat to lick their wounds until next year when they could try to get their revenge. Either way, I would no longer be around by then, and the Blazing Sun Sect would increase its security after this year's events.
"Well, I'm going to check on the civilians," I said as I stood up.
We had planned to spread the poison gas with the idea that no civilians would be harmed, which is why we made an effort to gather them together immediately after the attack.
"There might be monstrous beasts with higher resistance to poison, so do not let your guard down," I warned them.
The chances of that happening were low, but it was not impossible.
"Also, just because some monstrous beasts have higher cultivation doesn't make them immune to the poison. But they have higher resistance, so keep an eye out for them. Some might have higher resistance due to their physiology," I added, then began walking away, leaving the rest behind.
Even if the monstrous beasts somehow survived the poison, they would still be weakened. It was a cheap tactic, but it worked for now—until our enemies developed countermeasures or their own chemical warfare tactics. Counteracting this tactic wouldn't be difficult; a talisman that casts a simple barrier to stop gases from entering or leaving would suffice.
Just then, I heard the thud of steps behind me and turned around. There was Speedy, out of his shell and staring at me.
"Wanna come with me, little guy?" I asked.
He was no longer so little, but in my eyes, he was still that little turtle I fed while keeping him on my desk. He nudged me on the side, tapped his head against my shoulder, then turned around.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I inquired.
Speedy nudged me again, then turned around, showing me his back. Finally, I caught on to what he was trying to say and climbed atop his shell.
"Well, take us around the walls and keep some distance too. Don't stop until we reach the opposite side of the town," I said, lying on his shell.
Without any more prompts, he began walking, following my instructions. For a monstrous beast, he was slow and at max speed was about as fast as a mortal walking. But I was in no rush.
As we walked away, I was reminded by the rocking and the piercing pain that I had a broken arm.
…
It took a while since Speedy was not living up to his name. But we finally reached the other side, and I got down from him. There was no entrance on this side of the wall, and jumping over it was annoying. We needed to create a new entrance anyway, as I could sense the civilians on the other side.
I walked up to the wall, leaned back, and placed my palm on the cold, marble-white stone. Then I recalled a technique Song Song had talked about, one that was good at destroying physical objects.
With that in mind, I imbued the wall with a sliver of the meager Qi I had recovered while resting atop Speedy, which caused the Qi to implode. Cracks spread through the wall, and then I twisted my body and gave the wall a good kick. It crumbled down.
The people on the other side were startled, and I sensed some guards getting ready to fight. Before further misunderstandings could develop, I said, "Calm down, everyone! I'm here to take you all away from here."
I walked past the broken wall and caught sight of thousands of people huddled together. The gases surrounding them were only held back by a shimmering barrier and a handful of weaker artifacts placed around.
There was no food and nothing to do, and they had no doubt heard the sounds of fighting. Also, my broken arm did not inspire any confidence in them either.
But I still put on the best smile I could muster and loudly stated, "The war is won!"
When they heard that, the people's faces lit up immediately. Some cried joyfully, with the tension in their minds draining away. In contrast, others asked whether their relatives fighting in the war were okay or what this purple mist was.
I was too tired to answer, so I turned around and began walking toward Speedy.
It had been a bittersweet victory, as many people had died. The town's fighting force was crippled, and so was the economy with half the town destroyed. This was far from the victory I had wanted.
However, it was a victory nonetheless...