Part of what made He Zhi actually stop and contemplate what their reactions would be if they saw his identity was the yearn to see these arrogant morons just swallow their words like stupid cows.

However, He Zhi merely jumped into a tree and darted off, making use of his Walking on Air ability. He couldn’t focus on it and run at the same time, so he wasted energy and quickly lost stamina. He stopped to catch his breath and by the time he was ready to move again, the soldiers had surrounded him.

The brat’s soldiers were not being aggressive, only because their boss said to be polite. To them, it seemed as if this person was a powerful being who could move quickly, much faster than they ever could.

But the scarred man’s forces were aggressive, knowing full well that their superior was prone to disciplining his soldiers if they failed him. They could only imagine what would happen if they were the reason why Derik was treated poorly by his own father.

They were ready to bring him in even if they had to break a few legs! But, they didn’t realize they were chasing after He Zhi, they thought it must have been one of those kid Mages from before causing trouble.

But when the cloak billowed in the air, some people saw some green webbed feet and couldn’t help but think this was a monster! If they were to fight some unknown creature, what might be the outcome?!

Fortunately, He Zhi was still not in the mood to kill people. Even though he tried his hardest to get those people out of his mind, he still experienced moments of guilt that flooded his mind. Almost as if he was drowning once more.

Too many times had he been pulled down in his dreams to the beckoning water by the departed carcasses of the people he once killed. There was no more hope for his ever living a peaceful life if he killed, and he had already done just that.

But…it wasn’t his fault, right? It was the Mages’ faults for angering him…the soldiers’ faults for being too weak.

He deflected. He tried to pass off his troubles to someone else. And they couldn’t argue since they were dead!

However, something was happening to He Zhi in his Core. The threads that used to be so calm and docile started to writhe and squirm, like worms. No, the threads began to circulate, spinning around in his body, forcing it to experience a strong pain. He Zhi stumbled over in pain, caught by surprise.

This came about because He Zhi was deciding what to do with these guys and remembered the people he killed. The turquoise threads were the only ones to move, however, spreading around and causing trouble. But then they collided, becoming bigger. The threads began to look like streams, the way they coursed around in his Core.

The streams collided, becoming creeks. The creeks collided, becoming rivers. Then the rivers collided, forming a large blob of turquoise. Instead of stopping, it continued traveling around, absorbing the other turquoise threads, streams, creeks, and rivers.

Eventually, it started to look like a pond without land to contain it. Instead of forming some sort of orb or item, the strange energy seemed to coalesce into an even greater body of energy, a lake.

At this point, all of the turquoise threads were absorbed and He Zhi laid on the ground covered in sweat and grime. The soldiers looked on in horror, thinking the mysterious person was dying. However, one of the Second Young Master’s men walked over and removed the hood, revealing He Zhi’s appearance.

In that instant, everyone exclaimed and rejoiced.

Unfortunately, the sky started to turn gray as He Zhi was still being forced to experience a breakthrough in his cultivation against his will.

That’s right, some outside third party was forcing He Zhi to experience this breakthrough for some unbelievable reason!

Once all the turquoise threads were gone, the lake stopped its movement. After that, it began sucking in the blue and green threads to finish itself. Once that was finished, a massive turquoise object practically filled He Zhi’s Core. But it still wasn’t finished!

Seeking out the nearest energy, the large energy absorbed some of the purple threads, lightning!

Thunder boomed, surprising the guards who were too busy watching the poor Frogling to pay attention. Little drops of water fell down, alerting some of the men to begin packing things up and setting off. One man reached over to grab He Zhi, but the man burst into pieces!

It was as if he was a balloon filled entirely with water and he just popped! There was no warning, there was no sign, just a pop sound, and guts flying everywhere!

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The men looked over shocked, waiting to see what caused it. Then they looked at the Frogling with astonished expressions.

There wasn’t much lightning absorbed, just about five threads or so. Even still, He Zhi was in large amounts of pain that couldn’t even be explained!

Fortunately, the pain started to dissipate and he could feel the changes happening within his body. The large ocean in his Core began to seethe and He Zhi found himself underwater, floundering for a breath of air.

A strange old man dressed in what looked like a simple sheet of cloth walked out of the murky depths of the ocean, surprising He Zhi who was still confused about what was going on.

“So you squandered my gift by giving it away? Fine. You showed good enough promise so I can let that slide. However, now you want to profit off of it? Fuck off.”

After saying his shtick, the old man disappeared as mysteriously as he appeared.

The ocean began swirling to a point, getting smaller and smaller. Eventually, it was evident that the ocean was draining! He Zhi was thrown into a whirlpool, suffocating and blacking out. When he opened his eyes a moment later, he was blinded by the sunlight as he coughed out a strange liquid.

This scared the soldiers, so they ran away. He Zhi was left in a mess, surrounded by a puddle of blackish liquid that contained streaks of different colors. But, he noticed something immediately.

He couldn’t call upon the energy! He couldn’t do anything! What happened?! What was going on?!

He focused, then realized he couldn’t remember how he could cultivate! He imagined the movements from his past life, but it didn’t change anything! Then maybe that old man was the reason for the energy in the first place?

Why?!

“I just have to ingest more of that energy, right?”

He Zhi reached into the Magic Bag and pulled out some Riverweed, trying to heal himself. However, he didn’t feel the pull of magic and he definitely wasn’t getting better. A strange uneasiness filled his entire being and he felt like he was about to puke at any moment.

He Zhi laid there on the ground collapsed, wondering what had happened. He figured that man was the reason for all of this power, but if he was angry about the deal with the Sects, why get angry now? Was there a delay?

Maybe the man was slow?

Either way, He Zhi was now powerless! His strength was gone and he had no energy! Thankfully, according to He Zhi, he was still humanoid and could talk, probably because the transformation from the rotation permanently morphed his body.

But that meant nothing to him! What was he going to do with the Sects and the Marshall Family?! What was going to happen now?!

He Zhi tried to run for the waterfall, but it took him the rest of the day to get back. Thankfully, the soldiers were probably off explaining things to their superiors. He Zhi made it to the rock long after night fell and when he entered the cave, everyone was already aware of something happening to him.

“Hey, are you going to be alright?”

“I don’t know, Kuroda. I don’t know.”

The night felt like it wouldn’t end since He Zhi couldn’t fall asleep. He was plagued by the emptiness of not having his power and desired someone to help him. Unfortunately, the girls were all avoiding him for some reason.

It wasn’t that he was weak so he wasn’t good mating material, it was the fact that He Zhi seemed to be surrounded by a constant negative field. It was suffocating for people to be near him.

Alone for the night and attacked by his fears and worries the entire time, He Zhi was reluctant to meet his brother and sisters when the day came. However, there was more than just his family there to greet him.

When he opened the stone entryway, something lodged itself in the way, barring the path from closing. Several vials were thrown inside, releasing large amounts of gas that instantly made He Zhi drowsy.

Then, he passed out.

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Yes, I know it may seem like a cliff…because it is, but I’m too tired for today. Tomorrow I will try and finish the first arc of sorts and take a small break from posting so I can stockpile and/or focus on work and school. Sorry, but I have never been a person who could successfully focus on different things at once.

Forgive me.