“Why do you look like that?”

Gou Jia eased his scrunched brow and unconsciously touched the part of his arm that held the bramble beast emblem.

“It’s nothing. A small problem has cropped up that needs to be dealt with.”

Abby scrutinized Gou Jia’s face.

By now, she could tell when he was telling half-truths. Too often, Gou Jia taught her techniques that didn’t make sense, only to later find out he kept vital information from her. Even worse was when her bad habits had to be retrained because he didn’t correct her the first hundred times she did something wrong.

Abby didn’t fully trust Gou Jia. But she had to admit, a part of her saw how he dived into teaching her cultivation. His smile filled the room when she accomplished something unique, only to be followed by an expressionless glance.

It made Abby wonder what Gou Jia was hiding from her.

“There seems to be a lot of problems cropping up lately. How can I train effectively while my teacher is off doing other things?”

Gou Jia sent a glare toward Abby, but she remained unfazed. He had never reprimanded her for talking back. Not once, for anything, really.

Humph.

“Fine. I’ll send one of the inner disciples to deal with it.”

Gou Jia fished out a talisman, and Abby watched as it was encased in a globe of water. With a subtle rotation, the talisman inside was torn to shreds, and a red light shot through the wall and into the distance.

Abby’s eyes sparkled as she watched the way the water moved. How could water be softly manipulated into a globe and hold a sharp, shredding power? Could she do that too?

“How can water be soft and sharp at the same time?” Abby asked Gou Jia, who looked at her with surprise. His lips tucked up a bit as he spoke another of his mysterious verses.

“Even calm ponds can have swift undercurrents.”

Abby scoffed at the roundabout phrase and was about to ask more when a voice appeared from outside.

“Permission to enter, Sect Leader.”

“Come in.” Gou Jia commanded.

Abby watched as the outside guards opened the door for a menacing-looking man. He had a scar that extended from his chin to his brow and held fierce eyes that told Abby he was a dangerous man. When the man gazed in her direction, Abby subconsciously reared back.

“Are you looking for her or for me?” Gou Jia’s question turned the man’s gaze back to him, and the scowl on Gou Jia's face spoke volumes.

"Don't scare her again," Gou Jia warned the inner disciple.

“Apologies, Sect Leader. Please advise me.” The inner disciple fell to one knee.

Gou Jia's frown dissipated as he fished out another talisman and held it to his forehead. A faint light blossomed from the talisman before resuming a normal appearance. With a single sweep of his sleeve, it arrived before the inner disciple, who held it to his forehead.

“Communication Talisman,” Abby whispered to herself. It was like a text message but could convey the exact emotions, words, and imagery the person wished to tell. She watched as the talisman lit up against the inner disciple’s forehead and then crumbled into dust once used.

“Your orders are my command. I shall return by the next morning.” The inner disciple bowed to Gou Jia, and after a few moments of thought, he also bowed toward Abby.

Gou Jia’s eyes thinned at the action, and his hand reached into his sleeve. With a flick, a bottle holding a single crimson pill flew into the inner disciple's palm.

“That will prevent violet mist from entering your system and clouding your cultivation. A Bloodthorne Mask will also work, but it won’t be as effective at preventing the violet mist from infiltrating your body. You may leave.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Abby watched the inner disciple bow once more before exiting the courtyard. What he planned to do, she had no clue.

But she had a feeling that it was anything but pleasant.

*****

My brows scrunched together.

The donut mushroom was growing, yes. But at a pace that was far beneath what it usually grew at. But that wasn’t what alarmed me.

Now that I was channelling my Violet Earth Qi into the donut mushroom, I could feel the burning force attempting to erase it. The force originated from a red marking trapped inside the horn of the bramble dog.

“Well, that just won’t do.”

I unsheathed my sword and, with a clean chop, attempted to cut off the bramble dog's horn.

Tang!

My lips parted sideways as the skeleton's voice echoed in my ears.

“…Idiot…”

I had to accept it this time as I looked at the broken sword in my hand.

"Of course, the horn was tougher." I shook my head as I realized the obvious: The horned bramble dog was many times more powerful than a random cultivator. That relationship translated to their weapons as well.

“…vibrate…sw—…dagger…”

The skeleton's voice guided me as I put together the pieces of its broken speech. It wanted me to use my vibration power with my handy new dagger.

I think.

“I can do that?” I wondered.

I closed my eyes and felt the vibrations from my heart and my violet earth core pulse gradually shift in sync. But this time, I would try something different.

This time, I started small.

When facing the horned bramble dog, I launched the vibrations at max power and strained my entire body so much that it ached, and my lungs coughed up blood. Instead of the max-powered vibrations, I tried it at around 10% vibrations.

I felt the elastic muscles in my body shift and the blood pump from my heart as the small vibrations ran along my arm. When it got to the hand holding the broken sword’s hilt, I had to let go of my grip.

“Ouch.” I shook my hand and waved it in the air.

At 10% vibrations, there was a faint soreness in the weaker parts of my arm, like the hand and joints, but otherwise, my arm was fine. The violet mist quickly healed me as I picked up the sword again.

I concentrated deeper this time.

…

“Ouch!”

As the prickling pain slowly faded, I shook my hand for the umpteenth time. But I was making progress. This time, the sword hilt didn’t shake out of my hand like before. Instead, the vibrations almost made it into the metal.

Vibrating something solid was harder than vibrating something elastic, like muscles.

…

“Damn! One more time!” I yelled.

Behind me, the violet mushroom globes were slowly growing and had nearly reached their peak height.

…

A faint hum rang out in my ears as the small, steady beats of vibrations travelled from my hand and into the sword. The sword blade shook with a barely contained power as it suddenly slipped from my fingers.

Holding onto a vibrating sword was… well, it was hard.

"No! Damnit, not hard. Urgh! Concentrate, Louie!”

…

Kuoo

I let out a sharp breath, and as I stood there, firmly holding onto the broken sword, my mind entered a peaceful state. My shoulders relaxed as my heartbeat overlapped with the pulses inside me.

Vibrations as small as the tiniest fly slowly became as powerful as charging bulls. As my arm swelled with power, the grip on my sword tightened even further, awaiting the transfer of vibrations from muscles to metal.

Hum!

The broken sword in my hand let out a strong hum as 70% vibrations rattled inside it. This was the maximum amount I could use without launching it and breaking the sword.

My eyes opened, and I chopped toward the ominously glowing horn on the bramble dog's head, slicing through it like a hot knife through butter. There was a shocking silence as the broken sword stopped humming, and the chopped-off horn clinked against the ground. Then, I flung my arms up into the air.

“YEAH!” I shouted out in glee.

Shatter!

I felt the hard clanking against my head as the broken sword in my hand crumbled into little metal pieces. I stared at the stub of leather that was previously a hilt.

“Ah… maybe, 70% vibrations was too much.” I looked at the pieces of metal that crumbled between my fingers and thought it was a shame to lose my only weapon.

Oh well, live and learn.

I fought with my fists anyway.

Instead, a new bounty was eagerly awaiting me. I looked at the horn that littered the ground and watched the inner, burning markings fall from the cut bone like ember petals.

Pulse.

I stopped my Violet Earth Qi from doing its instinctive cleansing process and observed it for a while before watching as the red colour disappeared entirely from the horn. What was left was a bone hard enough to pierce through rocks and pale in colour despite my violet-coloured expectations.

It was my bounty from a hard-fought battle, so I stashed it in the cave.

“Ooh, that’s nice.” I plucked one of the donut mushrooms from the horned bramble dog and felt a pleasant heat travel through my body. The amount of Qi stashed in these donut mushrooms was incomparable to the regular bramble dogs, and I felt a few more violet dirt particles multiply as I ingested one of them.

Where there was danger, there was opportunity. I had killed the horned bramble dog, reaped its rewards, and grown stronger in the process.

“I wonder…”

I flexed my arm and felt the strength contained within.

I had seen more horned bramble demons, so I knew there were more. I barely survived after meeting two of them, a feat which would likely reoccur if I met with another two of them. But fighting against one wasn’t out of the question, not anymore.

And the rewards would be worth the effort. I didn’t have the violet water anymore, and while cultivating in the violet mist was efficient, I would always need more food to sustain it.

My eyes thinned with resolve as my stomach growled.

“Time to go hunting.”