When Madara woke up lying on the shore, he scanned his surroundings to figure out where he was. Realizing he was in an unfamiliar place, he began to examine himself. During his self-examination, Madara discovered that he had no qi and that he couldn't move anything from his right hand down to the lower part of his body. Only his head, left hand, and the remaining parts of his body were movable.

He then focused on his clothes, torn and full of holes from the numerous injuries he sustained while defending himself from his attackers. Feeling a frequent pain in his chest, he slowly lifted his head from the ground to see the wound he had sustained.

When Madara lifted his head, he saw a wound on his chest. Beside the wound was a small piece of wood tied to a string, hanging around his neck. The sight left him stunned, and he slowly lowered his head back to the ground. Despite the pain in his chest and the paralysis affecting half of his body, Madara managed a slight smile. He remembered that he was wearing a pendant from his parents, and he believed that this pendant had provided protection, lessening the impact of the attack on his chest and preventing more severe injury.

As he gazed at the sky, Madara thought to himself, "Sister, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have believed that the pendant you returned to me from my parents would end up protecting me in the end. I don't know if what happened to me was a coincidence or luck. I don't believe in luck, but if it is, how long will it last?"

"Enough thinking; I shouldn’t waste this chance," Madara thought to himself. After that, he quickly placed his left hand on his chest in a prayer-like position. He then began to meditate, even while lying down, to absorb the qi from his surroundings. As he absorbed the qi, he felt it gradually returning to his body. However, as the qi began to flow back, the paralysis in his body started to spread.

Feeling the paralysis increasing, Madara stopped his meditation.

"This is bad," he whispered to himself while staring at the sky. "I don't know any other way to get rid of this paralysis. All I know is that I can slow its spread by countering it with my lightning qi," he added. "And from what I can tell, the paralysis keeps spreading because it senses the qi in my body."

As he pondered how to eliminate the paralysis, he suddenly had a realization. "Qi?" he muttered. The mention of it reminded him of how he had ended up paralyzed in the first place.

"If that's the case, there’s a chance I can absorb it since it's made of qi. I won't know for sure unless I try, and I don’t have any other options," he concluded. With that decision, Madara resumed his meditation and began absorbing qi from his surroundings.

As he absorbed the qi, the paralysis started to move again. To counter this, Madara attempted to absorb the paralysis from his body while continuing to draw in the surrounding qi. However, he soon realized that the paralysis spread even faster, quickly enveloping his entire body.

As he executed his plan, the paralysis spread throughout his entire body, causing his breathing to weaken and his heartbeat to slow. At the same time, he experienced severe pain as his veins throbbed intensely, as if they were being bitten by countless insects. Overcome by the pain, Madara could only mutter, "Fuck," to himself while staring up at the sky, completely paralyzed. "It hurts," he added. The only thing he could do was moan in agony, as he was unable to move or even scream due to the full paralysis of his body. As he struggled with these sensations, he gradually started gasping for breath and, before long, lost consciousness.

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...

In the desolate environment, Madara suddenly felt someone grasping his right hand. He turned to see that it was his sister, Yun. Although he couldn’t hear her words, he said to her, "I will train hard so that I can protect you, Sister Yun." Hearing this, Xiao Yun smiled warmly and gently patted Madara's head. Afterward, they both started walking together toward the light.

...

When Madara opened his eyes, he was greeted by a bright light. Without hesitation, he called out his sister’s name. As the light faded, he realized he was still lying on the riverbank. Although he could now open his mouth, his entire body still felt numb from the paralysis.

He quickly assessed his condition. The intense throbbing in his veins had subsided to a more moderate level. He was breathing normally, and his heartbeat had returned to a regular rhythm. Despite managing to counteract the paralysis, his body remained numb, and he still lacked qi.

Even though it was midday and the sun was glaring down on him, Madara chose to continue his meditation. He focused on absorbing the qi from his surroundings and also drew in the lightning qi that was paralyzing his body, despite lying on the shore. After several hours of meditation, he began to feel his qi and strength returning.

Gradually, he rose from his lying position, sat cross-legged, and resumed meditating to check for any damage to his dantian or meridians. During this internal examination, he discovered that, among all his injuries, the wound on his chest was the most affected.

When Madara reached the point where he could closely observe his dantian, he saw his spiritual roots—ethereal veins running through his body and connecting to the dantian (which is the energy center). These roots glowed with a silver light, and each root emitted red, green, and yellow hues. As he examined them, he noticed that among the three strands of his spiritual root, the yellow one was more vibrant than the others. He wondered, "Could the intensified color be due to my absorption of the paralysis made of lightning qi?"

He didn’t dwell on this observation for long. Instead, he focused on his dantian and meridians, quickly assessing that there was no damage to his spiritual root, dantian, or meridians. Satisfied with his findings, he withdrew into his inner self.

As night fell, Madara finally emerged from his inner self. The first thing on his mind was to get as far away as possible from his current location. He had no idea how many days he had been in that state (unconscious), and he feared that those pursuing him might still be looking for him. Additionally, he needed to heal from the wounds he had sustained in the battle.

Standing at the edge of the river, he stared into the flowing water. His hair and the tattered remains of his black hanfu fluttered in the wind. He spoke quietly to himself, "I want to return and save you, sister, but the result would be the same because..." His voice trailed off as he recalled the words of one of the men in black.

"You're still weak."

"Weak."

"Weak."

"Weak."

This echoed in Madara’s ears as he recalled the memory. Because of this, he bowed his head, closed his eyes, clenched his right fist, and whispered softly, "Because I am weak." After uttering those words, he lifted his head again. As he raised his gaze, he looked once more toward the end of the river. "For the last time, you prioritized my well-being over your own," he murmured. The image of his sister flashed in his mind, and he remembered how she looked as he was trying to escape. "You knew we couldn’t flee from that person with the powerful qi, so you chose to face them alone."

After a few seconds of silence, Madara spoke again. "Sister, thank you for everything." As he said this, a warm breeze passed by his position, causing Madara to finally let his tears flow as he gazed at the end of the river that night. After that, Madara vanished from his spot like a wisp of smoke, using his technique, and reappeared some distance away. As he ran, he murmured to himself, "From the xianxia novels I read, it seems the main characters are right in their belief that in the realm of cultivation, strength reigns supreme." The thought of the upcoming sect disciple selection crossed his mind, prompting him to add, "I need to train harder and develop my own sword intent."