"So, is this the individual?" the cultivator inquired, casting a quick glance at Malachi behind him.

Malachi stepped forward, joining the cultivator, and affirmed, "Yes, little brother, that's him."

The cultivator, apparently Malachi's younger sibling, scrutinized Demeris. "He's a bit puny, isn't he? You lost to him?" he asked his brother, laughing. He stood tall with a lean and wiry frame, a sharp contrast to Malachi's more muscular build.

"He sucker-punched me, that's why," Malachi stated, his expression revealing no hint of the lie he wove. "Then, when I was down and defenseless, he used a staff on me and broke my leg."

Demeris was about to protest the accusation when the Master of Servants intervened, admonishing him, "There will be no excuses, brat." Turning to the cultivator, he added, "Initiate Galven, sir, I apologize for the actions of one of my charges. Please administer to him any punishment you deem appropriate."

"He's lying," Demeris began to protest, but before he could finish his sentence, it felt as though a charging elephant had crashed into him. He was sent hurtling through the door, landing unceremoniously in the dirt outside. Waves of searing pain coursed through him, and he could barely endure the agony. Fortunately, his nights of rigorous practice had honed his ability to manipulate Qi, and almost instinctively, he tapped into it. Despite this, the healing couldn't work fast enough, forcing him to endure the pain longer than he would have preferred.

“Well look at that, you are still conscious,” Galven said from the wrecked doorway of the Master’s office.. “Good. Saves me the time to revive you,” he added, jumping the short distance to land forcefully on Demeris' foot. Demeris let out a guttural scream, howling in prolonged agony, scaring the birds in the nearby gardens. Despite the mind-numbing pain however, a piece of his mind still managed to summon his Qi to provide healing energy as fast as it could. Over and over, Demeris’ Qi got used up then replenished in quick succession, providing short but constant healing bouts.

But that kind of injury cannot be healed quickly, the pain not that easy to eliminate, especially with Demeris’ low Qi amount. He was still in great pain when Galven spoke again.

“You are tough, I will give you that. But I’m not through with you yet,” He said smiling, then stomped on Demeris’ other foot, breaking it as well. Mercifully, Demeris’ consciousness left him.

Demeris came to and the pain came back with a vengeance. He was being dragged by the hair by Galven, his broken legs trailed, useless, each bump on the uneven grounds sending knifing pain throughout his being. He started his healing routine again.

They halted in what seemed to be the dorms. Galven flung Demeris to the ground like a ragdoll, his voice harsh and domineering as he began to speak. "This is what happens when you mess with my brother, Malachi," he declared. "From now on, what he says, you do. Understood?"

“Anyone has any complaints about what I did to this piece of trash here?” Galven went on, kicking Demeris on his side, who whimpered painfully.

Demeris, although still in almost unbearable pain, couldn’t do anything. “Help me..” he pleaded the crowd that had gathered to watch what was happening. No one moved, even Ronan who caught Demeris’ eye, just looked away in shame.

Galven laughed amused then came to where Demeris was writhing in pain and whispered to his ear. “You see that, trash? No one in this place cares if you live and die. But don’t worry, I will not kill you. But I doubt if I will see you alive again after today,” Galven said with an evil smile before punching him in the head, knocking him out.

Beckoning to the Master of Servants, he commanded, "Throw him by the cliffs at the plateau's boundary. He is not welcome here in the Summit Serenity Sect anymore."

"But the Adept, he might admonish me..." the Master hesitated.

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"I have already made my intention known to Adept Winsterson. Frankly, he doesn't care at all about any of you smelly servants," Galven cut him off. "Now go! Let the spirit beasts of the mountains finish this useless stain of the earth."

After giving his orders, Galven turned around and walked away, Malachi limping behind him. The Master of Servants instructed several servants to lift Demeris up and led them toward the cliffs. When they reached the edge, they unceremoniously swung Demeris over.

Demeris fell, dropping at least 10 feet before hitting the branches of the tallest trees on the cliffside. They cushioned his fall as he hit the ground, but the impact jolted him awake and his body contorted in intense pain. He rolled in the steep slope before falling in open air again. After dropping a few more feet, he got snagged in a sturdy branch. The sudden halt sent another wave of agony through his battered form. He screamed before passing out, dangling precariously, suspended in the trees.

It was night when he regained consciousness once more. Pain seemed to originate from every part of his body. He tapped his Qi for healing, over and over, relishing the little bit of comfort his Qi’s healing energy provided every cycle. In the midst of the night, the rhythmic dance of his Qi persisted, mending his broken body as he hung silent in the shadows.

When morning came, he cautiously tested his legs. It seemed to him that the broken bones were already mended, yet they remained sore and painful to move. Demeris did not stop healing until night came once more. By then, his injuries had all mended, yet the pain he had endured lingered in his mind like a recent and vivid memory.

Getting down from the tree, his anguish turned to anger directed towards the Summit Serenity Sect. But he knew he couldn’t do anything. He vowed to try and become stronger. He needed power, and he firmly believed that his unusual Qi is the key that will open the path to the power he needed. He must try to uncover new ways of utilizing his Qi for combat. So from where he stood at the base of the tree, he sat down, eyes shining with determination.

He commenced by summoning all his Qi, intending it to fetch a fist-sized rock for him. However, the shapeless blob of Qi in front of him remained motionless. "So, you don’t have a brain, huh?" Demeris smiled, expressing a hint of playful disappointment. He had entertained the hopeful notion that his Qi might possess some form of intelligence. "Wishful thinking," he whispered, finding amusement in the situation.

Demeris then began searching for a rock of the right size. Once he saw one, he directed his Qi to retrieve it. Obediently, the blob sped towards the rock, swiftly picking it up and returning to Demeris, the rock now floating in front of him. With a determined focus, he directed the Qi-infused rock crashing towards a nearby tree, the impact resonating with a solid thud against the trunk.

"Let’s see how strong you are," he declared to another blob of Qi he summoned. Directing this one towards a slightly larger rock, he awaited the outcome. Unlike the first instance, upon the pickup, he sensed something akin to a mental signal, indicating that his Qi might not handle this rock as efficiently as the initial one. Undeterred, he still propelled the rock towards the tree, but he noticed a sluggishness in his control, resulting in the rock missing the target altogether.

Understanding the limits of his Qi’s strength, he summoned a blob once more and directed it toward a rock of the appropriate size. Simultaneously, he tapped into his already replenished Qi and directed it towards another rock of identical proportions. As both blobs sped away, he repeated the process one more time for a third rock. Attempting a fourth summon, he felt the strain once more – the Qi enveloping his body lingered, and he couldn't summon it at all.

Taking note of this limitation as well, he proceeded with more tests. Instructing two of the Qis to release their respective rocks, he then commanded them to merge. The idea behind this experiment was to create a blob twice as robust as the individual ones. To his disappointment, however, once the two Qis started to overlap, they dissipated. Shaking his head, he refocused on the third rock-carrying Qi and ordered it to drop its load and then split into two equal parts. The Qi blob promptly divided itself, creating two separate blobs. When he attempted to merge them again, this time without any problems, they successfully combined.

Summoning three blobs once again, Demeris assigned them to pick up a rock each. With the rocks hovering in front of him, he commanded them to race towards another nearby tree. Successively, the rocks hit the tree, each striking precisely where Demeris intended.

With these tests, Demeris determined that he could summon at most three blobs of Qi, each comprising no more than the maximum Qi he has available. The control over these blobs came effortlessly, allowing him to manipulate and divide them into smaller parts as needed. However, he cannot merge them together to create a “stronger” blob.