I opened my eyes and exhaled. The pressure that I didn't know is in my head disappeared and got replaced by nauseating relief. I closed my eyes again and while in the darkness, I focused on the foreign Qi inside my body. Earlier, when that inner disciple first left, I got hit by sudden pain that erupted inside my stomach, for a while, sitting down and cultivating didn't relieve any of the pain and it was only when I started to increase the output of my Qi that the pain started to disappear.
And in its place? Well- "Fuck."
Really, that is the only word I can appropriately say to myself while looking at the surrounding area because right now, I am sitting in the middle of a frozen hellscape that ran for a few meters. It is also full of sharp ice spikes, most jutted out of the ground, a few emerged from other icicles. The floor is colored in a reflective light blue and is coated in strong permafrost that freezes things to the touch.
The only thing on my mind right now is the question- Did I get another breakthrough?
Status
User: Yu Song
Qi: 1894/2500
Realm: 4th Stage (Body Refinement)
Techniques:
- Punch
- Run
- Throw
- Palm Strike
*First to Sixth form
- Fist of Danger
* First to Second form
Quests:
*Reach Body Refinement Realm - Completed! Rewards Ready!
*Reach Foundation Establishment Realm - (4/15)
Ok, so apparently not, I only went up another Stage in my current Realm. Then why am I surrounded by ice? I stared at the frozen area again, Is this what Xie Wen saw back then?
And me remembering the time when I (apparently) did this sort of thing reminded me of the mannequin who managed to melt the ice in both the boxing ring and in the real world. I closed my eyes and tried to mentally picture the gym and the mannequin, I couldn't get a clear image, just a simple thought and the two words associated with them; mannequin and gym.
It was the complete opposite of what I'm expecting so I frowned. I thought that I'd get a picture inside my head or something.
Imagining the two things didn't help either, and conceptually, I understand that they're there, just that for some reason they're just words and not actual images. So I can't imagine them, that's a good sign at least.
Because it means that they're there. Probably.
I don't know.
Standing up, I noticed that the Qi around me felt so much more obvious than before, every breath let me instinctually know that I'm taking in Qi passively and that Qi gets processed by my Lungs and then my Heart before getting transferred through my veins. Thanks to reading Xianxia novels back in my old life, I got to know that these body parts should be the first three things that I prioritized refining.
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After all, processing Qi is a cultivator's entire deal and making that process efficient is the way to go.
I stared in the far distance, "right, guess I should continue fighting then."
I silently ran around the place, searching for opportunities. I mainly used my eyes while searching because running meant that air clouded my ears, and that resulted in loud gusts that when focused on, got so loud that it made me wince. And since I'm moving slowly, my eyesight didn't exactly blur.
That didn't exactly mean that I couldn't use my ears though.
"HELP!" I jerked my head and faced the direction of the cry. It came from a guy but I could've never guessed it from the way he screamed. "SOMEONE!"
I saw something bright and yellow envelop the night sky from where the scream came from and thought better of going there but the guy screamed for help again, "PLEASE!" he pleaded, as if what he's doing is actually helping things.
I sighed. This better be worth it.
As it turns out, the guy screaming did become useful because I was now looking at him and the thing chasing him. The thing, whatever it is, looked like a dog, with four legs, a snout, sharp teeth, and dark-brown fur that's full of dirt. Two bones that pointed upward jutted of the thing's neck, and in between the bones, something black and leathery would pop out of the fur from time to time, whatever it is, it looked worrying but I reasoned that it must just be it's collar.
So, with a deep breath, I started circulating my Qi. I readied my sword and exhaled, then I ran out of the cover and met the dog head on.
I stopped directly in front of it, raised my sword, and swung down and I thought that this would've been the end for the creature but it's eyes widened in panic for a split second before it leaped back. Its eyes kept looking at me in fear but its body did the opposite, its legs were tense and looked ready to jump, I raised my sword again to try and threaten it to go away but it didn't back off.
And for some reason, a part of me wanted to see the dog growl, because that's what they do right?
The fact this didn't sent shivers up my spine and I felt my legs stand up when that black thing popped out of its neck again and I accidentally took a peek.
The dog jumped and I stepped to the side in response, I raised my hands upward got ready to swing my sword when I got stopped by a loud scream.
I turned and saw that the guy I tried to save earlier is now getting mauled on by the dog. His body got treated like a chew toy and was tossed around as the dog violently moved its head left and right. He looked at me with pleading eyes and I stared back coldly, why the fuck is he even here still? Was what? Watching the fight?
Right behind me? What a fucking moron.
Even as my blood boiled at the thought of this dumbass not saving himself and running away when I came to his rescue, I still tried to help him and attempted to slice the dog's head in half. And in response to my attack, the dog threw the man's body my way and I rationally thought that I'd hesitate and stop my swing because he's in the way but my slice went even faster and it cleaved through the man's body, silcing him in half from the stomach.
Him and the dog's tongue, which the creature lashed out after it threw the man at me. With gritted teeth, I glared at the dog as its tongue retracted back into its mouth, it was a long thing, red, and full of pointed bone spurs. The tip has been sliced and black blood slowly trickled out of the wound.
I didn't even wait for it to retract its tongue and just charged.
When it tried to back away, I aimed for its tongue instead, hoping to do as much damage as I could and it was then that I saw pure panic come out of the dog's movements.
It whined loud enough to make me scream and when I did, I saw the thing jump away.
It looked eager to swallow its tongue but that's probably not its tongue, is it?
I looked at the bone spikes on the dog's neck and held back a shiver when something black popped out of its neck for a split second before burying itself back into the fur.
And I'm guessing that's not a collar. I thought grimly.
No wonder it tried so hard to protect its neck, I was basically trying to kill the actual thing that's driving this dog's body. But that just means that it has a weakness now, does it?
I wanted to abuse that weakness and kill the thing in one shot without expending that much energy but looking at the dog's trembling eyes got me to think twice.
I had been a social worker in my past life and before that, I lived in a rather bad house. Leaving that house and going to the local adoption shelter for dogs had been a way for me to cope and to me, that place was a safe haven full of happy, huggable animals that wanted all of my attention and were happy because of it. I was also happy to play with them and it was why I grew up to become a volunteer and eventually, a social worker.
Seeing its eyes shiver in fear made my chest hurt and I want nothing more than to end its misery. Can I save it? Probably. But how far does the parasite go?
I grit my teeth at the thought and threw out the maximum output of my Qi.
My surroundings started to freeze and a loud, howling wind started to form in a rough circle around me. It was the blizzard that I saw back in the gym, but much weaker.
I glared at the bones on the dog's neck, "fuck you," I spat.