Gang Gong sounded pissed off, "Xie Wen? Is it just me or does Gang Gong feel stronger than before?" I don't know if I was just mistaking it or not but Gang Gong's Qi feels a lot denser than before, "you feel it too right?"

"Xie Wen?" I asked but Xie Wen didn't answer. "You okay?" Xie Wen's face was pale when I looked at her.

I walked closer to her, then she flinched, "Yu Song, help me," she pleaded.

"I will, okay?" I slowly edged over to her and held her hand. She shivered for a second but then she quickly locked her fingers around mine. "You're fine, okay?" I hugged her, she started to quiver, "You're fine, you're safe." I repeated. I silently thanked my job as a social worker in my past life. Years of me taking care of people with psychotic breaks helped a lot with my current situation.

I pulled away from the hug and cupped Xie Wen's cheeks, I looked her in the eyes, "You're gonna be fine,"

"I- will?"

I nodded. "Yes." The Xie Wen in front of me didn't feel like the smart and perceptive person she'd been all this time, instead, she looked like a little girl that wanted her father's help. "You're gonna be fine." I hugged her.

We stayed like that for a few seconds before we had to let go because of the loud bangs outside. I stood up and Xie Wen followed, I looked at her in worry, "I'm gonna leave you here because I'm gonna deal with... him." I faced the door with a frown. That guy just doesn't want to give up does he? Points for being stubborn I guess.

Xie Wen gripped the edges of my sleeve, "Yu Song..." she looked pale, "I-"

"Do you want to go with me?" I asked, "You're a cultivator now, you can fight back."

Xie Wen perked up but then shrunk back down. She looked at the door with hesitation, "I- I don't know." She shook her head.

"Okay," I sighed, "wait for me ok?"

Her grip on my sleeve tightened but she eventually let go and nodded, "Okay-" she heaved, "I can do this," Xie Wen smiled, "come back ok?"

"I will." I replied before turning around and walking away.

I had a few guesses as for why Xie Wen acted the way she was, and I gotta admit, I feel happy that I managed to guess why she was acting the way she was. Then again, it's pretty obvious, her village did get attacked after all.

To her, right now is probably like reliving that trauma so I can understand why she's acting like that. Also, seeing what happened to her village on the aftermath of a fight between two powerful cultivators most likely didn't help with her trauma. And I'm basically gonna what? Participate in something like that?

At the thought of that, I paused for a second before continuing to walk. After a few more steps, I started to hesitate but didn't stop and eventually, I reached the front door. I raised my hand to open it but hesitated, Fuck. My nerves feel like they're on fire.

"Yu Song?" Xie Wen called out and it was her words that finally got me to open the door and step outside.

"Yu Song!" Gang Gong's voice entered my ears, like yesterday, he was carrying his black-colored club, which he banged against the barrier that I set up. Unlike yesterday though, the guy is wearing armor- his elbows and knees had leather pauldrons attached to them, his chest had chainmail, and his head had a black helmet with a single spike jutting out on top.

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The guy looked exactly like cannon fodder but didn't seem to notice it, "Tell Xie Wen that if she doesn't come to me willingly,-" I raised my eyebrow and picked up a rock, "-then I'm gonna take her by force!"

The rock went flying and hit Gang Gong straight in the head, "uhuh," I said with a bored tone. I was surprised that the rock managed to pass the barrier sure, but Gang Gong didn't need to know that.

I started walking closer, "that's one way to get the girl's heart, I guess." I shrugged and looked around. I saw fire, screams, and flying men and women in the distance. "But come on, you can't even break the barrier that I set up."

"FUCK YOU!" I ignored his yell and started the first stance for the first form of the Fist of Death, "what- no, I don't care what you're doing," I started circulating my Qi while Gang Gong started laughing, "You think- Well- no, watch me fuck you up!"

Gang Gong pulled out a black pill from his pants while I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. While he swallowed his pill, I continued with the form, I pushed my feet forward and swept it sideways, creating a dent in the ground, I pulled my arm back just in time for me to hear Gang Gong gulp. Then he started laughing, "Watch!"

I pushed my fist forward and struck him in the chest- Ice bloomed from the epicenter of my hit and I watched in disgust as it enveloped Gang Gong's body, slowly turning it blue before completely shattering it.

"Uh-" I did not expect that to happen. I subconsciously took a step backward, "holy shit." I muttered in disbelief, "I just murdered someone-"

"Yu Song?!" Xie Wen's hug cut me off, "You're okay!" I felt the relief in her voice, "I honestly thought it was you that got killed by him."

"Yeah..." Slowly, I raised my hand and touched her forearm, "I- I guess I killed him." I honestly still couldn't believe the words that were coming out of my mouth.

Xie Wen's hug got tighter, "well, he would've killed us if he won." she reasoned, "don't feel bad."

I nodded, "I guess." like it has some sort of healing effect, my words made me feel fine- for a split second before I started hyperventilating.

My vision started to swirl and my knees gave up on me, I would've fallen to the ground if Xie Wen didn't help me. "Yu Song?" she said, "Yu Song!" she repeated, she slapped me in the face, "Yu Song!"

Xie Wen started to panic, she looked around fervently, probably searching for someone that could help me and when she couldn't find anyone, she grabbed my hand and started inserting her Qi into me. Cold washed over my body and I felt relieved but more importantly, I could feel the Qi pushing against something hard inside of me.

When the feeling came back to my legs, I followed her example and circulated my Qi as well. Bit by bit, the hard thing inside of my meridians softened while parts of me could move again. Slowly, I realized that what blocked my meridians was actually beneficial and with Xie Wen's help, I pushed all that stuff into my Lungs.

It was small at first, just to see if it's dangerous or not but when I saw that it wasn't, I put more and more of it into my Lungs until I felt the organ become full. Then I moved on to my Heart and poured the stuff into it until I depleted it.

I started breathing heavily, then I collapsed in Xie Wen's arms, "what the fuck was that?" I asked.

"I don't know." Xie Wen sounded unsure.

"Honestly I wasn't even expecting you to answer it." Because the answer probably lay in my System.

Status.

User: Yu Song

Qi: 467/2000

Realm: 2nd 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 - (2/15)

Thought so.

The fact that I'm now on the second stage of Body Refinement meant that the thing blocking my meridians just now was Qi. An odd thing because last time I checked, I wasn't sitting down and cultivating but fighting Gang Gong.

I stared at his corpse. Unless...

With a heavy breath, I stood up, "Xie Wen, I think I'm gonna go out of this barrier and fight." I told her, "Will you be safe here?"

She nodded, "Yes,"

"Good." Because I wanted to see if I can get Qi by killing people and Xie Wen being there with me would just mean that she can potentially steal my kills.

I looked at Gang Gong's corpse and a small part of me thought that I would gladly kill him again if it meant that I can become stronger.