The wide arena was separated into four parts where disciples fought. Teacher Liang Li was at the very top of the amphitheater and seemed uninterested in the fights, his eyes were locked on the flying birds, and the interesting creatures living amongst the grass. From time to time he would make sure everything was alright and resume his nature contemplation. But when he noticed the two young disciples who he had separated before, he became slightly curious and watched.

"We meet again," The disciple said with a gloating gaze. "Now we will talk like men do, with our fists."

Jing cringed in pain at the notion of losing to such a hateful shallow character, but he merely clicked his tongue in annoyance and averted his eyes as he awaited for them to start.

"Your sharp tongue is as scared as you are or what?" The disciple smirked from the side.

The teacher's assistant commented, "When the fight in this arena ends, it'll be your turn."

The mentioned fight didn't last for long and the two female disciples quickly decided on a victor and left the arena as a nearby teacher's assistant was busy jotting down everything on a piece of parchment.

Following the other teacher's assistant words, the two disciples made their way inside.

Jing noticed how most of the onlookers' eyes were on them. He hatefully gnashed his teeth at how quickly words got around.

"Fight!"

The word woke him from his reverie as he watched the other disciple running in his direction with a death glare in his eyes.

"Fuck," He mumbled, slightly overwhelmed. He swiftly dodged to the side once the disciple lunged at him, and tried to punch the back of the disciple's head before he turned around.

However, the disciple's movement and reactions were too quick, he turned around and grabbed Jing's forearm with impressive strength. "I got you," He said with bright eyes.

Jing froze, and before he could even process what happened the world turned upside down before his back was forcefully slammed into the ground.

An intense groan of pain escaped his mouth as most of the air in his lungs left his body. Facing the onslaught of pain, suffocation, and disorientation it took him a while to recover. A while that this dangerous fight proved to be too long!

The disciple descended upon him like a vengeful widow, his eyes oozed with hate as he pummeled him into the hard ground with vicious attacks.

Punch after punch hit Jing squarely in the face, and each one was accompanied by the strength to push a bull aside. One of Jing's front teeth fell to the ground and his face became a bloody mess of teeth, saliva, and snot.

The teacher's assistant although witnessed the winner didn't say anything. Until, Teacher's Li words magically reached his ears, "Stop it." Turning around he saw the usual carefree Teacher Li giving him a cold look, a look that made his heart skip a beat.

"Stop," He shouted, and he began separating the two.

When the audience finally saw Jing's face, they gasped in shock. His nose was pointing where no nose should point to. One of his front teeth and two of his lower teeth were nowhere to be seen, and the rest of his teeth were but a line of red. His eyes were disgustingly swollen, and a red liquid that no one knew whether was saliva, snot, blood, or tears was all over his face.

Jing felt the sudden urge to cry, but he knew that if he did he would never forgive himself. His face was pulsating with intense pain, and he could hardly discern where his eyes started and where his mouth ended.

His knees were weak, and his body felt unusually heavy when he tried to stand up. When he gazed at the tapestry of disciples who watched him with enjoyable expressions, and then looked at the disciple before him who was grinning from ear to ear, something snapped within him.

'I'll fucking kill him,' He thought, his heart beat wildly drumming inside of his chest. A myriad of emotions flowed through him, from an intense sense of humiliation, helplessness, and self-loathing, to a visceral hate toward every person his eyes landed on.

He unconsciously tried to gnash his teeth in anger but a jolt of pain made a pause to his steps. He clenched his fists in hatred and moved in the steps' direction. At that moment he knew, 'I will kill him.' He shouted inside of his mind. 'I will kill him even if it's the last thing I will do,' He yelled once again.

As he climbed one step after the other, his eyes were glued to the ground, unwilling to let others see him in such an unsightly way. Their soft but ruthless chuckles as he passed by them painfully pulled at his heartstrings, a pain that was immediately channeled by him into even more rage.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed a shadow blocking his path.

Teacher Liang Li.

"Come with me," He said with a serious voice.

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Jing didn't have the opportunity to reject as the man had already begun walking in a particular direction, and so he could only follow him. Leaving the amphitheater behind in exchange for the verdant mountain path they were walking on, slightly eased his feelings, but only slightly.

The amphitheater was surrounded by several distant ancient pagodas that had exquisite craftsmanship and a mystic feel to them. Teacher Li continued around some of them until he reached the very end of the outer sect's territory, the edge it was called. Before them was a vast green slope with some small trees, and seemed bustling with life. At the very center of it was another marbled flight of stairs like the one the disciples had first used to climb into the sect.

"Sit down," Teacher Li gestured toward the first step.

Following his instructions, Jing sat down and waited to hear the man's motive for bringing him here.

"Here," Teacher Li, stretching out his palm where a rounded dark brown pill with an intense herbal smell was gently swaying from one side to the next. Witnessing the young boy's hesitation, he assured, "Just take it, I owe it to you. That disciple shouldn't have allowed the fight to reach this degree, but he did. It was my oversight because I wasn't paying close attention."

Jing was initially suspicious of his motives, he knew how precious healing pills were. But after listening to his words, they made some sense and he picked up it and ate it directly.

Upon making contact with the roof of his tongue, the brown pill dissolved into an intense burning liquid that flowed down his throat. Jing's nose was overwhelmed and the smell of the damp earth and the flowers was instantly washed away by a strong menthy scent.

He closed his eyes, and he could feel the energy lovingly caressing every part of his body, especially his face. A sudden itch in his mouth descended out of nowhere, leaving him almost breathless. He had never felt the need to grab a sword a stab it into his gums like he did at that moment. But he clenched his lips, scrunched his nose, and pressed on.

After a few minutes, the intense energy, then warm, then vicious finally evaporated and he opened his eyes. He could immediately feel the difference, his eyes felt light like they used to, his nose felt normal, and his mouth felt full.

He traced his fingers along his teeth and he was shocked to find that the teeth he had lost before had miraculously grown back. Swiftly standing up, he cupped his fist against his palm with a small bow and thanked, "Thank you Teacher Li." He knew that though the teacher was indirectly involved, he wasn't obligated to help in any way.

"It's fine," said Liang Li, nonchalantly waving his hand. "But listen," He said with a solemn voice. "The reason I brought you here is much more than just that. You remember how I said there is a very important factor involved in cultivation other than progression through the realms."

Studying his expression, Jing knew that he had something important to say, and so mirroring his seriousness he replied, "Yes Teacher Li."

"You have to understand that Qi is very, very associated with who you are as a person." He said. "That is why demonic cultivators are so easy to tell apart. Their Qi is dirty because of the methods they employ to raise their cultivation. And if you're sensitive enough, you can sense the impurity of Qi in someone even if they don't use demonic means. You can let their Qi tell you a story about them, and what kind of people they are. There are legends about a lost Cultivation Art that allowed one to completely understand everything there is about a person just from a sense of their Qi." He then smiled and apologized, "Sorry, I am going off on a tangent once again."

His tone concerned and serious he said, "When you stood up after the fight, I noticed something rather peculiar." His voice turned even more grave and said, "In fact, It's been a long while since I last saw that phenomenon."

"What is it?" Jing asked through gulps that he couldn't stop, startled about what was so dangerous that prompted the teacher to seek him out.

"Well," Teacher Li said. "It had something to do with what I was just explaining now. Although you don't have any Qi of your own to speak of, when you stood up, the nearby Qi reflected your anger and it was a very concerning sight."

"Why would that be?" Asked Jing puzzled. "It's just anger."

"Anger is always layered." Explained the teacher. "I was angry when I saw the disciple responsible for the fights not get involved, but compared to yours it was simply unimaginably small. I am sure no one would get that amount of anger just because they were beaten in front of others. Your issue runs much, much deeper."

Jing had confusion written all over his face, still unable to grasp his point, and he was even uncertain if there was any.

Noticing that Teacher Li said, "Just as we affect our Qi, it also affects us. If you harbor such deep resentments inside of your heart now, when Qi is introduced into your Soul, those emotions will be amplified even more. And that will push you into the demonic path." He then gazed at the sky and commented, "Do you know how cultivation manuals and techniques are created?"

"I do not." Said Jing.

"Some of them are created through active effort. Someone very strong sits down and begins studying their cultivation base and creates new techniques. Whereas others are created through a mutation of Qi. An insight, that is why they're called Satori Techniques." He explained. "It's when Qi changes on its own to reflect a particular new cultivation manual or technique to respond to either the holder's emotions or epiphany. Demonic techniques are always created through this second option, and always, always through intense negative emotions."

"For example," He continued. "If you were at the Qi Condensation and several incidents like the one before happened to you, there is a chance that your Qi will completely mutate and you'll feel its thirst for blood. It'll command you to give it blood, flesh, and souls and it'll reward you by strength. If you do that, that Qi will begin to gain a bit of sentience on its own, becoming a mental demon. An obsession that far outweighs anything a mortal can feel, its hold is way more intense than anything you've ever seen before. If a mental demon grows big enough, it becomes a demon. A sentient creature that thrives on destruction and negative emotions. And they get stronger so, so fast because if anything is lacking in this world is negative emotions."

He smiled and said, "But of course, it's not that nondemonic cultivators are individuals who are psychologically well-adjusted and sane, you'll find that in most cases they can be even crazier. So, it's a bit more complicated and I don't want to bore you too much." He smiled. "Come find me once you reach the Qi Condensation, I'll give you a Tranquil Lotus Scripture to avoid that from ever happening." Saying that he began to walk back in the amphitheatre's direction. Suddenly he paused, and said with a whisper that reached Jing's ears, "If you were caught killing a fellow disciple the sect will publicly execute you." With another polite smile, he swiftly disappeared from the startled Jing's sight.

Jing had a complicated expression on his face as pondered the multitude of issues pointed out by Teacher Li, but most importantly, it seemed like he even understood what he was thinking about when he looked at that other disciple.