Chapter 3

The Long Family was situated in a massive mountain range. To clarify, they were situated inside the mountains.

These places had been hollowed out millennia prior, serving as home to generations after generations of the continent’s most illustrious cultivators. Consequently, the thousands of palaces and courtyards were decorated with artefacts and beasts of immense value.

Things that garnered the envy of many a great man.

Yet, even during periods when the clan lost its traditional dominance, it still persevered and subsequently regained its hegemony. Much of that was thanks to the protective formations on these lofty mountains.

Why was he thinking about this?

Part of it was simple unadulterated awe. The flying palaces, the roaming mythical creatures, the golden clouds that carried man: he took it all in.

Even “nature” within these rocky confines was better than any “nature” he had ever experienced. The dim stars and moon had accompanied him at night, while now the golden sun greeted him with its loving warmth.

He could also see the inside walls of the mountain now, which did not detract at all from the beauty of the place. Instead, the “mountainsides” were carefully sculpted and embroidered with magnificent courts. And he was not being colourful when he used the term “embroidered”, because these buildings were literally woven into the “fabric” that was the mountain.

Such was the beauty of cultivation. A shame its inhabitants were utter bastards.

The other reason he was appreciating the architecture was simple: avoidance. Li Zhixing had two problems right now.

First, he was still bound. It was a bit more comfortable now, with the roots being a bit less tight. However, he had gone unconscious due to physical exertion and his loss of blood. Let’s just say that sleeping in bondage was not something he would recommend.

The second issue was the person that was currently in his face. Bai Ruxue was currently staring at him intensely, looking him up and down like an old lady inspecting a pig on sale. Honestly, that analogy might not be too far from the truth. After all, he was a rapist pig that was now at the complete mercy of its victim.

Worse still were her eyes. Even though she was staring at her assailant, her eyes were stone-cold, not showing a single shred of emotion. He had initially compared her eyes to luxurious gems, but he had not known just how apt such a comparison was.

Maybe it was all for the better. Before, he could clearly see the pain, humiliation, and misery she suffered. As a mere onlooker, he still found it haunting.

Now… now this was even worse. Apart from the sheer gloominess, he was also distressed by his ignorance of her intentions. It would be much better had she simply been angry and seeking violent retribution.

Just then, she reinforced her hand before stretching her arm at him. He flinched; eyes shut tight.

However, he did not die. Instead, he felt his bonds unravelled. Once the bone-chilling sound of sawing stopped, he opened his eyes. Very cautiously.

What greeted him was the same expressionless face. He said, more softly than intended, “Thank you. Though I feel like adding that the bonds had been loosened by me.”

She said nothing. He swallowed nervously. Why did he even ask that? His loose mouth was proving to be a real issue.

Then, Ruxue motioned for him to come with her, directly into the house, the scene of the crime. With some hesitation, he followed.

The room was almost exactly as he had left it, minus the burning hearth and the old, stained bed. Instead, only a skeletal wooden frame sat in the middle of the room. Asking for the mattress and blanket was probably not a good idea.

She motioned for him to sit on the bed, before bringing out some medicine. A pill and some lotion. He instantly accepted her kindness – she could have killed him previously but had not. And these things appeared similar to the ones in his possession, located in a pouch on his belt.

He almost asked her if she wanted to go out while he used the medicine but decided against it. If she wanted to, she would leave out of her own volition.

As such, he swallowed the pill, took off the rest of his shirt, and began carefully applying the lotion.

An uncomfortable silence ensued. She seemed absolutely content with the silence – though with the blankness of her face his judgement might not be accurate.

As for himself, he was not content. Normally, he was fine with keeping things quiet, especially after a succession of tumultuous events. However, his mind was buzzing with questions, and he wanted answers.

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Thus, he cautiously asked, “Why? Why save me?”

For a few moments, she said nothing. She did not even seem to register his question. Just as he assumed that no answer would ever be provided, Ruxue opened her mouth, “For my own sake.”

“Are you not afraid of yesterday rehappening?”

A stupid, reckless question – the very definition of playing with fire. However, he could not help himself, whether out of his concern for her wellbeing or to satisfy his morbid sense of curiosity.

Which of those two reasons held precedence was quite obvious, as sad as that was.

Once again, she showed no reaction. As he continued applying the medicine to his dried wounds, Zhixing wondered if she was thinking of killing him. He would not blame her, not at all.

Ruxue said with marked indifference as if she was commenting on the weather rather than something painfully personal. With her tone, he half-expected her to say, “Nice weather we are having.”

What he got instead was much less pleasant, making him regret ever opening his mouth in the first place.

“I do not welcome it, but should it happen again, it will confirm one thing: you still covet my beauty. You will still be somewhat invested in keeping me alive.”

Slightly choking, he said, “You are still a valuable… hostage, so whether I live or not should not be very important to you.”

“Certainly. However, Long Chen has no method of knowing my life and death. Additionally, the more assurances I gain, the better.”

Something about her gaze made him understand that she would not entertain any more questions. Though, by now, he no longer had the desire to ask.

Once he finished treating his wounds, Zhixing closed his eyes and began circulating his Qi.

It was fairly simple, mainly because he was not directing it in any particular order – as was required for most techniques or cultivation methods. Rather, he just needed to have it spread throughout his body, heightening regeneration, among other bodily functions. It should only take an hour or two before he’s spic and span again.

Regarding techniques, they should not be too hard to emulate. He discovered how to perform them while he was bound to the ground, mostly out of desperation. Once he had become too tired from ineffectual tossing and turning, Zhixing looked into the inner workings of his own body.

There was a silver core in his chest, which pulsated like a heart. More worryingly, there appeared to be tiny cracks forming on the surface. He might not know the meaning or cause, but it sure as hell did not signify anything good.

With each pulse, the core sent tremors and streams of energy throughout his body. The more he consciously thought about the Qi, the clearer things became, and the stronger he felt.

At first, he thought it was going around randomly until he realized that this could not be further from the truth. As he became used to observing his magical ‘organs’, he realized that the streams of energy were like blood vessels, or more fittingly, like pipelines. He could focus his Qi into certain streams and completely cut off others from the core.

Annoyingly enough, these Qi vessels split to form various tributaries, making his body a complex river network. Had it completely resembled the normal circulatory system, he would not have been so clueless. However, it did not and was in some ways even more convoluted.

The saving grace was that he had been given an existing blueprint to work with. The original Li Zhixing, like any other cultivator, had his methods and his preferences. This meant that certain Qi vessels were used more than others, something he could perceive with increasing clarity.

While the exact combinations that worked were harder to know, this at least narrowed down his options. Thus, for most of the night, he had been discovering techniques through trial and error.

Fortunately, he had not blown himself up yet, though if he continued that day might not be too far away.

Speaking of techniques, he could not help but look at his reluctant companion. They were at similar levels of cultivation, both being at the second stage of Core Formation. Of course, she was still a tad stronger, and not just because the original Li Zhixing had been replaced.

Even before, Zhixing barely managed to defeat her, despite attacking her with the element of surprise and joining hands with a few hired goons. The others all died while Zhixing suffered a lifelong scar running from his shoulder to his waist.

Though, it was not like the guy had much of a life left for the term “lifelong” to matter. And later on, the scar would literally disappear, along with the fool’s skin. Deserved.

Li Zhixing then decided to break the silence. “Do you want to have a friendly… well, unfriendly spar? Nothing deadly, but you don’t need to hold back too much.”

He asked this for three main reasons. First, he wanted to prepare. The last thing he wanted was to be thrown into combat without a clue of what to do. Long Tian would engage with them soon enough, so if he still wanted to keep his sorry life, he needed to do this.

Second, he wanted to do this for Ruxue. Maybe she would feel better if she could beat him to a pulp. Violence was a fairly effective remedy for rage, though it was definitely not a healthy coping mechanism.

However, he could not think of any other option. Even if he was some kind of therapist, he seriously doubted that the girl would open up to him, for obvious reasons.

Admittedly, these two reasons were fairly minor in the confines of his wretched mind.

No, as much as it pained him to say, the main reason he wanted to do this was twisted curiosity. He wanted to see this “ice maiden” show some blazing hot emotions – such indifferent mannerism had never been to his liking. It was too forced, too fake, and too disingenuous.

What sort of person saves their enemy?

A desperate, miserable, unfortunate soul.

He ignored that pervasive and unpleasant thought.

Instead, Zhixing wanted to observe the volcanic rage of a humiliated cultivator, to see her revel in power and lose herself in passion. To see her torture the creature in human skin, Li Zhixing.

Was he a masochist?

Not exactly. After all, the person suffering, and the target of torment would be Li Zhixing. He was a mere driver who had the benefit of experiencing the same thing as his vehicle – indeed, the sort of experience technology had been working towards.

It was good practice, really, since he would get to ramp up his pain resistance. Such would be immensely useful for any future endeavours. He was almost certain that pain would be his new constant companion in this dreadful world.

If nothing else, it served as a reminder. This was no lucid dream, no cruel nightmare; this was his new reality. Like it or not, he was to stay. At least until his reckless abandon ended up killing him, which was not all that unlikely.

In the midst of his inner ramblings, Ruxue said, “Yes, but outside.”

He nodded, his body almost shivering in anticipation. Whether for the pain or for his first taste of battle, he was no longer certain.