I was forced to resort to regular martial arts as the battle between the awakened monkey beast and myself unfolded. My attempts to manipulate my qi were unsuccessful; whatever toxic properties existed before adamantly refused to emerge.

  That didn’t mean I was losing the battle. Qi was a potent energy and my every strike was devastating under its influence. Despite that, the monkey beast continued to pound me with a relentless barrage of blows.

  Apart from being a spike launcher, its tail was able to smash into me from awkward angles. Fighting with one less limb than your opponent was quite the disadvantage and I fast found myself covered in cuts and bruises.

  I tried everything while exchanging blows with the awakened monkey beast. Urging my qi to change had little effect. Physically trying to squeeze the venom from it as I infused my strikes with it only threw me off balance.

  After dozens of failed attempts I was losing hope that my idea held merit. Perhaps the toxins my blood essence devoured had been lost during my breakthrough.

  With how effectively my physique seemed to refine materials into medicinal energy I wouldn’t be surprised, but it would be a disappointment. I winced as the monkey’s sharp tail pierced all the way through my forearm, sending hot lances of pain down the limb.

  I tried to pull back but it suddenly grabbed hold of my arm, locking us in place. I felt a shiver run down its tail and into my arm. Knowing what was coming I panicked as I stared into the stone spike about to get blasted through my head.

  In that moment as I walked the line between life and death, inspiration struck me like a bolt of lightning from the heavens.

  The way my blood essence had gained toxic properties during the Body Tempering Realm was by devouring the essence of the spirit snake and during my submersion in the toxic sludge pool. Devouring.

  I didn’t know all the secrets behind my body or my cultivation and I wasn’t going to pretend a single moment of inspiration had changed that, but I felt as though I was onto something momentous.

  For now, a small glimpse of understanding was enough. My qi needed to devour; I couldn’t just force it to shift without an impetus.

  The shiver ran down the monkey’s tail, fast approaching where it was embedded in my forearm. At the same moment, it fired a stone spike directly at my head and I flooded it with qi.

  It had my arm in a vice grip and I couldn’t escape the spike. Instead, I kicked against its legs and managed to nudge my shoulder upwards to absorb the strike.

  The razor-point of the spike buried itself deep in my flesh, searing pain radiating from the entry wound. The monkey beast screeched in satisfaction, planting a hardened foot in my stomach as it disengaged.

  I doubled over and coughed blood, vision blurring. However, I couldn’t stop a radiant smile forming on my face. I’d done it.

  Four droplets of qi raced along the monkey’s tail. Inside my dantian they were usually a bright green colour that reminded me of pharmacy signs or prairie grass.

  That had changed as I created a new technique in the moment, shifting to a darker, more malevolent green. The kind of green that a really cliche bottle of poison might be in a cartoon.

  If all I’d accomplished was altering the colour of my qi, it would be a disappointing failure. Trading the integrity of my shoulder for that would be a shitty deal.

  Truth be told I wouldn’t know exactly what I’d done until the technique ran its course, but I was watching with rapt attention as the monkey started screeching in pain and confusion.

  Dark green veins appeared on its tail and the flesh towards the tip began to rot as necrosis took hold. I let out a deep sigh of exasperation.

  I wanted to be a healer, but so far I only seemed able to create disturbingly violent techniques. Well, there was my surgically efficient healing technique, but it lacked creativity.

  And I’d sort of copied it from the existing qi healing technique. The only real difference was how it helped me cultivate; which for all I knew might have more to do with my physique than the technique itself.

  I stood there observing the monkey screech in confusion and hop around as the poison qi weaved its way towards the base of its spine. By now half of its tail had rotted and crumbled away.

  Considering the difference in cultivation between the awakened beast and myself I was pleased with the potency. Unfortunately I had been preoccupied with the giant stone spike blasting into my shoulder to notice how I’d pulled off the transformation.

  Trial and error seemed to be necessary. A huge pulse of qi was expelled out of the monkey’s tail and the poison was eradicated. Less than a second later I realised I’d made a grave miscalculation.

  My qi hadn’t returned, my dantian now dry and parched like a desert. I’d grown so used to techniques which restored my blood essence and often increased it that subconsciously I’d integrated that into my combat style.

  Now that I’d used a technique which consumed qi with no equivalent reward. I’d thrown myself into the net. A loud screech broke me from my thoughts as the monkey threw itself at me, now even more enraged.

  Its strikes were weaker than before, which was perhaps the only reason it didn’t squash me like an ant instantly. I assumed that was due to it using most of its qi to expel the poison.

  Nonetheless I was still suffering under the heavy strikes of a three-star awakened beast. My bones groaned under the force and I was being overpowered.

  It was times like this that I wished I cultivated a normal method… Maybe then I could breathe to restore my-

  I was an idiot.

  Zhao Dan’s notes had a passage about absorbing ambient spiritual energy through breathing. He’d never needed to use that knowledge though, given that he got stuck at four-star Body Tempering.

  I wanted to try it out, but it was difficult to enter a focused state akin to meditation while being beaten bloody by a rampaging awakened beast. Then again, did I need to follow the Cloudy Falls Sect’s methods exactly?

  I remembered my refined lungs produced energy when I breathed, but at a very low rate. Far too low to restore my qi, unfortunately.

  What I needed was some kind of medicinal materials to refine into energy. My gaze darted around the basin, only to land on the bloody spirit pond.

  Risky…

  Jumping into a pond of liquid spiritual energy would devastate my body. As a lowly one-star, my vessel didn’t have the capacity to handle that much raw energy.

  Then again, the only other alternative was a painful death at the hands of the angry monkey beast. If I was a gambling man, I knew where I’d put my spirit stones…

  I timed a dodge to the monkey’s next punch, not avoiding it fully but letting it clip me in the side of the chest. That gave me extra momentum as I rolled backwards and gracefully stood up in a single fluid movement.

  The agility granted me by breaking through to the Qi Gathering realm was put to full use as I proceeded to dart across the battlefield, dodging corpses, flying weapons, and the erratic misfire of spiritual techniques.

  I looked at the few badly injured, but still breathing, cultivators on the ground. If I hadn’t used all my qi in a single moment, I could’ve tried healing them quickly to replenish my reserves.

  Hindsight is omniscient after all. The rice had been cooked and now I had to eat my fill. I reached the edge of the spirit pond, at which point I felt a few powerful auras slam into me as the four and five-star cultivators across the basin took notice of my actions.

  Unfortunately for them, it was too late to stop me. I threw myself over the edge, soaring through the air for a brief moment before I slammed into the ice-cold spiritual water.

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  Immediately I felt the sting as a thousand tendrils of spiritual energy attempted to burrow into my body through my skin. It was agonising, though at first I resisted.

  Perhaps there were some advantages to reaching eleven-star Body Tempering…

  That didn’t last long though. Soon the first strand of energy pierced my skin and dug into my flesh like a sentient needle of ice.

  I clenched my jaw through the pain. I gasped as my head broke the surface and I wiped a mixture of blood and spirit water from my eyes.

  Before my reckless leap, the battlefield had been disjointed and chaotic. Now, I watched as disciples of opposing sects and awakened beasts who’d been slaughtering each other moments before rushed towards the spirit pond with singular purpose.

  All of them were glaring at me with undisguised hatred and anger. They thought I was trying to get the jump on them and steal the Ten Ascensions Lily while everyone was distracted…

  I’d only wanted to save myself from the damn spirit monkey. I heard a screech followed by a splash. Looking down I saw the monkey in question had thrown itself in after me and was swimming towards me at a rapid pace.

  Its technique was horrid, but it was gaining ground—water?—fast. I followed suit, swimming towards the centre of the pond to escape.

  About five seconds later I felt a powerful wave of herbal energy wash over me. Powerful currents swirled to life and thick streams of blood slicked over my skin as I fought against the pull.

  Surfacing briefly, I saw that the flower bud on top of the lilypad was unfurling, faster and faster as more of the blood was absorbed into the plant. My mouth suddenly filled with water as I was yanked back into the spirit pond.

  Bubbles erupted from my mouth as I cursed in pain. My ankle had been crushed by the unrelenting grip of the stone monkey, the awakened beast unwilling to let me escape once more.

  The brief loss of control also allowed the endless tendrils of spiritual energy trying to pierce my skin to make rapid progress. Icy burns took hold all over my body as the potent natural treasure began to devour my flesh.

  I coughed blood as a heavy fist smashed into my stomach. My vision was dark, but I couldn’t tell if that was just being underwater or my consciousness genuinely fading.

  The monkey’s grip loosened and then vanished entirely as a pillar of flame erupted nearby, catching the tips of its right arm and leg in the explosive technique. I wondered how a pillar of fire could burn underwater. Cultivator bullshit no doubt.

  Actually that had a lot of merit. This was spiritual water after all, so it was sort of like throwing water on an oil fire. The flames spread like a nasty virus and the monkey was forced to release me as it scrambled to put them out.

  I only had one good leg, but I swam like a fish from a shark as I raced towards the centre of the pond. I wasn’t sure what I hoped to accomplish. I doubted I could steal the Ten Ascensions Lily with so many powerful cultivators and beasts surrounding me, but what other choice did I have?

  Glancing back to see the monkey, I noticed it had managed to put out the flames. Its right limbs were both crippled in the process but it had wasted no time in racing after me.

  Its other limbs flailed in the water and somehow it was gaining on me. The benefit of its higher cultivation or the fact beasts had more muscles, perhaps.

  I’d come this far so there was only one way out. I would claim the Ten Ascensions Lily as it bloomed or die trying.

  The most likely outcome was my death at the hands of Sun Deng or one of the other powerful disciples present. However, there was a sliver of hope that burned within me. A tiny chance I might succeed.

  Unfortunately the rampaging monkey didn’t share my hope. I felt a heavy hand grasp my calf and pull me away from my goal when I was almost touching the edge of the lily pad.

  Spiritual energy burned into my flesh as the beast dragged me back. I felt something splash inside my dantian and chuckled inwardly.

  The heavens were cruel indeed. I’d recovered a single drop of qi due to the sheer quantity of spiritual energy entering my body; exactly as I’d hoped when I leapt into the spirit pond.

  Unfortunately it came a moment too late. I stared into the monkey beast’s bloodshot eyes as it raised its fist sluggishly, the water slowing its movements. Even so it still had the strength to end my life in a few blows. Or maybe just one.

  I felt like giving up. Giving the beast the satisfaction of vengeance. Consider it reparations for all the other monkey beasts I’d beaten within an inch of death during my visit to the Jagged Sword Mountains.

  Honestly I’d been doing more of the punching and less of the healing than I’d intended. This world forced me onto a path I wasn’t sure I liked. Even so, it felt right in more ways than one.

  I knew I was just being pessimistic as the shadow of death hung over me once more. Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to stubbornly stick to healing… Oh.

  I had a reckless idea, but when one is on the line between life and death, any ideas are worth exploring. Maybe a bit of healing would be enough of a shock to the monkey that it would let me slip away.

  All I needed was a few seconds to reach the Ten Ascensions Lily, assuming none of the other cultivators killed me first. I turned my focus inwards, gathering the single drop of qi that splashed around in my dantian.

  I knew my healing technique still functioned in the Qi Gathering Realm—even more effectively than it had before, albeit with less cultivation gains. The monkey had a firm grip on my leg, so I tried something I hadn’t done before.

  Rather than use my hand, I figured if all I needed was skin contact to perform the technique, it should work just as well through any part of my body. Luckily my hypothesis proved correct when the drop of qi seamlessly flowed into the monkey’s wrist.

  At the last moment before I activated the technique I had another miniscule flash of inspiration, remembering how I’d performed the poison qi technique. I really needed proper names for these techniques; it was getting hard to remember them all.

  My qi seemed disposed to devouring other forms of energy, so why not infuse that intent into my healing technique as well? If it aimed to devour afflictions rather than simply cure them, it might be even more potent.

  The effect was explosive.

  The drop of healing qi was lethargic at first, meandering down the monkey’s arm. However, the moment it reached the first wound it swirled and increased in speed, the wound closing at a visible rate as the qi split into two and continued into the rest of its body.

  Despite the healing being rather beneficial to the awakened beast, it was blinded by rage and acted without thinking. I saw a wave of qi explode from where I assumed its core was, the same method it had used to expel my poison.

  Apparently even awakened beasts were still just that. Beasts. The sliver of intent I’d infused into my technique at the last moment showed its worth as the pulse of qi smashed into my swirling medicinal qi.

  However, instead of my qi being extinguished, it was like throwing more fuel on the fire. The pulse of qi crashed into my own and the swirling green qi seemed to dance around it, growing in size and speed as the two energies clashed like raging waves and roaring thunder.

  My initial plan had been to unleash the healing technique and immediately make a break for the lotus, sacrificing the qi and any potential gains to ensure my survival. But I found myself entranced by the mysterious technique I’d given birth to, even going so far as to grab hold of the monkey’s arms while it was struck by confusion.

  Suddenly I felt woozy, my vision blurring for a breath’s time as a mystical sensation took hold of my mind. Flower petals danced in the corners of my eyes and I heard the tinkling of wind chimes in my ears.

  I broke free from the illusion a moment later, noticing that the monkey’s eyes were still glazed over. My healing technique had yet to run its course. There was only one thing that could’ve caused such a phenomenon.

  Without surfacing I would have no way to know for sure, but if I wasn’t right about this then the heavens had turned upside down; the Ten Ascensions Lily had bloomed.

  My mind was torn between two enticing options. Watching my healing technique to completion would grant me more insight into how it worked and perhaps allow me to increase my comprehension of my own physique and path. However, that might mean giving up the opportunity to claim the Ten Ascensions Lily for myself.

  The part of my brain that loved the learning process wanted me to stay, not wasting the precious drop of qi and discovering the outcome of my technique. However, I had to be rational. The lily wouldn’t quite allow me to ascend to the heavens in a single leap, but it would go a long way towards improving my cultivation.

  I also suspected that the potent herbal treasure would possibly benefit my physique as well, perhaps allowing me to further refine my stomach. I was curious to see how my abilities progressed if I accomplished the full refinement of a second organ.

  All this deliberation happened in a single moment as I was torn by indecision. In the end the choice was stolen from me by the monkey beast.

  It was already wild with fury before the illusion of the lily, but not suicidal. So I was shocked when I felt a rampaging storm of qi from within the monkey’s core. I had no basis for my suspicions but with my qi inside its body I felt what was coming.

  The beast had decided to detonate its core, taking us both down in an act of suicidal desperation. I wasn’t sure my healing technique was potent enough to overcome that…

  With only one choice left to me, I kicked the monkey’s wrist hard enough to free my calf for just enough time to swim away. I struggled through the viscous spirit water, pulling myself towards the Ten Ascensions Lily.

  Somehow I reached the edge of the lily pad at the same time as I breached the surface. I felt a dozen gazes and even more presences lock onto me at the same time. The pressure was suffocating.

  Even knowing it could spell my early death—for a second time—I had no other choice. The Ten Ascensions Lily was breathtaking; purplish-pink in colour with every petal sparkling like starlight.

  Even a single whiff of its scent soothed my body and I felt a primal hunger from within; the void in my dantian urging me to claim this natural treasure for myself. Right before I could reach the lily, I felt a blistering wave of heat slam into my back from beneath the pond.

  The monkey had detonated its core and I felt my consciousness slipping as the skin on my back was burnt away. Consuming the lily whole was reckless.

  The energies contained within a single petal allowed Qi Gathering cultivations to ascend a single star in one go, but the entire flower at once could just as easily burst one’s dantian.

  But I had no other choice. I felt cultivators and beasts across the basin launch spiritual techniques, weapons, and curses at me as the explosion began to incinerate my flesh.

  I grasped hold of the Ten Ascensions Lily, plucking it from the lily pad in a single fluid motion. My vision went dark as I tossed it into my mouth and swallowed it whole.