My worst fears had come true. Until now I’d been slowly refining my lungs while devouring the poison, but that had woken the sleeping dragon.
Toxic purple qi rampaged through my body as my lungs splintered, cracks running along their surface. I’d apparently been working them too hard and now they were destroyed.
Had all my hard work refining them been lost? I hoped not, but then again I would likely not survive much longer so it didn’t really make a difference.
For the first time in a while, my focus left my own body. I’d heard a thud outside, closer than was comfortable.
I attempted to open my eyes, grimacing as they peeled apart, dried blood and mucus cracking. My first thought was that it was a little cold—more so than it should’ve been even for a man fighting a lethal poison.
The reason for that was one of the doors had been smashed apart. A servant lay slumped over beside it, a dagger through his heart and his robe soaked in blood.
His head was caved in on one side.
A floorboard creaked and my gaze snapped upwards. A man was standing right beside my bed, staring down at me with surprise in his eyes.
Those eyes were all I could see as he was concealed by a hooded robe and a mask. But I felt like they were familiar.
He was obviously here to kill me. If my lungs weren’t shattered I might’ve laughed—this would be the second time I died to an assassin. The first by a silent bullet and now, a descending blade.
Another dagger was held in his hand, poised to strike before I’d opened my eyes. However, his hesitation was only momentary.
The next instant he stabbed me in the chest.
I barely had time to shift my body a fraction before the cold steel pierced my skin and slipped between my ribs. Another gasp left my body as rotten blood spurted from the wound.
The moment he stabbed me, the masked assassin released the dagger and rushed out of the room. I saw him toss a paper talisman out as he vanished into the night. I must have been out for quite some time.
I’d at least avoided instant death with my last minute movement. His dagger had been aimed at my heart, but thanks to my effort it had entered my chest just above it instead.
I choked my final breaths. The combination of broken lungs and a knife in my chest was fatal. As my vision went dark, my final hope was that the city lord would at least keep his word and release Xiao Cui.
Everything went black.
In the darkness, a metallic sound of shattering glass rang out. Two lungs inflated, now a dark green colour and shiny like polished steel.
As they inflated, every last drop of poison qi was sucked inside, like a whale swallowing the oceans. Any remnant specks that remained were set upon by the man’s blood essence like a pack of ravenous wolves.
For a brief moment, nothing happened.
The lungs continued to inflate, purple poison qi swirling inside them but slowly being devoured as the shimmering surface of the organs became even more lustrous. For all intents and purposes, Zhao Dan was dead.
But his body hadn’t quite given up yet. A strange phenomenon caused by his Fivefold Medicine Forge Physique. A forge didn’t go out until the final coal went cold, after all.
The lungs reached their limit, reaching a swollen size a little larger than they’d been before.
Zhao Dan’s heart was not beating, his blood still, his brain silent. But at that moment, he exhaled.
Green healing energy burst outwards from his lungs, filling every inch of his body. His bones, muscles, and organs which had been corroded by the poison were being restored at a visible rate.
First the bones, then muscles, and finally his heart. A purplish-black mist of impurities rose from his mouth and there was a thump as Zhao Dan’s heart began to beat once more.
My eyes snapped open and I immediately knew three things, information flooding my mind as my brain cleared away the fog that had consumed it. But first I was overwhelmed by the shocking realisation that I was somehow still alive.
Not only alive, but even stronger than before. I could sense it. To begin with, I had reached the peak of the Body Tempering Realm.
My healing of Young Master Teng, followed by the furious clash with the potent poison, had allowed my blood essence to flourish and in turn reinforce my body to the limits of mortality. The next step was to absorb a drop of qi from my surroundings and transform my spirit roots into a dantian.
Except… I had no spirit roots. They had shattered and broken. The path ahead was unclear.
For now though, I was satisfied to have reached this level. The previous Zhao Dan would never have even dreamed of achieving such heights in his lifetime after becoming stagnant.
Reaching the peak of this realm was just the start.
The last two pieces of information had come together, at the instant I had reawoken. Earlier, the shattering noise had not been my lungs breaking or the refinement process failing, but instead a sign of it reaching completion.
The Qi Gathering poison had been enough fuel to bring the first step of the first layer of the Fivefold Medicine Forge Physique to completion. I had refined my lungs and achieving that had granted me a potent ability.
That ability was the same as before—converting medicinal and toxic materials into healing energy—but it was far more potent after refining my lungs. The proof of this was that it had quite literally brought me back from the brink of death.
And that wasn’t all I’d gained. The instant I completely refined the poisonous qi I had learned the name of the poison which had been used on Young Master Teng.
Blood lotus puppet poison.
This was even more potent than the iceflower poison which someone had attempted to use on little Cui. I’d been calling it a Qi Gathering poison, but that wasn’t quite accurate.
My physique gave me the knowledge. It was a martial-grade poison, a step above mortal-grade. Certainly, no one in Three River City should have the means to produce such a toxin.
So how had it ended up in the young master’s body? That was yet another mystery I needed to solve, but right now I had other concerns on my mind.
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Should I chase after my assassin? I could possibly catch him and take my revenge or gain the information I needed.
However, he was likely long gone. Instead of chasing after him like a rabid dog I decided to first make sure Xiao Cui was unharmed.
If they’d targeted me, it was possible they’d gone after her as well. As I stood up from the bed, I realised that instead of feeling drained after my ordeal I instead was brimming with vitality and energy.
All the wounds in my body had been healed, even some I hadn’t realised were there! I gained a new level of appreciation for my physique. Along with that, I was reminded of my oath to the heavens which had allowed me to earn it in the first place.
To heal those who needed it and to protect the innocent from cruelty.
Right now, there was one innocent boy who clearly needed a lot of protection from forces far beyond him. I’d already healed Teng Sheng, but the fact he’d been poisoned with something so potent spoke to a sinister underlying plot—one that went beyond even the city lord.
But that was something way above my pay grade. I’d only barely survived this time. I had no desire to court death once more.
It didn’t take me long to reach the place I’d left Xiao Cui. Finding my way through the palace was actually quite simple now that I’d roughly memorised the layout.
The door was still closed and it was dark inside. A positive sign. Sliding open the wooden door as quietly as possible, I slipped inside and shut it behind me.
Everything was peaceful. On one of the beds, there was a lump in the blankets. It rose and fell gently. Approaching, I saw Xiao Cui fast asleep and unharmed. Exactly as she’d been when I left to treat the city lord’s son.
I let out a sigh of relief. My worst fear was that the assassins would have gone after both of us at the same time. While I could defend myself—or in this instance, survive through sheer luck and the will of the heavens—little Cui was just a mortal girl.
Not wanting to take any risks, I decided to spend the rest of the night watching over her. I wasn’t tired. With my current cultivation I barely needed to sleep—perhaps a few hours a week at most.
While watching over her, I tried to figure out the mess that was my path of cultivation. Until now, my broken spirit roots hadn’t posed an issue to my advance.
Body Tempering did typically require one to possess spirit roots, but because I’d already begun cultivating, or perhaps because of my physique, I had been able to continue until now.
However, lacking spirit roots was a true blockade when it came to breaking through to the next major realm. The difference between Body Tempering and Qi Gathering was incomparable to the difference between eight and nine-star Body Tempering.
How could I overcome that?
I’d read Zhao Dan’s notes on cultivation. The standard method of breaking through once a practitioner reached the peak of Body Tempering was to learn how to sense the spiritual energy of the world, then absorb it into their body through their spirit roots, converting it into qi of their own.
The moment that first drop formed, it would trigger the formation of the dantian from the spirit roots. A simple process.
But I had no spirit roots.
So how was I going to achieve the breakthrough? There were many hints. Small bits of knowledge I could use to try and forge my own path ahead as I’d been doing until now.
However, there was a massive difference between going through the Body Tempering realm and the Qi Gathering realm outside of the standard methods.
Body Tempering was a pretty varied thing. Even a regular mortal could achieve one-star in the realm if they had a fortunate encounter, provided they had enough spirit roots.
So it wasn’t that unusual for a practitioner to reach the peak of Body Tempering even when deviating from the accepted methods practiced by the larger sects. However, for all but the most ridiculous outliers, that wasn’t possible once one entered the Qi Gathering realm.
Every cultivator had to first learn to sense spiritual energy. Then they had to figure out how to absorb it into their spirit roots, forming a dantian. After that it was just a matter of adhering to your sect or clan’s chosen cultivation method.
Sensing spiritual energy was simple. In fact, I could already sense qi. I’d done so when Wang Ren had displayed the qi healing technique to me back in the Cloudy Falls Sect. So actually I had a headstart on most cultivators.
But that's where I came to a crashing halt. I had broken spirit roots and no way to absorb spiritual energy into them. There was that hollow shell in my core, which had appeared during my breakthrough to nine-star Body Tempering. However, I wasn’t sure if it was actually my dantian or something else entirely.
Ultimately I couldn’t find the answer even after a few hours of struggling. That was fine. Cultivation wasn’t a sprint, it was a marathon.
I’d already been making rapid progress until now and I should be satisfied. But I wasn’t.
This world was far too dangerous.
The people I’d grown to care about were constantly being put in danger. So I needed to become stronger in order to protect them. To heal the corruption in the Celestial Jade Empire.
****
I felt as though this same scene was repeating itself far too often.
I was standing at the base of a stone dais, looking up at the city lord as he lounged on his throne. Councillor Gao stood to one side and his son on the other.
When I’d entered, Xiao Cui in tow, after being summoned by Captain Kang that morning, the councillor had been shocked.
He’d quickly hidden it, but it hadn’t escaped my attention. He must have had something to do with last night’s failed assassination attempt.
Captain Kang had sent a few guards to scour the palace for me after finding my room empty and blood everywhere. I’d explained the situation and tried to calm him down, but learning that assassins had infiltrated the palace only made him more furious.
He’d personally escorted the pair of us while ordering his men to scour every inch of the palace grounds and search for anything out of the ordinary. Even more strangely, when Wang Bao had seen me his eyes had widened for a moment. Just like the councillor’s.
Worse, the moment I locked eyes with him I instantly recognised the gaze. Those same eyes had been staring down at me from behind a mask the night before. He was the assassin.
Anger bubbled up within me and I’d wanted to strike out there and then. However, I held back my fury. Truly, Three River City was a nest of vipers.
The captain would never believe me if I accused his vice-captain of being the assassin and doing so would only draw more suspicion back onto me. For now, I would bide my time. When I was able, I would return to have my vengeance on the bastards who’d hurt Xiao Cui and tried to take my life.
Needless cruelty was not something I ever wished to indulge in, but sometimes a little violence was necessary. It was often best to fight poison with poison, as I'd recently learned.
“Zhao Dan, you have my utmost gratitude,” the city lord said with genuine happiness visible on his face. “I never believed my son’s sickness could be cured, but you have achieved the impossible.”
I nodded, waiting for him to continue.
“You are not forgiven for your treasonous misdeeds, but I made a promise. You and the girl shall go free,” he declared with a regal wave. “But make no mistake. Step one foot out of line in my city and you will be back here and facing death once more.”
Captain Kang stared daggers at me along with Councillor Gao as their master said this. I suppressed my chuckle and kept a straight face.
Bowing once I replied, “Of course, Lord Teng. This humble healer will not cause any trouble in Three River City from this day onwards.”
He scoffed and dismissed us. Captain Kang led little Cui and I to the palace gates. “I will be keeping a close watch on you, Zhao Dan,” he said with a sour expression.
“As is your duty, Captain,” I replied with a smirk.
He looked as though he’d sucked a lemon. The moment he turned back to the palace I grabbed Xiao Cui and began making our way back into the city as fast as possible.
I had no desire to stay there any longer than necessary. The first thing I wanted to do was get our belongings from the inn. Then, it was time to go shopping!
To be honest, I did think the city lord seemed a little… lenient for a man who’d been enraged at our treasonous actions, but perhaps Councillor Gao had been influencing him.
Or he simply loved his son that much. I wasn’t going to delve into it, I was just glad to finally be free.
****
An ancient looking figure’s eyes slowly opened. Their bones creaked and dust fell from their body as they stretched. With a wave of their hand, the huge stone rolled away from the cave entrance and sunlight streamed into the darkness.
“A strand of my will has been destroyed…” they murmured as they walked out of the cave.
A tall man cloaked in shadows was waiting outside the cave, falling to his knees as the ancient figure exited. “Disciple greets master,” he said with reverence. “How was your secluded cultivation this time, master?”
“I should not have awoken this early, but one of the gifts I left with the clan has been destroyed,” the figure replied, closing their eyes for a breath’s time.
They opened their eyes. “Three River City. Find out what happened,” they ordered.
The man cloaked in shadows stood up and waved his arm. Five more shadowy figures darted outwards, heading towards Three River City. “As you command, master. The Gao Clan celebrates the return of the Patriarch,” he declared before following after the others.