I was just one step away from the man who’d forced his way into our building when he suddenly groaned and collapsed to the ground. At that moment I realised he was covered in bloody wounds and barely breathing.

  Rather than an intruder, it was more likely that this guy was a patient. It was the middle of the night, but I wouldn’t turn away a fellow man in need.

  After shutting the door to stop the cold wind blowing into the lobby, I called Xiao Cui back over. “It’s alright, I don’t think he’s here to hurt us. See how injured he is,” I said, waving at him.

  Then, I knelt down beside him and tried to inspect the damage. Little Cui went to grab him and lift him up but I stopped her.

  “It’s dangerous to move someone when you aren't sure what’s wrong with them. First make sure to inspect their airways and visual responses. Those tell you if their life is in immediate danger,” I explained while waving a hand in front of his eyes.

  When I realised his breathing was okay, just weak, and he didn’t seem to have any brain damage, I concluded it was safe to roll him over. We did so with some effort.

  The moment his face was revealed, Xiao Cui let out a gasp of shock, which I couldn’t help but mirror.

  “Chief!” she cried, shaking the man.

  “Calm down, you don’t want to hurt him,” I replied, despite being just as surprised as her to see the head of Nine Paddy Village here in Three River City.

  He stirred, groaning once more. Apart from the cuts and bruises all across his body he seemed to be okay.

  I placed a finger against his skin and within ten seconds or so he was already looking much better as my technique worked to heal him. Soon after that he seemed lucid and sat up.

  “Xiao… Cui?” he asked, then when he realised who it was his face suddenly dropped. “Xiao Cui, Cultivator Zhao! I’m so glad you’re alive,” he cried as tears began streaming down his face.

  “Calm down old man, what’s wrong?” I replied, helping him stand up. “Did something happen in the village?”

  I barely reacted to the tiny bit of blood essence streaming back into my body. I wasn’t even sure it helped improve my cultivation anymore since I’d already reached the pinnacle of the Body Tempering realm, but I supposed that it couldn’t be a bad thing.

  “They-” he choked, unable to continue. We gave him time to compose himself. “They came in the middle of the night. It was a slaughter. Even the children…” he sobbed, breaking down as he began to tell us how he’d come to the city.

  When he finished telling his tale I had to stop myself from rushing out the door then and there. I knew the city lord had let us go free too easily…

  “What are you talking about, chief?” Xiao Cui’s face was pale, her eyes wide as she tried to come to terms with what had happened. “Then, my parents… are dead?”

  The chief tried to speak but suddenly coughed. I wasn’t sure why. My technique should’ve healed all his wounds. Perhaps it was something deeper…

  Often emotional and subconscious pain can cause real damage to people. There were even cases of that back on Earth; people who died of grief after losing a partner, for example.

  Knowing what had happened, I didn’t blame him. My thoughts went to the old granny and that black cat. Had the city lord’s men not even spared her, sleeping in her bed?

  My fist clenched, shaking as my knuckles went white. I gnashed my teeth. Burning rage filled me but eventually I was forced to push it down inside. There was nothing I could do.

  Yet.

  I’d wanted to spend more time researching and getting acquainted with my physique before trying anything drastic, but I could no longer hold myself back. Getting revenge on these sick bastards was now my only priority.

  I placed a hand on little Cui’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Disciple, I know how you must be feeling right now but make sure not to do anything rash,” I told her with a stern face.

  She turned to me with tears in her eyes and nodded. I pulled her into a hug and she squeezed tighter than I expected. I let her stay like that for a few moments before continuing.

  “Look after the chief and stay out of the busy parts of the city. I need to leave for a while,” I said.

  “What? You’re going to leave now after everything we’ve just heard?” she said, wiping her eyes. “Heartless master!”

  I scoffed. This little girl had a sharp tongue and it was getting deadlier by the day. This was proof that big cities were bad for your mind. I wasn’t angry though, she could’ve attacked me right now and I would let it happen.

  Losing one’s parents was… not something I’d experienced, but I imagined it would be awful. When my grandfather died I’d not left my house for a week, secluding myself from friends and society.

  At least little Cui still had the chief… I shook my head, dispelling such thoughts. It was harsh but I couldn’t afford to dwell on the awful massacre the city lord had ordered. I needed to become strong enough to take him down.

  Which meant doing something I really didn’t want to do.

  ****

  I stared out at the treacherous path leading into the mountains. A narrow gorge was walled in on both sides by craggy cliffs covered in sharp rocks and precariously balanced boulders that could fall at any moment.

  This mountain range was about fifty li from Three River City, but with my speed it had only taken me twenty minutes to get here. The reason I was in this dangerous area, which typically anyone below Qi Gathering should avoid, was because of a rumour I’d heard.

  That and I had a cruel idea of how to improve my cultivation in the shortest time possible. For most cultivators that would be a foolhardy idea, rushing ahead and leaving unstable foundations in their wake.

  However, I’d not yet experienced any downsides to my rapid pace of advancement and decided to take an informed risk.

  My cultivation improved by healing others and until now I’d only used my techniques offensively twice—once on those bandits and the other time on the spirit snake. I’d waited for injured people to appear in front of me and not taken much initiative to seek them out, reaping the harvest without sowing the seeds.

  Today I was going to take a more brutal approach. One that I didn’t want to use on other humans, hence the location. The Jagged Sword Mountains were famous for the number of violent spirit beasts that resided here.

  I figured that if there was nothing powerful enough for me to heal in order to continue advancing, then I would just need to change that. Find some nine-star spirit beasts, beat the crap out of them and then heal them up.

  A simple plan.

  When I encountered the first beast I’d seen since that nine-star spirit bear, I wasn’t too anxious. It seemed weaker than that bear. A boar with large tusks growing from its snout, so large they seemed to weigh it down.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  It was almost as tall as me, but its size worked against it as I dodged its opening charge with a simple sidestep. Based on the strength it displayed I estimated it to be around six or seven-star Body Tempering.

  Usually when hunting spirit beasts, that would be the point where the more powerful cultivator would act decisively to slaughter their prey. Instead, I was going to keep my prey alive.

  Which in many ways could be considered even more cruel than simply slaughtering it, but at the end of this it would walk away alive. So really it was better to encounter me than another cultivator who would just tear it apart for resources like its beast core and body parts.

  At least that was my thought as I began to methodically beat up and then heal the various beasts I encountered. For some reason they all seemed terrified even after I brought them back to full health, often even stronger than they were before.

  People were often ungrateful to their doctors… Even back on Earth you could have situations where a team of surgeons worked their asses off for almost a full 24 hours to save someone from near death and then they would wake up…

  …Only to say some bullcrap like “Thank God I’m alive” or “God is great”. Not that he thought religion was stupid. He thought it was nice to have something to believe in and a sense of community.

  It just hadn’t been for him. And he thought that even if you were a devout worshipper of one god or another, it would be a pretty nice gesture to say “Thanks” to the group of people who’d actually saved your life.

  But none of that mattered anymore. The only god in this new world was the heavens. And the only measure of success was the strength of your fists.

  But he was determined to change that. Even if he died trying.

  ****

  At the same time as Zhao Dan had steeled his resolve to step on the true path of cultivation, though with some deviation from the rest of his peers, a group of disciples from the Cloudy Falls Sect was making their way through the Jagged Sword Mountains. Among this group was a youth that Zhao Dan would recognise instantly—Wang Ren.

  Most of the disciples were in the early stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, Wang Ren included. Though he had progressed from one-star to two-star in the time since he’d said goodbye to his Junior Brother Zhao Dan.

  In fact, advancing one star in a few months was considered a prodigious speed of cultivation for most and it had earned him even more favour among the inner sect disciples and Elders. He had tried not to let it inflate his ego, but some things were unavoidable. It was human nature to strive for more success after all.

  Perhaps if he knew that untalented junior of his had managed to leap through five minor steps since they’d parted he might think differently. That whelp had soared from a measly four-star Body Tempering brat to a peak nine-star practitioner on the cusp of breaking through to the Qi Gathering Realm. Wang Ren would be so surprised he might cough up blood and faint on the spot.

  Unfortunately, there was not much chance that he would meet Zhao Dan again. As a four-star practitioner he would live a little longer than most mortals and retain his health far longer in life, but even then he would succumb to the clutches of old age.

  As for Wang Ren, breaking the limits of mortality and stepping into the Qi Gathering Realm had granted him a massive increase in vitality. Even a one-star Qi Gatherer lived for almost four hundred years, double the lifespan of a peak Body Temperer.

  These were thoughts that had run through his mind a couple times during the last few months. Most of the outer disciples were forgettable to him, easy to ignore until they proved themselves.

  But not Zhao Dan.

  That guy had always been annoying as hell. A thorn in his side and one that he often had to stop getting bullied by his peers… As for why he did that, he still wasn’t sure, but the guy had seemed enthusiastic when he’d left the sect. He hoped he was enjoying life.

  Maybe he would settle down and marry some cute farmer’s daughter, have a bunch of kids and live out the rest of his days in peace.

  Suddenly the leader of their group, a handsome guy with perfect features except for a nasty scar over one eye, stopped and raised his hand. “Spirit beast ahead, just eight-star Body Tempering,” he said calmly, killing intent filling his gaze.

  A second later he disappeared from view and then reappeared, holding a small red marble in his hands. A beast core.

  “If you see any beasts that are easy to kill, feel free to claim them for yourself. Just don’t get into any arguments. I don’t want anything to slow us down while we’re on the way to the place the Elder mentioned,” he ordered.

  The rest of the group nodded. A few extra beast cores would be nice to have, but compared to the natural treasure they were on their way to claim it was a drop in the ocean.

  Besides, apart from one particularly talented outer disciple who’d been sent along with them, everyone in the group was at least one or two-star Qi Gathering. Body Tempering beast cores didn’t have much use to them anymore.

  And most of all, none of them dared to defy the command of their group’s leader. Sun Deng was the prized disciple of First Elder Sun, a man second only to the sect leader.

  He was a five-star Qi Gathering cultivator and one of the strongest inner disciples of the Cloudy Falls Sect. Challenging him was foolish, since no one wanted to risk the wrath of the first elder.

  With the order, the group picked up their pace as they made their way towards the centre of the Jagged Sword Mountains. In a few days, a natural treasure that only made its appearance every couple thousand years was due to bloom.

  The recordings of the sect rumoured that one petal of this flower, the Ten Ascensions Lily, would let a cultivator advance an entire star in the Qi Gathering Realm. Naturally, all of them were eager for a chance at such a potent treasure.

  Of course, they weren’t the only ones vying for this chance.

  And among all the groups looking to claim the natural treasure, there was one man who was completely unaware of the convergence of fate around him. Near the outer regions of the mountain range, a man dressed in green robes with rather handsome features was currently chasing down an eight-star spirit monkey.

  That monkey had a terrified expression on its face as it sprinted for dear life. Over the course of the past hour it had been beaten until it saw the warm embrace of King Yama reaching out, the six paths beckoning, only for it to be suddenly healed. And then the cycle would repeat.

  It had thought the Qi Gathering beasts in the inner mountain range were scary, but this insane cultivator was far worse…

  ****

  I sighed as I watched the spirit monkey sprinting off into the distance, clambering up the razor sharp cliffs with ease. I’d thought that this would be easier.

  However, since I was unable to climb those cliffs without carving my hands into ribbons I was forced to fight the beasts down in the gorge. Until now I’d only encountered one nine-star spirit beast, another monkey.

  That had been a decent fight and when I’d healed it after I noticed my blood essence increasing noticeably for the first time in a while. Unfortunately, that did nothing to change the sensation that I’d hit an unbreakable wall.

  It was a disappointing realisation. I somehow knew that no matter how much more blood essence I obtained I would never reach the Qi Gathering Realm. After a certain point the benefit of a larger quantity of blood essence became negligible.

  A large swarm of bugs could take on a weaker beast, but even the aura of a powerful awakened beast—one that had reached Qi Gathering—could cause those same ants to drop dead.

  It was the same for cultivators. Perhaps I could fight to a standstill against a one-star Qi Gathering cultivator, but against even the weakest two-star I would be beaten one-sidedly.

  Then again, I had a secret weapon that I wasn’t sure any cultivator in this world would expect. My ability to induce cancer-like growth in their cells. However I didn’t know if it would work on cultivators much stronger than me. I needed to test it.

  Which meant finding stronger beasts. My gaze turned towards the inner region of the Jagged Sword Mountains. I’d avoided getting closer until now, staying in the outer regions, but it seemed I would have to take drastic steps to achieve the strength I needed to claim revenge.

  Not just for my own wounded pride, but for Xiao Cui’s family and all of Nine Paddy Village. Teng Shi would suffer, but right now I couldn’t even damage a fingernail of his, let alone bring him to his knees.

  So I let the monkey go and took the first step further into the Jagged Sword Mountains. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, lighting up the stone and sparse shrubbery in a golden glow.

  I wouldn’t return until I’d broken through to Qi Gathering. Or at least figured out if it was even possible for a cultivator with shattered spirit roots to do so…

  The gorge started sloping upwards, taking me further and further into the mountains. At the end of the valley I would approach one of the larger mountains, a tall, craggy summit that resembled the fang of a beast.

  I wasn’t sure what awaited me on that mountain, but I was eager to take on the challenge. Lost in thought, I hadn’t noticed a pair of yellow eyes gazing at me from within a crevice.

  As I took another step forwards I felt a sharp pain slice across my shoulder and just about managed to dodge the second stone spike that had been aimed at my neck.

  I turned in the direction the spikes had come and saw another monkey hanging from the cliff. This one had dark grey skin and fur, almost the colour and texture of the stone around us.

  As I watched, it raised its tail and pointed it towards me, the end looking sharp and jagged just like the stones I’d just been hit with. That wasn’t all.

  Trying to get a read on the spirit beast, I realised it was perhaps even stronger than myself. Not quite in Qi Gathering, but perhaps almost there. A half-step away from breaking through.

  Instead of feeling nervous or scared, I had a different emotion coursing through my veins.

  Excitement.