The spirit monkey convulsed on the ground, its shoulder and neck misshapen and swollen. It had rushed ahead of its companions and I’d panicked, using my blood essence to cause the tumorous growths inside its body.

  I hoped I could finish off the other two fast and then heal it, but I wasn’t sure. They screeched, making me stumble as two stone spikes blasted towards me.

  Dodging to the side, I avoided the first but felt a spike of pain in my side as the second pierced my gut. They screeched and I heard them jumping from the trees.

  One landed on the ground next to the fallen monkey while the other remained in the canopy, already preparing another strike from afar. I wasted no time in pulling the spike out, letting my refined lungs get to work healing the wound.

  I lacked medicinal energy, so I quickly took out one of the two healing pills I had left and swallowed it. I found it funny that it was more effective for me to break down the ingredients within and refine them, letting my lungs heal me, rather than simply allowing the pill to do so.

  The monkey on the ground observed the convulsing monkey for a moment, then turned to me with hate filled eyes. It screeched louder than before and my eardrums rattled as it bared its fangs.

  The air whistled and I dodged to the side, avoiding another stone spike. The screeching monkey pounced, unleashing a whirlwind of punches and kicks that I had trouble keeping up with.

  I sensed these two beasts had almost grasped the nature of spiritual energy. Every attack was heavy, almost breaking through my skin and bones and striking something deep inside me.

  For now it was manageable, but I wasn’t sure how I would handle myself against a true awakened beast in the Qi Gathering realm. One step at a time.

  While I blocked its blows I searched for an opening in the monkey’s defences. If there was one thing I was confident in it was my perceptive sight.

  As a doctor it was essential to pay excruciatingly close attention to detail when assessing patients and during surgeries and of course that skill translated quite well to martial arts. I’d always had a talent for finding weird gaps in my opponent’s defences.

  Sparring partners often complained that even though they had perfect technique I could still break through. I figured that if there was a gap to exploit, your technique wasn’t perfect…

  My arms were bruised from the constant attacks of the spirit monkey, but I was returning a few strikes of my own. There!

  I suddenly spotted a gap. It had just kicked me and it was slightly off balance. I lashed out with my leg, my foot catching the beast in the ankle and it toppled. Its arms waved wildly as it tried to stay upright and I used that distraction to break through its guard.

  I struck with precision, every punch hitting a vital point on the monkey. Within a few strikes it was downed, but I wasn’t done.

  It was still conscious, so I delivered a final blow to its temple, knocking it out. Just as I did that I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder and looked down to see a stone spike jutting out of my arm, blood dripping from the wound.

  I leapt up and rolled to the side to avoid a second spike. The final monkey had made its move. Its eyes were bloodshot and it shrieked at me, gone mad with rage.

  It crossed the remaining distance between us in a single leap and began throwing wild strikes that I barely managed to block. We exchanged dozens of blows in just a few seconds.

  A strange feeling welled up inside me. I had chosen to continue my path of healing and medicine in this world and had only ended up in a few fights. Back on Earth, despite my career, martial arts had been the only way I could take my mind off my troubles.

  I often threw myself into training with an almost fanatic vigour. Once more I felt that same passion, that excitement of dedicating yourself to a single goal.

  This was a dangerous feeling. I knew that this was likely how most cultivators became so obsessed with reaching the peak that they would throw all else aside, leaving nothing but a mountain of corpses in their wake as they ascended the steps to heaven.

  But I was not that weak. I punched a specific spot on the monkey’s elbow and was rewarded with a crunch and the arm falling to its side. It seemed shocked but its rage pushed it onwards, continuing the battle.

  With one less limb however, it was futile. A few moments later it joined its defeated buddies on the ground.

  I rushed towards the first monkey I’d defeated. The monkey was almost unrecognisable as its entire arm, chest, and neck were swollen like balloons that could burst at any moment.

  I’d not yet attempted to heal the damage from my own technique yet. I hadn’t needed to. Of course I hadn’t wanted to heal the bandits I’d killed with it, so that meant this monkey would be the first time.

  It wasn’t that different from healing any other affliction. I injected blood essence and it quelled the raging energy within. But there was a problem.

  I wasn’t just fighting against some infection or flesh wound, I was attempting to battle against my own energy. The monkey yelled in pain as the two differing techniques clashed within its body.

  At first the tumours started to swell and grow and I worried that I had made things worse, but a few moments later the clashes subsided and its body slowly returned to normal. However, there was something strange.

  When it was fully healed, my blood essence returned to me, but it had not grown whatsoever. Unlike when I healed other patients, there were no gains to be had here.

  That made sense. While my qi oath had been potent and the rewards equally powerful, it would’ve been ridiculous if I could create a self-fulfilling cycle that propelled me through the cultivation realms. Inflicting heinous wounds such as this and then healing them.

  I assumed it didn’t stop me from progressing when I healed physical wounds I’d afflicted because that was still a greater challenge. I had to use strength that wasn’t part of the oath to crush the beasts and so I was still rewarded for healing them.

  Satisfied with learning some more about my mysterious techniques, I turned to the other two monkeys. If I was being honest, I was a little worried about healing them.

  My body was already full of blood essence. It felt as though even a little more would push me over some kind of limit; one that I didn’t necessarily want to pass. However, I decided to heal them anyway.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Until now I still hadn’t gained much insight as to how I would progress my cultivation further than the Body Tempering Realm. This was the only hint I had and so I would continue to explore it, even if that held potentially painful consequences.

  When I healed the first monkey, nothing happened except the strange feeling of being full grew even more intense. It weighed down on me with every step, something within my body but not physically present.

  Despite that feeling I didn’t hesitate as I began to heal the third and final spirit monkey. My blood entered its body as normal and I watched as it went to work, setting broken bones and knitting torn muscles back together.

  It finished in record time, my healing technique growing more effective the higher my cultivation grew. When the blood essence surged back into me, I prepared to keep a tight hold on it, prepared for the uncomfortable swelling.

  However, I soon realised something was seriously wrong. I continued to swell as the blood essence flowed into my body, but I soon felt a familiar feeling. One that I hadn’t expected to feel until I’d grasped insight into the workings of qi.

  ****

  Wang Ren exhaled, flicking his arm to remove the blood of the spirit monkey from his glaive. That had been one of the most challenging fights he’d had to date.

  A three-star awakened beast, a spirit beast that could typically fight on even ground against four-star Qi Gathering cultivators. He was still only a two-star Qi Gatherer but he’d managed to bring it down through a combination of intelligence and the technique his master had handed down to him.

  Upon reaching two-star one of the inner Elders of the sect had taken notice of his talents and offered to take him as a disciple. Of course he’d accepted. Elder Bang was renowned for his prowess with the glaive and also his eccentric nature.

  A few other disciples had warned him against becoming a disciple of the reclusive elder, but Wang Ren came from a common background. Without the benefit of connections or the heritage of a clan he had to claim every scrap he could.

  That was how he’d worked his way through the outer sect and he wouldn’t stop now. Despite being one of the most talented disciples in his generation he refused to sit back and allow his progress to stagnate.

  He would rather be an ant that dared to ascend to the summit of a mountain than remain a frog trapped in a well, simply because he was afraid of an Elder being a little strange. Besides, he realised the rumours were mostly nonsense after a few weeks of training under his new master.

  Most of them, anyway.

  Elder Bang had provided him with just one technique to date. It was the first in a series of techniques that formed a self created glaive art—Shattering Earth Carving Heavens Glaive.

  It was a mighty and imposing technique, as one would expect from the name. Elder Bang was one of the top elders in the sect, a three-star Foundation Building expert. He had created this glaive art upon breaking through to the Foundation Building Realm, right after winning a vicious battle against the Fang Demon Cult and a nine-star awakened beast at the same time.

  To receive his legacy was a great honour, one that Wang Ren didn’t intend to waste. Even with just the first technique of the art, Heavy Earth Slash, he was able to rebuke the limits of heaven and cross stars to fight against beasts and other foes with greater cultivation than his own.

  Yet he still felt that if he tried to challenge Sun Deng, he would lose. It would not be an easy loss and he could certainly put up a fight against the other man, but he would lose without a doubt.

  Despite knowing that, he would still do his best to claim at least one or two petals of the Ten Ascensions Lily. Surely Sun Deng was not so tyrannical as to claim the entire flower for himself?

  Returning to the group, Wang Ren saw that they had all gathered. Sun Deng nodded towards him and he returned a nod of his own out of politeness.

  As the two strongest members of their group, they shared a certain understanding. Sun Deng raised an arm to silence the conversations.

  “Beyond the forest lies the heart of the Jagged Sword Mountains. The Jagged Sword Peak itself, where the verdant spirit pond lies. That pond is a natural treasure in and of itself, with a single mouthful said to provide inspiration to those in the Qi Gathering Realm,” he explained, even though they all knew this already.

  “Our goal is not the pond, but the flower that will blossom in the centre. From this point on we may encounter other groups and more dangerous awakened beasts that you may not be able to handle alone. Stick together and with me and we will emerge triumphant. I promise to share the petals of the flower with those who contribute to our success!” he exclaimed, the rest of the disciples shouting once in affirmation.

  Wang Ren wasn’t so inclined to believe him, but he wouldn’t dare act out of turn. He wasn’t so arrogant as to believe he could reach the verdant spirit pond alone. So he followed after the group as they left the forest behind.

  As he stepped out from under the canopy, he suddenly felt a faint release of energy from behind, far in the distance. Not qi or spiritual energy, but something less and yet more.

  He frowned, but there was no time to investigate or worry about it for now. He would simply continue doing as he needed and trying to honour himself and his master. He looked at his glaive, the weapon also of the king grade, the same as his master’s art.

  The edge was sharp and the shaft heavy, yet plain. No decoration was needed to kill your foes. Only determination and strength.

  A coward could never reach the heavens, even if a saint grade technique fell from the heavens like a meat pie and landed in their lap. His path was clear and he would not falter, even if he had to challenge Sun Deng and risk death.

  ****

  I realised the moment my skin began to tear, blood pouring from the endless lacerations across my body, that something had gone seriously wrong. I had no time to consider what though, because all my focus was required to stop myself from collapsing under the pressure as my body ripped itself apart.

  This made no sense. Nine-star was supposed to be the limit of the Body Tempering Realm, yet I was making another breakthrough despite reaching the peak.

  Compared to the previous breakthroughs I’d experienced and even the ones I could remember from before I took over this body… it was far beyond them.

  Somehow I felt that this wasn’t a breakthrough to the next realm. I had yet to grasp the mysteries of qi and I still hadn’t really figured out how to turn my shattered spirit roots into a working dantian.

  So I was doing something completely unprecedented. Another wave of agony struck as my internal organs turned to mush. I noticed that my lungs retained their shape more than the rest, clearly a result of the refining through my physique.

  That was all I could notice. My mind became occupied with just one single thing—surviving this ordeal.

  Failing to breakthrough from one star to the next in most realms meant losing your progress and having to cultivate from the beginning of that small stage once more. Here, I knew that failure meant death.

  I wasn’t sure why I knew that, but I did. So I pushed away all outside thoughts, my consciousness the only thing present in the misshapen pile of flesh that was currently my body.

  After a while, I inhaled.

  Then, I exhaled and with that breath came a green healing mist. My bones were the first to reforge themselves, my skeleton now flexible and sturdy like the trunk of an ancient tree.

  Around those unshakeable bones, my muscles and tendons regrew, knitting themselves together. My muscles were now like bundles of iron cables, nigh unbreakable and capable of unleashing devastatingly powerful and lightning fast strikes. My tendons were like the sinews of a dragon, nothing able to snap them.

  My organs reforged themselves anew, cleansed of impurities. Finally, my skin stretched across my body, smooth and unblemished like the finest jade and yet impossible to pierce for any below the Qi Gathering Realm.

  As I fully awakened, I understood I had achieved the impossible. I had broken through to ten-star Body Tempering.

  It was a stage no one before me had ever reached, because it shouldn’t have existed. Then again, the world was vast and unknowable so perhaps I wasn’t the first. However, I had never heard of it in any of the sect’s records or through any of Zhao Dan’s memories.

  I smiled, my level of strength far beyond any other Body Tempering practitioner. Perhaps I could even match a cultivator at one-star Qi Gathering, but it would be a tough battle.

  Before I could test my new strength however, there was something far more important to attend to.