by A P Gore
"But it comes with a warning,” she said. “Whenever you forcefully advance to a new stage, it comes with consequences. For the next three months, you won't be able to advance further. You'll stay at your current level.”
It could have been worse. Three months, no problem.
Then a thought popped into his mind. "Mother Queen, can I advance my other Body Cultivation art using this heart blood?"
The mother queen probed him curiously. "Are you dual cultivating body?"
Jei nodded. "Yes, Fiendgod Body Cultivation. And I've already reached the first stage in it."
"Impressive. How did you know that these two arts can be simultaneously cultivated? It's hard to predict, and I only learned it after hundreds of years of studying different cultivation arts." She stared at him with wide eyes.
Heat rushed to his face. "It's quite embarrassing to say, but I found it by an accident." He rubbed his neck. Study, no way! He learned it by an accident that almost cost him his life.
She grinned widely. "Very well. You're the best candidate for my daughter, then. Come back in a hundred years and give me cute grandchildren."
A chuckle echoed in Jei's mind. A sinister chuckle from the senior. In that moment, he knew the senior wouldn't let him hear the end of this one.
Keeping mum was the best option.
"That's my heart’s blood, so you can advance any Body Cultivation art. But what do you have in mind?"
Now it was Jei's turn to grin. "Leave it to me, Queen Mother." Jei opened the bottle and consumed the blood tear.
Immense energy rushed through his body and attacked the black marrow at his second gate—Gate of Limit—tearing it open completely. Natural essence from the surrounding area was sucked into his body and filled it to the brim. He felt like he had gained the power of ten level 3 beasts and could crack the world with one punch.
"Thank you, Mother Queen. I'll take your leave then." And so Jei zipped away from the hunting ground toward the location the mother queen had told him of. Battle awaited him, and for the first time he was ready.
"Kid, what's on your mind? Why not Poison Body?" the senior asked as soon as they stepped out of the hunting ground.
"It was a valid choice, but not an optimal one."
"Care to explain, buddy? Or will you only explain to your snake babies?" he laughed hard.
And there it started.
"First," Jei said. "I don't know what five hundred Poison Body would bring me, and there's no time to learn whatever divine art comes with it. Second, once I open my Gate of Limit, I can freely break the Gate of Healing without consequences."
"That's right, and you can also remain in that state for more than half an hour."
"Yes. And third, when we fought with Pang, his actions got slower after a while. There's certainly a limit to how much qi he can use. With half an hour of the power state plus the power of the second stage—Gate of Limit—I'm fifty percent sure I can beat the level 5 opponent. And this time we've a lot of information on our opponent, too." While running, Jei was probing the changes in his body. The Gate of Limit had allowed him to surpass his previously fastest speed, and he had a feeling that there was more to it. Maybe he could go beyond the limit of his fleshy body.
What would be it like to break open the Gate of Limit?
No, he couldn't do that. That may break the balance of his gates.
"Kid, I sense twenty men behind that tree."
Jei stopped in his tracks. Dirt sprayed everywhere as his heels dug furrows in the road. His new speed was insane, and he wasn't used to it. The faint smell of corpse wafted from not far from away. They were near the corpse forest. The place where it all started.
"Twenty? The mother queen said fifteen."
"There are fifteen cultivators and five mortals. One of them is your Chu girl."
Chu Xi.
A knot formed in his stomach. What was she doing with them? Had she joined the traitors?
Chapter 56
Resting his palm on the red oak tree's rough trunk, Jei swallowed hard. What the heck was that girl doing here? She seemed kind and soft hearted. What, then, she was doing with bunch of thugs?
No, until he saw it with his own eyes, he shouldn't assume the worst.
Jei darted from tree to tree, moving closer, until he could get a good view of the unfolding scene.
First, the foul smell of death irritated his nostrils. Then a patch of green dome lilies and twenty people came into view. To his surprise, five were tied to a large tree. One of the captives was delicate Xi, her jade green eyes full of tears. A large wound on her right hand dripped blood, and it broke his heart to see her in so much pain.
How foolish he had been to think that she was mixed up with such filthy people. He wanted to smack his head on the tree he hid behind.
A cry slipped from her when a stone hit her.
Anger boiled inside his chest, rising to a new level as he spotted the man searching for another stone.
They deserved to die.
Lifting a small stone in his hand, Jei threw it at the burly man. The stone zipped through the air with great speed and struck him in the nose. Annoyed, the burly man jumped to his feet and looked around.
"Who threw that stone at me? Tell me or I'll kill you all."
"Chang, shut up and focus on the task." An old man shouted in authoritative voice.
Jei's eyes fixed on the old man in noble robes. The black and green of the Wei clan hung on his petite figure. A black emblem stuck to his chest, proclaiming his special status. The Wei patriarch. The scene of the patriarch chasing him replayed in Jei's mind. The patriarch had chased him almost to his death, and there was payback to be had.
"Kid, let's get closer so I can track them with my Soul Sense and hear what they’re saying," the senior said.
Jei slowly moved toward another tree, ducking and hoping he wouldn't be discovered. Fortunately, nobody noticed him. From the new spot, he could see them more clearly. Especially Xi, who was constantly crying. His heart told him that he should go forward and tell her that everything would be fine. How could the Wei clan treat her like this? She was still young.
Anger practically melted his internal organs. He wanted to slash open the throat of the Wei bastard.
Jei's attention was diverted when the patriarch moved.
The patriarch pulled out a large green pearl from his spatial belt and placed it next to Xi. He then said something to a man who came forward with a large butcher knife.
"Kid, this is bad. He's going to drain her blood so he can offer a virgin's blood to the pearl," the senior said, all in a rush.
"Let's go, then." There was no time to wait anymore. Something needed to be done. And that something needed to be done now!
Before the patriarch could grab the knife, Jei dashed forward and knocked out the man holding it. He used all his strength in that punch. Between his broken Gate of Healing and the power of Gate of Limit, the punch passed through the burly man's shoulder, coating Jei's hand in blood.
It felt gross, but he had no time to dwell on it. He dashed forward and hit another Wei man staring at him. A hole opened in his chest, and he too fell back. Dead.
Jei's right hand was dyed red, making him look like a monster.
"Big Brother Jei!" Xi shouted. A weak smile spread across her face.
Jei's heart constricted. For fraction of a second, he thought it was Xue'er tied to that boulder. He realized Xi was so similar to his little sister. Delicate and cheerful.
The Wei patriarch stood there, dumbfounded. But before he could act, Jei reached his other lackeys and started beating them to death.
The first two were easy, but the third one was a level 4 qi expert, and he blocked Jei's punch with his own hands. A small tremor shot back into Jei's hand, but his opponent’s hands shattered into pieces.
Before dropping to the ground, Jei's opponent shrieked in pain. Unable to do anything with his hands, he cursed and cried, but that wasn't going to help him. His hands w
ere gone for good. They were shattered beyond repair.
Jei didn't stop there. He moved to the next man using his half-baked movement skill. Instead of targeting the one close to the boulder, he ended up hitting two people farther away from the boulder. He broke their ribcages with surprise punches, but before he turned to target others, all the remaining Wei lackeys had gathered around the boulder. A Few had their weapons out, and a few had only fists shining with glowing white qi.
Seven down, eight to go.
His fingers curled into a fist. Pain shot from his middle finger. Something had broken. But thanks to his Gate of Healing working overdrive, his finger mended before his next fist attack.
"Who are you?" The Wei patriarch asked, rubbing his long beard. He didn’t seem to be in a rush to take any action. Maybe he was probing Jei.
"Give me the pearl back, leave the hostages, and then I'll let you go," Jei said calmly, but his voice had a hint of threat in it.
The patriarch’s face reddened. "Insolent brat. You dare to talk back?" He rolled the metal ring on his hand and ordered his lackeys, "Kill him."
"This is going to be difficult." Jei sent mentally. Earlier, he had the element of surprise, and caught everyone unprepared. Now they were alert and knew the power of their opponent. They were moving slowly around him, trying to circle him. "But fun." Jei rubbed his knuckles; he was enjoying this.
A group of three men came at him from his right and another group from his left. The right ones had swords drawn, and the left ones had fists illuminated with white qi. They were trying to catch Jei off-guard.
"Kid, the left ones are qi level 3 and the right ones are qi level 2."
"Got it." Jei squatted and leaped at the ones on the right. Their swords clashed with his fists, but he felt only a small scratch on his knuckles. As expected, their power level wasn't good enough to wound him. If they were level 3 or 4, Jei wouldn't have dared to take their swords head on.
As Jei's fist slammed against their swords, the force of his attack pushed them back. They fall hard on their butts. All but one, whose attack on Jei had missed. Hewas caught with Jei’s next punch. Unfortunately, he took it to the nose. In his next life, he would remember not to take a punch on the nose.
Jei turned toward the others, his hand once again dripping blood.
The three with qi level 3 stopped in their tracks and took a collective step back, their eyes full of fear.
Raising his hand, Jei waved them to come at him. The senior had shown him this movement to taunt his opponents. He expected them to charge him, but they stepped further back.
Cowards. He hated cowards. Not that he was super aggressive; he too avoided conflicts, but stepping back in a fight? No way.
"You, fuckers! Why the hell are you backing off?” Patriarch Wei roared with an ugly expression. “If you take one more step back, I'll cut you into a thousand pieces and take your wives as my slaves.”
A man who couldn't respect his own people’s wives deserved to die.
Jei pulled his elbow back and circulated his newfound energy through his meridians to activate his Drunken Master Tiger fist divine art. Today, everyone who had put a hand on Xi would die.
Chapter 57
Blood dripped from Jei's hand. His tattered green robe had many new holes, revealing his toned body. His robe has as many holes as he had wounds on his body. His own blood mixed with the blood of others, making it indistinguishable. Even his body smelled of gore and death. Nobody would have believed that a few days back he’d cowardly let two people get away because he feared killing them.
Today he stood amongst the corpses of twelve people without regret.
What a change!
Breathing hard and glancing at the last man standing, he circulated his essence toward his fist. It was time to finish him off and move on to the Wei patriarch and his final lackey who were watching him fighting.
But it hadn’t been simple so far. After he’d killed the level 2 qi masters, the others took a pill which advanced their level by one, making them all level 4. Things turned dirty after that. Though he’d managed to kill all of them, he had endured lots of injury and pain.
"Meng Ho. You go." Patriarch said to the heavyset man standing next to him. He had a mustache and small beard. A long scar ran from his nose to his neck, adding to his scary appearance.
"Yes, master." A pill appeared in his hand.
Jei had seen this pill multiple times by now. The four he’d fought ate similar looking pills and advanced to level 4. Was this man going to advance to level 5? That would be trouble.
As the big man swallowed the pill, his body emitted waves of pressure in every direction.
Damn, where did these guys get so many pills? He hoped the patriarch didn't have one too.
"Kid, you've got twenty minutes left in your broken Gate of Healing stage. You won't be able to break it again for some time. Can you defeat these three in that time?" the senior asked.
Jei pondered. His body ached all over, but his confidence soared to the sky. "I must try." Confidence filled his voice. Giving up wasn't an option anymore.
Jei dashed toward the last pseudo-level-4 qi cultivator. While he had the chance, he’d better finish things off quickly. But before he reached the man, a fist slammed into his shoulder, sending him flying away.
Meng Ho had got into the action, and he was fast. Jei hadn’t even realized that Meng Ho had charged him.
A couple feet away from the pseudo-level-4 cultivator, Jei crashed to the ground. Soil rubbed against his wounds, stinging and irritating them.
Jei rolled away as a kick slammed on the ground where he’d fallen. Pushing his hands on the ground, Jei jumped back, away from Meng Ho.
This time, Meng Ho didn't attack Jei right away. Instead, he stood there probing Jei.
Jei squatted, his eyes fixed on Meng Ho. He was a threat. A qi cultivator of level 5 had access to an abundant qi supply, and he was using it to his advantage.
Jei probed his essence limit; he could go for a couple more hours like this. But practically, he only had twenty more minutes of this extra power, so he’d better finish things in that time.
"Fire Fist." Meng Ho shouted. Fire swirled around his fist and coated it. "Now you die, kid!" He dashed toward Jei with unfathomable speed.
Crap!
The fire aura exuding from Meng Ho's Fire Fist was immense and made Jei's heart stutter. He might be able to take the physical attack but might not sustain the fire attack. What would it do to him? Could his Gate of Healing heal him from a burning injury?
He had no answers. And no option but to take that attack on his fist.
However, before Meng Ho reached him, Jei lifted a corpse from the ground and used it as a shield.
Meng Ho's fist penetrated flesh and bone, spearing through the corpse and setting Jei's tattered robe on fire. The stench of burning human invaded Jei’s nostrils.
Throwing the corpse at Meng Ho, Jei jumped back, his hands waving frantically in an effort to control the fire. Having burning clothes was absolutely not fun.
"Brother Jei!" Xi shouted, struggling to free herself. Her face bore traces of pain and frustration.
Jei cast a quick glance at her before turning his attention back to Meng Ho.
Once again, Meng Ho was charging Jei with his Fire Fist attack.
Jei had plenty of corpses at his disposal to endure Meng Ho’s attacks. He grabbed another. Seeing what happened to the last corpse, Jei knew he’d better not try to take the attack head on. The only option he could think of was to injure Meng Ho's hand somehow.
But how?
He was too busy holding Meng Ho at bay with the corpses to strike at him, and the number of usable corpses was dwindling. And couple of times, the Fire Fist touched Jei’s skin, burning it.
His robe was quickly burning away, his skin charred. The pain from the burns was worse than other injuries, and whenever Meng Ho’s fist touched him, he cried out in agony.
His mind raced faster th
an his heartbeat.
Once again, time was running out, and he had two more guys to take care of.
He had no other option but to take the attack on his body and counterattack at the same time.
But he didn't know how wrong it could go.
Jei planned it out. He would take the first attack on his left shoulder and aim his Drunken Master Tiger fist attack at Meng Ho’s heart. One punch was all he needed. If he put all he had into that one punch, it should pass through Meng Ho's heart.
But there was one variable he failed to account for. Meng Ho was a veteran, and he had fought many such fights in his life.
That jerk smirked at him, then turned his attention toward Xi, charging her.
Jei glanced at Xi. Her petite delicate features, her white skin, everything reminded him of Xue'er. For some reason, he felt like it was Xue'er tied up there instead of Xi.
He moved faster than he’d ever thought was possible, diving between Meng Ho and Xi, taking the Fire Fist attack on his shoulder.
Or, at least he planned to take it on his shoulder. His lack of experience made him overshoot the target, and instead he was struck in the chest. Meng Ho's fist drilled inside his chest, destroying his rib cage and reaching his heart in no time.
Fire shot through the fist and invaded Jei's heart, burning it instantly.
Without his heart supporting him, the essence in his right fist dissipated and his fist didn't connect with his opponent.
Meng Ho drew his hand back. His hand couldn't pass all the way through Jei's body due to his toughness, but it had done all it needed to do.
Jei fell to the ground, his conscious slipping away from him.
Was it his end? Had he failed to save anyone, in the end?
Chapter 58
Chu Xi
That bastard Meng Ho zipped forward, targeting Brother Jei. Fire burned around his fist like it would swallow Brother Jei. Her heart slumped into her stomach. She almost closed her eyes in anticipation of the inevitable. But Brother Jei was smart and put a dead body in between him and the attack. The fire attack was wasted, just like that.