I Shall Steal the Heavens - Chapter 126

Chapter 126






"You're what now?"

Dad was gaping at me from the other side of the screen. I had contacted him through an online video cam software and was speaking with my family in real time.

"Um, I'm going to explore a tomb. So I might be gone for a couple of weeks…maybe a month, if something happens."

Usually I would contact my parents every weekend through video cam. So when I was out on a mission for weeks, like that time with the Void Whale, I would notify my parents beforehand that I might not be able to talk to them online. It was only common courtesy, after all. And of course I wouldn't have any Internet connection out on the field.

"Eh…I thought you would be going home…"

In contrast, Mum looked a little upset. I felt a little sorry, but I couldn't back down. Not when I had an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented to me.

"Normally I would, but I have been assigned to conduct an expedition. It would be remiss of me to abandon my duties."

Mom frowned, not buying my bullshit for a second. Obviously I wasn't doing this out of duty but out of personal benefit. After all, if I found any treasures, artifacts or spirit weapons, I could stake my claim on them.

Seeing her expression, I sighed.

"What did you expect me to do? Return home, and then wait for the clan members from the main family to come over and mock me for being a martial arts instructor despite being so young, and then I beat them up? And it's not as if I have a sick sister waiting at home for me or something."

"We don't have a sister," my younger brother Fei Ji pointed out, puzzled. I nodded vehemently.

"Exactly!"

"Uh…"

My family glanced at each other, not sure what was going on. Evidently none of them had read Wu Dong Qian Kun.

Sighing, I continued. "I'll have to go to the tomb and conduct an exploratory expedition tomorrow, so I won't be around for the next few weeks. I have no idea how long it'll take."

"I see. Be careful." Dad grinned. "Make sure you bring something back!"

"I'll try my best," I replied dryly, aware that my chances of grabbing something valuable while competing against the elite cultivators from all over the Great Zhou Empire were miniscule. Even so, Elder Zhao and Elder Tie had a point. If I didn't even take the first step and try, the chance would remain at zero.

If there was even a 0.0001% chance, then I should try it. It wasn't as if I had anything to lose other than my time and efforts, which I could have invested in training. Even then, I could make the argument that going out into the field would earn me invaluable combat experience that was worth much more than any number of years of training.

"Tomb exploration?!" Mom cried out in dismay. As always, she was worried about my safety. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"I'm a martial artist, Mom," I pointed out. "Danger comes with the role."


Mom looked at me disapprovingly. "That's why I said you shouldn't be a martial artist. You should just attend a normal academy and learn safer skills…like being a lawyer or a doctor."

Fuck. Even in this timeline, all Asian mothers cared about was having their sons get a "bright" future by being a lawyer or a doctor. It was always lawyers and doctors. I was getting sick of hearing that. not only did I suck at healing (I wasn't Yun Che and I certainly didn't spend an entire lifetime learning under the most famous doctor, and I doubted Doctor Gui Yi would ever take me as a disciple), I was a little queasy around blood (unless I was spilling it – but treating wounds and performing first aid made me uncomfortable).

As for lawyers, it was an utterly boring and dull job. I hated having to memorize legal codes and all that crap. Furthermore, unlike the stereotype that lawyers were rich and successful, if I remembered correctly, back in my timeline, there was an oversaturation of lawyers. Not every lawyer could work in huge firms, and those who did faced a great deal of stress. As there were too many lawyers, many of those who graduated with a law degree had to confront the very real threat of unemployment. Unfortunately, it was the same in this timeline as well.

"Wu'er is strong. He'll overcome this and do well. I can't wait to see what he brings back!"

As always, Dad was encouraging. He tried to hold back Mom and give me the freedom to do what a man had to do.

However, Mom looked unconvinced. She pressed her fingers against the table nervously, her skin turning pale.

"Don't force yourself, don't be too reckless, take care of yourself, make sure you're in a group where there are others who will look after you…"

She was rattling off a list of what I should do, to the point I was blanking off and just nodding to go through the motions.

"What sort of treasure do you plan on finding, Brother?" Fei Ji asked. I shrugged.

"I wouldn't know. I'll only find out when I actually get there and explore."

"That's my boy!" Father guffawed proudly. Mom shot him a sharp gaze, but didn't say anything because she knew it would be pointless.

"Weren't you trying to learn smithing or something? Or was it Spirit Engraving? Shouldn't you be searching for materials that would be useful for your smithing?" Fei Ji pointed out. I grimaced and shook my head.

"Do you think the materials I'm looking for would conveniently appear in front of me? Moreover, there's intense competition coming from all the other sects. All the elite young cultivators are coming for this expedition. I might actually return empty-handed."

"Don't worry about that," Dad assured me. "Just do your best. At least you'll gain invaluable experience out of this."

"Yeah." So that was where I learned that logic from. Like father, like son.

"Speaking of which, how is your progress with smithing going?" Fei Ji was curious. Unlike me, he intended to go to a technical school and learning engineering. One day he was going to build a faster-than-light spacecraft. Or so I wanted to believe. "I remember your academy is the one who pioneered artificial qi, right? Any new developments on that front?"

"A few, but not much."

When artificial qi first came out, researchers saw it as an exotic material, a revolutionary substance that could change the understanding of the way Nature worked. Prior to the invention of artificial qi, everything ran off natural qi. Cars, electric equipment, televisions, computers, the Internet, even satellites – these were all powered by qi.

Drawing natural qi from the surroundings and converting them into electricity within sophisticated devices within the equipment, such devices could theoretically run off unlimited amounts of energy from the environment and persist forever. Of course, the components still suffered wear and tear, but we didn't have to worry about running out of qi.

The invention of artificial qi had altered that somewhat, and people talked about creating much more powerful, more advanced devices using artificial qi. For example, faster than light travel for spacecraft, more powerful and sophisticated artificial intelligences that run on quantum technology, and even powerful robots. From what I heard, the battle puppets and test dummies were being powered by artificial qi.

But as a new technology, artificial qi had its limits. For one thing, it was "impure". Just like uranium, if there were mixed isotopes within the raw material, it couldn't be used to power nuclear reactors. Compared to pure, natural qi (which was often in a purified form), unrefined artificial qi was horribly inefficient.

In other words, the current technology where devices processed and ran on natural qi drawn from the surroundings was still vastly superior to artificial qi technology. That wasn't to say artificial qi was entirely useless. It was still widely used to boost the Wu Ling Academy students' strength, medical treatments (transfusion of artificial qi to sustain a severely injured cultivator's life), and other cultivation procedures, but in terms of mechanical technology, it was still far behind. Well, they seemed to have used it to great effect for powering battle-automata and mechanical puppets, so I had to give them that, though. Though I couldn't see a greater use for that in the broader aspects of society other than purely military application.

And even then, natural qi was more efficient. It was just that these battle-automata ran on vast amounts of qi that they couldn't operate long on just surrounding natural qi alone. While artificial qi was very inefficient, the sheer bulk of it readily available and accessible meant that we could pump the battle puppets with vast quantities and had them run. Not smoothly or perfectly, but at least for extended periods of time beyond tnose that operated solely on natural qi from the surroundings. I was sure they would continue to improve the technology in future.

"Yeah, that's true." Fei Ji considered for a while after I ranted and rambled about the inefficiency and flaws of artificial qi. He frowned. "Is that why you refuse to absorb artificial qi?"

"Not by choice, I assure you. My body rejected artificial qi." Leaning back in my chair, I sighed. "I'm not stupid enough to refuse something that's free and beneficial if the academy is willing to give it to me."

"Isn't that bad?" Mom asked, concerned. I smiled and flexed my arm to reassure her that everything was fine.

"No. I found a way around it, and I think it's actually much better not to have artificial qi. The more quantity of qi, the more impure it is, and the more difficult it is to purify it. Besides, my martial arts doesn't rely on brute concepts like 'more equals strength'. It's all about technique."

"Are there any known side effects of artificial qi?" Fei Ji asked. I shook my head.

"Absolutely none. Everyone's doing fine. There isn't much difference between artificial qi and natural qi other than the impurity level. Artificial qi is a lot more impure, but that's about it. Otherwise they're pretty much the same."

"Well, I'm glad you overcame that hurdle. And you did us proud by finishing second in your academy tournament. Congratulations again." Dad puffed up, looking pretty pleased. I scratched my head, looking a little embarrassed.

"W…well, anyway, I should get off soon. I need to do some preparations."

"All right. See you then."

With that, I switched off the webcam program and shut down my computer. Rising to my feet, I stretched myself before I embarked on my preparation journey.

*

On my way to the store, I caught sight of a familiar figure.

"…Zhu Jiao?"

I waved at his direction, but he didn't see me, so I hurriedly jogged over to catch his attention he seemed to be leaving a supermarket, with a bunch of groceries in his hand. He almost dropped the plastic bag (or synthetic fiber bag, since there were no fossil fuels and no such thing as plastic in this timeline, so we used a substitute in the form of synthetic fibers).

"Whoa! Fei Wu! You surprised me!"

I snorted. "I doubt that. Nothing surprises you."

"You'll be surprised."

I noted the heavy use of irony, but said nothing. Instead, I moved on to the more important topic.

"What are you doing here? Buying gorceries?"

"Yeah…sort of."

For some reason, Zhu Jiao looked down. I hurried to catch up with him, noticing that most of the contents in his bag seemed medicinal. He had gathered quite a lot of herbs and ingredients for nourishing soup, such as wolfberry.

But the herbs were what caught my eye. Wasn't that big red one the Snow Azure Penguin Fruit? And another was a Frost Berry that was rich in yin qi. In fact, many of the herbs looked as if they were designed to supplement someone's yin qi.

"By the way, have you heard?"

Zhu Jiao was asking me. I shook my head.

"Heard what?"

"About the Nascent Soul Stage practitioner's tomb in the Heavenly Fire Mountain Range. It seems like everyone is flocking to explore it."

"Oh, I've heard of it," I replied honestly. "I'm planning to participate as well. How about you? Do you intend to join the fun?"

"Yeah." Zhu Jiao chuckled, but I noticed his laughter was hollow. "I plan to. There's something I need to find at all costs."

"What happened?" I asked, aware of his worried tone. "Did something happen?"

"Oh, no…it's just my sister."

"Huh?! You have a sister?!"

I almost yelled. Why didn't anyone know of that?! I had been friends with Zhu Jiao for five years now, and this was the first time I heard that he had a sister. I resisted the urge to grab his collar and shake him wildly, instead just forcing myself to shouting.

"Since when did you have a sister?!"

"Since about…ten to twelve years ago, I guess?!"

Zhu Jiao looked nonplussed, as if he didn't think informing his friends that he had a sister was anything worth mentioning. Then again, even if we were friends, we never really asked about his family. That was partially my fault.

"You…guess?" I repeated incredulously. "How can you not know your sister's age? She's either ten years old or she's twelve."

"Um, actually, she's seventeen, the same age as us."

My jaw dropped at the revelation. I wasn't sure I was hearing the bastard correctly.

"Wait, what? Then how the heck is she your sister only ten to twelve years ago?" then it struck me. "Ah…a stepsister? One of your parents remarried?"

"No, no. my parents never remarried. She's not a stepsister…she's more of an adopted sister. I ran into her in the fields about ten years ago, and she had been abandoned and left to fend for herself. She was on the verge of starving to death, so I brought her home and fed her. My parents were only too happy to adopt her, and we got all the paperwork done, so she's officially my sister and a part of our family."

Holy fuck! What sort of protagonist development was this!? Clearly this was the sister route, where the sister character was not a biological sister, which opened up possibilities for her to be Zhu Jiao's love interest. No doubt Zhu Jiao doted on her, and most likely this sister was deeply in love with him for saving her. She definitely was one of his harem candidates, next to Bai Ning Xue and Qing Xin Xia.

Zhu Jiao's harem seemed to be growing. No, it was already large to begin with, that fucking bastard. And he didn't even seem to realize.

Suppressing the urge to rage and scream at him, I instead put on an expression of concern. Convenient plot progression and harem candidate aside, for Zhu Jiao to be purchasing these must mean only one thing.

"What happened to your sister?"

"She has a special…constitution." Zhu Jiao looked at me helplessly. "Have you ever heard of the Terminus Demonic Body?"

"No," I replied truthfully, though that sounded awfully familiar. "I'm guessing that it has something to do with yin qi."

"As expected, you're well-read." Dude, I just said I hadn't heard of it, never mind read about it. Nonetheless Zhu Jiao continued with his misunderstanding before I could correct him. "It's a type of constitution that is purely yin-based. No yang qi is able to exist within her body because of the highly domineering yin qi that circulates in her system."

"That sounds tough," I murmured. For most cultivators, cultivating meant absorbing and refining both yin and yang qi, and then fusing the both into yuan qi, or at least having both yin and yang qi exist and circulate around their bodies in a harmonious manner. For someone to only possess a single type of qi, that sort of situation was exceedingly rare.

And often very deadly.

"I learned from Mas…I mean I learned from someone that the only way to treat this condition is for her to absorb various kinds of yin qi. The more potent the yin qi, the better." Zhu Jiao clenched his fist. I noticed his slip, but didn't say anything. Evidently Qi Lin, Zhu Jiao's ghostly master, wanted him to keep his spectral existence a secret. I had no intention of exposing it either. Zhu Jiao had to stay as a special snowflake protagonist with a ghostly master guiding him, after all.

"So that's why you bought so many yin-based herbs," I observed. Zhu Jiao nodded.

"That's right. It is impossible for Qing Tan to absorb yang qi. The yin qi would merely consume whatever yang qi she absorbed, so no matter how much yang qi is provided, it will never be able to neutralize the demonic yin qi in her Terminus Demonic Body. She'll never be able to properly cultivate like normal people."

"Ah…" I suddenly remembered a passage from a book I had read a couple of years ago. "But she can still cultivate…it's just that she will be purely yin qi-based. This sort of yin-based cultivation can be extremely powerful."

"That's right…but she has to survive it first."

Zhu Jiao looked grim. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, and I nodded.

"Don't worry. She will definitely survived." My smile widened. "Those who with such special constitutions – who are either pure yin based or pure yang based – will be slightly stronger than ordinary yuan cultivations. Depending on the martial arts she learns, she can easily shoot up to the top in our generation."

Heaven and Earth Formula was yuan-based, meaning it involved fusing the yin and yang qi during cultivation to produce a vast amount of energy. Sort of like nuclear fusion. On the other hand, it also involved endlessly refining and purifying one's qi, so as to better produce that nuclear fusion (or qi fusion) effect.

However, for someone who was pure yin or pure yang based, he or she would already have reached that purification stage and could already unleash massive amounts of energy. They already benefited naturally from having such a pure qi and could, similar to me, trigger volatile reactions between their pure qi and the surrounding qi to produce vast destructive power.

On the other hand, they would never be able to benefit from something as impure as artificial qi, which was produced as a mixture of yin and yang qi.

I see…so that's why I can't absorb artificial qi…

Over the years, I was under the impression that my body was "demonic" – that having devoured the magical beasts and demonic creatures in Sen Lin Forst, I had undergone drastic physical changes and my qi had turned "demonic" somehow. That was far fom the truth, especially when I learned that there was absolutely no difference between "orthodox" or "demonic" qi. But the reason why I couldn't absorb artificial qi was because the moment I began learning Heaven and Earth Formula, my constitution had changed somewhat…

…no, perhaps I already had a constitution similar to Zhu Jiao's sister. Obviously it wasn't the Terminus Demonic Body, but it was probably something aligned toward a specific type of qi, meaning impure qi such as artificial qi would not be of any use to me.

At least I'm not the only one in the world who won't be able to receive artificial qi. All the people with unique constitutions such as Terminus Demonic Body are also unable to benefit from it. I wonder what kind of constitution I have…?

Well, it wasn't important.

"The only advice I received for now is for Qing Tan to only absorb yin qi, and have her totally avoid absorbing yang qi. Given her constitution, to be honest, she needs a specific type of cultivation method and martial arts, but neither Mas…I mean, neither the person who told me about this nor I have any idea regarding yin-based martial arts and cultivation methods. There should be those among the bigger sects who have them, and they would just love to have pure yin or yang based constitution practitioners because of their potential."

"The problem is that you don't know which sect," I finished for him. Zhu Jiao nodded.

"That's right."

"Well, I can tell you for sure that the Snow Valley Sect will have such cultivation methods and martial arts. You probably want to ask someone from there." Even as I said that, I realized that none of our classmates were from that sect. this was going to be difficult. Perhaps I should ask Yin Jing Jing, who was a fellow disciple in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. her primary sect was the Snow Valley Sect, and she had joined us just to hone her smithing and Spirit Engraving skills.

"Ah…! I see! Thanks!"

Zhu Jiao's eyes brightened. But after a while, he sank into brooding silence.

"For now, though…I have to find sources of yin qi for Qing Tan to absorb. That's why I intend to go to the tomb. I hope I can find something of use…!"

Our goals were similar. I was also in search of a yin-based artifact to forge my weapon. Zhu Jiao was also looking for one to help his sister. Realizing that our chances of success would be higher if we worked together, especially since we were looking for the same thing, I decided to offer a hand.

"I'll help you. I also need a yin-based artifact, anyway, and they should be stored together in the tomb. Let's get them!"

"Thank you!"

We continued together for a few more paces, and then Zhu Jiao glanced at me, his expression mystified.

"Er…why are you following me?"

"Aren't we going to the tomb together?"

"Yeah, but I'm going home first. I've to brew some soup for my sister and take care of her. Why don't we meet up later?"

I shrugged shamelessly. "Do you mind if I visit your sister? I want to see what I can do to help."

"Thanks, but there's no need to." Zhu Jiao was strangely over-protective of his sister. "I really appreciate it, but there's nothing you can do…"

"Are you sure?" I asked. He hesitated, and glanced down.

"It's hopeless," he helplessly admitted. "You'll see what I mean when you arrive."

So he finally gave me permission. Feeling a bit curious, I followed him home. No, I wasn't being a stalker. I was being a busybody. There was a huge difference.

"Jiao'er! You're back! Come quickly! Qing Tan has…!"

The moment we reached Zhu Jiao's home, however, a voice rang out through the manor. A middle-aged woman who seemed to be Zhu Jiao's mother came rushing out to call to him. Zhu Jiao's eyes widened and we rushed into the house quickly, the former almost dropping the bag of yin-based herbs in the process.

"Qing Tan! Are you all right?!"

I stopped right behind him, catching sight of an extremely beautiful girl (of course Zhu Jiao's sister had to be exceedingly beautiful, as she was one of his harem candidates – roll eyes) shivering on her bed. Her skin was pale, even whiter than snow (don't ask me how). Wisps of cold air condensed into fog and swirled around her, the surrounding temperature plummeting drastically as frosty yin qi seeped out of her body.

The room had grown so cold that frost actually began to form on the ground and walls.

"Oh no! The chilling cold has flared up again!"

As he felt waves of chilling cold emanate from Qing Tan's body, Zhu Jiao forcibly suppressed his shivering and approached her.

"Brother…Jiao…"

Qing Tan managed to whisper his name through gritted teeth. She forced a smile as she looked up, despite her delicate body trembling violently from the cold. Agony was clearly etched on her pretty face, but she endured it to assure him.

"You…are back…"

"Yes, I'm back!"

"This is…" I murmured, not sure what to make of it. Zhu Jiao turned toward me, his face stricken.

"This is my sister, Qing Tan. Ever since young, she has frequently suffered from bouts of cold like this. Every once in a while, very dense cold air will burst from inside her body, and under the effects of this demonic chill, she will suffer from a lot of pain. Over the last ten years, Qing Tan has suffered a lot because of this cold. But even Father isn't able to do anything about her condition. He once tried to use his qi to expel the cold qi from her body, but he ended up bedridden for two weeks just to remove the frosty yin qi that entered his own body."

"In other words…" I tried not to say "too long; didn't read" and maintained neutrality. "You have no way of relieving her pain."

Zhu Jiao nodded shamefully. "That's right."

"Why didn't you tell any of us?" I demanded. "We're friends. We could have figured something out, help you with your sister's condition."

"What use would that be?" Zhu Jiao snapped bitterly. "Do you think you can do something about it? Most of our classmates never even heard of Terminus Demonic Body before, never mind know how to deal with it. I would just cause unnecessary worry."

"Always worth a try," I replied with a shrug.

"Brother Jiao…is that your…friend?"

Even when incapacitated by immense agony, Qing Tan did not forget her decorum. Instead, she forced a smile.

"I'm sorry for showing such an unsightly side of myself…I would have greeted you properly…if I wasn't…like this…"

"Don't worry about it."

I watched as Qing Tan curled up in her bed, terrifying cold qi surging ceaselessly from her body. She smiled, her face pale, but I could tell that she was going through excruciating agony. It was utterly heart-breaking.

"Qing Tan…!"

Zhu Jiao was rushing forward to embrace his sister, despite the numbing cold that spread from her body. Most likely he was trying to warm her up with his own body and qi, but to no avail. It was only a few seconds before his own complexion turned blue.

"Brother Jiao…I am…fine…"

Qing Tan's body trembled with effort and pain as she reached up and slightly pushed Zhu Jiao away. Even in this condition, she still didn't want her brother to worry.

"So…don't worry…"

Zhu Jiao was silent as he caressed her hair with his numb fingers. Clenching his teeth, he made a vow.

"I swear I'll find a way to completely relieve you of this suffering."

Qing Tan nodded softly and closed her eyes, no longer able to speak.

"Um…if I may…?"

Both siblings turned to look at me in shock when I raised my hand. I took a step forward.

"I might be able to help your sister alleviate some of her suffering, if you don't mind."

"How do you intend to do that?" Zhu Jiao snapped. "Are you some sort of doctor or physician? I know you've read a lot, but even you wouldn't…"

"What I'm doing isn't strictly medicine or healing…it's a bit more…unorthodox than that." I had to struggle to find the words. I gazed at Zhu Jiao with steely eyes. "Whatever happens, promise me that you won't intervene. Trust me."

Zhu Jiao watched me for a moment, and then he finally nodded.

"I trust you, Wu. You're a good friend. I know you won't do anything to hurt Qing Tan. If you can help her, please…!"

I took a deep breath and stepped forward. Approaching the shivering Qing Tan, I reached out and seized her hand. As I thought, it was cold to the touch, and even though I technically used ice element techniques, I was almost unable to withstand the cold.

Qing Tan's eyes widened, as if she understood and sensed that a kindred spirit – someone who shared the same type of tyrannical demonic yin qi – had come. Breathing deeply, I tightened my grip on her wrist began using Heaven and Earth Absorption.

"That's…!"

Zhu Jiao's jaw dropped when he saw Qing Tan's frosty yin qi began to flow into me. Fortunately, because of the vow I made him take, he was honorbound not to intervene. Actually, I would like to think that he trusted me enough to leave the matter to me.

"Eh…?"

Qing Tan's complexion got a lot better and rosier. She blinked in surprise as the pain fled from her body along with the demonic cold yin qi that was devouring her. Now, I was the one consuming that demonic yin qi, drinking in the cold energy like a man dying of thirst gorging himself on a cool spring of natural water.

"Thank you…I feel better now!"

I nodded briefly, but the procedure was still not over yet. I continued absorbing every last drop of the demonic cold yin qi that was wracking Qing Tan's body, making sure there wasn't even a vestige of it left.

What's with this qi? It's so monstrous…and so…pure…

It was as if I had just hit upon a motherlode of pure uranium, drawing the extremely volatile and domineering qi into my body. If I didn't fight to suppress and assimilate the cold, demonic yin qi quickly, I might find myself overwhelmed by it. As it was, right now my body was a ticking time bomb, the cold demonic qi ready to flare up and erupt, consuming me in an agony not inferior to the one that Qing Tan suffered all these years.

She was able to endure all this for over ten years? I marveled, impressed. Despite her delicate appearance, Qing Tan certainly had the strength of steel, a lovely lotus blossom that defiantly bloomed even during winter.

And with that, I was done.

"Phew…"

Letting go of Qing Tan's hand, I crashed back, drained. My pallor must have looked a little bad, for both Zhu Jiao and Qing Tan were staring at me in concern. I quickly smiled and waved a hand to dismiss their worries.

"I'm fine. I just need some time to assimilate the qi."

As it turned out, as with the case with Ba Yun, because Qing Tan's elemental affinity and type of yin qi was exactly the same as mine, it took me no less than a minute to assimilate all that demonic frosty qi and merge it with my own. In fact, it could be said that I was the one who beenfited the most from this encounter.

"Amazing…I no longer feel any pain!"

Qing Tan looked overjoyed and relieved. Crying, Zhu Jiao rushed over and wrapped his precious sister in his embrace.

"Qing Tan! Qing Tan!"

"I'm okay, Brother Jiao. Your friend…"

"Don't worry about me."

Sitting cross-legged as I attempted to assimilate all the final traces of the demonic cold qi, I waved my hand.

"I'm all right now."

"How did you do that?" Zhu Jiao asked, on the verge of tears. "Something that not even my father could do…how did you pull it off? And you absorbed Qing Tan's demonic cold qi…are you all right? Even Father wasn't able to withstand it!"

"That's because your father most probably isn't an ice-type martial artist and cultivator. I think."

I shrugged nonchalantly. To be honest, even if I was an ice-type martial artist and cultivator, without Heaven and Earth Formula, I wouldn't be able to withstand the demonic frosty yin qi. So potent and monstrous was the qi that it threatened to rip my insides apart if I hadn't rapidly suppressed it and forcibly integrated it.

If it was any other type of qi, like fire, metal, wood or earth, I most probably would be bedridden by now, fighting to assimilate the terrible qi and integrate the incompatible energies with my own. It wasn't impossible, but it would be several magnitudes more difficult and would have taken a much longer time. Perhaps days.

Zhu Jiao shook his head in wonder as he stared at me.

"Next time, whenever Qing Tan experiences this again, I'm going to have to trouble you."

Dude, she's your sister, not mine. I can't come running every time she needs help.

Obviously I didn't say that out loud, so I merely smiled and nodded. Cheerfully patting my chest, I declared, "Leave it to me!"

Unfortunately, at that time, I had no idea what sort of complications my words would end up bringing to me, or I would never have carelessly made such a promise.