"Don"t let them escape!"

"I saw them go this way!"

The orthodox martial artists of the Imperial Guard chased down the fleeing stragglers of the now decimated Chinese Tree Parasol Sect. having exterminated approximately 98 percent of the demonic sect, they proceeded to hunt down the survivors.

One detachment was hurtling down the bas.e.m.e.nt, intent on flushing them out, when they stumbled upon me. I was holding the last of the small group of demonic martial artists who encountered me during their escape, draining the last dregs of their qi, when they came to a screeching halt to stare at me in disbelief.

I silently let go of my victims and turned to face them.

"Hands up!" One of the martial artists – a commander, judging from the lapels on his military uniform – shouted, pointing his sword at me. Seeing that they were from the Martial Arts Alliance, I complied and raised both my hands up.

"Hey, wait, isn"t that a kid?"

"What"s a kid doing here?"

"And he looks…hurt…"

"But earlier, he was…"

The orthodox martial artists were staring at my bloodstained clothes – most of it was not mine, but I did sustain injuries earlier, especially when fighting the likes of Ba Yun and Qi Fu Ren. But my wounds had healed after I sucked the qi from over a hundred enemies.

"They attacked me," I spoke up. "I was only fighting back."

The orthodox martial artists went still for a moment, then the Imperial Guard commander glanced at the corpses of my victims.

"Those are indeed the bodies of the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect rogues…" he acknowledged, looking unsure.

"You did all this?"

"…yeah."

The Imperial Guardsmen looked at me skeptically, but I had no reason to lie. If they didn"t believe me, that was their prerogative. I had no obligation to convince them.

"Wait," the Imperial Guard commander ordered, keeping his sword pointed at me. "Keep your hands up."

The rest of the orthodox martial artists remained wary of me, their weapons held in defensive stance. Their commander studied the bodies of my victims and frowned.

"The way these Chinese Parasol Tree Sect members were killed…they seemed to be killed by a demonic technique." He turned to stare at me. "And you"re the one who killed them, correct?"

"I told you, they attacked me." I tried to keep the irritation out of my voice. "I fought back in self-defense."

"So you"re a demonic martial artist!"

I shrugged. "Depends on how you define demonic."

"Kill him!"

The commander lunged at me, swinging his sword. Frowning, I raised my hand to materialize an ice sword to defend myself, but the Imperial Guard commander"s power sword never reached me. Instead, some dark wisp of demonic qi lashed out from another direction and impaled him before slicing his body into two at the waist.

"Ugh?!"

The commander looked bewildered as he stared at his disembodied bottom half before his top half toppled onto the floor. His subordinates jumped back, completely caught off guard by the new a.s.sailant. Spinning around, they gaped at An Dou.

That"s…

Swallowing, I kept my cautious gaze on one of the leaders of the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect, but he was paying no attention to me. Instead, he disappeared from the corner and reappeared in the midst of the surprised orthodox martial artists. The group of orthodox martial artists immediately a.s.sumed defensive stances, but it wasn"t enough.

"Ugh!"

"AAAAH!"

Blood splattered and limbs flew as An Dou butchered the soldiers of the Martial Arts Alliance. They struggled to fight, but they were no match for him.

"That"s a Chinese Parasol Tree Sect elder!"

"He"s too powerful!"

"Fall back! Retreat!"

Broken and taken apart by just a single demonic martial artist, the morale of the orthodox martial artists collapsed as they watched their comrades ma.s.sacred. As much as I was supposed to be on their side, I couldn"t feel sorry for them. After all, despite supposedly being the paragons of justice, they were about to kill me just because they judged my techniques as demonic. Even though I didn"t attack or provoke them.

I wondered just who was the real demon here.

As the orthodox martial artists fell, An Dou turned to face me. He noticed Qi Fu Ren"s headless corpse nearby.

"You…you"re the one who killed all my fellow sect members here?"

There was no point denying it. It was clear that An Dou knew the truth, so I merely nodded wordlessly.

An Dou narrowed his eyes, and then raised his sword and flail. The former was in his right hand and the latter was gripped tightly in his left hand. An Dou had quite a unique fighting style, combining his swordsmanship with lethal whips of his spiked flail.

"Don"t blame me for avenging my comrades" deaths."

I had no intention to blame him for anything. I merely nodded again and raised both hands to freeze the water vapor in the air into twin ice swords. However, nothing happened. Instead, I dropped to a knee.

"?!"

My inner qi was churning ferociously within my body, swirling like an untamable whirlpool. The ma.s.sive amount of qi refused to obey me, instead clashing with my innate qi in a mutinous manner and refusing to be integrated.

Ah…I see…the elemental affinity and essence of qi that I absorbed from over a hundred Chinese Parasol Tree Sect members are very different from mine.

Not only did I absorbed an excessive amount of qi that threatened to overload my qi circulatory system, I needed a huge amount of time to a.s.similate all the qi I had just absorbed. A "digestion" period, to put it simply. Unlike Ba Yun"s qi, which was fully compatible with mine because he used similar techniques and had the same elemental affinity, the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect members possessed vastly varied skills. Just like Qi Fu Ren, who used lightning techniques from the White Tiger Sect, the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect seemed to be an amalgamation of rogue martial artists who either broke away or were exiled away from their original sects, and came together to take revenge on the Martial Arts Alliance who ousted them.

Meaning that not everyone used the same Demonic Shadow techniques that Ba Yun used, and they used from fire to lightning to earth to wood techniques, or their variants. That meant it was impossible for me to fully a.s.similate their qi the same way I did for Ba Yun"s qi.

Furthermore, I had absorbed and stole a hundred cultivators" worth of qi. No matter how I looked at it, I was going to require a very long time – it wouldn"t surprise me if I needed many months or even years – to a.s.similate all that qi.

This is one of the weaknesses of Qi Absorption techniques, I realized in resignation. There"s a period of vulnerability where I can"t use any of my techniques because I"m unable to integrate and a.s.similate all the newly absorbed qi, and they"re interfering and hampering my ability to channel my qi and materialize them into techniques.

Worse, I was actually in deep danger. Normally, no ordinary mortal could withstand absorbing such an avalanche of qi within such a short time. If I didn"t quickly a.s.similate the qi I had just sucked from over a hundred cultivators, the overabundance of qi would overload my system and rupture my qi channels, causing me to implode from the inside out. To put it simply, I would die a grisly death from my greed.

An Dou did not seem all that sympathetic, and he was actually relishing the window of opportunity that my blunder provided him.

"…"

Even so, I wasn"t going down without a fight. Taking a deep breath, I adopted a defensive stance. Even without qi and the ability to use martial arts techniques, I was going to find a way to survive this battle. I had survived Ba Yun"s torture and attacks. I had prevailed over Qi Fu Ren"s bullying and abuse. I was going to overcome this new challenge as well.

An Dou punched at me, black dragons made completely of qi coiling around his arms. He meant to punch me, and I tried to dodge it. However, without my qi, I couldn"t use any footwork techniques or follow An Dou"s movements. The black dragons surged toward me, their deadly jaws wide open as if to clamp down on my flesh.

An Dou"s fist never reached me.

Boom!

I was buffeted my shockwaves as two tremendous forces collided. Shielding myself, I caught sight of Teacher Jiao standing in front of me. He had caught An Dou"s fist before it struck me, completely stopping the blow.

"You…!"

An Dou"s eyes widened when he saw Teacher Jiao. Teacher Jiao merely smiled briefly before countering with a powerful flaming fist that detonated against An Dou"s chest. The latter spewed blood as he was hurled across the air, his body scorched by the intense heat.

"I won"t let you harm any of my students," Teacher Jiao declared.

"…"

The demonic martial artist glared at Teacher Jiao for a moment, and then backed off. He then snickered as he cast a glance at me.

"Really? Your student over there will most probably die. He did quite the stupid thing."

"What are you talking about?" Teacher Jiao glared at An Dou. The latter merely laughed loudly as he continued to withdraw.

"He absorbed over a hundred martial artists" qi. The avalanche of qi will kill him eventually. Looks like he got too greedy!"

"…"

Closing my eyes briefly, I then stood up and took a step forward. Clenching my fists, I got ready to retaliate against that smirking villain.

"Fei Wu."

Teacher Jiao placed a firm hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me back.

"You"ve done enough. Rest."

"But I haven"t defeated all the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect members yet."

I continued to keep my eyes on the retreating An Dou. I was burning with vengeance against these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. They made me suffer. They caused me excruciating pain and almost killed me. Ba Yun, Qi Fu Ren and even Tuo Ta La. The rest might not have a direct hand in my suffering, but they stood by and approved of the main culprits" s.a.d.i.s.tic behavior. By that, they were involved and implicated in my torture, whether they actively tormented me or not.

"You can leave that to us. You have done more than enough. You"ve done very well, in fact, and made Wu Ling Academy proud."

"By getting captured and tortured?" I snorted. "No way."

"You survived," Teacher Jiao corrected simply. "And you defeated a large portion of their sect by yourself. Any more and you"ll burn yourself up. You"re no longer in any shape to fight, so you should just rest. Just believe in us and leave the rest to the Martial Arts Alliance."

"No longer in any shape to fight…?"

I realized my legs were shaking uncontrollably. Unable to stand any longer, I dropped to a sitting position while the qi raged inside my body. My vision blurred and I swayed, growing feverish. That was right. The warring seas of qi within my body was wreaking havoc on my system and causing my internal organs to overheat.

"Just rest there and watch. I promise you, we"ll destroy the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect."

With that, Teacher Jiao used Jin, one of the footwork techniques he taught me, and suddenly appeared in front of a stunned An Dou. An Dou tried to defend himself with his sword and flail, but Teacher Jiao sliced through both weapons with his spear, and then kicked him in the chest, breaking the demonic martial artist"s ribcage. While An Dou doubled over, coughing blood, Teacher Jiao beheaded him with a swipe of his spear.

I watched the brutal carnage through hazy eyes before I finally kneeled over and completely lost consciousness. As I blacked out, I vaguely heard Zhu Jiao and Tang Qi Hong calling out to me from a distance as they finally descended to my position.

The next thing I knew, when I woke up, I was in the infirmary. Blinking my eyes groggily, I reached out for my gla.s.ses, then realized that they had been destroyed by Ba Yun. I hadn"t worn any gla.s.ses for over two weeks now.

When did I…?

The Martial Arts Alliance must have brought me back to Wu Ling Academy while I was unconscious. Just as well. After spending two weeks being strapped to a chair and tortured, it was a relief to find myself waking up on a bed.

"Fei Wu!"

Turning around, I caught sight of Tang Qi Hong, Zhu Jiao, Ban Zhang and Tong Xue entering the room. Tang Qi Hong was rushing in, closely followed by Zhu Jiao, while Ban Zhang and Tong Xue hung at the back, joined a few seconds later by Lian Rou.

"Hey, guys." I waved at them. "Sorry to make you worry."

"That"s right!" Tang Qi Hong snapped at me. "What were you thinking, pulling a stunt like that?"

"I wasn"t thinking, actually," I admitted. "Just wanted to save the villagers from being attacked by those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

"Well, you certainly succeeded in saving them," Zhu Jiao a.s.sured me with a smile. "They came looking for us, begging us to save you."

"They did?" I looked at him in wonder. Lu Shun, Old Man Yi and the others must have gone through a perilous journey in order to reach Wu Ling Academy. "How are they now? Are they all right? Where are they staying?"

"They"re fine," Tong Xue informed me. "Martial City has provided them and the other village refugees shelter and accommodations. They"re going to try and integrate them into the city and find them jobs. We"ll bring you to visit them when you get better."

"Thanks."

"Still, that was a very reckless thing you did," Ban Zhang told me disapprovingly. "I mean, what you did was n.o.ble and all, but you almost got yourself killed!"

"But I saved the villagers."

"That you did," Lian Rou agreed quietly.

With not much stuff left to say, I asked them about what happened over the past two weeks while I wasn"t in school. There didn"t seem to be much, which was a relief. I nodded as I listened, but I wasn"t paying much attention to the conversation.

My mind was somewhere far away.

"Ah, good to see that you"re finally awake."

After some casual conversations, Teacher Jiao strolled into the room beside Teacher Yi. Apparently the latter had called the former when she saw that I was awake, but she decided to leave me to my friends instead of checking on me.

Most likely because she knew that I was beyond medical help. I wasn"t injured in any sense of the word, but my situation was…still perilous.

Catching the look on Teacher Yi"s face, Teacher Jiao turned somber. He glanced at the other students in the infirmary.

"If you don"t mind, Teacher Yi and I would like to have a word with Fei Wu."

"Eh?"

"Okay…"

"All right."

My five friends gave me one last look, and then exchanged glances. Zhu Jiao patted my shoulder rea.s.suringly, then they complied and left the infirmary. Once they were gone and out of earshot, both teachers turned to race me.

"You realize what sort of condition you"re in, right?" Teacher Yi asked quietly.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"You seriously don"t know?"

Teacher Yi frowned in concern. Teacher Jiao stepped forward and placed a comforting arm on her shoulder, and she took a deep breath.

"You know you will die if you keep this up, don"t you?"

"Keep what up?"

"You absorbed the qi from over a hundred cultivators, didn"t you?" This time, it was Teacher Jiao who spoke up. He watched me carefully, and I nodded.

"That"s foolish of you!" Teacher Yi reprimanded me sharply. "Don"t you realize how dangerous that is?! That excessive amount of qi will kill you!"

"Unless I a.s.similate all the qi," I replied. Both teachers stopped and stared at me.

"You…what do you mean?"

"I mean what I mean. All I have to do is a.s.similate the qi." I shrugged. "The lab couldn"t customize the appropriate qi for me, but I found a way around it. Don"t worry," I added when I saw their perplexed and half-shocked expressions. "I don"t intend to go around sucking qi from everyone. Just those who try to kill me, and even then…I don"t want to do it too often. As you can see, it has enormous drawbacks."

"That"s right. It"s too dangerous!"

Teacher Yi nodded fervently. Teacher Jiao hesitated before concurring.

"Even if you do it, make sure you do it in moderation, and not absorbing over a hundred cultivators" qi in one go."

"Sure."

"Still…" Teacher Yi looked a little troubled. "How are we going to cover this up? Student Fei Wu won"t be able to use his qi for a long time. Will the school kick him out?"

"I"ll talk to Princ.i.p.al Xiao," Teacher Jiao offered, but he looked uncertain of himself. "I"ll convince him to give Student Fei Wu a chance."

"But he"ll notice the changes, won"t he?" Teacher Yi sounded worried. "He"ll realize that Student Fei Wu is unable to use his qi. What if he…?"

"I won"t let the princ.i.p.al kick Student Fei Wu out of the school. I"ll try to explain everything to him." Teacher Jiao looked determined, but then he blinked in dismay when he realized that something was amiss.

Teacher Yi seemed to notice it too, and she shook her head.

"Are you seriously going to tell Princ.i.p.al Xiao that Student Fei Wu went and absorbed over a hundred cultivators" qi?"

"…good point."

Teacher Jiao also realized that it was not a good idea to inform the princ.i.p.al of Wu Ling Academy – one of the Martial Arts Alliance"s premier schools – that one of the students had resorted to using demonic martial arts. Even if it was to survive.

"Then what should we do?" I asked, but honestly I couldn"t be bothered. I had just survived h.e.l.l on earth. Getting kicked out of the academy was no big deal. I would find some other way to survive, as I did during my stay in Ba Yun"s torture chamber.

Teacher Jiao frowned as he contemplated. He glanced at Teacher Yi before he offered the plan he was formulating in mind.

"Nothing. I"ll speak to Princ.i.p.al Xiao and negotiate for some time. I"m sure I"ll be able to bargain for at least a few months. You did survive the clutches of a demonic sect and even defeated over a hundred cultivators. And we found signs that you defeated not only the traitor Qi Fu Ren, but also one of the leaders of the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect, Ba Yun."

"How do you know that?" I demanded. I didn"t remember telling anyone about that, at least not anyone from Wu Ling Academy.

"Your qi was all over the room. And the wounds on Ba Yun…they were done by your Ghost Shadow Sword." Teacher Jiao looked as if he wanted to say that it was useless for me to deny it when they had overwhelming evidence. I didn"t.

"Is that true?" Teacher Yi asked, skeptical because she wasn"t on the scene. I sighed and nodded reluctantly.

"Yeah. He tortured me and tried to kill me, so I slew him in self-defense."

"You did more than slay him, didn"t you?" Teacher Jiao studied me. "You absorbed his qi. His dantian was ripped out and his corpse resembled the hundred or so cultivators that you exterminated in the bas.e.m.e.nt."

"Yeah."

There was no point denying it. I was already prepared for the consequences. At that time, I wasn"t even thinking about the consequences, to be honest, but having been through such a h.e.l.lish experience I wasn"t in a position to worry about the aftermath. I was more invested in surviving, even if it meant resorting to "demonic" martial arts.

"Does anyone know about this?" Teacher Yi asked worriedly. Teacher Jiao shook his head.

"I didn"t inform the Imperial Guard. Besides, it"s not as if the Martial Arts Alliance know what kind of qi that Student Fei Wu possesses. They"re not as familiar with him as I am. They probably a.s.sumed there was some sort of infighting."

I recalled how the orthodox martial artists, the so-called good guys, attacked and tried to kill me just because they a.s.sumed I used a "demonic" martial arts technique. Despite me informing them plainly that it was done in self-defense.

There was no reason to trust them, and I was glad that Teacher Jiao didn"t provide them the information regarding me.

"So for now this info is only between us." Teacher Yi nodded. "Let"s keep it that way."

"Yeah…"

Teacher Jiao didn"t manage to finish his sentence when the door to the infirmary opened. Xiao Zhang strode in with a somber expression.

"Princ.i.p.al Xiao! Wait…!"

Teacher Jiao tried to stop him and explain, but Princ.i.p.al Xiao waved him off. He stopped by my bed and stared at me. For a few seconds, no one said anything.

Then the princ.i.p.al of Wu Ling Academy nodded.

"How long will you need?" he asked me quietly. I scratched my head and pondered for a bit, and then straightened up.

"About two years."

"Good." Princ.i.p.al Xiao nodded curtly and turned away. "You have two years. After that, you"ll have to prove to me that my faith in you was not misplaced."

"I understand," I replied as I watched him leave the infirmary room, even as Teacher Jiao and Teacher Yi gaped at his abrupt appearance and even more sudden departure.