The sharp whistle was all the warning I had before an arrow whizzed through the air towards my face. I leapt backwards, watching as it buried itself in the stone, the shaft twanging a few times.

"How did you miss, idiot!" I heard a rough male voice yelling from the top of a nearby wall. "Fuck it, attack!"

At the man's command, two dozen cultivators burst out of hiding, striking towards our group with a myriad of weapons and techniques. The archer fired another two arrows and each of us was faced with at least two opponents.

Out of the fire and into the flames. Wherever there is opportunity there is danger, but this time it wasn't from the Blossoming Heavens themselves but rather our fellow cultivators.

I deflected the sword of the first attacker to strike at me, but his partner thrust their own into the opening I left. The steel pierced my skin under my armpit, but barely went a centimetre deep.

The attacker's eyes widened in surprise as my sturdy body resisted his attack. I slapped my palm downwards, shattering the blade of the sword by focusing toxic qi into my strike.

Integrating my techniques into every movement was a slow process, but I was learning each time I tried something new. Without a weapon, he was forced to leap away before I could strike him down.

The other swordsman had recovered and slashed towards me. I heard a whooshing sound, forced to awkwardly dodge an incoming arrow. That let the first attack slash his blade down my torso, opening a nasty gash.

However, I recovered quicker than him. The wound was already closing as I kicked out, catching his ankle. He stumbled forwards, but regained his balance.

Unfortunately I had expected it and planted a fist in his nose. The crunch and the spurt of blood that followed left him dizzy. I finished with a chop to the back of his neck. He dropped like a sack of rice.

Another whoosh sounded out, forcing me to retreat instead of pursuing the other attack. The arrow passed harmlessly in front of me as I'd managed to evade.

My gaze swivelled across the battlefield. Not all of my allies had been as successful as me in defending themselves. Meng Huo had pummelled two of his attackers, but the third was dancing like a whirlwind around him.

Dozens of sword wounds were being accumulated on the ape's giant body. However, he was a sturdy fellow and someone else needed help more than him. Longma the antlered horse had caught the first attacker by surprise with an explosion of light qi, but the remaining two had forced him to the edge of death.

A bone was sticking out the back of one of his legs and blood poured down his white scales in rivers and streams. I rushed towards him, reaching out a hand to grasp his tail.

The instant I made contact I started to heal his wounds, but it wasn't enough. One of the attackers sliced off his front leg. The beast tumbled forwards. The second attacker struck out to decapitate him.

I was caught between a rock and a hard place. If I stopped healing him in order to save him from being beheaded, he would bleed out before I could resume the technique.

A shiing sound followed by the sound of cracking stone cut through the sounds of battle. I watched Wang Ren's glaive slice through the air as fast as lightning, carving the man into two halves.

I exhaled in relief, before leaping around the beast's hind legs and drop-kicking the remaining enemy. He grunted and doubled over, right before Wang Ren sliced his head off.

I heard a cry of anguish followed by snarls of rage. Steel clashed with claws behind me. The moment I finished healing Longma I whipped around to face the source of the sounds.

I saw the horned lizard's body on the ground. The bottom half was twisted at an unnatural angle compared to the top. A pool of blood was rapidly expanding below it.

Right beside that, the badgerhog was in the midst of ripping a woman into flesh ribbons. It even bit and devoured some of her flesh, before pouncing right at the next enemy in sight.

His fury and martial prowess was a sight to behold. At one point one of the cultivators attempted to attack him from behind. As he struck out, the spines on its back shot out, turning him into a dead pin-cushion.

I rushed to the lizard's side, but it was already too late. I was a talented healer, but I was no miracle worker. The last breath of life had already left its corpse.

With a sigh, I stood up and looked where I could be most useful. Meng Huo and Shuanghu had grouped together, killing the cultivators bothering them. Then they had begun to methodically sweep the battlefield, slaughtering anyone they found.

"Shit, these damn animals are way too strong! We need to retreat!" a tall man shouted, slashing at the tortoise and then leaping away.

He barely made it two steps before the eagle swooped from above and twisted his head from his neck. Blood sprayed in every direction, painting the stone walls red.

I heard retreating footsteps. Even the archer had chosen to escape with his life instead of throwing it away to claim revenge.

We had won, but the price we paid for victory was far from cheap. Another one of our group was dead. Even Longma had almost died. Only mine and Wang Ren's timely intervention had saved his life.

"Despicable humans!" Shuanghu cursed. "Always so greedy. They threw away their lives in the pursuit of riches."

I frowned at her words. It was a little arrogant to claim that only humans robbed and killed one another for resources and treasure. I knew for a fact that beasts did the same and worse.

However, I knew she was simply expressing her grief and rage at the death of another companion. The first to die had been the other tiger, who had seemed quite close. This stung less, but hurt all the same.

Everyone had long faces. We were tired from fighting two difficult battles back to back. Even healing the physical wounds alleviated the fatigue just a bit. Mental stress and a lack of qi weren't things I could cure.

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Yet.

I had vowed to reach the pinnacle of the healing arts, which meant someday I would have to combat such problematic ailments. For now, I would work with what I had.

"Quickly search the surroundings for anything of note. We have to scour the place before another group of opportunists stumble upon us," Shuanghu said.

We all split up, searching the nearby ruins for signs of treasure, hidden entrances that might lead to an inheritance, or anything else noteworthy. We partnered up before searching, so that no one would be caught alone and silently disposed of.

After the last encounter we weren't going to take unnecessary risks. The dangers of this place had made themselves clear.

We all split up into groups of two, with our numbers now being even because of the unfortunate death in the last battle. I went with Wang Ren, making a beeline for a curiosity I noticed in my energy vision.

Most of the dense clumps of spiritual energy held little interest to me. They were treasures and would surely be valuable, but we'd already harvested dozens of rare herbs in the plains.

I was no fool—we would still collect them along the way—but what I'd seen held far more value to me. The soul wisps that were used by the array to create the army of skeletons were a sight I'd never forget. So seeing a wisp that was bigger and brighter than any of those that had been trapped in the distance was something I couldn't ignore.

"Let's go, I don't want anyone else to find whatever that is before we do," I told Wang Ren after explaining what I'd seen.

Meanwhile, the other beasts spread out in the other directions to cover the most ground possible. As Shuanghu said, we wanted to scour the entire place before another group of cultivators tried to claim our treasures—and with them, our lives.

I noticed the marks of battle as we traversed the ruins. Dried bloodstains that looked more ancient than some Sect Elders I'd met, making me wonder how many hopeful young cultivators had fought and died here in the past.

The name Blossoming Heavens gave one a feeling of hope and energy, but I couldn't help wondering if the blossoming was fueled by blood. I would simply have to face the challenges as they came.

The first treasure we encountered was a strange disc with six inscriptions of natural scenes around the edges. It was cast in bronze and had a powerful spiritual aura.

I assumed it was a defensive artifact of some kind based on the shield-like shape, but I didn't have the talent to appraise its grade. I was no refiner.

Wang Ren wasn't sure either, so we simply stored it in my spatial bag for later. I realised as I placed it inside that the space was becoming cramped.

There was only room for a few more artifacts of that size before it would become full. My gaze shifted back towards the corpses of the cultivators we'd defeated.

I would check the bodies to see if I could find another storage ring or bag. Having more than one would be extremely useful if this was only the beginning of the treasures we were going to find.

Wang Ren had two spatial rings, so we weren't pressed for storage space yet. There was one other artifact between us and the wisp I'd spotted. It turned out to be a pair of jade earrings in the shape of a sword.

I sent a pulse of qi through them. For a moment nothing happened, then a sudden flash of light burst forth from each earring.

Wang Ren and I leapt backwards in surprise, narrowly avoiding the blades of light which had appeared. I gingerly reached out and took the earrings in my hand, being careful not to activate them again.

"You might as well put them on, Sect Leader. Every tool gives you an edge in battle and there's sure to be many more enemies between us and the final treasure," Wang Ren said.

"You're right. I don't use a weapon, so perhaps this could be a useful surprise ace," I replied, inwardly already thinking of how to replicate the effect with my own qi.

It wasn't the first time I'd seen a blade being projected at range—Wang Ren's own glaive intent was one example—but it made me wonder how much further I had to go in my understanding of qi and my own techniques.

After seeing the emperor's absurd healing technique that he cast over such a wide area and to so many cultivators at once, I truly knew how vast the gulf was between myself and the peak of my path. However, knowing where you were heading was the first step to making it there.

Once I'd pierced a small hole in my earlobes and hung the jade sword earrings on them, I tried once more to send a pulse of qi into them. This time, I felt as my qi entered the jade, cycling once, before gathering at the sword tips.

Rather than bursting out wildly, I had the sensation that I could direct where the light blades would go. I imagined them slicing at the stone walls of the ruins around us.

The moment I did so, two sharp blades of light erupted from my ears and cut through the air. They left faint marks in the stone where they landed, sending up a small cloud of dust.

"Not bad. These walls are damn hard, so just imagine what it would do to an unsuspecting cultivator," Wang Ren whistled in approval.

"Well, I hope to not need them but it's best to always be prepared," I replied.

We continued through the ruins until we reached the place I'd seen the large wisp. Turning the corner of the stone walls we entered a large courtyard. There was moss and grass poking through the gaps in the tiles, giving the appearance of a place once kept in perfect condition but left to go wild.

In the centre of the courtyard there was a stone altar covered in ornate carvings. In the middle of the altar there was a stone tablet with writing on it. On either side of the tablet there was an object.

On the left there was a book bound in purplish leather with crimson writing on the cover. On the right there was a black flag that seemed to be made of writhing shadows.

Both of them contained a dense spiritual energy, but were dwarfed by the large wisp which resided inside the stone tablet. If I had to take a guess I would say this was the grave of a powerful cultivator, but I'd never seen such a wisp before coming to this secret realm.

Either the laws of this place meant that souls were unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation and were trapped here, or it was a phenomenon unique to these ruins. Whatever the case I needed to tread carefully.

The weaker wisps had seemed grateful when I released them from the trapping array, but this wisp was not confined to the tablet. It seemed to be there on its own volition.

As we stepped forward for a closer inspection, a group of two men and one woman entered the courtyard from the other side.

I paused, appraising the newcomers warily. In situations like this, where two or more groups were competing for the same treasure, the outcome was usually violence.

I hoped to avoid such a thing, but I wouldn't let my guard down. I was a pacifist, not an idiot.

Unfortunately the other group seemed to have no such intentions. I felt a heat in the air, a powerful killing intent directed towards us.

The man at the front of the group looked at me for a moment before his eyes widened like saucers. Then they turned bloodshot as his face twisted into a furious scowl.

"You! The heavens have blessed me today. What a fortunate encounter. You will pay for the insult you delivered to me that day, trash!" the man snarled, drawing a sword and taking a step forward.

I felt his cultivation exploding outwards, attempting to suppress me. However, I realised it was lower than my own when it failed to even shift me a single step.

Rather than give away how little it affected me, I wobbled on my feet. I didn't recognise the man's face, but apparently he knew me and believed I'd wronged him.

Whether this was a case of mistaken identity or simply an old enemy so insignificant that I'd forgotten them I wasn't sure, but one thing was for certain—I wasn't letting anyone else get their hands on this treasure.

The man's companions joined his reckless charge, with the other man drawing a spear and thrusting it at Wang Ren while the woman snapped open two fans and began gathering qi.

Qi coated my palms as I prepared to intercept the sword strike. Before his slash landed, six ethereal chains burst forth from the altar and wrapped around each of us, trapping us in place.

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