The apparition of the Binding Soul Empress left us all dumbfounded with her third and final question. The reward for a correct answer was to receive a portion of her soul. That would bestow her understanding of the world and its laws, as well as cultivation, unto the one who received it. The question we needed to answer to do so?

"Which is better, sweet or savoury food?"

I didn't need to think to know my answer. Dessert was incredible and often made a meal complete, but on the whole there was no doubt in my mind: savoury food was king.

Just thinking back to the incredible dishes I'd tasted in this world, especially those in the capital, made me salivate. "Savoury," I said.

"Food? Do I look like some pathetic mortal to you?" the black robed man spat at the same time.

Her expression remained neutral. She floated down so that her ghostly body was sitting cross-legged on the altar, resting her chin in her palm.

"Disappointing. Neither of you got the correct answer," she said with a wistful sigh. "I had hoped for the one who inherited my legacy to share my love of sweet treats, but it seems fate is a cruel mistress. Nonetheless, an ungrateful bastard who doesn't appreciate food whatsoever doesn't deserve it. You win," she finished, pointing straight at me.

"I do?" I exclaimed, somewhat flabbergasted at this turn of events.

"This is bullshit!" the other man roared at the same time. "How can you let such a pointless question determine the fate of your inheritance? I demand an explanation or I will be forced to resort to force."

"Oh? You think a child can force me to do anything? All those arrogant youths are the same, no matter where they come from," she snorted, ignoring him.

Then, she began to wave her hands and I watched as the large red soul wisp shot into the air and began to unravel into individual strands. The first of those strands shot towards my chest.

As it passed through my skin I felt a cold sensation, but it wasn't uncomfortable. As more of the strands entered my body, my understanding of cultivation, the soul, and the world deepened.

Every moment a new insight flashed in my mind. However, I heard a sudden shout and my attention was broken.

The man had grasped the woman's apparition by the neck and in his other he clutched the remains of the soul wisp.

"You!? How is this possible, you can't be more than a Foundation Building brat," the Soul Binding Empress exclaimed, her voice strained as her translucent body flickered.

"Once this Young Master sets his sights on a treasure, it belongs to me. It doesn't matter who stands in my way. You're just a wisp of an ancient witch. Begone," he declared, clenching his fist around her neck and making the soul apparition burst.

As she vanished, the remnants of the red wisp entered his body through his arm. His eyes flickered briefly before settling. He leapt off the altar gently, landing in front of me.

"You have something that belongs to me. Unfortunately the only way to claim it is to resort to that unfortunate technique. If you don't resist, I'll allow your friend to live," he said.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried. I had no idea how he possessed the strength to defeat the Soul Binding Empress' apparition.

Even though it was only a remnant left behind after her death, for cultivators at our level, such a feat should've been impossible. Which meant that he was more powerful and had somehow slipped through the safeguards of the secret realm or he was relying on a potent artifact.

I suspected the latter. Given how many nascent soul sages watched over the opening of the Blossoming Heavens, the former shouldn't be possible.

I felt confident in my strength. My cultivation was at the very pinnacle of the Qi Gathering Realm. Whatever that lake in my mind was, it had improved my comprehension by leaps and bounds.

With Wang Ren by my side, I felt that we could take on any challenge. I was nervous, but not scared of the arrogant bastard in front of me.

"You can go ahead and try," I replied to his threat, leaping back as I cycled my qi.

Wang Ren leapt into action too, drawing his glaive and appearing by my side. The black robed cultivator didn't move, simply standing still while observing our actions.

"You know, I wasn't sure what to expect when father gave me the responsibility of carrying out the harvest this time, but it's rather boring. Then again, this is only the beginning," he said to himself, oblivious of the surroundings.

The moment he finished speaking his figure blurred and vanished from view. The only warning I had before he struck was a gentle wind against my temple.

Two outstretched fingers jabbed into the side of my skull, piercing through with ease. My mind exploded in agony as his strike pierced all the way to my brain.

As he ripped his hand back, blood sprayed from the wound. My body dropped as I was a single breath from death. However, I was filled with vitality.

My medicinal qi spread from my refined organs and started to heal the damage. It was a slow process as the brain was the most delicate organ, but I only needed time.

"You're still alive? Damn cockroach," the man said, raising a knee to stomp on my head.

"No you don't, bastard!" Wang Ren roared, rushing forward and swinging his glaive towards the cultivator.

The sharp chitinous blade struck his shin, but instead of slicing through flesh a sound of clanging metal rang out. The blade bounced off the man's skin as if it were made of steel.

Wang Ren wasn't deterred. He slashed downwards again once he recovered. The man kissed his teeth, lowering his leg and slapping the glaive away.

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"Fine, I'll play with you first if you want to die so badly," he sneered.

Ignoring me was a mistake he would regret. My head still rang from the impact, but most of the damage had already healed.

I had been ruminating on my techniques for quite a long time. Seeing the emperor's technique first, then receiving a portion of the Soul Binding Empress' comprehension second had given me the tools I needed to improve them further.

All of my offensive techniques were powerful, but they required me to make contact with the target. I had always assumed that was a necessity to transfer qi, but that assumption had been proven wrong a dozen times over.

How absurd would it be if I could poison or corrupt my opponents at a distance with a wave of my hand? It was the kind of thing that only immortals from stories could do.

Yet I finally understood how to accomplish such a thing. Usually I would lose control of my qi once it passed out of my body, unless I was in contact with it.

However, I felt that ever since that lake had appeared and the spark condensed above it, my control over my medicinal qi had improved by leaps and bounds. Also, the Soul Binding Empress' understanding of qi allowed me to understand how I could maintain the integrity of my technique over a short distance.

The black robed cultivator was only a few paces away, but it was enough. I raised a finger and pointed it towards him, gathering my qi.

Projecting one's qi out into the world was considered a hallmark of the Foundation Building Realm, but the secret was rather simple. As I cast the poison qi technique, the spark in my mind thrummed.

The qi shot through the air and entered the black robed cultivator's ankle as his palm clashed with Wang Ren's glaive. He barely stumbled, but my mouth curled up into a smile.

I had succeeded.

He stepped back and met Wang Ren's increasingly powerful and fast blows with ease. However, a few seconds later he frowned and coughed blood.

"Poison? I knew you were a coward," he scoffed.

To my dismay, the next moment a pulse of qi travelled from his dantian and expelled all of the poison qi inside his leg. I had made a big step forward, but it wasn't enough.

Nonetheless, I had recovered enough to stand back up. I rushed to Wang Ren's side and we faced the man down together.

We burst into action simultaneously. My palms were coated with qi as they sliced through the air towards him. Wang Ren was fully utilising his heavy glaive arts as he slashed in an overhead arc.

Our combined attack formed a trap that wasn't easy to escape. However, all it took the mysterious cultivator was to rip a talisman in half.

The paper turned to dust and two arms made of gold light appeared behind him, blocking both strikes. They punched with the weight of ten thousand kilos, smacking us against the walls.

After that, they faded. However, I suspected he had plenty more talismans where that had come from.

This was the one power that not even hard work and effort could overcome—wealth. What was my barely two years of work compared with the legacy of some rich young master's clan?

When I caught my breath again, the cultivator had vanished from view. I looked around to find him, but it was as though he had slipped through a crack in reality and disappeared.

A sudden hammer blow smashed into my lower spine, sending me sprawling. A sharp pain lanced up my back and I realised my legs were frozen.

A breath later there was a hot wave of medicinal warmth that spread from my lungs, repairing the damage. As soon as I sat up, I was forced to roll out of the way of my opponent's fist.

"Good, this is how it should be. Crawl and roll around like an insect while this young master tramples you," he sneered as two more talismans appeared between his fingers.

He tossed them towards me. Wang Ren threw himself between us, slashing the talismans apart with his glaive.

"Idiot!" the black-robed cultivator roared with a derisive smirk on his face.

The instant Ren's glaive had slashed the paper talismans in two, they exploded. One burst of fire, one of frost.

I heard a loud grunt as the fire burned his skin. Then, the wave of frost turned the charred flesh into a sheet of ice. I could only imagine the pain he felt.

The enemy cultivator smashed a palm into Wang Ren's chest, shattering the frozen flesh. My Senior Brother was sent flying, rolling over until he landed at my feet.

I saw his arms twisted at awkward angles and his breathing was shallow. I knelt down and used my healing technique immediately.

The world suddenly flew downwards. No, it was my head that had been snapped back. I felt hot pain in my right arm from the backlash of my healing technique being interrupted. Then another strike hit my chest.

I gasped. Stars appeared in my eyes as I smashed into the stone walls that surrounded us. I barely had time to catch a single breath before he appeared in front of me once more.

Another talisman was gripped between his fingers. He slapped it against my chest before leaping away and sending a pulse of qi at the paper slip.

I had less than a breath's time to react before an explosion engulfed my torso. The heat went from zero to a million in an instant, but I just about held on.

The moment before it blew up I formed a barrier over my skin using my qi. Unfortunately it was a far cry from a proper defense and there was now a charred hole where my ribcage used to be.

If I was still a mortal, relying on only my internal organs to survive, I would be a dead man right now. Thankfully the vitality of a cultivator and the power of qi kept me alive.

I had a brief moment to think while my opponent believed I was dead. Was it possible to flip the script on him and win, or did we need to figure out a way to retreat and regroup with our allies?

No doubt the closest of them would have heard or sensed the chaos of battle, but whether they would arrive in time or have the power to make a difference remained to be seen. He'd proven to be able to purge my poison qi, so there was only one thing for me to try.

I could feel him standing still about ten metres in front of me. I'd managed to project my qi outwards once, so I believed I could do it again.

What was that cringy name I'd given the tumour technique one time? Grasping Demon Finger? If I was able to use it at range, that name might ring true.

I inhaled, refining spiritual energy into qi with every breath. It joined the cycle through my meridians as I gathered qi for the technique.

As the smoke began to clear, I raised a finger towards my target. When the final wisps of smoke vanished, I saw him stomping on Wang Ren's wrist.

The sound of cracking bone was my signal to strike. I forced my will onto the gathered mass of qi and projected it outwards. What came next was the most difficult step.

Everything hinged on my success or failure.

The qi exploded out of my finger. I felt my control over it slipping immediately. A sharp spike of pain lanced through my head as I attempted to brute force the technique.

"You! How are you still alive, trash? Hmph, I'll make sure to kill you after this pathetic friend of yours," the man snorted as he saw my failing technique.

I thought I had failed, stumbling forwards, when that floating light above the lake in my mind rang out. A single ripple travelled outwards across the endless waters.

The gentle note washed away the pain in my mind, bringing me a feeling of serenity. My focus sharpened. I felt as though I could accomplish anything in that moment.

The clarity passed, but it had given me enough time to succeed. I had maintained control over my technique. I heard a grunt as the swirling mass of qi exploded into the black-robed cultivator's torso.

For a moment he didn't react. His mocking gaze weighed on me. The sight of Wang Ren's beaten body twisted my expression into one of rage. However, when the cultivator suddenly choked, coughing blood, my lips curled upwards into a satisfied smirk.

"Another pitiful poison technique? A perfect technique for a trash coward like you. Your friend is on death's door and you're next," he snarled, raising his foot above Wang Ren's head.

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