I collapsed backwards. My arms were locked up strangely. The joints wouldn't cooperate. My arms tingled with power as my qi raced back towards my dantian.

I gasped at the crackling surge of power that was flooding into me. This fellow had been rather close to me in cultivation so the benefits were tangible.

Not to mention that it had been the most complex healing I'd performed to date. Previously my technique worked as if on autopilot. Not this time.

I'd actually needed to focus and direct it. Honestly it felt as if I'd been transported back to a field hospital, performing emergency surgery on some poor soldier who'd had their arms or legs blown off and had their guts hanging out.

Despite the sheer intensity and the blinding headache that was burning through my grey cells, I had a huge grin on my face. That's what I'd been missing!

Even though I'd dedicated myself to continue being a doctor in this world, I'd never truly felt as if I was pursuing that path until now. Even if my first real surgery was performed on an enemy, it didn't matter.

The feeling of accomplishment burned hotter in my chest than even my throbbing qi. Energy swirled through my meridians, all seven of them that I'd opened so far.

The gains weren't enough to push me all the way to the bottleneck of the next star, but it was close. One more procedure like that and I might shoot all the way through without any resistance.

I wiped the sweat and grime from my face. My hand came away stained crimson from the blood leaking out of my nose.

Honestly it was a rash decision to push myself that far, but I had been overtaken by fervour and passion. When I'd seen the problem I just had to solve it. Failure hadn't been an option.

I still wasn't sure if my idea had been a stroke of genius or a drop of madness. The answer was probably a bit of both.

What I'd realised in the moment was that the only way I could possibly alter the state of his qi was with my intent. The same way I transformed my own qi when I used my poison technique.

Of course I wasn't trying to poison him. I still didn't really understand the principles behind how that 'intent' worked, but it somehow had.

I had pictured those three drops of qi turning solid. Pressed my own qi down on them, hoping it would work. No. I had demanded they change.

And they had.

At that moment I'd blacked out for a half breath. When I came to I felt a resonant pulse in my dantian that seemed to emanate from the world around me.

It was a feeling I'd experienced only once before, when I realised my path. My dao.

The dao of healing.

Another concept I didn't quite grasp fully. What was Dao? I hadn't read enough of those novels to get it. My predecessor hadn't studied hard enough or reached a high enough realm of cultivation to get it.

I looked down at my hands and then into my dantian. It was around two thirds full of bright green qi. Nothing seemed that different.

My liver had refined a little further, absorbing some of the energy during the process. I wondered what strange effect it would have once it was done.

Even though there were no observable changes, my mind felt clear. It was as if I'd been walking along a path filled with obstacles and clouded in mist, but now the mist had cleared.

There were still many obstacles blocking my path forwards, but I could at least see what I needed to do to get past them. I chuckled, then looked to the unconscious man by my side.

After healing him, there were no traces of those monstrous features that he'd possessed before. No extra eyes.

I'd need to see him walking to be sure. That strange, insectoid gait had been unsettling to watch. I looked around at the dead town.

Those walking corpses didn't seem interested in attacking us. They just roamed around, hanging at the decaying stalls or performing grotesque mockeries of human behaviour.

It was truly odd. All the zombie movies I'd watched said that they would be violent and crave human flesh or brains. Clearly that wasn't the case.

Although perhaps using movies and novels as a basis for what the real, magic world should be like wasn't the smartest idea. I heard a groan and lowered my gaze to see the man shifting on the ground.

Taking a water gourd from my bag I put it to his lips. He took three big gulps before spluttering and spilling some onto the ground.

His eyes opened slowly, fluttering once or twice. He rolled his head side to side and stopped when he saw me. "You!"

"Yes, me. How do you feel? You screamed at me about a curse when I was about to kill you. I decided to save you instead. I'm sure you must feel like crap, but I'd appreciate an explanation," I said, helping him to sit upright.

"That… is a very long story. My memory is patchy. It's like I was trapped in my own mind, watching everything through a broken mirror," he muttered, suddenly clutching his head.

I narrowed my eyes, but my energy senses didn't see anything amiss. It must be a psychological trauma left behind from being cursed.

"I imagine you went through a lot of pain and suffering. You don't have to relive it. I just want to know what I'm dealing with. What's up with the… dead people?" I calmly asked, waving a hand around the street.

"It's her doing. Mother. No, fuck that bitch. She isn't my…" he suddenly curled into a ball and started rocking backwards and forwards.

"Hey, relax. You're fine. I destroyed the curse. Tell me about this… mother."

"She's evil. You can't escape now that you walked into her web. This city… it's all her domain. It's too late. It's too late."

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I sighed, patting the man on the shoulders once before standing up. I'd healed him from the curse, but I wasn't a therapist. There was nothing I could do for his trauma.

He could barely form a full sentence. I had some information to work with, but not much. He'd said someone called 'Mother' did all this. The curse, the dead people. He mentioned a web?

Wait! Webs? Thinking back to his odd gait and the extra eyes I had a dreadful realisation. This entire city was most likely controlled by some sort of spider beast. A powerful one at that.

Would I have to fight and kill yet another sinister beast? Why did I keep running into these creatures? First it was that damned snake and now a spider?

A shiver ran down my spine. I hated creepy crawly slithery things. The man hadn't given me many leads, but I figured if I kept moving through the city I would find more answers.

Should I just leave the dude there? The walking corpses didn't seem to want to hurt him. Bringing him with me would slow me down, but I wasn't sure how I felt about abandoning a patient.

I knelt down beside him once more. "Hey, I'm going to keep moving. I don't want to leave you here alone. Can you walk with me?" I asked softly.

"Go? Go where?" he muttered, then began to cackle like a madman. "There's no escape! You're dead. Dead!"

Alright. That was a dead end. I spared him one final glance before walking off down the street. I made it around one corner before I felt the ground shaking and heard the sound of shattering roof tiles.

I instantly stopped walking and spread my feet. Then I raised my arms into a combat stance as my eyes swivelled around the street.

Empty, save for the broken tiles clattering against the ground and the dozens of walking dead. A flash of movement from a side alley.

A gust of air against the back of my neck. I instantly leapt to the side. A bladed scythe ripped through the space where my head had been an instant before.

At the end of the scythe was… an arm? I had no time to inspect my attacker further before a needle shot towards my forehead.

I ducked down, avoiding it, but instantly was forced backwards when the scythe-arm arced towards my neck. I rushed back five paces and was finally able to assess the situation.

A… person? With black, shiny skin that looked suspiciously like chitin and had two arms that ended in bladed scythes like a praying mantis stood in the middle of the street.

He had two brown eyes and four glowing red ones. The same as the man I'd just healed.

My eyes darted upwards and spotted the second attacker. Another insectoid person. This one had strange banded fur all over her body and two large compound eyes instead of six. Between her legs, curving around from behind her, was a bulbous tail that ended in a nasty stinger. A stinger that was identical to the needle buried in the stone.

The mantis-man chittered and turned to the wasp-woman. "This one has some skill. Mother was right, this will be entertaining. Fourth sister, let us share in the delight."

"I am glad eighth brother failed so miserably. Somehow the curse was broken. That only leaves more for us," the wasp-woman replied gleefully.

Her voice was odd. It had a raspy, buzzing undertone that unsettled me. Eighth brother? Were they talking about that guy I just healed?

Did that mean they were watching our battle? I let out a small sigh of relief. If they'd attacked me while I was concentrated on healing him…

I didn't want to think about how disastrous that could have been. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to do the same here.

With two enemies to focus on, they could simply use my blind spots to wear me down. If I wanted to purge the curse from them as well, my only option was to first beat them unconscious.

Everything in this world returned to violence. It was damned frustrating. Even so, I would do what was necessary.

This kind of hideous, body-twisting curse wasn't natural. I would find this 'Mother' who was doing all this crap and put this nonsense behind me.

Along the way I had to make sure Wang Ren wasn't enchanted the same way I had been. Who knows what horrors these sick creatures would inflict on him?

The two creatures shared a glance and then the next instant their bodies blurred. The mantis-man appeared in front of me, both bladed arms slicing towards my torso in the shape of an 'x'.

At the same time, the wasp-woman blasted another stinger towards me mid flight. That wasn't all.

Right as the scythe blades were cutting towards my chest she drew a sword of her own and thrusted it towards my neck. Caught in a triple pincer of blades and stinger, I was forced to throw caution to the wind.

My body was sturdier than most. As long as they didn't cut my vitals I would live. Avoiding all four weapons was impossible, so I didn't try.

I leaned to the side. The sword passed harmlessly beside my neck, leaving a shallow graze. One of the scythe blades missed me entirely due to my evasion. The other slashed across my pectoral muscle.

It lacerated my skin, drawing blood. However, my flesh was tough and it barely cut deeper than a centimetre. Only one of their attacks struck accurately.

The wasp-woman's stinger buried itself in my thigh. Flexing my quadricep was enough to snap it in half. I yanked the rest out with my hand.

Before I did I felt an icy burn spreading into my flesh. Venom. Seeing this, the wasp-woman started to laugh.

What she didn't know was that I'd let her stinger hit me. Cuts could still claim my life, but venom was useless. My physique ensured that.

The mantis-man cursed when his attacks fell flat. He stepped back to recover, but was too slow. I pounced as he tried to find his tempo.

My fists flashed like lightning. In an instant I delivered three blows. Solar plexus first, knocking the wind from his lungs.

He instinctively started doubling over. As his head lowered my second punch smashed in—a devastating uppercut.

It snapped back, blood spraying from his broken nose. The wasp-woman flashed forwards. Too slow to stop me.

My third punch was a savage haymaker. A crack rang out as his head snapped to one side.

I yanked my arm back. A hot lance ran down my forearm. Her sword had slashed across it, drawing a thin crimson line.

The mantis-man stumbled backwards, his head locked at an awkward angle. Had I broken his neck?

"Fifth brother!" she cried, staring daggers at me. "You'll die for that, trash."

Despite her seeming care for her accomplice, the wasp-woman ignored his plight entirely. Instead she rushed at me, her sword flashing wildly.

She stabbed, slashed, and thrust. I ducked and weaved, avoiding most of her attacks and deflecting those I couldn't.

A few cuts appeared on my arms and chest where I'd failed. At the bottom of my vision I spotted something flicking upwards.

I threw myself backwards right before another stinger sliced through the air. That had been too close. I needed to pay attention.

I focused again, taking the time to assess her cultivation. I should've done it at the start, but I was distracted by their grotesque appearances.

Five-star Qi Gathering. Not my match.

The woman's rage blinded her. Every swing of her sword was wild, inelegant. It was easy to poke holes in her attacks and I wasted no time in delivering a series of savage counter strikes.

Punch, kick, elbow. Punch.

"You're slipperier than a worm! Die like one," she suddenly cried. Her qi flared, gathering in her tail.

If she'd unleashed this technique silently, it would've taken me off guard. Perhaps even injured me. Unfortunately she let her emotions guide her actions.

I easily dodged the stinger that lanced past my ear. "You'll have to do better than-" I started to tease but was forced into silence suddenly when another stinger soared at me.

Even then I managed to dodge. Before I could gather my wits however, another one was already on the way. It seemed as though her technique was not a one time burst of power, but a damn stinger machine gun!

I started to sprint, a laser of flying needles following in my wake. To my horror, the longer the woman used the technique the faster the stingers were fired out.

Still, there had to be a limit to her qi. Unfortunately I wasn't sure I could keep running for long enough to drain her dry.

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