I jumped against the wall of a nearby building, sending stone shards flying at the nearby zombies. I pounced off right as a stream of stingers smashed into it, blasting a hole in the unfortunate building.

My landing was less than graceful. I stumbled once before regaining my footing. Thankfully my leap had earned me a second of space.

I turned my gaze on the wasp-woman. She twirled her body, the line of flying stingers carving through the sky towards me in record time.

On an open field taking her down would be child's play, but I was trapped in this street with few avenues of escape. Although the terrain also worked in my favour.

As the stingers bore down on me once again I ducked behind a fruit cart manned by a fat zombie. The stingers shattered and carved the wood, but that earned me a little more time.

I took a step towards the woman, intending to interrupt her. Knowing that her venom didn't pose a danger, I could suffer a few stings if it meant breaking the rhythm of her attacks.

My decision made I raced forwards, step after step. I ducked when my vitals were at risk, guarding my chest with my arms.

Stingers pelted my flesh, delivering their chilling payload into my blood and tissue. The pain was so minimal I barely noticed. The venom was instantly refined away by my potent physique.

Two paces away I gathered my qi. I intended to incapacitate her. I raised my palm, qi coating the edge like a blade.

I slashed downwards while lunging. My hand smacked into something hard. I heard a crack. Heat exploded across my chest.

I felt a burn in my thigh.

I took a step forward. I fell to the side, my foot not reaching the ground. I glanced downwards.

Where was my leg?

I glanced upwards. The leering face of the mantis-man stared down at me. Pale skin was exposed across his neck and shoulder where I'd punched him.

The crack hadn't been his spine breaking. It had been his chitinous exo-skeleton shattering. Tough bastard.

He'd carved me apart in an instant. Blood flowed profusely from the stump that had been my leg. It ran down my torso in rivers from the savage gash across my chest.

Fuckfuckfuck. I had to think fast. The scythe blades whipped down towards me. Dangerous.

This guy was a seven-star. I saw it in his rampaging qi. Could hurt me badly. Was about to kill me.

I emptied my dantian into my heart. The process which refined my qi into pure energy wasn't slow, but it would take a few seconds for this amount. I had less than a breath's time.

With a guttural scream I forced my heart to pump faster and faster. A surge of pure spiritual energy flooded into my body. I inhaled as if it were my first breath above water.

All of that energy was sucked into my lungs, vanishing within its branches. The tips of the blades reached my skin.

I exhaled. Medicinal energy flowed outwards into my body.

Most of it went in the right direction, but not enough. I stopped it from entering my chest. A tiny cut like that wasn't worth worrying about.

Clamping down with my mind I directed all of it towards my leg. I'd healed myself before, but regrowing an entire leg was a far cry from healing a severed ear.

Thankfully my physique was far more potent than even I knew. The energy surged through my flesh, regrowing bone, then tendons and ligaments. Veins, nerves, and muscles threaded into existence around them. Fat, flesh, and raw skin finished the job.

Right as I felt the tips of the scythe-blades piercing my skin, the healing was done. Mustering all my strength I kicked against the stone.

I was thrown to one side. The blades sliced across my flesh, but only left shallow grazes. They clanged against the paving stones.

Mantis-man roared in fury and shock.

"How is that possible!? Your leg, it-" wasp-woman exclaimed.

She was so shocked she'd cancelled her sword slash halfway. Her arms were held in mid air.

Before either of them could get their bearings, I moved. Mantis-man was too tough. I left him for last.

I grabbed the woman's arms. I pulled upwards and elbowed downwards. Crack. This time I was sure it was a broken bone, because it burst through her skin.

She screamed and dropped her sword. I punched her twice in the head. She fell to the ground, unconscious or dead.

I wasn't sure which. I hoped not dead. I wanted the cultivation gains from purging the curse. And even though she'd almost killed me, it was the curse guiding her.

"Fourth sister! You bastard, die!" the man roared, leaping towards me and slashing wildly with his bladed arms.

Unfortunately his erratic attacks were far less effective one-on-one. He did carve my arms like tofu, leaving a dozen bleeding cuts, but they healed almost instantly.

Using my natural regeneration and durability as a shield, I delivered countless strikes in retaliation. Each of them smashed through his chitin.

Yellow ichor leaked through the gaps, occasionally stained orange where his blood leaked into the mix. I kicked out at his ankle.

I missed, but his step to dodge left him lurching. Taking advantage I cracked an elbow into his gut. He staggered and I grabbed hold of his head before kneeing him viciously in the face.

Somehow that didn't end it. He slashed at my leg, but I kicked the blade away and smashed my knee into his nose again. This time I felt his body grow limp in my hands.

I dropped him to the ground and wiped the ichor on my robe. "That was brutal. I don't think I've ever been pushed that far in a fight before," I muttered between panting breaths.

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Shaking my head, I knelt down beside him. There was no time to waste. Before either of them woke up I had to purge the curse.

I'd knocked the wasp-woman out first but this tough bastard posed the biggest danger. I wanted to heal him first.

He also had the highest cultivation of the two. I might even break through while healing him. Thinking of that possibility, I sighed and punched him in the head again.

I couldn't take that risk. The extra punch hopefully would ensure he didn't wake up while I healed the woman.

There was a possibility healing her might force my breakthrough, but the chances were lower. If I really strained myself I could hold it back, although it would be agonising.

The process went well. Having already performed it once before I slipped up less. I didn't waste any time. I used as much qi as I could—around a third was left in my dantian—and quickly carved the cursed energy apart.

Just as it had done before it retreated to her dantian. This time however I knew exactly how to fight it. The scalpel was a little rougher this time. I was tired. The edges were frayed.

Even so it did the job. One slightly-less-than-precise incision and a little finesse later I had purged the curse from her body in its entirety.

I waited with bated breath as the energy flooded into me. It was even more than when I'd healed the first guy. That made sense—the wasp-woman was a star above him.

I felt my dantian swelling, pushing against some invisible wall. Right before it threatened to burst open, the influx of qi abated. I let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding.

I would almost certainly break through after healing the mantis-man. I hoped there weren't more of these cursed insectoid humans watching from the shadows, waiting to pounce when I least suspected it.

Healing the man was even easier than the first two, despite his cultivation being greater. The cursed energy had more fuel, but I had more finesse.

This time I went straight to the root of the problem. I sent my qi right to his dantian, clearing it of cursed energy first. Then I worked my way outwards, burning out the rest.

It went even faster than the first two times. I was satisfied with the results, but I felt there was still room for improvement.

There always was.

The staggering flood of qi threatened to knock me off my feet. It reminded me of that first time I'd used my healing technique.

It had been so shocking. So life changing. I gasped as my dantian swelled to the breaking point. The invisible blockage shattered.

I gathered my qi, forming a scalpel and carving open the eighth meridian with ease. Ironically my practice excising the cursed energy allowed me to purge the impurities from my body with far more efficiency than during my previous breakthroughs.

Once the meridian was cleared I burst through the other end and my qi began to cycle through all eight in a winding, fluid motion. My mind felt clearer and my body was brimming with power and energy.

However, it didn't stop there. The qi from treating the mantis-man continued to surge into my dantian. It kept going and going until I was halfway to nine-star.

That had been a monstrous leap forward! I'd expected that my rapid gains would somewhat slow as I entered higher stars and realms, but perhaps not.

I'd also gained a valuable insight. It seemed that it wasn't only the cultivation of my patient that affected the gains, but also the complexity of the procedure and the affliction I was treating.

I remembered that I had a similarly large leap forward when I treated the poison in Teng Sheng's body. That had been a qi gathering poison and I had only been a practitioner at the time.

Storing that knowledge away for future use, I sat on the ground and waited for my two most recent patients to wake up. I hoped they would be less traumatised than the first man. I needed more information.

Even though I had treated the wasp-woman first, it was the man who was the first to rouse. He grunted and tried to sit up, before yelping in pain and falling flat.

I chuckled and moved to assist. He flinched at my touch, before recognising my face. Once he was up and I had given him some water, I prepared to ask him a few questions.

However, he stole the initiative. Out of nowhere he smashed his forehead against the ground, kowtowing towards me.

"Thank you for freeing my sister and I from this curse," he cried, raising his head slightly and then smashing it down once more. A thin stream of blood trickled along the stones.

"You don't know how horrifying it was. All this time… Our parents. I wonder what their fate was?" he sobbed.

I sighed and shook my head. This fellow was equally traumatised. However, he at least seemed to be more in control of his faculties than the last one.

He was about to slam his head against the ground a third time. I grabbed his shoulder and stopped him, raising him up to face me.

"Stop that. I don't need your gratitude, you've already given me plenty," I said with a warm smile.

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. I didn't bother explaining. I doubted he would understand even if I did.

"Could you answer a few questions for me?"

He nodded his head enthusiastically. Then he suddenly startled and spun around. He crawled over to the woman and cradled her head in his lap while sobbing.

"Sister… At least I still have you. Whatever happens now at least we have control of our own minds once again."

I didn't push him for answers. He deserved this moment of celebration. I wasn't sure how long they had been cursed for. Judging from what I'd managed to squeeze from the first guy, it could have been decades or even centuries.

After a few moments he delicately placed her head down, tearing off his ragged shirt and placing it underneath for comfort. Then he stood up and walked back over to me.

"Sorry. My emotions overwhelmed me. My sister and I, we… It doesn't matter. It's over now. What did you want to ask? My memories are fragmented, but I know more than our eighth brother did."

"I understand. You are truly siblings then? All of you?"

"Ah. Me and her, yes. The other one, no. That was just what she called us. Her children," he said with a shiver. "I suppose we are fellow victims of Zhu Jie's deceit and puppetry. That's the creature who controls this city—Zhu Jie. She's a spider beast of some kind. Powerful curses and spells allow her to control almost the entire place through her webs. Vile creature," he explained.

"I see. Thank you. Do you know about the other person in the city? My friend? Where is he?" I asked, hoping for clues to Wang Ren's whereabouts.

"Your friend? Yes, there was another… He didn't come into our district, so we weren't allowed to 'play' with him. The city is divided amongst us seventeen, you see. Or was, anyway. Fourteen now. Good riddance," he started to go off track, so I gently tapped his arm.

"Sorry. It's… a lot. I—we owe you our lives. Your friend should be in the fifth district. It's to the north-west of the city. If you encounter triplets who look like ants you're in the right place. They have sharp fangs and move fast. Watch out for their combined techniques," he began to tell me the strengths and weaknesses of those three, as well as the other 'siblings' of his.

Eventually the woman woke up. At first she was confused but the man, who I found out was called Fei Bo, explained everything to her. She was called Fei Ling, which I discovered when she also tried kowtowing to me, albeit less violently than her brother.

They told me they would stay put for now. Wandering into the other districts would be dangerous. Without their cursed bodies, they had fallen to their original cultivation realms.

She was actually just a one-star Qi Gathering cultivator while he was at the three-star level. That surprised me, but it made sense.

The curse had endowed them with powerful natural weapons in the form of stingers and scythe-like arm blades. Although it opened an entirely new avenue of research for me to pursue.

Thankfully there were plenty more patients waiting for me across the city. I wondered if I might even be able to experience a major breakthrough before the night was done.

I was only one star away from reaching the final step of Qi Gathering. As long as nothing ridiculous happened it meant I was only two breakthroughs away from the Foundation Building Realm.

Even more appealing than that however, was the pure thrill of perfecting a new medical process. I hoped that by the time I was done I would know how to perfectly excise cursed energy as well as have a greatly improved healing technique.

Knowing that Wang Ren was still alive for now had put a spring in my step. I raced through the streets towards the location Fei Bo had told me about.

There were two districts between us and the one he'd told me to head towards. According to him, the only one I truly had to worry about was their first brother. He was a Peak Qi Gathering cultivator. I hoped I wouldn't run into him before I had broken through.

"Hold on, Senior Brother. I'm on my way," I muttered while flying across the rooftops.

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