As Tianyu tried to run, a shot whistled frighteningly close to his arm, which he barely evaded by taking a sharp turn. The arrow flew past him, striking the ground ahead.
It instantly crashed and exploded, sending dust and sand boiling up into the sky.
"This guy is incredible, no matter how fast I run, he is always behind me. I can't fight him right now. I don't even have my weapon whats more i don't know any martial arts; I need to find a way to lose him" he took another turn towards a rocky terrain.
"You have quite the legs on you, don't you? Have you no shame as a martial artist?" Xianshun spoke, knocking another arrow.
"Are you fucken retarded? Do you take me for an idiot? You clearly have a higher cultivation than I have. If I stay to fight, what chance do I have of winning against you?" Tianyu retorted, skidding on the rocks.
"What did you say, you brat?" Xian Shun shot back clearly, rage filled his attacks, which began to intensify, swifter than the last and more frequent.
"It feels like he is leading the path I should take," Tianyu thought as he whipped around one more corner.
Then, finally, he found himself at an impasse. There was no more ground; behind him was the edge of a high cliff.
"This should do, there is nowhere else to go now, little rat." Xianshun stepped into view, his step slow and his bow raised.
"Come on, brother, there is no need for this, I won't tell anyone i swear", Tianyu spoke, raising his hands.
"Hehhehehehe, what did you say I am a retard right…?!"
"Noo, it's not that I was…" Tianyu's words were dragged, his eyes darting about.
"Theheheheh, well then, I will give you my arrow, or jump, you might just have a chance to survive…" Xianshun laughed horridly.
Tianyu stood still and closed his eyes, concentrating all his Qi in his feet.
"So that's it, you choose to die with my arrow? What a coward! You might have had a chance to live if you had jumped."
"You were going to shoot me down as I jumped when I jumped over there is no way you would be that sloppy."
"Thhehehe, Aren't you clever?" Xianshun responded, instantly releasing his arrow.
Fffffffffffffff!
"Being too clever is bad; your death would have been unpainful."
The Arrow cut through the air in that moment of conversation, Tianyu's form blurred, as he dashed.
"Tch, my body feels like it is going to tear apart."
Crack!
Just like a flash of lightning, he found himself in front of Xianshun, his fingers reaching through Xianshun's remaining eye.
"Ahhhhhhhh," his scream tore through the mountain, and he fell to the ground, blood spattering from it."
BanG!
Tiany hurled a punch at the back of Xianshun's head, and he fell over.
"HUuuu… that was close, I drained all my Qi. If he survived that, I was going to die," Tianyu collapsed next to Xianshun.
He felt everything go blurry as he began to lose consciousness.
"I bet he has some Qi pills somewhere on him…" Tianyu pulled himself over towards Xianshun.
On Xianshun's left arm, he saw something glimmer; there lay a ring made from jade. Tianyu quickly took it off the archer's hand and slipped it onto his own.
"Ha… ha… ha… It's a storage ring. How do you use it?" Tianyu lost consciousness for a short while, then woke up just as quickly.
"If I fall asleep now, I will die…" he spoke, biting his lip, forcing himself awake. He squeezed the last of his Qi onto the storage ring, and just like that, it activated.
"Found it…" he murmured, producing a white vial.
"I am not sure if this is it or not, but I have no choice…" Tianyu shook the bottle and consumed one small pill from inside the vial.
As soon as Tianyu swallowed the pill, a searing heat rose from his dantian. Hot fiery energy surged through his core, radiating along every meridian in his body.
His Qi flowed like molten rivers, filling him with dizzying power.
"Hu… hu…" he gasped, adjusting into a cross-legged position. He focused on absorbing the energy from the pill.
But then the warm radiance soon turned into an unbearable fire. His skin burned, veins pulsed violently, and the sensation clawed at his flesh.
'Damn it… this isn't a Qi essence pill, it's a spirit-exploding pill!' his voice roared, grinding his teeth. Flames erupted around him, licking the air.
Blood trickled from his lips as panic and pain surged together.
What… what should I do?! His mind raced.
In that pain, he remembered the poem he used to cultivate earlier and began to recite it.
The chaotic energy swirled inside him, but with each repetition of the sacred text, it began to subside the wildfire in his meridian,s tempered, harmonising with the rhythm of his mind.
'Just as the ocean flows, so too must my Qi. Every energy has its flow. I must learn the flow of my Qi
To be free from fire… understand the flow of the flame.
Cracks appeared across his skin, from which blinding golden light poured forth. The intensity was unbearable, and the air around him shimmered as if caught in a furnace.
BOOM!
A thunderous roar echoed through the forest. The cracks that had formed around his body helled and all the raging energy around him suddenly calmed down; the Qi that had once threatened to consume him dissipated.
He exhaled slowly, chest heaving, every remaining pulse of energy finally settled.
"Huu… haa…" Lian breathed, marvelling at the sensation coursing through his veins. His body felt lighter, more powerful, more alive than ever before.
He looked down at himself. His clothes had been torn to shreds, but he barely noticed. A triumphant grin spread across his face.
'I… I've broken through four stages at once. I am now just a step away from breaking into the foundation stage. Huuuuu, there's no need to hurry it, though; it's a miracle I managed to absorb that pill at all. Too much greed is dangerous.'
Lian felt a wave of relief as he flexed his muscles. The new Qi surged rapidly through his body, wild and fierce, almost like a raging beast.
His body and Qi had finally begun to harmonise, moving in sync with one another.