The gap between **Body Refining** and **Qi Condensation** wasn't just strength.
It was reach.
"Die," Mo giggled.
He flicked his wrist.
The green mist swirling around his fingers solidified. It shot forward like a pressurized jet of acid.
Kaelen didn't block. You couldn't block Qi with flesh.
He threw himself sideways. He crashed into the wet ferns.
*Hiss.*
The spot where he had been standing evaporated. The mud boiled. The trunk of a sapling turned black and dissolved into sludge.
"Run, little mouse!" Mo taunted.
He strolled forward. He waved his hand again. Another jet of green light arced through the dark.
"Scurry for me!"
Kaelen scrambled up a rock face. His boots slipped on the moss.
The acid blast struck the stone inches from his heel. Stone shrapnel sprayed into his calf.
*Damage: Minor. Mobility: 90%.*
Kaelen ignored the stinging. He vaulted over the rock, breaking line of sight.
He pressed his back against the cold stone.
*He's playing with me,* Kaelen analyzed. *He thinks he's a cat. That's his mistake.*
Kaelen looked at his right hand.
It was dripping with viscous, purple fluid. The Viper's poison.
One touch.
He just needed one touch on a mucous membrane. Eyes. Mouth. Open wound.
"Come out, come out," Mo's voice echoed. Closer now. "I can smell your blood, boy. It smells like fear."
Kaelen took a breath.
He sheathed the dagger.
He needed both hands free.
He stepped out from behind the rock.
Mo stopped ten paces away. His eyes glowed with that eerie green light. He smiled, revealing yellow, rotting teeth.
"Giving up? Good. I'll make it quick. I'll dissolve your legs first."
"You talk too much for a corpse," Kaelen said.
He sprinted.
Straight line. No dodging.
Mo's eyes widened in mockery. "Fool."
The old man didn't even move his feet. He raised his palm. He gathered a massive ball of necrotic Qi.
"**Rotting Palm!**"
He thrust his hand forward.
Kaelen didn't stop. He didn't swerve.
At the last second—just as the Qi blast was about to incinerate his chest—Kaelen screamed in his mind.
**[Pain Nullification: Overdrive]**
He didn't dodge.
He *leaned into it*.
He took the blast on his left shoulder.
*SIZZLE.*
The smell of cooking meat filled the air immediately.
The skin, muscle, and fabric of his left shoulder melted away. It exposed the white bone of his scapula.
The pain should have caused instant shock. It should have stopped his heart.
But Kaelen didn't blink.
His momentum carried him *through* the blast.
Mo's grin faltered. *He didn't stop?*
Before the old man could retract his arm, Kaelen crashed into him.
It wasn't a martial arts move. It was a tackle.
They hit the mud together.
Mo gasped as the air left his lungs. He was physically weak. A glass cannon.
"Get off!" Mo shrieked. Panic finally set in.
He clawed at Kaelen's face. Nails dug furrows into Kaelen's cheek.
Kaelen ignored the gouging.
He jammed his right hand—the one coated in purple slime—directly into Mo's screaming mouth.
He shoved his fingers down the old man's throat. Tearing the soft tissue.
"Swallow," Kaelen snarled.
Mo gagged. Eyes bulging.
He tried to bite down. But the neurotoxin hit his bloodstream instantly.
Venomous Pit Viper poison was nasty. It coagulated blood. It shut down the nervous system.
Delivered directly into the throat?
Instant.
Mo's struggles turned into spasms. Foam, tinged with purple, bubbled from his lips.
His green Qi flickered. And died.
Kaelen held him down. He watched the light fade from the old man's eyes.
He didn't let go until the heart stopped beating.
He rolled off the corpse. He collapsed into the mud.
"Ha..."
Kaelen stared up at the sky.
His left shoulder was a ruin. He couldn't feel his arm. The necrotic Qi was still eating away at the edges of the wound.
"System," he coughed. "Fix it."
> **[Critical Damage Detected]**
> **[Necrotic Qi Infection]**
> **[Solution: Expel foreign Qi or Consume target to repair.]**
Kaelen turned his head. He looked at Mo.
"Dinner time."
He dragged himself over. He placed his good hand on Mo's chest.
**Heaven-Devouring Scripture.**
This time, the energy wasn't wild like the boar. It was refined. Structured.
It was *Cultivation*.
A torrent of pure, white energy rushed into Kaelen.
It slammed into his injury first. The necrotic Qi on his shoulder was overwhelmed. Washed away by the influx of power.
New flesh knitted together at visible speed. The skin closed over the bone.
Then, the energy hit his dantian.
*Crack.*
*Crack.*
> **[Vitality Absorbed: High]**
> **[Cultivator Essence Assimilated]**
> **Breakthrough: Body Refining Stage 4.**
> ...
> **Breakthrough: Body Refining Stage 5.**
Kaelen gasped. He arched his back as his skeleton realigned.
He grew an inch. His muscles packed tighter. Dense. Like steel cable.
> **[Skill Unlocked: Spirit Sense (Rudimentary)]**
> **[Loot Detected: Spatial Pouch]**
Kaelen sat up.
He was covered in mud. Covered in blood. Half his robe was burned away.
But he felt... powerful.
Stage 5.
In the Vane family, the Captain of the Guard was Stage 5.
Thorne was Stage 6.
He was almost there.
He reached for the small, embroidered pouch tied to Mo's belt.
A Spatial Pouch. Even a low-grade one was worth a hundred gold coins.
He poured a tiny bit of his new Qi into it. The bag opened.
He shook the contents onto the grass.
* **Spirit Stones:** 50 (Low Grade).
* **Book:** *Technique of the Rotting Palm* (Human Grade - Low).
* **Vial:** Green liquid (Antidote).
* **Token:** A rusted iron token with a skull insignia.
Kaelen picked up the token. He didn't recognize the sect. But it radiated a dark, cold energy.
"Demonic Cultivator," Kaelen mused. "Old Mo wasn't working alone."
He tossed the token back into the bag. He kept the stones.
He burned the book. Trash technique.
The sun was beginning to bleed gray light over the horizon.
The three-day deadline the System gave him?
Kaelen stood up. He tested his healed shoulder. It rotated perfectly.
"I don't need three days," he said.
He looked toward the manor.
He picked up his dagger.
"I'm going to breakfast."