With tears in her eyes, she fled from the city she thought was home, and the man who had promised her the world. She gave up everything – her sect, her sisters, and her virtue – to be with him, and he repaid her with harsh words and drunken criticisms.

Bursting with anger and grief, she swore vengeance, hiding away on a nearby mountain inhabited by beasts. Quietly amassing precious ingredients and materials, she erected a yin gathering array that covered the entire mountain, planning to gather the cold energies to boost her own power.

When she sat in the middle of the array and began absorbing the yin qi converging upon her, she quickly realized a large portion of qi vanished from her body. Instead, it was absorbed in her core. By a baby in her stomach. A child of that bastard man’s.

Unwilling to risk ruining her cultivation, she continued, and more and more of the yin qi was absorbed by the unborn child.

Months later, when the child was born, she barely took a look at the pale, crying thing, before dumping it in the cave and leaving to seek revenge.

Shielded by the heavy yin qi it accumulated in the womb, it survived. The shadowy energies frightening even the most dangerous beasts around. And slowly, it grew up in the mountains, continuing to absorb more yin qi, as that was all it knew.

“Bastard Gu, you fucker, die!”

Nimbly dodging the blade, Gu Changshou leapt up and hurried up the mountain.

He just stopped at Dongqing town, intending to enjoy the rustic quaintness for a few days along the way back to the sect. There he bumped into a few fellow cultivators from Guyuan Sect, a small local sect, who invited him to join them. His pursuer, Tian Zifu, had been one of them.

Sure, he spent a half a day sharing cultivation tips and enjoying the local hospitality, but that was how things worked in the cultivation world. All he did was spend some time eating and drinking together, sharing a few stories along the way. He hadn’t slept with that junior sister Tian Zifu was talking about, let alone making any overtures to do so.

Sleeping with someone he just met was the furthest thing from his mind.

As a child, his abundance of yang qi made him a target for rogue cultivators, who wanted to use his blood to nourish their bodies. Some even wanted to force him into child marriages with women old enough to be his great-grandparents.

Thankfully he was born into an ordinary cultivation family. The strongest person in the family, his great-grandfather, was only at the golden core stage, and any local sect would easily have stronger cultivators. But it was enough to ask a traveling cultivator to check his aptitude, which was when they found out about his physique.

Soon after, he was packaged and sent to the Tianmen Sect with a recommendation from the daozhang, Wu Xin. The remaining years were spent in the sect, where he grew up learning about his true yang body, how to cultivate, and the cultivation world. His shifu advised him to limit leisurely travel until he formed his nascent soul, and this was his longest time away from his home or the sect.

Besides all he did was talk – he had never even held hands with anyone before!

“If you don’t want to die, then peel the skin off your face first.” Tian Zifu sneered, tapping his saber as he dashed forward. He never liked the Gu bastard with his handsome face that left women swooning and men envious.

Those major sect cultivators were all like that, going around with their holy attitudes and seducing women right and left. He had an understanding with junior sister Fu, but within a day of meeting Gu Changshou, her tone changed. She talked about him endlessly, even saying she would try joining the Tianmen Sect for his sake!

He didn’t know when the next opportunity would be, so he took the chance while Gu Changshou was still in Dongqing town. Junior sister Fu would be angry at him for doing so, but she would change her mind when she knew the truth.

“Why should I?” Quickly changing direction to avoid running into a cliff, he was annoyed with Tian Zifu’s unreasonableness. Had he known interacting with Guyuan Sect would result in this, Gu Changshou would have avoided them back then.

It wasn’t his fault he was born with such a face. They were the first ones to approach him when he was sitting there drinking tea and minding his own business. Besides, who didn’t like being around beautiful things and beautiful people?

“Why are you fleeing? I thought your Tianmen Sect was all about advocating for fairness and duels.” Sneering, Tian Zifu’s dislike for the Gu Changshou increased by a few more points.

How was he any worse than those arrogant cultivators from the big sects? He worked had to form his golden core with the limited resources their small sect had, but the moment Gu Changshou came by, no one cared. All he heard were the stories praising Gu Changshou. How he was the Tianmen Sect’s prodigy and already reached the nascent soul stage. Or how his appearance was as peerless as his cultivation.

He felt no guilt at his actions. His goal wasn’t to kill, but rather to prove Gu Changshou wasn’t all he was spoken to be. Who told Gu Changshou to seduce junior sister Fu? He used some lesser means, but who cared? How else could a golden core cultivator win a nascent soul cultivator?

Fairness? Duels? That depends on who he was talking to, Gu Changshou thought mentally.

Normally he would have fought back, but the qi-dissolving poison was no joke. The more he used his qi, the faster it would travel through his meridians, devouring his qi and leaving him weak. It was a terrible poison that could affect even nirvana stage practitioners over the long term, slowly draining their strength away. The only cure was the antidote or things like the qiandu herb that could detoxify thousands of poisons – but where was he going to find an antidote in the middle of a mountain?

“Coward!”

Gu Changshou felt an ominous premonition as they moved up the mountain. But there was no other way. He didn’t want to fight. All he wanted was to shake off Tian Zifu’s stubborn pursuit and find some place to recover.

But that man was unshakable.

After half a shichen fleeing, another voice belted out.

“You’re finally here, Gu Changshou!”

Hearing the familiar voice of Qin Sanhu, he frowned. A demonic cultivator. And this one had a grudge with him.

Tian Zifu he could deal with; he was merely an early golden core cultivator who had the advantage of having poisoned him.

But Qin Sanhu had a vendetta against him. He intervened and saved a female cultivator from being used as a cultivation furnace, and the demonic cultivator had been seeking revenge for ruining his plans since then. Qin Sanhu’s cultivation level was just a bit lower than him, but now that he was suffering from the qi-dissolving poison…

“Go die!” Qin Sanhu rushed forward, his palm glowing blood red as he attacked.

“Dammit!” Pivoting direction, Gu Changshou tried to dodge, but the bloody palm still grazed him. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he pushed his hand to his waist, checking how serious the injury was, as he struggled to get up. It wasn’t the worst he suffered, but it definitely hurt.

“Still not dead? Since when did you become so weak?” Qin Sanhu sneered.

If it wasn’t for Gu Changshou interfering with his business, he wouldn’t be stuck at the current level of cultivation and having to run away from righteous cultivators. It was the perfect opportunity now to get his revenge.

“Who are you? Gu Changshou, that bastard, is mine!” Tian Zifu squinted as he caught up, watching a scarlet clad figure interfere with his plans and attack.

“Scram! Don’t bother this grandpa!” Qin Sanhu recognized the saber-wielding cultivator as one he had cursed to lure Gu Changshou over, but now that he had him here, he couldn’t care about such a useless pawn’s life or death.

A blade of bloody qi flung out. The hallmark of a demonic cultivator!

“Demonic cultivator!” Raising his saber, Tian Zifu dodged the attack and rushed forward with his own. “You’re not welcome here.”

“Seeking death!”

Qin Sanhu harrumphed at the ant trying to eat a tiger, and sent out another bloody palm, which successfully hit its mark. Retracting his sleeves, he snorted as Tian Zifu flew out, smashing into a tree. That stupid thing deserved to die for almost ruining his plan.

Tian Zifu felt his ribs burst as blood pooled in his lungs. Grabbing a pill from his robes, he stuffed it into his mouth, forcing it down with the coppery tang of blood. They were natural enemies, and yet Gu Changshou just stood there not retaliating.

“Gu Changshou, why aren’t you attacking? Who knew you in the same boat as a demonic cultivator?!”

“Cough, cough…” Gu Changshou didn’t know how to respond to a prideful idiot like Tian Zifu who didn’t know how tall the skies or how thick the ground was. He was the one to use a poison, and now he was complaining he wasn’t attacking? What utter nonsense.

Moving his eyes to Qin Sanhu who stood there with an expression of a cat toying with a mouse, his expression turned serious.

Qin Sanhu wasn’t an easy foe. Fleeing wasn’t easy, and he wasn’t in a state to fight. Worse yet was the fact he faced a demonic cultivator who had no problem involving innocents or toying with people. The exact opposite in fact; Qin Sanhu was excited by torture and other evil acts. Righteous duels or compromises, which were his preferred options right now, nauseated them.

“Finally stopped running?”

Where could he run? He was poisoned, trapped, and unable to flee. At most, he could take a few steps before being attacked again.

“Do you feel it? The dense yin qi around us.” Qin Sanhu smiled, waving his hand leisurely around him. He chose Qingshui mountain because of the yin qi, trying to use it to break past his current cultivation barrier. But when he arrived, it overwhelmed him and he stopped. He admired whoever put up such a formation, sucking yin qi from a wide distance without alarming the righteous sects.

The cold sensation brought forth made him excited. It was why he picked this place. Yin and yang were natural enemies – how much more painful would it be if yin qi corroded Gu Changshou from the inside out?

“I wonder how long you’ll last…”

Gu Changshou had sensed it before at the foot of the mountains, but his natural constitution meant yin qi wasn’t a problem for him. Of course, he wasn’t going to share that information with Qin Sanhu. Other cultivators would feel like being frozen to death being around so much yin qi. But all he felt was a prickle on his skin, similar to acupuncture, as it danced around him, afraid of the yang qi in his body.

Qin Sanhu’s words were a reminder, however. The yin qi gave him a chance. Even if Qin Sanhu wasn’t injured, he would have to dispel the yin qi or risk being affected by it. He wasn’t like him who had a natural resistance.

It was a small hope, but his only chance right now. Tian Zifu’s interference had given him a few seconds to rest, but that man was unreliable and should be fatally injured. No one else was around them. And he had nowhere to flee.

“You thought too beautifully.” Gu Changshou snorted, gathering his strength.

“Oh ho, isn’t yin qi something most of you righteous cultivators avoid? Always saying it breeds evil spirits or is used by demonic cultivators…”

What he said about evil spirits was correct, but it was a generalization. There were righteous cultivators that specialized in yin qi and yin techniques, many of them females born on days full of yin qi, which he obviously was not.

“It’s a pity… if only I practiced yin qi techniques. This mountain would be perfect.”

“Like I’ll let you do that!”

Focusing his energy on his fist, Gu Changshou punched out with his hand. Something that he repeated hundreds of times in training drained a quarter of his remaining qi, as a golden flaming sun emerged flying forward.

What he needed was an opening. If there wasn’t one, he would make one.

Tian Zifu couldn’t hear what was being said, only the yin qi congealing around him, sucking all warmth away. There were many rumors of the heavy yin qi on Qingshui mountain, but no one ever heard of demons or spirits harming people. Only a cloud of heavy yin that cast the mountain in shadows all year around. His shifu said as long as it didn’t hurt people, they wouldn’t care, so he had almost forgotten about the matter.

Sadly, he paid for that now. Tian Zifu could barely feeling anything with yin qi seeping worming their way into his blood from the injuries caused by the demonic cultivator. The blood replenishing pills had little effect on such as large injury.

Was he going to die here…?

The rumble of an explosion from Gu Changshou and the demonic cultivator’s clash, flashed across his eyes. They were both standing, while he was almost dead.

No! He would not give up. That bastard Gu Changshou was still alive. Even if he died here, he had to make sure that bastard paid the price for his pride.

Clenching his teeth, Tian Zifu directed his remaining energy inwards into his core…

A huge boom shook the mountainside.

Clutching onto the sturdy tree trunk, it opened its eyes, quickly scanning the surroundings as it righted itself. Scampering down, it cautiously moved towards the explosion, where the three humans had been.

A large darkened crater, debris all around, was what was left.

Sniffing the burnt air with hints of earth, it made his way in the direction of where that first man was. The flash of white caught its sight when traveling the mountain. Remembering the lessons from before, it lay low as it moved, keeping an eye out on the human. It didn’t see any sign of the red clothed one as it moved, which was a relief. It didn’t like the way that human laughed.

Hunching over, it heard a sound. Rushing in that direction, it finally spied something sticking out from under some branches and rocks…

Gu Changshou groaned, trying to crawl out from the tree that had fallen over his legs.

The external injuries would heal, but his internal injuries were far worse. Several of his meridians were almost shattered, and if he wasn’t a nascent soul cultivator, he would have died from that last attack. And there was still the qi-dissolving poison in his body…

He was a rare prodigy for reaching the nascent soul stage at an age most had just begun to form their cores. Forming a nascent soul before hundred was as rare as seeing a phoenix or dragon. Gu Changshou was only sixty-eight years old, which made him a legend in the cultivation world.

Of course, his true yang body had a lot to do with why he cultivated so quickly.

Having a nascent soul meant that for the most part, one could travel fearlessly around. There were always more powerful cultivators out there, but rarely did they roam around. Cultivation speed dropped significantly after the golden core stage, and most of those old monsters were in seclusion, trying to break through. In most cases, nascent soul cultivators would begin taking in their own disciples or helping run the sect.

If not for rumors of a yang weapon and being the only one suited for it, he would be back in the sect doing the same.

But now look at him, stuck on a mountain filled with dense yin qi… A once-in-a-thousand-years prodigy? What a joke.

His ears twitched at the sound of something moving toward him. Praying it wasn’t Qin Sanhu, Gu Changshou used his unhurt arm to pull himself forward into some semblance of being able to defend himself.

But the thing that appeared in front of his eyes… was it even human?

komorebi

Hey, hey~ Sooooo, I got stuck on this idea and had to put pen to electronic paper, and as a small apology for pausing on Blood Moon Prophecy, I'm posting 2 chapters today. Your support is greatly appreciated~

P.S. There's a reason for the title being the way it is. So you'll have to read on to find out.