At the summit of the Earth Dragon's Grave, Jun Li sat in meditation, carefully correcting her condition for the first time since she completed Viscera Tempering.

  Nearby, Little Yun continued to eat, only now it consumed the flesh of the mutant beast that had been destroyed by the emergence of 'Junzi,' the young 'snake' continuously paying the caloric debt of its rapid transformation.

  With the benefit of time and peace, Jun Li felt even more benefit from her breakthrough; the strength of her strengthened heart and lungs played a key role in her recuperative abilities, and now, that strength allowed her to steady and reinforce her cultivation at a rate far beyond what she would have been capable of before entering the Grave.

  Opening her eyes, Jun Li stretched her arm and felt neither pain nor fatigue. Looking within, Jun Li felt her Dantian was full, the Qi within having been rapidly replenished by both the thick External Qi of the Earth Dragon's Grave and the unnatural vitality of her own blood.

  However, it had lost some of its frost. Whereas her Crimson Palace had been covered in a brutally icy haze of frozen mist before, the only sign of lingering frost was a chill in the waters and the ice crystals that lined the roots of the mangroves.

  Focusing her attention towards the outside world, Jun Li formed a handseal and swept it over the air, sending a thin layer of ice out across the stone. As it spread, fragile lotus flowers bloomed across its surface, and some cracked under the weight of their own petals the moment they came into existence.

  It had taken more Qi than Jun Li would have wanted just for that minor act of sorcery; with how much Qi she had expended, she would have expected thicker ice and larger lotus blooms. "It's functional, at least…"

  Looking with scrutiny towards her own Qi, Jun Li let out a sigh. 'I need to find an Alchemist's Association Branch when I get out of here, they'll have the right Medicinal Plants to get my Qi back in shape…'

  The sound of a gentle rumbling pulled Jun Li's attention out of her thoughts and drew her eyes upward, to the ceiling of the realm.

  There, as before, the skull of the long-dead Earth Dragon loomed over the mountain of calcified viscera. But now, Jun Li could hear a subtle sound echoing out from the bones, a soft, dull whine, like wood being strained to its limit.

  'Is it time…?' Jun Li expected this sound augured the condensation of the drop of Earth Dragon Blood, and stood up before walking about on the summit, looking up all the while, trying to find some sign of movement or disturbance above.

  As she walked, a sudden tug at her peripheral senses caused Jun Li to lower her gaze. At the other end of the summit, a bloody figure stood silently, looking towards Jun Li.

  For an instant, Jun Li thought it might have been the 'Junzi' she had spoken with before, but it was quickly apparent that it was a living human opposite her. "Hey…" The bloody figure spoke, sweeping sweat-slicked hair away from his face, revealing the half-dried blood that marked streaks down from his seven orifices.

  "I'm here to 'force you to fight,' as requested…!" Gao Feng stretched his limbs and spoke with an energy that one would never expect from someone of his appearance, the appearance of a ragged corpse, that is.

  Jun Li barely recognized him; if it wasn't for the fact that he was the only man in the Earth Dragon's Grave at this point, she might not have known who he was without his words.

  "Ah… You." Jun Li spoke clumsily, not remembering Gao Feng's name. "Are you sure about that? I can't imagine why you want to fight that badly, but I suppose I'll honor your request. Only…" She looked him over in an obvious way. "...you don't seem to be in any condition for a fight."

  Pulling a saber from his Spatial Ring, Gao Feng flipped it over a few times in his hand. "Not sure what you mean… I'm in the best condition of my life here! Never been better…!" At this sight, Jun Li would have questioned him further, if it wasn't for what she could sense.

  From his body, flowing even more thickly than his Killing Intent, was his Qi. It erupted out of his body, swathing his body like fire and rising away like smoke. Even without completing Nerve Tuning, Jun Li could see his Qi color and distort the air. 'That's… an intense amount of Qi to be losing each second…'

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  "...What did you-" Before Jun Li could finish speaking, Gao Feng vanished from where he stood, and a blur of movement shot towards her in a low profile. Within a half-second, that blur of movement passed over Jun Li.

  It was too fast for her to properly defend against from a standstill, and Little Yun, who had been watching from behind the mangled corpse of the mutant beast, was too far to intercept, despite moving to do so.

  Blood splashed across Jun Li's throat as her hastily raised arm was cut to the bone, the force of the strike sending her tugging her entire body across the stone as Gao Feng's saber was momentarily caught between her radius and ulna.

  Planting her feet, Jun Li turned to face Gao Feng, who had stopped behind her momentarily. There, he raised his saber over his shoulder and took wide, light steps in a practiced stance and rhythm, before leaping towards Jun Li. "Gamecock's Saber - Vicious Spur…!"

  Hardening the silver beneath her skin, Jun Li took Gao Feng's saber head-on. A dull echo ran through her body as the saber cut into her body, each slash passing only a few millimeters into the silver before its momentum was halted.

  Gao Feng's footwork sent his body flitting back and forth around Jun Li's body, cutting into whichever part seemed thinnest to him in the moment, each strike of his saber coming from a stranger angle than the last.

  Feeling the minuscule damage he was doing, even to Jun Li's back, Gao Feng leapt over Jun Li's head and back towards her front. "Gamecock's Saber - Vital Pecking!" The curved tip of his saber stabbed down a dozen times, piercing into Jun Li's face, lips, nose, and eyelids, each strike drawing pinpricks of blood to the surface, but failing to damage anything vital.

  Landing in front of Jun Li's still motionless body, Gao Feng reached up and pressed the curved point of his saber to Jun Li's mouth, pressing down with a force that sliced Jun Li's lip and threatened to pierce into her unguarded internals.

  If Jun Li were capable of moving with her silver hardened, she would have recoiled in pain at the sensation of her face being stabbed and sliced like this, but she was incapable of doing so.

  Now, she was forced to face the weakness of her best defense. This complete immobility could spell her death if Gao Feng, or anyone else for that matter, was able to bypass her defenses. 'Damn it… I barely have any time to think with this guy…!'

  With her eyes still closed, Jun Li couldn't be sure how far away Little Yun was. With no information to justify remaining as she was, she was compelled to act.

  With a numbing buzz, the silver that hardened her skin was dismissed, melting away to its dormant state, and Gao Feng's saber, still being forced down, cut straight through her lip.

  With a sickening sound, Jun Li's teeth bit down onto Gao Feng's saber, locking it in place. Pain immediately spread from her teeth, but failed to reach her brain, the path already saturated with the agony of her sliced-open lip and cheek.

  Feeling Jun Li's body loosen and buckle beneath his pressure, Gao Feng glanced down momentarily before shoving his weight forward, simultaneously hooking a leg out from Jun Li with his foot.

  Jun Li fell back, and with Gao Feng's descending weight following her, her mind went to what would happen to the saber in her teeth if she crashed into the floor as she was now. 'I'll die…!'

  Freezing her only upright leg in place, Jun Li slowed her descent by just a second. Enough to reach out with her arm and grab Gao Feng's wrist, and start freezing it with the Ice Lotus Scripture.

  Bafflingly to Jun Li, Gao Feng did not fall back or retreat when ice began to spread over his arm; he didn't even flinch as the chill seeped into his flesh and bone.

  He merely raised his left arm away from his saber and struck down with a hammer fist, striking the pommel of his saber and forcing it down an inch, sending a sharp pain and horrid sound through Jun Li's skull as something in her mouth broke.

  Before panic or inspiration could strike Jun Li in this moment, Little Yun slammed into Gao Feng's body, the snake's fanged maw biting into his midsection as its new claws dragged the two away from Jun Li.

  "Ahh…! Damn beast…!" Grabbing Little Yun's nose and jaw, Gao Feng pulled the snake's jaw away from his body, enduring the beast's teeth tearing away his flesh and spilling his blood in the process.

  When Little Yun was shoved away, the snake did not lunge towards Gao Feng again as he had expected. Instead, it retreated towards Jun Li, who quickly sat upright, spitting blood repeatedly as she checked her jaw. "What the hell did you… do!?"

  Steadying his breath as he looked down at the slowly rising Jun Li, Gao Feng's expression worsened. "You still don't actually understand why I'm here, huh? Not really. The mercy and deference of an otherwise indiscriminate killer… You level that humiliating, one-sided shit my way, and you're surprised when I pay back the insult with everything I have?"

  "...Hah…" He scoffed. "You're not just a random scumbag Rogue Cultivator, you're a psycho who genuinely thinks she's doing a special act of kindness by not killing someone."