Fighting to be Kind in a Cultivation World

Chapter 119: Pulling Myself Together

Chapter 119: Pulling Myself Together

Slowly, I climbed to my feet. Albeit a little shakily.

My eyes subconsciously fall down to the womans diced body.

If it wasnt clear before, it is now. Theres a lot of blood pooled around her, everywhere. Much of it is still wet and soaking the ground.

Just as Im about to look closer at the body remains, I take a step back and look away, trying not to throw up

My stomach had automatically had turned at the sight.

I dont want to look at it.

I really dont want to look at it.

Why is this so different for me, then when the insects had eaten those men?

Its because shes a woman. Was a woman.

Even if she betrayed me, there was that last moment. That last fucking moment of pity both infuriating and humanizing.

Fuck. Im able to not really think of the other guys that died, because they were clearly bad people.

Or thats what I want to tell myself.

I might have to face the actual issue that I have a subconscious, favorable bias towards women. Im sure that Vermillion Stripe guy had his own circumstances.

Though thats admittedly harder to argue.

Nonetheless, I have to deal with this issue. And get out of here.

Im sure surviving something like this is going to cause some waves.

With my heart a little stabilized, I choose to look back at the remains.

An image flashes through my mind of a pile of diced pork. They have sliced even the bones into neat, nearly rectangular chunks.

I barely hold on to my stomach contents for the second time. Once I regain control, I reengage.

Using my scan, I investigate the situation to determine what exactly transpired here.

From what I can gather, it is clear this was a hit from the Alchemists Guild.

There were several stages to this assassination. The first was to see if poisons could affect me. Which were administered twice by the red-haired young woman.

Her teeth must have had some type of poison on it, and when that didnt work, she used a talisman of sorts. That item summoned a spiritual sword covered in a poisonous aura, which was stabbed into me at high speeds. It looks like it only had the energy for one stab and injection.

The cultivator must have been waiting to see if she succeeds and when she unknowingly failed, they killed her and it was with an attack that a low tier cultivator couldnt survive. Let alone a normal person.

Theres always the chance that they were always planning on killing her. Which might actually be the case in this situation. Though, I suppose her speaking up must have sealed her fate.

Ultimately, it looks like she was just a poor woman, looking to get a good start in a sect. Hoping to gain the support of a powerful group.

On the other hand, the cultivator was likely someone who works with them regularly. My estimates put her cultivation level at the mid Qi Condensation tier. Seems like she could only pull off two of those attacks before exhausting all of his strength

Which is a significant investment for a cultivator, showing the importance of the Alchemists Guilds request to the cultivator.

Thats still frightening in itself, and is a good reminder that even cultivators at this first stage, not even considered true cultivators, have tricks up their sleeves that could easily end a person.

I turn my thoughts to my allies. Since there were no spiders close to me, Gong wasnt notified of my near-death experience. Clearly a major oversight on our part.

Lin and Ai seem to be having no trouble. Additionally, Big Sis Cranes people are nearby. Likely, they must be under direct protection.

wait. Why didnt I get protection?

Ill have to keep that in mind for later. This could have been a test of sorts, or backroom deals being made.

Worst case, she stepped aside to allow it to happen.

I wouldnt put it past Big Sis Crane to be using this to test my capabilities or get rid of a loose end.

Hell. They may have planned that situation earlier to bait me in.

And now from this attack, they will now know that surprise attacks are effective.

Even more so, they know I have some way to come back from attacks of this level. A dangerous ability.

Whether they take that as a sign to back up and not offend someone with potentially strong enough backing to survive this or decide to finish off a potentially dangerous foe, will be shown later.

While I refuse to not help people in need, Ill need to turn my scan up a notch from now on. Even if it hurts.

I need to know if Im facing someone with potential and intention to kill me.

And even if people may get hurt, I may have to wait for a bit. To make sure I fully understand the situation.

Running into this situation headfirst almost got me killed. A quick scan of her could have revealed part of the situation.

Fuck.

Im tired of making these mistakes, but do I really have to be paranoid about every damn thing and person?!

Sigh.

Nothing to be done about it. I guessed it when I arrived here. This is just the type of place this is.

Its my job to change it. To make that difference, that others wont. I just need to keep getting smarter at how I do it.

With this thought in mind, I make my scan slightly more detailed. Interpreting a little more data and feeding it into me more.

My real intuition has been getting better since using the ability in a vaguer way, and actually helps with this. Based on this, I should be able to determine potential hidden weapons.

Even more importantly, I will now be able to better recognize the threat of certain actions or weapons.

Unfortunately, this will give me quite a bit more than a headache. Continuously. It will be a while before this pain goes away from growing through it.

A necessary sacrifice.

As soon as I start the ability, a large ringing pain goes through my head. Like a person jamming a stake in my head, wiggling it back and forth.

Its much worse than I thought.

Theres a difference between knowing how much pain there is and experiencing it.

Then choosing to fight through it.

My concentration is nearly broken, and it is difficult to focus completely. Not totally enough to disable me but enough that my reaction speed is affected.

But the sacrifice in reaction speed is worth being able to determine that there is a threat in the first place.

Eventually, this will go away.

God I really hope this pain eventually goes away.

I fucking hate pain. But never again with this.

Ill need to train my pain tolerance eventually too. Another day, though.

Much later on.

Guiltily, even this situation doesnt make me want to go through more pain tolerance training. Other than what Im doing now.

Nonetheless, I find myself a little more prepared to try this again. Ive identified some weaknesses in myself. Areas to grow in. But this is not the best time to fix all of them and build my strengths. Ill need more time for that.

My mind moves onto the next challenge.

I head out of this area, through a different alleyway. Sneaking around and using my scan the whole way.

I wasnt caught.

Lets see if this works.