NOVEL NEXT Chapter 35: Berserk Energy
Transmigrated back into the body of her child self, can the mighty Celestial Bing Meilu survive in a Xianxia world all the while staving off the advances of arrogant young masters and wannabe protagonists alike?
Why is life so hard for the Icy Beauty?
Any corrections or criticisms are welcome, I hope you enjoy Chapter 35: Berserk Energy
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The Medicine 'Hall' of 70th Port Snake was in fact a massive compound comprised of many facilities. The central hall was a massive white building, featureless and spartan. Around it, dozens of tents, warehouses and buildings stood. The place was extremely sparse with few signs of activity.
That was not because the amount of injuries was low, but because the maximum capacity it was designed for was much higher than would normally occur. After all, the 70th Port Snake existed to serve Division Three of the Pirate Subduing Strike Force. The majority of its members were out upon the open ocean. The Medicine Hall would only see full capacity during a crisis that caused mass casualties to the fleet out in the sea.
Bing Meilu strode towards the main white building, passing by the guards and into a massive reception hall. Despite there being ten attending receptionists, the room still felt lonely and sparse.
"Which room is Private Xi Fu staying in?" Bing Meilu asked, addressing a bored-looking receptionist.
The woman rifled around some papers.
"Let me see... oh! The special case? He's in Room One. What business do you have with him?"
"Faction business," Bing Meilu replied, already walking away. The first room she saw was 'Room One', a massive set of double doors from behind which the sound of excited discussion came. The faction leader pushes open the doors.
Xi Fu lay yawning atop a white bed, surrounded by dozens of low-level doctors holding various note-taking devices. A drug-addled expression graced his face. There were two Foundation Establishment attendants holding up the spearman's raw, bloody stumps, as a Core Formation doctor critically assessed them.
"See here? The blood-rejuvenating pill had no effect- Write that down, Fei'er," the Core Formation Doctor ordered, ignoring the entrance of the girl.
Bing Meilu reached out with her spiritual sense, grazing the bloodied, raw stumps where his feet had once been. Xi Fu gasped in pain and Bing Meilu winced slightly as berserk, chaotic energy lashed out at her Spiritual Sense. Within it, she could sense the faint impression of a man raging out willfully against anything and everything that would dare stand before his spear.
'I see... I guess I've underestimated mortals once more.'
The test had indeed been designed to allow Xi Fu to achieve Spear Intent despite being only in Qi Condensation, and he had done just that, only surpassing Bing Meilu's expectations many times over. She had imagined he might achieve something like the True Will Guiding Intent, The Soulspear Union Intent or even the Void Piercing Intangible Intent. Many lesser forms of Spear Intent would have allowed him to push past the restriction of lacking his spear. Instead, he had grasped the fundamental truth in her instruction and awakened one of the mightiest forms of Spear Intent achievable for a mortal. Heaven Defying Spear Intent.
Even in the higher realms, such a thing was quite rare. First of all, it could only be achieved before one went through Immortal Ascension. It also required achieving a direct, intuitive understanding of the Natural Laws of Heaven and Earth. Unlike much of cultivation, there was no way to buy or reproduce such enlightenment. A cultivator could only awaken such a thing by their own comprehension. As such, it was most common amongst mortal Spear cultivators who had fought their way up the realms.
The Heaven Defying Spear Intent was the manifestation of a berserk, raging will to defy heaven, defy the gods, and slaughter everything that stood in one's way. It was uncompromising and absolute, challenging every barrier put before it.
Without a condensed Foundation to serve as a central point and guide, one's Spear Qi was too dispersed to travel so far without a spear to guide it. This was a fairly logical and straightforward law of the world. It could be circumvented through logical means that fit within the logic of the world. For example, the Void Piercing Intangible Spear Intent allowed one to send intangible Spear Qi through the Void, avoiding the problem entirely. The True Will Guiding Spear Intent allowed one to entomb their will in their Qi to guide it perfectly through the air. The Heaven Defying Spear Intent, however, disdained such methods. It simply directly smashed every natural law in its way and challenged the authority of heaven to restrict it in the first place.
'Fairly good for a mortal. If I properly guide him, perhaps he might even awaken something like the Divinity Usurping Spear Heart or even the Qiankun Severing Spearheart. Hah, imagine that rat from the Heavenly Spear Gate Ao Tian attacking me only for me to toss my own pet Spear cultivator back at him!'
"What are you doing here, Boss?" Xi Fu asked sluggishly, cleary under the influence of potent painkillers.
Rather than answer his question, the faction leader addressed the Core Formation Doctor.
"Of course, the blood-rejuvenating pills wouldn't work," Bing Meilu loudly scoffed. "Outside Qi will be interfered with by that berserk energy you've yet to purify."
The Doctor, a severe-faced older man with white hair, whirled to meet her, eyes narrowed at the interruption. Such blatant disrespect from one only in the Qi Condensation Realm was unfathomable.
"We would not purify the berserk energy before healing his feet. He will need to be at full strength to survive the backlash when we assault the Qi."
The doctor's tone was dismissive and offended as if Bing Meilu offering her thoughts was the laughable folly of an ignorant child asking why we could simply not print more money and give to everyone.
"Hmph. Amateurs..." Bing Meilu resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "There will only be a backlash if you attempt to purify it forcefully. If you coax it out gently using the proper method, there will be no backlash and you can begin the application of normal healing methods."
The other doctors in the room all turned to glare or gasp at her in shock. One of the Foundation Establishment attendants even began to leak killing intent.
"How dare you speak to the Captain like that. Don't-"
"No doctor worth his salt would attempt such an irresponsible purification of an energy whose identity they are not aware of." the Doctor interrupted with a probing question. "Unless you happen to know what is befallen this young man, hmm?"
"Actually, I do. My faction member here is suffering a very specific issue related to some of our factional secrets. I hope you'll understand if I don't explain, but I am confident in his full recovery."
The Core Formation Captain narrowed his eyes slightly, remaining silent.
"What the hell can you do? Even the Captain of the Medicine Hall can't cure him and you think you stand a chance!" one of the attendants spat angrily. "Captain Tian is the foremost doctor in the whole Port and even he is stumped!"
From their perspective, this crazy little girl was insulting the entire profession of Physician with her arrogance. Of course, Bing Meilu had no intention of doing so. The art of medicine in the Jade Sparrow world was descended from Divine Hands Deng, whom she'd met and had a good relationship with in the Immortal worlds. She would show him some face by not mocking his successors.
"When you tried to apply Blood Cooling Grease earlier, the Qi went berserk and caused some small ruptures in his legs. But when you tried blood-rejuvenating pills earlier, the Qi simply absorbed them with little response."
Raging against the Heavens was a Yang attribute, and so Yin-aligned Qi like Blood Cooling Grease would set it off, whereas the Yang-aligned healing pills would simply be devoured and incorporated into the mass of herself Heaven Defying Spear Intent.
Captain Tian's blinked slightly in shock, before guarding his expression.
"How do you know that?" he asked.
"It's simple to infer, because of the nature of this berserk energy. I am well aware of its attributes and know a method to safely cleanse it."
"A factional secret hmm? What are you playing at with something that creates unhealable wounds? While we do try and stay of out that faction business..." the doctor suddenly narrowed his eyes, his mighty Qi locking onto Bing Meilu.
She held back a gasp as his qi slammed into her, nearly forcing her to her knees.
"But if any more patients start showing up at my hall with injuries of this sort, then I think I'll have to demand to see this 'method' of yours."
Bing Meilu smiled politely, face calm, even as she struggled to stand before the man's pressure.
"I'll make sure to keep that in mind, Captain."
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"Heeey Bossssss!" he slurred, blinking at the sight of her face. "Hahahah, I sound funnyyyyy!"
With all the doctors having left the room, Bing Meilu placed her hand on Xi Fu's shoulder. Bing Mielu's icy cold Qi injected into Xi Fu, and he gasped, as clarity hit him.
"Aargh! My fucking feeet- What the hell did you do?"
"I neutralized the painkillers."
"Why?"
"If you want to recover any time soon, then you'll need to be of clear mind. I'll need your help to safely remove the Heaven Defying Spear Intent from your feet."
Xi Fu blinked, biting down on his tongue to hold back a scream of pain.
"Uh-Fine. What do you need me to do?" he hissed, clenching his teeth in pain.
"The energy preventing you from healing is your own Spear Intent. Naturally, you can absorb it."
"No-I-That stuff- I can't control it," XI Fu shook his head, whimpering. "It's too powerful."
"I will assist you." Bing Meilu said. "You currently lack the control to deal with the full thing. I will dilute the Spear Intent into my massive Qi reserves, and you can slowly eat it up, piece by piece."
Xi Fu still seemed to be hesitant but Bing Meilu waited no longer. Her meridians began to churn. Yin Qi poured from her hand, wrapping around Xi Fu's foot. Immediately, the yang-aligned Heaven Defying Spear Intent reacted to the challenge, slamming into her Qi and battering it aside in chaotic waves of turbulence. Xi Fu screamed as the powerful intent raged across his stumps.
Bing Meilu began to open up her meridians. Rather than resist, she effectively invited the raging Qi into her. It spread out intricately, attacking her yin Qi. Slowly the concentration of Heaven Defying Qi decreased as it began to battle against the seventy-two cultivators worth of Qi folded into her fractal meridian system.
"It won't get any more dilute than this. Begin to absorb it." Bing Meilu ordered.
Xi Fu bit his lip in hesitation once more, clearly terrified of attempting to bring the raging energy into his delicate meridian system.
"Xi Fu- That energy is your own Intent, the manifestation of your understanding of the spear. It won't hurt you if you don't let it."
He scrunched up his face, and Bing Meilu watched as a gentle force began to swallow up bits of Heaven Devouring Spear Intent. Xi Fu's face when white and he spun to look at her in terror.
"It's attacking my meridians-"
"Don't treat it as if it's some foreign force you've forcefully entrapped. It's your own Intent. Fully absorb it."
The spear cultivator suddenly gasped in relief, colour returning to his face. The speed of his absorption increased and Bing Meilu watched as more and more of the Heaven Defying Spear Intent was absorbed back into him. It took nearly an hour until not a scrap of chaotic energy remained around his stumps.
"Was that... terrifying power really from me?" Xi Fu muttered quietly as he fell unconscious, Exhausted from the trying Qi manipulation.
Bing Meilu pondered as Xi Fu's words conjured a memory in her mind. Fourth of the Crystal Providence Absolute Tome's Nine Forbidden Arts was the Moon Ice Bestowal.
It stood alongside the Blood Ice Prison she had used against Aiwa Satushi and the Frozen Godly renewal that had sent her back to the Bird Talon Continent. The Moon Ice bestowal allowed one to crystalize their qi and knowledge of the Crystal Providence Absolute Tome and pass them on to an inheritor. It was this technique that had allowed the legacy of a God as ancient as the Crystal Providence to last for so many eternities so that Bing Meilu could wield it.
She had stumbled across a dying elder, the last in a long lineage of cultivators who had been passed the Crystal Providence Absolute Tome. The woman had used the Moon Ice Bestowal, elevating Bing Meilu to the peak of the Deathless Realm and granting her the incredible, heaven-defying might of a God's inheritor.
For a long time after that, Bing Meilu had barely been able to control the power of the Tome. She had viewed it as this foreign thing within her whose power she could call upon, something far beyond her. Learning to accept that the power was hers, that it served her and not the other way around had been part of the enlightenment that made her qualified to step into the Celestial Realm.
Bing Meilu would have to make sure that Xi Fu understood that lesson earlier than she had.