There are many varied forms of cultivation, but almost all of them follow the same general path. Temper the body, form the dantian, open the acupoints, strengthen and cleanse the soul, and then finally link the body, dantian, and soul to create a living dantian. In the process of following this path, some cultivators will inevitably veer off of it or take dangerous, unconventional shortcuts. Most of the time this results in permanent damage, insanity, death, or other similar consequences. The catch-all term for such cases is qi deviation.

The inhuman, dried-up husk of a man standing across from Dong Tao had clearly suffered such a qi deviation. There was no choice left but to put him down.

Both sides launched into action at the same time. As the killer ran towards Dong Tao, he ordered his group to rush forward. It was an eight versus one battle.

Dong Tao was skilled in hand-to-hand combat and practically crashed into the killer, diving for his waist. The force of the tackle smashed through his hasty guard and sent the killer stumbling backwards. A moment later thick bundles of veins shot out behind him and drilled into the ground, cutting short his slide backwards just before he was sent tumbling out the front door.

All eight of the defenders tried to charge towards the killer, but every one of them except Dong Tao was held at bay. The remaining seven were forced to fight against veins that had shot towards them, lunging forth from odd angles to drain them of their blood. Before the killer was able to completely recover from Dong Tao’s first attack he followed up with a second one- a fist wreathed in qi and armed with star-iron knuckles came from below and shot towards his face. The bundles of veins were still drilled into the ground, stopping him from being pushed back too much, but it didn’t prevent the damage. A cracking noise could be heard as the knuckles crashed into his face, but it didn’t end there. Dong Tao rose from a crouched position to a proper fighting stance, launching two more heavy hits before his opponent could react.

A gruesome expression covered the killer’s face as he was hit, and as the third punch was about to land he spit out a mouthful of blood. More blood than would normally be drawn from a couple hits to the face. The blood was a deep crimson, and as it shot through the air it gave off a blazing heat. Dong Tao felt a foreboding and tried to draw his fist back, but it was too late.

The third punch didn’t land. Instead the blood collided with Dong Tao’s right hand, breaking through his defensive qi and burning away at his flesh. Dong Tao couldn’t help but scream as some of the flesh on his right hand melted away, revealing the muscle and bone underneath. As the blood burnt up several crimson maggots hidden within appeared and tried to drill into the exposed insides of Dong Tao’s hand. After a moment qi flooded back into the hand, immediately killing the creatures.

With Dong Tao’s injury, he no longer had the initiative. The killer went on the offense, veins shooting through the air like whips, blood-red qi swirling around them and slashing at the surroundings. Dong Tao was put on the backfoot as he dodged the whirlwind of blows. The flesh on his right hand began to recover as he did so, his concentration stretched to the max as he dodged the blows and maintained a healing technique. The only saving grace was that the wounds on his hand were minor. No foreign qi had invaded inside, and it hadn’t damaged the muscles much.

As the two of them engaged in their dance of death, the surrounding fighters continued in their struggle against the veins. With the killer’s recovery his attacks grew more incisive. The only reason the battles had yet to end was due to his inability to focus on eight fronts at once. Fortunately for him the veins did possess some basic instincts, and could serve as an opponent on their own.

Within the next minute two Dantian Creation cultivators died, and one Acupoint Opening cultivator with two acupoints opened broke through the blockade of veins to assist Dong Tao. Dong Tao could be seen moving between five whip-like veins at once, a nervous expression on his face. All around him the furniture and floor had deep gouges cut into them despite the building’s reinforcement formation, showing the danger of taking such an attack head-on.

As Dong Tao’s helper drew nearer, the killer pulled away part of his attention to deal with him. A bundle of veins shot through the air at maximum speed, trying to slam into him. The attacks on Dong Tao let up a little, and with his right hand in a decent state it was time to go on the offensive. The killer’s legs were swept out from under him, and several blows followed up. Most of them had to be pulled back, a counterattack of burning blood and slashing qi threatening new injuries.

From this point on the battle between the two went into full swing. Furniture splintered into pieces and the building cracked as they fought, the killer falling back and Dao Tao chasing. During this process the remaining three Dantian Creation cultivators died, causing a grave expression to appear on Dong Tao’s face. Now it was just him and two cultivators who had barely broken through to Acupoint Opening against the killer, who was more powerful than expected. The three formed up and fought side by side.

Dong Tao slammed his knee into the killer’s face. Burning blood melted halfway through his star-iron kneepad before a wave of qi destroyed it. The killer struck back, but his helpers blocked a few of the veins, making the attack easy to dodge. Dong Tao followed up with an elbow to the windpipe, and the killer was sent reeling and faltered. His attacks lessened, and Dong Tao moved in, trying to jab the killer’s eyes out.

At this point the killer took a gamble. He lowered his head, charging towards Dong Tao. This charge was easily repelled with a monstrous headbutt that sent the killer to the floor. They were both cultivators, but Dong Tao was an expert at this sort of combat and had tempered his body to an impressive state. ...But this was what the killer expected. As he was knocked to the ground he took a gamble, removing his focus from Dong Tao and turning it to his two helpers. As he moved in for another blow, a massive number of veins shot out, hemming the two in and going for the kill.

Dong Tao wasn’t able to react in time. The killer took a major blow, but the last of his helpers died. It was now one on one. As the blood was drained out of the two of them, the wounds on the killer recovered slightly, and his eyes turned less crazed for a moment.

Dong Tao tried to punish the killer for letting him get close, but a sudden, dense burst of qi forced him back. The killer had used up a lot of qi to buy breathing room, but it was worth it. Now the situation was back to a stalemate. Dong Tao rushed in as the killer moved back, engaging in a battle of melee versus ranged.

The situation carried on like this for half an hour. The killer managed to inflict glancing wounds on Dong Tao, but nothing major. Dong Tao was kept at bay most of the time, but when he was able to draw in close, his blows were devastating, drawing the almost black, burning, maggot filled blood every time.

The killer appeared to be in a sorry state… but for some reason he still had a smile on his face. It didn’t take too long for Dong Tao to realize why- he couldn’t heal his wounds from the opponent’s qi at all. It had stayed in the wound, silently festering, and was stopping him from staunching the flow of blood. It would normally be easy to fix, taking 10 seconds at most to drive the qi out and staunching the bleeding on a single wound, but the killer constantly disrupted his concentration, refusing to let him heal like before.

Despite healing a few wounds, after 45 minutes of this Dong Tao was in a dire state. The killer looked terrible, but he felt worse. He had a sweaty, pallid complexion, and was beginning to breathe heavily. He continued moving and striking as before, but his body started to feel heavy and detached. The blood loss was getting to him.

Dong Tao struggled to look for a way out. Earlier he’d hit a wall full force but it hadn’t completely shattered. This meant that the killer had set up another reinforcement formation on the outside. It would probably take a few blows to pierce through, opening him up to further injury. He wouldn’t hesitate to take the hits if he could get some worthwhile reinforcements, but… he wasn’t sure he could. The Divine Investigators were down the street, but they were only at Early Acupoint Opening- if he sustained injuries getting to them, they might be in a worse situation than before.

Whether City Lord Dong had forgotten to tell his stepson Shao Qing and Tao Yun’s true cultivation or kept it concealed on purpose didn’t matter. What mattered was that this misunderstanding made Dong Tao decide to stay put and muster his strength for a final confrontation when he could’ve ran and gotten the help of two more Late Acupoint Opening cultivators.

The final clash was spectacular. Popping sounds came from Dong Tao as he moved, muscles tearing and tendons snapping as part of some of his full-force attacks. Veins were bulging from his face too, as he pushed his body to the limit. Wounds covered the killer’s body, and he was beaten into a worse and worse state as Dong Tao continued. ...But Dong Tao’s stamina was being consumed rapidly too. To attack like this he had to injure himself, and while he could ignore most attacks like this, the killer's blows still made his blood loss worse. It was a battle against time.

In a few minutes, Dong Tao ran out of time. Half of the killer’s teeth were gone and his face was unrecognizable, but he was still able to stand. Dong Tao, on the other hand, wouldn’t be able to soon. If things went on like this he would collapse to the ground, his opponent’s bones smashed and his blood and flesh coating the nearby floor, but his life intact. He needed to deliver a finishing blow he didn’t have the energy for.

...There was only one way to do this. Dong Tao gritted his teeth and muttered to himself. “Goodbye Lan’er.” The brutal energy coming from him disappeared as it all drew inward. But this was only more ominous- he was going to detonate his dantian and self-destruct.

The killer screeched and charged in, launching an uninterrupted series of attacks. Dong Tao just smiled widely and ignored them- he was dying anyways. As his self-destruction grew closer to completion, a vein plunged into him… and the energy he’d planned to use to detonate his dantian began to draw away from it.

Dong Tao held on frantically in the tug-of-war, but he was unable to gain the advantage. His arms creeped towards the vein that'd impaled his chest, but it was like an iron wire, impossible for him to tear. Another vein pierced into him. God dammit. He was out of energy. It had to be now. He let out a scream as all of his remaining qi slammed into his dantian. It wasn’t as spectacular as he was planning, but he exploded. The surrounding floor was completely destroyed, and the killer was caught in the explosion.

A few moments later the smoke cleared and the aftermath was revealed. Dong Tao was dead and the killer was critically injured. His body was bruised and broken, and he couldn’t even walk. The veins that had been energetically wriggling around were now floundering. He crawled against the ground, gritting his teeth as some of his bones scraped against the floor. The remaining veins struggled to scour the battlefield, sucking up all the blood remaining on the ground and from Dong Tao’s corpse. As he did, his wounds began to recover. It wasn’t much better, but it wasn’t fatal anymore.

After glancing around for a few moments, the killer sat on the ground and pulled a pill out from one of his pockets. Unlike the crazed look before he now had a calm expression as he steadily healed himself.

"The bloodlust from before has calmed down for a bit… I need to take the time to heal. A couple more cultivators and I should break through to Soul Foundation, I can feel it. Hopefully I can regain control then.”

By the time night turned into early morning, the killer had healed completely. He’d consumed all of the healing pills on him, as well as many of those carried by his opponents. The look in his eyes was once again crazed, and as he left he didn’t bother to salvage a non gore-covered robe. It was time to kill those ‘Divine Investigators’ and cut off the final threat to him. Soon he'd reach Soul Foundation and be able to get ignore the city lord's pursuit.

"It looks like they held off for tonight." "Mhm. Maybe they noticed something off." Shao Qing trailed off. "Nevermind. Be quiet."

The window exploded as the killer shot into the room.