CHAPTER 26: I CARE

Yu Tian struggled to get up, and she helped him sit on the ground.

She wondered what to do now. Yu Tian always seemed to know what to do, but with him hurt like this, she felt that she should step up and not just rely on him.

But it felt as though she was suddenly stumbling in the darkness.

"What are you waiting for? Recover your energy. We need to get away before reinforcements come. At this point, they’ve probably already heard the battle and are on their way," Yu Tian said.

"Ah, that’s right," she said, then looked at him with concern. "What about you?"

"Well, now that the enemy is gone..." As he spoke, the spike piercing through him - made of elemental qi - began dissipating like mist.

"I made sure to position myself in a way that would avoid any vital injury, so it should be fine. I just have to dissipate the remnant earth qi and everything will be fine."

As he was explaining this, he suddenly felt her hands grip his shoulders tightly.

"What’s wrong?" he asked, noticing her stricken expression.

"’In a way that would avoid a vital injury’? So you did it on purpose?" she asked, her voice trembling.

He didn’t respond immediately.

"Why did you have to do that? Couldn’t you have just used the treasure like we originally planned?" she pressed.

"I had a higher chance of success if he believed he had genuinely hurt me," Yu Tian said calmly.

She stared at him with a shocked expression, her grip tightening on his shoulders.

"Again with the chances," she said, looking at him with a disappointed expression.

"What are you saying? This is why we’re alive right now," he said.

He wondered if she felt guilty about the situation.

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He smiled, placing his hand on her head comfortingly.

"It’s okay, everything is fine now. Besides, it’s just a minor injury - I don’t really care about it."

"But I do care," she said.

He looked at her, trying to read her unreadable expression. He thought to himself that she was probably thinking he was a valuable asset she didn’t want to lose.

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"..."

He gently lifted her hands off his shoulders. "Why don’t we talk about this later? We can’t stay here for long."

"Ah... yes," she said quickly, turning around.

She settled into a meditative posture next to him, beginning to absorb spiritual energy from the surroundings.

"Fuck! What’s going on with me? Why did I say it like that?" she cursed internally.

She opened one eye and glanced at him - he seemed to be in deep concentration, his breathing steady as he circulated his energy. She blushed slightly, thinking to herself that it was true though. She really did care about him.

She wondered when she had become like this. Was it because he had saved her back in the cave? Or was it when he made that healing pill for her? Maybe it was when he helped her fight the snake monster.

He was just so reliable. She hadn’t even noticed when she had fallen for him.

She covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. What was she even thinking about right now when she was supposed to be recovering her energy?

Yu Tian glanced at her curiously, then closed his eyes and continued circulating his internal energy to heal his wound.

...

Yu Tian sensed the energy flowing inside him.

He thought to himself that getting injured had actually turned out to be quite an unexpected boon.

As he was preparing to expel the remnant earth qi, he suddenly realized something. With his five-element spiritual root, he could actually absorb the earth energy still lingering in his body and integrate it into his usual circulation.

Usually, people wouldn’t attempt this even if they had related elemental roots, since it was dangerous to absorb other people’s qi. Each person had their own unique method of refining qi, and absorbing foreign energy directly could lead to complications.

But this wasn’t a problem for him. With his Path to Heaven method, he could circulate the energy following the most optimal path and easily tame it, seamlessly integrating it into his cultivation.

He smiled to himself. Getting Core Formation level remnant energy - even just a little - was definitely worth getting stabbed for.

As he thought this, he remembered Xueling’s words from earlier. He opened his eyes slightly and noticed she seemed to be cultivating peacefully beside him. He sighed quietly and returned to his own cultivation.

He slowly circulated the remnant energy, allowing it to be refined and rewritten to match his body’s natural flow. As time passed, the foreign qi began to lose its violent nature, gradually becoming more and more docile until eventually, it became completely tamed.

He slowly opened his eyes, instantly locking gazes with Xueling, who was just inches from his face.

"Ah!" she exclaimed in surprise, stumbling backward.

"What are you doing?" he asked, chuckling internally. This was just like before. He wondered what was so fascinating about his face.

"Ah... well... I was just about to wake you, but you seemed to be undergoing another breakthrough," she said, then inspected him more closely. "You really broke through?" she asked in surprise.

"That’s right," he said, getting to his feet. "I managed to refine the remnant qi inside me and advance my earth element to the fifth layer of Qi Gathering."

She was shocked to hear this but could only shake her head. Only Yu Tian could accomplish something like that and speak about it so casually.

"Wait, earth element? Are you practicing the Five Elemental Foundation method?" she asked.

"Five Elemental Foundation?" he echoed her words.

"It’s the cultivation method where you develop all five elements together and use them to form your foundation. You can also form a Five Elements Core with it," she explained. "I read about it in a book. It doesn’t look like many people practice it since it requires the worst possible five-element spiritual root."

She suddenly remembered that Yu Tian’s root was indeed five-element and began waving her hands frantically. "Ah... not saying that you have the worst possible spiritual root or anything! It’s just..."

Yu Tian didn’t pay attention to her flustered apologies. He thought to himself that this explained why he was feeling his earth element had reached the fifth layer while the others remained behind. It seemed the five-element spiritual root wasn’t just disadvantageous because it was slow, it even had the additional drawback of requiring each element to be cultivated separately.

Well, it wasn’t really a debuff since people could choose to pursue just a single element even with such a spiritual root. He smiled. But why would he limit himself like that? He was going to form this so-called Five Elements Foundation.

As Xueling continued mumbling apologies, he interrupted, "They’re almost here. We should leave."

She instantly grabbed him and took flight.