Profound Pass

Seeing Zhao Changhe finally settle his mind and begin holding a horse stance, Luo Qi rolled his eyes.

A cultivation art practiced in a horse stance looked lousy no matter how he viewed it. Yet Zhao Changhe's strength was indeed considerable, and it had also given him an exceptionally steady foundation. Unless Luo Qi used internal force to push him, his own physical strength alone could not budge him.

Demonic arts really did have something to them. Luo Qi simply doubted that most people practicing them would put such honest, dedicated effort into the fundamentals. How many people could truly master this art, then?

Meanwhile, Zhao Changhe had already begun looking inward.

This inward vision was very different from the internal arts' observation of true qi circulating through the meridians... What he saw was the flow of blood, as though he were performing a dissection in biology class. He could see blood slowly coursing through his vessels. More than that, he could clearly sense the energy it contained, along with the very real presence of "blood qi" and "killing intent."

These strange energies and auras intertwined and mingled with his blood, surging and rushing like a great river pouring into the sea.

By Zhao Changhe's scientific understanding, this was thoroughly unscientific. Fortunately, ever since seeing the Book of Troubled Times, he had abandoned any intention of insisting on science...

This blood-baleful qi permeated his muscles and bones, greatly enhancing his strength. At the same time, however, it would rush into his brain and cloud his thinking. This was where the adverse effect of losing his reason came from. Still, it was not entirely negative. Entering a berserk state really did make someone more formidable in a fight. It was a double-edged sword.

The harder he drove the art, the more severely his blood qi would surge upward. And now, to break through, he naturally had to push the art to its utmost limit. Even Zhao Changhe himself did not know how far the consequences would go.

As for the human body's so-called profound passes, there was actually no single universal standard. At the very least, the internal and external schools defined them differently.

The internal schools focused on acupoints and meridians, much like the "opening such-and-such meridian" described in the martial arts novels Zhao Changhe had read. Which meridians one opened and which acupoints one broke through determined the effects one could achieve-and thus which profound pass one had reached.

The external schools still focused on sinews, bones, and skin. Their standards were based on what the muscles, skeleton, and even the skin's surface could accomplish: how much physical strength one could exert, how many newtons of force a punch could deliver, and so forth.

For the Blood Baleful Art, the corresponding threshold was whether he could control the blood-baleful qi that had previously surged through his blood vessels, directing it into specific capillaries to strengthen the muscles he needed. In battle, this would let him bring the strength of a particular body part to bear more precisely.

This was the first profound pass-gaining preliminary, active control over his own body, sinews, bones, and blood vessels.

It sounded simple, very much an introductory step, but actually accomplishing it was difficult. After all, he had to circulate his blood qi at full force to breach the pass. One misstep, and his blood qi and killing intent might burst uncontrollably out of his body and kill him, or rush into his brain and drive him mad. Either was entirely possible.

Carefully following the circulation method of the Blood Baleful Art, Zhao Changhe tried to concentrate the surging blood-baleful qi in his biceps. His arms swelled almost visibly, threatening to split his thin clothes apart.

Watching from the side, Luo Qi could almost picture the knotted muscles and the blood-red aura hovering over their surface if Zhao Changhe took off his clothes.

The swelling began to extend downward, from his upper arms to his forearms, then poured into his fists.

Sure enough, a bloody hue began to appear on his fists.

This manifestation resembled what they had seen when Branch Master Fang struck Luo Zhenwu. To think Zhao Changhe had already reached it so quickly. Only the level differed; the underlying thing was the same.

Was breaking through the first pass this simple? Luo Qi cautiously glanced at Zhao Changhe's eyes.

Those eyes were indeed a little red, carrying a hint of wild, vicious frenzy... After all, when driving blood-baleful qi at full force, perfect control was impossible. Some of it was bound to enter the brain. That was why someone had to stand guard.

But how should he put it... Overall, it seemed all right? Though Zhao Changhe's eyes were red and looked savage, his reason appeared intact.

Just as Luo Qi was thinking this, he saw Zhao Changhe's gaze grow increasingly wrong, his breathing increasingly heavy. The look he gave Luo Qi was as though he wanted to devour him.

Luo Qi instinctively stepped half a pace back. You bastard, and you still claimed this wasn't an aphrodisiac? This was exactly how that routine went! Was he about to pounce on me and start tearing...

Backing away, Luo Qi asked expressionlessly, "Can you handle this or not? Should I kick you into the pool?"

"No need..." Zhao Changhe managed to speak with difficulty, his voice a little hoarse. "I can keep my reason under control, but I feel awful. The blood vessels all over my body are churning like rivers overturning seas. It's like countless ants are burrowing through them..."

Luo Qi's little internal conflict instantly flew beyond the ninth heaven. Alarmed, he asked, "Will your body burst?"

"It feels... like it probably won't. There's no sense of swelling up and exploding... It's just, just horribly uncomfortable. Much worse than a high fever. So many ants are biting me, almost burrowing into my bones..." Despite the wind, snow, and icy cold, beads of sweat streamed down Zhao Changhe's forehead. His agony was plain to see.

Luo Qi fell silent.

Both of them simultaneously recalled what Fang Buping had said when they first joined: "Practicing demonic arts will be painful."

They had not felt anything this severe before and had even thought Fang Buping was merely sounding dire warnings to scare Zhao Changhe off.

But now that he had begun breaking through a profound pass and crossed the threshold into true mastery, it was time to experience that pain.

What made an art demonic? It harmed oneself before harming others. With blood-baleful qi rushing through his body, how could it not hurt? He had known all along that demonic arts had adverse effects. While enjoying his rapid progress, those effects would come knocking sooner or later. Now, at last, he was experiencing them firsthand.

Luo Qi hesitated.

Zhao Changhe said he could control his reason, but that was no guarantee. What if he suddenly lost control just as Luo Qi approached?

Even... Deep down, Luo Qi vaguely felt that Zhao Changhe dying would not be such a bad thing... Zhao Changhe treated him so well that he truly could not bring himself to kill him. Wouldn't it be convenient if something went wrong during his cultivation?

Why should he help him? Why should he risk Zhao Changhe losing control to help him?

And yet...

Though such thoughts were turning through his mind, his feet still carried him slowly forward of their own accord. His palm rested gently against the center of Zhao Changhe's back.

Only after his palm was already there did Luo Qi realize what he had done, and he sighed inwardly.

A kindness they were unwilling to discard... Zhao Changhe had it, but was Luo Qi any different?

So be it.

Zhao Changhe felt a gentle current seep through his meridians, soothing and nourishing the turmoil inside him. He could tell that Luo Qi's internal energy was not of a gentle, health-nurturing nature. It, too, was a sharp, destructive inner breath. Luo Qi was doing his utmost to restrain its sharpness, laboriously and clumsily helping untangle the chaos and calm the blood's savagery.

The unbearable pain eased a little, and he could feel how hard Luo Qi was straining. Zhao Changhe said quietly, "Thanks..."

"Isn't this what I'm here to guard you for? What's there to thank me for?" Luo Qi spoke with considerable effort. "But this can only make things a tiny bit easier. It doesn't address the root of the problem. You came here to break through... With this much pain, can you still manage it? Maybe you should give up?"

Zhao Changhe panted. "It hurt so much just now that I forgot... Now that it's a little better, I remembered Instructor Sun gave me a pill. I reckon it's meant for this... A painkiller?"

Luo Qi was silent for a moment before saying slowly, "Perhaps. But have you considered that if you have to rely on this medicine to get through every day from now on, it might be how the Demon Cult controls people? No wonder Instructor Sun taught you so diligently without worrying that you'd betray them... Did he ever tell you about any of this?"

Zhao Changhe also fell silent. Instructor Sun had indeed seemed on the verge of speaking several times, but had never explained things fully. From his perspective, was the Demon Cult controlling people simply a matter of course?

Luo Qi's words from that day echoed in his mind again: Do not trust anyone, including me, and including Instructor Sun.

Zhao Changhe had already taken out the medicine, but he gritted his teeth and shoved it back into his pocket.

Without medicine to resolve it, Luo Qi's far-from-expert efforts were clearly only a cup of water thrown onto a blazing cartload of firewood. Zhao Changhe could no longer maintain his horse stance. He slowly sank to the ground and curled into a ball in agony.

Who could have imagined that a moment ago, they had been beneath the moon among the flowers, and he had still been sneaking peeks at someone bathing? In the space of a few breaths, heaven and earth had changed.

Frostfall, winter solstice.

Luo Qi said urgently, "If you can't handle it, stop! Don't tell me you can't stop now?"

Zhao Changhe gritted his teeth. "And after I stop... Never practice it again? Destroy my cultivation and start over with something else?"

Luo Qi was struck speechless.

Destroying one's cultivation generally meant utterly ruining one's foundation as well. No matter what one practiced afterward, one would never achieve anything again.

"Better to push through... and see the end of this road... see whether it's a dead end!" Zhao Changhe clutched the rocks beside the pool so hard that his fingers left streaks of blood. Drop by drop, it fell into the water, a shocking sight.

Watching him, Luo Qi's heart filled with panic. "Why won't you take that medicine?"

"If it's a means of controlling people, why should I take it..." Zhao Changhe panted quietly. "I refuse to believe I can't endure this on my own!"

Luo Qi said nothing more, staring steadily into Zhao Changhe's eyes, which were filled with madness.

They said Boss Zhao was a real man.

Luo Qi had always scoffed at that. What kind of real man blushed and hunched over merely from brushing against a woman?

But at this moment, he truly felt that Zhao Changhe was indeed a real man.

Clinging to the rock, Zhao Changhe suddenly began to laugh. "Whether what Instructor Sun did was normal is another matter... At least I wasn't wrong to trust you."

Luo Qi suddenly flared with anger. "You're an idiot!"

Zhao Changhe said softly, "At least this time, I don't need to rely on their medicine... I'm relying on you."

Luo Qi froze for a moment, then suddenly felt the chaotic blood-baleful qi inside Zhao Changhe gradually settling down. His swollen muscles returned to normal as well. Only a faint bloody hue still circulated around his fists, looking indescribably sinister beneath the moonlight.

"You broke through?" he asked in disbelief.

"Mm." Zhao Changhe gently clenched his fists, then opened them. After briefly feeling the change in his strength, he said hoarsely, "Thank you."

Luo Qi shook his head. He had only eased Zhao Changhe's pain a little, barely a cup of water against a blazing cartload of firewood. Zhao Changhe was still in terrible agony; the tremor lingering in his hoarse voice made that obvious. In such intense pain, most people could not even concentrate. Who but a true man of iron could grit his teeth, force his way upstream, and break through a profound pass?

It seemed he had not really relied on Luo Qi, but on himself.

Yet if he continued cultivating, he would still have to face hurdles like this, each more agonizing than the last. Could he keep enduring them?

"Also..." Zhao Changhe panted weakly, yet the smile on his face was very happy. "We've gained a blessing from misfortune... I found something... Look."

Bewildered, Luo Qi followed his gaze downward.

At some unknown point, the blood seeping through the pool had begun twisting like a dragon.

Then, as though alive, it circled endlessly around the half-moon in the pool.