Chapter 642: Transformation Through Impurity

One hundred and nine percent.

No, beyond that, but not quite enough. Zae Zin Nim flickered at the edge of a breakthrough, and her struggle was not to manage it, but to avoid breaking through too early.

She sat in the center of a circular room formed of pure white marble. All around her, the most powerful members of the Pureflower Sect sat in two rings, extending their hands and imparting their qi toward her. The result was a locus of incredible density, yin energy of extraordinary beauty and power, yet it wasn't enough.

In one sense, what she was trying to do was simple. She no longer viewed Sky Soul as a mystical limit to cultivation, it was merely the next step in preparing her dantian and qi for more intense cultivation. But with that limit removed, she found herself in unknown territory, basing her methods on nothing but heretical techniques and her own intuitions.

Her first and strongest theory was that she should use far more qi than was normally recommended, the sort of energy that was freely available in the outside world. Normally that would spill over, but she had prepared several methods to try to open her dantian and her meridians to absorb it.

Second, she was going further than focusing on simple qi. She had already done some of this in past breakthroughs, in order to not leave behind her Coldfire Corona and Pure Yin Shroud, but now she went further. These powers were not simply part of her, they were part of her cultivation.

So far, she had nearly reached 110% simply via her own power and the huge rush of yin energy from the Pureflower Sect. In front of her, she had arrayed various qi and medicinal pills from the Brightwind vaults, just in case. The most obvious treasure was the Jade Key Pill, of course. From Lostwreck, she held the deathly black pill. She had a potion of her own concentrated mana from Juray and the pill Omilaena had forged just for her. Heavenly Qi gathered from both the Brightwind and Coiling Island sects. Currently she was overflowing with yin energy, but she still held balancing yang from Kai within her dantian.

All of that should have been more than enough, yet she remained at the precipice, fearing that all of this would lead to a fire deviation. It made all too much sense that this hubris would lead her to go too far, cracking her dantian and leaving her cultivation forever leaking...

No, there was no more room for doubt. Zae Zin Nim had heard Cragrila's grim message and knew that there was no more time. In this battle, she would not be too late.

With a rush of determination, Zae Zin Nim began consuming every single one of the resources available to her, embracing them all, forcing her cultivation to widen to encompass more than she had been taught. For several glorious moments, her potential seemed to soar and she felt something loosen in her stomach, as if her dantian was opening.

The flood of power made several of the Pureflower cultivators faint, and that distraction threw Zae Zin Nim off. There was so much power, she was rushing toward the edge, but what was shifting within her? Was this a sensation that she needed to suppress with discipline, or something to be embraced? She was in entirely unfamiliar territory here.

No matter what she tried, the next tier seemed to recede from her. Even with so much power surging within her, she felt as though her dantian was leaking, so she desperately consumed one of the Brightwind qi pills. That would only last so long, however, and another Pureflower maiden had collapsed in exhaustion.

She felt a moment of pity... and her cultivation surged in response. Zae Zin Nim frowned and tried to suppress her emotions, then reconsidered. The surge hadn't been a bad one... emotion could easily destabilize a cultivator, but it didn't need to be eliminated.

Now that she thought about it, she realized that her initial step on the path had been pushed by thinking about Cragrila, Wan Fei, and everyone else who depended on her. Had that actually been the right path, which she had abandoned by shedding emotions?

Zae Zin Nim let her heart enter her cultivation, pouring everything she could into her soul, and it seemed to heat up in response. The heat should have scared her, but she embraced it: she added in her love for her spouses, her determination to return to them. That took her closer, but it wasn't enough... next she drew on her anger, her wrath at her father and everything he represented.

All at once there was too much. Zae Zin Nim let out a cry of pain, cultivators fell all around her, and her world went dark.

.

..

.

Kai's vision flickered darkly and he realized that even Behemoth's Heart was struggling to keep up with the battle. He had been fighting the Abhorroid for what felt like hours, preventing it from assaulting the city, but he was nearing his limits. His body and stamina regenerated, but the monster seemed to have unlimited amounts of both.

Was there even a point in still fighting? He felt as though the inhabitants of Hantron City should all have fled... but no, they hadn't. Human beings were slow and disorganized, and even with an abomination floating in the sky overhead, they couldn't all get out at the same time. If he knew people, when they saw him fighting for them, they might even have delayed to grab more of their things.

If he was that bitter, he really was injured. Kai groaned as he pulled himself up to a sitting position and looked toward the floating monster. It continued toward him inexorably, despite all of the wounds he had dealt to it.

He might be done. Kai's monstrous body could keep fighting, but he had been pushing his mind for so long, fighting over and over with so little sleep... there was only so much of him to go around, and he had stretched himself thin. This fighting while giving in to his instincts was the last straw, leaving his mind barely intact...

"Here we are again." Omilaena embraced him from behind and new life surged within him.

"You." Kai smiled blearily at her. "Did you... beat Jonijix?"

"Beat and drained his life force into a syringe."

"Good. But..." Kai shook himself and refocused. "I'm glad to see you, but you shouldn't be here. There are invaders attacking all across Deadwaste, and most people can't defend themselves like I can. I don't even know how many... oh, and Fodajix. He slipped away and he could be doing anything. There's literally no one on the continent who can beat him except for the two of us."

"Relax." Omilaena kissed his cheek and the poison on her lips tingled. "As much as I wanted to help you immediately, I also wanted to spend all day in bed today, and we can't get what we want. I've already talked to Razz and the Irunians, helping them with a few things. Right now, what they all need you to do is fight the battle they can't."

"Right..." Kai pushed himself to his feet and took a deep breath. He didn't entirely understand what she meant, but her logic was sound. "How are we going to play this?"

"I admit, that monster is a problem. Do you think you can grow and release that beam you did while fighting Zae Clen Ban?"

"That drained half the city, remember? Even then, it only lasted a few seconds. There just isn't enough energy to-" He cut off as a syringe filled with blue chakra was waved under his nose.

"This is what's left of Jonijix," she told him. "The only phased chakra in our world worth anything. It's a bit nasty, given who it came from, but I'm pretty sure you can draw off it. The only problem is that I don't know how long it will last."

"Omi, this is amazing. I could kiss you."

"You absolutely could."

"But if I'm fighting here, you need to hunt down Fodajix. He might not be the strongest invader, but it looks like he'll be the most trouble. We can't win so long as he's lurking."

"Alright." Omilaena handed him the syringe and then took a step back with a fond smile. "As much as I'd like to stay and watch, I suppose there's always a chance you'll try to eat me... in a bad way. So use this and take on the monster. Bringing it down now is our best chance, but if you can't, we'll have your back."

"Right." Kai gripped the syringe tightly and watched her go before he turned to the monster.

The Abhorroid had been floating closer during their conversation, slowly and inexorably. Now, however, it didn't seem so unstoppable. It wasn't simply that he'd taken time to rest, or that he had a new source of power. What mattered more was that talking to Omilaena instead of enduring an endless brutal fight made him feel like himself again.

Even though he was about to stop being himself. Kai turned the syringe of chakra over in his hands, trying to remember exactly how he'd felt in Floodisle City. It might be difficult to regain that... or it might not. His Savage Heart had improved so much, he could practically feel it thirsting for the chakra.

Instead of injecting himself, Kai tossed the syringe into the air and ate it in one bite. Instantly he felt the difference, making everywhere he'd been on Cloudspire or Rosemount feel like a desolate wasteland. He seized that power, feeling his body grow, far more than it normally would.

He expected to lose control of himself, to fall into monstrous instincts, and just tried to focus himself toward the Abhorroid. But as his view of the world rose and it no longer looked so overwhelmingly large, he realized that his mind was still clear. Hungry, furious, but clear.

Letting out an earth-shaking roar, Kai launched himself at the enemy.