"Too late."
Shou Xin ever so slightly looked up from between his hair which had been stuck together into clumps from the blood.
His off-hand turned from a sword symbol, into a fist.
"Become my nourishment."
Within the abyss-like space, the Eighth Chain Flood Dragon was the only source of light, causing it to have bad visibility to begin with.
That is why it did not notice the looming shadow despite it's amazing senses, because of the dark and because of… Shou Xin's sacrifice.
The Mound, which was as dense as a mountain is tall, descended, crushing the Eighth Chain Flood Dragon beneath its weight!
The whiskers which had yet to be destroyed were directly ground into dust.
The Eighth Chain Flood Dragon's golden scales turned into little light trails which quickly rose and coalesced into a golden ball of pure, unaligned Qi which did not resist as it was easily absorbed into the Sanguine Sword Law which had begun to spin at breakneck speeds.
The Sanguine Sword Qi rushed into the mound, forcing its way into the same chamber as Shou Xins soul.
At the same time, the Sanguine Sword Qi rushed down into the remaining bones of the flood dragon and sucking them up and back onto the foundation, creating a massive bone sword which was stuck into the dense foundation by sheer force whilst it was weakened due to it's master's condition.
In an instant, the dense foundation sucked in the essence of the flood dragon bone sword, nourishing the foundation and creating a good environment for the Sanguine Sword Law which previously held no real shape, to reside.
The Sanguine Sword Law's previously corporeal form flew into the flood dragon bone sword, giving it a direct connection to Shou Xin's soul. Shou Xin who had been watching all of this whilst almost having his soul completely shattered, did not smile.
He did not feel like a winner.
He felt like a survivor.
Though pain wracked him, he continued the construction using the giant flood dragon's corpse!
His mound, which could previously only be called that, a mound, had become a Sword Mound, though bearing only a single blade, that was enough.
His soul had also increased in strength, though not size.
The pure unaligned Qi of the flood dragon had instead of becoming Sanguine Sword Qi, become a part of his soul strengthening it.
Using the flesh of the flood dragon, Shou Xin nourished his Primeval Body quickly increasing it's strength by leaps and bounds directly to the middle of the First Stage.
As the construction finished, Shou Xin dragged himself to the top of the Sword Mound Foundation, leaning up against the Sanguine Sword Law which had become the blade stuck at the top.
"Sanguine Sword Steps, Sanguine Sword Slash, Sanguine Sword Field." Shou Xin muttered with a quiet smile creeping onto his face, "Not very original, is it?"
A laugh creeped out from his bloodied lips.
Even now his soul was still recovering.
"This place looks bigger." He slapped the Sword Mound grinning, "It's called an Inner Sea, and yet I have almost no Law Qi left… not that I ever filled the damned thing to begin with."
One had to know, to fill their Inner Sea completely, the law would need much nourishment if one wished to do it quickly, though, any amount one filled would passively regenerate over time as well.
To increase one's Qi however, was the struggle of all cultivators.
He sighed.
"A foundation is like an island in the midst of one's sea of strength, but this feels more like being on a mountain top above the clouds, probably." Shou Xin shook his head.
His illusory figure began to slowly disappear and shot down into his soul.
----
The first thing Shou Xin found when he opened his eyes was that his sword was still with him, gripped tightly in his palm such that to take it away, one would need to take his arm with them.
The next thing he noticed was, he was in a carriage.
And the final thing he noticed was this.
"A prison cart?"
He looked around and found he was chained, alongside the single window with iron bars and a metal slider, he nodded.
"A prison cart."
It was not the first time he had been in one, so he was not very shocked.
"Well then."
He quietly felt along the little bit of the floor of the cart he could touch with the chains attached to him.
"There it is."
He hooked his finger into the corner of a floorboard easily propping it up.
Something every Shou learned ever since they were young was how to escape imprisonment, it was a common thing taught in a very strict manner.
Prison carts were made to hold criminals and so the chains would often have almost no slack at all leaving them extremely uncomfortable, however, if one ever found themselves in a cart with chains that had a lot of slack, it was because it must have some sort of formation within it.
After checking the floorboards he easily found it.
"It should have three settings, currently in the middle one. If I go too far the chains will lose all slack, where as the opposite way a paralyzing gas will spray and knock out whoever's inside whilst the chain vanish."
He calmly analyzed the formation and then the chains began to vanish quite easily.
"Or the fourth option, break it."
A hole had been put through the formation, a tiny amount of Law Qi enough to break the little formation used for petty criminals or practitioners.
It did not encompass a countermeasure to Qi.
The chains easily vanished.
"Ah," Shou Xin froze without moving a single muscle, "Well."
He felt his left half of his body and realized… he couldn't feel a damned thing.
It was all dead.
The illusory image had taken severe damage concentrated on the left side, his soul cracking.
Realizing this, he realized that likely until his soul had finished healing… he would effectively be crippled on his left side losing movement in his left arm altogether.
"...This sucks."
Shou Xin silently escaped the prison cart, soon arriving at a nearby stream.
///////
"Damn."
Shou Xin half-turned to see a group of bathing women, who had noticed him and radiated a huge Qi.
"This really isn't my day."
Shou Xin looked at them emptily, choosing to feast his eyes once before dying.
"Wait!" One of the women called out quickly, "He's blind!"
"I am fucking not." Shou Xin almost screamed aloud, but kept it in his head instead continuing in his mind with, "I am now blind."
He stared into the emptiness, his expression turning fearful as he called out.
"Who-, who's there!?"
He raised the Sea Spring Sword, his Sanguine Sword Field activating, yet it's activation was cancelled as it shattered due to the immense pain his soul causing him to cough up blood all over his body.
"Damn it," He kept his empty look in the direction of the voice despite her having moved already, "Stay back!"
He clutched his chest, the Sea Spring Sword quaking as he held it.
He shivered with pain as he tried to gather his Sanguine Sword Field once again!
"Stop! We are not your enemies!" The woman who had spoken walked forward raising a hand and then going red from embarrassment, "You are badly injured, let us help you."
Shou Xin took a step back and bumped into someone, he screamed and his soul seriously ached causing him to fall and his Sea Spring Sword to clumsily be swung behind himself.
In that instant, he saw it in the sword's reflection.
His eyes had gone completely white save for some of the pupils and outlines, cracks ran through them though, making it look like frost.
His hair had, however, been left alone for the most part, save for the fact that someone had cut it shorter into a small ponytail as well as managing to do the upkeep on it very well.
In the next instant however, he saw the terror of a woman standing behind him.
A giant.
He stifled his fear which rose in waves, his body shaking as he tried to pull back his Sea Spring Sword which had been caught by the giant woman between her two fingers.
At that moment he heard a voice beside him.
"He's definitely lost all feeling in his left arm." A lady said from beside him, genuinely scaring Shou Xin this time.
He rolled to try and escape but felt a tug as the Sea Spring Sword could not be taken out from the giant woman's grasp.
"Don't be fooled, Lady. This boy is skilled despite his ailments. The instant he realized I was behind him he managed to send out an accurate strike straight at my throat, despite the clumsiness." The giant woman smiled, "His instincts are good."
Shou Xin turned his ear towards the giant woman to better hear her.
She let go of the sword and Shou Xin slowly stood up.
"...I appreciate the compliment but, I've already shown too great an unsightly side to accept it." He bowed in her direction, and when he looked up she had moved but he kept talking to the space had been at.