Seeing her movements he felt she was not blind at all, yet, her gaze clearly reflected nothing but a long daunting fog.
As he stood up, he took the Sea Spring Executioner's Blade as a crutch.
"If you go out like that, all the prey will run away within a mile." Vienna commented off-handedly, "Use those instincts properly for once before I snap her neck, damn you."
He gulped.
Focusing on the Sea Spring Executioner's Blade, he who had been using it for months, felt a thin connection to the killing intent within.
Yet, the moment his mind tried to enter it or even slightly pierce it, he felt he would drown and was instantly thrown out.
A small red cloud appeared at the same time within his Inner Sea, floating around the broken mound.
His instincts told him that the cloud was useful, and something special.
"I hate it." Vienna said begrudgingly, "You use the damned thing for so long and don't manage to extract even a strand of the killing intent to make it yours, yet I threaten someone once and all of a sudden your a bloody prodigy. Alright, that's it. I'm going to kill her if you fail, now control the damned thing!"
Vienna's thunderous voice rocked his mind and shook his Inner Sea.
The little crumbs of Primeval Qi became saturated with the killing intent, causing it to take on a crimson sheen.
The clouds were absorbed into his foundation deepening the connection with the Sea Spring Sword.
Yet, as he did so, a small storm cloud appeared within his Inner Sea surrounding the mound.
"Survive it, or I kill her." Vienna said coldly, his gaze slowly deepening the longer he watched.
Shou Xin gathered his little foundation and the killing intent within.
The moment the little lightning struck his crumbs within the Inner Sea, the killing intent hidden within burst out fighting it off but being almost completely annihilated in the process.
Only a single granule of it was left to retreat back into the foundation.
The pain which shot through him did not phase him much, he had experienced many of those bolts when he was nearing the breakthrough to First Chain Mortal.
As he returned to the world, he realized his hand had been grabbed by Feng Wuqing, a strange cold crawling up through his body yet it vanished like a specter into the fog.
"Here you go." She took out an already dead little beast, a rabbit which was the size of a small boulder, "It was already dead when I found it."
He took it over and touched it.
Quietly he activated his Talentless Sword Arts innate skill, Primeval Absorption.
Immediately, a huge amount of Primeval Qi surged towards him, almost overrunning him, yet he managed to turn it off just in time.
A huge amount of Primeval Qi swirled within his body like a terrifying storm turning his Inner Sea from a vast wasteland into something more akin to something larger than a pond, but far far smaller than a lake.
His gaze fell around the broken mound which was like a tiny island beset surrounded by turbulent and oftentimes terrifying waves which threatened to engulf it.
"Beasts which are inherently creatures which do Physical Cultivation have an abundant amount of Primeval Qi, though most of it is burned as they pass through cultivation going from high quantity low purity to unmatched purity, low quantity." Vienna said laughingly, "It looks like your Inner Sea has become turbulent, even a small miss-move and you could truly explode, just take in the rest, it won't make your situation any worse, since it can't be any worse anyway."
Shou Xin glared at the haughty black cat which promptly turned him and smiled as though to say, "You wish to rebel?"
He quickly looked away to the large rabbit and in a moment, took away the rest of the lingering Primeval Qi which only added to the chaos.
His Inner Sea looked like a horrifying storm, and his Foundation Mound like a tiny boat made for ants.
Seeing as he could nothing about it, he chose to ignore it.
If those waves crashed into his foundation, he would die.
If they didn't he would live.
It was up to the luck, but one thing was certain. He could do nothing about any of it and so didn't.
Using the Sea Spring Sword he cut open the rabbit slowly and methodically, Giant Rabbits were common beasts seen often ravaging fields and destroying farmlands, something the Shou Clan often saw in markets and their youths learned to deal with and dissect.
---
Sitting before the fire pit, Shou Xin took an account of all the food available to him.
The rabbit meat, which is tough as it is beast meat, had to be tenderized to make it edible so as not to break one's teeth like gnawing on rocks.
Setting it aside to allow it to tenderize, he took stock of the other spices, seasonings and such and found it was absolutely baron.
A rock had more taste than what could be found within Feng Wuqing's pantry.
However, he made do.
Focusing on the meat itself, it took quite a while using the fire pit to soften it enough to make it handle-able for himself, and edible for others.
Once that was complete, he made small incisions to check for the level to which it had been cooked and then let it sit for a while longer, taking stock of how long it sat on either side and taking care to flip it from time to time.
As he waited for it to be completed, he saw the sun beginning to go down once again, an entire day having passed.
Glancing around he saw Feng Wuqing with her eyes closed on the other side of the firepit, though he could not tell if she was asleep or not.
He slowly closed his eyes.
"As expected," Vienna whose gaze felt like it was stripping him, spoke directly, "Your little foundation can't handle it. You'll need to begin absorbing small amounts of the Primeval Qi and Killing Intent to strengthen yourself. Time is not on your side."
He said nothing and began.
The Primeval Qi which was in a highly turbulent state had not stopped it's rampaging, but due to the sheer quantity it tended to restrain itself as it slammed wave into wave only occasionally causing him extreme pain.
His soul flew down to the Mound where it couldn't even hide anymore as it had become even poorer than when he first began his journey.
Instead, his soul had become like the only glue keeping it all together, thing strands of killing intent sticking to it and then to the Mound.
A very precarious balancing act.
The only method to take only a small amount of the Primeval Qi from his Inner Sea without provoking the entire swarm would be to use his soul, which carried no element, to grab out a small amount.
Primeval Qi reacted to Qi and Primeval Qi. A simple process.
But, to Shou Xin, it was an extremely angering one.
All he had was Primeval Qi, and his killing intent couldn't be controlled yet, only absorbed.
So he could only use his soul which was very small and weak to take small portions of the Primeval Qi lake below.
Carefully, he looked around.
The waves looked like lightning was passing through the waters as each time they moved streaks would cross just beneath the surface lighting up the entire Inner Sea.
Only once he saw no signs of it moving, did he very quickly grab a small amount and then begin absorbing it directly with his soul, what was a very dangerous process since a single mistake could extinguish his very existence in an instant.
Sweating profusely, he slowly completed the process.
His soul couldn't hold much, which meant the amount he took was astronomically small such that it didn't even call a thunder cloud.
Quietly, he took some more.
It was not until the third absorption that a thunder cloud arrived and struck at his Mound turning it from a little mud pile back into crumbs, but slightly more crumbs.
He repeated this process tens of times before his mind exited his Inner Sea, unsatisfied but forced to look after the food.
After all, one could not survive on Primeval Qi alone.
Taking stock of the Giant Rabbit meat within the pot, he slowly turned it around and make a small incision to check if it was ready.
Once he was sure that it was complete, he turned over to Feng Wuqing only to find she was no longer there.
"What are you doing?" Her words which carried on the breeze almost scared him to death as he jumped and hurt his knee, burning it on the pot, "Are you okay?"
He didn't make a noise, but his face did twist, though she couldn't see it.
"I'm… fine." He squeezed out the words, "Here."
Cutting the meat he turned it into portions and just as he was about to eat his, realized he had just tried to pass a plate to a blind person.
Yet, when he turned back, he realized she'd already grabbed it and was smirking over at him, her eyes open yet no light inside judging him teasingly.
He slowly turned back but could still feel her stare on him, he knew she would not stop till he said something, but he also knew she wouldn't know he noticed if he said nothing.
Ultimately, the guilt ate him up.
"Sorry."
"Mm."
----
The Eternal Mistress of the void.
One who travels across the chaos binding the countless worlds through the Universe Tree's roots, and weaving together the Great Path from which all Dao is found and followed.
One who decides punishment and reward.
The arbiter of the void, the Eternal Mistress of the abyss, Jinya Muzai.