Shou Xin coldly looked over the various merchants who had come out of their hiding holes alongside their mercenaries just for him.
His voice carried on the breeze.
"If she is harmed, I will dismember you all and hang your bodies on the sides of those ships you hold dear as I burn them into the sea."
Shou Xin began walking forward, his gaze completely empty.
As though an abyss had formed and was sucking in anyone who dared peek within.
The merchant's in their fear didn't move.
"Wuqing. Come here."
The Sea Spring Sword slowly unsheathed and Feng Wuqing kicked the man between the legs before running forward blindly.
He caught her and whispered, "You know this forest, hide."
The Primeval Qi Beasts which had been wreaking havoc within his Inner Sea had become weaker and weaker to the point that they were almost uselessly so now, unable to manifest.
Killing intent diffused from his very being creating a sort of field around him which carried within terrifying nightmares.
"The First Form, Listless Slash."
His eyes which were like an abyss, not reflecting light but rather devouring it, seemingly wished to suck out the souls of those before him.
His foundation had ignited and power surged all over his body.
He vanished.
In the next moment, the merchant who had led the rest had his hands detached from his arms and his feet crudely cut at the knee's.
"Ah… ah… AHHHH!!" A bloodcurdling scream resounded and the men who had come with the intentions to fight had their morale plummet through the floor.
They'd only come here for the coin and a ride out, but it was not worth their limbs and lives, nor the suffering of such torture.
They weren't told that such a monster inhabited this place, they were told it was a simple son of the Shou Clan who had no talent.
Yet, before them stood a vicious beast willing to mutilate itself if only to kill them.
Such resolve broke them instantly.
Shou Xin whose mind had begun to crumble from the sudden explosion of power and his foundation being ignited had nowhere to throw out the power if they left, and so he began his killing spree.
Screams resounded as the snivelling and crying fighters who fell to him were crippled, their hard work in forging their bodies and toil in increasing their skills all flying away alongside their limbs.
All hopes in life dashed in an instant they only wished for death, but it was kept from them.
Within the forest, countless screams resounded as they were hunted down like wild animals by Shou Xin in his bloodthirsty rampage.
By the time day had come up, not a soul had left those woods intact, including Shou Xin who arrived back at the cottage, his skin cracked like glass, the rampaging power within his body having shattered his body in ways one dared not imagine nore wished upon worst enemy.
During the night, those few screamed, yet come day they had all bled out.
"Bladesmen!" Feng Wuqing rushed forward grabbing and touching him, unable to see she could only understand through touch.
The Sea Spring Sword fell, clanking upon the earth, Shou Xin's palms were raw as he began to lean forward.
Yet, he did not fall.
Feng Wuqing caught him and began giving treatment immediately.
Shou Xin smiled wryly, "This time I've really done it."
"Yes, you have. Wasting all of that effort and shattering your foundation, luckily, it wasn't completely burned away or else your life as a practitioner let alone a cultivator would be completely over." Vienna's tone was bone dry, "You will need to start again, but I will not longer allow you to waste your efforts. Here."
Vienna placed a paw on his forehead and a terrifying energy swirled within his Inner Sea gathering the ashes of his foundation and extracting from it only the purest forms of Primeval Qi.
Shou Xin instinctually began absorbing them, yet the instant he did he felt his entire body scream in unimaginable pain as the ashes burned through his muscles and organs.
"Primeval Absorption is taboo beneath the Great Path. This is the same," Vienna said as he led the Primeval Qi Ashes through his body, "This will strengthen your Physique. It cannot be lost no matter how much you burn your foundation. A suitable technique for trash."
Just as he said, the Primeval Qi Ashes were against the laws of the Great Path and immediately a lightning cloud appeared in his Inner Sea, following the Primeval Qi Ashes it burned through his system tempering him.
However, the pain was unbearable such that he directly lost consciousness.
The technique rang through his head.
Primeval Qi Body Art.
---
Awoken, Shou Xin slowly opened his eyes.
He glanced around the room, his memory clear enough to think unlike the few times he had faded in and out of consciousness during Vienna's reconstruction project.
He sensed the strength of Foundation and found that it had stabilized, however his Inner Sea was completely empty.
As he was checking this, he noticed a new variable.
His body had changed.
He was once a more scrawny youth with a bit of Inner Strength, yet now his body had become more compact increasing it even further.
As he tried to get up he was pushed back down.
"Don't move."
Looking over he noticed Feng Wuqing standing beside the bed, yet what shocked him was how thin her presence was that despite standing right there, he did not even have an inkling of her.
She seemed incredibly angry.
"You were out for three days and nights only coming back to scream before going back under," Fen Wuqing's words rang like thunder in his ears, "Don't do it again."
Shou Xin frowned.
He naturally knew what she meant, and he couldn't agree.
"If the time came again to step forward, I would without hesitation throw this life away." He quietly drew himself up off the bed, "I am Shou Xin the Sea Spring Executioner, and I always repay my debts a hundred times over."
Shou Xin grabbed the Sea Spring Sword and yet his vision suddenly became double, Feng Wuqing put a hand on his chest.
"I said, don't move." She pushed him down unto the bed.
His heart beat rapidly and his face flushed, his breathing speeding up as his vision continued to blur further.
"What is…" Shou Xin's words trailed off as the blurriness suddenly vanished and the fever he felt building was eradicated.
"The Great Path does not stop any act. But it does give out punishments." Vienna's words rang in his head, "You've formed the first pebble of the Primeval Qi Body Art and for this, the Great Path had brutally attacked you, your life barely being kept. Your spirit will be shaken for a while."
He shallowly nodded, his body aching.
Feng Wuqing felt the trembling transmission through his hands.
"I'm fine," His hand which squeezed her felt so weak, "Don't worry."
He lifted himself up but was pushed back down, a frigid voice entering his ears.
"No."
He looked to the source incredulously, "Wuqing?"
Her face had twisted slightly and those eyes filled with fog seemed to have been set alight.
"Any business you have, I can help with. Just recover now." Her tone left no room for arguments and Shou Xin was not in any physical shape to resist her.
He could only helplessly watch as she stayed before him, only leaving very briefly to go grab and bring out meals.
He attempted to escape a few times, but his body, almost a corpse from the repeated abuse, could not gather the strength to escape her firm grasp as she dragged him back each time.
With no other choice, he simply laid in bed, feeling useless.
Quietly, he once again sensed the situation within his Inner Sea.
'Vienna seems to have used up all of the Primeval Qi left to be absorbed in order to patch up the foundation I ignited and save my life.' He observed, 'My foundation is much more robust now that I've nearly lost it all three times. It also carries an unyielding air, sharp as a swords edge."
He quietly looked over the Mound and it's changes.
It had turned from a mound into more of a circular shape after the beatings and abuses it took from all sides constantly, becoming more of a floating ball of densely packed earth than a mound.
----
Shou Xin snuck a glance back at the cottage and slowly turned his back.
It had been a week and Feng Wuqing showed no signs of giving in and allowing him to leave despite him being almost fully healed and so he took to escaping himself.
"I'm sorry, I will return." He promised as he turned his back.
"Where are you going?" A chill ran up his spine.
'This voice… but that's-!' His mind ran like a man on a mission.
"Wuqing?! Don't come out here! It's dangerous, go back!" He ignored the chilling sensation and called out.
Feng Wuqing appeared from the darkness, her figure enchanting beneath the moonlight which burst through the leaves as the breeze gently caressed the tree tops allowing just enough in to catch a glimpse of her.
"Are you leaving again?!" Feng Wuqing's voice was like a banshee's wail freezing him to the spot, "You might really die next time, you know!? I won't be able to save you if you leave me behind..."