The realization hit Ye Tian like a hammer. The stark truth of it clung to him, heavy and suffocating.
It wasn't just the absence of qi that disturbed him; it was the implications.
A world without qi was a world stripped of life's most fundamental force.
The idea gnawed at him, deepening the frown etched across his face.
He inhaled slowly, trying to steady the racing thoughts in his mind.
'Calm..' he told himself, releasing the tension in his clenched jaw.
This was a problem, yes, but not one he couldn't solve.
He was Ye Tian, the Absolute Demon, who had ruled and ravaged realms. This was just another puzzle, and puzzles were meant to be solved.
He moved to Li Na's bedside, the soft sound of his bare feet on the sterile hospital floor breaking the silence.
Her breathing even as she slept, unaware of the turmoil storming in his mind.
Gently, he touched her wrist with his index and middle fingers, the contact so light that it barely brushed her skin.
Even so, her body shivered unconsciously, a fleeting reaction that made him pause.
His eyes softened for a moment as he watched her, but when she didn't wake, relief settled in his chest.
'Good...' he thought, closing his eyes to focus. He stretched out his senses, probing delicately for any traces of energy within her.
And then, there it was... a spark, a current so minute yet potent.
It surged up his arm before he could react, making his fingers tingle with an almost electric numbness.
He snapped his hand back, eyes widening slightly as he clenched his fist to subdue the sensation.
"So, this was the case…" he murmured, shaking the numbness from his hand.
The energy wasn't qi.
It felt familiar but alien, as if it opposed the principles of qi itself.
A memory surfaced from his countless years of battle and conquest... a term spoken of in ancient texts from forgotten realms.
"Mana..." he said, the word carrying both revelation and frustration.
It was a form of energy that existed in other worlds, realms that adhered to different laws of power.
But that only deepened the mystery.
If this world harbored mana, why hadn't he sensed any in the environment?
Why only in certain individuals?
"And more importantly..." he mused, eyes narrowing, "how could she hold so much of it without a container?"
His mind raced with possibilities.
From what he felt, the density of the energy should have caused her body to implode without a dantian or any vessel to store it.
He tapped his fingers against his chin, a familiar habit when lost in thought.
"Something is off..." he whispered, eyes flickering with intrigue.
"It shouldn't be possible. Unless… this world's mana works on different rules. But if that's true, I'll need to understand it."
He straightened, casting one last glance at Li Na, who remained blissfully unaware.
'I can't test this on her. Not her,' he resolved, a rare tenderness softening the hardness in his gaze.
With that, he turned and walked out of the room, the door clicking shut behind him.
The fluorescent glow of the hallway swallowed him whole, its artificial light casting long shadows that stretched behind him as he moved.
The sterile scent of antiseptic and the faint hum of overhead lights accompanied him, but they were background noise to the storm of thoughts in his mind.
'If mana can be this potent in someone like Li Na, then there must be a way to harness it...' he thought.
His eyes darted from room to room, not truly seeing, lost in the intricacies of potential theories.
Suddenly, the air was sliced by a shrill, desperate voice that pulled him from his reverie.
"Why are you saving him? Shouldn't you just kill him for what he did to my daughter?! He forced himself on her! What he deserves is death, not treatment! My daughter took her own life because of him! What are we going to do now?!"
The voice cracked with grief and rage, shaking as it echoed down the hallway.
Ye Tian paused, turning his head towards the source.
At the far end of the corridor, an elderly woman with eyes red and swollen from crying was struggling against two women who blocked the entrance to a room.
Their uniforms were unfamiliar, not hospital attire but more militaristic, likely an enforcement unit.
"Hmph, so the justice force of this world?" Ye Tian mused, tilting his head slightly as he observed.
The scene held a certain familiarity; he had witnessed such displays countless times across the myriad realms he'd conquered.
Grief, desperation, justice... all just different masks for the same human frailty.
One of the uniformed women, her expression taut with discomfort, spoke with a firm voice.
"Ma'am, we understand the pain you're in. But we need him to recover so that he can stand trial. The National Association will ensure justice is served."
"Justice?!" the old woman spat, her voice raw and hoarse.
"What justice? My daughter is gone because of him! There is no justice in letting a monster like him breathe!"
The second officer glanced nervously at her partner but stayed silent, the weight of the old woman's grief palpable.
Ye Tian's eyes gleamed, an idea sparking in the dark depths.
A smirk curled on his lips, one he hid behind a raised hand.
'A criminal, they say? Someone who has committed atrocities?' His interest was piqued. This man, whoever he was, might be the perfect subject.
"My, my..." he murmured, barely loud enough for himself to hear.
"Looks like I've found myself a lab rat."
Turning on his heel, he began to walk away, each step calculated and precise. The world might have changed, but some things remained the same. Power, chaos, and the pursuit of knowledge... they were constants in any realm.
'Time to see what this world is truly made of...' he thought, the smirk deepening as he disappeared down the hallway, leaving behind the sobs of a grieving mother and the whispers of what was to come.