Tsem moved his feet carefully, adjusting his angle, keeping his body a small target. He spun his net, burning qi for strength. With how heavy the sand was inside the edges, keeping the motion up required a cultivator’s strength. He didn’t have enough qi to maintain such a burn for long, but he didn’t need to. His opponent wouldn’t wait, that was not the way of demonic beasts. Even still, Tsem focused on improving his efficiency, grabbing every little scrap of strength he could get from the qi.

  The interella, which was staring murderously at him, was a far more dangerous beast than the sniveling, sneasing creatures he’d trapped before. The worst part of course was its jaw and the stone projectiles it held within.

  Normally, Tsem’s net would be an ineffective deterrent for blocking an interella’s stone. The spinning helped of course, making it much more likely he’d manage to intercept a projectile. More to the point though, Tsem had found a unique use for the extra attachment points. He’d managed to attach his old needleroot net to the back of his new one. The old net’s threads reduced the gaps between the leather, forming something of a massive shield.

  As the interella moved its legs, a telltale sign it was about to blast out the stone shards, Tsem stopped burning qi for strength, instead burning it for speed. He swept his still spinning net back into the way, closing an opening gap even as the interella leapt to the side to get its angle. Shards sprayed, impacting the rotating net and deflecting in all directions by the motion. Some needleroot broke off but not before slowing the projectiles, slowing them enough for the spinning leather to do the real defensive work.

  Tsem was uninjured from the demonic beast’s most lethal attack, but this was where the drawback from adding an extra net onto his old one came into play. The ‘shield style’ net wasn’t nearly as effective at capturing and restraining movements as the normal net was. With the usual gaps, limbs, claws, heads, would go through the net, tangling any demonic beast Tsem came across. With those gaps reduced though, that didn’t happen. It wasn’t useless, but it was far worse than normal.

  That meant that Tsem needed to rely more heavily on his spear work. Perfect. He burned qi for speed, matching the interella pace for pace. His reach was longer, and he harried the demonic beast with thrusts, never letting it close in. It had taken more than a few scraps for him to manage this level of improvement in burning his qi. He was far from a master at it though. Each thrust could have done far more damage if he could burn for strength and speed at the same time or even release speed for a brief burst of strength at the right moment.

  The interella leaped forward, suddenly burning through more of its qi than usual, and Tsem only managed to evade by increasing the amount of qi he burned in turn. Unfortunately, the demonic beast hadn’t been aiming to kill him, at least not just that. With so much of his concentration on the fight and his own qi, Tsem had failed to keep track of his surroundings. His evasion sent his back sailing into the trunk of a tree.

  The impediment proved to be opportunity enough for Tsem’s measure to be broken into. The interella swept its claws out. There was no dodging the blow entirely. Durability. Tsem burned his qi with a different cycling movement of breath, and his skin hardened. The beast had struck, somewhat successfully, at a less-protected joint in Tsem’s leathers. It cut fire under his arm, but it was shallow, nothing that wouldn’t heal shortly with Tsem’s modest cultivation.

  With a bit of footwork, he found himself clear, but instead of continuing the dance, Tsem pushed his spear forward in a twisting thrust that moved beneath the interella’s collar bone, plunging fatally deep. Not long ago, he wouldn’t have recognized the opening for the attack, but throwing himself into fights gave him plenty of experience, even after a mere two weeks.

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  Tsem pulled away some few minutes later, his butchering job complete, though he doubted it would meet with Esa’s approval. Serviceable, but not exactly impressive. He would need to get a better knife, and maybe a manual on how to best dress demonic beasts. Eventually. He was distracting himself.

  Tsem searched, his feel for the divine sea questing around for any tethers. None remained. He was partially relieved and partially disappointed. On the one hand, he wouldn’t be throwing himself into yet another fight. Even if he’d started to enjoy learning and employing the nuances of combat as a meridian purification stage cultivator, there was only so much tension he could take in one day. On the other hand, without another target to fight, he had little choice. He needed to return and cultivate.

  Tsem’s body clenched at the idea. Four bouts every night was a nightmarish test of will. All he wanted each night was to eat a healthy amount of sap and fall asleep. He never wanted to eat more treated ghalri raptor meat, but this was the path he needed to walk.

  Step by plodding step, Tsem arrived back at Valesin’s lair, preparing his meal. Spirit herbs joined the ghalri raptor meat, fresh from that morning. About an hour later, the preparation was done, four servings laid out before him. He faltered in front of the plate as he always did now. Excuses ran through him. It’s too much. I can’t do it this time. It’s not worth the risk of failure. It’s always worse when the meat’s fresh. Tsem cast each thought aside, he had to; if he let himself stop even once, he wouldn’t be able to continue at the pace he was going.

  The first portion devoured, Tsem entered the world of his meridians. The large intestine meridian ran from his index fingers along his arms up to his shoulders then dipped down, connecting with his lung and meeting at his large intestine. Much of it had already been purified, but there was still plenty of work to do. Tsem heaved his will at the raptor that appeared in his mind’s eye, using everything he had to push the glowing qi of a beast down the already purified portions of his meridian. For a moment, it resisted, moving towards his inner self instead, but eventually, its wings were blown backward, and it flew down the meridian, its energy sapping into the impurities, purging them.

  Tsem woke from his trance a few minutes later, panting, covered in sweat and black sludge. He swore he would rather fight against a real ghalri raptor than the ones conjured into his being by his cultivation method. At least the real ones beat their wings against a proper breeze, the spiritual remnant raptors seemed disinclined to even offer that courtesy. Tsem cackled lightly. He was stalling again. He threw down the second portion.

  He awoke again, covered in more sweat, more black sludge. This time, he took a short break, dumping the bucket of water he’d brought from the stream on himself. He felt better like this, the sludge was too much after two rounds. He needed a break from it, even if he wasn’t fully cleaned off.

  Tsem didn’t like being dirty, even now, he could feel the bits of remaining sludge getting under the hair on his arm. Sealing some hairs together. If he needed to move, to take off suddenly, it would make him slower, drag him back. The wind wouldn’t drift off him the way it was supposed to. After some pacing, Tsem finally got up the nerve to eat the third portion.

  His willpower and qi alike were tired and the new raptor pressed through wave after wave of his weakened qi. Tsem endured, pushing back, over and over and over. However many times it took, he would keep pushing, keep moving forward. In the outside world, Tsem’s hands clenched against themselves, twisting violently. He didn’t have the capacity to notice that, focused only on his struggle.

  Eventually it was over, but Tsem didn’t take another break. He threw the last portion in his mouth and braced for a fight. It came.

  As it always was, the fourth cultivation attempt was the hardest, his exhausted qi only lending him minimal aid. Unlike before, he didn’t push forward. He didn’t have the strength to survive a head-on battle. Instead, he borrowed power from the center of his being, his self, and formed it into a net.

  Tsem threw the net with all the qi he could muster behind it. It caught the ethereal raptor in flight. Without its wings to aid it, Tsem’s qi rolled it over. Still, the raptor tore and pecked at the net. It was all he could do to keep it relatively together as he used his qi to push the raptor around the unpurified portion of his meridian.

  A few minutes later, Tsem came to, more sludge than ever coating his skin and the area around him. He laid there for a while, his mind and body agreeing there was no way he could move. He would have to get up eventually, to clean himself and the area he’d cultivated in. He’d have to squeeze in as much sleep as he could. He’d be doing all of this again in the morning.

  The thought would have been too much if not for one fact. He was making progress, and faster than he’d dared hope. The next day or perhaps the day after, he’d finish clearing his large intestine meridian and start on his small intestine meridian. By the time he finished that, he would be ready to hunt down the gold pinfish. At least, he’d have a chance.