He reached out toward the first thick iron pin embedded deep in her shoulder.
His large, calloused hands trembled slightly as he hovered over her shivering skin.
A agonizing weight pressed down on his chest, every beat of his heart echoing with a mixture of raw grief and burning rage.
Moving with absolute, painstaking gentleness, Kahn wrapped two fingers around the dark head of the iron rod.
He slowly drew the sharp metal out of her flesh.
Seraphina let out a tiny, whimpering breath, her pale face contorting slightly in her sleep.
Kahn’s jaw tightened so hard his teeth groaned under the pressure.
He quickly set the bloodied iron pin aside onto the small nightstand.
One by one, he worked his way across her frail, shivering body.
He carefully extracted the remaining pins from her arms, her slender legs, and her torso.
With agonizing precision, he detached the hollow transparent tubes that had been draining her blood.
The steady, horrifying drip-drip-drip echoing into the heavy brown glass bottle finally came to a complete stop.
Seraphina’s small body relaxed back against the stained mattress.
Yet, despite the extraction apparatus being completely removed, she did not wake up.
Her long, dark eyelashes remained motionless against her marble-white cheeks.
Her breathing was shallow, erratic, and dangerously weak.
Her life force was hanging by a thin, fragile thread after losing so much blood over the months.
Kahn closed his eyes for a brief second, taking a deep, steadying breath.
He knew that removing the pins alone was not enough to save her life.
Without immediate treatment, her heavily depleted body would slowly collapse from the severe trauma.
He gently placed his right palm flat over the center of her chest, right above her heart.
Deep within his dantian, his newly formed liquid Qi began to churn and swirl like a calm ocean.
He focused his mind, recalling an old memory buried deep in his soul.
It was a medical cultivation technique called Healing Blossoms.
This technique belonged to the Blooming Flower Sect—the peaceful, noble sect his father had once led.
The Blooming Flower Sect was known throughout the surrounding regions for their unmatched mastery over medicine and life-saving arts.
They dedicated their lives to studying herbs, refining pills, and nurturing Qi to cure the sick and injured.
However, their peaceful nature was ultimately their greatest downfall.
Because they focused almost entirely on healing rather than deadly combat arts, their martial prowess paled in comparison to true war-oriented sects.
When the ruthless Raging Bulls Sect set their greedy eyes on their lands, the outcome was an absolute tragedy.
The Raging Bulls were brutal, battle-hungry cultivators who cultivated vicious, bloodthirsty martial techniques.
When the two sects collided, the gentle members of the Blooming Flower Sect stood no chance.
They were slaughtered like cattle in a matter of days.
To make matters worse, Kahn’s father was simply weaker than the tyrannical Sect Leader of the Raging Bulls in terms of cultivation rank.
Despite fighting desperately to defend his family and disciples, his father was utterly defeated, leading to the total destruction of their home.
Kahn remembered the quiet nights before the war, when his father used to sit beside him under the moonlight.
Back then, Kahn was just a helpless mortal with completely dried, dead meridians, unable to hold a single drop of Qi.
His father knew Kahn couldn’t cultivate, yet he patiently held his small hands, manually channeling his own warm Qi through Kahn’s body.
His father had guided the energy through Kahn’s lifeless pathways again and again, imprinting the intricate flow of the Healing Blossoms technique directly into his muscle memory.
His father had hoped that one day, by some divine miracle, Kahn might awaken and use the art to protect himself.
’Father... your teaching wasn’t in vain,’ Kahn thought, a somber light flashing in his eyes.
Now, for the very first time in his life, Kahn possessed his own true, liquid Qi.
He activated the technique.
A faint, soothing pink light began to glow from the palm of his hand resting on Seraphina’s chest.
Soft, ethereal light particles materialized in the air around them, floating gracefully like falling flower petals in a spring breeze.
The gentle energy flowed out of Kahn’s palm, seeping directly into Seraphina’s skin and entering her damaged meridians.
The Healing Blossoms energy spread rapidly through her entire body, soothing her torn tissues and sealing the open puncture wounds left behind by the iron pins.
Her shallow breathing gradually stabilized, becoming deeper and more rhythmic.
The icy chill lingering on her skin slowly receded, replaced by a faint, delicate warmth.
Kahn let out a long, quiet sigh of relief, withdrawing his hand as the faint pink glow dispersed into the air.
She was still deeply unconscious due to the severe blood loss, but her life force was no longer fading away.
She was stable for now.
Kahn pulled the clean wool blanket up to her chin, carefully tucking her in to keep her warm.
Just as he stood up to his full height, intending to turn around and deal with Ter, the air directly in front of his face suddenly trembled.
An unnatural, translucent light rippled across his vision.
A sleek, glowing blue window materialized out of thin air, floating quietly before his eyes.
[Location Sign-in detected: Raging Bulls Medic Room]
[Do you wish to sign-in?]
[Yes / No]
Kahn’s dark eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the floating interface.
’Yes.’ he accepted without hesitation.
The translucent screen flickered instantly, the text rearranging itself into glowing golden characters.
[Sign-in Successful!]
[Reward: Common Grade Short Swords]
A soft flash of light sparkled over Kahn’s palms.
A second later, a noticeable weight settled directly into both of his hands.
Resting firmly in his grip was a pair of basic short swords.
The weapons were completely ordinary, featuring dull iron blades and plain, rough brown wooden hilts.
They were standard Common Grade weapons, typical of the low-tier trash handed out to basic Body Tempering disciples.
Kahn raised an eyebrow, feeling the light, unimpressive iron in his grip.
However, before he could even process the basic reward, the interface trembled violently as bold, burning letters burst across his vision.
[10X Reward Multiplier Activated!]
[New Sign-in Reward: Rare Grade Blood Fangs]