Necessary Evil

The crackling sword carved into the child's crawling skin. Like a butcher handling cattle, Woodbane slowly peeled the youth's skin off his chest. The youth screaming for every moment.

"Senior! No, sir! Please just let me go. Please! I won't tell a soul! Please, on my mother's grave! Ahh!"

Child's scream left Woodbane unphased. Snot ran down the boy's face as he whimpered, but it was for naught. Soon his tears ran out and the more he attempted to scream the more it transformed into a terrifying screech. The boy sounded like a croaking animal, more devilish the longer it went on.

However, this didn't last long. The boy quickly went into shock and stopped making any sort of noise whatsoever. All he did was stare at the top of the cliff with open eyes and a gaping mouth.

The boy was slowly crawling towards sleep, but before he could gain any sort of peace Woodbane hit his pressure point on his head, jolting him awake. If the boy slept now he would never wake up, ruining Woodbane's plan.

Soon enough all of the boy's skin on his chest was masterfully peeled off. Woodbane then proceeded to make certain insertions with his broken sword, removing the organs that were in his way.

All of this was in the hopes of finding a spiritual vein inside the child.

In his past Woodbane wouldn't have imagined doing something so monstrous, but his morality had died with his past glory. A mere shadow of a reminder of his shameful naivety.

The last few weeks were hell for Woodbane. He spent his hours attempting to climb the cliff to no avail, his injuries acting up whenever he tried. To survive he was forced to feast on the flesh and blood of rats. A true living hell.

The bottom of the cliff wreaked of a stench that could only be described as urine mixed with death. It was intolerable for a few moments, let alone weeks. The stone edged ground was also splattered with stains of blood and the bones of the aforementioned rats whose heads Woodbane had to bite, no scrunch off.

However, the heavens had shown Woodbane a momentary favor, when a young child had come to play around the cliff . Who through lies and deceit, Woodbane somehow fooled down the cliff. It was very rare for the children of mortals to have spiritual veins inside their body, but what other choice did Woodbane have. This was his only hope.

Woodbane plunged his hand deep into boys chest, digging for any sign of a spiritual vein. He rummaged his fingers into any corner his fingers could reach, hoping to feel the rugged exterior of the organ.

For human beings, one of the keys to cultivation are spiritual veins. Although not the only path, the other ones were far from accessible to Woodbane in his current dire straits. By utilizing spiritual veins to course Qi, the source of energy in the world, humans can form cultivations that give them god-like power and lifespans.

Just as Woodbane was about to give up, anxiety rushing through every one of his veins, his pinky came into contact with a stiff muscle. A look of relief came upon Woodbane's face as he used all the strength he had left to unsnap the vein from the boy's body.

After a few attempts, Woodbane finally snapped the spiritual vein, breaking the boys back in the process. The spiritual vein looked like any other organ from an untrained eye, bloody with a pulse.

Spirituals veins were made up of hundreds of smaller veins converging and diverging from one another. A cluster of blood and flesh.

They were classified based on their capability of refining Qi and their attributes. Split up into Mortal, Earth, Heaven, Divine and possible even higher grades. The most common attributes were the five elements, also known as Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Metal. There even some rarer attributes such as darkness and lightning. The potential of a cultivator was heavily based on the quality of their spiritual veins if they decide to embark on that path. There even existed some that possessed spiritual veins with multiple attributes, which although did increase their power were much harder to cultivate.

'This seems to be a planet almost wholly reliant on Qi, so I shouldn't stand out too much by cultivating Qi', thought Woodbane.

Woodbane than proceeded to slowly carve his own chest, peeling his own skin like he did the child. Even with all his otherworldly experience, Woodbane couldn't help but scream.

"Grhhh"

When Woodbane's chest was opened, it looked nothing like the child's. There was an incredible amount of blood gushing around, probably due to internal bleeding. Woodbane plunged the spiritual vein deep inside his body, hoping to find some sort of resonance.

After a few moments that seemed to last an eternity, the spiritual vein merged with Woodbane and he could finally feel the Qi in the world. Beforehand, it was as if he was a starving beggar, but now had become a gluttonous king.

"Buahaha", Woodbane's stark laughter filled up the abyss bellow the cliff as he started to take in the Qi. He had yet to truly become a cultivator, but he employed one of his Immortal cultivation techniques to run a cycle of Qi through his body, lessening his pain.

He was born again.

Woodbane placed his skin back on top of his chest as it started to slowly rejuvenate and reattach itself.

He quickly took a large breath of air, a moment of joy and some ways blasphemy. Woodbane attempted to climb the cliff once more, finally showing some progress for his suffering.

…

At the bottom of the cliff, alone and destitute, a small body twitched

The small boy, still bleeding out incredible amounts of pain, incapable of sleeping. Having lived an innocent existence before climbing down the cliff, the boy was now going through the sort of pain that would make the most ruthless of beasts scream in agony.

Woodbane just assumed the boy's fate, bleeding out to his death. This assumption would be a mistake that would plague him for the rest of his life.