1 Ahh, so much blood

He opened his eyes and looked around himself. Confused. A second before he felt his life slowly leave him as he bled to death. He looked at himself, he was currently standing. Seemingly uninjured. His dark robes were without his blood on them anymore, he actually wasn't even bleeding anymore.

He tried to sense his Qi only to come to nothing, almost. The energy he was feeling wasn't Qi, at least it didn't feel like it. He was also sensing a different kind of energy, one he didn't felt before, ever. The first one was at least similar to Qi if a bit different. The second one just seemed weird. He also sensed it all around himself, the first one was only in his body.

He looked down at his long Jian sword that he was still holding in his right hand. His sheath on it. He didn't actually remember how precisely he died. He knew that he got in some sort of conflict against the Murim Alliance, but nothing much besides that.

He didn't even remember his name..

The language also seemed weird, there were words in his mind that he didn't remember knowing despite knowing their meanings. It also seemed different yet similar.

He sighed.

He tried to sense his surroundings, the second energy actually helped with that but it also seemed to be working together with the first. As if keeping some sort of balance.

He could probably sense to around tens of meters around himself, but to quite a lot of clarity. At least a lot more than he could before. Before it was a lot more limiting, now he almost felt like he knew everything that was going on around him.

From the bug three meters behind him to the rock to his left side etc. His body also seemed different. Not that he looked different, probably.

It also looked weird around him, it was rocky terrain. Not really a lot of 'wildlife'. Also, there was a slight fog, if he was to guess he was probably somewhere near water, probably an ocean.

He slowly sat down in a lotus position, closing his eyes and trying to meditate. Get his mind working. This was a troublesome situation.

First of all, he should be dead. He isn't and he wasn't betting that the Murim Alliance saved him as he wasn't currently in chains.

Second, his memories were jumpy at best. He didn't remember anything useful. Apart from his techniques, which weren't working obviously as he didn't even have Qi anymore.

Third, as he said, he didn't have Qi. He had something different. So, as ridiculous as it sounded he was probably in another realm or something. He didn't believe the Budha with their reincarnation but apparently, there was some truth to it, probably.

As he didn't reincarnate, he was still in his body. That he knew. Even if it felt different.

He was lost really.

He idly looked at his sword, wondering if he should just end it.

Instead, he focused on the two energies, trying to feel them. And he felt them, surging through him. It was really different from Qi, where before Qi seemed to be more of a tool, these two energies seemed more alive. Especially the second one.

Another thing he noticed, was that the first one seemed to be internal and the other one was external. The second one seemed to be more passive, where it was passively strengthening him. With the first one, he needed to make some effort to affect him.

He stood up and tried to move. He was fast. He obviously didn't use any movement technique as they didn't work but still. He didn't think he was this fast even with the movement technique.

It was also crude, the way he used the energies. Even he felt that. So he sat down again and tried to control them better. That didn't really work, forcefully trying to control them wasn't even efficient.

So, he changed the approach. Instead of trying to control it, he guided it. That seemed to at least have some results. It was a little bit easier to move then. So he continued.

And he progressed, not somewhat fast but still progressed.

He opened his eyes again, it was dark already. It seemed he lost track of time but he didn't mind. He found himself enjoying this. This quiet, this peace and also working on these energies. He already loved working with Qi, this? This was even better. Of course, he probably loved working with a sword even more but that wasn't really the priority right now.

But, still, he enjoyed this. No one was bothering him, he didn't have any expectations placed upon him. He could do whatever he wanted, thinking that he wanted to kill himself was just dumb.

He also started to wonder if he could die of starvation or if his lifespan got shorter. He was still in his early twenties so it didn't really matter but it was food for thought.

He focused on the second energy, trying to guide it too. And it worked in tandem with the first energy. He also noticed that the external wasn't really external energy but more like Nature Energy? As it seemed to come from his surroundings, from the air, the rocks, the ground, the dirt, etc.

He would refer to it as that, it would be easier to refer to it in his mind.

Now for the first energy, how did the Buddhist Monks say it again? Chakras. He would refer to it as Chakra as it was different from Qi and it would also honor the Monks a little bit as they seemed to actually have some truth in their teachings if his situation was to be believed.

He also wasn't feeling hungry so he continued exploring the energies. He tried a few things, such as physical strengthening, trying to recreate some techniques and a few other things. He didn't know how much time he spent like that, a few days probably?

He still wasn't tired or hungry but he started to feel some fatigue. He wasn't invincible it seemed. He also tried channeling Nature Energy, interesting he found out was that it seemed to affect the environment a lot more than chakra.

Nature Energy when channeled into his hand and touching some form of life was actually sprouting a new life. A few small sprouts seemed to grow after a while in the place where he was touching.

That night he tried to sleep, which worked. He wasn't feeling particularly threatened as his sensing ability would alarm him if anything went into his 'zone' which actually seemed to get bigger as did the energies get more in quantity and quality as he seemed to train them.

The next day, after the last three days spent in one place he finally moved. He was fast and it didn't even fatigue him. He also tried to somewhat conceal his presence. And so he went.

He didn't even know where he was going, trying to find some civilization at least.

After a few hours of traveling the fog seemed to get stronger. He also found some interesting sight.

Two hundred feet away from him there was a young woman lying on the ground, she had a lot of metal weapons in her back. Standing over her was a man, talking to her probably.

As he got closer he found it weird when they got into his 'zone'. He could feel their emotions, somewhat. The man seemed vengeful while the woman seemed very angry but also resigned, she was also alive if barely.

In a blink, he was behind the man and he smacked him on the back of his head with his sword. He wanted to knock the man out and interrogate him, get some information, etc. The woman didn't interest him as she was almost dead and the man didn't seem strong, and she lost against him? Yeah, he wouldn't bother.

Expect it didn't go as expected, he severy underestimated his strength and also probably his speed. Instead of simply knocking him out he drilled the handle of his sword into the man's skull. Making a hole in his skull and killing him instantly on the spot.

Blood spurted out immediately, going on his robes and his face. The body also went down to the ground. He stood there for a few seconds and blinked a few times.

That didn't go as expected. He liked to think of himself as a very skillful and technical swordsman, he certainly thought he could control his strength but apparently not. He would work on this.

Dismissing the corpse without a second glance he looked at the woman, now his possibly only chance at some information. The problem was she was almost dead, the blades didn't actually get to her heart or anything like that. She just lost a lot of blood and was losing it rapidly.

He stared at her for a few seconds before giving a little shrug to no one but himself as he kneeled beside her and touched her shoulder. He slowly focused on Nature Energy and mixed it together with his Chakra and then guided it toward the woman. He used the Chakra as a sort guidance and the Nature Energy to actually try and bring life back to her. She slowly stopped bleeding, the wounds started to close. Her breathing also got better.

He was carefully studying what the Nature Energy was doing, and with his Chakra, he guided it toward her. After that, he came face to face with her pathways, or however, he would describe it. It was the same as him if a little bit different. His seemed stronger but that was irrelevant.

After that he carefully guided the Nature Energy through her pathways, it seemed to speed up her regeneration and also it sped up her pathways or whatever it was.

He also made sure to only give her a little bit, didn't want to have a tree coming out of her. But it seemed to have worked. She would live.

Now that was taken care of he started to pickpocket the 'accident' and then also her. Finding some unique weapons and other things for survival on them. He also got a map, which he was quite happy around. Also tried some rations, and they weren't bad, he guessed.

The woman stirred, it actually surprised him that she woke up that quickly. She seemed to come to her senses as she tried to discreetly look around herself? She saw the body first and flinched and then looked until she saw his feet and then slowly followed until she was looking at his face, she looked nervous.

"Don't move," He simply said to her and put his sword, which was still sheathed, next to her neck, "Otherwise I will crush your neck, honey." He gave her a small smile at the end.

"Who are you?," She said with a resolute look.

"Good question," He looked down at the sword, "Ken."

"Ken? Really?" She didn't seem to believe him.

"Well, I have a better introduction. My name is 'I can and will crush your neck if I deem you worthless in the next minute'. How about that?" And with speed made a hole deep half a foot right next to her neck. She only blinked.

She looked at the hole next to her and then at the corpse. Inspected Ken closely and gave him a little nod.

"What's your name?"

"Pakura." She was looking closely at him as if trying to find something. Especially seemed to look at his forehead, arms, and legs.

"Where are we?"

She looked weirdly at him but answered, "Land of Water, a few days away from the Hidden Mist Village."

"What's a Hidden Mist Village?"

She looked at him even more weirdly, Ken's eyes got colder. Seeing that she answered hurriedly,

"A ninja village, one of the main five. It is the main military force of a country."

"Main five?"

"Yes, there is then Hidden Leaf, Hidden Cloud, Hidden Rock, and," She says this through gritted teeth, her expression furious. "...Hidden Sand"

Ken raises an eyebrow at the last part, his eyes now seem to have slight curiosity. He looks at her, at her attire, and compares it with the outfit of the corpse. Her clothes didn't really cover a lot, it seemed to be for an area where it was hot. The corpse's clothes covered his whole body. And lastly Hidden Sand, somewhere hot.

"Ahh, they sold you out right?"

He asked with an amused expression, she seemed to ignore his jab.

"Well, at least I can say that the people are still the same as always."

He muttered the last bit under his breath, his eyes a bit melancholic.

He looks at her again, she is tense. Her expression was murderous but not focused on him, she was staring idly into an open space. Originally he was just going to kill her after asking a few questions but now really didn't want to bother with it. She also seemed to have a purpose and he could respect that.

But she was also still injured and could not probably move effectively for a while. Basically, she would probably die. But that's not Ken's problem, he will not kill her but he could care less if she dies here. He took back the sword and went to leave-

He sensed six presences behind him.

He slowly looked over his shoulder.

There standing were six masked figures, two in the front and four standing in the back behind them. The two at the front seemed older than the ones in the back but even then the ones in the front seemed like teenagers.

Ken tilted his head a bit at their ages but he should probably not judge. Well, he just got a great idea and Pakura will probably not get her revenge but well, not everybody gets what they want.

"Friends, thankfully you have arrived now. You won't believe what happened here. I was kidnaped by this treacherous woman right here and when my savior came to my rescue she killed him in cold blood." He ended with sad eyes looking at the corpse.

"But he wounded her severely so I was just in the process of getting his body to safety. Make him a simple-" He was gesturing with his hands and all the figures were now looking at the handle of the sword, which was very bloody.

"Ohh, this is the hero's weapon I was hoping to keep it to remember him. A memento if you will?" He said at the end with a sad smile.

There was an awkward silence. From what emotions he could somewhat sense they weren't believing him. He noted that he was probably too calm for just apparently 'witnessing a murder' as a civilian. It was quite the time since he needed to act but that was out of the window. He also noted the fact that she was actually sold to them, which means they know of her. Oh. Well, it could have still worked, he could have been just a bystander in this that Pakura kidnaped for her entertainment or something like that. He could have made it work.

The two in the front were comparable to the one he killed, the four in the back were of lesser quality than the two. He was judging this by their energies? At least he thought that.

One of the two rushed at him, and two of the lesser ones followed him. The actual 'threat' took out a weird short, thin blade. It started to get lighting around it, which surprised him. The other two went with some sort of daggers in their hands.

Pakura already started crawling away the moment he started talking. She was now behind some rocks, sitting and trying to somewhat heal?

The threat was upon him and swung at him with speed but well, Ken had the speed.

He moved slightly sideways and caught him by his sword wrist and flung him away to the back. Simultaneously he unsheathed his sword. The sheath fell to the ground and his blade was out, upon the blade was shining the moonlight that started to peek out of the clouds.

Ken moved against the two that he saw, they seemed surprised by how quickly he was in front of them. A head flew before they could do anything, and he continued on to the next one.

He again dodged as the one he threw away came back also anticipating him, Ken used the dodge to quickly spin into a sword strike against him. He cleaved him in half, severing him from the waist. The last one actually used the 'chance' that he saw to attack him while Ken was 'distracted'. Another head flew.

Ken could end this faster but he was interested in how they were fighting. It was a little bit different but nothing big. The biggest difference he came to was that the teenagers he carved through were not really swordsmen, even the one that used a blade used it more like a tool than how it was supposed to be used.

They seemed more like assassins.

He also found he was a lot faster and stronger than them.

The other group actually send water in the form of a dragon at him, which surprised him. But he still dodged calmly and moved forward. They had strange techniques.

The one in the front went at him and the two in the back spit a ball of water at him? The water was at him first, he spun away from the high-pressure water and engaged the one closest to him.

At this point, one of them actually started to run away from there. Ken seeing that quickly disarmed the one currently in combat with him, by cutting off his hand. He took and threw the strange dagger at the one running away from him, it pierced his brain. He quickly elbowed the one without the hand, he broke the mask that they wore. It was a blue-haired teenager. Even though his hand was cut off and he probably broke his nose he wasn't screaming his head off.

The other one sent another high-pressure water at him before trying to get away. Ken dodged and then moved, for the first time using the Chakra and he was before him before the kid could blink. Playtime over. Head flew.

Ken looked over his shoulder and parried away the dagger from the boy with blue hair who apparently didn't give up. Ken immediately kicked him away, seeing the move from a mile away. And he was proven correct when a second that he flew away from him he blew up.

He looked at the explosion for a few seconds before he looked at Pakura who was resignedly sitting on the ground, looking at the fight. She probably came to the conclusion that he could easily get to her and kill her on the spot. Smart girl.

He looked at the blood on him and sighed sadly.

His clothes were now dirty.