As he opened his eyes again, he saw a roof and was able to make out some sounds of pots and pans being rattled around in what was presumably the kitchen of this house.

He was on a bed, under a blanket. He sat up and immediately checked his palms. They were bandaged and from what he gathered, there were a lot of poultices applied as well. Other than a constant numbing and pricking sensation, he didn't feel anything else if he didn't move his hands.

'Just clapping my palms as they are covered in Yin and Yang Qi, caused this, to my body? And that wolf was obliterated even though it was a peak Tier 1 monster. No , it was even more powerful as his middle layer Soul Tier body had huge damage because of it.

This probably does not happen to others as they usually use only one type of Qi. I don't think 'Layers of Chaos' technique was supposed to be used like this, or maybe it is. But it seems like the beginnings of a different technique.

I'll name it the 'Yin and Yang clap'. I'll also need to think about what level of the clap my body can withstand so that it can be used in actual battle without compromising myself.'

As Luo was deep in his thoughts thinking about his battle experience, a small girl peeked from behind the kitchen wall.

"You're awake!! How do you feel? Are you in a lot of pain?? Do you want some food? How about I change the bandages? Ahh, I saw your battle towards the end. You're so strong. They would've killed me like the rest of the village if not for you, so thank you. But how come you're so stro.."

"Whoaa, wait, wait. Calm down.  One question at a time. What are you, a chatterbox?"

The little girl came closer. She was a little thing, barely four feet tall, with her jet black hair clipped in a bun, kept in place with the help of an ornately carved jade hairpin. The hairpin was long, with a carved snake running along it and it's mouth opened into a carving of a four leaf clover, as if trying to eat it.

Luo observed her as she came over and without saying another word, as if she was pouting at what he said earlier, began to slowly change his bandages. He saw her cheeks puff up like a balloon in a childish pout and he laughed. "Why are you pouting?"

"Because you called me a chatterbox. I will not speak  to you again. Hmph!"

"But you just did."

"Did Not!"

"You did it again. Hahaha, you are such an adorable idiot. Anyway, leave the pouts and tell me what's your name."

She did not respond this time so Luo suddenly yanked his hands away. "What are you doing?? I'm changing the bandages. It will cause you more pain if you move it abruptly like that. Are you an idiot? Give me the hands back."

"Only if you tell me your name. I did save you, you know. Or who knows, you might have been the meal of one of those wolves and probably even be digested by now. HAHAHA"

Her cheeks lost color at this thought and she finally said "My name is Xun Yu. What is yours?"

"Now see, was that so hard? I am Luo LianHao and it's nice to meet you little sister Xun."

"Little sister?"

"Yes, seeing as how little you are, I'm calling you Little sister" She didn't really care for his joke and continued changing his bandages.

"Then, big brother Luo, you will be my big brother?" "Yeah, why not?"

"You know that all the villagers are dead, including my family?"

"Uhhhhhh…"

"And that means if you're my big brother, I can now only follow you and you will have to take care of me?"

"Uhhhhhh…"

She finished tying his bandages and rose up in a flourish as she came close and kissed him on his cheek "Then it's settled, you will be my big brother Luo and Xun Yu will be your adorable little sister." With that she suddenly ran into the kitchen, leaving Luo feeling perplexed.

He brushed off these thoughts and inquired Master Yin 'Master Yin, if I keep using the layers of Chaos and extracting only one type of Qi , what will happen if there is a lot of deficit and my Qi skews either towards pure Yang or pure Yin Qi?'

'It's not a big problem. But you have to be careful in the initial realms as it can hurt your body. Your body will be able to completely withstand it once you're in the Virtual disaster realm.'

"Vir...Virtual Disaster…??[1] But that's so far away. What will happen till then?'

'You know, you ask too many questions. Figure it out for yourself or how will you grow?'

'Whaat!! Finee, I will figure out a solution for this myself'

"By the way, Xun, why was your village attacked and all the wolves seemed to be focussed on you. Is there a reason for that?"

Xun walked up to him and said " Well, how would I know that?"

"Fair enough, I suppose. Anyway, who taught you how to bandage and make medicine?"

Xun beamed at this "My father taught me. He was an alchemist and the village doctor. He used to teach me all sorts of things."

She then realized that her family had died and grew sad again. Luo saw this and patted her on her head "It's going to be okay."

She showed a small smile "Your hands suffered a lot of damage. I think it will take you at least a month for them to heal." 

"Nooo! I only have two months left to improve my cultivation for the exam."

"I am sorry brother. Because of me you got these injuries."

Luo suddenly felt awkward and waved his hands apologetically "No no. I mean I will still have a month left after my hands heal. That should be enough for your genius brother to venture into the forest to find herbs and treasures."

Xun suddenly had a naughty smile as she put her hands into a nearby bag and pulled out glowing Tier1 monster cores.

" That...are those the cores of the wolves I killed? You even got the alpha's core. Look at it, so green and glowing. It's my first time seeing a beast core. The Alpha's core has a different color."

"So this should help brother cultivate here, right? You can stay here for a month until your hands heal." She looked at him with puppy eyes which made him smile with affection.

"Yes yes. But we should clean up the village. Disease can spread if we leave all those bodies out there. We should clean it up tomorrow. I can help with things that don't require my hands...hehehe"

"En. Let's do that tomorrow."

The next day, after Xun changed his bandages again, Luo went out to survey the damage. As he surveyed a few bodies, he saw that there were a few cultivators in the Gathering Qi realm among the bodies as well.

Cultivation was a hard path and not suitable for everyone. Even if some have the aptitude and cultivate, like the villagers in front of him, breaking through requires immense resources and luck, so they just live with their basic cultivation skills for their entire lives.

Xun kept up with him as he surveyed the village. He saw that some of the beasts he had killed had their guts cut, probably the doing of Xun as she collected beast cores. He then saw that the Alpha's coat was rich and probably had some defense properties 'I should collect these skins and sell them later' As he saw the number of bodies another thought occurred to him.

'Why would the wolves come into the village and attack everyone? Even if they were hungry, a few people should have been enough. Why did they have to kill more than 50 people? Something feels wrong about this. Wolves are clever and only pick battles for practical reasons.

What reason could there be for them to go killing the entire village? Could it be the actions of some powerful young lord? But what could possibly be here?' 

He immediately looked at Xun, who saw him and smiled warmly. 'Could it be because of her? If so, maybe I should get out of here quickly with her? Master Fu Lin should be able to make sense of this.'

"Xun , change of plans. We're going to leave quickly. Help me skin this alpha wolf and then we will gather food and your belongings quickly and leave this place." Xun was surprised by what he said but nodded yes.

After Xun carefully skinned the Alpha wolf's coat, they then changed into different clothes and gathered foodstuffs from the now empty houses. He gave her time to gather a few personal artifacts and then they began their way back to Xian town in just a few hours.

They encountered a merchant's cart after a few hours of walking and the merchant agreed to give them a ride to Xian town as he was passing through there as well.

After a journey of three days, they reached Xian town. Luo thanked the merchant and with Xun following behind him, he made his way to his shack.

#Glossary

Currently known Cultivation levels:

1.Gathering Qi

2. Qi Condensation

3. True foundation

4. Core formation

5. Virtual disaster realm