The man's eyes filled with shock, unable to understand why he had been kicked.
"If you want something, then simply take it. Don't beg for it like some worthless beggar." Wu Zhe murmured, glaring down at him.
"Ha… hahahaha!" The man suddenly burst into laughter, understanding Wu Zhe. How could he have forgotten the one rule of the cultivation world? 'Might makes right'
He charged forward, fist raised, barreling straight towards Wu Zhe.
Wu Zhe smirked faintly as he watched the man charge toward him. As he drew near, Wu Zhe casually raised his hand and backhanded him, sending him flying back.
The man rose back up, teeth clenched, and charged again.
As the man closed in, he sidestepped, standing behind him, and he struck the back of his head with a slap.
"Weak. If you want something, you'll need more than just your resolve to claim it." Wu Zhe muttered, mocking him as he fell.
The man's eyes burned with rage. Clenching his fists, he forced himself back up.
Again, Wu Zhe struck him.
Again.
And again.
Each time he got up Wu Zhe would strike him down without any hesitation.
"Damn it! Tell me! Tell me how!" he roared, his fist swinging toward Wu Zhe.
A relentless cycle, the man got up each time refusing to fall, refusing to give up, enduring blow after blow for even the slightest chance to repair his dantian.
By now, his face was beaten, bruised and bloodied beyond recognition.
"I don't aid the undeserving… nor those who offer me no gain."
The man forced himself to his feet, trembling, barely able to stand. Blood dripping from his face, staining his rags, and his body swayed around, as if the slightest push would send him crashing to the ground.
He steadied his breathing, wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand, and looked at Wu Zhe once more.
Then he stepped forward again.
His fist rose, slower than before, and weaker than before, but it did not tremble.
Wu Zhe watched him in silence.
The man lunged, throwing a punch.
Wu Zhe didn't react at all.
For the first time, the man's fist finally landed. As it struck Wu Zhe's face, his expression stayed exactly the same, the same usual blank expression he always held.
"What will you do after you've repaired your dantian?" Wu Zhe asked, with the man's fist still pressed against his face.
The man collapsed on the floor, his body exhausted.
"R-revenge." he murmured.
"What then?" Wu Zhe asked.
The man paused, clearly he had never thought of what comes after that.
"I don't know…" he replied.
"Then why don't you join me?" Wu Zhe replied.
The man's face looked confused clearly not understanding Wu Zhe meaning.
"What do you mean?"
"I told you. I don't help those who are undeserving, or who offer me nothing in return."
The collapsed man stared up at Wu Zhe, using his every bit of strength to get up.
"Please accept me!" The man suddenly burted out.
"Why should I?" Wu Zhe's voice sank low.
"What are you willing to offer me." Wu zhe murmured his words full of a malicious int.
"Everything!"
"I-I'll give you my everything! My body, my will, everything… I don't care!" the man shouted, sounding desperate.
Wu Zhe approached the kneeling man and placed his hand on his head.
"I see."
"Then sit down and meditate."
The man looked confused, but still obeyed.
Wu Zhe stood behind him, his palm behind his body as a pure red Qi. It surged outward, then slowly began pouring into the man's body.
The man shut his eyes, and almost instantly, pain erupted within him. Wu Zhe's Qi moved like a violent current, forcing its way toward his shattered dantian.
In the past, when Wu Zhe had studied the uses of lifeforce, he had uncovered many uses for it. One for cultivation, another for healing and many others.
The lifeforce of a living being was miraculous, capable of restoring lost limbs, repairing ruinous bodies. But again the cost of using it was sanity. Any cultivator who dared to use it would inevitably descend into madness this was an unspeakable truth. Thus no sane person would ever attempt it. Not even the insane would dare to.
Well of course except for Wu Zhe.
As his Qi reached the man's dantian, it surrounded around the broken fragments of the man's dantian, slowly piecing them together. Piece by piece, it began filling the gaps and restoring what had once been destroyed.
The man's body trembled violently.
It felt as though countless needles were tearing through him from the inside, shredding flesh, meridians, and bone alike. His face twisted in agony, blood pouring out from his mouth and from the corners of his eyes.
"Steady yourself!" Wu Zhe shouted sharply, sensing that the man was beginning to falter.
A few minutes later, the man remained seated. His breathing steadied. The pain faded.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
His face and eyes wide with disbelief. His body trembled, not from pain, but from shock.
"My… my dantian…" he muttered, shock evidently showing from his face, as his voice trembled with disbelief.
He rose abruptly, then dropped to his knees once more, kowtowing to Wu Zhe.
"Si— No… Master! Thank you!"
"Rise—" Wu Zhe was suddenly going to speak, but paused. He had forgotten to ask something.
"What is your name?"
"My name—" The man hesitated, the suddenly his teeth clenched, remembering his past events around the memory of his name.
After a moment, he lowered his head.
"I have no name, Master."
Wu Zhe's eyes narrowed. He immediately understood that his past name must've carried nothing but pain, and unwanted memories.
Since the man had chosen to cast aside his past… and with it, the name that bound him to it, Wu Zhe made a decision.
"Then I shall give you one."
He paused, considering. Countless names passing through his mind, yet none of them felt right, until one.
"Xu… Shazi"
Xu Shazi body trembled faintly at the sound of it, as if his new name itself carried weight.
"Xu Shazi… Thanks and greets the master," he murmured softly, bowing even deeper.