Chapter Thirty-Eight: Emotional Collapse

The spinning left hand in midair was reflected in Catherine’s eyes. She stood frozen, stunned. Though her left hand had just been torn off by a peck, she felt little pain—or rather, she refused to feel it, refused to accept the reality. Yet blood gushed from the severed stump, staining the ground before her a vivid crimson. The dizziness from blood loss and the overwhelming pain that followed reminded her relentlessly, inescapably:

Your hand is gone!
You are crippled now!
You are ruined!

Fury, hatred, and regret surged up from the depths of her soul. Why had she, as if possessed, used her arm to block the attack? Why had she tried to kill this butcher bird? And ultimately, why had she ever chosen to learn this cursed martial art?

Her gaze fell upon the butcher bird. True to its reputation as a level-four monster, even with such a fatal wound, it had not died immediately. It had merely lost all strength, impaled on the dagger, clinging to a miserable existence.

Seeing that the culprit of her mutilation had not yet died, all the violence within Catherine erupted.

You dare survive?
How dare you still live?
No, it’s good you’re alive! How could you die so easily? I’ll torture you—I’ll make you long for death, and even then, you won’t be able to die! Where should I start? Of course, pull out the dagger first, let your blood pour out, let you feel the cold and despair as your life drains away...

She bit down on the butcher bird’s wing and, with her right hand, prepared to pull the dagger free. Suddenly, Ling Mo’s shout rang in her ears: “Stop! You can’t do that!”

Catherine felt the weight lifted from her hand; she didn’t even see what happened. The dagger and the butcher bird were now in Ling Mo’s grasp. He was close by, and with his left index finger, he rapidly tapped several times above Catherine’s severed arm. Miraculously, the bleeding stopped. Though bone and pink muscle were still exposed, not a drop of blood spilled forth.

Catherine showed no gratitude. With her unharmed right hand, she punched Ling Mo in the chest and shouted, “Get away! I don’t want you to save me! Just two days with you, and I’ve faced more danger than in my entire life!”

“It’s all your fault! All because of you!”
“All because you made me study this cursed martial art!”
“All because you made me forever hungry!”
“All because you made me face some butcher bird!”
“All because of you! It’s all your fault, all your fault...”

Her face contorted, she rushed at Ling Mo, head-butting his chest, then hit, kicked, clawed, and bit him like a madwoman, venting her anxiety and fear. Ling Mo stood unmoving, letting her vent. After a while, she suddenly looked up and met Ling Mo’s calm gaze. Catherine trembled, let out a wail, and squatted down, covering her face as she burst into tears.

She covered her face—but now only had one hand. The habitual gesture made the white bone of her left arm scrape across her face, leaving a long bloody scratch. Realizing this, Catherine wept even harder, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Soon, her heart-wrenching sobs quieted to soft sniffles. Ling Mo bent down and gently patted her head. “Have you cried enough?”

Catherine paused, slowly lifting her head. Her eyes were swollen from crying, her face a mess of tears, snot, and blood, utterly disheveled. Yet after that hysterical outburst, her emotions had calmed considerably. She wiped her face hard with her sleeve, tucked her hair behind her ears, shook her head to toss Ling Mo’s hand from her head, and turned away.

“Not enough!”

“Then cry some more?”

“No need! There are no more tears left.”

“Still blaming me?”

“Of course I do! Of course it’s your fault!” Catherine suddenly turned back, like an angry kitten, but hesitated, lowered her head, and murmured, “But... thank you.”

“...Thank me for what?”

“Nothing. I don’t want to talk about it.” She stood up slowly, her expression now completely calm. Regretfully glancing at her severed left arm, she said, “Master, I’m crippled now. I doubt I can continue to learn martial arts from you—”

Ling Mo cut her off. “Who said you can’t keep learning? Did you forget what I told you?”

Advanced martial artists can easily regenerate limbs. For intermediate ones, it’s harder! Catherine suddenly remembered Ling Mo’s words. Her heart raced, and she stammered, “Master, c-could you really—really make my left hand grow back?”

Ling Mo replied disdainfully, “I told you, martial arts are deeper and broader than magic! Making your hand grow back is effortless.”

“Really? You’re not lying?”

“Have I ever lied to you?” Ling Mo impatiently shook the dagger in his hand. The butcher bird impaled on it let out a miserable cry—it still wasn’t dead! “You think I want to save it for fun? Your hope of regrowing your hand lies with it! Now, are you still blaming me?”

“No, no, never again!” Catherine threw herself forward and hugged Ling Mo’s leg tightly. “Master, master, I beg you, please save your pitiful disciple!”

“You... truly...” Ling Mo pointed at Catherine’s fawning smile, but couldn’t find the right words, so he said no more. He quickly tapped several times on the butcher bird’s body, as he had done to Catherine, and then, like pulling a carrot, yanked the dagger out. Catherine saw clearly—even with such a rough motion, not a drop of blood sprayed from the butcher bird’s wound!

Not only did it not bleed, but the gaping wound actually began to heal! Within a few breaths, the injury Catherine had fought so hard to inflict healed before her eyes! Ling Mo inspected the butcher bird carefully, nodded in satisfaction, then squatted down and slammed his fist into the ground.

With a muffled boom, Catherine felt the earth tremble for dozens of meters around them. Suddenly, the ground to their left exploded, and a gigantic burrowing rat was blasted out. Its lower body was shredded in midair, and its upper half, accompanied by a rain of viscera, crashed heavily to the ground.

This burrowing rat was much larger than the one before. Its remaining lower body was bigger than the previous whole rat. Now it lay dead, its face showing not pain, but endless confusion, as if it never realized it had died. Ling Mo casually tossed the butcher bird onto the rat’s corpse, then grabbed Catherine and pulled her behind a massive boulder.

“Master, what are you doing—”

“Shh!” Ling Mo clamped his hand over Catherine’s mouth and whispered, “Keep quiet. The burrowing rat I just shocked out is the leader of the local rats. It’s a level-four monster! Though the weakest among level-fours, it’s still level-four. The butcher bird could never catch such prey normally. Hang this thing on a tree, and the female butcher bird is sure to attract a mate!”

“But that bird was almost killed just now! Will it be in the mood for this?”

“Mood? Butcher birds have brains smaller than apricot pits. You expect them to have moods like humans? Shut up and watch!”

Catherine obediently closed her mouth, peeking through the cracks in the rock. Sure enough, the butcher bird stood up, glanced around in confusion, then looked down and saw the huge rat corpse beneath it. Instantly, it rejoiced!

With this prize, it need not worry about finding a mate. Gleefully, it hopped on the rat leader’s body, then carefully stuffed all the spilled entrails back into the upper half. Then, gingerly, it picked up the mangled corpse and flew back to its display tree, placing it at the highest, most prominent spot, securing it with thorns, then began to sing.

Its call was like a crow’s, but deliberately drawn out, like two metal blades scraping together—agonizingly unpleasant. After a while, Catherine felt her nerves fraying, wishing to plug her ears. To distract herself, she spoke up, “Master, this female butcher bird is so dishonest! Isn’t this deceit?”

Ling Mo rapped Catherine’s head angrily. “When will you stop viewing animals with a human mind? Deceit? Whether stolen or scavenged, as long as it’s brought back to feed the young, it’s admirable to animals! By your logic, vultures and hyenas, who live off corpses, would never find mates!”

Catherine was speechless, left to sulk as she watched the butcher bird continue its cacophonous song. Nothing happened for a while. As she grew bored and considered checking the comments, Ling Mo suddenly whispered, “Look up. It’s coming.”

She looked up quickly, but saw nothing—only emptiness overhead. Just as she wondered if Ling Mo was mistaken, a tiny black dot appeared in the sky, thirty meters above the ground.

The dot appeared suddenly, less than a centimeter wide at first, but within a breath, it expanded into a whirlpool a foot across. A massive male butcher bird, at least twice the size of the female, emerged from the vortex!

Damn, so male butcher birds are huge? And the females, who lay eggs, have to raise them? This male is shameless, living the good life! Catherine was about to complain to Ling Mo, but realized he had vanished.

Spinning around, she witnessed a scene she would never forget.

As the male butcher bird appeared, the female cried out in delight and took flight to meet her mate in midair. But suddenly, Ling Mo appeared between them!

This was the first time Catherine saw her master act against living creatures. With a downward sweep of his left fist, the female butcher bird was pulverized—not figuratively, but literally, reduced to a cloud of multicolored powder that drifted through the air. At the same time, his right hand reached up, seizing the male butcher bird as it emerged from the vortex, before it could spread its wings. Then, with his left hand, he plunged into the bird’s chest and tore out a still-beating heart, bloody and raw.

Ling Mo tossed the male butcher bird’s corpse aside and beckoned. Catherine felt a tremendous force pull her forward. She watched as Ling Mo ground the heart into a pulp between his hands, then, without explanation, smeared it onto her severed left wrist.

Instantly, a piercing itch erupted at the wound. In disbelief, Catherine watched as the bones of her left arm began to grow wildly, and soon, her wrist bone was fully formed!