“Activating the Thousand Emperor Bell is no easy feat,” Ling Ji said again. “That refinery master who made the Thousand Emperor Bell was surnamed Ji.” He continued without waiting for Yun Qingyan to speak: “Later, due to certain reasons, members of the Ji clan either died or fled. It is said that the last of their lineage sought refuge by moving to the Devil Realm.”
“Xiao Qi…” Yun Qingyan said, “Once saved a Ji family member named Ji Wujiong.”
Ling Ji: “…”
“Three times,” Yun Qingyan added.
Ling Ji: “…”
“Maybe even more than three times,” Yun Qingyan continued. “That guy even gave Xiao Qi the command token of the Ji family head.”
Ling Ji was stunned for a moment, his lips twitching slightly. He couldn’t help but look again at the Meng Qi’s blue-robed figure. The girl was still standing in front of Qin Xiumo, her head slightly bowed in thought. She was so focused, as if the surrounding sounds of fighting, the whooshing of swords cutting through the air, and the loud explosions from various spells could not affect her in the slightest.
At this moment, there was only Meng Qi’s profile in Ling Ji’s eyes. Her figure slender, her nose finely shaped, her jaw delicate, and her expression intensely serious. A warm current suddenly surged through his chest—it was pride, some satisfaction, but mostly concern.
Meng Qi suddenly raised her right hand, and a silver medicinal knife appeared in her palm. She brandished the knife, lowered her head, and quickly made three slashes on the back of Qin Xiumo’s hand.
The black-robed youth’s expression remained stagnant, seemingly unfazed by Meng Qi’s actions, the sword in his only functioning arm was as steady as before.
“This is the silk of the Myriad Corpse Silkworm from the Southern Realm.” Meng Qi’s voice was low and slightly hoarse. As she spoke, she beckoned, and the Five Spirits Cauldron flew to her side, the little cauldron gently shaking as it continuously devoured the spiritual ingredients Meng Qi threw into it. Meng Qi then took out a silver needle from her storage space item. The needle was extremely fine, with a tip slightly different from ordinary needles, curved like a fishhook.
She lifted Qin Xiumo’s hand and used the hook of the silver needle to gently catch the dark golden light in the wound on the back of his hand. Next, she slowly lifted the needle, and the dark golden light flickered, stretching longer as she pulled out a very fine thread from the wound.
Qin Xiumo’s expression finally showed some changes. He grunted in pain, his handsome face contorting slightly, and his sword-controlling hand drooped, his arm uncontrollably trembling several times.
Meng Qi focused on her task and worked silently with utmost intensity. With a raise of her hand, the medicinal liquid that had been simmering in the Five Spirits Cauldron poured down, submerging her left hand. At the same time, Meng Qi began wrapping the dark gold silkworm silk around her left hand, which upon contact with the medicinal liquid became tame almost instantly, obediently coiling around her hand again and again. Eventually, the silkworm silk no longer required her to pull; like the string of a kite released to its end, it whooshed out from Qin Xiumo’s wound and wrapped around Meng Qi’s left hand, completely unlike its original ferociousness.
In a short while, Qin Xiumo’s previously furrowed brows relaxed, and Meng Qi’s left hand was encased in a cocoon of dark gold silkworm silk. She put away the silver needle and then took out a small box from her storage pouch. The box, carved from a single piece of jade, was bare and simple. She shook her left hand lightly, removing the silkworm silk wrapped around it, and stored it in the jade box.
Meng Qi put away the small jade box and took out a box of medicinal powder next, applying some to the wound on the back of Qin Xiumo’s hand. With the Myriad Corpse Silkworm silk removed, now the wound was a minor issue. As soon as the powder was applied, the bleeding stopped and there was no need for bandaging.
“Dong—” Another bell toll sounded. Qin Xiumo’s brows, which had barely relaxed, instantly furrowed again. Meng Qi’s expression remained calm; she turned her head, looking towards the city wall where the Earthly Camp was located. There, the flashes of sword light and spells became even more intense. Not all Earthly Camp cultivators were targeting the Heavenly Camp’s members—some among them had already begun fighting amongst themselves.
With each toll of the Thousand Emperor Bell, these people became more ferocious and ruthless in their attacks. On the city wall, blood spread the air like mist, even staining the sky behind it with a faint hue of red. The Earthly Camp also had medical cultivators, but like Xue Chengxuan, those who usually wielded life-saving tools were now using them as weapons of slaughter.
However, amidst the chaos and madness on the city wall, a figure in a light blue robe nimbly maneuvered among the cultivators. His tall, slim figure made him appear extremely agile. Every time he stopped in front of a cultivator, a faint medicinal aroma would emanate from him.
His natal weapon was also a small cauldron, similar to Meng Qi’s Five Spirits Cauldron, but simpler and lacking embedded arrays. Occasionally, he would toss various spiritual medicines or herbs into his cauldron, which quickly transformed them into bubbling medicinal liquid.
The blue-robed cultivator’s movements were very skilled; stopping bleeding, treating wounds, applying medicine, bandaging… He had done these things thousands of times, to the point where he could do them correctly even when blindfolded. Under his expert care, several of the injured cultivators on the city wall were quickly treated.
This person was none other than Li Che.
But as the Thousand Emperor Bell continued to toll, the number of injured on the city walls also increased. Even with Li Che’s speed and expertise, it was hard to attend to everyone. Just as he finished bandaging the wound of a sword cultivator with an injured right arm, not far behind him, three members of the Earthly Camp were burned by a flame that came from nowhere.
Amidst screams, Li Che hurried over to the three burned cultivators.
“Eh?” As he quickly moved to slice open the robe of the most severely burned person, he saw the flame had burned a big hole in the robe, and beneath it, the skin was scorched black. And that was not all—even more terrifying, he discovered dense orange and blue dots scattered around the charred skin.
Li Che frowned. Almost all medical cultivators carry a medicinal knife, and he was no exception. He gripped the knife horizontally, carefully lifting a bit of skin from the burnt area. Then, retracting the knife, he brought it close to his nose to sniff.
It stinks! Li Che almost passed out from the smell, but the next moment, his expression changed slightly—in the blink of an eye, the burned skin around the wound had turned ashen white, losing all its luster.
This is…
“It’s cold poison!” A crisp voice suddenly sounded in Li Che’s ear. He instinctively turned around and saw a female cultivator in blue robes standing beside him, performing the same action as he had just done—using her medicinal knife to lift a bit of skin around the burned area.
“Meng Qiqi?!” Li Che exclaimed in surprise, “You, how… how did you get here?!” He instinctively peered behind Meng Qi, where the flashes of sword light and spells still raged wildly, occasionally mingled with the green toxic mist often used by medical cultivators for attacks.
—The battle was not over yet.
Already feeling bewildered, Li Che’s confusion only deepened. From the moment he entered this so-called Ten Absolutes Mountain Battlefield and was assigned to the Earthly Camp, only to find himself appearing in this small mountain city, he had been somewhat at a loss. He understood the rules, but he was unclear about what he should be doing. It wasn’t until people suddenly started fighting and the injured began to accumulate that he seemed to finally recall his calling.
Li Che had been busily saving people on the city walls for a while. Seeing Meng Qi suddenly appear, he was startled at first, but quickly recovered and nodded, “It’s cold poison!” Although the injuries were caused by fire, it was the cold poison hidden within the fire that truly harmed the victims.
“I have this,” Meng Qi said, pulling out a small bottle from her storage pouch and handing it to Li Che.
“This blood… it contains a very potent fire property!” Li Che couldn’t care about anything else. Wasting no time, he dropped a drop of blood into his natal cauldron, quickly followed by several herbs.
Shortly after, there was a small explosion followed by a shower of sparks, as if fireworks exploded inside Li Che’s natal cauldron. As the sparks dissipated, the ingredients inside transformed into a small blood-red pill, which obediently spun and flew into Li Che’s palm. Without hesitation, he pried open the mouth of the burned cultivator, stuffing the pill inside.
A few moments later, the cultivator let out a low groan and slowly opened his eyes, looking at both Li Che and Meng Qi. “Th-thank you…” he muttered, his voice still hoarse, but the bloodshot in his eyes had faded.
“It’s okay now.” Li Che helped him up and moved him to a corner of the city wall to rest against it. “You should rest here for a while.”
“Yes.” The man nodded softly.
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Bonus chapter on Friday!
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