“It’s the Myriad Corpse Silkworm again.” Meng Qi’s eyes flickered, her eyebrows slightly furrowed. She had also found silkworm silk from the Myriad Corpse Silkworm in Qin Xiumo’s wound. Could this man and Qin Xiumo have been injured by the same person?
“So it really is the silk of the Myriad Corpse Silkworm,” As Li Che spoke, he proceeded to throw various spiritual herbs into his natal medicinal cauldron. “The silk of the Myriad Corpse Silkworm is actually the best material for making gloves. A pair of gloves with a bit of this silk can be impervious to water and fire, immune to cold and heat. It’s very useful for us medical cultivators; you must have heard about it.”
He sighed softly and continued: “Later, for some reason, people began using it to harm others. Once refined, the silk can enter a wound and quickly spread throughout the body. Within six hours, it can root itself in the cultivator’s spiritual sea, nourishing itself with the cultivator’s aura and blood. As long as the cultivator’s aura and blood are not exhausted, the silk will not perish, and even the most powerful medical cultivators can’t help. All they can do is watch helplessly as the silk consumes the cultivator’s aura until the spiritual sea is depleted. Unless…”
Li Che continued, “Unless one can rebuild the spiritual sea, otherwise, although the cultivator remains alive, they are effectively crippled for life.” He thought Meng Qi might not be aware of some facts and explained in detail.
Meng Qi nodded.
“However, if it is discovered within six hours, it’s quite easy to cure. First we take the Myriad Corpse Silkworm’s favorite—the leaves of the Nine Mulberry tree—then combine it with Red Flower Fruit and Moonblade Vine. Boiled them down, then apply the mixture to a hand to pull the silk out from the wound,” Li Che shared his knowledge openly.
“Mmm,” Meng Qi looked at Li Che. She was aware of this—she had just used the same method to extract the Myriad Corpse Silkworm silk from Qin Xiumo’s wound.
Li Che, focused and earnest, continued speaking as his natal cauldron brewed a green concoction. Just as he was about to apply it to his hand, Meng Qi raised her hand to stop him. “Let me do it.” Without waiting for Li Che to react, she took his hand, turned over his palm, and pointed to a small wound on his hand, saying softly, “The prerequisite is that the hand should not have a single wound.”
As she spoke, Meng Qi let go of Li Che’s hand. The concoction flowed down, coating her left hand. She then took out her silver needle, which resembled a fishhook, and hooked a thread of silk finer than hair from the cultivator’s wound, winding it around her hand coated with the medicinal concoction.
“Ah?” Li Che brightened up, “Your silver needle is very handy.”
“Well,” Meng Qi replied. “I made it myself.” Yun Qingyan had taught her how to refine medicinal knives, and she knew about arrays and a bit of simple tool refining techniques. Although she couldn’t refine powerful artifacts and weapons like real refinery cultivators, making a handy tool was quite easy for her.
“Like a fishhook,” Li Che observed for a moment before concluding.
“Mmm,” Meng Qi nodded, “It’s indeed inspired by a fishhook.”
“When we leave here, I’ll get one custom-made too,” Li Che said, scratching his head sheepishly, “if I still remember by then.”
Meng Qi pulled out a similar-shaped silver needle from her storage pouch and handed it over, “You gave me Dream-Solving Incense, take this silver needle in return.”
“Thank you,” Li Che accepted it without hesitation. “Ah?” He examined it closely, “There seems to be a pattern engraved on it.”
“I engraved a small array on it,” Meng Qi explained. “By activating the array with a spirit stone, you can attach some medicinal properties to this silver needle, and it will last for around half an hour. This way, you can carry the medicinal properties to the meridians or wherever needed.”
Li Che was stunned for a moment, then blinked. Although he wasn’t familiar with tool refinery or arrays, he knew that engraving an array on such a fine silver needle was no easy task. Silver needles being a common tool of trade for medical cultivators, they were readily available for purchase, but of course did not usually come with additional effects. The exception was natal weapons, just like Xue Chengxuan’s. Silver needles made into natal weapons certainly were more powerful than ordinary ones.
“T-thank you very much,” Li Che said after a pause, carefully storing the silver needle.
In just a short while, Meng Qi had extracted all the Myriad Corpse Silkworm silk from the sword cultivator’s body. Her left hand was again encased in a dark gold cocoon. Meng Qi took out the small jade box and stored the cocoon inside. As Li Che mentioned, the silk of the Myriad Corpse Silkworm is indeed a rare commodity and not commonly seen.
“Meng Qiqi, over here.” After she completed this, Li Che had already helped another cultivator sit up against the wall. “Her spiritual aura is depleted. Someone took advantage of her weakened state, injuring her meridians, and the spiritual sea was also affected.” Li Che explained quickly: “There’s also an external injury from her left shoulder to her waist… Hm?”
Li Che paused, then quickly continued, “Myriad Corpse Silkworm!” He turned his head towards Meng Qi, repeating in disbelief, “It’s the Myriad Corpse Silkworm again!”
With a wave of her hand, Meng Qi’s Five Spirits Cauldron spun at her side. She casually tossed in leaves of the Nine Mulberry tree, Red Flower Fruit, and Moonblade Vine. Although she hadn’t owned her natal cauldron as long as Li Che, its speed in concocting medicine far surpassed his. In the span of a single breath, the three ingredients turned into a green medicinal mixture, giving off a fresh scent akin to bamboo sap.
Meng Qi helped the injured cultivator lie down and carefully peeled back the blood-soaked clothes on her back. On her fair back, there was a fierce wound stretching from her left shoulder to her right waist. The wound was narrow, likely caused by a very sharp sword. If the strike had been a bit more forceful, she could have been split in half.
Meng Qi took out a small blue bottle from her storage pouch, pouring the powder inside over the still-bleeding wound on the woman’s back. As soon as the powder touched the wound, the unconscious woman’s body tensed up. She groaned, slowly opening her eyes.
“Don’t move,” Meng Qi instructed softly.
“Uh—” The woman responded weakly, her eyes still filled with bloodshot. Her back was in excruciating pain, her spiritual energy depleted, and even cracks appeared in her spiritual sea, causing her to struggle painfully on the ground. A blood-red rose materialized in her palm, but after unfolding just two petals, the rose vanished.
“Uh—” She groaned again, her body going limp as she lay back down.
Meng Qi’s expression did not change as her slender fingers swiftly pulled a strand of dark gold silk from the woman’s wound. The medicinal concoction on her left hand attracted the silk of the Myriad Corpse Silkworm, which quickly wrapped around her fingers as if it were alive. In moments, Meng Qi’s left hand was fully enveloped in dark gold silk.
“Her spiritual sea has slight cracks,” Li Che also busied himself. His own natal medicinal cauldron bubbled continuously, churning the concoction inside until it condensed into a small clump of thick liquid. With a gesture, the medicine accurately flew into a porcelain cup he held.
“Meng Qiqi,” he lifted his hand, then set the cup down before looking up at Meng Qi, “please help her sit up.” Having treated the woman’s back wound, Meng Qi carefully helped her sit. Li Che then poured the medicine from the cup into the woman’s mouth, explaining, “If she refrains from using her aura, her spiritual sea should be stable for now. However, the cracks in her spiritual sea look weird; I don’t think they are caused by depletion of aura.”
“I see,” Meng Qi nodded. The woman’s spiritual sea only had very fine cracks, which, if merely due to depletion, could self-repair in about two weeks given her Spirit Severing cultivation level.
“The wound on her back, although it looks narrow and not deep,” Meng Qi said, “was inflicted by a sword cultivator whose cultivation might not be higher than hers, but whose sword aura is extremely fierce, piercing deep and damaging her spiritual sea.” She paused, then added, “That was the cause for the cracks in her spiritual sea. This sword aura seems so sharp and swift, it’s almost like…”
Just then, Qiao Ran landed on the city wall, right next to the three of them. Finding Meng Qi and Li Che focused on an injured cultivator’s injuries, looking so close together, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat dumbfounded.
But he still called out, “Jun—… uh, I mean, Fellow Daoist Meng.” Meng Qi and Li Che, who were both crouched down, simultaneously lifted their heads. Seeing their focused and earnest gaze, he found it hard to continue.
“This person, she… she was injured by me,” Qiao Ran finally said, looking awkward and embarrassed.
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