Meng Qi and Li Che blinked, simultaneously nodding and acknowledging with an “Oh,” before turning their attention back to the injured cultivator.
“No wonder…” Li Che murmured softly. “I once read a record about the sword auras of various major sword cultivation sects in the Three Thousand Worlds.” He paused, recalling the text he had read, “Duankong Sect prefers narrow swords, which are sharp and swift, with sword aura often penetrating the body and reaching the spiritual sea.” Li Che explained, “So those injured by Duankong Sect, while their external wounds may be manageable, the recovery often requires months, or even years if their spiritual sea is damaged.”
“Yeah.” Meng Qi pressed her fingers on the injured cultivator’s forehead, saying, “I have read a similar book. But the sword injuries Duankong Sect leaves in the spiritual sea are not solely due to sword aura,“ she paused, adding, “Duankong Sect possess a part of the array legacy from the ancient time.”
“Sword array?” Li Che confirmed.
“The sword array is only part of it,” Meng Qi replied. “They can integrate arrays directly into their sword techniques.” She thought for a moment, then rephrased, “Anyun Summit practices both sword and spell cultivation, so those injured by them often suffer from both external injuries and elemental damages brought by spells.””
“I see!” Li Che clapped his hands suddenly, “So Duankong Sect combines external injuries with array damage.”
“That’s right,” Meng Qi smiled slightly.
“Unfortunately, array cultivators are almost unheard of nowadays, and injuries caused by arrays are seldom seen.”
“Arrays encompass too much to explain in brief,” Meng Qi said. “For instance, my silver needle uses an array that allows it to carry medicinal properties into the meridians.”
“I’ve seen Duankong Sect’s sword array. The firepower itself was one thing, but I think Fellow Daoist Qiao must also use an array to carry his sword aura, which is why it can damage the spiritual sea.” She frowned slightly, adding, “The attack just happened when this person’s aura was depleted, so the sword aura entered her meridians unimpeded, damaging her spiritual sea.”
“That makes sense!” Li Che mused, “To think arrays have such wondrous effects…” His eyes suddenly lit up: “Arrays can carry sword aura, so if we could engrave arrays on spiritual medicine, then medicinal pills could also carry medicinal spells… eh?!” Li Che suddenly remembered, “I recall my master once saw such a thing in Beyond The Heaven before. It was unheard-of pills, imbued with arrays that carry medicinal spells, mutually enhancing the efficacy of the pill itself and the spell it was imbued with.”
“Though the pills were just the most common and lowest grade Beiming Pills, they were directly auctioned in Beyond The Heaven and were extremely scarce. Our Canglang Academy couldn’t afford them.” He couldn’t help but sigh softly as he reminisced, “The medical cultivator who came up with this method is truly a genius. But this would require mastery in both medical and array cultivations. With array cultivation declining in the Three Thousand Worlds, probably only a sect with an ancient heritage like the Feng Alliance could produce such talents.”
Li Che paused, then added, “It would be great if every medical cultivator could learn this method.”
“Yeah,” Meng Qi responded softly, her eyelashes fluttering slightly.
Even as they conversed, their hands never stopped working. The unconscious cultivator on the ground suddenly moved her arm slightly, emitting a low moan, and slowly opened her eyes.
“You?!” The first thing she saw was not Meng Qi and Li Che squatting by her side, but Qiao Ran standing behind them with a sword brandished. This woman was a spell cultivator. Barely regaining consciousness, her fingers trembled slightly, and a fully bloomed rose appeared in her palm. The rose petals had just reddened when they vanished into thin air. Her arm also dropped, her long eyelashes trembling faintly, and she could no longer utter another word.
“Be careful!” Li Che pressed his fingers gently on the woman’s forehead, then placed a blue Beiming Pill into her mouth, “Fellow Daoist, your spiritual aura is depleted, and your spiritual sea is cracked; do not overexert yourself.” He signaled Meng Qi to help the woman lie down to the side.
Qiao Ran shrugged helplessly, watching the two bustle around until the injured cultivator was safely positioned behind the city wall. Only then did he ask, “What’s going on with you guys?” He looked at Meng Qi and then at Li Che, “How did you two end up together? And who is this person?”
“Huh?” Li Che was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously turned to look at the girl standing beside him.
Qiao Ran almost laughed out in frustration, “You haven’t forgotten that we’re still on the Ten Absolutes Mountain Battlefield, right?” He pointed at Meng Qi and then at Li Che, “According to the rules, you two belong to different camps.”
“Why are you here?” Meng Qi asked. She stared into Qiao Ran’s eyes, which were clear with no hint of bloodshot. At one glance, he appeared to be unaffected by the Thousand Emperor Bell.
“We were initially going to a different section of the city wall, but we heard the commotion here, so I decided to come and check it out first.” Qiao Ran explained. He looked around and asked, “What’s happening here? I just saw my master; he said he was going to meet the Thousand Emperor Bell… Junior Sister Meng, do you know what he meant?”
“Junior sister?” Li Che stared blankly at Qiao Ran, then at Meng Qi.
“Let’s talk about this later,” Qiao Ran waved his hand, “Where did Master go?”
“The Thousand Emperor Bell…” Meng Qi repeated. “Didn’t you guys hear the bell?” She asked back.
“No,” Qiao Ran shook his head confidently, “If there really was a bell sound, even if I didn’t hear it, Fellow Daoist Pei and his junior brother certainly wouldn’t have missed it either.”
Meng Qi’s heart stirred, vaguely feeling something was amiss but couldn’t pinpoint what exactly.
“But…” Qiao Ran looked around, somewhat puzzled and utterly confused. “Why is everything so chaotic here?” The Heavenly and Earthly camps were fighting fiercely. While their side was clearly outnumbered, it was even more surprising to see the Earthly camp’s cultivators fighting among themselves.
Just as Meng Qi was about to respond, Li Che suddenly exclaimed, “Careful!” He quickly jumped to Meng Qi’s side, moving behind her. A tall cultivator had just fallen from mid-air, his natal sword clearly broken into two pieces, clattering to the ground one after the other.
“Ah!” Although Li Che was a medical cultivator with low combat ability, his cultivation base was just one step below the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. With a sweep of his robe, he caught the falling cultivator by the waist and gently set him down. “Meng Qiqi,” he hurriedly called her over, “come and look!”
Not just Meng Qi, but Qiao Ran also rushed over. “It’s my senior brother!” Qiao Ran exclaimed, “He is the eldest disciple of our Third Martial Uncle. Ah, his sword…” Qiao Ran looked at the two pieces of the broken sword on the ground, stained with fresh blood, uncertain if it belonged to its owner or an enemy.
Li Che laid Qiao Ran’s senior brother, a sword cultivator from Duankong Sect, flat on the ground, skillfully pressing his fingers to his forehead. A strand of spiritual aura flowed from his fingertips into the man’s body. “Hmm?” Li Che suddenly exclaimed softly, looking up at Meng Qi, “This is strange!” He said, “His spiritual sea… Meng Qiqi, take a look at this… eh?”
He watched as Meng Qi gently cut open the robe of the Duankong disciple, revealing his wound. Again, a dark golden glow shimmered in the blood. “Myriad Corpse Silkworm!” Li Che exclaimed in shock, “It’s the Myriad Corpse Silkworm again! This… something’s really wrong here!”
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