Meanwhile, behind the city walls, another conversation ensued, “What’s with the Luoxin tree?” Qiao Ran asked, “What are you guys talking about?”
Meng Qi and Li Che exchanged glances and said, “It’s not just the Luoxin tree.” She paused, looking down at the Duankong Sect disciple lying on the ground. The faint green lines in his eyes were still present, and a new wave of crazed turmoil began in his spiritual sea.
“Yes.” Li Che also squatted down, speaking gravely: “This man has indeed been affected by the Withering Bloom Gu, but the Luoxin tree, Luoxin tree…” he muttered, feeling bewildered for a moment. Why did he feel the situation was getting more and more complicated? What exactly had they encountered?
Meng Qi stared blankly at the Duankong Sect disciple, then looked up at Xue Chengxuan. The future leader of the Feng Alliance still stood there, his eyes blood-red, his hands clenched into fists at his sides, muttering phrases like “don’t save… don’t trust…” but he made no further movement.
“Let’s save him first,” Meng Qi decisively said. She took out the jade box again, retrieving the dark golden silkworm cocoons. The silk of the Myriad Corpse Silkworm was extremely fine yet tough, impervious to the blade and resistant to fire and water. “No matter what, we shall detoxify him first,” she said again, her delicate hand waving lightly as the Five Spirits Cauldron settled beside her.
As she spoke, Meng Qi tossed several spiritual herbs into the cauldron. Her fingers lightly tapped, and the array on the belly of the cauldron lit up, the herbs bubbling together into a mixture.
“Alright.” Li Che nodded, steadying himself. He took one of the cocoons from Meng Qi’s hand. “I’ll do it.” He paused, then explained, “My cultivation is higher than yours. Please ensure my safety as I’m doing this task.”
“Okay.” Meng Qi nodded. She turned back, looking at the cultivators still embroiled in battle, and retrieved her medicinal knife. As she rose to her feet, the hand gripping the blade made a small gesture a few times. The next instance, her figure suddenly moved, swiftly circling Li Che and the Duankong Sect disciple. In just a moment, Meng Qi had returned to Qiao Ran’s side, stepping onto the array she had just drawn, flicking her fingers to send several spirit stones into the corners of the array.
This wasn’t the first time Qiao Ran had seen Meng Qi’s array. When he finally realized what Meng Qi was doing, the array had been completed and started to flash as it activated. In the present days where array cultivators were a thing of the past, their Duankong Sect probably retained the most knowledge and understanding of arrays among the existing sects in the Three Thousand Worlds. Even so, he did not recognize the array Meng Qi had casually drawn.
The meticulous lines, beautiful structure, decisiveness, and swiftness… Qiao Ran didn’t know much about medical cultivation, but from his perspective, Meng Qi’s talent in arrays was truly astonishing.
He exhaled slowly. Junior Sister Meng was supposed to come from a small, obscure sect, didn’t she? Where on earth had she learned such extraordinary skills?
Meanwhile, within the safe confine of the array, Li Che had soaked the Myriad Corpse Silkworm’s silk with the medicinal liquid prepared in Meng Qi’s Five Spirits Cauldron. He then carefully took out his medicinal knife and made several cuts on the Duankong disciple’s body. With a serious look on his face, he held the silk and carefully inserted it into the cuts.
As if alive, the silk silently burrowed itself into the flesh like the most agile fish. Without hesitation, Li Che cut two wounds across his own palm. He took a small medicine bottle out of his storage pouch and sprinkled some powder on the wound on his palm.
“Ah?” The observing Qiao Ran couldn’t contain his confusion and exclaimed in surprise.
“That’s a Melting Snow Powder,” Meng Qi softly explained. “It prevents blood in the wound from clotting.” She paused, then added, “This way, the Myriad Corpse Silkworm silk won’t burrow deeper into your senior brother’s body and become irremovable.”
“I see.” Qiao Ran nodded. But he couldn’t help but notice how Meng Qi spoke with such a casual tone without the slightest change of expression on her face as if this was just the normal thing to do. Being a sword cultivator, his blade was always stained with the blood of others. He had never considered that the blades of medical cultivators sometimes had to be turned towards oneself.
“Do you often do this?” Qiao Ran couldn’t resist asking.
“What?” Meng Qi had already turned her attention back to the battle nearby. She looked back at Li Che, who was still detoxifying the Duankong Sect disciple, and suddenly made up her mind. “I’ll go and check.” While speaking, Meng Qi took out two artifacts from her storage pouch. Before entering the Ten Absolutes Mountains, she had purchased many defensive artifacts at the marketplace in Beyond The Heaven. After taking out two, she wore one on her wrist and another on her chest.
She produced two spirit stones next and embedded them each in the two artifacts. The artifacts flashed, casting protective barriers of different colors, shrouding her inside. Her figure flickered, and with the artifacts’ protection, she rushed towards the area where the battle was the most intense.
“Eh? Ju-junior Sister, wait for me!” Qiao Ran’s duty was to protect Meng Qi. He rushed after her without hesitation, his natal sword surged ahead of her, its tip flickering coldly as it steadfastly protected her. Qiao Ran quickly reached Meng Qi’s side and just when he was about to speak, she stuffed two artifacts and several spirit stones into his hands.
“Put these on,” Meng Qi gestured.
Qiao Ran paused, looking at the artifacts in his hand, and suddenly exclaimed in surprise: “Seventh-realm artifacts?!”
He was a disciple of the Duankong Sect, considered the number one sword cultivation sect in the Western Realm. Disciples from such a prestigious sect were generally well-off. However, in the Three Thousand Worlds, where the art of refinery had long been in decline, even a sect with deep roots like Duankong wouldn’t casually hand out seventh-realm artifacts to its disciples.
As if that wasn’t generous enough, Meng Qi had considerately provided several spirit stones alongside the artifacts. In Three Thousand Worlds, artifacts or other magic weapons were generally powered by the user’s spiritual aura. Natal weapons in particular were naturally better to be used this way, as it made them much more flexible and convenient to use, but it wasn’t the case for regular magic weapons or artifacts. In fact, using spirit stones was often a better strategy, sparing the users the need to divide their attention or siphon aura that could be used for other things.
Just as Qiao Ran was about to say he had his own spirit stones, his gaze shifted, and he was again taken aback: “Profound-grade spirit stones!” He was stunned—he had never considered himself lacking money before. After all, as one of the outstanding young disciples of a long-established major sect like Duankong, he naturally had never had to worry about spirit stones. The sect providing for all his needs, and completing missions could earn him additional spirit stones. Even so, seeing profound-grade spirit stones still made him gasp in surprise…
This Junior Sister Meng seemed to have everything—spirit stones, expensive artifacts, and exceptional talents in both arrays and medical cultivation. Even though Master was determined to please her… it wouldn’t be easy!
Immersed in his thoughts, Qiao Ran mimicked Meng Qi and put on the two artifacts. A faint light spread out, enveloping him. An almost imperceptible aura swirled around him, protecting him.
Junior Sister really is generous!
Qiao Ran caught up with Meng Qi and said, “Thank you, Junior Sister.”
Meng Qi was slightly taken aback but seemed too lazy to correct Qiao Ran’s increasingly natural ‘Junior Sister’ address. She took a few steps and jumped onto the city wall, quickly approaching the nearest collapsing figure on the wall. “Hmm?” Meng Qi swiftly checked the person’s body, “It’s one of ours.”
“Huh?” Qiao Ran found the person somewhat unfamiliar, “One of ours?”
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