Complementary Constitutions

Ye Xiu stared blankly as he felt the changes inside his body. The Purple Flame was like an ice cube thrown into water, slowly melting away. The melted essence flowed through his body with his blood, then gathered in his dantian.

Had the Purple Flame been refined?

Ye Xiu was a little dazed.

From start to finish, it had taken less than the time to drink a cup of tea. The Purple Flame born from the Companion Amethyst Source had just been refined by him like that?

He lowered his head and looked at his hand, then shifted his thoughts.

Pff!

A cluster of purple flames sprang from his palm, dancing in the air. The flame wasn't big—about the size of a fist—but its temperature was several times higher than before. The surrounding air warped from the heat.

"Holy crap, is this another talent that comes with the Innate Medicine Body?"

He'd thought he'd have to struggle with it for ages, but somehow, he'd refined it just like that!

Ye Xiu stood up and stretched his limbs. The Dou Qi inside him flowed smoothly, without the slightest discomfort. The Dou Qi in his dantian had turned a reddish gold with a tinge of purple. It was denser than before, and more violent.

He casually waved his hand. A streak of Purple-Gold Dou Qi shot from his fingertip and struck the cave wall.

Boom!

A hole the size of a washbasin blasted open in the wall. Fragments of stone flew everywhere as smoke filled the air.

Ye Xiu raised an eyebrow.

Its power had increased by at least thirty percent.

And that was right after refining it. Once it had fully fused with his Dou Qi, its power could climb even higher.

His alchemy efficiency and the quality of his pills would undoubtedly improve as well.

Ye Xiu lowered his hand. The Innate Medicine Body was even more incredible than he'd imagined.

At first, he'd thought this constitution merely made alchemy convenient, and that he'd automatically become an Alchemist once his cultivation reached the right level. But it seemed to be far more than that. If he could easily refine something as violent as the Companion Amethyst Source, then what about Heavenly Flames? If he got his hands on one, could he just swallow it too?

Ye Xiu thought it over and decided it was quite possible.

But now wasn't the time to think about that. He'd better fully fuse with the Purple Flame first.

He sat back down, closed his eyes, and began circulating his Dou Qi. The Purple-Gold Dou Qi in his dantian flowed through his meridians, washing through his body again and again. With every cycle, the purple parts fused a little more tightly with the reddish-gold parts.

Time passed by bit by bit.

He didn't know how long it had been when Ye Xiu opened his eyes.

It was already dark, and the night wind rustled through the woods outside the cave.

The Purple Flame inside him had completely stabilized and merged with his original Dou Qi. He could call upon it whenever he wished.

Ye Xiu walked to the cave entrance and smashed the boulder blocking it with a single punch.

He looked up at the sky and estimated the time.

He must have spent nearly a day and a night in the cave.

Next, he'd head to the Tagor Desert.

The Green Lotus Core Flame was waiting for him there.

But before he left, he'd make another trip to Qingshan Town.

Ye Xiu made up his mind and spread the fiery wings behind him.

This time, their color had changed.

They were no longer pure reddish gold. Now, they were reddish gold tinged with purple, gleaming with an eerie light in the moonlight.

He beat his wings and shot into the sky, flying toward Qingshan Town.

The night wind roared past his ears as the forest below raced by.

As Ye Xiu flew through the air, he suddenly thought of Yun Yun.

She should have returned to the Misty Cloud Sect by now, right?

Next time they met, she'd treat him to grilled fish she'd made herself?

Ye Xiu smiled.

All right. He'd see just how bad her cooking was then.

A streak of reddish-gold light cut across the night sky and soon disappeared behind the distant mountains.

Qingshan Town.

The sky had barely begun to brighten, yet people were already out in the streets. Vegetable sellers carried their baskets toward the market, while a few early-rising mercenaries crouched outside a tavern, smoking. The town was peaceful.

Ye Xiu landed outside town, dispelled his Dou Qi Wings, and walked in along the street.

When he reached the entrance to the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion, he paused.

The door was open.

He pushed it open and immediately spotted Xiao Yi Xian sitting behind the counter. But unlike a few days ago, she wasn't reading or preparing medicine. She was sitting cross-legged on a chair with her eyes closed, a faint, pale-gray qi seeping from her body.

Was she... cultivating?

The gray qi surrounding Xiao Yi Xian wasn't ordinary Dou Qi, but Poison Dou Qi.

And that Poison Dou Qi seemed to be resonating with the Dou Qi inside him.

The Dou Qi in his body began to stir. It wasn't repulsed; it was more like a starving person catching the scent of meat.

Holy crap?

Ye Xiu was stunned.

What was going on?

He took two steps forward, moving closer to Xiao Yi Xian. The gray Poison Dou Qi drifted over and touched his body. To his surprise, it was immediately drawn inside him.

Once it entered, the Dou Qi in his body grew even more excited, as if it had been pumped full of energy. Its circulation speed doubled.

Ye Xiu was utterly stunned.

He looked down at his hand, then at Xiao Yi Xian, who was still cultivating.

What the hell...

Could his Innate Medicine Body even absorb poison?

No, it wasn't just absorption. The bit of Poison Dou Qi he'd taken in had circulated through his body once and been transformed into his own Dou Qi. Afterward, it had even given off a warm, nourishing energy that drifted through the air between them and flowed back into Xiao Yi Xian.

Xiao Yi Xian shivered slightly, and her complexion visibly improved.

Ye Xiu: "..."

What the hell, was this... dual cultivation?

He couldn't quite believe it. He reached out and gently rested his hand on Xiao Yi Xian's shoulder.

The moment he touched her, the gray Poison Dou Qi surged into him as if it had gone mad. At the same time, the Purple-Gold Dou Qi in his body reached toward it of its own accord. The two kinds of Dou Qi entwined, circulated once through his meridians, then separated out a purer stream that flowed through his hand and back into Xiao Yi Xian.

Xiao Yi Xian let out a muffled groan and opened her eyes.

When she saw Ye Xiu standing before her, she froze for a moment. Then her face flushed scarlet.

"P-Predecessor?!"

Ye Xiu didn't remove his hand. He stared at her and asked, "What are you cultivating?"

Xiao Yi Xian stammered, "T-The Seven-Colored Poison Scripture... The one you gave me last time..."

Ye Xiu nodded.

Just as he'd thought.

He'd guessed that whatever was causing Poison Dou Qi to seep from Xiao Yi Xian was most likely the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture.

He felt the changes inside him and looked at Xiao Yi Xian.

She'd only been cultivating the Poison Scripture for a few days, but her Poison Dou Qi was already taking shape. Still, she'd only just begun, so it was unstable and had a raw, unpracticed quality.

But that wasn't the point.

The point was that he could absorb her Poison Dou Qi—and even nourish her in return.

The Dou Qi between them circulated like that, growing faster and purer with every cycle.

The Dou Qi inside Ye Xiu, which had just absorbed the Purple Flame, had still felt a little rough. But once it was stimulated by the Poison Dou Qi, it fused even more completely. The change was more obvious in Xiao Yi Xian: her complexion kept improving, and the energy around her grew steadier.

After quite some time, Ye Xiu removed his hand.

Xiao Yi Xian caught her breath and looked up at him. Her eyes were watery, and her face was still red.

"Predecessor, what was that just now...?"

Ye Xiu thought for a moment, then said, "It was probably a resonance between my constitution and your Woe Poison Body."

"Resonance?"

"Yeah." Ye Xiu nodded. "My constitution can contain all kinds of energy, while your poison body is a source of poison. When the two come together, they help and strengthen each other."