012 Healing Goddess Lian

Zhang He walked out and, seeing Lian Yunbi's guarded expression, spread his hands and said calmly, "You've been bitten by a Mad Heart Fox. It's best not to move around, lest the demonic poison circulate faster."

"Who are you?" Lian Yunbi furrowed her brows, her vigilance not wavering in the slightest at Zhang He's words.

Zhang He couldn't help but offer a bitter smile; his face really wasn't memorable enough. He had been classmates with the "Goddess Lian" for three years, yet she didn't even recognize him.

"I am Zhang He, a martial student at the Martial Child Academy. Come to think of it, I'm your classmate," Zhang He said gloomily.

A classmate? Lian Yunbi was stunned for a moment. She looked at his face, finding it completely unfamiliar. Her guard went up even higher. "I don't remember anyone like you! Why are you here? And how did you know I was bitten by a Mad Heart Fox?"

Seeing her so defensive, Zhang He figured she wasn't in immediate danger, so he didn't rush to approach her.

"You truly have a short memory for those who help you. However, I've always kept a low profile at the Martial Child Academy, so it's understandable you don't know me. As for why I'm here, my purpose is likely the same as yours. As for that Mad Heart Fox... well, that's a bit embarrassing, as I was actually chasing it."

Zhang He spread his hands helplessly.

Lian Yunbi's eyes widened; the culprit behind her bite was right here!

"Wait, you're also here to hunt the Ice Cold Pangolin? No, how did you know I was looking for the Ice Cold Pangolin?" Lian Yunbi suddenly realized.

"The Ice Cold Pangolin? So you aren't here to cultivate?" Zhang He paused, then gave a sheepish smile. It turned out she was here to hunt some sort of pangolin. "It's a misunderstanding, then. I thought you had come into the mountains to train."

"Are you really a student from the Martial Child Academy?" Lian Yunbi asked hesitantly.

Zhang He gave a wry smile. Remembering he had his academy robes in his pack, he took them out to show her.

"So you really are my classmate. I apologize; I rarely interact with others," Lian Yunbi said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Suddenly, she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.

Seeing her sway, Zhang He knew the demonic poison was taking effect. He quickly said, "Look, Goddess Lian, if you trust me, I can detoxify you."

"...You know how to treat poison?" Lian Yunbi looked at him skeptically.

"If I didn't know how to treat poison, I wouldn't dare come into these deep, old forests all by myself," Zhang He retorted with a curl of his lip.

"Then I'll have to trouble you." Lian Yunbi hesitated, knowing her condition was dire. As soon as she spoke, her fair face flushed slightly; she suddenly remembered that the bite was on her thigh.

Zhang He had already approached with his medicine basket.

Seeing her expression and the location of the wound, he immediately guessed the reason. He rolled his eyes. "At a time like this, you're still being shy?"

Lian Yunbi was left speechless.

Zhang He crouched down and untied the cloth strip. Before him lay the wound, the skin as fair as white jade, emitting a faint, delicate fragrance. Zhang He hadn't noticed anything amiss before, but now he felt a strange sensation. As his fingers touched her leg, he felt a smooth, supple texture. Lian Yunbi felt goosebumps erupt across her skin and subconsciously pulled her leg back; since she was a child, no man other than her father had ever touched her leg like this!

Zhang He frowned slightly. "Don't move!" With that, he held her leg firmly in place.

Lian Yunbi gritted her teeth, knowing she had to listen to him. Still, she felt uneasy—how could this guy be so insensitive? His tone seemed awfully blunt.

"I need to pull your clothes back a bit to see the wound clearly. Pardon me." As he spoke, he gave a sharp rip, tearing the pants away from the wound. Lian Yunbi gasped as her snow-white thigh was exposed. However, she immediately saw the wound had turned a deep purple-red, and her expression changed.

She had heard of the Mad Heart Fox; it was a notoriously vicious demonic beast.

Seeing the gruesome wound, Zhang He couldn't help but gasp. That female beast had certainly bitten down hard!

Zhang He's hand rested gently on her thigh. His senses were abnormally sharp now, and the tactile sensation made him feel flustered; he couldn't help but blush.

Seeing him blush, Lian Yunbi felt both shy and annoyed. "Can you hurry up?"

Zhang He snapped back to reality, secretly ashamed. He said to her, "I will use my True Qi to draw the demonic poison out of your body. Do not resist with your own energy."

As he spoke, his Rejuvenation True Qi slowly circulated to his hand, pressed against the wound, and seeped into her body.

Lian Yunbi was burning up, feeling a sense of irritability, but she forced herself to endure it. As his hand pressed down, she felt a cool sensation radiating from the wound, like a thirsty traveler drinking from a cold well, which immediately refreshed her spirit.

Then, her expression shifted. She felt that cool energy spreading from her leg throughout her body. Wherever it touched, the heat subsided and her mind calmed. It was vast and mighty, flowing in an endless stream.

Such powerful True Qi! Lian Yunbi was shocked. She knew that among all the students at the Martial Child Academy, her cultivation was the highest. She also knew that very few had managed to cultivate True Qi. Now, with Zhang He's first move, he displayed such profound energy—it seemed no less than her own! How could she not be astonished?

But what shocked her even more was how his True Qi could actually absorb the demonic poison from within her.

As she pondered this, she suddenly felt a tingling sensation on her thigh. Looking down, she saw Zhang He's hand gently pressing around the wound, his touch so soft it felt like he was caressing her leg.

Lian Yunbi's face turned bright red! Yet, she dared not move, knowing he was treating her.

Seeming to sense something, Zhang He spoke up, "Why did you come to hunt the Ice Cold Pangolin? It's very dangerous to enter the mountains alone."

"Aren't you here alone as well?" Lian Yunbi felt a bit indignant, but she still briefly explained her reasons for hunting the creature.

"Oh? You need the blood of the Ice Cold Pangolin to suppress the heat in your body?" Zhang He asked, puzzled. "Why is your younger brother like that?"

"It's due to our family's inherited bloodline," Lian Yunbi sighed. "When the bloodline power begins to awaken, this happens. We must use the power of ice-cold attributes to suppress the heat within us to feel comfortable."

"Bloodline?" Zhang He was stunned. Wasn't this just a genetic issue?

"Legend has it that our ancestors drank the blood of the Fire Qilin, a demonic beast. The power of the Fire Qilin exists in our bloodline and has been passed down through generations. That is why every descendant faces this ordeal when they turn ten," Lian Yunbi said softly.

"Drank the blood of a Fire Qilin?" Hearing this, Zhang He's expression turned strange. He immediately thought of something. "Why do I feel like the heat in your brother's body is more like a type of heat-poison..."

"What is heat-poison?" Lian Yunbi asked, confused.

"It's somewhat similar to this demonic poison, though that's just my guess," Zhang He said quickly.

"Oh. By the way, why do you call me 'Goddess Lian'?" Lian Yunbi suddenly asked, suspicious.

"Uh... because in my heart, you are high and noble, just like a goddess," Zhang He said glibly. He couldn't possibly explain the true meaning of that title; if Lian Yunbi heard it, she would surely go berserk.

Lian Yunbi's face flushed a delicate shade of red. She smiled and said, "Don't call me Goddess Lian anymore; it sounds a bit strange. Just call me by my name."

Zhang He nodded. "Alright, try it now and see if there's any lingering discomfort in your body." By this time, he had already drawn out all the poison from within her, his expression showing a hint of fatigue.

Lian Yunbi was pleasantly surprised to find that, aside from a little pain in her leg, everything else felt normal. She suddenly noticed the exhaustion on Zhang He's face and felt a pang of guilt.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Truth be told, this is my fault. If I hadn't been chasing that Mad Heart Fox, you wouldn't have been bitten," Zhang He said with a smile.

"Oh no, I still need to catch that Ice Cold Pangolin! I spent four days luring it out, and now that it's been struck by my arrow, it can't burrow into the ground. We have to hurry and chase it!"

Lian Yunbi suddenly remembered her mission and scrambled to her feet.

Seeing this, Zhang He thought for a moment. "I'll go with you. I've been wanting to see what an Ice Cold Pangolin looks like anyway."

The two of them packed their things immediately, and with Lian Yunbi leading the way, they plunged into the mountain forest.

Sure enough, there were traces of blood droplets on the ground. These had been left by the Ice Cold Pangolin, and with this trail, it had nowhere to hide. The two of them pursued it relentlessly.

After crossing a small ridge, Zhang He saw the blood droplets extending down the slope. He looked up and saw a pool of water at least a hundred feet wide in the valley below. The water was a dark, murky green, appearing incredibly deep, with a waterfall cascading into it from above.

"It went down there. Judging by the blood, it's still fresh; it can't have gone far," Zhang He said, sounding pleased.

When Lian Yunbi saw the pool ahead, her expression changed drastically. She stopped Zhang He and said dejectedly, "Forget it, we can't go any further."

"Why?" Zhang He looked at Lian Yunbi, puzzled.

"This is the Cold Pool. A fourth-level demonic beast, the Cold Flood Dragon, lives inside. The moment we get close to the Cold Pool, we'll alert it. In front of it, we are as fragile as ants," Lian Yunbi said bitterly.

"A fourth-level demonic beast?" Zhang He looked confused.

"Ordinary demonic beasts are divided into nine levels. That Mad Heart Fox from earlier was a first-level beast, and the Ice Cold Pangolin is also a first-level beast. A fourth-level beast has already cultivated an inner core; we are no match for it at all. Only experts at the fourth stage of the True Martial Realm or higher have any hope of escaping it," Lian Yunbi explained.

Zhang He nodded, lost in thought.

"I didn't expect that, in the end, all our efforts would fall short of success." Lian Yunbi smiled wryly and brushed back her hair. She had gone through so much trouble to come up the mountain just to hunt the Ice Cold Pangolin, and now that she had finally found one, it had actually escaped down there.

"Forget it, I have no choice but to head down the mountain now," Lian Yunbi said helplessly.

"Can't we go hunt others?" Zhang He asked, not understanding.

"To hunt an Ice Cold Pangolin, you need special bait to lure them out. I don't have any bait left, so I have to go home first and prepare. Besides," Lian Yunbi paused, "I've been out for five or six days, and my family must be worried. I need to go back and check on them."

Zhang He froze. He suddenly realized that he had also been out for five or six days. Damn it, he had been so focused on his cultivation that he had completely forgotten he still needed to deliver the Five Poison Beads to Wang Pengyu and the others!

"I should head down the mountain, too."

Watching Lian Yunbi's unwilling expression, Zhang He felt a bit embarrassed. If he hadn't been chasing the Mad Heart Fox, perhaps Lian Yunbi wouldn't have been bitten, and that Ice Cold Pangolin would have been caught.

He thought for a moment, reached into his herb basket, and pulled out the Five Poison Beads he had crafted. He handed them to Lian Yunbi. "Here is a bottle of medicine. It can neutralize toxins. If your younger brother is truly suffering from heat-toxin, this might alleviate his condition. When you get back, have him take one pill first to see. If it works, you can continue giving it to him. This medicine is non-toxic and harmless to the human body; even if an ordinary person takes it, it's beneficial."

Lian Yunbi took it, thanked him, and tucked it into her bag. Having missed her chance to hunt the Ice Cold Pangolin, she was in low spirits and barely paid attention to what Zhang He was saying.

Seeing this, Zhang He could only offer a wry smile and say nothing more. The two of them packed their gear, turned around, and headed down the mountain.