Afterward, Red Lotus slowly drifted back down into Shen Chu's hand.
The petals seemed a few shades deeper in color than before. Then a surge of heat flowed from Red Lotus into Shen Chu's body, passing through his five viscera and six bowels, his limbs and meridians, before finally gathering in his dantian.
As the heat flowed in, Shen Chu immediately felt that the injuries he had just suffered had completely healed!
He held the Red Lotus blankly, feeling the warmth in his palm. He was still in such extreme shock that he had yet to come back to his senses.
He lowered his head to look at the Red Lotus in his hand, then raised it to look at where the snake demon had vanished.
The spot was utterly clean, without even a trace of ash left behind.
Just like that...
Gone?
A snake demon that had nearly taken his life had simply been sucked into and refined by a palm-sized Red Lotus?
Shen Chu swallowed and slowly tucked Red Lotus back into his robes. He only felt that the flower seemed far heavier than before.
He glanced once more at the boy and woman slumped on the ground. Both were still deathly pale.
Clearly, they had yet to recover from that terrifying brush with death.
Shen Chu walked over to the fire, added several more pieces of wood to make the flames burn brighter, then handed each of them a waterskin and a piece of dried rations.
After hesitating for a moment, the boy accepted the waterskin and took several deep gulps. Only then did he seem to regain a little of his soul.
At the boy's prompting, the woman accepted the rations as well. She nibbled at them in small bites, her gaze lowered throughout, not daring