Fighting Poison with Poison

He only remembered Qin Ziyan telling him to run. What happened after that, he had no idea. He searched toward the place where she had fought the giant snake earlier. By now, dawn had broken, and he quickly found Qin Ziyan. She lay on the ground, her life and death unknown. Her face was pale, and blood still stained the corner of her lips.

She wasn't dead, was she? Chen Fan reached out to feel her neck and found a faint pulse. But she was already at death's door. Without treatment, she would soon perish like a fallen flower and shattered jade. Only then did Chen Fan get a clear look at her face. She was exceptionally beautiful, seemingly only fifteen or sixteen, already the makings of a great beauty. Thick brows, large eyes, and a high nose bridge—unlike Ye Wan's icy beauty and haughty pride, this girl had a delicate, moving air about her. Her pale face now carried an added trace of mournful beauty.

Chen Fan hesitated. Should he save her? Could he save her? Could she even be saved? A string of questions surfaced in his mind, along with all sorts of possible consequences. In the end, he sighed. As the saying went, one should not harbor the heart to harm others, but one must have the heart to save them. Eh, why did that sound a little strange? Never mind. It would be such a pity for such a beautiful little girl to die like this. He would think of a way to save her. Chen Fan was not some utterly vicious man who could stand by and watch someone die. Besides, if he had not stolen the snake eggs, she would not have been put in such peril. Even if she dragged him to the Inner Court after he saved her, so be it.

But how was he supposed to save her? Judging by her condition, the poison had likely already invaded her heart. One careless move, and he might finish her off instead. Forget it. He could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive. She would die if he did nothing anyway; if he accidentally killed her, it could only be called a medical accident. He could not hesitate any longer. He had to act quickly—if he delayed, even immortals would be unable to save her.

After thinking briefly, Chen Fan recalled the methods for concocting antidotes recorded in the Treasure Record. One detoxification method was fighting poison with poison. When someone was deeply poisoned and there was temporarily no antidote, they could be made to endure another kind of poison. The two poisons would then affect and weaken one another, relieving the onset of the poison and buying more time for treatment.

Chen Fan took out several herbs he had gathered earlier and arranged them according to the poison-making method recorded in the Treasure Record. He placed them in his palms and continuously kneaded them into a paste. At the same time, he circulated the Origin Qi throughout his body into his hands, infusing the herbs with a trace of heaven-and-earth Origin Qi while heating them more effectively.

After kneading them several times, Chen Fan had formed the herbs in his hands into a round object resembling a pill. However, due to the limited conditions, it was extremely crude, with plenty of twigs and leaf scraps mixed into it. He lifted it to his nose and sniffed. The smell was truly foul—not much better than the giant snake's poisonous gas. Hopefully, this herbal poison could contend with the snake venom.

Once the medicine was ready, he walked to Qin Ziyan's side, helped her sit up, and said, "Senior Sister, forgive my offense." He pressed his palms against her back and slowly circulated his Origin Qi, injecting a small amount into her body while trying to stir some of her own Origin Qi. Since she was unconscious, he could not rashly pour Origin Qi into her. Otherwise, with their cultivation levels being similar, her body would instinctively resist it, potentially worsening her condition. Chen Fan himself might also suffer a backlash.

As soon as Chen Fan's Origin Qi entered her body, the girl trembled slightly and let out a weak gasp. Then, with a sudden "Wah!", she spat out a large mouthful of blood. Just as Chen Fan had expected, her Internal Qi cultivation was not weak. So long as he could stir even a thread of the Origin Qi within her body, it could circulate on its own, protect her heart meridians, and resist the invading poison.

But this would not last long. A large amount of poisonous gas remained in her body, and if her own Origin Qi could not circulate, the poison would still attack her heart. If a high-level cultivator had been present, they could have used their powerful Origin Qi to continuously help her expel the poison until she recovered. Clearly, Chen Fan did not possess such cultivation.

After vomiting the clotted blood, the girl regained a little consciousness. She murmured a few barely audible words, then suddenly felt an extremely foul-smelling lump forcibly stuffed into her mouth. Just as she was about to resist, Chen Fan's voice sounded beside her ear. "Senior Sister, do not resist. If you wish to live, swallow this pill at once." Qin Ziyan thought, What kind of pill is this? It's practically a lump of that stuff. But she knew her situation well enough. Gritting her teeth, she swallowed it.

Then her body went limp, and she fell straight into Chen Fan's arms. His body shuddered faintly at the touch of her warm, soft form. Looking down, he happened to see Qin Ziyan's exquisite face, and his thoughts could not help wandering. Beast! She's already in such a state, and what am I thinking about? This is simply heartless and insane! He immediately shook his head to calm himself. Still, at his age, when love first stirred, his first contact with a girl naturally left his heart itching beyond endurance.

Chen Fan hurriedly injected another thread of Origin Qi into Qin Ziyan's body to help her refine the medicine's effects. Then he retreated to one side and stopped looking at her. He remembered the old monk's warning: women beneath the mountain were tigers, and one must flee upon seeing them. It seemed the women on the mountain were even more formidable. Just looking at one was enough to throw his mind into chaos. After helping Qin Ziyan, the Origin Qi within his own body had also become somewhat disordered, so he hastily sat down to cultivate and recover.

He continuously practiced the Golden Wheel Scripture, extracting the lingering poison from his body bit by bit. After cultivating for an entire day, he finally recovered for the most part. By then, the sky was gradually darkening again as the sun sank beyond the western hills. Looking at Qin Ziyan, he saw that she still showed no sign of awakening. He was somewhat worried. Should he carry her back to the sect and have people from the Sword-Imperial Pavilion save her? But if he did that, too many things would be impossible to explain. What if she died on the way and someone discovered her? Then it would be even harder for him to clear himself. Perhaps he should simply leave. He had done all he could; the rest depended on her own fate. Yet Chen Fan could not bear to do that, leaving him completely at a loss.

Just as he was wavering, a graceful figure slowly awakened. She murmured, "What happened to me? Where am I?" Amnesia? Wonderful! Chen Fan's heart stirred, and he said to Qin Ziyan, "Miss, you were poisoned by a snake earlier. I was just about to find someone to save you, but I did not expect you to recover on your own. Since you are all right, I shall take my leave." With that, he turned to go.

"Stop!" the girl cried hurriedly. Her body was still extremely weak, and she coughed several times before saying feebly, "Did you save me? Have you already killed that snake? What was it that you fed me earlier?" Her tone was calm, without the slightest hint of blame. On the contrary, she sounded somewhat grateful.

So she had not lost her memory. "That was a pill made in haste. It can only temporarily suppress the spread of the poison. Senior Sister should quickly circulate your energy and heal your injuries." Chen Fan was no longer in a hurry to leave. Since she had awakened, he could not very well silence her. He might as well wait until she recovered and return with her. That way, if anyone questioned him, there would be a witness. Given her talent, she was surely a disciple the sect focused on cultivating. Her absence for so long would definitely attract attention, and the sect might already have sent people to look for her. If he suddenly appeared alone, it would indeed look highly suspicious, and he might be captured. Then his entire background would be turned inside out, while the things in his bag would easily arouse suspicion. Especially with the risk involving the Treasure Record, he could not afford the slightest carelessness. Once discovered, the consequences would be impossible to predict.

Hearing him say this, Qin Ziyan did not dare be careless and immediately sat down to cultivate. Chen Fan had no idea what internal art she cultivated, but when she circulated it, specks of starlight faintly appeared around her body. They flickered in and out, unclear and indistinct.

"Senior Sister, heal with peace of mind. I will stand guard for you." Seeing that she had entered meditation, Chen Fan sat beside her and began cultivating as well, intending to restore himself to peak condition. He could also use the opportunity to curry favor with her. If they truly encountered an Inner Court elder, he feared he would not get through this without her helping to cover for him.

Thus, the two of them quietly cultivated together. Before they knew it, the night had grown deep. Their surroundings became utterly silent once more, save for the wind mingling with the chirping of insects and croaking of frogs. There was no other movement.

He had never expected to remain in the back mountain for three days. At this rate, they would not be able to return until tomorrow at the earliest. Chen Fan had now finished meditating and completely recovered. He ended his trance, opened his eyes, and glanced to the side, only to be startled out of his wits. Mother of—what is that? Qin Ziyan was currently surrounded by starlight, dazzling beyond compare. It was bright enough to blind him!

"Do not be surprised. The internal art I cultivate is called the Stellar Art. Cultivating at night not only makes meditation and recovery several times more effective than during the day, but it also allows my internal energy realm to advance twice as fast with half the effort. And the power of the stars will spread around me as well." Qin Ziyan paused her cultivation and looked at Chen Fan with a proud smile. "I am basically all right now. This time, I truly have Junior Brother to thank for saving me. I will repay this favor someday!"

"Senior Sister is too polite. We are fellow disciples; helping one another is only right." Looking at the dazzling radiance, Chen Fan could not help marveling. There was actually such a miraculous cultivation art in this world. This girl had likely reached such strength at her age by cultivating this art. He wondered how it compared with his Golden Wheel Scripture.

"But just who are you? It would be one thing if your internal energy were no weaker than mine, but after being poisoned by that third-tier venomous python, your recovery was actually so much faster than mine?" Qin Ziyan asked incredulously. It was said that demonic beasts also had realms. Much like human cultivators, whose cultivation arts were divided into the first through ninth levels, demonic beasts were divided into nine tiers according to the amount of heaven-and-earth essence energy within them. Each tier possessed Origin Qi equivalent to one level of a human cultivator's Internal Qi realm. Supposedly, if a demonic beast could develop discreetly and luckily break through to the ninth tier, it would undergo a transformation, gain extraordinary divine abilities, and even take human form. Much like the legends of humans cultivating into immortals, such demonic beasts could be called demon immortals. Of course, those were only legends, stories generally used to fool children.

Furthermore, demonic beasts had no such concepts as External Force or Soaring. Their combat techniques were merely whatever their natural conditions allowed, so their true strength was difficult to judge. Take this third-tier giant snake, for example. The poisonous gas it sprayed was equivalent to an attack from a cultivator at the third level of the Internal Qi realm. Although it did not possess the power of an attack released through External Force, the two of them were only at the second level. Once they accidentally inhaled it, it was difficult to use their own cultivation to resist and detoxify it. Thus, after this battle, Qin Ziyan regarded Chen Fan far more highly.

"This Junior Brother's cultivation is shallow. How could I compare to Senior Sister? The reason was that after being poisoned, Senior Sister fought desperately with the giant snake, so the poison spread far too quickly. I, on the other hand, only ambushed it from the side and did not mobilize much Origin Qi. Besides, I was poisoned once before entering the sect, so perhaps my body has already adapted to it." In truth, Chen Fan also found it somewhat strange. The poison indeed seemed to have little effect on him. Even after fainting, the poison had not attacked his heart. As for not circulating his internal art, that was merely something he said for Qin Ziyan's benefit. What a joke—he had later killed that snake only by exhausting all his strength.

"That should be the case." Qin Ziyan felt that Chen Fan's explanation matched the circumstances and was quite reasonable. "No matter what, I must still thank you this time. After I cultivate for another night and recover, you can return with me tomorrow."

Afterward, the two spoke no more and continued meditating to recover.

The night passed without incident, and daylight arrived again. Qin Ziyan slowly withdrew her cultivation art, only to discover that Chen Fan was no longer beside her. Just as she was about to get up and look for him, a figure approached and held out several wild fruits. "Senior Sister, have you recovered? Eat something. You cannot travel on an empty stomach. These fruits are not poisonous—I have already eaten some, so do not worry."

Qin Ziyan accepted them, only then realizing that she had not eaten for quite some time. She had not yet reached the stage where she could completely abstain from food, and her stomach was now growling with hunger. "Thank you!" She did not stand on ceremony. Taking the fruits, she immediately bit into them in large mouthfuls, looking exactly like a child who had gone days without food.

After sharing the wild fruits, the two rose and began their return journey.

At the outer sect of Swordcry Mountain, it was the beginning of another month. The outer sect training grounds were already packed shoulder to shoulder with people. Needless to say, they had all come to catch a glimpse of Fairy Ye. Chen Fan had probably forgotten about this matter already, but even if he remembered, it was too late for him to rush here.

After the lesson officially began, Fairy Ye lectured while repeatedly sweeping her gaze through the crowd, as though searching for something...