Qing Feng Eagle

"I can't stay in this shallow cave any longer."

Following the markings on the sketch, he avoided several broad beast trails and felt his way deeper into the cliff.

Two hours later.

Lu Ze passed through a narrow, dry passage, and the space before him suddenly opened up.

It was a natural cavern, its ceiling densely hung with stalactites and its floor level.

But in the middle of the cavern crouched a small mountain!

Only when Lu Ze approached did he discover that it was the skeleton of an enormous magical beast.

It was a jade-like grayish white, and the skeleton was extremely well preserved.

Judging by the enormous wing bones and sharp talons, Lu Ze recalled what he had seen in the Jia Lie clan.

It was a Qing Feng Eagle, a flying magical beast at the peak of the second rank.

From the weathering of its skeleton, it had been dead for at least a hundred years.

Lu Ze paid no attention to the skeleton and prepared to find a corner where he could regulate his breathing.

But when he reached the Qing Feng Eagle's enormous rib cage, his steps suddenly halted.

At the very center of the skeleton's chest, wedged into the gap where two bones crossed, was a fist-sized, translucent green crystal.

A crystal.

Its surface was covered in fine cracks, but an extremely faint wisp of wind Dou Qi still circulated slowly within it.

This was a Wind Spirit Crystal formed from the Qing Feng Eagle's lifetime of cultivation. After a hundred years of weathering, its impurities had faded away, leaving only the purest wind essence.

When Lu Ze saw the crystal, he did not choose to summon the panel.

Not only was he short of Deduction Points now, but his serious injuries had yet to heal and his Dou Qi was exhausted. Deducing any Dou Technique at this moment would be no different from suicide; what he needed now was to heal.

Although the fire poison had been suppressed by the Cold Spirit Watergrass, some still remained deep within his meridians.

The wisps of coolness emanating from this Wind Spirit Crystal, along with the wind attribute's distinctive flowing nature, might help him clear his blocked meridians.

Lu Ze sat cross-legged before the skeleton and held the Wind Spirit Crystal in his palm, drawing on the faint wind presence it released.

Together with the cultivation method of "Answer to the Beggar Under the Mulberry," he began guiding the lingering fire poison within his body little by little.

Wind Dou Qi was light and free-flowing. Under Lu Ze's control, this faint presence seeped into his parched, scorched meridians like a spring breeze turning to rain.

Drawn by the wind attribute, the fire poison began to flow slowly, each movement accompanied by the agonizing pain of his meridians being torn apart.

Lu Ze's face was as pale as paper. Sweat dripped from his chin onto the Qing Feng Eagle's skeleton, making sizzling sounds.

But he did not give up, gritting his teeth.

Using the seventh-grade immortal art, he stripped away the violent fire poison Qi bit by bit, then forced it out of his body under the guidance of the wind attribute.

"Pfft!"

A wisp of black blood mist seeped from Lu Ze's pores, giving off an acrid, scorched smell.

Time trickled by, until the Wind Spirit Crystal's presence completely dissipated and it crumbled into a pile of grayish-white powder.

Most of the fire poison within Lu Ze had finally been cleared away, and his parched meridians began to regain their vitality under the nourishment of the wind attribute.

Qingshan Town.

Sunlight after the autumn rain spilled through the wooden window onto the counter. Behind it, Xiao Yi Xian held a small silver knife, processing the Snake Egg Grass that had been delivered.

"Bang!"

The wooden door was shoved open roughly, and the blade-faced man and the bald man strode inside.

The shop's assistants stopped working in fright and exchanged looks, not daring to breathe loudly.

Xiao Yiyi did not stop her knife, merely placing the peeled Snake Egg Grass in a bamboo tray beside her.

"Are you here to buy medicine or seek treatment?"

"Not treatment."

The blade-faced man's gaze swept over Xiao Yi Xian, and he snorted.

"Our commander is investigating something. Does your shop have any potent medicines for treating fire poison and cold Yin Qi?"

Xiao Yi Xian's movements paused slightly.

"Of course the Myriad Medicine Pavilion has no such medicines. We only sell ordinary medicinal supplies for mercenaries, such as Qi Gathering Powder and healing medicines."

"Where's your proprietor?"

"The proprietor is in seclusion and isn't receiving visitors."

"Not receiving visitors?"

The bald man stepped forward, resting his hand on his saber's hilt.

"Little bitch, don't spit on the respect we're showing you.

"The commander said traces of fire poison and cold Yin Qi appeared near Qingshan Town last night. You'll have to let us search!"

Xiao Yi Xian's right foot had already settled lightly on the copper pot's pedal.

"The backyard is our medicine storehouse. We're preparing potent medicines there.

"If you gentlemen go inside, damaged clothes would be a small matter, but if you inhale poisonous fumes and injure your lungs and organs, Commander Mu Li will be heartbroken."

Her tone was level.

"Don't try scaring me with that crap," the scar-faced man shouted angrily.

But just then, Lao Li emerged from the backyard carrying a wooden basin.

The water in the basin was a strange purplish black, giving off an extremely pungent, nauseating stench.

"Lady Xiao Yi Xian, the Rotbone Flowers have been processed."

Before Lao Li could finish speaking, the two men at the entrance startled him.

His hands shook, spilling most of the water from the basin, and that foul stench instantly filled the entire hall.

The scar-faced man and the bald man choked on the smell, coughing repeatedly, tears streaming from their eyes.

"Cough, cough! What the hell is that?"

The scar-faced man covered his nose, his face ashen.

"Please forgive us, gentlemen."

Xiao Yi Xian's expression remained unchanged, as though she could not smell the stench.

"Before entering seclusion, the proprietor instructed us to prepare a potent medicine using Rotbone Flowers and Ice Mountain Poison Python venom. Fighting poison with poison produces excellent results.

"But the smell really is a little strong."

The scar-faced man stared fixedly at Xiao Yi Xian, but under that pungent smell, he truly did not dare take another step toward the backyard.

"You win!"

The scar-faced man gritted his teeth.

"You'd better not be hiding anything."

The two left those words behind, covered their noses, and hurried away. The wooden door closed.

Xiao Yi Xian slowly lifted her foot off the pedal, her palms drenched in cold sweat.

Lao Li slumped to the floor, panting heavily.

"Lady Xiao Yi Xian, will they come back?"

"Probably." Xiao Yi Xian looked at the gradually darkening sky outside, her voice extremely soft.

"Perhaps before long."

She turned and carried the wooden basin back to the puddle in the backyard.

The purplish-black medicinal liquid reflected his cool, clear eyes.

The Qing Feng Golden Eagle's skeleton glimmered with a cold, jade-like sheen in the gloom.

Lu Ze sat cross-legged before the skeleton. The wind Dou Qi drawn from the crystal rampaged through his parched meridians like a hundred tiny wind blades.

"Damn it!"

"I never expected this crystal to still contain the Qing Feng Eagle's lingering, frenzied will from just before its death."

Now, the Dou Qi within this crystal was trying to tear apart his newly repaired meridians.

Damn it! he cursed inwardly.

Lu Ze grunted, the veins on his forehead bulging one by one.

He clenched his teeth tightly, the faint taste of blood filling his mouth.

Dragging his violently shaking body half a foot forward, he pressed his back firmly against the Qing Feng Eagle's thickest main vertebra.

Wind-attribute patterns remained on the skeleton's surface, resembling a natural map of meridians.

Lu Ze formed the hand seals of the Three Strikes Beggar Book, guiding the wind blades within his body toward his back little by little.

They followed the patterns along the spine into the skeleton, then circulated back into his body.

With every cycle, Lu Ze could feel his body changing.