Meanwhile, at the Xuanzhu Tianyuan Sect—
After Bai Fengqiu returned to Pill Peak, she was once again settled in a quiet chamber to recuperate.
The chamber stood beside a grove of medicinal bamboo. A faint herbal fragrance drifted in through the window year-round, making it an ideal place to calm the mind and nurture the qi.
Yet as Bai Fengqiu lay on the bed, listening to the soft rustle of bamboo leaves stirred by the night wind, her heart refused to settle.
Wen Zhaotang’s injuries had stabilized.
Fortunately, she had received treatment in time, and her life was no longer in danger. She still needed plenty of rest, however.
Several of the disciples who had accompanied them came to visit one after another.
Some stood outside the door, their eyes red as they thanked Bai Fengqiu.
“Junior Sister Bai, if it weren’t for you, I’m afraid none of us would have made it back alive.”
Others brought over calming medicinal broth freshly prepared by Pill Peak, their voices filled with admiration.
“The Bai family’s secret alchemical arts really are remarkable. We were too shortsighted before.”
“That’s right. Junior Sister Bai has always kept such a low profile.”
“Haha, no wonder she came from Heavenly Punishment Peak.”
Those words reached Bai Fengqiu’s ears, but they did not make her happy.
She merely lowered her head, her fingers clutching the edge of the quilt tightly.
Deep within her sea of consciousness, a dark-red eye was quietly open.
The Myriad Lives Blood Eye did not mock her. Instead, it spoke in a voice that was almost gentle:
“You saved them.”
“That is enough.”
Bai Fengqiu wanted to argue.
But when the words reached her lips, she could not utter a single one.
Because the result was indeed just as it said.
She had saved them.
Those fellow disciples were still alive.
Wen Zhaotang was still alive as well.
Without the Blood Refinement Life-Nurturing Art, they might have already died amid the beast tide in those barren mountains.
Bai Fengqiu closed her eyes. Her voice was so soft that it sounded as though she were asking the Myriad Lives Blood Eye—or perhaps herself:
“If the outcome is good, does that mean everything is good?”
The Myriad Lives Blood Eye did not answer immediately.
The only sound in the quiet chamber was the faint crackle of spiritual fire within the medicine furnace.
After a long while, it finally replied in a low voice:
“If there had been no outcome, you would not even have the chance to ask that question.”
Bai Fengqiu’s fingertips trembled slightly.
She said nothing more.
That night, the medicinal bell on Pill Peak suddenly rang out in rapid succession.
“Clang—clang—clang—”
The ringing was short and heavy. Three consecutive tolls instantly startled nearly half of Pill Peak.
The medicinal bell was used by Pill Peak in emergency situations.
It was only rung so urgently when there were large numbers of injured people or when someone’s life was hanging by a thread.
Bai Fengqiu had only just lain down when she heard the bells and immediately sat up.
The door to the quiet chamber next to hers was pushed open as well.
Wen Zhaotang emerged wearing only an outer robe. Thick bandages still wrapped her body, and her face was much paler than usual.
Bai Fengqiu hurried forward to support her.
“Senior Sister, you shouldn’t be moving around.”
Wen Zhaotang frowned slightly and looked toward the direction of the medicinal hall on Pill Peak.
“The bell is ringing so urgently. Something must have happened.”
Bai Fengqiu pressed her lips together.
“I’ll go take a look.”
Wen Zhaotang shook her head.
“Together.”
By the time the two of them reached the medicinal hall on Pill Peak, the place was already in complete disarray.
Rows of temporary treatment beds were being carried into the main hall.
The disciples of Pill Peak hurried back and forth. Some carried basins of medicine, some lit spiritual fires, and others rapidly sorted medicinal ingredients.
At the center of the medicinal hall lay dozens of commoners who had just been brought up from the foot of the mountain.
Their clothes were tattered, and many still bore wounds left behind by the beast tide.
Most of them were survivors from the three villages in the barren mountains. They had previously been settled by the sect in a temporary town at the foot of the mountain.
Yet at this moment, all of them were burning with high fevers that would not subside.
Dark-red blood patterns surfaced beneath their skin, like tiny snakes writhing through their veins.
Some vomited blood continuously, while others had already fallen unconscious.
On several of the smaller beds nearest the inner chamber lay children so young that their breathing was barely perceptible.
A woman knelt on the floor, desperately clutching the hem of a Pill Peak disciple’s robe.
“Immortal Master, please save my daughter.”
“She’s only six years old. She’s really only six…”
The Pill Peak disciple was covered in sweat, but all he could do was speak softly to comfort her.
“We’ll do everything we can.”
Yet at a time like this, those four words sounded painfully powerless.
Elder Yao Jun stood in the center of the medicinal hall, his expression grave.
After examining several of the patients in succession, he finally spoke in a deep voice:
“It’s blood miasma.”
“After the beast tide, the blood of countless demonic beasts decayed and seeped into the earth. The residual toxins and demonic qi entered their wounds.”
“These villagers had already suffered terrible fright, leaving their qi and blood weak. Now that the remnants of demonic blood have entered their bodies and mixed with their own qi and blood, they have already spread along the blood vessels and seeped into the five internal organs.”
A young apothecary asked urgently:
“Elder, wouldn’t Cleansing Poison Pills work?”
Elder Yao Jun shook his head.
“This is not an ordinary poison.”
“The poison has already become entangled with their own qi and blood.”
“If the medicinal effect is too weak, it won’t be able to suppress the blood miasma. If it’s too strong, their bodies will give out first—they’re only commoners.”
If they had been cultivators, they could have used spiritual power to protect their meridians before taking a powerful detoxifying medicine.
But these people were all commoners.
Their meridians and internal organs were fragile. They could not withstand the impact of overly potent medicinal effects.
The apothecaries of Pill Peak tried several kinds of Cleansing Poison Pills in succession.
None of them produced satisfactory results.
Meridian-Suppressing Pills could only temporarily suppress the dark-red blood patterns. They could not eliminate the root of the problem.
After swallowing the detoxifying decoction, some of the patients even vomited out great amounts of black blood and nearly died on the spot.
Standing behind the crowd, Bai Fengqiu watched as the little girl curled up in her mother’s arms, trembling violently from the pain.
The girl’s lips were cracked from the fever. The blood patterns beneath her skin throbbed again and again, as though something were burrowing through her body.
Her mother knelt on the floor, kowtowing repeatedly.
“Immortal Master, please save her.”
“Please, I’m all she has left…”
The sight reminded Bai Fengqiu of the village destroyed by the demonic beasts.
It reminded her of all those she had failed to save.
Her fingertips began to tremble.
Deep within her sea of consciousness, the Myriad Lives Blood Eye slowly opened.
“I will help you.”
Bai Fengqiu’s breathing caught.
In the next instant, the world before her eyes changed abruptly.
The lamplight and figures within the medicinal hall lost their colors. The patients’ meridians, blood vessels, and internal organs became incomparably clear in her sight.
She saw the dark-red blood miasma coiled around their blood vessels, already mixed together with their own qi and blood.
The reason ordinary Cleansing Poison Pills were ineffective was that the medicinal power could not distinguish between “poisoned blood” and “pure blood.”
To save them, she first had to draw out the tainted blood.
Then, she would use the Blood Refinement Life-Nurturing Art to separate the residual poison and demonic qi from the commoners’ life essence.
Finally, she would send the purified life essence back into their bodies.
Bai Fengqiu’s face paled slightly.
Because this time, it was no longer the tainted blood of demonic beast corpses.
She had once personally established rules for the Myriad Lives Blood Eye:
Do not kill the innocent.
Do not cultivate using the blood of the living.
Do not control her mind or body.
The Myriad Lives Blood Eye seemed to know exactly what she was hesitating over. Its voice drifted into her mind.
“This is treatment.”
“You are saving lives.”
Bai Fengqiu’s hand clenched tightly around her sleeve.
She did not act immediately. Instead, she made her way through the chaos and walked up to Elder Yao Jun.
“Elder.”
Elder Yao Jun turned around and frowned when he saw her.
“Your injuries haven’t healed. Why have you come here as well?”
Bai Fengqiu lowered her voice.
“I may have a way.”
For a moment, the medicinal hall fell silent.
Elder Yao Jun looked at her.
“What way?”
Bai Fengqiu lowered her eyes, doing her best to keep her voice steady.
“An old volume from the Bai family once recorded an unorthodox alchemical technique.”
“Use silver needles to open the acupoints and draw out the tainted blood. Then use alchemical fire to purge the residual poison and return the usable life force to the patient’s body.”
It did not sound like orthodox alchemy. In fact, it sounded rather dangerous.
Elder Yao Jun’s expression grew even more solemn.
“How certain are you?”
Bai Fengqiu looked toward the little girl, whose breathing had already grown faint.
“I can’t say.”
“But she won’t last much longer.”
Elder Yao Jun fell silent for a moment.
The blood miasma afflicting mortals was notoriously difficult to treat.
Several of the most serious cases would not last even half an hour if they were allowed to deteriorate any further.
At last, he slowly nodded.
“Try it on one patient first.”
“I’ll watch from the side. If anything goes wrong, stop immediately.”
Bai Fengqiu gave a soft acknowledgment.
She walked over to the little girl and crouched down.
The girl’s mother seemed to have grasped the last strand of hope. Tears streamed down her face, yet she did not dare make a sound that might disturb them.
Bai Fengqiu first used her spiritual power to protect the girl’s heart meridians.
Then she took out a set of silver needles.
The wrist.
The side of the neck.
Several acupoints near the heart.
Each needle descended with the utmost lightness and precision.
The needle tails trembled faintly.
A moment later, a thread of dark-red foul blood seeped from the girl’s fingertip.
Its sweet, fishy stench instantly filled the entire infirmary.
Several disciples nearby instinctively wrinkled their noses and stepped back.
At the same time, the Blood Refining Life-Transformation Art began to circulate silently within her.
The foul blood was drawn into the air, where it condensed into a dark-red bead.
The demonic poison, frenzied blood energy, lingering demonic aura, and a trace of the girl’s own pure vitality were all mixed together, impossible to distinguish.
This process was far more difficult than refining the residual blood of a demonic beast.
She had to suppress the instinct of the technique to “refine everything.” She could not absorb even a single extra fraction, nor could she harm the girl’s origin.
Cold sweat soon appeared on Bai Fengqiu’s forehead, and her fingertips began to tremble.
Deep within her sea of consciousness, the Myriad Lives Blood Eye watched in silence.
It merely observed as she experimented step by step, offering occasional pointers like a patient teacher.
The demonic poison within the foul blood was stripped away.
The frenzied blood energy was reduced to ash by alchemical fire.
The remaining demonic aura was compressed into a black-and-red bead of poison.
Finally, that exceedingly faint trace of pure vitality was carefully preserved by Bai Fengqiu.
She merged the vitality into the medicinal liquid, then used her spiritual power to guide it back into the girl’s body little by little.
Everyone in the infirmary held their breath.
The girl’s feverish forehead gradually began to cool.
The dark-red veins moving beneath her skin slowly faded away as well.
The tiny face that had been drained of all color by the terrible fever finally regained the faintest hint of rosiness.
The infirmary fell utterly silent.
Then the mother suddenly collapsed to the floor and burst into tears.
“She’s alive…”
“Thank you, Immortal Master! Thank you, Immortal Master!”
She kowtowed repeatedly to Bai Fengqiu.
Bai Fengqiu’s face was pale as she hurriedly reached out to help her up.
“Please, don’t do this.”
But the way everyone around her looked at her had already changed.
Shock.
Admiration.
After a long silence, Elder Yao Jun finally asked, “What is this technique called?”
Bai Fengqiu lowered her eyes.
She heard her own voice sound softly.
“An old art of the Bai family—Blood-Drawn Life Transmutation.”
This was the second time she had lied of her own accord.
But the child had survived.
Elder Yao Jun gave her a deep look, but did not continue questioning her.
He merely said in a low voice, “Treat the other critical patients first.”
“If you can’t hold on, say so immediately.”
Bai Fengqiu nodded.
That night, using the same method, she saved more than a dozen villagers afflicted with the most severe cases of blood miasma.
With every person she saved, her control over the Blood Refining Life-Transformation Art deepened.
She also gained a clearer understanding of just how terrifying this technique truly was.
It was not merely capable of refining the residual blood of demonic beasts.
It could also distinguish between poisonous blood and a person’s own blood, strip away the impurities, and preserve their vitality.
Used properly, it could save lives.
But if she gave in to the slightest hint of greed, or relaxed her restraint even a little—
in an instant, it could refine an entire living person’s essence blood and origin until nothing remained…
By the time dawn was about to break, the critically ill patients in the infirmary had finally been stabilized for the time being.
Bai Fengqiu stood in a corner, the cuffs of her sleeves stained with dried blood. Her face was even paler than before.
Wen Zhaotang walked over to her and gently took Bai Fengqiu’s hand.
“Fengqiu.”
“It’s a good thing we had you.”
Bai Fengqiu’s lashes trembled faintly.
Her eyes reddened slightly as she said in a low voice, “I just…”
“I don’t want to see anyone else die in front of me.”
Wen Zhaotang said nothing.
She merely tightened her grip on Bai Fengqiu’s hand.
Outside the infirmary, the morning light passed through the clouds surrounding Pill Peak and fell across the stone steps.
Elder Yao Jun stood outside the door, watching Bai Fengqiu from afar.
After a moment of silence, he quietly asked a disciple beside him, “The Bai clan? Do you know anything about this young woman’s family?”
The disciple thought for a moment.
“There is indeed a branch of the Bai clan in Xuandu. They were once a family of alchemists. I heard their ancestors were quite illustrious, but the clan has since fallen into decline.”
Elder Yao Jun slowly nodded.
“With this girl among them, I wouldn’t call them fallen.”
After saying that, he glanced at Bai Fengqiu once more.
Deep within Bai Fengqiu’s sea of consciousness, the Myriad Lives Blood Eye slowly revolved.
It gazed upon the steady breathing of those in the infirmary, and upon the lingering struggle in Bai Fengqiu’s eyes.
Then it let out a soft, almost imperceptible laugh.
