My hand touches the jade phoenix, but the rune barrier catches my hand at the same time. I grasp the jade artifact and pull, but the barrier keeps my hand locked in place. The immobilizing runes of the shield wrap around my wrist. A moment later, the stone scorpion I stepped on to reach the phoenix jolts to life causing me to lose my footing.
The scorpion whirls around swiping me with the lower part of its stone tail. I twist to dodge but the blow still grazes my side sending me spinning.
Crack! A bone in my wrist snaps painfully. The blow also aggravates my already bruised body. Worst of all, my hand loses strength, and the phoenix slips from my hand. Did my leap for the artifact result in no gains?
The spirit of the artifact stands still hands over her mouth. A front claw coincidently swipes harmlessly through her incorporeal body.
What technique will help me here? I use a wood fire fusion technique on my wrist,
"Arg!" Fiery Qi gathers in my feet as I step off the wall with
My feet fall, and I kick off the second snapping pincer, which the scorpion launched mid-thrust. As I fly into the air once again the
I smile disregarding the pain but regain a serious face as the scorpion arrives in the posture to strike with its tail. The contorting, burning vines twisting around my wrists won't let me slip out of the runes in time. Yet, a moment later, the raised tail strikes forward. With my feet in the air, most of my ability to dodge comes from my arms. I push off the wall with my free hand that still holds the sword, but it's not enough. The tail strikes my shoulder rendering my free arm useless.
"Gah!" Clang! The sword clatters down the side of the relief.
The scorpion holds its stinger in place pinning my shoulder to the runes on the relief. I'm stuck upside-down with my back on the wall, my legs flailing. After a few erratic breaths, the squirming vines on my wrist build in size. This enlarges the hole in the barrier so my wrist and the phoenix wrapped in vine can pull free. My hand leaves behind a few broken pieces of the flaming, disintegrating vine in the barrier.
I'm not a moment too soon because a claw strikes the middle shelf's barrier, my wrist's previous position, with a deafening bang. The reforming barrier shatters, but the situation won't allow me to take advantage of it.
Realizing it can't reach me like this, the scorpion retracts its tail. The vine on my broken wrist loops onto the hook-shaped stinger. I'm flung through the air over the scorpion's body. As I pass over, the barbed end of the stinger slashes my back.
Please don't be poisoned!
As the scorpion starts to turn, I land on my side and tuck in my limbs to roll as far as possible. A breath later, I stop on my back and the scorpion has finished its rotation.
Hiss! It charges in my direction.
Wow, this is a well-made construct! It's so agile and I couldn't scratch it at all. I've truly underestimated it.
The awkward, broken positions of my arms prevent me from pushing myself up, so I arch my back to visualize the landscape behind me and kick off the ground using
In hope of keeping a little more airtime, I breathe out using
Crunch! The scorpion hits the wall near me, and my legs hit the ground. I fold them inward to maintain my backward momentum.
Thud! The ground scrapes off more of my skin. I'm so close now, but I've stopped moving face down in the dirt. In desperation, I squirm my body and worm my way backward.
"[Brother to the right! To the right!]"
Trusting her words, I roll and find that I am gaining momentum from the declining terrain. As I do, the scorpion recovers from its clash with the wall and approaches me steadily. Unfortunately for it, I've just crossed the threshold.
The scorpion covered in glowing runes stands at the opening that is too small for it. It threatens me with its menacing raised pincers for several breaths before it retreats inside to the relief.
"[That was so scary! Brother don't fight! We can make up with talking and hugs!]" The spirit's glow is my only source of light because my Qi is too depleted to illuminate my surroundings now.
Huff! Puff! Ignoring the spirit, I take a breather.
"[Say is this the outside world? I always imagined it would be prettier.]"
"..." She's so naïve. She's never even left that crypt before.
"[You look like you need a hug!]"
Her figure wraps her arms around my mangled body, but they have no physical substance.
[Sniff brother please talk to me! You can still hear me, right?]
"Quiet! I'm in a lot of pain..."
"[Eek!]" the girl backs away covering her mouth with both hands.
"Actually, sorry. Do you know if any of the bottles I took are potions or poultices for healing?"
"[Oh yes, there are some… I think one's in this bag.]" She indicated a bag to my right. I fumbled with my broken wrist to unwrap the bag and inched forward on my stomach pulling out the potion with my teeth.
My speech slurs from the bottle in my mouth, "Dis un?"
The girl nodded her head. "[Yes.]"
My teeth pull the stopper by wedging it in my armpit for leverage. It takes half an incense stick of time to open. The medicine pours into my mouth.
"Ugg!" The aged bitter taste is repulsive, but it's familiar. Unfortunately, it's not a potion. It's a liquid used in poultices for external wounds. I take a mouthful and spray it on my mangled wrist and scraped skin.
My wounds give me a burning sensation and the liquid fizzes. I bring in Qi as best I can from this position and circulate it to help the healing process. Absorbing Qi is more efficient with the right posture, but it will have to do. Eventually, the swelling lessens and the wounds close revealing a layer of pink, new skin. I push my wrist against a pointy rock to guide the bones into place with
In about the time it takes for two consecutive incense sticks to burn, the healing of my wrist is complete. It's still misshapen and painful, but it's functional.
During my recovery, the large mother snake approached. It's somewhere there in the darkness. Although the scorpion's barbed tail wasn't poisoned, the fangs of the snakes in the cave are.
Its children slither and hiss over each other like a mob in the darkness. "Hiss. [Bite that monkey! He disturbed our nest! He smells injured. Quickly! Strike before he heals himself. It's as good as breakfast in your home!]"
I better set an example…
I send out a
Bang! The technique sends the large snake flying across the cave. It lands with a thud on the other side.
"Hiss. [Retreat!]"
I listen in the dark cave hoping no more snakes are approaching as I continue to gather Qi. After half an incense stick of time, my semi-functional hand rummages through the bottles. I apply a proper healing poultice to the hole in my shoulder and places I couldn't reach earlier. I also consume an actual healing potion to help the deep wounds recover. The potion is less potent due to its time aging in this cave. Yet, actual potions are much more effective at restoring bones.
A day later, my body is in better shape than when it arrived— except for my misshapen wrist. My Qi cultivation even made it to the 7th layer of condensation using
The ceremony from earlier isn't effective on the scorpion anymore. There's probably another ceremony that the phoenix girl never saw. The dislodged sword could also be part of the formation, but I'm unable to put it back with the barrier up.
I better not mess with that guardian again until I'm stronger. Let's hope no one else will find it.
To get the sword, I practice a basic kinetic technique
When it reaches my hands, the sword turns out to be low Saint tier. In retrospect, it's even more likely to be part of the protective formation. I confirmed with the girl that the sword was there longer than the phoenix artifact.
The loot of the remaining bottles is:
3 bottles of Qi replenishing pills (they help recover Qi but it's not instant recovery),
1 bottle of warrior realm assaulting pills (Helps enter Warrior Realm, temporarily useless),
1 bottle with a single saint realm assaulting pill (Helps enter Saint Realm when you're at the peak of Warrior Realm),
5 bottles of beauty-enhancing pills, (Why is something so useless the most common item? Were the tribe members so ugly that they used these offerings to complain to their ancestors?)
1 bottle of healing potion
1 bottle of healing poultice solution.
The jades are records of history and a few martial techniques. None of them were useful for a fire and plant element cultivation base, but they might be useful in the future when I am cultivating a different element using a different spirit herb. The gems were only gems. The real prize of my recklessness is the phoenix shaped artifact. Its spirit is currently resting.
Hey, Void-Soul Spirit-Housing help me absorb this artifact for a second spirit-root.
{Error, incompatible object.}
What? Why?
{Object houses a soul, not a spirit.}
"Eh?"
…