Cao Yun's priority was not to treat the poison or even the Evil Qi. He had to first calm down her heart and close up her wounds. Then, he had a few pills on him to restore a bit of her blood. But since he didn't have any spatial tool on him, he couldn't really carry a lot of them with him. Unfortunately, spatial tools other than spatial rings were almost rarer than those. Indeed, no one was able to create any of them anymore. And in the past, the people who did create them had no need for lesser tools. In the Lunar Marsh, Sun Liao had been able to get a spatial pouch thanks to their faction. However, because Yun Ping had already been lent a spatial ring for this mission, they had no other spatial tool.
In his robe, Cao Yun had taken a few pills to heal him and replenish his Qi or blood in case of emergency. He only had a few on him, and one of them was the Burning Gate Flood pill. It was a 1-star Human pill he had bought before leaving. Such a pill could almost replenish all the blood of a late Mortal. However, as it did so by activating the heart, it was very taxing on the body. After using such a pill, the cultivator would be extremely weakened and most of his Qi would be depleted.
If Huang'er were to consume it right now, Cao Yun was not sure whether she would even survive. However, using this pill could be a good idea. Cao Yun could extirpate the poison from her wounds with a lot of her own blood without fearing for her as the blood would be replenished. But first, he had to stabilize her condition. If her heart was already in a dangerous state before using the pill, she would have no chance of survival.
While flying over the area, Cao Yun had recognized a plant he knew about. Feng Yingyue had shown him most of the plants in the area when they had been walking back toward Yinmen City. The plant was the Emerald Catfish Vine. It looked like a bunch of vines falling down toward the ground. All over those vines, there were strange flowers, small burs covered in pikes. Both the burs and some parts of the vines could be used. Hence, Cao Yun retrieved a few of them. By grinding the Emerald Catfish Bur, he got a green and viscous substance he could use to alleviate pain and even close up small wounds. And by burning the vines he could create a smoke who would slow down Huang'er's heartbeat.
With his maximum speed, he went back to Huang'er. She was now shaking and when Cao Yun touched her, she was cold even though her heart was still beating relentlessly. Quickly, he decided to go all out. He started a fire and burned the Emerald Catfish Claws, the small vines, in front of the fenghuang. Then, he took another pill he had bought, an Autumn and Springs Reviving pill. Such a pill had been purchased to replenish his mind in case of emergency. And just like the Burning Gate Flood pill, he only had one of it. However, he decided to let Huang'er consume it in his stead.
He forced the pill down her beak and she did not protest at all. Huang'er was still barely conscious and fully trusted Cao Yun.
Slowly, the fumes coupled with the pill both calmed her heart and replenished her mental strength. Now, Cao Yun had to find a way to extirpate the poison from her wounds. And he got a very dangerous idea. The poison in her body was completely mixed with Evil Qi. It just happened that Cao Yun had a way to extract Evil Qi. He had realized that during his fight against Luduo Bu. Deep within his heart, the Drop of Wrath was hungry for Evil Qi. Although Cao Yun was not a Mortal Warrior, he could still unleash the intent of his Drop of Wrath in the vicinity of his body.
Cao Yun was certain that if he activated it and let its intent do its own thing, the Drop of Wrath would instinctively try to absorb this Evil Qi. Since that moment with Luduo Bu when Cao Yun had finally learned the truth of the Drop of Wrath, he was not very worried about being taken over by it by accident. Moreover, his mind cultivation was powerful enough to protect him, he was sure of it, even if the drop became stronger. What he was worried about was the fact that he would most likely absorb a bit of poison as well. As an alchemist he had a good grasp of how to control foreign substances in his body. But he knew nothing of this poison.
Theoretically, an alchemist, who was used to controlling medicinal essence and toxins, should be able to control poison in his system. However, it depended on the level of the poison. Some were so potent that they distorted Qi and even intent. A Heaven rank poison could literally attack the soul. Against an Earth poison, Cao Yun was confident. Damn, even against a Human poison which he knew everything about he would be. However, trying his luck with a poison that was probably Human rank but which he knew nothing about...
But if he waited too long, the poison would go even further. Even if he extracted all of it, it had done many damages already. If Cao Yun were to risk his life and then realize than Huang'er was dead anyway, the irony wouldn't be very amusing. And watching her die without doing anything while she was embracing her child under her wing was not acceptable.
Cao Yun pushed his mind cultivation to the limit, ready to control the foreign substance. He had already chosen the points by which he would try to take it out of him afterward. Then, he unleashed the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Most of it was focused on his palms and he approached them toward the wounds of Huang'er.
Just as he had planned, the Drop of Wrath acted on its own. It was as though it had a mind of its own, but Cao Yun knew that this was just instinct and that the Drop of Wrath was not conscious. Huang'er felt her blood being controlled but she did not try to prevent it from leaving her body. The boy had saved her life and without him, she had no chance of survival at all. Furthermore, she could see the determination in his eyes. Clearly, he was taking a huge risk for her and she decided to leave her fate in his hands.
From his palms and then his entire forearms, Cao Yun felt the Evil Qi and the poison pass into his body. His arms were touching Huang'er's body and were warm with her blood. On her wounds, the blood that was already a bit blackened turned as black as oil with both the Evil Qi and the poison becoming more and more concentrated. Now that Cao Yun was feeling the poison in his own body, he clearly understood that this was at least a 4-star Human poison. Such a poison was corrosive enough to attack Qi and even intent.
Thankfully, Cao Yun's mind cultivation was way beyond what a normal Mortal, or even a Mortal Warrior would have. In fact, it was even similar to the mind cultivation of a Spirit Warrior, with the exception that it couldn't extend outside of his body, so he had no spiritual senses. With the Five Agents and the three chambers of his Upper Dantian pushed to the limit, Cao Yun tried to focus all his efforts on his Yi, the Earth Intent. His Shen also acted to coordinate everything. As the Drop of Wrath was gathering the Evil Qi, and the poison, toward it, Cao Yun had to be quick and efficient. Indeed, if the poison were to enter his heart, he would probably suffer a lot of injuries or even die, but the Drop of Wrath had no intellect so it didn't care.
Using all his knowledge of alchemy and his mind to the limit, Cao Yun tried to separate the poison from the Evil Qi. Both were very dangerous, but luckily the Evil Qi was completely being taken care of by the Drop of Wrath's intent. In fact, as it was being attracted with a tremendous force, Cao Yun only had to slow down the poison, and it would naturally detach itself from the Evil Qi. But then, he still had to control the poison in order to send it out of his body.
His intent and his mind were slowly being depleted as the poison was extremely corrosive. But Cao Yun was able to stand it long enough for the Drop of Wrath to completely digest the Evil Qi. Once it was done, Cao Yun could finally use its intent as reinforcement for his own. In the end, he was able to guide the poison where he wanted to. And after several very intense minutes, Cao Yun puked a black substance. The moment it touched the ground, all life around it died. The poison and the Evil Qi had both been extracted successfully.
But, as a consequence, Huang'er had lost even more blood. Her body was slick with blood and she was shivering. Her eyes had lost a bit of light and even the skin Cao Yun could see under her feathers seemed pale. Immediately, he gave her the Burning Gate Flood pill. The weaker she was, the less likely it was to work. Thus, Cao Yun also fed her a few Qi Gathering pills. By now, he had almost used up all the pills he had taken for himself in case of danger. But he refused to let a mother die while embracing her child.
As the pills were taking effect, Cao Yun used the green substance he had obtained from grinding the Emerald Catfish Burs. After applying it to her wounds, it formed a kind of viscous paste. That would prevent more hemorrhage and promote healing of the skin. It wasn't the best medicine, but in the vicinity and with the urgency, it was the best Cao Yun could come up with. In a way, it was still Feng Yingyue who was helping the beast, since this knowledge had come from her. Of course, Cao Yun had later read about it, but she was the first one to have taught him about those properties of the Emerald Catfish Vine.
A frustrating thing was the fact that Cao Yun knew of several pills he could refine, or even array formations he could set up, but he had no tool to do so. For the pills, he required a furnace and a cauldron, at the very least. And for the array formations, since he was only a Mortal, he not only needed the flags but also the spirit stones to fuel it. But he had no spatial ring and he couldn't just go around with all of that on him. Thankfully, in a year or so, he was convinced that he could reach the Mortal Warrior realm and finally have the ability to use one. But then, he also needed to get such a ring and they were neither cheap nor common. Thanks to his status as an alchemist, he should be able to get one though... Most likely... Maybe...
-
Both Cao Yun and Huang'er were slowly regaining their strength. And since they were still chased, they decided to move as soon as they could. In fact, they even started to walk toward Baziyun City before Huang'er was able to fly. In this area, not only did they fear the demonic cultivator and his beast who could potentially come and attack them. They also feared the other demonic beasts. The majority of the stampede was threatening Baziyun City, so it was safe to assume that this area was nothing but safe.
In Cao Yun's sea of consciousness, the Drop of Wrath was more calm than usual after having absorbed the Evil Qi. Just like what had happened after the fight with Luduo Bu, it seemed to be digesting what it had received. Although Cao Yun was not too worried, he still wanted to find a way to definitively get this threat under control. There was no way to get rid of the drop of blood itself, not even a Spirit Warrior would be able to do so and no cultivator had exceeded this realm for more than ten thousand years. On the other hand, he still wasn't sure how to use his mind cultivation to completely control it.
The Drop of Wrath was a broken fragment of a corrupted Po. As such, it was trying to reconstruct itself. Cao Yun had thought about inserting his own Po into the drop to fully control it. The Flying Poison, or the corrupted version of the Po of Jing, was only one of seven parts constituting the Po, and even this part wasn't complete in the Drop of Wrath. Hence, Cao Yun was sure that he would gain absolute control over it if he could subject it to his own Po. But as his mind cultivation was not advanced enough, he simply did not know how to do such a thing. As of now, he had just been trying to imprint his Po character into the Drop of Wrath and it wasn't very fast nor very effective.
Just as he was thinking about this, he felt something from the Drop of Wrath. It should have stayed calm but it was reacting to something. Clearly, it wasn't trying to take over or something, it was just reacting to something close to them. Right away, Cao Yun thought about Evil Qi. Could the drop have become powerful enough to detect the presence of Evil Qi? Could the demonic cultivator already be close by?
However, not even Huang'er could detect any human nearby. Yet, it didn't mean that there was no one. At first, Cao Yun wanted to get away from the source of this reaction. But then, he realized something. They were very close to the area where he had been sliced by the murderer of his family. Could the presence the Drop of Wrath was reacting to be Cleansed Asura or something related to him?
Cao Yun did not know precisely where Cleansed Asura's body was after all. Unless he was a Spirit Warrior, he probably couldn't find him at all. Full of hesitations, he still decided to ignore it for now. The priority was to get Huang'er to safety.
Just as he thought that, Huang'er screamed. This time, Can Mouye had found them. And Cao Yun received a kind of confirmation of his hypothesis as the Drop of Wrath did not react to the Evil Qi within the demonic cultivator. Earlier, it should have reacted to something related to Cleansed Asura. Could it be an even more powerful heritage from the God-Monarch?
But Cao Yun did not have the luxury of wondering about that. He had to stay alive for now. And he also had to protect Huang'er. She was way too weak to do anything. To be fair, even at full power, she was now weaker than Cao Yun when he used all of his cards.
Both of them ran in the direction of Baziyun City when a black flame flew toward them. That flame was completely rotten and infused with Evil Qi. It was even more poisonous than the first attack that had terribly injured Huang'er. None of them could survive a direct hit by that.