The Cloud-Drifting Crane landed outside of the city where Cao Yun was waiting with Sun Liao and Yun Ping. Almost immediately, an emotional Mei Hua jumped from the crane and ran toward the two young men. None of them had ever seen her so full of life. And she almost looked completely different because she was wearing the uniform of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, even though she had never been enrolled in the institute.
"Brothers, you're not hurt?" Using all of her expertise as an alchemist, she scanned the two young men. Sensing that there was nothing wrong with them, she calmed down.
"Excuse me. It's just that... I heard about the casualties in Yinmen City and Baziyun City... Thankfully, we didn't get as many in our Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, but I got worried. Especially after hearing about Brother Ren." Suddenly, she remembered the reports she had read about him.
She had left the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute with Xiao Xuefeng several weeks ago. It had almost been a month. So of course, her information was a bit outdated. There were array formations to talk between their institute and Baziyun City, but no one could send a quick message to Xiao Xuefeng during her travel. As such, Mei Hua was still under the assumption that Ren Chao was in a critical condition. Right then, both men understood why she was so agitated compared with her usual self. Truth be told, they had completely neglected the fact that she had not been made aware of his recovery.
Thus, they immediately recounted everything that had happened. On her side, Mei Hua also explained the events that had occurred in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. As she was a Mortal and the precious disciple of Xiao Xuefeng, she had not seen much fighting. That being said, she had witnessed a breach in one of the walls by a 9-core demonic beast. Several array formations protecting the institute had even been destroyed. Thankfully, Hua Fenfei, Xiao Xuefeng and Director Ge Ling had fought side by side. They were respectively 6th-grade, 7th-grade and 8th-grade Spirit Warriors. Moreover Ge Ling had taught both Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng. When fighting together, they were incredible.
The way Mei Hua described the fight, it almost made both men wished they had been there in the chaos of battle. Of course, the two of them had had enough battles with demonic beasts for now. On the other hand, Mei Hua had been impressed by the level of alchemy she had seen in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Now, she realized fully why people claimed this was the best place to learn the craft. The Wubei Sect wasn't so bad but without Xiao Xuefeng there, her evaluation would drop several levels.
The young woman had gone from worried and sad to excited beyond belief. Once again, the two young men were rather surprised. The usual reserved and cool-headed Mei Hua had drastically changed. In part, it was due to the emotion. In part, it was due to the fact that she was now more open around her sworn brothers. But to tell the truth as it stood, she was gushing with excitement after witnessing another world of alchemy. She had been able to witness 5-star Heaven alchemists perform various refinements to prepare for the stampede and the aftermath. Indeed, the alchemists had forged many pills to send through the entire Hongchen Kingdom.
While the young people were catching up, Xiao Xuefeng went to see Governor Leng in order to give him pills for the wounded. For many it was too late. If she had been able to arrive sooner, a lot of people would have survived. But still, many would be alive thanks to her arrival now. For a long time now, she had accepted that she couldn't save everyone. As long as she saved those she could, it was enough for her. But that didn't stop her from trying to get better. Since she had forged the Life Boiling Cradle pill, Xiao Xuefeng had real hopes of becoming a true 1-star Spirit alchemist. Damn, with her cultivation, she might have a chance of upsetting the current fate of mankind and breaking through to the Sage realm. This was a wild dream of course. But she was a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior and she hadn't even turned 200.
Cao Yun, Ren Chao and Sun Liao kept on talking. On the side, Yun Ping felt a bit strange as he was completely excluded from the conversation. Thus, he decided to accompany Spirit Master Xiao. After all, he had had some contacts with the physicians and the wounded so he could be of use to her. Besides, he was used to dealing with this kind of tragedy due to his military upbringing.
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Soon, the trio found themselves in front of Ren Chao's bed. The two young men let Mei Hua do her thing. Although she wasn't a physician, she still had a bit of practice thanks to her alchemy. In fact, since her alchemy had been stuck to a standstill because of her low cultivation, she had studied other fields. And medicine had been one of them due to its obvious link with alchemy and pills. If she were to take a test, she would probably be considered a 4-star Earth physician. Of course, if she were more serious, she could excel in this field as well. But alchemy was where her heart resided, especially after her stay in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.
It didn't take a lot of time for Mei Hua to establish that Ren Chao was physically fine. Hearing all the injuries he had sustained, she was stunned by how his bones were perfectly repaired. Even for cultivators, this was an abnormal recovery speed. But now knowing about his special physique, this made much more sense. Furthermore, this explained why he had not waken up yet.
If his physique had been fully awakened by the need to heal his injuries, it had both consumed a huge amount of Qi and exerted an incredible toll on the rest of his body. In a sense, his marrows had stolen all the energy from his body that wasn't vital. It happened to be that being conscious was not a vital process of the body. And this mostly explained why Ren Chao was still comatose. Now that the problem was known, it wouldn't be difficult to do something about it. For the physicians on site this was impossible because they lacked the resources.
Obviously, they had understood the problem, but they had not the pills Mei Hua had with her. From a small pouch, she took out a wooden box. Once she opened it, there was a silver hue emanating from it and a deep fragrance. Being well versed in alchemy, Cao Yun tried to guess what pill this was. He wasn't too sure on the aspect alone but considering Ren Chao's problem, he was fairly certain that this was a 4-star Heaven pill known as Gushing Argent Well. And he was right.
With the help of a physician who was a Mortal Warrior, Mei Hua made Ren Chao consume the pill. As a Mortal Warrior, the physician was able to control the medicinal essence within the young man without any problem. On the side, Mei Hua gave him a few instructions on how to circulate the medicinal essence of this particular pill. The results were impressive.
As the name suggested, Qi flew in Ren Chao's body as though he was lying on a gushing well of pure energy. But most of it went straight into his bones that seemed to still be hungry. Thankfully, the pill was powerful enough that the bones finally appeared satiated and the Qi went into Ren Chao's meridians and Dantian.
After a comatose state that had lasted several months, Ren Chao came to. Although he had slipped in and out of this coma several times during this period, now was different. His mind was still a bit clouded but he was definitely conscious, with no sign of withdrawal.
Seeing all his sworn brothers and sister reunited in front of him, Ren Chao almost erupted from his bed. The physician used all of his strength to keep him down. Now that his physique was fully awake, even this instinctive act was supported by a tremendous strength and only a middle Mortal Warrior was able to restrain him. That being said, if he had been in perfect condition and had wanted to fight off the physician, the old man would have stood no chance.
"Brothers, Sister, you're all fine! Brother Sun, what happened in Yinmen City after I... well, you know...."
Once again, Sun Liao recounted everything that had happened, the death of the traitor, the heroic sacrifice of City Lord Dun Mofan, the massacre of almost everyone and also the terrible injury of Yun Ping.
And the result was what was expected. Ren Chao felt terrible. As always, he wondered what would have happened if he had been stronger. Despite his physical strength that was way beyond what other Mortals could do, except Cao Yun, he was still too weak. Like what had happened in the Lunar Marsh, he had not been able to protect the people around him. City Lord Dun Mofan had sacrificed his life for that. But this time, he didn't feel as bad. Indeed, if even a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior had been unable to protect his own city, Ren Chao had no chance to begin with.
Instead of making him despair, it motivated him to get stronger faster. And more than that, he was now fully aware that the best thing for him to help others was to be the greatest blacksmith possible. If he had had a Heaven weapon or even better, a Spirit weapon, City Lord Dun Mofan might have survived. After all, he had been strong enough to kill his opponents. So with a little bit more help, he should have been able to survive the fight as well.
The atmosphere was a bit too gloomy because Sun Liao also found himself inadequate. Not only had he failed to realize that Zeng Minghe was a traitor, his array formations had collapsed. Of course, most of them had been set up by City Lord Dun Mofan under his command, so they weren't as good as he could have done himself. But the mere fact that his cultivation didn't allow him to create such array formations was a problem. The frustration of having the knowledge but lacking the strength to apply it in the real world had reached its peak.
Both Sun Liao and Ren Chao wanted to get stronger and also better at their craft. In the upcoming weeks, Ren Chao would realize that his wounds were a blessing in disguise. Now that his physique was fully awaken, his bones were not sucking his Qi dry anymore. Thus, his cultivation went back to a normal speed. As a 5th-grade Mortal, he was the lowest of all second-years even though he was the strongest, apart from Cao Yun.
On the other hand, Sun Liao also realized something. He had been too caught up in his own head to see this at first.
"Sister Mei, you've become an 8th-grade Mortal already?"
"Oh? Yes, I completely forgot to tell you. Thanks to my master, I had already tempered my meridians and vessel a great deal already. And with some pills I was able to easily accumulate enough Water Qi to cross into 7th-grade Mortal. Then, it really wasn't long before I became an 8th-grade one. But that's not all, my master has gifted me a Transparent Celestial Key pill. So I should be a 9th-grade Mortal in nearly two months."
Ren Chao was completely stunned, while Sun Liao and Cao Yun were not that surprised. Alchemists always had faster cultivations than everyone else. The one that was truly abnormal was Cao Yun. Even without the use of pills, he was very close to becoming a Mortal Warrior. Thus Sun Liao felt urged to progress faster. Just like alchemists, array formation masters also had ways to cultivate faster. But even then, this would take some time. And he wasn't sure whether he could catch up with his brother and his sister. Right now, he was just as fast, or as slow, as Ren Chao. Soon, the both of them would be eclipsed by Mei Hua and Cao Yun. In fact, Ren Chao had an advantage with his physique.
As Sun Liao had many things going through his head, Mei Hua looked at Cao Yun and kept on talking.
"Since you've already crossed that realm, you don't need it at all. And I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have agreed to take it. But I asked my master if she could give me some pill for you as well."
Cultivation through pills could be faster, but it often lacked something. For example, opening the acupoints with the Transparent Celestial Key pill prevented the acquisition of a profound feeling of each acupoint as they were opening very fast. And for a fighter, having a subtle understanding of his own body and his acupoints was essential. In Mei Hua's case this wasn't a problem thanks to her powerful mind, she already had great sensations in her acupoints.
"Anyway, she only had one more pill. So, Brother Ren, Brother Sun, you don't have to tell me right away, but this pill could help one of you."
"Well, it's obvious that it should go to Brother Sun. After all, his cultivation is already more advanced than mine."
Sun Liao's mind was in disarray. Maybe if he pushed everything else aside, he would be able to progress faster in his Qi cultivation. Using the mind cultivation his brother had gifted him was also a great way to advance faster. He had already completed the first layer and was very close to energizing his first chamber. He would need to think carefully on the order in which he would do so to improve his cultivation speed as much as possible. He was certain that he would become a 7th-grade Mortal before they would get back to the Wubei Sect.
Then, he would have to circulate his Qi to temper his meridians and vessels, open his 361 acupoints and finally make every cell in his body transparent to Qi. The first step was easier for an array formation master who always worked on different ways to circulate Qi in the world around them. But opening all the acupoints was a challenge. Maybe if he took that pill...
No! Faced with this proposal, Sun Liao realized something about himself. Deep down, the reason why he wanted to get stronger fast was to be equal to Mei Hua and Cao Yun. It was his pride that was urging him. And this pride wouldn't allow him to accept such a gift. He wasn't a beggar.