According to his Necronomicon, Yuan Haoran could resurrect small animals with a spell and without a significant cost. He could restore its life using the thunder elemental energy. As long as he channelled his power through it, it would be, for all intents and purposes, alive.
If he withdrew his energy, it would be dead.
It was somewhat akin to the reanimation of frog legs in Luigi Galvani's experiment. Luckily, he only needed to keep the snake alive enough to deal with the venom in the troublesome mission target. As soon as he eliminated the poison, he could get rid of the snake.
"I hope I found the right thing." Long Jingyi's voice broke his mind from meditation. "What exactly are you planning on doing with the bird poop?"
Yuan Haoran did not remove the hood of his cloak. "Place it in the bowl and crash it into a powder."
His mind went back to the Necronomicon. Reading the book using his spiritual energy was challenging, but he could hardly take out a black magic grimoire in public. If it was from the system, he would have an easier time reading it.
Yuan Haoran thought of something and smirked. Perhaps, the system could be of a little more use in the future. He needed to figure out all the potential features he could exploit. For example, it would be good if he could store reading materials in it.
If it could have information from the Flora Encyclopedia available to him as he needed, he was sure it could do the same for other books. But for now, he needed to focus on completing his mission.
Once he understood the full process of the resurrection, he held the Cobalt-bellied Mamba in his hands and whispered under his breath the spell from the Necronomicon to ensure he remembered it. The two girls who were kneeling beside Feng Yie looked at him with suspicion and fear.
They looked at each other and nodded in some kind of mutual understanding. One of them started to turn around to call out to the other members of their team, intending to alert them of the strange thing happening with the cloaked man.
Before she could turn around fully, Yuan Haoran lifted his head and looked at the two of them with his scarlet eyes. Those eyes glowed a bloody red in the darkness and looked eerie from behind the hood of the cloak.
Immediately, the two female cultivators began choking; they could not breathe. It felt like there was a vice around their necks, squeezing air out of their lungs. But they could not move or make sounds. They were just frozen and dying.
"Is this good enough?" Long Jingyi asked as he squatted beside Yuan Haoran, showing him the bowl.
Yuan Haoran released the girls from the suffocation and nodded as he turned to look at the whitish-grey powder in the bowl. "Add the spring water and mix the materials with your spiritual energy."
The two girls started coughing and clutching at their throats as soon as they were free. Their eyes teared up as they looked at Yuan Haoran in fear. That feeling of almost dying while in the open but without anyone noticing was indescribable.
"What is wrong with the two of you?" Long Jingyi looked at them with more annoyance than concern.
Usually, Long Jingyi was a kind man with a lot of protective feelings toward the fairer sex. He was considered an upstanding gentleman in his generation. However, he did not like people from the Shademantle Academy, especially after the difficult position they forced him into today.
"I think they are probably allergic to the powder from the bird excrement. People are allergic to the most random things, especially in new environments like this domain. A person can die so quickly, and there would be no trace." Yuan Haoran looked meaningfully at the two women.
They shivered in fear at the veiled threat.
"That's true. I once met someone who was allergic to the saliva of a Striped Cotton Cat. One of our travelling companions never went anywhere without her cat. It was a bit playful and liked to mess with strangers." Long Jingyi felt nostalgic.
"This one time, we were looking into a case of unnatural beast attacks. During one of the meetings, it jumped out and licked the hand of a general who was in charge of a battalion protecting one of the affected border towns from a beast hoard. If it were not of the healer with us, we would have been charged with treason."
Long Jingyi laughed to himself, remembering how everyone was shocked at the sudden anaphylactic shock. And worst of all, it was embarrassing for the general because he was allergic to a small tame cat with no attack power.
"It is good to be careful." Yuan Haoran said. "Are you finished?"
"Yeah." Long Jingyi handed over the colloidal solution in the bowl.
Yuan Haoran took it and looked at the materials with satisfaction. "Can you find out if her team has any kind of restoration potion? These two kind cultivators can feed the patient the solution while I use my spiritual energy to help eliminate the poison."
Long Jingyi grimaced, but he stood up and went towards the Shademantle group.
"We don't have all night." Yuan Haoran barked after handing the bowl to one of the girls.
They were terrified, but they looked at the bowl with distaste. "You want us to give Senior Feng bird excrement?"
"Lift her upper body, tilt back her head, squeeze her nose, and pour the solution down her throat. It is not that complicated." Yuan Haoran was a little irritated by the lack of action.
After a little hesitation, the two girls did as they were instructed with muttered apologies to Senior Feng. They did not know if they hoped for her to survive because she might never forgive them. But again, the man opposite them might be a real devil and might kill them if they did not follow his instructions.
Yuan Haoran lifted the snake again and chanted softly. His fingers sparkled with black sparks of lightning energy. He touched the small serpentine body lightly for a moment, and the muscles trembled on his hand before the snake awoke.
He smiled in triumph before placing the snake fangs on the same wound it made on Feng Yie's arm. The two girls shrank away even further as soon as they saw the snake that they were sure was completely dead moving.
In an unexpected move, Yuan Haoran sent a shockwave of spiritual energy into Feng Yie as if he were attacking her with murderous intent. The girls shrieked in fear as Senior Feng's body started convulsing in violent motions. The sight was ugly and scary.
Their shrieks drew the attention of the other people in the camp. Most of the cultivators did not want to be involved in the situation, especially after learning the injured party was the daughter of the Shademantle Academy's principal.
They chose to watch from afar.
However, the team from the school could not ignore the commotion. The group rushed back with Long Jingyi behind them. Naturally, Mo Heng was leading the charge. He looked ready to tear Yuan Haoran apart.
"What are you doing to Feng Yie? Do you think we will let you harm her?" Mo Heng asked angrily stretching his hand to attack Yuan Haoran.
Yuan Haoran intended to respond to the attack in equal measure, but Long Jingyi was faster. He caught Mo Heng's wrist before he could touch him. As soon as he did, Mo Heng screamed in pain due to the burning heat.
Long Jingyi had the sun element which was unlike the common fire energy. The heat he produced was by, at its core, nuclear fusion, not a simple chemical one. The power he produced was much hotter than any fire. Even at low controlled levels, it scalded Mo Heng.
"A man uses his words, not his fists." Long Jingyi said as he pushed Mo Heng away.
The two girls who were helping Yuan Haoran ran to their companions with tears. Their sobs were loud as they held on to each other. Now that they had backing, they could expose the evil man.
"Senior Mo Heng, he is a demon. He practices devil cultivation." One cried out, pointing at Yuan Haoran while the other nodded vigorously with a tear-covered face.