Chapter 54: Qi and Blood Pill
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"It's so fast?"
Aoki frowned slightly, pointed his toes, and his body rose from the ground.
There was a huge ice lotus on each shoulder of the Ice Buddha, with Douma sitting on the ice lotus on the right shoulder.
Aoki rushed straight to the ice lotus and punched at Douma's broken head.
Just as his fist approached, the ice lotus beneath Douma suddenly closed.
Boom!
The ice lotus shattered, but Douma's figure had disappeared.
A shadow loomed, and the Ice Buddha waved its palm and swatted at Aoki.
The area was surrounded by an icy mist.
An ordinary person would have suffered frostbite just by approaching it.
Aoki twisted in mid-air, lashing out with his right leg like a whip.
The Ice Buddha's palm shattered, but the cold mist spread and instantly restored it to its original form.
Aoki's figure disappeared and reappeared behind the Ice Buddha's left shoulder, his arms waving as cold rays intertwined.
"Aoki Style: Funeral!"
Bang!
The Ice Buddha's right shoulder was obliterated, revealing Douma inside. His injuries had already healed, and he curiously asked,
"How did you find me here?"
Simultaneously, the Ice Buddha turned its head, opened its mouth, and spewed a deadly cold mist.
How did Aoki find him? Of course, it was through the "Transparent World."
Aoki lightly stepped on the Ice Buddha, twisted his body, and repeatedly swung his fists.
Boom, boom, boom!
This time, the targeted area didn't break apart. Instead, the Ice Buddha trembled, cracks spread across its surface, and ice chips flew everywhere.
The vibrating fist was a technique Aoki had developed, inspired by Akaza's moves.
Douma reappeared on another lotus and waved his fan. "Blood Demon Art: Lotus Leaf Ice."
Ice crystal lotuses formed around him.
Aoki frowned slightly, his figure flickered, and he returned to Kocho Kanae's side.
"It seems this is the end for today. What a pity!"
Douma smiled slightly, his figure disappearing as the massive Ice Buddha broke into pieces, turning into ice crystals scattered on the ground.
"Didn't you capture him?"
Kocho Kanae leaned weakly against the wall, her voice faint with reluctance.
"There wasn't enough time!"
Aoki's face also showed regret.
As he finished speaking, the golden rays of the sun pierced the sky, illuminating the world. He quickly stepped back into the shadows.
Douma was incredibly hard to kill.
Aoki's greatest advantage against demons was the "Demon Devouring" technique, which made it so that he could strike without taking damage, while every hit from his opponent would harm them.
However, Douma's "Water Lily Bodhisattva" move largely neutralized this advantage.
Douma used the "Water Lily Bodhisattva" like a protective mecha, making it difficult to directly attack his body.
Since the "Water Lily Bodhisattva" was created through his Blood Demon Art, it wasn't affected by "Demon Devouring."
Additionally, as a mage, Douma specialized in ranged ice attacks.
The perception and predictive advantages from the "Transparent World" were significantly diminished against him.
Most crucially, there simply wasn't enough time.
It must be acknowledged that the Upper Moons are indeed formidable opponents.
So far, Aoki had faced three Upper Moons and had only managed to defeat the weakest, Upper Moon Six.
Shaking off his distracting thoughts, Aoki glanced at Kocho Kanae. He was about to speak when he suddenly turned his head.
A petite figure was sprinting rapidly along the road, feathers fluttering around her like a beautiful butterfly.
"Sister! Please be okay!"
Kocho Shinobu's face was serious, her heart filled with anxiety.
After their parents died, she and her sister had relied on each other.
If anything happened to her sister…
She gritted her teeth and quickened her pace.
As she passed the alley between two rows of buildings, Kocho Shinobu abruptly stopped.
In the alley, a familiar figure leaned weakly against the wall, blood flowing everywhere.
"Sister! And... a demon? Is he the one who hurt my sister?"
Shinobu Kocho's eyes widened with fury. Her hand gripped the hilt of her sword as she launched herself like an arrow. "Bastard! Scum! Die!"
Just as she was about to draw her sword for a killing strike, her sister's anxious voice reached her ears.
"Shinobu, stop!"
"Huh?"
Shinobu Kocho frowned, confusion filling her mind, but she halted.
"Sister?"
She kept her hand on her sword's hilt, warily watching the demon in the shadows.
Kocho Kanae sighed with relief, though her face grew even paler. "He's not our enemy, Shinobu. Don't you recognize him?"
Shinobu Kocho looked more closely at Aoki. When her eyes landed on his golden vertical pupils, she gasped, "Mr. Aomura?"
Kocho Kanae smiled weakly. "It wasn't Mr. Aomura who hurt me. It was Upper Moon Two! If Mr. Aomura hadn't arrived in time, I might have been eaten by Upper Moon Two."
Aoki shook his head. "The dawn is breaking. Even without me, you wouldn't have been eaten."
Reassured that Aoki wasn't an enemy, Shinobu Kocho turned her attention to her sister and quickly moved to her side, looking at her in distress.
"Sister, you're bleeding a lot."
"She's dying!"
Aoki observed Kocho Kanae, seeing through the "Transparent World" the extent of her injuries.
Externally, the wounds were severe.
Internally, her lungs were perforated, and other organs were severely frostbitten.
Butterfly Kanae's heartbeat was growing weaker and weaker.
His intervention had helped slightly, but hadn't changed the situation fundamentally.
Shinobu Kocho glared at Aoki immediately.
Kocho Kanae grabbed her sister's hand. "Shinobu, Mr. Aomura is right. You should understand the situation."
"No! No! There must be a way! I brought medicine…"
Shinobu Kocho's eyes turned red as she hastily pulled out various medicines.
Kocho Kanae stopped her. "No, Shinobu. I know my condition well. In my last moments, I have something to say…"
"Ahem!"
Aoki interrupted her, pulling out a porcelain bottle. "Don't worry, try this first!"
The Butterfly sisters looked puzzled.
Aoki didn't waste words. He opened the lid, took out a red pill, and tossed it to them.
Shinobu Kocho quickly caught it.
A strange, invigorating fragrance filled the air.
"What is this?"
"A kind of medicine," Aoki replied.
The pill he offered was a Qi and Blood Pill.
He had long considered the effects of Qi and Blood Pills on humans.
Since humans could drink demon blood, it stood to reason they could also consume Qi and Blood Pills.
For Aoki, Qi and Blood Pills were a unique form of nourishment, or a tonic that rapidly restored his depleted strength.
For humans, they should be an extraordinary tonic.
Perhaps it could sustain someone as gravely injured as Kocho Kanae.
Given the resilience of a Hashira, if the pill could keep Kocho Kanae alive, she would likely recover.
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