The next morning before the sun rose, with a layer of fog still around, the troops had already gotten ready for the path ahead.
Shi Yan was blending among the medicine slaves, maintaining a calm expression and behaving normally. Like usual, he marched in silence with the troop. Johnson was very surprised to see Shi Yan so calm and peaceful, he was originally prepared to see him in a miserable state.
In the past few days, every single one of those medicine slaves who took the Gut Cutting poison would wake up with a pale face and a weak body the next morning, with no exception. For the weak ones, they could barely walk, for the strong ones, you could clearly see pain and terror on their faces.
However, Shi Yan was still walking. His face looked healthy with a rosy color in his cheeks. He didn't look like he was in pain at all, which made Johnson very confused and curious.
Johnson stared at Shi Yan for a while. After he made sure that Shi Yan was indeed healthy, Johnson came to the front of the marching troops with a frown. He reported Shi Yan's strange status to Mo Yanyu and Master Karu.
"No need to care about him." Master Karu was very confident of his medicine, "Since that boy is a Warrior, he is pretty tough and not that easy to break down. Just wait till the Profound Qi inside him is depleted. He will be no different from those slaves. I know my Gut Cutting poison very well."
"OK. You go back there and keep an eye on him." Mo Yanyu said with an expressionless face.
Since the two of them were so calm about this news, Johnson had no choice but to obey. Without insisting anymore, he went back to the back of the troop and continued to closely monitor every movement of Shi Yan as told.
"Master Karu, how long should it take for that bastard to start suffering?" After Johnson left, Mo Yanyu started to look worried. She was expecting Shi Yan to start dying from hellish pain now. The more suffering Shi Yan felt, the more pleasure she would be able to enjoy.
"Don't worry. It is about time."
After the end of the day, the moon replaced the sun and rose in the sky.
After the troop had settled, Master Karu and Mo Yanyu walked towards Shi Yan. They saw Shi Yan sitting on the ground, stuffing himself with some scraps of food.
"Master Karu, that guy doesn't look quite... " Mo Yanyu said in hesitation. The way Shi Yan was engorging himself in his food was not that decent, but he didn't appear to be in pain at all.
Master Karu was apparently offended, "What? Are you questioning my skills as an alchemist?"
"I wouldn't dare to." Mo Yanyu said, "The power of the Gut Cutting poison has already been proven on other medicine slaves. I was just wondering why this guy could survive. Did you forget any ingredients in his dose?"
"Miss Mo, although I am not a top alchemist, I couldn't have made such a ridiculous mistake." Master Karu was apparently offended. He said, "If you don't believe in my ability, I can leave right now."
"Master Karu, please don't. That's not what I meant. I was just wondering why the medicine did not work on him. I didn't mean anything else." Mo Yanyu looked panicked.
"Hmm!" Master Karu didn't even bother to reply. He rose up from the ground and flew right towards Shi Yan as fast as lightning.
Shi Yan kept his head down and pretended he wasn't paying attention. However, deep down he was surprised at the speed Master Karu was moving. He felt lucky that he didn't try to fight against him yesterday. Otherwise, he would have definitely suffered.
Apart from being an alchemist, Master Karu was also a Warrior of the Nascent Realm. However, Shi Yan was just a Warrior of the Second Sky of Elementary Realm and he could barely operate the Profound Qi inside his body. There was a huge difference between the two of them and there was no chance Shi Yan would survive a fight with Master Karu. If he ever fought back, he would be asking for death.
"Fwoosh!"
With a strange sound in the sky, it only took seconds before Master Karu arrived in front of Shi Yan.
Shi Yan put down the food in his hands and looked up at Master Karu.
Master Karu had a skinny, stone-cold face. With lightning speed, he suddenly grabbed Shi Yan's left arm and put his fingers on Shi Yan's skin. And quickly inserted his electric-type Profound Qi into his veins. His Profound Qi flowed into Shi Yan's body, circled around his entire system, and returned back to Master Karu's fingers.
Shi Yan felt a little overwhelmed by the strong Profound Qi of Master Karu. With just a circulation of his Profound Qi, all his veins were aching and burning.
"Hmmm... " Master Karu frowned with doubt. He said in a low voice, "It cannot be. The Gut Cutting poison is apparently still inside his body. Why is there still Profound Qi remaining in his body? His gut is not corroded either. He is just a low-level Warrior. He cannot have such fine Profound Qi. He shouldn't even be breathing right now."
Shi Yan just let him grab his arm and didn't fight back.
"Master Karu, how does he look?" Mo Yanyu also arrived.
"Just wait for one more day." Master Karu said with a cold look. He couldn't figure out what was going on either because he never considered it could be due to a Martial Spirit. For an ordinary Warrior like him, there's no way he could possess a Martial Spirit. Moreover, Master Karu had never heard of any Martial Spirit that could heal one's body.
Although Mo Yanyu also had a million questions, she had no choice but to nod in agreement. Without speaking anything, she just stared at Shi Yan for a while with a strange look. Shi Yan guessed that she was again planning something awful for him.
The next night, Master Karu and Mo Yanyu again came over to check Shi Yan's body. They found him fine and healthy with no decay. Master Karu looked more embarrassed than yesterday and told Mo Yanyu to wait for one more day.
The third night, when the two of them checked again, still found nothing.
On the fourth night, Master Karu came again. This time, he had two bowls of Gut Cutting poison in his hands. When he arrived, he ordered Johnson to bring another medicine slave called Kuro over to Shi Yan. He commanded the two of them to finish the two bowls of newly made Gut Cutting poison.
Again, Shi Yan drank it obediently.
"I made these two bowls of Gut Cutting poison with the same ingredients." Master Karu added after the two of them had finished their bowl of Gut Cutting poison.
Mo Yanyu also agreed with Karu, "If that Kuro's body starts to corrode, it means there's something wrong with this guy's body. I understand you now."
"Yes exactly," Master Karu nodded, "Just come over again tomorrow night at the same time, and then we will know by comparing the two."
At night, Shi Yan sat on the ground, slowly operating the Profound Qi inside his body with a heavy face.
The Profound Qi was slowing stretching in his body. It became longer and longer and gradually expanded throughout his veins. With a thought, the Profound Qi gradually became extremely flexible, flowing from one vein to another. As long as he commanded in his mind, the Profound Qi would move all around his veins, like a snake.
Gradually, the Profound Qi moved to the index finger of his right hand through the veins in his arm. Shi Yan concentrated and moved the Profound Qi back into his veins in the arm. Suddenly, his Profound Qi sped up and rushed towards his right index finger with an unstoppable force, becoming faster and faster.
"Shoo!"
There was a strange sound on the tip of his right index finger. With an intense pain, the Profound Qi forced itself into his index finger. Shi Yan's finger couldn't help trembling just like the tail of a rattlesnake.
The Profound Qi was now concentrated in his index finger, expanding and pushing around, but couldn't pierce the skin. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't manage to make the Profound Qi break the skin and leave his body.
"Whoo!" Shi Yan breathed heavily, and gathered his Profound Qi back into his abdomen, looking pretty disappointed. "I failed again... " He said in a very low voice to himself.
There were three stages to the Elementary Realm[1]. If you could cultivate Profound Qi, you would have reached the First Sky. If you were able to operate your Profound Qi skillfully and make it circulate through your body with your mind, you would have reached the Second Sky. If you managed to make your Profound Qi break out of your skin and into the air, that was the Third Sky.
Now that Shi Yan was able to operate his Profound Qi skillfully all over his body, he had reached the Second Sky. In past few days, he had been collecting and concentrating more and more Profound Qi, trying to force it out of his fingers, hoping to reach the Third Sky. He had tried many times. However, so far he failed to break the boundary of his skin.
"It seems that the training of a Warrior cannot be achieved overnight. My Profound Qi is still not strong enough. Maybe I should try again later after I collect and refine more Profound Qi." After another failure, Shi Yan couldn't help but sigh inside his head. Maybe it's due to his dangerous situation, he seemed a little hasty.
He knew that by this time tomorrow, his body would still be the same, unaffected by the Gut Cutting poison. However, that slave called Kuro wouldn't be this lucky. His gut would have already been decayed together with his other organs.
As soon as Master Karu saw that, he would instantly figure out that there's nothing wrong with his poison, but the problem was lying inside Shi Yan's body. He would discover that Shi Yan's body was different from the others, and this is exactly where the trouble would begin. From then on, life wouldn't be easy for him. Mo Yanyu would probably kill him in case he created some new problems in the future.
He wouldn't even wait until tomorrow morning. If Kuro started to show symptoms tomorrow morning, Shi Yan's secret would have been discovered instantly. By that time, all the Warriors would have been up and would all be paying attention to him. He would have no chance to escape.
Looking at the night sky full of bright stars, Shi Yan's face became more serious and determined. He knew that if he ever wanted to survive, he must escape tonight!
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[1] Elementary Realm: the first level of warriors. Includes three stages: First Sky, Second Sky and Third Sky.