Chapter 48 Attendant Pick-up
The Akhal-Teke horse's coat is anything but soft; in fact, it has a coarse, stiff texture. Having just ridden back and not yet groomed it, the fur on my face felt prickly and thorny. Yet it was precisely this prickly sensation that gave Masaya a sense of reality.
Perhaps after achieving the True Immortal Body, his perception of pain was mostly concentrated when the poison took effect, and those deliberately sealed memories rarely surfaced. As a result, he hadn't experienced true heartache for a long time.
Ultimately, it was his own arrogance that led to today's situation.
It was only an hour's difference. If he had been faster, just a little faster; if he had disregarded those around him, hadn't taken the roundabout route through the traps, but had instead climbed straight up the outer wall and rushed to the top of the stone tower—Xi Shun might have survived.
But the harsh reality was staring him in the face, forcing him to admit that he couldn't save everyone. Even in the past, he hadn't been able to save his own apprentice. And it remained the same today; nothing had changed.
The Akhal-Teke horse was uncomfortable under the tight embrace of Shinjuku, but dared not move at all. It only snorted weakly as a show of defiance, letting the boy bury his face in its body for a long time, until it was almost asleep.
However, while the horse fell asleep, Shinjuku's eyes remained clear as he continued to ponder deeply.
In the past, not to mention his prime, even as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he was far superior to his current crippled state. He is truly too weak now. It seems he shouldn't continue to neglect his cultivation out of fear of the Poison King discovering his origins. It's time to make repairing his dantian his primary task; nothing should hinder his cultivation.
There will be fierce battles ahead, and strength is the only real thing. If he doesn't want to experience this feeling of powerlessness again, then the only way is to become stronger.
With the Purple Mansion in place, theoretically he could multitask.
So Shinjuku made his tsuki-fu wary of the surrounding movements, and then focused his mind to examine the amount of poison accumulated in his body.
The recent harvest has been quite plentiful, and the fact that most of the toxins stored up previously have remained unused demonstrates just how lax my cultivation has become. Using a palm or a finger as a measure of poison: the poison refined earlier still has a finger's worth and needs to be refined again; the poison from the Nourishing Heart Pill has been refined and is ready for use, totaling a palm and nine fingers; as for the newly refined pills and mixed poison materials in the secret chamber, these are unrefined poisons, totaling seven palms and six fingers; the oleander water has two palms' worth; the poison from the jar that Xi Luo helped retrieve has two fingers' worth; and the remaining miscellaneous bits and pieces, in total, amount to about a finger's worth, all unrefined.
Repairing the toxins in the dantian only requires the palm and five fingers. However, since the dantian has collapsed again, the difficulty of repair has increased several times over. But only by repairing it step by step can it eventually be repaired.
Therefore, Zhen Su first took the Heart-Nourishing Elixir, only this part was refined and usable. He used it as needle and thread, threading the needle in the dantian, following the remaining patterns, constructing and reasoning at the same time, and then repairing it one by one.
Unbeknownst to them, Ci Zifu also joined in, and Zhen Su devoted all his mental energy, which allowed them to piece together the fragments of the dantian and patch up the poisonous seam.
The process was extremely mentally taxing, and even if Shinju wanted to endure it, he couldn't, because his still immature secondary dantian simply couldn't bear the weight. In order to catch his breath, Shinju simply refined the miscellaneous amount of poison in that finger, using the pain to refresh his mind.
As the pain struck the Purple Mansion barrier, Zhen Su suddenly remembered what the poison he had ingested was. It must have been taken from Feng Shuo's forehead, and he guessed it was a poison like Datura, which was quite corrosive to the spirit.
"...Ugh..." Majutsu finally let out a muffled groan through his clenched teeth. The intense pain made him unable to concentrate, so he didn't notice someone coming from behind him.
A hand landed on his shoulder, followed by a familiar, deep, mellow voice, "Not in a good mood?"
Mayu hurriedly turned around, but couldn't stop a mouthful of blood from rising up his throat. Fresh blood just happened to spill from the corner of his lips and then dripped down.
The King of Zhen's dark pupils contracted sharply. The crimson stain that met his eyes was like a blood-stained blade piercing his heart, and a dull pain gradually rose in his chest. He subconsciously reached out and wiped the bloodstains from Masaki's chin.
"Don't bite. Don't overthink it. Xi Shun's situation isn't entirely your fault," the King of Zhen said in a soft voice.
Shinju was worried about how to cover up the blood he had vomited while practicing his martial arts. Now that the King of Poison had misunderstood that he had bitten it, there was no need to argue. So Shinju obediently nodded.
The King of Zhen was touched by Shinju's submissiveness, and his heart softened. Seeing that Shinju still had his head bowed, his bangs slightly ruffled by the open wind, he took off his cloak, spread it open, and let the shadow cast by the cloak cover the two of them, creating a natural shield against the watchful eyes of the nearby soldiers. But at that moment, the King of Zhen's eyes darkened, and he leaned down to kiss Shinju's slightly furrowed brow. As the cloak draped over Shinju's shoulders, the King of Zhen returned to his original aloof and upright posture.
Although Shinjuku's mind was being torn apart by the pain, he was still able to react to that moment, but he instinctively didn't dodge.
He looked up at the King of Zhen, whose expression remained cold and hard, his eyes as if locking onto prey, giving off a sense of oppression. It was hard to connect the fleeting kiss from just now with the person in front of him.
While Shinju was still in a daze, the King of Poison had already turned around. "It's time to head to Langcheng. Pack your things."
As Shinju watched the towering figure of the King of Poison gradually disappear into the distance, he suddenly felt the pain in his body inexplicably lessen as a certain feeling welled up in his heart. Noticing the subtle glances from the soldiers around him, Shinju didn't linger and followed them into the tent, covering his lips with his fist as he continued to repair his dantian.
.
Outside Langcheng.
In broad daylight, fireworks shot into the sky outside the city. The gunpowder hissed and exploded in mid-air, creating a dazzling display, but the intense sunlight stole most of its brilliance.
Those inside the city could not see outside, but they could hear the deafening roar. Having lived in fear for days, they showed no joy on their faces; instead, they grew even more apprehensive, as if a death knell had been tolling.
After hearing the fireworks explode, General Rhinoceros on the watchtower slowly moved a moment later. He caught his breath and asked the strategist, "Whose turn is it this time?"
Yesterday, General Xi witnessed his elder brother's head being hung on a banner outside the city. Since then, he has become increasingly lifeless. His once clear eyes have become cloudy, as if insects were churning the clouds inside.
The strategist initially intended to remain silent, but General Xi persisted in his questioning, seemingly determined not to stop until he received an answer. Over the past few days, the strategist had been accumulating considerable anger over this dismissive superior, and now, annoyed by the questioning, he blurted out sarcastically, "Why don't you just take a look through your binoculars and see for yourself?"
After saying that, he began to regret it, wondering if he had been too cruel. So the strategist said again, "That's enough, stop looking."
Unexpectedly, General Xi actually stood up and shakily moved to the watchtower outside. His hands were shaking, and it took him a long time to point the telescope in his hand at a certain place outside the city.
A moment later, a crisp sound rang out, and the telescope fell to the ground, its lenses shattering into pieces, the glass edges reflecting a blinding cold light.
“…Feng Shun…Shun’er…” General Xi’s chest throbbed like a broken bellows, emitting a harsh, beast-like roar. He staggered backward, but the strategist rushed over to support him, preventing him from falling.
"General!! Please pull yourself together! The people and soldiers in the city are all relying on you. You must not fall!!"
“It’s gone…it’s really gone! Qi Sheng, I’m so sorry…I’m so useless! I couldn’t protect your child!!! Ahhhhhh!!” General Xi suddenly threw his general and advisor aside, then knelt down on the ground, which was immediately wet. His gray hair fell to the ground, stuck together by tears.
The solid fists pounded repeatedly on the blue brick ground, the vibrations not only shaking the strategist's eardrums and the soles of his boots, but also causing the hearts of the soldiers inside the tower to tremble.
"Aaaaah..." General Rhinoceros roared, his voice filled with anguish. What had he even tried to protect? He couldn't protect anything at all! All the important people in his life were leaving him!
Just then, a voice appeared in his ears again—the voice that had haunted him day and night, which only he could hear, while the strategist and others could not hear it. It called itself a divine oracle.
"The blessings of the gods are about to descend. Open the city gates, and the souls of all will be released. Open them! All those who have entered the underworld, your blood relatives, your mentors, and your mentors' sons, will receive the protection of the gods."
General Xi was stunned for a long time after hearing the sound before slowly raising his head and looking up at the top of the watchtower.
"...Will the Qi family and the Xi family be rescued?" He blinked away the bloody tears that were getting in his way and asked silently.
"Yes." He saw a response coming from the top of the tower.
General Xi's face suddenly lit up with wild joy. He abruptly sat up, grabbed the strategist's shoulders, and shook him violently, shouting, "Quick, quick—"
The strategist was bewildered by the general's sudden change in demeanor, finding him even more terrifying than his previous lifeless state. Before he could even hear what General Xi intended to do, a figure appeared at the top of the spiral staircase, dragging his not-so-nimble right hand, panting as he approached them. The figure's face was contorted with madness as he shouted:
"Xi Tongzhao, you piece of trash!!"
General Xi and his strategist were both stunned.
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Author's note: I plan to update daily for a week and see if that makes any progress (slams my fist on the ground)
[Edited] The grammatical errors have been corrected, and a few more details about the flirting have been added.
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