Chapter 119: Unexpected Danger

Shen fell on a deep contemplation, there were multiple methods to get rid of the poison but every method needed at least three types of different processes. Among them, the first process is the hardest. Gathering herbs to refine the Sense Confusion Pellet and Spirit Connection Pellet would be hard. Using the pills, he had to reconnect the parasitic connections to pill and then slowly neutralize the effects of the parasites. Last but not least, he had to force the pollens out and balance his body vitality.

Shen glanced at Yu Ruyan, who maintained a neutral expression and sighed. Ruffling his hair, he thought which process he should take. He knew better than to be fooled by her exterior indifference. As long as they were her friends or benefactor, she would be as gentle as water, willing to go through heaven and hell to help them.

“It’s not impossible but it’s just too complicated. I’ll need the Jade Grass Powder, Root of 100-years-old Baby Alpine Tree, 1000-year-old Spirit Harmonizing Herb and finally Soul-Severing Grass. As for the rest, they are easy to find.” Shen unwilling said. If possible he didn’t want to do anything with them. Whatever he gets from them, he losses in every way. Not to mention the process is long and hard. He wouldn’t be willing to do this if it wasn’t for Yu Ruyan.

“If its Spirit Harmonizing Herb and Soul-Severing Grass, I have them here but I never heard of Baby Alpine Tree.” Nao Jin took out two jade box.

Both Spirit Harmonizing Herb and Soul-Severing Grass were common grade herbs. From Shen’s knowledge, the Soul-Severing Grass was scarce and rare to find. If the old man really had it, this would save a lot of time. Shen took the jade boxes and opened them. “Hm, the Soul-Severing Grass is this one, but this isn’t the Spirit Harmonizing Herb I need. This is Spirit Enriching Herb. As for the Baby Alpine Tree, it's not a medicinal herb but rather a mutation of Alpine Tree. I’ll also need the Jade Grass Powder.”

“This is certainly Spirit Hamonizing Herb. I can be sure of it,” the old man corrected.

“This isn't the Spirit Harmonizing Herb I spoke of. The Spirit Harmonizing Herb, which I need has longer stalks and lighter in shade. It has a strong but refreshing medicinal fragrance and hard to maintain.” Shen cleared their doubt and spoke firmly. He was already prepared. The name and effects of the herbs he knew of might change or possibly extinct by now.

“We won’t find them in the Hundred Miles City. We have to try our luck on Cang Lang City or possibly the Capital.” Yu Ruyan said. About the resources and capabilities of the surrounding cities, no one had better information than her. In the end, she finished while saying something hesitantly. “...Won’t that be too late?”

Even for Yu Ruyan, flying to and fro from Hundred Miles City to Greencloud City, it would take at least half a month, possibly more. If it was Nao Jin, the time wouldn’t have been much longer but in his ‘poisoned’ state, it was unknown if it would be appropriate to use his powers.

“If that’s the case, there’s nothing to worry about. As I have said, if Senior is away from the spiritual flower, there’s no need to worry in the short term... How about this, Senior can go with his disciples and gather the herbs, in the meantime, we will also prepare here and head to Greencloud City.” As if Shen had waited for Yu Ruyan’s worry, he eagerly filled her in. Yu Ruyan frowned but couldn’t counter him. He had a point, everyone from Yu villa couldn’t leave abruptly. Since they wanted to move to Greencloud City, it might be better to leave for once and all.

“That sounds like a good idea, Young friend. I didn’t expect you to be this skilled. When I heard there’s a skilled alchemist, I hadn’t held much hope but your expertise left me awed. Although I find it hard to believe that you intend to cure me with ordinary grade herbs, you don’t seem like the ones to bluff. Haha, I have seen something interesting.” The old man seemed rather open to Shen’s suggestion and even liked him. “Hua Yun, what have I said? Isn’t this young man much more outstanding than you? Never underestimate someone, especially when they have self-confidence and not arrogance.”

Hua Yun by his side scowled but said nothing. He respected his Master the most, and his Master also treasured him. However, his master had one complaint of him, that was he had extremely short-sighted and could never see the bigger picture.

Shen smiled at him and generously gave him a tip, “Anytime. By the way, don’t touch anyone directly for a while. You are also infected...” and he added the rest in after building the tension, “Though your vitality is too weak for the pollen to actively attack you. Hahaha...”

“Bastard!”

“Haha, I think we will get along with each other.” Shen laughed jokingly.

Hua Yun gritted his teeth and cursed him silently for as long as he was within his sight. He wanted to beat the crap out of him for all the humiliation from the start to now but his Master needed Shen’s help, he couldn’t do anything and only bear with it.

Shen scribbled on a paper. While handing it over to Hua Yun, he instructed, “These are the herb and materials we will need. Get them as much as possible, especially the rare ones.”

“That goes without saying!” Hua Yun countered disdainfully as Shen underestimated him too much.

Shen ignored Hua Yun and looked at Nao Jin, “Senior if you don’t mind, why don’t you let me see the carcass of your Demonic Beast. While I successfully figured the source of your trouble, I still can’t understand how a mighty demonic beast died so soon.”

The reason for Shen to find the cause Lion Condor’s death was simple. The spiritual flower couldn’t absorb the vitality of any creature so fast with this kind of distance. If it could, the old man won’t have much time either. There was bound to have some unusual circumstances.

Nao Jin’s expression rippled indescribably but Shen could still notice the hints.

“Hah, it’s better this way. At least, I would get to know how he left me.” Nao Jin took out a small coin from his pocket and a beast carcass appeared in front of him. This was Shen’s third time watching a beast token but first to see a beast coming out of it. Unfortunately, the beast had already died.

It was a Golden-Winged Lion Condor. By appearance, it looked extremely similar to the griffons. Only it had the head of a Lion and gigantic in size. On its chin, a giant claw scar trailed back to its ear. More small-large scars could be seen on the beast's body. Nao Jin patted the beast's forehead.

“That year, you willingly came to my side and accompanied me on my journey. You saved me uncountable times, warmed me when I was lost, even got this scary scar while saving me. For years we fought alongside, injured, lost but never retreated. Haha, it still feels like yesterday.” Nao Jin reminiscent, he tried to laugh but it lacked any depth. Maybe if it wasn’t for his disciple and firm Dao Heart, he might’ve shed tears. “Until this is where we part ways, you can have a good rest...”

In the end, he blurred his speech. Hiding the rest in his heart.

Tamed Demonic Beasts remains with their Masters until death. Some even spend hundreds of years, some more than thousands. Even when nobody stays by their side, the cultivator has their demonic beast to support them and warm their hearts. Some Demonic Beasts becomes as close as their brother and family. Other than minor selected few anyone would mourn at the loss of their precious companion.

Shen did understand the old man, albeit partially. It’s like having your favorite pet cat dying on you, only much stronger. Not only are they a fighting force, but their bond also becomes stronger over a long period of time.

Shen didn’t interrupt the old man, nor did he inspect the dead beast carcass. He didn’t want to offend this old man or disrespect their relationship.

Finally, Nao Jin gave permission and backed away. Shen circulated Qi of Absolute Strengthening Technique and Spirit Energy to his eye, his vision enhanced and everything became much clearer.

While circulating Absolute Qi inside the carcass Shen tried to detect any kind of abnormalities with both his Eyes and Qi. The beast had similar symptoms of being parasitized by pollen and a slight drain on its vitality but it still didn’t explain how the beast died. The vitality absorption caused by the pollen is weak in speed. For a Martial Emperor Realm Demonic Beast such as Golden-Winged Lion Condor, that amount of vitality hardly dropped its maximum prowess from 2%-5%.

His Qi rippled through the carcass, Shen could feel the rich Qi inside the body of the beast. Although the beast died, most of the residual Qi still remained inside the body. Shen couldn’t find any peculiarity other than pollen inside the body until he reached the core of the Lion Condor.

The core had been badly mutilated as if something had created a beehive inside the core. Shen got chills just be seeing it. He focused on the core and a hot rich gleaming aura caught his eyes. Massive amount of Qi, Vitality & Spirit Energy clustered in a single spot, the amount and density caused Shen to have a cold sweat. Unconsciously, his breath got rough and he lost the sense of his surroundings.

It was like watching a full power of Martial Emperor displaying their prowess, only clustered in a single tiny spot. Not leaving anyone a spot for breath. One might think the power of a hundred meters giant is destructive. However, the power of the hundred meters giant used by a tiny two-meter human is much more destructive and frightening.

“...hen! Shen! Shen!!”

Shen almost lost his five senses when a hand shook him violently.

Only then did he return to consciousness, Yu Ruyan stood behind him and Mingyue on his front. There was even a small presence on top of his head. Yu Ruyan called him loudly and shook him back and forth violently. Mingyue Gelou wiped his face with the corner of her cloth but even that became too damp to wipe. Kaidi jumped down from his dead and stared at her surroundings with vigilance.

Shen took one last glance at the source of the fierce aura with a haggard expression. Then he closed his eyes and turned away. For a moment, he felt like his soul being robbed out of his own body. There was no hostile intent from the source of that aura but even that made him blank out.

When he removed the focus from his eyes, it instantly got better. However, just knowing something dangerous exists by your side is enough for anyone to feel sick in their stomach.

“Move back,” Shen first pushed Mingyue Gelou back and took hold of Kaidi by her neck.

Of course, Shen received protest through their spiritual connection and she physically hissed and growled but seeing Shen’s unfocused look, she let herself be.

Mingyue Gelou and Yu Ruyan remained frozen on their place. Shen didn’t open his mouth but spread his arm and dragged the duo back.

“Shen, what happened? Hey?!” Yu Ruyan gently touched his cheek and inquired but Shen had that unfocused look on him.

Finally, after reaching fifty meters back, Shen turned towards Nao Jin and his disciple, Hua Yun. “Senior, it might be better to get from there... well, I guess, it doesn’t really matter in the end.”

Nao Jin was closest to the Lion Condor’s head, where the core was located. Truly, Shen didn’t know if the entity inside the core attacked whether Nao Jin would be able to protect himself or not.

“There’s no need to worry. Even if there’s something dangerous inside Yo-Gu, I’ll protect you.” The old man with a muscular body and small-big white spots when smiled, he looked extremely peculiar and funny.

Shen smiled and said softly, “Will you believe if I say, Senior might die without knowing how?”

Nao Jin’s smile instantly vanished. Only now did he notice Shen had sunken eyes, face white as a sheet of paper, body leaned on Yu Ruyan.

This young man might lie or joke but he definitely can’t act so realistically.