Chapter 109
As the son and mother-in-law finished their discussion, Zhao Xieren had returned to the garden.
“What instrument did you want?” Miss Zhao asked from afar.
“I asked them to make a zither for me,” Zhao Xieren had walked up and took a seat next to Qian Yu.
“What were you guys talking about?” Zhao Xieren curiously asked.
“We were just chatting about a few random topics, it was nothing too serious right Qian Yu?” Miss Zhao looked at Qian Yu.
“Ahem, yes. Don’t worry about it Zhao Xieren,” Qian Yu played along.
“Anyways, Miss Zhao, I’m sure you know a bit about why we are here,” Qian Yu said.
“Yes, I have already received the information from my daughter. This is not my first time seeing this, however, it does not actually need a purification martial technique. The poison of a spiritual beast is one of the weakest forms of corrosion since it does not use qi or affect the soul world,” Miss Zhao started.
“I see,” Qian Yu nodded his head. Indeed, if it was similar to the Yin arrow attack on Sun Hong, Qian Yu could “purify” on his own using Lightning Spasm. It would take a long time but it was no problem. While the real poison of a spiritual beast was weaker normally, Qian Yu couldn’t purify it with Lightning Spasm since it was more physical.
“Instead, a purification formation could be used to extract the impurities and poison from the body. These are records from the royal archive and there is one type of formation that was developed by them in the past,” Miss Zhao brought out a few scrolls and opened them across the table.
“Personally, I have never used this formation on poison from such a high staged spiritual beast but it should work. There are two important materials that this formation needs,” Miss Zhao handed Qian Yu a small list.
“Cold Dew Bamboo and Purifying White Flower,” Qian Yu realized he indeed had never heard of them.
“Both of these can be found in the continent. However, the Purifying White Flower is very rare and almost impossible to find normally. Fortunately, there are people who specifically grow it. It costs about 150 spirit stones each,” Miss Zhao said.
“150 spirit stones… I’ll take it. If you could order it on my behalf, I would appreciate that,” Qian Yu wasn’t too shocked. Rare herbs and plants had even reached a selling price of 100 spirit stones previously when he was attending the auction in the Soba Capital. Fortunately, he had enough spirit stones.
“I-I see, I will do that then,” Miss Zhao said, a little surprised Qian Yu could pay for that on his own. She had previously intended to buy it for Qian Yu but it looked like it was not needed.
“Thank you,” Qian Yu said as he took out the 150 spirit stones and pushed them over to Miss Zhao.
“Anyways, the formation is on one of the scrolls, you should look over them later and let me know if you have any questions,” Miss Zhao said.
“My lady, the food is ready to be served,” a servant had appeared.
“Alright, let us have dinner then,” Miss Zhao waved her hands at the servants to bring the food.
The next morning, Qian Yu and Zhao Xieren and left to find the Cold Dew Bamboo. Unfortunately, there were not going to be any auctions anytime soon and as such, they had no choice but to find it on their own.
After a day of travelling west, they had arrived at the Eastern Xia Swamp, a common training area among cultivators. Like always, the deeper one goes in, the stronger the spiritual beasts living there are.
“The Cold Dew Bamboo is in the area where uncommon spiritual grade beasts are frequently found,” Zhao Xieren said.
“Hmm, it might be a little hard to venture through the swamp...,” Qian Yu said. Apparently, this swamp had a very high density of spiritual beasts and as such, most of the cultivators here were in larger groups.
“But, we aren’t alone...” Qian Yu turned around to look behind him. A dozen or so soldiers stood behind them. As for their strengths, they were all in the soul foundation, ranging from the early to late stage. Of course, they were also a lot older than Qian Yu and Zhao Xieren.
“Hehe, my mom is overprotective…” Zhao Xieren coughed embarrassingly.
“At least, we’ll get it faster,” Qian Yu shrugged, a little disappointed since he had wanted to spend some more time alone with Zhao Xieren.
The swamp was muddy without a doubt. Trudging along the dirty swamp snow wasn’t an enjoyable task and the addition of cutting down almost every skinny, shriveled tree to advance forward only made it more tiresome. Fortunately, the swamp itself wasn't too deep, only sinking Qian Yu’s boots a few inches deep into the combination of the brown dirt and snow.
*Swish!* Qian Yu had just cut down a few trees and stepped forward. A clearing had appeared without any trees, similar to marsh.
“What!” Qian Yu almost fell over as he poked the ground a few feet in front of him. Expecting it to only be a few inches deep, it had instead sunk more than a foot deep causing him to lose his balance.
“Get ready for attack!” Suddenly, one of the soldiers shouted.
Qian Yu pulled himself up before looking forward.
*Whoosh!* Something was rapidly approaching them from under the muddy swamp water. Further away, there were many bumps getting closer as well.
“RAWR!” The object jumped out of the swamp. It had a long snout and opening its mouth, a wide array of teeth could be seen. Under the dirty swamp water covering its body, was a shiny layer of white and rigid skin.
“It’s an Ice Crocodile! They are at the uncommon grade!” Someone yelled out.
*Swoosh swoosh* As the beast jumped forward in an attempt to gnash someone under its jaw, spears of ice were sent forward, impaling the spiritual beast in numerous areas.
Turning his head to the soldiers, Qian Yu saw that three of them had summoned forth the familiar Spears of Ice. Likely, they were recruited after they left the Ice Arts Sect.
Yet in a breath of time, the other bumpy objects moving through the swamp had closed in on them. A herd of crocodiles appeared as they surfaced from underneath.
“There’s at least 50 of them,” Qian Yu yelled out as he felt the scary gazes of the crocodiles. With the advantage in numbers, the crocodiles would have no doubt it was a free meal.
As Qian Yu was wondering what to do, Zhao Xieren had shouted out.
Her voice full of confidence, she started handing out orders, “Fire Sword soldiers! Attack from afar with Flaming Slash! Ice Arts soldiers! Don’t let them all charge together. Focus on zoning with Frozen Wall. For those who get through, Mountain Crushing soldiers will deal with them however needed!”
"Yes, Young Miss!" The soldiers didn’t bat an eyelid as they heard her. Getting into positions with those from the Mountain Crushing Sect at the front, Fire Sword Sect on the sides, and Ice Arts Sects in the back, the small troop got to work.
Seeing Zhao Xieren order the dozen or so soldiers, Qian Yu stopped in place, admiring the sight. It was nostalgic seeing this, just like what she had done in the past.
Of course, Qian Yu returned from his memories quickly, not daring to risk a moment of weakness.
“Pow!” A crocodile that managed to get through was punched by 3 pairs of fist, sending them flying back past the walls of ice.
It was like a grinding machine. The soldiers previously from the Fire Sword Sect would provoke the crocodiles from afar. Enraged, the crocodiles would do their best getting through the small chokepoints between the walls of ice before getting ganged up on by the close combat Mountain Crushing soldiers.
However, the grinder wasn’t large enough. With too much stuff coming in, it wouldn’t work properly. An accident was bound to happen.
*Swish!* *Pow!* Qian Yu and Zhao Xieren had teamed up, taking care of one of the choke points from the walls of ice. With Lightning Spasm, which was stronger than whatever the Mountain Crushing soldiers were using, along with Wandering Blades, the two had no trouble dealing with the crocodiles.
“AHH! Fuck! My arm!” However, only about a third of the crocodiles had been killed when a shout was heard.
Qian Yu turned his head at the shout, seeing that one of the crocodiles had managed to bite into the arm of the Mountain Crushing soldier before it was killed off.
“Tch. You five from the Fire Sword Sect! Switch off of the ranged attacks and help defend instead!” Zhao Xieren had immediately switched her plan from killing all the crocodiles to sustaining the defense. Seeing so many of their crocodile breathen dying, they were probably enraged already and any more provoking would have been meaningless.
“I’ll go provide first aid,” Qian Yu ran off as he saw the soldiers reposition.
Running over to the injured soldier, Qian Yu threw a random recovery pill into his mouth and carefully carried him towards an area with more solid groundwork.
His face was pale and sweaty as he clenched his teeth. Grabbing a few branches, Qian Yu hurriedly created a fire as he started boiling some water.
The wound wasn’t severe. While the crocodile had bit his arm, it was only for a fraction of a second. Nonetheless, there was a large tear in his skin.
“It’ll hurt a little,” Qian Yu gave the soldier something to bite on as he got out a clean piece of cloth. Dipping it in the boiled water, Qian Yu cleaned the bloody wound before applying some healing remedies on it. Lastly, he got out a bandage as he wrapped it around the soldier.
“T-thank you,” the soldier was visibly exhausted as Qian Yu finished up.
“Alright, don’t move your arm, just rest against the rock for now,” Qian Yu said. Turning around, he was about to return and help out but the fighting had stopped.
“The crocodiles ran away seeing that it wasn’t working,” Zhao Xieren had walked up to Qian Yu.
Seeing the soldier on the ground was fine, Zhao Xieren announced, “That’ll be all for today. It’s getting late.”
As she turned back, she met a strong but warm gaze from Qian Yu, “Ahem, is something wrong?”
Qian Yu smiled as he found a nearby place to sit down, “No, it’s just seeing you command the soldiers earlier. It reminded me of when we first met and you were leading the group of outer court disciples.”
“You…” Zhao Xieren sat down next to him before muttering, “Time truly flies.”
Quietly, the two reminisced on their memories under the night sky.