The deafening explosions echoed in Lin Feng's ears, and he could feel the ground trembling faintly beneath him. Yet, he dared not open his eyes to investigate. He was at the most critical juncture of his healing process.
He had never imagined that the venom of a mere Tier One poison beast could be so stubbornly entrenched within his system. The toxins seemed to have fused with his very blood, resisting expulsion with maddening tenacity. Ultimately, it boiled down to his cultivation level. If only I had reached the Golden Core stage, he thought grimly. With divine sense, purging this venom would be effortless.
His physical injuries were healed, and his depleted true energy restored. Only the venom remained, a virulent shadow coiled deep within. With immense effort, he had finally gathered every trace of the toxin into a single, concentrated mass.
Expelling it completely, however, was proving agonizingly difficult. The unnatural commotion around him fueled his desperation. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. Gritting his teeth, he guided the Magma Flame within his core towards the pulsating knot of venom.
Ssssssszzzzzz…
A sound disturbingly akin to sizzling flesh echoed internally. Excruciating pain, sharp as a blade thrust straight into his heart, washed over him, nearly forcing him into unconsciousness.
PFFT!!
His body convulsed violently. Lin Feng lurched forward, expelling a mouthful of foul, charcoal-black blood that splattered onto the ground. His eyes snapped open. Though pain still etched lines onto his face, triumph flickered in his gaze.
Success! The venom is cleansed!
Ignoring the lingering agony from the forceful purge, Lin Feng whipped his head towards the source of the continuing explosions. What he saw froze him in utter disbelief.
His vision was filled with a grotesque landscape: mountains of beast carcasses, the ground pockmarked with craters and debris. Amidst the chaos, a swarm of poison beasts scrambled in frenzy. And at the center of it all stood Xiao Qiu, remarkably poised beside a scattered pile of Spirit Stones. The tiny creature was hurling the stones like miniature grenades! Each stone erupted with devastating force upon impact, vaporizing clusters of beasts instantly. Those explosions… they were coming from Xiao Qiu throwing Spirit Stones?!
"Wh-What in heavens…?!" Lin Feng stammered, his mind struggling to process the surreal scene.
"Xiaojing…" Instinctively, he turned to seek Chang Gong Xiaojing, needing answers. His movement halted abruptly as his gaze fell upon her lying unconscious beside him. His face drained of color.
"Xiaojing!!!" Panic seized him. He gently gathered her into his arms, cradling her upper body. Her face was deathly pale, eyes tightly shut, features twisted in silent agony. Most horrifying was her left arm, stained a terrifying obsidian black.
The realization struck him like a physical blow. She was bitten too. The venom is inside her! His eyes swept over the slender sword discarded nearby, the hexagonal jade talisman, and the ring of slaughtered beasts surrounding them. The grim sequence of events pieced itself together in his mind instantly.
She fought them off… protecting me while I healed. She pushed herself to utter exhaustion… and was bitten… collapsing here…
A dagger of guilt and fear twisted in his heart. Frantically, he clasped her poisoned left hand, channeling a steady stream of his true energy into her meridians. With his other hand, he retrieved and gently placed an Antidote Pill and an Energy Restoration Pill onto her tongue. Carefully, he tilted a small porcelain vial, letting a trickle of Spirit Spring Water flow into her mouth.
Only after administering the remedies did he dare to assess her condition. A faint, almost imperceptible easing of the pallor on her face allowed a sliver of relief to penetrate his dread.
"SQUEEEK!!!!"
Xiao Qiu's terrified shriek ripped Lin Feng's attention back to the front. He looked up to see the little creature struggling. Xiao Qiu had lifted another Spirit Stone high, ready to throw, but its strength utterly failed. It collapsed onto its rump, the stone rolling uselessly away. It trembled, too weak to even move.
It's exhausted… it can't fight anymore.
SCREECH!!!
The momentary lull was all the beasts needed. With renewed frenzy, a swarm surged forward, shrieking. Though Xiao Qiu's bombardment had decimated their numbers, hundreds still remained.
A cold, murderous fury ignited within Lin Feng. It roared through his veins like a tidal wave. His right hand snapped upwards and forward.
WHOOSH… KABOOM!!!!
A sphere of deep crimson fire shot from his palm, streaking over Xiao Qiu's head. It detonated mid-air directly in front of the charging beasts, exploding outwards into a vast, net-like veil of searing flames several meters wide.
Instantaneous silence. The dozen beasts leading the charge vanished into clouds of ash before they could even finish their screams. The unleashed flames refused to die. Instead, they swelled exponentially, surging forward like an infernal tsunami, engulfing the next wave of beasts in a blazing embrace.
The fire spread with terrifying hunger and precision. Beasts ignited like dry tinder, crumbling swiftly into charred remnants. Those at the rear shrieked in terror, scrambling to flee. Yet the flames seemed possessed of a malevolent sentience. They snaked out horizontally, cutting off escape routes, even flaring impossibly across the surface of the river water itself, forming a perfect, inescapable ring of fire around the entire remaining horde.
Lin Feng's expression was glacial steel. His outstretched hand slowly clenched into a fist. As his fingers curled, the fiery ring began to tighten steadily around the trapped beasts.
A cacophony of agonized shrieks erupted, mingling with the grotesque sizzle and pop of cooking flesh and an unsettling, sickly-sweet smell.
Finally, his fist clenched completely shut. The ring of fire collapsed inward, coalescing into a single, churning mass of crimson flame. After several seconds of furious combustion, it shrank rapidly back into its original, small, dark red sphere and flew back into Lin Feng's waiting palm.
Where the horde had stood, only a vast expanse of scorched, blackened earth remained. Not a single beast, not even a bone fragment. Just drifting ash.
"SQUEEE!"
Xiao Qiu, finally snapping out of its daze, bounded over with a joyful cry. Seeing Lin Feng dispatch the entire horde in moments had seemingly revitalized it slightly. It scrambled up beside him, large eyes shimmering with unshed tears, radiating a mix of profound relief and overwhelming happiness.
"Xiao Qiu… thank you. You've endured so much…" Lin Feng murmured, gently stroking the little creature's head. A thousand questions burned within him about Xiao Qiu's explosive feat with the Spirit Stones, but this wasn't the time. His focus snapped back to the unconscious woman in his arms, his expression tightening with renewed anxiety.
Xiao Qiu, perhaps intending to nuzzle or seek praise, immediately stilled when it saw Chang Gong Xiaojing's condition. It settled quietly beside Lin Feng, its small frame tense, watching them both with wide, worried eyes.
Lin Feng maintained an unwavering grip on Xiaojing's poisoned hand, his true energy flowing into her like a life-giving river. With his other hand, he tenderly brushed damp strands of hair from her pale, sweat-beaded forehead. Seeing her so vulnerable, so damaged because of him, a fresh wave of bitter self-reproach crashed over him. Useless… Healing took too long… Left her to bear this burden…
Xiaojing's condition was critical. Her cultivation was weaker than his own. While he had immediately begun purging the venom after being bitten, she had collapsed unconscious almost instantly. Worse, her true energy had been utterly depleted, offering zero resistance as the virulent toxins invaded unchecked, ravaging her system. Had I awakened moments later… The chilling thought remained unspoken.
Fortunately, Lin Feng had just wrestled this same venom. His true energy, now coursing through her pathways alongside the potent Antidote Pill, Restoration Pill, and Spirit Spring Water, began a fierce counter-offensive. Gradually, Xiaojing's own dormant life force stirred, her depleted true energy starting to circulate feebly, adding its own defenses against the invading poison.
Yet progress was agonizingly slow, the improvement barely visible. Lin Feng hesitated, conflict warring on his face. Then, determination hardening his features, he made a decision. Focusing intently, he carefully isolated and guided a sliver of his Otherworldly Flame – the Magma Flame – blending it subtly with the stream of true energy flowing into Xiaojing's body.
"Ungh!!!"
An immediate, sharp gasp of pain escaped Xiaojing's lips. Her body tensed, sweat beading profusely on her brow as fresh agony contorted her features.
Lin Feng's heart clenched painfully. Watching her suffer was torture, but he knew this extreme measure was necessary to force the venom out quickly. He hardened his resolve and maintained the flow. Gradually, the skin exposed on Xiaojing's neck and face began to flush a deep pink. Her body temperature rose noticeably. Along her poisoned left arm, beads of sweat welling from her pores turned inky black, carrying with them a distinct, sickeningly metallic tang.
Seeing this, Lin Feng's eyes lit up with cautious hope. This was the venom being forcibly expelled! He intensified his focus, meticulously guiding his energy, helping Xiaojing's system push the last remnants of the toxin towards the surface.
Beads of sweat rolled down Lin Feng's own temples from the intense concentration. Suddenly, the woman in his arms stirred.
"Mmmph…"
A soft, barely audible murmur escaped Chang Gong Xiaojing's lips. Slowly, her eyelashes fluttered, trembling like fragile butterfly wings. Then, they lifted, revealing dazed, unfocused eyes that gradually cleared as they met Lin Feng's gaze hovering anxiously above her…