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102 - A Bittersweet Victory
🕑 Added 2024-10-16 22:42:56 +0000 UTCZou Lan hovered over the battlefield, her feet softly resting on her sword. She watched the outsiders' troops slowly recede into the distance, out of sight. Only the sound of rustling sand remained as it fell to the ground from the flickering formation.
All others were still crushed under the pressure her blade emitted, unable to make a sound. Her might was indiscriminate, assaulting every living being within her domain's range equally. Only then did the slaughter finally stop, and the city could recover a semblance of peace, if only through forceful methods.
After she made sure they were gone for good, she let out a long, slow breath, yet it soon turned into a sharp wind that fell downward, coating the city in its presence. It flowed through every street and home, slaughtering every foreign entity found within, all the while ignoring the residents and the wounded that now littered the ground. In less than a single breath, the city was filled with the stench of blood but was soon carried away by the same wind, leaving only the gruesome evidence of his existence behind.
“Sect Leader!” Yao Ruolan yelled as the lady finally landed next to her.
She held within her arms the immobile body of her master. While a breath remained, his body was cold and pale. Countless lacerations could be found on his skin, and blood soaked his clothes completely. There were also traces of a black substance spewing from the wounds.
Without offering any input, Zou Lan waved her hand, prompting a wave of qi to gently push the surrounding spectators away. Most were the disciples of the Moonlight Sword Palace who had survived the battlefield, but some of the rogue cultivators had joined them along the way. They all wore expressions of uneasiness and sadness at the sight of Xu Weizhe's mangled body, but some also showed a deep respect for the wounded man. They knew full well that they wouldn't be alive to tell the tale without him.
Through a slight gesture of her fingers, a wave of qi sprung forth, picking the man’s body off the ground, only for Zou Lan to frown deeply as a puddle of blood soaked the desert sand, and even more fell from the wound. Even for a cultivator, this was a deadly amount.
"Did he take our sect's emergency pill?" she asked as she examined the wounds, using her domain to staunch the bleeding, but to little effect. No matter how much pressure she applied, blood still flowed from the open gashes, but now it had turned from bright red to almost black.
“I did as soon as I could.” Yao Ruolan replied, fighting through the tears. “The first did almost nothing, so I gave him a second one, but the result was the same. I didn’t dare try a third...”
This only made Zou Lan frown further. Their emergency pills empowered the flesh with countless amounts of qi, allowing the body to use it to restore itself. Using too many could lead to Qi Deviation if it exceeded the amount the flesh could bear.
However, she could only barely perceive the existence of qi within Xu Weizhe’s body. Either the pills were defective, or something was absorbing all the qi that the pills fed to him. The black substance seemed to be the most suspicious.
She reached into her clothes and uncovered a small jade bottle. She opened it, only for two pure white pills to come flying out, hovering slightly in the air before she used her fingers to swiftly throw them into Xu Weizhe's now open mouth. They dissolved as soon as they made contact with his tongue, becoming a mass of qi quickly absorbed by his flesh.
"High-Grade Profound Rank pills?" one of the disciples proficient in the art of alchemy exclaimed, his eyes growing wide at the sight of those pills. "Judging by their glow, they might have reached the Earth Rank if the refiner was slightly more skilful! Such a treasure!"
He couldn't help but show an expression of longing for those pills, but he also showed some pity for their uses, only for his expression to be caught by one of his fellow disciples.
"What's the use of a pill if it isn't used when needed, or would you rather Elder Xu perish of his wounds?" the man sneered, prompting the other man into silence. His expression became one of deep regret; he couldn't help but apologize to Yao Ruolan for his callousness, but she paid him no attention. Her gaze was fixed on her master as she watched their sect leader supervise the healing process.
Zou Lan was fully focused on the task, filtering out all unnecessary stimuli as she carefully prodded Xu Weizhe's body and directed the flow of qi with her own domain. She even used its sharpness to perform some rudimentary acupuncture. As this wasn't her specialty, the process was laborious and draining. She also had to ingest one of those pills herself, if only to sustain the qi demands.
Over half an hour passed.
While it was slow and agonizing for Zou Lan and Yao Ruolan, the spectators felt time fly by as they marvelled at what they were shown. Not every day could they witness a Soul Formation cultivator's masterful control of qi, but also their domain. Some even chose to sit down and meditate on the new insights they gained, ignoring the city's wretched state and the countless corpses surrounding them.
After what seemed like an eternity, Zou Lan finally let out a deep breath, as did Xu Weizhe's unconscious body. While hers was merely due to exhaustion, his was a deep black, made of countless droplets of dark liquid before condensing into a small sphere using her domain. What remained of the dark fog became a small pill that Zou Lan intensely scrutinized in silence.
"Is Master going to be alright?" Yao Ruolan asked as she sought to approach her sect leader, only to be held back by He Zihao, who had just regained consciousness. She bit her lips and held her tongue, giving the woman space to do what she should. Still, the wait felt like an eternity.
“He will,” she finally replied, yet her expression showed no glee at his survival. In fact, gloom was all that Yao Ruolan saw. Still, she didn’t press her for more, only waiting for her sect leader to speak of it on her own.
“I purged the poison, but the damage has already been done," she finally added, now showing a look of sadness. "His cultivation base is now unstable. Whether or not he can recover from this is still up in the air. Fortunately, his life is no longer in danger. He'll have to recover for a long time, and nothing is certain. Still, the sect won't forget his sacrifice and will do anything we can to help him recover."
Her surroundings grew silent as everyone was taken aback by what they heard. Most looked surprised, and others were sad. Only Yao Ruolan knelt on the ground, the news sapping her strength. She gritted her teeth and clenched her hand, refusing to believe this was her master's end as a cultivator.
“Is there nothing I can do?” she finally managed to say, tears welling at the corner of her eyes, only for Zou Lan to press her hand onto her shoulder, using her domain to restrain and calm her down. Only after a brief moment did she finally relent and close her eyes, the tears gliding on her cheeks until they fell on the dry sand, only to disappear.
"For now, take him back to the compound, and let him rest," Zou Lan said as she placed Xu Weizhe's unconscious body back on the ground, only to then address the rest of her sect's disciples, but also those that were witness to the events that had transpired.
"We have won this battle, and I am proud of you for fighting until the end, defending the city from the outsiders' threat. However, they may have retreated this time, but it only heralds the beginning of our struggles. The city is in shambles, and our forces grow thin. Even the formation wasn't sparred. Even now, it threatens to collapse."
She pointed upwards, only for all those present to raise their heads to gaze at the sky. A shimmering blue dome covered the city, but it seemed far from stable. In fact, countless holes appeared and then vanished, only for the boundary to blur despite no strain being applied to the barrier. The qi contained within fluctuated wildly, from bursting apart at the seam to almost non-existent. It was a wonder it still remained active in its current condition.
"There's no telling when they will come next, but we won't be ready for them when they do. Still, there's no need to blame yourselves. You did all that was expected of you and even more. The reason for all this lies elsewhere, and I don't intend for your sacrifices to go unavenged. This threat isn't ours alone to bear. If others wish to bury their head in the sand, thinking only of their own profits, then I say let them bear the consequences. Our sect washes ourselves of this matter."
All those who heard her speech were left speechless, unable to utter any response. Still, in their hearts, they, too, felt the same. They had lost much and gained almost nothing, bearing the brunt of the suffering while others hid in the back, reaping the rewards of their struggle. In fact, the longer they thought about this, the more they approved of Zou Lan's decision. As for the consequences, why should they be the ones to care?
“Go home. Once he is stable enough to travel, return to the sect," she added, looking at He Zihao, who was comforting Yao Ruolan despite his own injuries. She couldn't help but close her eyes, only to repress her fury at that moment.
“What about you?” He Zihao asked, clearly seeing the resolve in his sect leader’s eyes. He suddenly had a bad feeling about this.
“I still have unfinished business here,” she added, her gaze looking at the compound of the three other sects with a glint in her eyes. Somehow, her gaze was also pointed downwards.
******
Even as the battle concluded, Qin Yun still had a mess on his hands. The formation remained a wild horse, siphoning the power dwelling within the earth with no end in sight. If not for him using his own body as a valve to regulate the power, it would have burst a long time ago, razing everything within a radius of a few hundred kilometres. Everything would have vanished without a trace, returning to the desolate desert.
Qin Yun's state was wretched as well. The intense power of the dragon vein had all but evaporated his clothes. While the blue flame he currently stood in wasn't a flame but a manifestation of the energy swirling around him, it acted similar to one, burning everything it came into contact with.
The only reason he remained fine was due to the baptism he had endured as tribulation collided with him, forging his body further. He was now on the cusp of his body becoming a high-grade common rank artifact.
While this didn't sound impressive, considering that common rank artifacts could be literally found anywhere, it also meant that his flesh had become invulnerable to anything below it. By refining it further, there was a chance his body could become undying, solving one of the problems that had always plagued him. Needless to say, it would prove unfathomably difficult for him to reach such a level.
It was then that Qin Yun heard footsteps in the distance. Although the sound was quickly closing on him, the pace didn't seem rushed but steady and purposeful.
With his back to the entrance, Qin Yun patiently waited for the new arrival, and only when the sound died a few metres away from him did he turn around to address the newcomer.
“You're finally here," Qin Yun said calmly as he gazed at Zou Lan. Wisps of swirling energies crashed around the room but couldn't breach the edge of her domain. "Ever since I witnessed your avatar, I've been dying to meet you."
