Chapter 175: Chapter 173: Thunder Sound Shaking the Body

’From now on, I have to carry more Healing Spirit Pills whenever I go out, just in case.’

Bai Zichen had plenty of Cultivation Elixirs.

But he didn’t have a single Spirit Pill capable of regenerating flesh and bone to heal his injuries.

’I still lack experience from not having traveled outside much.’

Those few sword wounds were only flesh deep. They looked horrifying—a mangled mess of flesh and blood with bone showing—but he had already stopped the bleeding by circulating his Magical Power.

As long as he took a couple of Hundred Herbs Life Pills, he could make a full recovery in a month or two.

The few Water Bombs that had hit him at close range had corrosive properties, and their effects lingered endlessly.

The wounds they created not only showed no signs of healing but were even beginning to fester and spread.

’I wonder what kind of Water Element Divine Thunder this is. It’s not that deadly, but it’s incredibly insidious... The lingering trace of power actually keeps absorbing Magical Power, making the wounds worse.’

Bai Zichen leaned against the stone wall, beads of sweat the size of beans rolling down his forehead. There wasn’t a single spot on his body that didn’t ache.

The slightest movement sent a heart-piercing pain through him.

The Water Bomb wounds needed to be flushed with a Supreme Yang and Firm Magical Power to wash away the residual energy before they could even begin to heal.

The Fire Dragon Returning Essence Scripture he practiced would normally have just barely met this requirement.

But with half of his Essence Blood drained, the strength of his Liquid Magical Power was no longer sufficient.

He could only crudely bandage the wounds and avoid those areas when circulating his Magical Power.

This was to prevent his Magical Power from becoming nourishment that would instead strengthen the residual energy of the Water Bombs.

’The real problem is this sword wound...’

Bai Zichen pressed the sword wound on his chest, a look of alarm flashing across his face.

While under the effects of the Glazed Fire Divine Body, he had felt no pain at all, trading injury for injury in a ferocious, life-risking fighting style.

Once its duration ended, these injuries could very well have claimed his life.

Take this wound, for instance. If the Flying Sword had gone an inch deeper, it would have pierced his internal organs.

Even if he had survived at that moment thanks to the infinite vitality provided by the Glazed Fire Divine Body, once the time was up and he reverted to his mortal form, he would have very likely perished. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

’If I ever have to unleash the Glazed Body again, I must be careful not to get too carried away... After all, it’s just a borrowed Realm, not the true strength of my own physical body.’

Bai Zichen silently warned himself, but it wasn’t as if he would frequently encounter life-or-death Combat with such an exaggerated disparity in level.

If he had enough time to cultivate the fourth level of the Five Crystal Glaze Body, he could maintain the Glazed Fire Divine Body as his normal state.

This battle also gave him a preview of the terrifying power of the Five Crystal Glaze Body once cultivated to the fourth level.

It was no wonder the founding Ancestor of the Qingfeng Sect had been able to dominate the Core Formation Realm and even escape from a Nascent Soul True Monarch with his life by relying on it.

The sword wound on his chest was from an all-out strike where the Black-Faced Cultivator had burned nearly half of his Liquid Magical Power.

The attack had not only been concealed and as fast as a thunderbolt, but it also carried a vast and unrestrained Sword Qi.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been enough to riddle a Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Body Cultivator with holes, piercing even a Top-Grade Defensive Spiritual Artifact.

One had to understand that for a cultivator practicing the Dragon Transformation Techniques, half of their Magical Power was equivalent to the entirety of a normal cultivator’s.

This strike was equivalent to a Life-Sacrificing Sword strike from a Perfect Foundation Establishment Cultivator who practiced an ordinary Cultivation Technique and burned all of their Liquid Magical Power.

The residual Sword Qi was like a small snake, desperately trying to bore into his internal organs.

Normally, he could have gathered all his Magical Power to suppress the Sword Qi, then slowly worn it down and refined it away.

But right now, he was completely exhausted and his Essence Blood was depleted; he would be lucky to use even ten percent of his full strength.

He could no longer suppress the Sword Qi and it had rushed into his body, on the verge of wreaking havoc within.

His internal organs were fragile. Once the Sword Qi began to run rampant, it would surely lead to devastating consequences.

A ruthless glint flashed in Bai Zichen’s eyes. He decided to risk damaging his very foundation to activate his Magical Power and completely eliminate this trace of Sword Qi.

At worst, he would have to find a Tier Three restorative Spirit Pill later and spend several years making up for the damage to his foundation.

Just as he was about to act, the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword Embryo, which had been dormant in his Dantian Qi Sea, stirred.

It seemed to have been stimulated by the strand of Sword Qi that had invaded his body, and it turned over in the Qi Sea Spiritual Liquid.

RUMBLE!

A clap of thunder exploded, supreme and ultimate yang, magnificent and immense.

It echoed in Bai Zichen’s ears and his Sea of Consciousness, miraculously confined to his immediate vicinity without a single sound escaping outwards.

The strand of Sword Qi was instantly shattered by the sound of the thunder, unable to resist in the slightest. It was a complete suppression in terms of Tier.

It was as if it had never existed, as if the bone-chilling cold of the Sword Qi that had previously pierced his heart was merely an illusion.

It wasn’t just the residual Sword Qi; the insidious, lingering Water Element Divine Thunder Power, which clung to him like a festering sore, was also dispersed by the thunder’s roar.

But after letting out this thunderous roar, the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword Embryo seemed to have exhausted all the Spiritual Power it had recovered over the past few years and fell into a deep slumber once more.

He had a feeling that the time needed to nurture the Sword Embryo would now be extended by several decades because of this.

’The Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword Embryo hasn’t had it easy since it came to me. I’ve really done this once top-tier Flying Sword a disservice.’

’At least the hidden danger is gone, and my injuries won’t get any worse...’

Bai Zichen thought for a moment and took out a Vermilion Fruit Purifying Heart Pill.

After acquiring the Thousand-Year-Old Ice Jade, he no longer needed to take Elixirs for the Refinement of the Fire Poison produced during Cultivation, so he had several of these pills left over from his initial purchase.

’The Vermilion Fruit itself has the effect of replenishing vitality and is the main ingredient in several types of Tier Two Healing Elixirs... Although the Vermilion Fruit Purifying Heart Pill is more for Heart Purifying Fire Removing, it should retain a trace of healing properties. It’s better than nothing.’

He swallowed one, and after its Refinement, the medicinal power coursed through his body, indeed carrying a faint, burgeoning vitality.

The ghastly, horrifying wounds began to scab over quickly, developing in a positive direction.

After taking three Vermilion Fruit Purifying Heart Pills in succession and meditating in the Snake Cave for more than ten days, some color finally returned to his face.

Bai Zichen got up, found a clean Daoist Robe in his storage bag, and changed out of his tattered, blood-soaked clothes.

He stretched his limbs slightly and found that the feeling of exhaustion was still severe; he was gasping for breath after just a few steps.

’As long as I don’t fight anyone, walking normally shouldn’t be a problem... The Spiritual Qi here is too poor, and I don’t have any proper Healing Elixirs or Spiritual Cuisine to replenish my qi and blood. If I stay here, I won’t recover even in two or three years.’

Bai Zichen let the taut string in his heart relax slightly. No cultivators had appeared nearby after so long, which meant either the Black-Faced Cultivator he had killed had no companions with him in the Immortal City, or his companions had no specific means of tracking people and gave up on finding the killer, figuring it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

At least for the time being, he had escaped this unknown power that held a life-and-death grudge against the Fish Dragon Sect.

With a flip of his wrist, two Flying Swords and a blue storage bag appeared in his hand.

One was the Celestial Xin Sword, and the other was a peculiar Flying Sword that could conceal its Sword Light, though its Spirituality had been damaged when he struck it with his palm.

It would probably need extensive repairs before it could be used again.

The blue storage bag was smooth to the touch, clearly different from the one he used. It was embroidered with coiling Hornless Dragons.

He tried to probe it with his Divine Sense, but was quickly repelled. It was layered with Forbidden restrictions, sealed tight as a drum.

"A Top-Grade Storage Bag!"

Bai Zichen exclaimed with a touch of joy. As expected of a Foundation Establishment Perfection Great Cultivator, even the grade of his storage bag was higher.

No wonder he only had one storage bag on him; it turned out to be Top Grade.

It could hold anything and everything.

However, the Black-Faced Cultivator’s Cultivation Realm far surpassed his own, so breaking into this Top-Grade Storage Bag was not something he could do in a short amount of time.

A cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Perfect Realm held a noble status.

In a Core Formation Level power, they would be comparable to Wei Dao—the most important figure below the Core Formation Ancestor. They could take their pick of all the Sect’s treasures and would carry the entire Sect’s hopes for them to reach Core Formation.

In a Nascent Soul Level power, they would be a Core Disciple, the most direct of direct heirs, just like the Du Family’s Twelfth Son.

Therefore, Bai Zichen wasn’t worried that the personal belongings of such a figure would have tracking marks left by other cultivators.

He only feared that the other party might possess items like a Soul Lamp or a Life Token, which could reveal the identity of the Black-Faced Cultivator’s killer.

The Qingfeng Sect’s Soul Lamp worked just like that. If a Sect Elder or a True Disciple fell in the outside world, the Sect would know immediately.

At the same time, through a Secret Technique, an unnoticeable and extremely hard-to-remove mark would be left on the killer just before the victim’s death.

If someone bearing the mark appeared within a hundred miles of the Soul Lamp, the lamp would flare up and point in their direction.

Since the Qingfeng Sect had such methods, sects of a similar level would surely have one or two similar Secret Techniques hidden away.

However, Soul Lamps and Life Tokens were usually kept in places like the Sect’s Ancestor Hall or a Clan Ancestral Hall. The probability of someone carrying one around was extremely low.

’Besides, the thunderous roar from the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword Embryo just now might have shattered any mark on me... But as long as I use the Sound Bamboo Sword and the Celestial Xin Sword, there’s still a chance of being exposed.’

Both of these Flying Swords were made using the Sword Refining Secret Method that the Bai Family’s Ancestor took from the Fish Dragon Sect back then.

Bai Zichen had long suspected how a mere Inner Sect Disciple like his Ancestor could possess such a Secret Technique and pass down so many Treasures to the Bai Family that were clearly beyond his status.

Now, combining this with the Black-Faced Cultivator’s words, a few guesses formed in his mind.

’Could it be that the Fish Dragon Sect suffered a great calamity back then, and my Ancestor took advantage of the chaos to abscond with these valuables and flee to Black Mountain?’

’Or perhaps, when the Fish Dragon Sect’s survival was at stake, an Elder had loyal disciples flee in all directions with parts of the sect’s legacy to preserve its teachings, hoping for a day when it could re-emerge from the shadows and be re-established?’

Unless the Bai Family’s Ancestor was resurrected, the true answer would never be known.

Bai Zichen placed the two Flying Swords into his own storage bag and tucked the Dragon Pattern Top-Grade Storage Bag inside his robes, lest it be noticed if he wore it at his waist.

He put away the Array Banners, burned the bloody clothes, and destroyed all traces of him having healed there.

Then, he summoned the Colorful Cloud Robe and flew into the sky, heading toward the Righteous Alliance.

’It’s too risky to return to the Sect in this condition. If I ran into even a couple of Early-Stage Foundation Establishment Tribulation Cultivators, I would probably die full of regret... It’s better to find a safe place and recuperate first.’

Bai Zichen checked his condition; he definitely couldn’t activate the Taiyin Star Escape Talisman in his current state.

Without this Tier Three Escape Talisman, he had far too few trump cards left to play.

His Five Crystal Glaze Body had dropped back to the first level, and in his state of complete exhaustion and Qi Blood Deficiency, he couldn’t possibly fully control his Flying Swords.

Not to mention his body was covered in wounds that could split open again with any major movement, causing blood to gush out.

His current condition was probably comparable to a cultivator who had just successfully reached Foundation Establishment.

In a prolonged fight, he might not even be their match.

The Righteous Alliance was one of the major powers in the Liang Country’s Cultivation Realm, with the Righteous Sect at its core. With four Core Formation Level Sects looking to it for leadership, it had become the standard-bearer for the Righteous Dao sects.

During the great war between the Righteous and Demonic Dao that had previously swept through more than half of Liang Country, the Righteous Dao’s side was led by the Righteous Alliance.

Since it billed itself as a Righteous Dao Sect, the general atmosphere within the Righteous Alliance’s territory was relatively peaceful and positive, similar to Black Mountain County.

That was why a large number of Loose Cultivators had stood with the Righteous Alliance during the war between the Righteous and Demonic Dao.

When it came down to it, people would vote with their feet for where they could live with more dignity and security.