For the next two moths Leo practiced to discharge Qi through the extremities in different amounts, basically learning a way to survive, at least for now. The more he practiced and the more he observed the Qi within, the more he noticed it had this annoying property to replenish itself and grow in amount and density. If few years ago he had this dislike for the purple lightning flashes in his dantian, then now he didn’t even notice those because of the greater ‘evildoer’ – the Qi itself.
Obviously he understood that any cultivator strove to increase the amount of Qi within – the whole cultivation practice was all about it. But to Leo it was more like a deadly curse and he somehow had to find a way to lift it. It did feel strange how everyone in the sect were practicing Qi techniques in order to increase their strength while he tried to perfect ways of getting rid of it without caring for the personal growth, but there was no other way. Few years ago master Shaw mentioned that his lightning mutation has these peculiar Qi pathways that allow to absorb more Qi compared to the other cultivators, but while it might sound enviable for anyone else, to Leo it was a self destructive time bomb that sooner or later would inevitably kill him.
Indeed, even though Leo found a way to deal with the problem, he knew it was only temporarily because when the initial joy fell off, he realized that the amount of Qi he had to release increased bit by bit and day by day. That only meant he involuntarily kept accumulating it and in his case the release-accumulation cycle became a form of unwanted cultivation. These were bad news, but he calculated that it could take at least a year or maybe even two until he reached the point where he constantly had to release Qi in order to not explode and since it didn’t kill him right away, it was acceptable for now.
After realizing this he spent most of the time focusing on the Qi control in order to learn how to not release or discharge more Qi than necessary thus decreasing the rate he accumulated it. Once again it was kind of ‘upside down’ practice, but there was no way around it if Leo wanted to survive longer. He would’ve loved to consult master Shaw, but the genius immortal said to come back to him after Leo stepped in the Core formation stage, but to ask grandpa Noel was too risky, mostly because Leo didn’t want to draw an unnecessary attention to the kind expert from the corrupted path.
Two months after Leo’s return, lady Evelyn finally emerged from the top floor of the spirit tower, quickly skimmed through the most important reports and departed, ignoring all elder Cross’s pleas to ‘do something about the devil spawn’. By using two of the beetles Leo brought back, she managed to completely remove the corruption left by Maramasa exploding the fire scorpion’s heart along with his own nascent and scorpion’s souls, and since there were two more dark-crimson horned beetles left, she rushed to her best friend, Laura Cloud, who still lie unconscious.
Saving the Angelic Dawn’s sect master turned out to be much more difficult, but lady Evelyn’s persistence and even stubbornness let to her friend opening her eyes ten days later. Several years had passed since the war with the Voodoo sect ended and they were the only two Nascent soul stage cultivators who survived. They didn’t talk much though – Laura followed Evelyn’s instructions and within a month with joint efforts the corruption was removed from her body and soul as well.
She wasn’t completely cured though – the poison left by Maramasa’s father was almost as destructive, but the two experts thought of a way to temporarily preventing from spreading it further. With lady Evelyn’s help Laura Cloud managed to seal most of it allowing her to finally step on her feet again.
The appearance of the sect master was met by hysterical tears of joy from her many female sect members and was celebrated for several days. No one cared her hair had turned green from the poison – the fact that she was well meant the sect was not going to be destroyed or absorbed by others. In addition, since the two Nascent soul stage friends were alive and kicking no other sects in the Aurora mortal realm would attempt to make a move, at least not in the foreseeable future.
On the outside all the problems of both, the Sacred Order and the Angelic Dawn, seemed to be solved, but the two friends knew Laura was not even close to being fine. In fact, currently she was in a somewhat similar position lady Evelyn was after the war, but, of course, it was a huge progress nevertheless.
“How in the world did you get your hands on those bugs?” Laura Cloud asked when the two of them, accompanied by Laura’s daughter, Elsa, drank wine after the celebratory dinner in the Angelic Dawn. When the formal event was over, the three of them went to Laura’s quarters to chat in a more calm atmosphere.
Both mother and daughter were dressed in white, like the Angelic Dawn’s disciples and elders usually did, while the Sacred Order’s sect master was in her usual red robe. Lady Evelyn and Elsa sat in large, comfortable chairs while Laura lied down on a pile of colored pillows on her bed. For a stranger it might seem she was being impolite, but the two knew she was still weak and the speech she gave earlier took a lot of strength. Laura didn’t care for her being tired and weak at all – even though she was unconscious for years, to her it felt she missed out on life and intended to catch up as soon as possible, and since Evelyn was not going to depart until the next day, she intended to chat through the night.
Her friend did save her life, but that didn’t mean Laura would never tease her again, so she winked and said, “Did Sir Delian smuggle them out of the Immortal realm for you?”
“I guess he would’ve done it if he could, but I believe he’s being watched. It was my division elders who dug in our archives until they found a way to help us. Afterwards we sent an expedition to one of the mortal realms the dark-crimson horned beetles supposedly could be found.” Lady Evelyn seriously explained, “It was a long shot, but years later … well … here we are.”
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“In that case I’d like to personally thank the people who risked their lives for us.” Laura said, but her friend shook her head with a sigh.
“It’s a bit complicated.” She said, “The kid who came back … uhm, right, he’s probably not such kid anymore … anyway, the youth who came back is a bit peculiar. He’s the sole survivor of the second expedition in a row – both times tens of people died while he returned a couple years later. In fact, it was more than two years both times.”
“So what? He was lucky!” The Angelic Dawn’s sect master shrugged, “And resourceful, and talented. If he wasn’t a male, I’d poached him in a heartbeat if you didn’t mind. I’ll drink to his health and well being!”
“My elders think he’s someone called ‘luck absorber’.” Lady Evelyn said and also took a sip from her glass, “Elder Cross is particularly possessed with the idea.”
“Elder Cross is an old, delusional idiot.” Laura said, leaning back comfortably, “Trust me, there is no such thing and if there was – I would know about it. Our sect focuses on esoteric aspects of cultivation, we train our minds and intuition. We focus on causes and effects of processes while developing our bodies and souls and it has been so for many, many generations. Meanwhile you practice sword.”
Seeing her friend was still skeptical, she said, “Alright. Let’s approach it logically. How old is the youth now?”
“Around sixteen, probably.” Lady Evelyn said.
“So if he was absorbing the luck of others, according to the theory, in these sixteen years we would’ve heard about disasters happening around him, maybe even wars. Famous people or divine beasts would’ve died next to him while he would’ve risen to incredible heights, right? But what actually did happen? He’s the survivor of two expeditions, I’ll give you that, but so what? How many – fifty, sixty people died? Maybe a hundred? That just means he’s better than them, that’s it.” Laura Cloud explained, then giggled and drank more wine.
“What if we tested this theory?” Suddenly Elsa asked. All this time she was attentively listening, but couldn’t hold back when an interesting idea came to mind.
“Hahaha! You just want your mom to get cured!” Laura immediately guessed the daughter’s intention, but Evelyn’s eyes lit up.
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea.” She said to Elsa, “I want your mom to get cured no less than you do and sending another expedition gives us an opportunity to verify if elder Cross’s theory is correct. Even if the boy is ‘only’ talented and resourceful – that’ll give him extra chances to successfully return.”
“But what the expedition would look for?” Laura Cloud poured a bucked of cold water on the two hotheads.
Indeed. Her removing the corrosion was already comparable to miracle, but no one had a clue what to do with the poison. Both sects had spent the last four years going through their archives but had not found anything that could help.
“Damn it!” Lady Evelyn cursed, “I guess there’s no other way - I’ll have to ask ‘him’. I get nauseated only by a thought I’ll have to pay to some old geezer from the immortal realm to diagnose you. They can’t actually sell us neither medicine nor ingredients anyway!”
“In that case – I’ll do that!” Elsa said clenching her teeth.
Both Nascent stage experts looked at her in surprise, but lady Evelyn was the first who understood Elsa’s meaning.
“Hahaha! No, silly girl!” She began to heartily laugh and Laura immediately joined, “I don’t have to pay ‘that’ way! There is no need to think of giving yourself to old, stinky geezers from the immortal realm – we’ll need to pay them in spirit stones!”
“Oh, sorry!” Elsa blushed in embarrassment, but giggled along.
“Don’t worry, dear. There will be plenty of immortals you can give yourself to.” Her open minded mother teased, but then got serious, “How much are we talking about?”
The next day all three departed to the Sacred Order. It wasn’t initially planned, but all agreed that curing Laura Cloud was the top priority and there was no need to waste any time.
Sir Christopher Delian arrived to the Sacred Order few days later, following lady Evelyn’s call, but as expected she wasn’t looking for him because of intimate reasons. He wasn’t worried though – being an immortal, even a false one like him, had a perk of having a plethora of time thus doing anything for his sweetheart was benefiting his plans.
After hearing Evelyn out he immediately left and returned the next day alongside of an elderly medical expert, surprisingly a woman. She was called Frances Hogan and at the first glance didn’t seem too special, but her being a false immortal pointed at thousands of years of experience.
Master Hogan checked Laura’s condition, gave the obvious diagnosis of soul and body poisoning and said, “I don’t think there is a chance to cure you with means available to mortal realms. Heavenly rank medicine is not enough, but an immortal pill capable of saving you is a hot commodity even in the Golden city.”
“What about natural remedies?” Laura Cloud asked without a change in her expression. After all they already expected such outcome, “Even theoretical possibility, an idea or a guess of something that could help?”
The false immortal thought for a bit and then shook her head, “No, anything that can cure this can only be made by a master alchemist. You could put your hopes in finding a poison pearl, but that is a delusional endeavor and I don’t recommend it.”
“Madam Hogan, please, since you already came here … what is a poison pearl?” Lady Evelyn asked.
“Sigh, I already said, don’t bother.” The elderly expert said, “It’s basically the most poisonous thing in the world. Its a natural wonder, a miracle that is created by Heavens in the most harmful environments as an object of natural counterbalance. It is born in a form of a pearl and has the ability to absorb all toxins, but in the process becomes the most poisonous thing, hence the name … anyway – that is the legend. In reality, even if by some miraculous chance you’ll manage to find a poison pearl, it is basically guaranteed to bring harm rather heal someone. In all my years I’ve only heard of two pure poison pearls being found and one was long before my time, and the other turned into an actual poison pearl within days. Alright! That’s it! Let’s go, Christopher, you owe me big time!”
Two days later lady Evelyn received a message.
‘I wouldn’t take a step in the Greenland or Ivyworld.
Those places have incredibly high toxicity where even the air and water is poisonous to regular cultivators.
C.’
And on the other side of the note were teleportation coordinates to the two mortal realms.