While Sister Lisha was still on her way to the Oasis of Life and the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, the battle between City Lord Sihe's forces and the Sand Wolves Tribe was ending. General Sha Lang Hu and his men had finally been able to kill almost all the soldiers. They had suffered heavy casualties as well, but the pills Cao Yun had refined beforehand had saved many lives. In the end, they could sincerely claim to be victorious.
After the battle formations fell apart, even the soldiers who had lost their leader Xin Zhe began to get disorganized. Most of the mercenaries scattered in every direction while a few soldiers deserted. Unfortunately, the most casualties were among the slaves. Since some of the seals had not been removed, dozens of slaves were killed in atrocious torments because of their Curse of Blood and Sorrow. As much as they had been prepared for such an outcome, it was still painful to watch.
Even as the fight was over, some of the slaves were being tortured to death by those seals. As a consequence, General Sha Lang Hu and Chieftain Sha Chai Ren ordered to put an end to their suffering. Those who had fought to free them were forced to kill them. Then, demons got busy gathering the bodies. It took some time as some bodies had been scattered all over the place. The entire area was now red with blood. However, the tribesmen did everything they could to salvage most of the blood from the corpses. What really mattered was obviously the blood essence.
Demons also believed in reincarnation but they mainly believed that the blood essence of a demon contained a very important part of their soul. As such, it was important to keep it even after their death. Sometimes, that blood essence was even shared among the living relatives of the deceased. But there were many different beliefs and practices. No matter how different they were, they were all related to blood in some manner.
Chieftain Sha Chai Ren tried to help but his daughter stopped him. Indeed, he could barely stand up, let alone walk around. During this battle, although he had not fought directly, he had exerted himself to a point from where he might not come back. In front of the others she tried to keep her composure, but those who knew her intimately could see the worry in Sha Chai Gan's eyes. General Sha Chai Ren asked the freed slaves to help the injured as well as Chieftain Sha Chain Ren. They immediately agreed. After all, those demons had risked their lives to free them. Of course, they had also fought to protect themselves. But the end result was that they had been freed by them.
As the tribesmen were dealing with the aftermath of the battle, Xixue was running toward Cao Yun and Hongyu. The fenghuang was still breathing and even began to move around, trying to get the burning sand off of her. On the other hand, Cao Yun was absolutely immobile, half buried in the burning sand. Besides, his clothes were torn apart and several wounds were visible in his flesh. Most likely, when the 'Heavenly Spirits Ruin' had exploded, several fragments had pierced through his skin. In his exhaustion he had not even noticed it at all. But he had bled quite a lot. Thankfully, Cao Yun's blood was now so heavy that it had stopped flowing on its own.
Xixue was now fully aware that, not only was Cao Yun weaker than he had claimed, but he was also a human. Obviously, she had a hard time processing it. It wasn't that she had something against humans. But she couldn't imagine how a human could cultivate his blood like a demon. Indeed, even now that Cao Yun was unable to hide anything at all, she could feel that he had meridians and Golden Blood. Since she was only a mere Blood Child, she couldn't feel much more, but this was enough to amaze her.
Pushing those thoughts aside for the time being, Xixue began to dig him out of the sand. As she was trying to dig around his body, the sand burnt her hands. Despite the pain, she kept on digging until she was able to pull him out of the sand. With much effort, she succeeded and completely got him out of the sand. Even though he was unconscious and could not mobilize his cultivation at all, the sand had not burned his skin at all while Xixue had blisters on her poor hands. Once again, she was amazed and many thoughts went through her confused head.
From her robe, she took out some pills Cao Yun had refined before the battle. He had given her some of his best pills, just in case. Without any hesitation, she decided to feed them to him. The first pill she took was an orange bead with yellow glints under the harsh sun. This was a Golden Blood Essence pill. From what she knew, it was supposed to help someone with their blood but she didn't really know the details as Cao Yun had kept quiet. This pill was a 5-star Heaven pill that could promote blood essence and replenish blood in general. Even with his current abilities, Cao Yun had not been able to refine a Perfect pill, but its effects were still very good.
Unfortunately, Cao Yun was not even conscious enough to swallow the pill and control its medicinal essence. Xixue would probably need the help of someone else. However, she was worried to reveal that he was a human. Even she wasn't sure how to react so she didn't know how the others would react. That being said, she sincerely wanted to save his life. After everything he had done for her and for the tribes, she couldn't let him die like that.
As she was confused about what to do, Hongyu stood up and approached the two of them. Although extremely weak, Hongyu could move around and was fully conscious. She was also painfully aware of Cao Yun's condition. Thus, she sat close to him and tried to use her own Wei Qi around him, as though to replace the Wei Qi had not. As her Qi entered his defenseless body, the pill was instinctively swallowed as if some vitality had gone back in his flesh. Even without consciously controlling the medicinal essence, the pill was still efficient. It had probably lost a quarter of its efficiency, but it was still enough to help Cao Yun's condition.
In a matter of seconds, Xixue could feel some improvement in his blood. His wounds even began to close themselves as his vitality was coming back. Invigorated by this first success, Xixue gave him a second pill. This time, this was a Gushing Argent Well pill, a 4-star Heaven pill. Instead of replenishing blood, this pill was meant to reinvigorate the entire body. In particular, it was very good with Qi. Just by swallowing this pill, a huge surge of Qi shot through Cao Yun's meridians and vessels.
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His Lower and Middle Dantian avidly sucked in all the Qi they could out of this pill. They were so empty that they acted as small black holes. Any Qi getting near them was trapped. Although it was good for the Dantian, it was bad for Cao Yun's body. Indeed, he was in dire need of Qi circulating through his meridians. Thankfully, his blood was also rich in Qi and it could palliate this problem in some way.
Xixue didn't give him more pills just yet. She knew that they necessarily contained toxins. Eating too much pills could have a negative impact. And when someone was almost dead, toxins could very quickly become a problem. Besides, she was able to see an improvement right away. As his body was still processing the two pills, it was getting stronger and stronger. Indeed, his marrow was already producing more blood to replace what he had lost and from said blood, his Qi was also being replenished. However, he was still deeply unconscious.
Within Cao Yun's sea of consciousness, the young human was also barely aware of what was going on. Thankfully, he had not only exhausted himself, but he had also pushed his Turbid Demons to the limit when he had used his spiritual senses. As such, even they were not strong enough to cause any problem. However, there was another spirit who could, Dian Mo.
The Demon Palace was floating around in Cao Yun's dim sea of consciousness. All around this palace, the golden verses formed by Cao Yun's Insight Writings related to his way of the spear were shining a faint hue. In the sky, even the seven stars were weak, but the Neck Constellation was almost complete. The Five Agents were also barely producing any light. On the other hand, the Nine Soul Peaks were brimming with life. To be more precise, the vines and roots of the world tree that were all over those Nine Soul Peaks were exuding a great vitality. At the same time, the Drop of Wrath was the strongest source of light and strength in the entire sea of consciousness.
Within Cao Yun's heart, the Drop of Wrath was also extremely active. More and more blood and Qi were coming out of it as it had sucked in a large part of the medicinal essence from the two pills. In the past, the Drop of Wrath had healed Cao Yun from a deadly wound even though he had only been a Mortal. Now that he was a middle Mortal Warrior, it was even easier to heal Cao Yun. Even if Cao Yun could probably not heal a severed limb, he could heal from most injuries with his current vitality and blood cultivation. And Xixue was seeing it with her own eyes.
Dian Mo was observing all of that from within while Xixue was seeing it from without. There was some hesitation in Dian Mo, as though some internal battle was fought. In the end, the Demon Palace returned at the center of the Nine Soul Peaks. It stayed quiet during Cao Yun's recovery. But it didn't stay idle by. A few seals appeared from the Demon Palace and went throughout Cao Yun's body. They mixed with the seals he had formed himself to push his blood cultivation. Even for Dian Mo it seemed difficult to alter them so it took a lot of time.
After a long double hour, the young man was still unconscious. That being said, Xixue felt some great changes. It was clear that his life was in no immediate danger. Something else surprised her. His meridians were beginning to fade. She could tell that they were still there but it was as though they were disappearing under her eyes. And in a sense, they were. Indeed, Dian Mo's new seals were concealing them since Cao Yun could not do it himself with his 'Ashen Feather Seal'.
In the end, Cao Yun's condition was stable enough and his humanity was completely hidden. Moreover, no one would try to look for meridians or Dantian since they had no reason to suspect he was anything but a demon. Now that there was no danger of his identity being revealed, Xixue decided to call the rest of the tribe. They were probably already looking for her so it wouldn't be difficult. Sure enough, it took her less than an incense stick to find some tribesmen.
Accompanying Xixue, several tribesmen found Cao Yun's body. When they tried to take him away though, Hongyu stood up and sent her own Wei Qi around. Xixue tried to calm her down, but Hongyu refused for anyone else to take Cao Yun's body. Thus, they decided to simply put Cao Yun's body on Hongyu's back. This time, she let them do so, knowing their intention. A few of them also went to fetch Cao Yun's 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar'. The spear was so heavy that it took a dozen men to pull it out of the sand. Once again, Hongyu was very defensive and took the spear in her beak. Unlike them, she could easily lift it. Since she was too weak to fly, she walked with her brother on her back.
Although she seemed to be wary of the demons, she followed Xixue without any problem. In fact, Xixue could sense some affection coming from Hongyu's eyes. The group walked back toward the army.
When they arrived, they all saw Cao Yun's broken body and were terrified at first. But then, they realized that his blood was relatively strong. There was no doubt that he was alive and already recovering. Another question went through their mind though. And General Sha Lang Hu was the first one to ask it to Xixue.
"What about Xin Zhe?"
"They fought. The battle was exceptional. And when it was over, there was nothing left of her."
Xixue wasn't lying at all. But she was hiding some more important details. Xin Zhe had not been killed by Cao Yun. But there was indeed nothing left of her. In fact, the only remaining thing of Xin Zhe was a small bead of blood in Sister Lisha's hands.
In the following days, the Sand Wolves Tribe would organize various reunions with other tribes in order to decide what to do with the slaves. A single tribe couldn't take care of all of them. At the same time, they discussed about what to do against City Lord Sihe. Indeed, he wouldn't stop there. During all those reunions, the name of Tie Po came back every single time. But for the time being, the Sand Wolves Tribe was taking care of him. To be honest, the other tribes were afraid. They didn't want the Sand Wolves Tribe to keep him for themselves. But since he had helped their tribe, they weren't too sure about his real feelings toward the Sand Wolves Tribe so they didn't want to incur their wrath.
For several months, Cao Yun would stay unconscious, slowly healing. At the same time, Sister Lisha was walking toward a well. It was under the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. There was in fact several wells in front of her. From all of them, the thick odor of blood and a strong vitality were filling the air. With extreme solemnity, Sister Lisha approached the well she had chosen. In her hands, she was holding the bead that had been Xin Zhe.
Very carefully, Sister Lisha lowered the bead in the well. When she completely let go, the bead turned into a small river of blood that flowed into the well. A bright light shined in the room as the well was absorbing this new blood. In the center of the room, there was a large pool of bright red blood. Sister Lisha looked at it for some time before another Sister called her.