Chapter 434: Ghost Qi Erosion

"These are all wounded?"

The Vermilion Bird Army gathered in the square numbered nearly ten thousand, such a large crowd secretly surprising the people of the Alchemy Saint Hall.

Previously, the Mausoleum Light Hall had purchased a batch of healing pills from the Alchemy Saint Hall; even if they couldn't cure all injuries, alleviating the pain of most of the Vermilion Bird Army was definitely no problem.

Unexpectedly, there were still so many people with unhealed injuries.

Yun You's face was full of worry: "The healing pills from the Alchemy Saint Hall are very effective. Most of the Vermilion Bird Army recovered after taking them, but only these present have injuries that haven't healed; instead, they've gotten worse..."

While Yun You was explaining the situation of the Vermilion Bird Army to Meng Qingyao and others, Hua Changxi did not stop to listen but walked inward along the square, examining the injured one by one.

Under her sweeping gaze, every Vermilion Bird Army soldier she looked at tensed up, their eyes showing curiosity and vigilance towards her.

Black Qi!

Within these Vermilion Bird Army soldiers, black Qi of varying density was moving about.

For those with light injuries, the black Qi only eroded the physical body; for the severely injured, the black Qi had already penetrated into the dantian, affecting the golden core and primordial spirit.

The further inward they went, the more serious the injuries of the Vermilion Bird Army soldiers, with a few almost unable to stand, lying or sitting in a large medical shed.

After walking around, Hua Changxi had a general understanding of the Vermilion Bird Army's situation; these wounded, without exception, had all been attacked by ghost Qi.

Now, the ghost Qi was continuously eroding their vitality.

It was also fortunate that the Vermilion Bird Army were all fire spiritual root cultivators, able to resist some of the ghost Qi's yin-cold erosion.

Ghost Qi was easy to handle; the South Bright Li Fire could purify and burn away ghost Qi.

What truly worried Hua Changxi was that, due to the ghost Qi's erosion, the Vermilion Bird Army's spiritual roots, dantians, golden cores, and primordial spirits had all suffered varying degrees of damage.

To put it severely, this had damaged the foundation of their cultivation.

"Master!"

Jia Lu came looking for her.

Hua Changxi looked over. Jia Lu's atavistic divine ability was the Jade Rabbit Pounding Medicine, having obtained a complete inheritance of alchemy and medicine making; this time he came along mainly to gain practical experience.

"What is it?"

Jia Lu said quickly: "Hall Master Meng and the others have classified the Vermilion Bird Army according to the severity and urgency of their injuries. They are now assigning consultation sheds and asking which stage of patients you want to treat."

Hua Changxi pointed to the large consultation shed next to it, which housed the most severely injured batch of Vermilion Bird Army: "I'll see patients in this shed. The physicians and alchemists of the Danyuan Peak will follow Hall Master Meng's arrangements."

"Stay by and observe; call me if something comes up."

"Oh, and have the physicians record the diagnosis files properly; I'll need to review them later."

After Jia Lu acknowledged, he went to report back to Meng Qingyao.

Hua Changxi walked into the consultation shed, took out the ten sets of spiritual needles she carried with her, and looked at the wounded: "Who's first?"

The Vermilion Bird Army soldiers in the shed were somewhat startled by Hua Changxi's directness, looking at each other in bewilderment.

After hesitating and dawdling for a while, a young sturdy man with a face showing a deep dark green color stood up and walked to Hua Changxi.

"Take off your top and lie down!" Hua Changxi pointed to the bed next to her.

The young sturdy man exclaimed in shock, staring wide-eyed at Hua Changxi: "I need to take off my clothes?"

Hua Changxi shook the spiritual needles in her hand: "I'm going to needle you."

The young sturdy man seemed somewhat embarrassed, but under the gaze of the other Vermilion Bird Army soldiers, he closed his eyes, as if throwing caution to the wind, took off his top, and quickly lay down on the bed.

Hua Changxi looked at the bulging, nearly black veins on his body and said while needling: "You can endure a lot, huh? To prevent ghost Qi from seeping into your spiritual root, you let it attack your entire physical body. Aren't you afraid your body will collapse?"

Hearing this, the young sturdy man, who had his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes wide and met Hua Changxi's gaze in surprise: "You... without even examining me, you know my condition?"

Hua Changxi did not stop her hands, inserting needles one by one into the young sturdy man: "This is the most basic observation, listening, inquiry, and pulse-taking."

"Do you know that you are afflicted with ghost Qi?"

The young sturdy man, that is, Yan Guichen, nodded: "We can vaguely guess."

Almost all of these people have patrolled the mass graves; those with serious injuries have almost all fought with ghost cultivators.

Among them, the group led by Manager Yang had even been captured by ghost cultivators. If not for the hall master's timely appearance, Manager Yang and his team would probably have disappeared like the missing Vermilion Bird Army soldiers from before.

At the mention of the hall master, Yan Guichen quickly glanced at Hua Changxi, who was concentrating on applying acupuncture to him.

Everyone outside is saying this person is the hall master. Is she really?

Hua Changxi noticed his gaze and looked over, but Yan Guichen had already looked away. "You've trained your body well. If someone else resisted like you did, their physical foundation would be ruined. What is your name?"

Yan Guichen glanced at her quickly. "Chiliarch of the Vermilion Bird Army, Yan Guichen."

Hua Changxi: "So you're a chiliarch. Mm, not bad, astonishing perseverance." She paused. "I cannot eliminate the ghostly qi inside you. I can only help you seal the ghostly qi on the surface of your skin."

Hearing this, Yan Guichen showed disappointment, but still thanked her politely. "Thank you."

Hua Changxi looked at him. "The treatment for the others will be the same as yours. Report your situation up the chain and let your hall master know. She will have a way to help you expel the deathly qi inside you."

Yan Guichen showed an astonished expression again, looking at Hua Changxi. "Report... to the hall master?"

Hua Changxi: "Right, didn't the Lingguang Hall hall master burn a ghost cultivator until their soul was scattered? It should be easy to clear this bit of ghostly qi from you."

"All done!"

Hua Changxi stopped applying the needles. Because the ghostly qi was all sealed on the surface of his skin, Yan Guichen now looked like a blackened person emitting a cold, yin aura, appearing terrifying and grim.

Yan Guichen also felt terrible, every moment enduring pain like being sliced by a thousand knives.

He still wanted to say something, but Hua Changxi was already calling for the next person.

With Yan Guichen leading the way, the others were not so guarded against Hua Changxi and all actively stepped forward for acupuncture.

"Bear with it. As long as your hall master helps you clear the ghostly qi soon, you can get rid of the pain sooner."

Hua Changxi's voice was clear and gentle, very soothing to people's hearts.

Yan Guichen watched as one by one the severely injured went forward to receive acupuncture. He took out a Yiniantong communicator and sent a message to Yun You, passing on Hua Changxi's words about reporting upward exactly as they were.

On the other side, Yun You, under the diagnosis of Meng Qingyao and others, confirmed that this batch of Vermilion Bird soldiers, whose injuries had never healed, had indeed been invaded by ghostly qi.

Although the crux of the problem was clear, Meng Qingyao told her that the Dan Sheng Hall could not refine pills to clear ghostly qi.

To clear ghostly qi, one must use spiritual herbs containing ultimate yang qi.

But this type of spiritual herb either grows in forbidden lands or secret realms dense with yang qi, or grows on the solar star.

Currently, the Dan Sheng Hall has no reserves of such spiritual herbs at all.

Just as Yun You was feeling anxious about this, Yan Guichen's message arrived.

"Report to hall master?"

Yun You's eyes immediately brightened. She quickly edited a paragraph and sent it to the Lingguang Hall hall master.

Hua Changxi felt the vibration of the Yiniantong but ignored it. Only after using spiritual needles to suppress the ghostly qi erosion of the most severely afflicted hundred or so Vermilion Bird soldiers did she take out the Yiniantong and reply to Yun You with three characters.

"Got it."

Hua Changxi had not replied for a long time, and Yun You was already waiting anxiously. But after seeing the reply, she felt full of helplessness.

Just then, exclamations came from outside the diagnostic tent.

"Quick, look! What is that?"

The air in the center of the square suddenly became scorching hot. Vast amounts of fire spiritual qi wildly gathered like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, and in an instant converged into a red vortex.

At the center of the vortex, a crimson flame lotus gradually outlined the contour of a lotus flower. When the petals first bloomed, it was like a wildfire sweeping the plains; when they stretched out, it was like evening clouds spreading out.

At the heart of the lotus, the Nanming Lihuo burst up with a roar. The holy flame was like molten gold pouring on the ground, casting the entire training hall as bright as day, even scorching the air into a caramel-like sweet fragrance.

Yan Guichen walked out of the diagnostic tent. As the light flames brushed over him, the ghostly qi sealed in his skin seemed to have met its natural enemy, making a sizzling sound. In an instant, rolling black mist rapidly dissipated from within his body.