Chapter 57: Divine Ability – Extinction

Burned miserably by the flames spat out by the giant serpent, Hua Changxi knew that if she returned to the lodging like this, it would definitely cause a stir. After thinking it over, she looked at the one-armed man.

"How is Old Man You?"

At this mention, the one-armed man became anxious: "Master went into seclusion as soon as he returned. Where exactly did you go? Why was my master injured?"

Hua Changxi: "Where we went, you can ask Old Man You yourself. Right now, I want to make a deal with you."

The one-armed man frowned: "What deal?"

Hua Changxi: "Find a way for me to stay here in Medicine Valley. In exchange, I will heal Old Man You's injuries."

The one-armed man remained silent.

Keeping Hua Changxi in Medicine Valley wasn't difficult—the valley also needed someone to watch over it, adding her was as simple as a word—but his master's injuries didn't require her help at all!

Hua Changxi smiled: "Old Man You's injuries are not ordinary; ordinary healing methods won't cure them. If you don't believe me, you can go back and see Old Man You right now."

Seeing her speak so confidently, the one-armed man couldn't help but frown.

Master had gone straight into the stone room upon returning, and he was not clear on the exact condition of his master's injuries.

Seeing him not move, Hua Changxi continued: "Why don't we go up together and take a look? After seeing Old Man You's condition, you can make your decision without rushing."

Hearing this, the one-armed man stopped hesitating, turned around, and headed up West Mountain. Hua Changxi followed immediately.

Soon, the two arrived at the stone cliff on the mountainside.

As soon as they approached the stone cave, both heard stifled, pained moans coming from inside.

The one-armed man's expression changed drastically, and he rushed quickly into the stone cave.

The interior of the stone cave was not spacious—only about a hundred square meters. The middle was a living area, with two stone chambers built on each side.

The one-armed man charged directly into the stone chamber on the upper left.

"Master!"

Hua Changxi followed him in and saw Old Man You curled up on the stone bed. His burned limbs were constantly oozing blood and fluid, his face was bright red as if he had swallowed charcoal fire, and his mouth was repeatedly puffing out smoke with 'ha, ha, ha' sounds, completely oblivious to the one-armed man's calls.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi had the one-armed man step aside and went forward to examine Old Man You's condition.

The one-armed man had no better option now, so he let Hua Changxi diagnose him.

[Inspection, Auscultation, Inquiry, and Palpation Technique (Entry Level): Diagnosis 2/10]

While examining Old Man You's physical condition, another line of text jumped into Hua Changxi's field of vision.

This Inspection, Auscultation, Inquiry, and Palpation Technique had first appeared during the New Year period, when she had examined Xu Ling's condition at Pharmacist Xu's home. So much time had passed, and she had actually forgotten to improve it.

Hua Changxi got a general understanding of Old Man You's condition, then looked at the one-armed man: "So, how about it? Do you want to make a deal with me?"

The flames spat by the Red Eagle carried fire spiritual power. After Old Man You was burned, the fire spiritual power entered his body directly through the wounds, now rampaging and destroying his body.

Old Man You's current sensation was about the same as meat on a grill. Once the fire spiritual power completely swept through his body, he would be cooked through.

Seeing his master in such agony, how could the one-armed man hesitate? "Fine, I agree. Tomorrow I'll go talk to the Medicine Valley overseer and let you stay to look after the medicine fields."

Having achieved her goal, Hua Changxi didn't dawdle: "I'll go pick a few herbs at the base of the cliff." With that, she quickly left the stone cave and leaped off the stone cliff.

A quarter of an hour later, Hua Changxi came up carrying six spirit plants and ten unripe green fruits.

Although the green fruits were not yet ripe, they still had some healing and restorative effects—enough to treat Old Man You.

There were tools for refining medicine in the stone cave, and they were quite complete.

Guarding Medicine Valley with so many medicinal herbs, Old Man You was certainly not so selfless as to take nothing. When he had free time, he would also refine medicine.

Although his skill wasn't very high, he could refine most common medicines used by martial artists.

The one-armed man anxiously watched Old Man You while also keeping an eye on Hua Changxi.

When he saw that Hua Changxi had actually picked green fruits and seemed to be using them as medicine, he grew a bit worried.

His master had told him that the senior apprentice brother had died from an exploding body after eating green fruits.

The one-armed man wanted to get up to stop Hua Changxi, but found the corner of his robe tightly clutched by Old Man You.

Old Man You was indeed tormented to the point of being somewhat delirious, but he still knew that the one-armed man and Hua Changxi had entered the stone cave. He said with difficulty, "Trust the one you employ."

The one-armed man immediately understood his master’s meaning. Though still somewhat worried, he felt a bit relieved when he thought that Hua Changxi would need his help to stay in Medicine Valley.

Soon, the aroma of medicine drifted through the stone cave.

Just by smelling this fragrance, Elder You felt that his body was not so painful anymore.

“Master Guo, take this bowl of medicinal broth and have Elder You drink it.”

The one-armed man took the refreshingly fragrant medicine, his heart shaken violently.

Though it had been decocted with a raging fire, the medicine held not a trace of heat; instead, it emitted a chill. One sniff made him shiver involuntarily, as if taking a cold bath in the dead of winter—biting and bone-chilling.

Not daring to delay, the one-armed man carefully fed the medicine to Elder You, and then saw his master’s complexion visibly improve.

After drinking the medicine, Elder You’s face relaxed, and he stopped spewing smoke from his mouth. Before long, he fell into a peaceful slumber.

Seeing that Elder You’s breathing was calm and his pulse strong, the one-armed man heaved a great sigh of relief.

“Master Guo, come and take these medicinal powders and apply them to Elder You’s wounds.”

The one-armed man walked over and took the half-bowl of green medicinal powder that Hua Changxi handed him.

Afterward, the one-armed man focused on dressing Elder You’s wounds. With nothing left to do, Hua Changxi left the stone cave.

After all this work, it was now late at night. Assuming everyone in Medicine Valley had gone to sleep, Hua Changxi quietly returned to the dormitory, took clean clothes and changed, then used the Cleansing Technique to clean her body.

Being burned by the giant snake’s fire this time made Hua Changxi realize that she herself was not afraid of fire.

However, looking at her tattered, scorched clothes, Hua Changxi had a headache. She wasn’t afraid of fire, but her clothes were. In the future, when encountering fire, she still needed to avoid it—she didn’t want to run around naked.

“There should be clothes that are impervious to blades and weapons, and resistant to water and fire, right?”

Thinking about today’s gains, especially the Glowing Lotus Seeds she had eaten, Hua Changxi did not stay in the dormitory. Instead, she went out to find a secluded spot, sat cross-legged, and then began to ‘inner-view’ her Dantian and Qi Sea.

The Qi Sea was no longer surging and boiling, nor was it spewing out red lotuses in waves as before. Only occasionally would one or two emerge.

Consuming a Reversion Spirit Fruit would allow one to inherit the Reversion Divine Ability.

Hua Changxi raised her right hand. With a “boom,” a thirty-six-petal fire lotus coalesced in her palm.

Annihilation!

This was the fire-type divine ability she had obtained after eating the Glowing Lotus Seeds.

Previously, the fireballs and fire blades Hua Changxi formed could also injure people, but their lethality was not great. Now, if she threw out a fire lotus, as long as the person’s cultivation was below hers, they would most likely be completely incinerated by the fire lotus.

To test the power of the fire lotus, Hua Changxi took out the red eagle she had previously stored.

“Boom~”

Hua Changxi flung out the fire lotus. The lotus instantly enlarged, enveloping the red eagle. In less than a breath, the eagle was burned to ashes.

Seeing this scene, Hua Changxi’s spirits soared.

From the spiritual energy fluctuations emitted by the red eagle, she could tell that it should be a Qi Refining realm demon beast.

A Qi Refining realm demon beast ignited upon contact with the fire lotus, with no ability to resist.

Hua Changxi then took out the giant snake.

This giant snake was entirely fiery red. Inside the Fire Spirit Mine, if not for its glowing eyes, she wouldn’t have been able to spot it at all.

Sensing the abundant spiritual energy inside the giant snake, Hua Changxi hesitated for a moment, then decided not to burn it with the fire lotus, planning to keep it to make snake soup.

In particular, she also thought of Xu Ling.

She wondered if Xu Ling would eat snake soup.

If Xu Ling had never eaten any spirit fruits or the like, and had naturally undergone reversion, she might not have inherited any divine ability.

This fire snake could spew fire; after eating it, Xu Ling might inherit the fire snake’s ability and might even be able to spew fire too.

After some random thoughts, Hua Changxi took out eight top-grade spirit stones and, following the method taught by Shennong’s Planting Art, arranged a Spirit Gathering Array.

Then, sitting cross-legged at the center of the array, bathing in the dense fire spiritual energy, she closed her eyes and began to cultivate.

The next day, at the time when the first rays of morning light appeared, Hua Changxi opened her eyes and put away the top-grade fire spirit stones, whose color had barely changed.

[Realm: Qi Sea Realm /]

The breakthrough point in cultivation realm was reached, and his Qi Sea expanded again by half.

However, Hua Changxi was not in high spirits; from last night until now, she had only absorbed 3500 points of spiritual energy.

She calculated that she could absorb at most 1000 points of spiritual energy per hour.

If she had known she could only absorb this little spiritual energy, she would never have set up the spirit-gathering array; she couldn't even fully absorb a single top-grade fire spirit stone.

Before, lacking resources, it was understandable that her realm couldn't advance; now that she had no shortage of resources, her cultivation speed had hit a bottleneck.

Hearing voices coming from the dormitory direction, Hua Changxi waved out spiritual power to erase some traces on the ground, then quickly headed back.

The planting tasks here in the Medicine Valley were completed; whether it was the menial laborers who came at the beginning or those who came with Hua Changxi, except for a few left to guard the Medicine Valley, everyone else was to return to the Medicine Estate today.

After breakfast, the steward gathered everyone together and began calling the roll one by one.

Before the names were all called, the one-armed man arrived.

The one-armed man called the steward aside, and then Hua Changxi saw the two of them glancing at her from time to time.

A few minutes later, the one-armed man returned to West Mountain.

After finishing the roll call, the steward dismissed the crowd but called Hua Changxi over: "You've caught Old You's eye; he wants you to stay and guard the Medicine Valley. You don't need to go back to the Medicine Estate today."

Hua Changxi immediately replied: "Rest assured, Steward, I will definitely guard the Medicine Valley well."

The steward asked curiously: "Old You rarely pays attention to us menial laborers. How did you catch his eye?"

Hua Changxi: "....I'm quite capable at planting medicinal herbs?"

Seeing that she also looked confused, the steward just assumed she had gotten lucky and didn't press further: "Alright, go do your work."

Including Hua Changxi, only five people were left in the Medicine Valley.

Their duty was to patrol the medicine fields every day, watering where there was a lack of water, fertilizing where there was a lack of fertilizer, and replanting where pests had appeared.

Among the five, Hua Changxi was the only woman.

As a result, Hua Changxi directly took over an entire room for herself.

Knowing that Hua Changxi had been kept by Old You, the other four dared not say much and fairly divided the medicine fields they were to guard with her.

At the stone cliff halfway up West Mountain, as soon as the one-armed man returned, he saw that Old You had actually come out, and hurried forward: "Master, why have you come out?"

Old You comforted him: "Your master is fine now."

Upon hearing this, the one-armed man found it hard to insist further; it wasn't that he didn't want to, but the medicine Hua Changxi had given was simply too effective.

His master's body was covered in burns. After applying the medicinal powder Hua Changxi had refined, in one night, the wounds not only scabbed but also grew new skin.

"Master, your disciple has already told the steward to keep Hua Changxi in the Medicine Valley."

"You did the right thing... In the future, you can interact more with that little girl, but don't be too deliberate."

The one-armed man held back again and again but still couldn't help asking: "Master, where exactly did you take Hua Changxi yesterday?"

Old You, recalling the red eagle they had encountered yesterday, felt he should tell Guo Yu about it, so he recounted the matter of taking Hua Changxi to the depths of South Mountain.

"A fire-spitting eagle?"

The one-armed man was stunned. Such a fierce beast had left even his master covered in injuries. If it had been him, would he have survived?

Old You said solemnly: "In the future, when you encounter fierce beasts, be sure to be extra careful."

Thinking of Hua Changxi's words about drawing on the power of heaven and earth for oneself, Old You added: "In a couple of days, your master will be away for a few days. Keep an eye on the Medicine Valley here."

He needed to go see a few old friends and find out if they knew that the world was undergoing a great transformation.

Back at the Three Fork Medicine Estate, after the menial laborers returned, Mao Yong learned that Hua Changxi had caught Old You's eye and was deliberately kept in the Medicine Valley. His heart tightened, and he once again regretted having offended Hua Changxi earlier.

But thinking that he had helped Guo Yu, Mao Yong's expression improved slightly. With Guo Yu's face considered, Old You probably wouldn't hold it against him.

In the future, when he ran into Hua Changxi, he would bring his younger brother along to admit fault and apologize; this matter should blow over.

After coming to this understanding, Mao Yong went to find Big Beard Zhu Yu.

After all, Zhu Yu was the leader of the menial labor hall on this trip. Since Hua Changxi had been kept in the Medicine Valley, he needed to be informed.

When Zhu Yu learned that Hua Changxi had caught Old You's eye, he was also very surprised: "The tasks here at the Medicine Estate will be finished soon. Will Hua Changxi still return to the menial labor hall with me?"

Mao Yong laughed, "When a grandmaster thinks highly of you, even a fool knows what to choose—of course you stay in Medicine Valley."

Zhu Yu: "I understand." Since the grandmaster had spoken, he couldn't stop Hua Changxi from staying in Medicine Valley.

After Hua Changxi stayed in Medicine Valley, she would quickly patrol the spirit herb fields she was in charge of each day, then find a secluded spot nearby, grasp a top-grade spirit stone, and begin cultivating.

Out of the twelve two-hour periods in a day, aside from the time she had to appear in front of others, she spent every other moment cultivating.

In this way, she could absorb over ten thousand points of spiritual qi per day, causing her realm to advance with extraordinary speed.

On the seventh day of the fourth month, Hua Changxi's realm points broke through one hundred thousand.

[Realm: Qi Sea Realm /]

Just like in the Qi Refining Realm, after breaking through one hundred thousand realm points, the realm itself did not advance.

Looking inwardly at her dantian's qi sea at that moment, Hua Changxi truly felt a vast, boundless sense of it being as immense as an ocean.

Gazing at the somewhat insubstantial qi sea, Hua Changxi thought, "Should I keep adding spiritual qi to the qi sea?"

Recalling how after breaking through 1,000 points in the Qi Refining Realm, she only advanced to the Qi Sea Realm when reaching ten thousand points, Hua Changxi had a vague premonition of trouble.

"Above the Qi Sea Realm... it couldn't possibly require breaking through one million spiritual qi points, could it?"