Danwu Refining Spirit

Chapter Forty-Eight: The Great Reversal

Ignoring the iron skewers, Tie Changqing, sweating profusely, kicked off the tree trunk with his toes and flew more than ten feet away.

Before his body even hit the ground, the iron spear touched the ground and flew more than ten feet away.

However, his posture was no longer as dashing as before; instead, he resembled a bat with broken wings, swaying unsteadily. With each rise and fall, drops of blood rained down from his feet.

Having reached the peak of Martial Apprentice cultivation, Xiao Chong was unable to catch up with him as he fled at full speed.

Moreover, Xiao Chong understood the principle of not pursuing the poor. Even if he could barely catch up, the other party might resort to desperate measures when they were cornered, and the result might be something he couldn't handle.

With nearly half a month remaining until the end of the competition, starting to take risks too early is not a wise choice.

"Run! The faster you run now, the more fun it will be later!"

Watching Tie Changqing's figure disappear in the blink of an eye, Xiao Chong's two broom-like eyebrows squeezed together exaggeratedly, and a meaningful smile appeared on his lips, which then slowly followed the bloodstains on the ground.

Compared to Xiao Chong's composure, Tie Changqing's state could only be described as panicked and disoriented. Having suffered such a great loss, he was terrified that Xiao Chong would catch up, and therefore had no time to discern directions.

He is now wounded in several places, and his fighting ability is greatly reduced. If Xiao Chong is determined to drag him down with him, given the other party's endless tricks, it is really hard to predict who will live and who will die.

But Tie Changqing wouldn't fight Xiao Chong. In his eyes, he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and his life was incredibly precious. The other party was just a nobody, not even worthy of carrying his shoes.

So in order to escape this danger as quickly as possible, Tie Changqing sped up and ran for more than ten miles before stopping.

"That's about enough. The other side shouldn't be able to catch up for a while. Let's treat the wound first," Tie Changqing thought to himself, glancing at the iron skewer stuck in his foot.

But so much time has passed, why hasn't the blood on my foot scabbed over yet? It's still flowing as freely as if it were just inserted.

The blood color seemed off too, a dark red with a hint of black, and through the skin on the instep, a small wisp of bluish energy could be faintly seen flowing within it.

Was the metal skewer coated with poison? But why doesn't it itch?

The moment Tie Changqing thought of the word "itch," he suddenly felt that his wound was indeed starting to itch.

Once this feeling arises, it becomes uncontrollable, spreading from the top of the feet all the way to the scalp, as if drilling into the bones.

Tie Changqing couldn't help but scratch, but accidentally let some of the blood from his foot get onto the wound on his fist. As a result, to his horrified gaze, a wisp of blue light appeared on his fist.

This wisp of green mist was so inconspicuous, initially only as thick as a hair, and it spread very slowly, but it was always tenacious and showed an extremely strong vitality.

Startled, Tie Changqing tried to mobilize a wisp of Yuan energy to force out the azure energy in his hand. However, wherever the Yuan energy went, the azure energy seemed to receive nourishment, and instead of dissipating, it dispersed even more quickly.

"Let's apply the medicine first. I don't know if it will leave a scar and negatively affect the reputation of Young Master Changqing."

The methods commonly used by cultivators to expel poison failed to work, so Tie Changqing decided to try another method. Strangely, however, being in such a state, his first thought was about such a trivial matter as scars, which even he found somewhat unbelievable.

Enduring the excruciating pain, Tie Changqing gritted his teeth and forcefully pulled out the several iron skewers stuck in the top of his foot.

After applying a large amount of medicinal herbs, the bleeding finally stopped, leaving only a few shocking blood holes on the instep.

Just as Tie Changqing caught his breath, a slight noise suddenly came from afar.

"What's that sound? Have they caught up with us?"

Hearing the approaching rustling footsteps, Tie Changqing, sweating profusely from the pain, rushed into the woods like a frightened bird, embarking on another escape.

Looking at the bluish aura on his hands and feet that showed no signs of fading, he was filled with worry.

……

……

A hundred feet away, Xiao Chong followed behind Tie Changqing with ease.

This distance is just right; it won't make Tie Changqing feel strongly threatened, but it will also allow him to keep running away.

Even if you lose track of them occasionally, it doesn't matter, because the tracking techniques that Xiao Fangzheng taught you played a huge role at this time.

Xiao Chong would sometimes take out his clairvoyance to observe Tie Changqing's whereabouts, and sometimes he would carefully part the roadside grass, pull out a wild grass, and sniff it.

In his spare time, he even had time to exchange views with Dingling.

"Is the prescription you provided really that effective?" Xiao Chong communicated with the other party using his mind.

Hearing Xiao Chong question him, the cauldron spirit's tone was very displeased: "That's a miraculous formula that's rarely circulated even in the Immortal Realm. I used many treasures to acquire it. Back then, I, the Crown Prince, relied on this to make countless immortals die, and even He... almost fell for it. That Tie Changqing is just a martial arts apprentice who's nothing, how could he possibly withstand it?"

Out of resentment, the cauldron spirit spoke somewhat rudely, clearly forgetting that Xiao Chong was also a martial arts apprentice, and thus categorized him as "not even worth a fart."

Xiao Chong's face turned ugly, and he said hatefully, "So what if you're a martial arts apprentice? You're practically a half-deity, so if you have the guts, get out of my body."

"This is blackmail! Can we please stop bringing up things we don't want to talk about? How can we have fun like this?"

Dingling grumbled inwardly for a moment, but being quite aware of being under someone else's roof, he changed to a fawning voice and said, "I was just saying it casually, why do you have to take it so seriously? Calm down, it's not good for your health to be too angry."

Xiao Chong was at a loss with the cauldron spirit's unpredictable changes in attitude, so he could only change the subject and say, "Is that prescription really as powerful as you say? I think it's just a mixture of some weeds and animal dung, it won't do much good."

"Such a disdainful tone and such an improper attitude—this is contempt and a serious doubt about the Crown Prince's professionalism!"

Feeling insulted, Dingling was indignant: "Do you know anything about pharmacology? Do you understand what happens when various drugs are combined? Although the itchy flower is common, its pollen, when combined with the thousand-year-old vine and the excrement of the red-striped python, will immediately turn into a very magical poison."

Xiao Chong had no answer.

Hearing that the other party remained silent, Ding Ling felt much better: "Let me tell you, this kind of poison is not very potent normally, but once it enters the body, it will be drawn by the blood and qi, and it will gradually corrode the body until the whole body is ulcerated and the pain is unbearable."

I once used it on an enemy. Do you know how long he rotted before he died? A hundred years, a full hundred years! In the end, no one could even recognize what that lump of stuff was.”

Perhaps if you stay in the Purple Cloud Cauldron any longer, the cauldron spirit will start nagging endlessly, like an old woman who has been cooped up in her boudoir for too long and is full of complaints.

abnormal!

Xiao Chong remained silent, but secretly wondered if there was something wrong with the cauldron spirit's psychology.

After a while, not receiving the praise he deserved, Dingling became negative again, secretly lamenting that Xiao Chong didn't understand the joys of life.