Zhang Dong looked at Huo Qiang fly away towards the monsters. The little conversation that his sons and his disciples had evaded him as he was busy going towards the bottom of the light-tower. His wife wasn’t here with him as she remained outside to aid Qiang if anything out of the ordinary appeared outside.
There were no nascent soul monsters out there yet but that didn’t mean that ones wouldn’t come to be. He knew how these tentacle beings operated. He only hoped that some of the affected humans that were out there could be saved.
“Here’s a sample of one of those demon spawns, analyse it.”
He gave the monster worm that he extracted from one of the villagers to his best healer. The man’s name was Huo Fu, an oddball from the Huo clan.
This man looked quite different from all the other muscle men that were born in that clan. He was quite short and lanky, his hair was messy and he didn’t look like the other warriors from that clan.
Zhang Dong had discovered his high intelligence and talent for making remedies after having everyone scanned by his scanner. This happened years before the sect examination and was done to bring the people with talent to the forefront.
This man had no knack for the teachings of his own clan, the element that he was best suited for was also the exact opposite which was water. After this discovery, he was given the correct teachings and he proved himself as one of the best pill and potion makers from the new sect. Now, Zhang Dong relied on him to perform certain tasks, examining a monster like this would fit Huo Fu’s expertise quite well.
“This is…”
The man looked at the bottle with the monster inside. The worm was wiggling around and its thin tendrils lashed out at anyone that it could detect.
“Such a magnificent sample… as expected of the Patriarch!”
The man’s eyes bulged out wide, he was looking at this horrifying monster as if it was a Christmas gift that Zhang Dong handed down to him. He looked to the side where some other sect members in similar robes to him were.
“Quickly, set up the portable lab, we must analyze this specimen with haste!”
He bowed to Zhang Dong while going outside. About twenty of the foundation establishment elders went along with him as they were part of his research team. He himself didn’t have time to work on the cure so he would leave it to this man. He was hoping that they could develop a remedy for the people and save them.
“This way Senior Dong.”
Fang Heng called out to Zhang Dong as the two descended down below the lighthouse. There were no stairs here, probably so that anyone below the core formation level wouldn’t be able to come here.
The descent was quite dramatic but he could feel that the holy energies from above were being pushed towards this area.
‘Are those plants?… they are similar to the ones that were back in that village…’
He expected to see something different. Instead of some kind of extensive healing array formation, he saw a green meadow with many large sunflowers. These sunflowers were the size of trees and they were giving out divine energies. These energies were far greater than what the smaller sunflowers were able to output.
The next interesting discovery was where these three surviving nascent soul elders were. They were directly in the center of those giant plants, their bodies were bandaged up almost fully with only their heads being outside. They were just lying there in the center of the large sunflower while the bandages somehow aided them in absorbing the divine energy.
He could discern this with his eyes. The gentle holy like energy was slowly flowing inside of their bodies and nourishing them. He could also sense something else, an evil demonic energy signature below.
“Evil Qi?”
He called out, which prompted Fang Heng to look at him with astonishment.
“So you can tell Senior Dong? Yes, the elders were affected by that creature’s corrupt evil energy. We were able to halt the corruption with the help of the specially crafted wrappings made from special divine silk. It was made from the cocoon of the holy moonlight moth.”
Zhang Dong tried to ignore the long-winded explanation. In short, these were special bandages that were good at holding back demonic energies. He examined the three bodies with his system, what he saw was two old men and one old woman at their death bed.
The strongest person was at the late stage of the nascent soul. Zhang Dong could feel that there was something wrong. This elders realm was declining, it was closer to the middle stage now and still decreasing. Even with the healing energies in place these people were slowly deteriorating, with time they would probably perish. The increase in the holy energies of the lighthouse was probably slowing down the process even further but it still wasn’t enough.
“Yes, let me examine them first.”
Zhang Dong got to work, he focused on the sect leader as it seemed that he took the brunt of the attack. The demonic energies on his body were even seeping through those wrappings and giving them a darker coloring.
His needle healing technique was utilized first. Fang Heng and the other people in the room stayed quiet while he got to work. They all watched as the pointy silver needles pushed themselves into the Divine Fist Sect leader’s body. He was sure to aim for all the correct pressure points to nourish his body back to health.
The technique produced a lot of golden light as it went to work. After a few moments, he could see the man’s eyes quivering but they didn’t open. Even after adding more energy, he remained in the comma and the demonic energies only slightly subsided.
“The corrupt energies have been in his body for too long, it won’t be that easy to get them out of his system…”
“S-senior is there nothing that you can do?”
Fang Heng called out from the side while his forehead perspired with sweat. He was clearly distraught after seeing Zhang Dong’s healing technique fail.
“There is a way, it’s just going to take some time to prepare and…”
Zhang Dong paused at the end while rubbing his chin as he didn’t finish the sentence, this prompted Heng to ask about it.
“And?”
“Ah nothing, we need to prepare a pill, please get everything ready.”
Zhang Dong shook it off while glancing at his sect members that were also there. They were ready to do his biddings and started pulling out various pill making items along with a big cauldron that they placed in the middle.
“Set up the formation!”
Fang Heng stopped asking after the whole United Element Sect personnel started working. Some of them were putting various herbs into the large cauldron while others were drawing strange symbols on the ground below.
Fang Heng moved to the side while trying not to bother anyone. He could feel that his Patriarch’s spirit was slightly invigorated after Zhang Dong treated him with his healing technique. If he said that it was possible then he would put his trust in him, not like he had much to lose at this point.
“Okay everyone, get in your positions we will be going with variation Zeta 6C this time around.”
Everyone from the United Element Sect nodded while Zhang Dong moved into the middle. He started floating directly above the large cauldron that was already at the boiling point. There were thirty other members of the healer unit with him. They would aid him in making this special medicine.They wouldn’t add much to the finished product but would allow him to push it past a certain threshold. Even improving the medicine by 1% would be enough to decide life or death.
The formation churned with power and everything in this area started glowing in gold. The large sunflowers started reacting and the faint yellow light that they were exuding change into a deeper color.
Zhang Dong started tossing various herbs into the cauldron without using his hands. Those were clasped together and making various hand seals. He was also performing some chants in a language that some of the people here wouldn’t understand.
While the restorative pill was being produced noises from the outside reached here. Everyone could hear explosions and strange wails, this was probably Huo Qiang at work as the monster eradication outside started taking place.
The rumbling outside was a bit distracting but the experienced team of alchemists and healers was able to stay calm. In time a pill started to take form, it radiated massive amounts of holy energy. When it was completed it caused an illusory image of a golden dragon to appear and roar. This was a sign of this remedy’s qualities reaching close to the maximum of the heaven grade.
“It’s finished…”
Zhang Dong gave out a sigh of relief. Even for him making such a pill wasn’t easy. Without the help of his team of healers, the pill would have probably dropped a small realm in quality.
He looked at it, the pill was golden and a bit longer in an oval shape. It was about the size of his thumb but was more uniform without any blemishes. It looked as if it was made from pure shiny gold instead of various herbs.
“S-senior this is?”
Fang Heng moved closer after the process was done. His eyes were bulging wide after seeing the item before him. His cultivation instincts were telling him to grab this pill and flee, if he could swallow it he would probably reach the late stage instantly. He held his desires back as he knew that other things were at stake. He also didn’t think he could wrestle it off Zhang Dong’s hands even if he wanted to.
“Good… now we need to give it to your sect leader… could you do the honors, Elder Heng?”
The old man was surprised by the request that was given. But he wasn’t one to refuse, even holding this pill in his hand could be very beneficial.
The pill floated into his hand, Zhang Dong then moved over to the sunflower where the Divine Sect Patriarch was. He used his telekinetic like technique to move the old man’s body up. He was gently turned around and then placed in a strange position.
“Senior?”Fang Heng asked while looking down at his sect leader. His body was leaning forward and the thing he could see was his posterior protruding his way.
“Uh… you see, the demonic energies are far too great so swallowing the pill normally wouldn’t be advised. We must apply it to your Patriarch’s… uh… rear…opening”
Zhang Dong rubbed his neck while slowly moving the bandages out of the way. Fang Heng looked at the pill in his hand and then at the wrinkly bare man butt that was presented to him.
“Y-you mean?”
“Yes, this is a suppository. Please apply it gently ah, give Elder Heng some lubricant.”
Zhang Dong replied while calling to his sect members that brought over a jar with a transparent gel-like substance. The pill was then dipped in it to allow for a more gentle experience.
“Ready when you are Elder Heng, please hurry your sect leader’s life depends on it!”
Zhang Dong gave the man a thumbs up while flying to the side. The old man with the pill covered in lubricant started sweating. He was now looking at a respected pillar of his sect his bare bottom exposed before him. After a moment he steeled his resolve as he realized that this was a matter of life and death.
“Forgive me Patriarch but it has to be done!”
“GAHHHHHhhhh….”
A strange sound of a screaming man was soon heard by the people that were keeping guard outside the lighthouse. Some of them recognized those shouts as the voice of their beloved leader. What really happened down below would be kept secret; the true way of how the Patriarch was healed would remain a mystery for centuries to come.