On the road to Fansipan, there were many safe paths, however, recently, some demons had gone berserk, making the safe paths no longer secure.
Shi Ying looked down and saw the wandering demons, showing signs of madness and heightened sensitivity. Clutching her bamboo staff, Shi Ying cautiously searched for weaknesses in the demons.
Seeing an opportunity, she silently used the staff to cleave them in half. Their blood splattered onto the surrounding vegetation. She flicked the blood from the staff, watching the pile of demon corpses melt into a black, slimy mass of flesh, then smoke and vanish.
Shi Ying looked at the pile of red flesh beside her, and also at the torn pieces of cloth. It seemed there were victims who had died at the hands of the demons. Kneeling down, she picked up a piece of cloth to examine it, noticing that its quality belonged to a certain type of fabric from some religious sect.
"The material is quite sturdy, it's a medium-grade silk fabric, not bad. It seems this victim is of considerable status... Hm?"- Shi Ying said, bringing the fabric closer to her nose to smell it, detecting an unpleasant odor.
"This isn't the smell of blood..."- Shi Ying
Shi Ying shrugged, feigning indifference, and returned to her temporary resting place under a large ancient tree, erecting a protective barrier around it. Huli, who was sleeping, perked up her ears and looked up to see her little mistress had returned, carrying fruits and food.
"Little one, what did you see?" - Huli
"A demon infected with dark energy and an unsolved crime scene"- Shi Ying
"Well, it seems we have to move quickly, we can't stay here to rest any longer" - Huli
"There seems to be a village ahead, we should stop there"- Shi Ying
Shi Ying put the provisions into her bag and led her cloud horse to continue walking.
In a cave on Fansipan, a man dressed like a bandit, with a tiger skin draped over his shoulder, sat meditating. A pack of tigers surrounded him, their fur shining brightly in the sunlight.
One tiger approached, nuzzling its head against the man's hand.
"It seems many want to conquer this mountain, but how can they? If they want to, I will comply! Because I am the strongest!"
The man's roar echoed, blending with the thunder of the highest mountain in the land.
The village at the foot of the mountain was living a peaceful life when suddenly the alarm sounded. The villagers immediately abandoned their belongings, throwing down their things and running into their houses, locking the doors and praying for their lives.
From outside the gate came tigers three times larger than ordinary tigers. They looked around, searching for prey. The scent of humans was everywhere, but there wasn't a soul in sight. Their growls startled the villagers hiding inside.
Suddenly, the tigers all turned their heads and lunged forward simultaneously with speed and ferocity. Blood splattered everywhere, bones snapped, and flesh and tendons cracked.
The villagers hiding inside didn't understand what was happening, only able to rely on the sounds, cowering in fear, knowing that someone might have met their demise under the tigers' claws.
The ordeal only ended when night fell, marking the end of the tiger hunt. A villager peered outside and saw a bloody scene: tiger carcasses scattered everywhere. None of the carcasses were intact; some had severed body parts, others had their internal organs exposed, and piles of flesh lay mounds, their forms unrecognizable.
Meanwhile, Huli returned to her dilapidated house outside the village, licking her lips as if she had just eaten a meal.
A young woman lay unconscious on a stone table covered with simple leaves. Shi Ying sat studying the herbs she had gathered along the way to make a medicinal potion. Before leaving, her uncle had given her a small, two-handed cauldron.
She looked at the recipe in the book, then at the herbs she needed to put into the cauldron.
"Put this in, then this, and then this." - Shi Ying
"Little one, I've brought you a special ingredient." - Huli
The fox was wearing a coarse cloth bag that was dripping with a thick, red liquid. Shi Ying noticed that the fox seemed to have grown a little bigger. Her mistress's intense gaze startled the fox.
"Is something wrong?" - Huli
"Nothing..." - Shi Ying said, but lightly poked the fox's belly with her finger.
It was indeed bigger than before. The fox, touched on the belly, used its front paws to push Shi Ying's hand away and looked at its little mistress with disdain.
"Hey, touching a woman's belly like that isn't good." - Huli
"Well... I just wanted to know what a little fox looks like when it's full." - Shi Ying
"That's an insult to my appearance! If someone touched your belly like that, wouldn't you react?" - Huli jumped between the child's legs and used its front paws to pinch the child's small, chubby belly.
"Wait! Stop! That tickles!"- Shi Ying scream
Shi Ying reacted by laughing and struggling to push the fox away, but the fox's small body was very agile, moving from place to place, using its paws to pinch the child's skin, making it impossible for the child to catch the fox, leaving them helpless.
After a while of torment, Shi Ying was spared to continue her research on alchemy. She added the herbs and then the secret ingredient Huli had brought back: a bag of red blood extracted from a tiger.
"Where did you hunt to get so much blood?" - Shi Ying
"Just luck. The tigers were about to hunt when they accidentally ran into me" - Huli said nonchalantly, licking her leg.
After putting all the ingredients into the alchemy furnace, Huli lay down beneath it, and its entire body burst into red flames. The fox transformed itself into a flame of cultivation to refine the elixir.
While waiting for the elixir, Shi Ying checked on the woman's condition, using a warm cloth to wipe away the dirt from her body.
Her hands carefully wiped gently to avoid rubbing against the girl's wounds, removing the dirt from her face to reveal a delicate oval face like a little fairy. Her skin was severely burned, her lips swollen, red, dry, and peeling. It was unknown what this lovely girl had gone through to be so badly injured.
Suddenly, the young woman twitched slightly and let out an indistinct wheezing sound. Realizing something was wrong, she turned to the alchemy furnace, which was still in operation.
"Huli, when will the elixir be ready?" - Shi Ying
"Do you think alchemy is like cooking? It takes hours to finish." - Huli
"That's too long. We need to speed up the alchemy process." - Shi Ying approached the furnace and placed her hands on it.
"What are you doing? Don't interrupt the alchemy process!" - Huli exclaimed in shock.
"I'll use my own cultivation fire to speed up the alchemy process," - Shi Ying concentrated her inner spiritual power to heat the alchemy furnace.
"Are you out of your mind? Doing that is extremely risky. You won't only fail to successfully refine the elixir, but you could also harm your own foundation!" - Huli jumped onto the alchemy furnace, staring directly at her little master.
Shi Ying ignored her and continued to concentrate her spiritual power into the alchemy furnace. A blazing fire erupted inside the furnace, and Huli jumped off to avoid danger. The flames engulfed the furnace, their heat so intense that the furnace gradually turned red.
"Stop! You'll explode the alchemy furnace!" - Huli!
While the flames were showing signs of getting out of control, Shi Ying's lips curved into a mysterious smile. Instead of placing her hands on the alchemy furnace, she formed hand seals, and the flames gradually calmed down.
"What?" - Huli exclaimed in surprise.
Shi Ying's hands continuously formed several more hand seals, and the flames surrounding the alchemy furnace gathered towards its center.
'Concentrating the flames in the center of the alchemy furnace, controlling the immortal cultivation flame without the slightest fluctuation. This method requires the fire controller to be extremely focused and fearless of fire to be able to do it. How did this young girl manage it?' - Huli thought.
The lid of the furnace swung open, signifying the completion of the alchemy process. Looking inside, they saw not a pill, but a thick, yellow liquid. Huli sighed dejectedly, her efforts ruined.
"See? You ruined it. You were too hasty!" - Huli
'It's alright, this is fine.' - Shi Ying
She picked up the alchemy furnace, dipped her finger into the liquid, and gently applied it to the young girl's body. Although it's impossible to administer the medicinal pill orally, the liquid medicinal power will automatically penetrate the skin, going directly into the meridians to heal without needing to go through the digestive system.
"How do you know how to use this method?" - Huli
"Well, medicinal pills are no different from medicine; if you can swallow them, you can apply them to the body too." - Shi Ying
"That's not a convincing explanation..." - Huli