After applying the liquid medicine to the wounds, Shi Ying used a hand seal to place it on the girl's chest, channeling spiritual power into it. Day after day, the wounds gradually healed.
"I've been repeating this process for a week now. This girl's spiritual root has been partially restored..." - Huli
"Really?" - Shi Ying was surprised, leaning closer to the fox.
"Keep it down." - Huli lifted her foot and pushed the child's face away.
Hearing this, the joy on her face faded because she thought...
"But that's enough to save her life. If her spiritual root were damaged, sooner or later this girl would become a cripple. You've used a lot of medicine and spiritual power just to save her life," - Huli
Indeed, preventing further damage to the spiritual root consumed a considerable amount of resources and time. However, this girl's spiritual root seemed to be of a high grade, making it difficult to prevent further damage.
The little fox gently patted Shi Ying's face as if signaling something. The child understood and formed a hand seal, channeling spiritual power into the fox's mouth. Huli opened its mouth to absorb the spiritual power, continuously absorbing until its belly was full.
"Bwah! It's really delicious. Little one, sooner or later I'll be able to get back my lost tails!" - Huli rolled on the ground, rubbing its full belly.
"Tails? So you're not just an ordinary fox?" - Shi Ying
The fox flinched, covering its mouth and turning its head away. Seeing the fox's guilty expression, Shi Ying became suspicious and approached it.
"What are you hiding, Huli?" - Shi Ying
"Nothing at all, I'm not hiding anything... I'm just too full and feeling dizzy... Let me go find some more ingredients for you to refine the elixir!" - Huli
Without waiting for Shi Ying's reply, the little fox quickly ran away, leaving the girl scratching her head in confusion. Shi Ying placed her hand under her chin, a thoughtful expression on her face.
Shi Ying turned to look at the young girl lying on the bed, now completely healed, her skin smooth and white like jade, her lips naturally rosy. She thought that this was no ordinary person; her spiritual root belonged to the powerful and unpredictable fire element.
But since this person hadn't woken up yet, she couldn't take advantage of the situation.
"That's a good idea, little one. But aren't you curious?"
A voice echoed in her ear. Shi Ying recognized the voice and immediately sat down in a meditative posture, closing her eyes to enter her spiritual consciousness.
Before her eyes was the spiritual root, dripping yellow liquid through the cracks in its surface. There's no one here, or rather, there's someone else present—a living being residing inside that spiritual core, like a fetus. Since it has no name, she calls it Qishi.
"What do you mean by that, Qishi?" - Shi Ying
"I mean what you're saying." - Qishi
"Don't whisper such things in my ear. Don't forget you're living inside me." - Shi Ying
"Oh, I'm just trying to help you understand more about the world of cultivation. The more you understand, the faster you'll cultivate." - Qishi
"Everything has to be done slowly. You can't rush things like that....But you weren't just talking nonsense, were you?" - Shi Ying
"Clever, little one. You've probably figured something out over the past few days, haven't you?" - Qishi
Over the past few days, Shi Ying had noticed the village not far away. When she first entered it, the atmosphere was gloomy. There were no buildings, only dilapidated houses, and the population was sparse, everyone looking dejected and lifeless.
When she inquired about the situation, the villagers reacted with unusual fear, and she was driven out of the village without any reason. Initially, she didn't think much of it because she smelled a foul stench of death on them; the villagers were no longer alive, but that didn't mean they were completely dead.
To clarify her reasoning, she observed from a distance. The tigers descended from the mountains to attack the villagers, the screams mingling with the sounds of blood and flesh, creating a horrific scene.
However, what was even more horrifying was that afterwards, the villagers who had been torn apart by the tigers gradually regenerated, their blood and flesh automatically reassembling, becoming normal people and going about their lives as if nothing had happened. Then the next day, the scene repeated itself: the tigers attacked the villagers, and after they left, the villagers automatically came back to life.
"This is definitely a secret technique of a demon gem, it's called 'Wood-Returning Spring' created by Malachite." - Qishi
"Wood-Returning Spring? What is that?" - Shi Ying
"Wood-Returning Spring symbolizes rebirth, the sprouting of new life for all withered things. This is a secret technique originally used for healing, considered a second life for super-powerful cultivators, capable of reversing the laws of nature." - Qishi
"But if this secret technique is applied to the evil deeds of evil cultivators, wouldn't that be... like using people's bodies to nurture something?" - Shi Ying
"You're right, little one. In cultivation, there are many who use human lives to refine elixirs, nurture demons, or even extend their lifespan." - Qishi
Thinking about being unable to die and unable to live, and being exploited by evil people as a means of nurturing something, it's truly unspeakably cruel. What puzzled Shi Ying was why the tigers kept attacking the villagers again and again, but instead of eating them, they dismembered their bodies and left.
There was something truly mysterious about this that needed to be explained.
"Speaking of tigers, here comes the tiger." - Qishi
Shi Ying was startled and snapped out of her consciousness. She woke up to find a giant tiger outside her door. This tiger was even bigger than the others; it weighed at least 150 to 360 kg and was 2.6 to 3.3 meters long.
"What are you doing here?" - Shi Ying
The tiger's eyes stared intently at her, as if scrutinizing her. Shi Ying stared back at the tiger warily.
"Little brat, do you know that your pet just harmed quite a few of my tigers?"
"My pet, you mean that little fox? She's just a little fox, how could she possibly defeat your tigers?" - Shi Ying
"Nonsense! You're refining elixirs with the blood of my own kind. Now you're pretending not to know anything?"
"My fox says she obtained it while watching some tigers hunting. Besides, what evidence do you have that my fox killed your tigers...?" - Shi Ying
"Little one, I'm back!" - Huli
Just then, the little fox ran in from the opposite door of the house, carrying a cloth bag in her hand, her mouth still stained with red marks. With such clear evidence, any explanation would be meaningless.
Shi Ying covered her eyes in frustration at the little fox's ill-timed appearance. Seeing a large tiger outside the house, the fox immediately understood the situation.
"Huli...you know what to do, right?" - Shi Ying
"I know...Let's hide!" - Huli
Seeing the little fox drop the cloth bag from its back and run into the house, closing all the doors and creating a barrier around the house, the tiger roared, intending to attack.
"Where do you think you're going to hide to?!"
A bamboo stick was stuck straight into the ground, blocking the tiger's path. Shi Ying raised the bamboo stick and pointed it at the tiger.
"Hold on, don't be so hasty. You can speak human language, so you must be wise and know the saying, 'A wise person doesn't jump to conclusions.' If you're smart, don't act on impulse, or you'll make a mistake and bring regret upon yourself, which wouldn't be good." - Shi Ying
"Don't you dare try to lecture me with your lame logic! Today I will avenge my people, blood debt must be repaid with blood!"
The tiger roared and lunged forward, raising its claws. Shi Ying didn't attack, but instead produced another bamboo stick and slammed the two sticks together, creating a loud noise. This sudden loud noise caused the tiger to collapse, its sensitive ears instantly aching.
The two bamboo sticks continued to bang against each other, creating a deafening sound that made the tiger roll on the ground.
"Stop! You're playing dirty!"
"Have you given up yet?" - Shi Ying stopped banging the bamboo sticks.
"Never!"
"You said it yourself..." - Shi Ying
The deafening sound continued, forcing the tiger to cover its ears with its paws, but it couldn't block the sound from penetrating its ears. The tiger rolled left and right, its front paws clutching its head while its hind paws clawed at the ground.
"It hurts so much! My ear! My ear is going to burst!"
"If you don't surrender, I'm afraid you'll still hear this ear-piercing sound even after you die and go down there!" - Shi Ying
"No way! I, the king of the tigers, how could I possibly surrender to a mere brat like you!"
"Truly hopeless..." - Shi Ying
With all her might, she delivered one last powerful blow, causing drops of red blood to spurt from the tiger's ear. The massive tiger's body collapsed unconscious. Sitting before the tiger, Shi Ying assumed a meditative posture to begin the fusion process.
Her body began to heat up as she activated her spiritual root. A stream of molten gold shone brightly, and golden silken ribbons wrapped around the stone before being drawn into her dantian. The tiger's body was quickly enveloped in the golden liquid and merged into her body.
"The wax turns to fire, the liquid gold embraces. Melt the stone to liquid, let all cliffs return to the source!" - Shi Ying
The pain was like being doused with molten gold. Her mortal body would be burned away, removing the impurities of the gemstone. This process required caution, for otherwise, the gemstone would be damaged, and she herself would be consumed by the flames.
The excruciating pain in her face and bones forced Shi Ying to clench her teeth to keep from screaming, her body emitting a golden light so intense that Huli had to cover her eyes.