Chapter 200: Jiang Chen, Can You Help Me?
Jiang Chen’s expression was quite grave as he picked up another few ape fur-spikes and inspected them carefully. He nodded his head with great certainty. “They’re poisoned alright. Look at these spikes. They’re starkly white, an obvious sign that they embody a strong poison. It’s a good thing that your level of training is within the spirit realm. If you were within the true qi realm, you’d probably be a corpse by now.”
Even though Dan Fei was usually calm when anything cropped up, she was still a woman and so when she heard there was a deadly poison, her charming face was also aghast as a sense of panicked fear was evident in her beautiful eyes, something that would’ve usually never been visible.
“Jiang Chen, will… will I die?” Dan Fei bit her lip lightly, her voice was coated with some tragic tones.
Jiang Chen really wanted to sweet talk her, but everything had happened so quickly that he too was uncertain whether or not any hope remained for Dan Fei.
“Don’t talk for now and sit cross legged. It’s best if you meditate and keep calm. Remember, don’t circulate true qi and give pressure to your spirit ocean. Otherwise, once the poison attacks and breaks through the spirit ocean, you’ll be dead without a doubt.”
Jiang Chen warned her severely.
Dan Fei was like a docile little bride at this moment as she nodded with aggrievance. There was none of her usual resplendence as a strong woman in her beautiful eyes. What emanated now was the frightened panic and grievance of an injured lamb.
Jiang Chen was a great master of pills in his previous life and had made great study in the dao of poison.
He took out a small pill cauldron and put the fur-spike from the giant ape in it to study.
He did that a few times, then got up and walked up to the body of the giant ape. Jiang Chen took out a knife and cut open the giant ape’s flesh, putting some into the pill cauldron for further study.
His motions were crisp and precise, and he completed all this with extreme speed. Finally, Jiang Chen stood up again, his gaze returning back to Dan Fei.
Although the time had been short, it felt like decades for Dan Fei. A thick sense of expectation shot out from her beautiful eyes, but a few traces of anxiety could also found within it. It was obvious that she was afraid of Jiang Chen coming to a tragic conclusion.
“Hmm? Didn’t I tell you to sit cross legged and meditate? Why are you still standing?” Jiang Chen’s face was full of confusion.
“I…” Dan Fei’s charming face reddened, and the color of sunset burned her neck and the back of her ears. “I… I’m not at liberty to sit.”
Jiang Chen started, and then remembered that Dan Fei’s butt seemed to have taken a hit as well. He really wanted to laugh, but it didn’t seem appropriate in this kind of situation.
“Alright then, remain standing and don’t think random thoughts.”
When Dan Fei saw Jiang Chen’s reaction, she naturally knew that Jiang Chen had understood what she meant. She was both embarrassed and angry. In the end, she couldn’t help but ask, “Jiang Chen, is there an antidote for this poison?”
“This poison is only one from the surface, from the skin and hair. The flesh and blood of the giant ape don’t have any poison in them. This is the good news, but also the bad news.”
“How can it be both good and bad news?” Dan Fei was a bit anxious. “Jiang Chen, just how bad does it look? Can you speak candidly? Am I really about to die…”
Dan Fei’s eyes grew red. As gracious and ethereal as she was, when faced with her own death at the age of twenty some years old, she still displayed the side of a girl.
“The good news is that a poison not of the flesh and blood will take longer to take effect. However, the bad news is that because it’s not a poison of the flesh and blood, its flesh and blood can’t be used to fight poison with poison. This poison from its skin and hair is quite bizarre. Items corresponding to the poison need to be found before the poison can be cured. This is a very headache-inducing problem.”
If he could find the items that would contain the poison, Jiang Chen had a great deal of assurance that he could cure this poison. However, it wasn’t an easy thing to find the items that would be the cure in this vast maze realm beneath the night sky.
“This is to say that there really is no hope for me?” Dan Fei was on the verge of tears as boundless sorrow welled up in her eyes. It suddenly turned into a clear resolution in the blink of an eye. “Jiang Chen, If I die, cremate me and bring my ashes back to the lordmaster. And, you must bring these baby spirit animals to the lordmaster too, alright?”
Did this count as a dying wish?
Jiang Chen sighed softly in his heart and comforted her, “Don’t be so pessimistic. A poison from the skin and hair doesn’t take effect that quickly. I’ll keep searching, perhaps I’ll be able to find the items to counter it?”
“Heh heh.” Dan Fei smiled indifferently as her previous fear and panic were swept away after thinking things through. “Jiang Chen, you don’t need to comfort me. I, Dan Fei, have been without parents since I was little. The lordmaster raised me. You must think me stupid for caring so much about the baby spirit animals. However, you don’t understand the kindness that the lordmaster has shown me…”
“Forget it, there’s no point in talking like this right now. You rest and I’ll go search. The giant ape lived in this area and the poison from its skin and hair couldn’t have formed spontaneously. It must have something to do with its surroundings. Perhaps I can really find the corresponding items to cure this poison.”
Dan Fei suddenly paused, “Jiang Chen, what do you mean by corresponding items for the poison?”
“All things beneath the heavens have what mutually reinforce and neutralize each other. It’s possible that the poison of the giant ape’s skin and hair was formed by the environment around it. Since there are items that can form this poison, there will be items to counteract it. Otherwise, without a balance, the poison would’ve long since seeped into the giant ape’s flesh and blood. How could it possibly exist only on its hair and skin?” Jiang Chen thus analyzed.
Dan Fei suddenly thought of something as a gleam of light flashed through her charming eyes. “Jiang Chen, I remember. There were a lot of spirit herbs and grasses within the giant ape’s cave. I was in a hurry then and didn’t have time to pick them up. Could it be…”
“What did you say?” Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up. “There were lots of spirit grasses and herbs within the cave?”
“Yes!” Dan Fei was also excited. She seemed to find a strand of hope within Jiang Chen’s eyes.
“Stay here and don’t move, I’ll go take a look. Remember, don’t draw upon your spirit ocean. Wait for me to return; even if you run into enemies, try to drag out the encounter as long as possible!”
It was a good thing that the cave wasn’t that far away. Jiang Chen retrieved the arrows and throwing daggers on the ground as he sped along the way.
He retrieved the arrows whenever he came to places where they’d crossed paths.
The arrows were the accompanying items of the Da Yu bow, tempered into steel. Although they’d been blasted away by the giant ape’s fists, they hadn’t been damaged in the slightest and naturally ought to be retrieved.
Jiang Chen arrived at the cave very quickly.
The cave was cold and deserted. When he swept into the cave, his eyes set on a patch of ground where spirit grass and herbs were growing, as well as some spirit rank trees.
“Hmm? This many?” Jiang Chen’s eyes quickly fell on a fey purple flower. “This… this is the Purple Moon Demon Flower?”
Jiang Chen had instantly uncovered that the giant ape’s poison had come from the Purple Moon Demon Flower.
The Purple Moon Demon Flower complemented and neutralized the Jade-Faced Buddha Grass.
“There’s indeed Jade-Faced Buddha Grass in here! I’ve struck gold this time!” Jiang Chen was overjoyed and didn’t have much time to consider things. He turned the cave inside out and put everything away into his storage ring.
With the Jade-Faced Buddha Grass, Jiang Chen knew that he had a ninety percent chance to save Dan Fei.
He packed everything up and didn’t linger, speeding back with the fastest speed possible.
Dan Fei was desolated. She couldn’t quite stand and couldn’t quite sit. It felt like the world had abandoned her in that moment as she appeared quite helpless.
As strong as she was, she only had one notion in her mind right now, and that was for Jiang Chen to return, to hurry and return.
She wore her eyes out as she gazed anxiously, looking fervently in the direction that Jiang Chen would return from.
Under the night sky, Jiang Chen’s figure glided as if on the moon, moving exceptionally swiftly.
Dan Fei’s desolate feeling was like an empty bottle that had been filled with water all of a sudden. She felt settled as a bizarre sense of reassurement made her firmly believe that Jiang Chen could save her.
“You’re lucky, I’ve already found the origin of the poison and the item to neutralize it.” Jiang Chen smiled. “It was a good thing that you remembered to observe your surroundings when you were stealing the babies. If you hadn’t reminded me, I probably wouldn’t have known that there were spirit herbs that complemented and neutralized each other’s poison.”
Dan Fei’s face reddened as she felt a little awkward. Her expression was very natural, but her gaze avoided Jiang Chen as she felt vaguely ashamed of herself.
She’d greatly criticized Jiang Chen in her heart when she saw those spirit grasses and herbs back then, thinking that Jiang Chen, an addict of money, would surely pick up all the spirit herbs and grasses. She’d even indulged in self-glorification, thinking that her focus was actually much stronger than Jiang Chen’s.
She’d suddenly thought of the spirit herbs in the cave earlier because she remembered her thoughts in the cave more deeply, was all.
When she heard Jiang Chen mention the matter of the cave, Dan Fei naturally felt her face burn.
With the item to neutralize the poison, what followed next was much easier. Jiang Chen refined the Jade-Faced Buddha Grass and mixed some spirit medicine to heal wounds within it, refining a spirit liquid as an antidote in a short amount of time.
Jiang Chen put the liquid in front of Dan Fei and smiled, “Treat yourself, I’ll take a look around.”
As headstrong as Dan Fei was, she was quite touched at this moment. When she looked at Jiang Chen’s hugely charcoal-marked-up face, she felt a bit of self-accusation. She had to admit that although Jiang Chen was cocky, he still had some reliability and manliness at critical moments.
When she thought of her own willfulness and her prank, Dan Fei felt a bit uneasy.
“Jiang Chen, go wash your face.”
“Wash my face?” Jiang Chen was baffled. A woman’s heart was strange alright. I’m giving you the antidote and you want me to go wash my face?
“Don’t ask me why. Find a place with water and don’t look, just wash your face thoroughly.” Dan Fei’s heart raced at this moment. She was also worried that if Jiang Chen discovered her prank on his face, he would become angry and leave her behind without a thought.
Jiang Chen was speechless and didn’t know what farce this woman was going through now. He carelessly waved his hand. “Hurry and treat your poison. If this poison is left for long periods of time, it’ll ruin your looks.”
There were no words more threatening or had more destructive power than those. Dan Fei hastily tightened her grasp around the antidote.
When she looked at Jiang Chen again, he’d long since cleared a large distance.
“This jerk, have the grace of a man!” Dan Fei also knew that Jiang Chen had walked so far away as to make things convenient for her and let her apply the antidote.
After all, she was injured in more than one place, and even delicate areas such as her ribs and chest had injuries. She’d have to take off her clothes in order to apply the antidote.
If she took off her clothes, her more sensitive body parts would be more or less revealed. Jiang Chen had naturally walked away to avoid making her feel awkward.
Jiang Chen walked a few hundred meters away. He still felt extremely tense when he thought of the battle just now. That battle had absolutely been fought in the jaws of danger.
However, coming back to things, if it hadn’t been for Dan Fei’s Mind Enchantment Powder that more or less constrained that giant ape, Jiang Chen’s attacks likely wouldn’t have been enough for the giant ape to take heavy injuries and allow him to give that last, fatal blow.
Dan Fei’s voice traveled to him from a distance just as he was lost in his thoughts, “Jiang Chen, come here for a second.”
Jiang Chen started and thought that something was wrong as he hastily dashed back.
Dan Fei had applied the antidote to most of her injuries by now. Her expression was a bit awkward as her pearly-white teeth bit down lightly on her lips. A red blush flew wildly through her beautiful face as she spoke with a voice as low as a mosquito’s buzz, “Jiang Chen, I… I can’t reach the injuries there. Can you… can you help me?”
Of all the positions on her body, the place that she couldn’t reach was naturally her buttocks.
This injury wasn’t like any of the others. It wasn’t easy to tend to it if one couldn’t see it. And if one didn’t apply the antidote to it and get rid of the poison, it would cause them trouble to no end.
When Dan Fei heard that this poison could destroy her features, this was what she was most afraid of. So as she hemmed and hawed, but in the end, the fear of destroying her looks still triumphed over her embarrassment.
Jiang Chen’s mouth opened wide. He hadn’t anticipated that Dan Fei would request his help for such a manner!