Chapter 158: Recuperation

An hour later.

When Li Qi walked into Qingwu City, holding a Tang blade and carrying Jin Buhuan's head, the entire city fell silent.

After a while, the whole city erupted.

Some people panicked, rushing to flee.

Some were overjoyed, cheering and singing, beside themselves with happiness.

Some sighed, their faces full of conflict, unsure what their relationship with Jin Buhuan was.

Some were filled with worry, their brows furrowed, lost in thought.

Some were polite, stepping forward to congratulate Li Qi and invite him to a banquet.

Some cried profusely, rushing up to kowtow to Li Qi, calling him their benefactor.

And there were those who gnashed their teeth at Li Qi, but dared not approach, forced to swallow their anger.

A thousand people, a thousand faces. With millions in Qingwu City, there were countless faces, countless joys, countless angers, countless worries.

Jin Buhuan's death would lead to a major reshuffle of all forces in this city, so naturally, some were happy and some were sad.

But there was one thing in common.

That was their reverence for Li Qi.

Even those of Eighth Grade now looked at Li Qi with nothing but reverence.

Li Qi walked straight ahead, carrying Jin Buhuan's head, and under the gaze of countless people, he reached the inn's entrance.

At the inn—

The area was a mess, with bodies strewn across the entire street.

The Formation constructed by Shen Shuibi also had considerable damage, but fortunately, no one managed to break through it in the end.

After all, it was Shen Shuibi; Li Qi had great faith in her.

When Li Qi went out, there would naturally be people who would raid this place and try to assassinate him personally.

As Li Qi walked through the streets, countless people secretly guarded him, and countless others wanted to kill him. Every time Li Qi turned a corner, four or five people would die.

Blood flowed from the alleys, and the glint of blades occasionally reflected on Li Qi's face. As he slowly knocked on every door, each step he took was on blood.

The clashes of these hidden forces were also very exciting, but unfortunately, Li Qi didn't have much time to understand them.

This night, too many things happened, one could even say it was a world-shattering event.

Fortunately, the dust settled.

When Li Qi appeared at the city gate carrying Jin Buhuan's head, all struggles ceased. All that remained was the redistribution of benefits.

Redistribution, what a peaceful word it sounds like.

But behind those three short words, how many Family rise and falls, how many loves and separations?

However, those things had nothing to do with Li Qi.

He walked to the inn's entrance, knocked three times.

With a creak, the door opened.

Shen Shuibi opened the door and smiled as she looked at Li Qi.

For a moment, Li Qi's heart was filled with a sense of security.

"You're back?" Shen Shuibi tilted her head and glanced at Jin Buhuan's head.

"Yes... I'm back. I can't go on, you handle it..." Li Qi exhaled deeply, tossed the head aside, and collapsed.

Shen Shuibi quickly caught him, crying out in alarm: "Hey, hey, hey! Don't die! How did you get like this?!"

But no matter what, the matter was finally brought to a close.

Li Qi flopped into Shen Shuibi's arms, barely caught, otherwise he would have hit the ground.

"Honestly... what did you do to get so injured?" Shen Shuibi sighed.

From Shen Shuibi's perspective, this night was truly exhausting.

More than one Eighth Grade cultivator attacked her here, but thankfully, she managed to block them all. Afterwards, others also intervened to stop the attacks, preventing her from truly falling into crisis.

However, there was one downside.

While she was fending off the external attacks, she asked Piao Xu to make her some late-night snacks.

Piao Xu's hands kept shaking, and the taste of the food became much worse.

Unhappy.

But it was understandable, she supposed.

Still unhappy.

However, when she saw herself eating late-night snacks while fending off attacks from several Eighth Grade cultivators, the other attackers withdrew. Perhaps they saw her eating so heartily and also wanted late-night snacks, so they all went back.

Looking at it this way, eating still has its benefits.

She waited until morning when Li Qi finally returned.

She was happy at first, but he fainted as soon as he returned. She quickly took his pulse and found that Li Qi was practically half-dead.

His injuries were truly severe, so severe that Shen Shuibi was even puzzled how he managed to return alive.

His heart meridian was shattered, his fire Qi was almost depleted, causing the Five Elements of Fire to be inverted, so Yang Qi was exhausted and Yin Qi entered.

The Wood Qi was too strong, leading to internal spasms, surging liver meridians, liver evil attacking the heart, Yin descending to Metal and Water. With these symptoms... he would die within a day.

Furthermore, he couldn't even self-heal, because his original physical strength and Qi had already been used in his inner body spirits, which had sealed themselves, seemingly suppressing something?

This Seal was constantly drawing on his vitality to maintain the suppression.

His Five Elements were already inverted, and his vitality was still being continuously extracted.

So troublesome.

But there seemed to be many Medicinal Pills outside, many rare spiritual flowers, and a pile of Ore, metal and similar things.

They were all gifts Jin Buhuan had sent yesterday.

Should she use them?

Shen Shuibi thought, then pushed open the door, collected some things she could use, and then carried them all in her arms, carefully bringing them back into the inn before closing the door.

Afterwards, she brought out the Three-Five Furnace.

Time to start Alchemy, otherwise Li Qi would die.

She had to be quick.

——————

Time flew by, and it was already two days later.

Li Qi sat on the bed, looking half-dead.

In front of him, there was a table.

The table was filled with delicious dishes, all of them highly nourishing.

However, Li Qi's expression didn't seem to be very pleased—

On the contrary, his face was covered in cold sweat.

First, Li Qi's favorite crab porridge was the main course. Its rich fat filled it, white as congealed fat, the sweet yellow of the round navel, white in color and tender in taste, with no dregs when chewed, its deliciousness goes without saying.

Then there was a pot of spiritual flower soup, containing moss, cattail, lotus root, bamboo shoots, fern, fresh flowers, mugwort, and chrysanthemums, cooked in a pot of tender chicken broth, also with dried razor clams, flower snails, and fermented fish, combined with sweet wolfberries, it was exceptionally delicious, all spiritual flowers and medicinal herbs that nourish Yang Qi.

And a simple dish of stir-fried chives with eggs. Though simple, its fragrance did not dissipate, it was fresh, crisp, and delicious, its sweetness like honey, more delicious than fine meat.

These were all relatively normal.

What truly made him sweat were the items that followed.

First, a pot of 'whip' soup, containing bull, lamb, pig, dog, and donkey whips. These were acceptable, but the most outrageous was a tiger whip, boiled in a pot with white lamb, raw rehmannia, dried ginger, borneol, caulis spatholobi, aconite, deer antler, and angelica. Just looking at it made one's kidneys ache.

Then there was a stew of poultry meat stir-fried with ginseng, cinnamon, tiger bone, bamboo shoots, and wild goose legs.

Next was deer kidney, epimedium, and paper mulberry fruit, crushed and mixed with spices, stuffed into the belly of a squab, roasted until the skin was crispy, then stewed well.

In short, just looking at this table of food made Li Qi feel unwell...

"Piao Xu Guniang, it can't be, right? Who told you to make these?" Li Qi had a headache, rubbing his temples, looking at Piao Xu who was serving him, unsure what to do.

"Uh, it was Shen Guniang who told me to make them. She said that your serious illness has not healed, and the root cause is that your vitality is being depleted, your body lacks Yang Qi, and your fire Qi is completely exhausted, so you need to properly replenish your Yang Qi to recover as quickly as possible."

"She said she was prepared to use Medicinal Pills directly, but you had already consumed some at the beginning, and some Medicinal Pill toxins had accumulated, so it's better to use food therapy," Piao Xu explained.

"No, you should understand that's not what I mean. Shen Guniang doesn't know, but you should know!" Li Qi couldn't stand up, so he could only sigh helplessly on the bed.

Piao Xu covered her mouth and chuckled: "But Shen Guniang ordered it this way, so I can only comply. Your body is important, Sir, please eat quickly."

After speaking, she hastily pushed the door open and left, covering her mouth and bending at the waist. One might have thought she had stolen something.

Li Qi was left lying on the bed, looking at the table of dishes, his expression subtle, his mood also subtle.

"Sigh, Qi Ya, Qi Ya, I can only move my hands now. If I really eat this whole table, what do you think I should do?" Li Qi tilted his head and asked the little fox on the windowsill.

"Squeak?" Qi Ya tilted her head, not understanding.

The little fox, not yet transformed, didn't understand at all, and Li Qi couldn't move, so she was a bit bored. She jumped out of the window, leaving Li Qi alone in the room.

Now he was truly alone.

Never mind.

Eat.

He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.

There were no hard dishes on the table, only soups and stews, all designed to make it easy for him to eat.

This was his first meal since waking up.

After returning that day, he fell into a coma for more than a day. Shen Shuibi used every trick in her book to pull him back.

Indeed, trying to deal with two mouthfuls of Eighth Grade Jin Qi at the same time was too difficult.

However, was it worth it?

Li Qi stretched out his hand, and two mouthfuls of Jin Qi surged directly from his fingertips, slicing various whips into pieces with a swish, making them easier to chew.

Yes, those two mouthfuls of Jin Qi, with his inner body spirits as the central Qi, Yin and Yang combined, merged into one, becoming Li Qi's own.

Normally, they could be separated, but when driven by his inner body spirits, they could combine Yin and Yang into one mouthful, unleashing extremely terrifying power. Their speed could reach ten li in an instant, cutting through anything, and they were as easy to command as an arm, as long as Li Qi could react in time.

However, Li Qi's current reaction speed couldn't perfectly control them. These two mouthfuls of Jin Qi were simply too fast. When fully unleashed, he couldn't control their killing range at all.

Because of this, Li Qi even temporarily changed the direction of his inner body spirits cultivation.

From Ninth Grade to Eighth Grade, one needs to condense twelve inner body spirits.

Five Five Mountains Gods of the inner body spirits, four Four Rivers Water Gods, two Sun and Moon Heavenly Gods, and one Nascent Soul guarding the inner body spirits.

A total of twelve, corresponding to the twelve Earthly Branches.

If one cultivates the Heavenly God branch of Invoker, then they need to condense ten inner body spirits, corresponding to the Heavenly Stems.

If one cultivates the Human-Ghost branch, then they need to condense six, corresponding to the six inner body spirits, which are the 'six gods' referred to in phrases like 'six gods without a master' or 'six gods uneasy'.

The inner body spirits of the Human-Ghost branch have some connection with one of the Daoist sects; the two seem to have aspects of mutual reference, yet they also form their own systems. Li Qi is not very clear about the specifics.

After all, he belongs to the Di Qi (Earthly Qi) branch.

The three branches of Invoker—Heavenly God, Di Qi (Earthly Qi), and Human-Ghost—although they have interconnected parts, they also have many specialized areas. Li Qi found that his textbooks generally didn't cover the specialized aspects of other families.

Presumably, it's copyrighted and not easy to share.

Coming back to the point, Li Qi had originally planned to start condensing from the Five Mountains and Four Rivers, because this would maximize the toughness of his inner body spirits.

However, now he planned to start with the Nascent Soul. If the Nascent Soul was condensed, then these two mouthfuls of Jin Qi should be able to be perfectly utilized, like an arm directing a finger.

The God of Yuan, the character 'Yuan', represents the beginning, for example, 'Qianyuan' means this.

With the Nascent Soul, he would be able to perfectly control these two mouthfuls of Jin Qi. This was something even Jin Buhuan couldn't do; Jin Buhuan had to pay the price of damaging his lung meridians to wield these two things.

But now, with the status and impartiality of his inner body spirits, Li Qi could use these two divine Sharp Weapons without any side effects. Separated, they were mid-Eighth Grade, but combined, they could reach the peak of Eighth Grade. The difference between them was not insignificant.

The gap within the same grade is also incredibly large.

Someone who just entered Ninth Grade, facing someone of Li Qi and Jin Buhuan's level, could probably kill hundreds in two or three minutes without even breaking a sweat.

If he could truly control these two mouthfuls of Jin Qi, Li Qi would even dare to boast that he had reached the peak combat power among Ninth Grade cultivators.

He wouldn't dare to say he was invincible. The world is vast, and there are too many heroes and outstanding figures. He didn't know how many people had powerful trump cards. Li Qi now dared not be as arrogant as he was when he first started out.

The more he knew, the more he felt insignificant.

Jin Buhuan and Si Lao were so arrogant largely because they were illiterate.

While thinking these thoughts, Li Qi controlled the Jin Qi to slice the hard-to-chew items into pieces, then picked them up with chopsticks and put them into his mouth, beginning to eat.

He wondered what Jin Buhuan would think if he saw this.

But just then, the door was suddenly pushed open, accompanied by a sound: "Pfft..."

Li Qi instinctively turned his head to look at the door.

Then he saw a beautiful woman, her delicate hand covering her mouth, probably unable to hold back a soft laugh.

Li Qi glanced at the tiger whip he was chewing, then looked at the woman at the door.

His face instantly darkened.

The beautiful woman stopped laughing and walked forward with a swaying gait: "Sir, you are quite particular about your diet. You must be someone who knows how to maintain your health. My Qingwu Sect also has some secret methods, I wonder if Sir is interested?"

"Senior, please... please don't make fun of me." Li Qi's face was flushed.

To be honest, it was really hard to bear.

"This is human nature, Sir, what is there to be ashamed of? Have you forgotten what business my Qingwu Sect is in?" The beautiful woman smiled and sat down opposite Li Qi.

Li Qi knew who she was.

She was no less beautiful than Qingwu Sect Master Hu Xian'er, but her temperament was completely opposite. If Hu Xian'er was like a secluded fragrant plum, subtly emitting fragrance, this person was a dazzling peony, charming and captivating in every way, with abundant charm and grace.

Her body was like jade, her waist slender as a palace's. Her delicate brows were lightly swept, like distant mountains. Her flowing eyes were charming and alluring, and a phoenix hairpin was tilted in her cloud-like bun.

She was enchantingly beautiful beyond compare, making one want to carefully caress her smooth, delicate skin and bones, to experience what it felt like.

She was the second most important figure in Qingwu Sect, Hu Meier, also a Seventh Grade demon.

Li Qi didn't know what to say. He didn't know whether to swallow the tiger whip in his mouth or what to do, so he just sat awkwardly on the bed.

"Sir is quite grand. These two mouthfuls of Jin Qi can be considered treasures, yet Sir uses them as dining knives. Truly the demeanor of a master." Hu Meier took the initiative to continue the conversation, preventing the atmosphere from becoming awkward.

"They are merely external objects. What's the point of keeping them if not to use them?" Li Qi recovered from his awkwardness, swallowed the tiger whip, and asked, "Senior, why have you come here?"

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