Chapter 35: Speaking p1
A huge vortex suddenly appeared and swept Ji Zhu in. The high-speed rotating vortex directly made Ji Zhu dizzy, and the tearing force made her body ache faintly.
Jiang Bai’s face changed drastically when she saw this situation. Without even thinking, she jumped in after her, wanting to grab the only small patch of platinum-gold in the black vortex.
“A-Bai!”
“Young Sect Master!”
Qiong Yin and the others’ faces were extremely ugly, but they also understood that this was not the time for them to follow. They bit their lips slightly, their faces cold as they stared at the fish-bodied, snake-tailed thing in front of them. They mobilized all the spiritual energy in their bodies to attack it, hoping to attract its attention as much as possible, instead of having it enter the water to chase after Jiang Bai and the others.
“A Hujiao!” Xia Ye said in a deep voice. (T/N: Hujia – “tiger jiao” are described as creatures with a body like a fish and a tail like a snake)
Hearing Xia Ye’s words, Qiong Yin immediately recalled the description in the medical book, and that the Hujiao could cure diseases like abscesses.
None of them had expected that such a huge Hujiao could be so agile as to break through the ice and come ashore.
“Is that Jiang Bai crazy?” Wei Yan couldn’t hold back his gentle and elegant mask for a moment and shouted in disbelief.
With such a powerful vortex, it was undoubtedly extremely difficult to break out. And if they couldn’t get out, it was unknown where they would be taken. To put herself in such a dangerous situation for a cat that was practically useless was simply foolish!
Changsun Qiyu looked at the black vortex thoughtfully, ignoring Wei Yan’s words. She summoned her spiritual weapon and flew to Qiong Yin and the others’ side, joining them in dealing with this Hujiao.
However, the Hujiao’s strength was not something they could deal with. Their attacks on the Hujiao didn’t even leave a white mark, and instead, they successfully angered the Hujiao.
The other people of the Immortal Sword Sect’s faces were very ugly. Among their group, the one with the highest strength was Jiang Bai. But Jiang Bai had directly abandoned them here for a cat. This was no different from putting them to death!
“Retreat quickly! It’s about to get angry!” Wei Yan’s face changed drastically.
The Hujiao’s strength had already reached the Soul Transformation stage. It could easily crush them!
Qiong Yin naturally knew this, but looking at the vortex that had not moved for a long time, a look of hesitation and struggle appeared on her face.
“Miss Qiong Yin, let’s retreat first. I’ll come back with you to check later,” Changsun Qiyu’s face turned pale. The shield she had propped up in front of everyone suddenly collapsed under the Hujiao’s attack, and the backlash caused her qi and blood to churn.
“Go!” Qiong Yin bit her lip slightly, supported Changsun Qiyu with one hand, and quickly led her away, while defending against the Hujiao’s attacks.
However, with the strength of the Soul Transformation stage, how could they escape just because they wanted to? A huge roar resounded through the heavens and the earth. The extremely aggressive sound wave in it made their ears instantly bleed, and the blood dripped onto the ice, a striking crimson.
“It’s too late!”
Xia Ye gritted her teeth, threw a scroll at Wei Yan and the others, and then took out a scroll herself. A dazzling white light enveloped the nearby Hehuan Sect members, along with Changsun Qiyu, who was being supported by Qiong Yin, and they instantly disappeared from the spot.
Wei Yan and the others on the other side couldn’t be bothered that their Senior Sister had been taken away. They quickly used the teleportation scroll to escape from the scene.
At this moment, they had a more concrete understanding of the strength of the Soul Transformation stage. Their proud talent, before they had grown up, was just so weak that they had to flee in a panic with a wave of a hand.
**
Jiang Bai jumped into the vortex and held Ji Zhu tightly in her arms. A thick spiritual energy surrounded her, but the huge tearing force of the vortex consumed her spiritual energy extremely quickly. What made her even more panicked was the motionless little cat in her arms, which made her heart sink to the bottom.
However, now was not the time to check on Ji Zhu’s condition. She could only do her best to protect them from being crushed by the vortex. As for where they would go, that was unknown.
Her whole body was cold. The little spiritual energy she had left was tightly wrapped around Ji Zhu in her arms, while she herself was completely exposed to the tearing of the vortex, letting the cold seawater rush at her!
Jiang Bai directly took out a handful of spirit-recovering pills and stuffed them into her mouth with the bone-chilling seawater. She tried hard to mobilize the spiritual energy in her body to gain control, but this vortex was very strange. It would quickly dissolve her spiritual energy, forcing her to break through her potential to a greater extent and speed up the conversion of spiritual energy.
Jiang Bai’s face was ugly, and the heat in her blood was getting higher and higher. Her body gradually became hot. And at this very moment, her heat poison had acted up!
Just as she was being tortured by the heat poison to the point where the veins on her forehead were bulging, a gentle, faint green light enveloped them, and the force that had almost drained her spiritual energy was also blocked out. Jiang Bai couldn’t be bothered that her whole body was burning with pain. Taking advantage of this accident, she quickly checked on Ji Zhu’s condition.
Ji Zhu’s whole body was soaked with the cold seawater, her fur sticking tightly to her body. Without her fluffy, dry fur, she suddenly looked much thinner and weaker, and her body was already faintly stiff.
Jiang Bai’s face changed. She quickly and randomly stuffed several pills into Ji Zhu’s mouth, and the little spiritual energy she had left poured into Ji Zhu’s body to help her refine the medicinal properties, trying to wake her up bit by bit.
She didn’t know which of the pile of pills had worked. The originally cold and stiff body gradually became soft, and there was a light breathing sound from her nose. Jiang Bai’s tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and she could no longer hold on and fainted.
Even in her unconscious state, she instinctively held Ji Zhu tightly in her arms, completely unaware that after she had fainted, the green spiritual energy had wrapped them and was heading towards the center of the vortex. A dazzling green light burst out from the spiritual shield, and the originally raging and violent vortex actually began to show signs of easing, and finally, it completely calmed down as if it had never appeared.
**
Ji Zhu felt that she had had a long dream. In the dream, she was brought back to the Hehuan Sect by the enchantress, and then in the next moment, she was living alone in an endless darkness, empty, with only herself. When she slowly woke up, she even sighed with melancholy.
How much did she want to become the enchantress’s spirit pet? In her dream, she was her master!
Ji Zhu shivered and came back to her senses. She quickly checked her surroundings. She remembered that she had been swept away by a vortex.
When she saw the enchantress curled up on the ground, her whole body flushed red, her originally enchanting and bewitching face with bulging veins, and cold sweat soaking her temples and sticking to her face, her messy, ferocious, yet weak appearance directly shocked Ji Zhu to the point of jumping up.
She didn’t even have to guess to know that the enchantress’s heat poison had acted up. For a time, she was so angry that she stomped her feet on the spot, almost crying.
They had already entered the mystic realm and were about to find the residence of the great alchemy master and get the Blood-Cleansing Pill. Why did it have to act up at this critical moment!
She raised her paw, wanting to wipe the cold sweat from her face with her fur. Seeing that her paw was not very useful, she directly put her head over and rubbed it randomly on Jiang Bai’s face, calling out anxiously, wanting her to be a little more clear-headed.
“Little one, who is she to you that you’re so anxious about her?”
A gentle, smiling female voice suddenly sounded. The voice had a very clear and peaceful power that could slightly calm Ji Zhu’s anxious emotions and make her less anxious.
Ji Zhu was startled and quickly looked up to carefully examine her surroundings. It was a white, very simple and unadorned ice cave. Many compartments had been carved out of the walls, and inside were many jade slips, as well as many bottles and jars. In the middle of the ice cave was a tall ice sculpture of a woman, her eyes slightly lowered, as if she were a compassionate god or Buddha.
Ji Zhu was completely bewildered. She had no idea how she and Jiang Bai had come to this place, and where this was.
“Little one, you haven’t answered my question yet.”
“Meow?” Ji Zhu called out tentatively.
The female voice seemed to be choked by her meow. There was a silence of two or three seconds, and then a faint green light suddenly entered her forehead. Just as Ji Zhu thought she was about to die, she only felt a cool spiritual energy instantly circulate throughout her body. Before her body could instinctively reject it, the green spiritual energy came out from her forehead again.
“Eh?” The female voice was a little surprised. “How is your aptitude so poor?”
Ji Zhu was choked by her words and couldn’t say a single word.
How can everyone see that my aptitude is poor!
And this aptitude was piled up by Jiang Bai with a lot of things!
Soon, the female voice seemed to feel that her words had hurt the cat’s self-esteem and said comfortingly, “But it’s not bad. A fire and wood dual-spiritual root, a good seedling for alchemy.”
Ji Zhu was slightly surprised. She could tell what my attributes were just by circulating spiritual energy in my body?
Another, more concentrated green spiritual energy enveloped her. Ji Zhu only felt that some acupoint in her body had been opened up, and her originally somewhat tired body was instantly filled with strength, and even her body felt much lighter.
The female voice was much weaker, but her words still contained a smile. “Try to speak.”
Hmm?
I can speak?
Ji Zhu was bewildered. She tentatively and softly said, “Who are you?”
As soon as she said it, Ji Zhu was completely bewildered. Whose milky, soft voice is this? It sounds like a little kid who hasn’t grown up!
Wait…
Ji Zhu calculated for a moment. According to this cat’s body, she really… hadn’t grown up…
So I can really speak?!
Ji Zhu was instantly so dizzy from this surprise that she was about to faint. She looked up at the tall ice sculpture. “Senior, you are really a good person!”
The woman snorted lightly. “You only know to call me senior now?”
Ji Zhu chuckled, then rubbed against Jiang Bai’s hot body and said worriedly, “Senior, is there any way to save her? She’s so uncomfortable like this…”
The more she spoke, the more her nose became stuffy. Seeing the enchantress curled up on the ground in such pain, she would rather see the enchantress teasing her mischievously.
“Your master?”
“Mm-hmm!” Ji Zhu quickly replied. “Senior, is there any way?”
This milky, soft little voice, soft and full of pleading, made one’s heart soften.
“I can help her,” a faint green phantom suddenly appeared in front of Ji Zhu. It could be vaguely seen that it was a very beautiful woman, her body like a green bamboo, her every move carrying a sense of freedom.
“But you have to stay here and wait with me for the right fated person to arrive.”
“Huh?”
Ji Zhu was bewildered. She turned her head to look at this cold ice cave. She had to stay here with a phantom? Although this phantom could help the enchantress get rid of this pain, they could also solve this predicament by finding the Blood-Cleansing Pill. There was no need to sacrifice herself here, right?
“Senior, I’m afraid I can’t obey.”
Jiang Bai’s body suddenly moved. She slowly and with great difficulty got up, pulled the bewildered Ji Zhu over to protect her in her arms. Although her whole person seemed to have collapsed, her gaze was still fixed on the phantom.
“This is just a delicate little glutton. It’s probably not good for her to stay with senior.”
“And she’s mine. No one can take her away!”
Although she was very weak, the last sentence revealed an inexplicable ferocity, as if if someone really dared to do that, she would fight to the death to kill them!
The phantom suddenly let out a low laugh, her tone appreciative. “You woke up so quickly. I thought it would take a while longer.”
Jiang Bai tried hard to control her breathing so that she would not appear so pathetic and weak, her gaze quietly looking at the phantom.
“The heat poison from the womb, if you want to solve it, I’m afraid it won’t work without a Blood-Cleansing Pill. Even so, you’re not willing to leave her here?”
Jiang Bai’s arms tightened, and her face turned cold. “I’m not willing. It’s just a little heat poison.”
She had endured it for so many years. So what if she continued to endure it?
“Ugh… you’re too rough, I’m going to suffocate,” Ji Zhu quickly reminded her. Why is this enchantress’s hand so rough?
Jiang Bai’s hand subconsciously loosened, and then she realized what had happened. She quickly looked down at Ji Zhu in her arms and said in surprise, “You can speak?”
“Hmm~” Ji Zhu proudly lifted her head. But after being proud, she used her fur to wipe the sweat from Jiang Bai’s face and said in a soft and gentle voice, “It was senior who helped.”
Jiang Bai’s face became much more serious. She forced her body to bend down and bow to the phantom. “Junior thanks senior here. If senior needs anything, please feel free to ask. But junior cannot agree to leave the little cat here.”
