Chapter 10: 第十章 血洒一地

“Goodness, I say, hurry up and speak! Since when did you become so dawdling and fussy, just like a woman!

Who exactly is this person? How tall are they? Are they fat or thin? What kind of martial arts style and school do they belong to? Hurry up and tell me, so I can help you analyze it!”

Luo Qingyun was getting a bit anxious.

What was wrong with Wuchen today? Why had he become so nagging and pedantic? This didn't seem like his usual self—the calm, composed, and meticulous man he typically was.

“Just stop asking,” Xuan Yuanwuchen said gloomily.

His thick sword-like eyebrows were furrowed deeply, and his eyes were filled with profound helplessness, anger, and frustration. His handsome, well-defined lips were pressed tightly together due to his rage.

The hands he had just raised to circulate his energy and regulate his breathing were now placed at his sides, his fists clenched tight as he struggled to endure and suppress his emotions.

The white-clad young master, Luo Qingyun, also sensed that something was abnormal with Xuan Yuanwuchen.

No matter how he looked at it, he felt that Xuan Yuanwuchen was acting a bit strange today.

Looking at Xuan Yuanwuchen, Luo Qingyun felt that his current emotions were not particularly stable.

Therefore, Luo Qingyun decided to let Xuan Yuanwuchen calm down first. Moreover, Xuan Yuanwuchen needed to properly regulate his internal energy now so that the medicinal effects of the Soul-Returning Grass could take effect as quickly as possible.

Seeing that Xuan Yuanwuchen truly did not want to continue this topic, Luo Qingyun let it be.

Standing up, Luo Qingyun walked toward the medicine rack behind him.

This was the only medicine rack in this secret chamber that had not been overturned.

On it were several types of very precious and rare medicines that could play a critical role in moments of crisis.

Luo Qingyun knew that there was a specific herb on this rack that was the most important and hardest to find for making Blood-Clearing Pills.

Just now, Xuan Yuanwuchen had said he had only eaten half a stalk of the Soul-Returning Grass, so the medicinal effect would be halved.

Originally, he had planned to rely on this hard-won Soul-Returning Grass to prevent his poison from erupting for half a year, allowing him to practice a special martial art during that time.

This special martial art was called "Blood Splattered on the Ground."

Although the name sounded somewhat bloody and terrifying, its efficacy made it a secret manual that all martial arts masters and low-level practitioners alike would scramble for, even at the cost of their lives.

The reason was simple.

As long as the person practicing this technique could succeed within half a year, they would obtain an unexpected reward.

That was a complete transformation of their body, blood, and meridians.

However, there was one requirement for practicing this technique: there could not be a single day of interruption within those six months.

Three years ago, although Luo Qingyun had saved Xuan Yuanwuchen from certain death at a critical moment and developed a special pill to suppress the onset of the poison, it could only suppress the toxicity for ten days.

Consequently, Xuan Yuanwuchen's poison would erupt every ten days, and these pills could only work when the virulent poison was actively acting up.

Furthermore, after every outbreak of the toxicity, Xuan Yuanwuchen would be unable to use his internal energy for one day; this could be considered a side effect of the pill.

Thus, this Soul-Returning Grass would not only protect Xuan Yuanwuchen from the pain of the poison erupting for half a year, but more importantly, if he had this half-year window, he could practice "Blood Splattered on the Ground."

"Blood Splattered on the Ground" had extremely high requirements for the practitioner.

It required the practitioner to have over forty years of internal energy, unwavering perseverance, and the ability to endure extreme pain.

This was because the further one progressed in this technique, the more the practitioner would feel unbearable pain throughout their entire body.

If one could not persist, all previous efforts would be in vain, and their martial arts would be completely lost.

Although Xuan Yuanwuchen was only twenty years old this year, he was a disciple of the reclusive master Old Man Xian and had inherited all of his teachings; his internal strength was unparalleled.

When Xuan Yuanwuchen finished his training and descended the mountain at the age of fifteen, Old Man Xian gave him a black medicinal pill, repeatedly instructing him that he must find a quiet, secluded place where he would not be disturbed before swallowing it.

It turned out to be a rare pill that increased internal energy.

Old Man Xian knew that after descending the mountain, Xuan Yuanwuchen would lead troops into battle and face many battlefields, meaning he would frequently find himself in peril.

Blades and swords have no eyes; to give his only beloved disciple more chances to survive, Old Man Xian had given him a pill he had cherished for many years.

Unexpectedly, this single pill increased Xuan Yuanwuchen's internal energy to forty-five years.

However, there was a small interlude in this matter.

When Xuan Yuanwuchen had swallowed the pill and digested its medicinal power, he had walked out of that secluded cave with disheveled hair and tattered clothes, feeling light as a feather, as if his entire body contained infinite strength.

But just as Xuan Yuanwuchen was about to enjoy himself, he suddenly felt a blockage in his chest, and a mouthful of hot blood sprayed from his mouth.

As the bright red blood splattered before his eyes, he uttered a single sentence

"Master, I was wrong."

Then, he fainted in the dense forest in front of the cave entrance.

He remained unconscious and asleep at the entrance of that cave in the forest for a full three days before he slowly woke up.

Xuan Yuanwuchen had not dared to mention this incident to his master, Old Man Xian.

Because when he gave him the medicine, Old Man Xian had very solemnly told him that after the medicinal effects were fully absorbed, he must not rush to circulate his energy; he must sit quietly for seven days and allow his internal energy to circulate through his extraordinary meridians seventy-seven to forty-nine times before he could practice his arts.

As it turned out, Xuan Yuanwuchen had forgotten this long ago. As soon as the medicinal effects were absorbed, he had excitedly used his lightness skill to fly out of the cave.

It had taken him a full half-year of recuperation to heal his injured meridians.

As Luo Qingyun searched the medicine rack for the herbs he needed, he thought about the past that Xuan Yuanwuchen had mentioned to him once after they had shared a drunken secret meeting, and a smile played upon his lips.

Suddenly, Luo Qingyun's hand searching the herbs paused.

"Eh? What is this?"

Following a voice of confusion, a golden hairpin shimmering brilliantly under the candlelight appeared in Luo Qingyun's hand.

Turning his body, Luo Qingyun glanced sideways at Xuan Yuanwuchen, who was sitting on the ground resting.

At the same time, he reached out and held the golden hairpin he had just found hidden among the herbs in front of him.

"Wuchen, can you explain to me why there is a woman's golden hairpin in this medicinal secret chamber? Hmm?"

Luo Qingyun's voice, somewhat teasing and mocking, reached Xuan Yuanwuchen's ears.

The implication of those words was

*Well, well, you brat, you actually brought a woman to mess around in your secret medicine storage room! Hurry up and explain yourself!*

Looking at the golden hairpin in Luo Qingyun's hand, Xuan Yuanwuchen froze!

A golden hairpin? What golden hairpin? How could there be a golden hairpin in his secret chamber?

Looking at the hairpin in Luo Qingyun's hand, Xuan Yuanwuchen had a look of utter bewilderment on his face.

Luo Qingyun, who had been looking at Xuan Yuanwuchen with a wicked grin, also froze when he saw Xuan Yuanwuchen's expression.