18: Chapter 18 The Wounded

The earth fires of Baicao Pavilion had not been extinguished for a full ten days.

Inside the extraction room, heat rolled in waves, and the pungent medicinal smell was so thick it could not disperse. Dozens of apprentices had bloodshot eyes, mechanically waving the pestles in their hands.

Gu Shen mixed among them, his face haggard as sweat dripped down his chin.

Over these ten days, the overseers of the Blood-Clad Guards grew increasingly strict; the slightest slackness brought a whip imbued with spiritual power. Under the Divine Sense surveillance of the Late-Stage Qi Refining Cultivator, Gu Shen pushed the tactic of keeping a low profile to its absolute limit.

He no longer dared to embezzle wantonly like he did on the first day.

Over the ten days, he only dared to use the Great Furnace with extreme caution during the very brief gaps between the shifts of the Blood-Clad Guards. In total, he only managed to intercept and retain three blobs of red blood essence glue.

Added to the twelve blobs originally in his Storage Ring, there were now a total of fifteen blobs.

"I can no longer steal."

Gu Shen thought to himself. Today, when Manager Wang Tong inspected the raw liquid, he had slightly frowned, complaining that the quality of this batch of red blood vine seemed slightly worse than before. If he extracted more essence, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.

Clang.

The bell for the end of work finally rang.

The apprentices felt immensely relieved and collapsed to the ground one after another. Gu Shen also leaned against an empty vat, closing his eyes to rest, but actually secretly circulating the Longevity Art to recover his physical strength.

Rumble!

Right at this moment, a deafening roar suddenly came from outside, causing even the walls of the Earth Fire Room to shake.

Immediately following were chaotic shouts and painful wails.

"The spirit boats from the front line have retreated!"

"Quick! All apprentices, bring hemostatic powder and Rejuvenation Pills, and go to the front courtyard to help carry the wounded!" Manager Wang Tong rushed into the Earth Fire Room holding a whip, his face pale and his voice trembling.

Gu Shen felt a jolt in his heart and followed the crowd quickly toward the front courtyard.

The moment he stepped out of the back courtyard, a thick, pungent smell of blood hit him directly in the face.

On the wide plaza of the front courtyard, over a hundred Cultivators lay scattered horizontally and vertically. There were Disciples of the Danding Sect, as well as conscripted Loose Cultivators. Severed limbs could be seen everywhere, and wails rose and fell in succession.

On the wounds of many people, wisps of black Evil Qi still lingered—that was the unique method of demonic Cultivators, and ordinary hemostatic powder simply could not seal the wounds.

"Carry the Sect Disciples into the inner hall to be treated personally by Alchemist Chen! Leave the Loose Cultivators in the outer courtyard, distribute Low Grade hemostatic powder and bandages, and let them bandage themselves!" The commander of the Blood-Clad Guards shouted out a cold command.

The distinction of classes was vividly embodied before life and death.

Gu Shen carried a wooden bucket filled with gauze and Low Grade medicinal powder, shuttling among the Loose Cultivators in the outer courtyard.

His techniques were deft, but his eyes were indifferent. As a former corpse collector, he had seen too many such scenes.

Walking to a corner, Gu Shen's steps paused slightly.

An old man in a gray robe leaned against a stone pillar, his right arm severed completely at the root. Black Qi rolled at the wound, and fresh blood gushed out like an unstoppable spring.

Gu Shen had some impression of this old man; he seemed to be a quite famous Loose Cultivator in the Outer City, with Level 5 Qi Refining cultivation.

"Little brother... save, save me..."

The old man grabbed Gu Shen's ankle tightly, his eyes unfocused and his voice hoarse, "This Evil Qi is devouring my vitality, the Low Grade hemostatic powder is useless... Give me High Grade Medicinal Pills, I beg you..."

Gu Shen squatted down and said expressionlessly, "Senior, only the inner hall has High Grade Medicinal Pills, but only Sect Disciples can enter. This humble one is merely an apprentice and is powerless to help."

"No... You understand medical principles, you must have a way..."

The old man panted violently, his trembling hand groping toward his waist to tightly clutch a blood-stained Storage Pouch, "I don't want to die... I have Spirit Stones here, as well as Cultivation Techniques. As long as you can stop the bleeding, I will give them all to you!"

Gu Shen's gaze lingered on that Storage Pouch for a split second.

The surroundings were chaotic, the Blood-Clad Guards were all maintaining order in the inner hall, and the outer courtyard was unsupervised, with only a few apprentices busy in the distance. The dim rainy night happened to block the line of sight.

"Are Senior's words true?"

Gu Shen's voice was lowered to the extreme, as if squeezed out from between his teeth.

A strong desire to survive burst out in the old man's eyes, and he nodded repeatedly, directly shoving the Storage Pouch into Gu Shen's hand while wiping away the Divine Sense imprint on it.

"Take... take it all!"

Gu Shen wasted no words.

Under the cover of his wide sleeve, his Divine Sense probed into the Storage Ring, taking out a porcelain bottle and pouring out two pigeon-egg-sized, ruby-like blobs of red blood essence glue.

"Bear with it."

Gu Shen shaped his fingers like a blade, directly slicing away the rotten flesh at the old man's wound that had been corroded by the Evil Qi, and then fiercely pressed the two blobs of essence glue onto the severed arm.

Hiss——!

The vital essence of the red blood vine, concentrated a hundredfold, erupted instantly.

That pure medicinal power met the black Evil Qi like water meeting fire, producing a violent reaction. However, the grade of the essence glue was too high, and in the blink of an eye, it neutralized and devoured the Evil Qi.

Visible to the naked eye, the bleeding at that terrifying severed wound stopped, and a layer of fine granulation tissue began to frantically wriggle and scab over.

"This... what kind of divine medicine is this?"

The old man gasped, though he was convulsing in pain all over, his eyes lit up. He could clearly feel that the fatal sense of draining had vanished; his life was saved!

Gu Shen did not answer.

He quickly shoved the old man's Storage Pouch into his bosom (actually storing it into the Storage Ring), then grabbed a handful of Low Grade hemostatic powder and sprinkled it haphazardly on the old man's wound, wrapping it tightly with bandages as a cover.

"Senior, rest well."

Having finished all this, Gu Shen picked up the wooden bucket, lowered his head, and melted into the rain curtain without the slightest attachment, as if nothing had just happened.

Deep in the night.

In the corner of the Earth Fire Room, Gu Shen sat cross-legged, his Divine Sense quietly probing into the Storage Ring.

Beginning to tally up this harvest.

Inside that old man's Storage Pouch, there were not many things; obviously, most of his net worth had been consumed on the front line.

First were the Spirit Stones.

A total of twenty-two Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Added to Gu Shen's original three and a half pieces, his total fortune finally became abundant once more, reaching twenty-five and a half Spirit Stones.

Besides Spirit Stones, there were also a few broken Low Grade Magical Artifacts that had lost most of their spirituality. Gu Shen directly controlled the Great Furnace with his mind, refining them all into a piece of pure refined iron ingot for future emergencies.

Finally, there were two Jade Slips.

One was Landscape Topographical Map recording the local customs and practices of the Great Yu Cultivation World; a rough glance showed it was of little use.

The other was an incomplete Spell.

Soul-Shocking Spike.

Gu Shen's Divine Sense probed in, reading carefully. After a long while, he opened his eyes, and under the dim light, a trace of undisguised wild joy flashed within them.

It was truly sending a pillow when one was sleepy!

This Soul-Shocking Spike was precisely an extremely unorthodox Divine Sense attack method!

This method did not cultivate magic power, focusing solely on Divine Sense. It compressed one's own Divine Sense into an invisible spike, instantly piercing into the enemy's Sea of Consciousness. If the opponent's Divine Sense was weaker than one's own, light cases would result in instant distraction, while heavy cases would damage the Sea of Consciousness, turning them into an idiot.

"No wonder that old man was able to escape alive from the hands of the demonic Cultivators; mostly likely, he relied on this sinister Spell."

Gu Shen understood clearly in his heart.

Although this Spell was powerful, it also had a fatal flaw. If the enemy's Divine Sense was stronger than his own, once a backlash occurred, he himself would become an idiot. Therefore, ordinary Cultivators simply did not dare to use it randomly.

But Gu Shen was different.

Although his cultivation was only Qi Refining Stage 4, his Divine Sense, from the very beginning under the day-and-night tempering of the Heaven and Earth Furnace, far exceeded those of the same tier. Coupled with repeatedly consuming High Grade essence white dew, his Divine Sense strength was probably already able to rival Cultivators at the Peak of Qi Refinement Level 6!

More importantly.

He had encountered the Corpse Infant that understood mental attacks in that ancient ruin. Physical defense was ineffective against those monsters, and this Soul-Shocking Spike was practically a weapon tailored for his next exploration of the ruins.

"Trading two blobs of red blood essence glue for this life-saving divine skill is a huge profit."

Gu Shen forcefully suppressed the excitement in his heart and put away the Jade Slip.

At this moment, thirteen blobs of red blood essence glue remained in the Storage Ring, which was also his capital for settling down and making a living in the future.

"When this wave of trouble passes, I will master this Soul-Shocking Spike."

Gu Shen closed his eyes, thought no more, and guarded his oneness.

Outside the window, wind and rain rocked the world, and the wails within the market resounded throughout the entire night.