Meeting the Heavenly Demon's Fan (8)

As soon as control over my body returned, the woman unleashed cold energy in all directions. She wasn't using any martial arts. Her inner qi itself carried the nature of ice. It wasn't some artificially created power like the ones before. Was she truly someone born and raised in the Ice Palace? This had become quite troublesome. It seemed I now had one more reason to keep her alive. Of course I knew this girl had no connection to the Ice Palace I remembered, yet the words themselves could never be taken lightly by me.

If I intended to save her, I first had to stop her qi from rampaging. My initial thought had been to seal her dantian, but now that I knew she was a child of the Ice Palace, such a crude measure was out of the question. That left only one option: extract the medicinal energy to prevent the qi from running wild. The problem was that I had no idea what kind of drug the girl had used. I am the Heavenly Demon, not a god. I could not analyze its components simply by looking at it. If I could at least ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠determine whether the drug she had taken was beneficial or harmful, I might be able to choose an appropriate method.

“Harin. You said you had played this game before, correct?”

“About that child. Or rather, do you know anything about the drug she used?”

I hadn’t expected an answer. I had simply spoken while grasping at straws, having nowhere else to turn. Yet the world has a way of flowing in unexpected directions.

Harin’s voice held no hesitation.

“Explain in detail.”

Of course I did. When death was imminent, the dantian would burn one’s life force to generate qi. It was also why killing a skilled martial artist was so difficult. The flame they produced by using their own life as fuel burned incredibly hot.

I had seen my fair share of jiangshi, yet I hadn’t known that. Then again, I had only ever thought about destroying them; I had never tried to understand them. A jiangshi gained near-infinite vitality by rising from death. They could burn their life force without feeling any pain. No wonder their qi never seemed to run dry.

Putting Harin’s words together, it appeared the child of the Ice Palace was gradually turning into a jiangshi. In other words, she was slowly dying.

“Thank you, Harin. That was helpful.”

“I’m going to save that girl.”

I owed far too much karma to the Ice Palace. If I couldn’t save this child, my heart would never be at ease.

“What is it?”

Harin stated that there was no way to subdue the boss of this sector while keeping her alive. The moment the drug entered her system, she was as good as dead. No matter what was done, she would still become a jiangshi. Many players had put their heads together and still found no solution. She repeated the denial with absolute certainty.

So I asked her this:

“When I declared that I would defeat an Outer God, how many people believed me?”

“Just wait and see. There aren’t that many things impossible for me.”

The woman’s eyes, filled with hostility, locked onto me. It seemed our casual conversation had come to an end. I had already roughly figured out the solution. The fact that the final flare was being triggered intentionally meant the drug was acting as a poison. In that case, the story became simple. All I had to do was draw the poison harming her body out of her. After all, I had plenty of experience being poisoned myself.

The poisons carefully prepared by the Tang clan had been so vicious that I had naturally mastered every countermeasure. Later I had even acquired the state of being immune to all poisons, but by then I had already destroyed the Tang clan. So I never actually got to put that particular achievement to use.

The martial arts the woman used were palm techniques. Each time she extended her hand, cold ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠energy shot forth; it appeared to be the Ice Palace’s ultimate skill, the Ice White Divine Palm. That was an art only direct descendants of the Ice Palace could learn. Why would someone like that be conducting research in a place like this?

The Ice White Divine Palm, unleashed with her seemingly limitless qi, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was certainly threatening. The real issue was the woman’s skill level. She was not accustomed to combat. Every single move was so honest it was almost comical. The old man I had met at the Company would have been a better opponent. At least he knew how to fight.

“Why? Why won’t it hit!”

Dodging, deflecting, parrying. Moving in perfect harmony with her attacks felt like dancing. Unfortunately, my dance partner wasn’t very good. A woman who was both clumsy and violent. In that case, making the dance beautiful fell entirely on my shoulders.

Using the ice sheet forming beneath our feet as my stage and her angry shouts as background music, I led her through one move after another with graceful footwork while examining the pressure points inside her body. The poison was discovered soon enough. It had seeped into her middle dantian, lodged near her heart and gnawing away at her life. Perfect. That location would be easy to extract from.

I knocked aside the arm she thrust forward and slipped into her range. There was no need to use a fist strike. All I needed was a shock strong enough to draw the poison out. I placed my fist right in front of her heart and released a burst of internal energy.

The woman staggered backward from the impact and coughed repeatedly. Each time, blood flowed from her mouth. The blood staining her lips was not red, but a distinct shade of purple. It seemed I had succeeded in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠extracting the poison. Once the poison that had been devouring her heart was removed, the artificially induced final flare also stopped. One problem solved.

When I approached, the woman hurriedly tried to use her arts again. However, her body only creaked and refused to move properly. That was only natural. She had pushed her meridians and her body far beyond their limits. It was a miracle she was still alive.

I forced the shouting woman down and used the suction technique to draw out the qi lingering in her dantian. Qi that surpassed the body’s limits became poison, after all. With this, she had been saved. She would need long-term rehabilitation before she could use martial arts again, but that was no longer my concern.

Now then. Time to start asking questions.

When I turned my gaze toward her face, I saw that she had fainted.

“This won’t do at all. I still have more than a couple of things to ask!”

At this rate, it would count as subduing her. The game’s system had no flexibility; it would simply send me to the next area. Wake up already. I just saved your life, so you ought to repay the favor!

I slapped her cheek, but there was no sign of her eyes opening. Unbelievable.

While I was wondering how to wake her, Harin’s cheerful voice rang out.

“…Didn’t I tell you? Did you really not believe me?”

Seeing Harin unable to string her words together properly made me burst into laughter. Well, it was understandable to have doubts. How long had we even known each other? There was no reason for her to place infinite trust in me. On the contrary, I was grateful for her skepticism. I had already had my fill of blind faith back in the martial world.

“Hm? Doesn’t this place automatically transition like the others?”

That meant I could take my time in this area. The fainted woman didn’t look like she would wake up anytime soon, so I decided to search the laboratory for research logs or anything related to the techniques the game’s enemies used, or information about jiangshi.

With Harin’s help, I began searching the lab. We found several research logs during the process, but every single book was written in a bizarre language. The characters were clearly legible, yet I couldn’t understand a single thing. Was it some kind of code? It had to be. Otherwise there was no way the pages would be filled with such incomprehensible words.

I tried my best to decipher the texts, but it only gave me a headache and I gained nothing from it. In the end I gave up on reading the books and obediently followed Harin’s instructions to look for the required item.

That was when I found a familiar phrase.

It had been a long time since I last heard those words. Even after decades, the term “Nine Yin Severed Meridians” immediately brought back old memories. It seemed I still hadn’t forgotten the events of that day. The existence of this document meant they had been researching the Nine Yin Severed Meridians here. But was that even necessary? A condition as rare as Nine Yin Severed Meridians would be nearly impossible to produce meaningful results from.

No. That wasn’t right. Information in games like this was usually foreshadowing. It was safer to assume that someone connected to Nine Yin Severed Meridians would appear later. My thoughts grew tangled.

“Harin. I’m only asking just in case, but…”

Could the root of every misfortune the protagonist of this game suffered be the Ice Palace? Had they committed every atrocity in order to save one person afflicted with Nine Yin Severed Meridians? Was that why the owner of this laboratory was a direct descendant of the Ice Palace?

I had hoped she would say no. Of all things… Old memories rose up and I rubbed my forehead. I knew this Ice Palace was a different place from the one in my memories. There were far more differences than similarities. Yet the weight carried by the name “Ice Palace” was simply too heavy for me to remain resolute.

They wanted me to destroy that place with my own hands? Nonsense. But the game would not consider my circumstances. Before long, a window announcing that all conditions had been met appeared, and the surrounding scenery changed. A wave of dizziness washed over me.