Chapter 179: Unknown Surroundings (1/2)

It was not like the fourth zone where everything was large. She passed some rivers and ponds but it was nothing like the third zone. It could not be the second or first zone for the atmosphere here was tense, not eerie. In fact, she felt pressure. Everything here exuded power and it felt slightly suffocating. Being heavily injured made it even worse to bear.

With that building ahead of her, Ming Yue began to suspect that she was in the Fifth Zone and what was ahead of her must be the final pavilion.

It was that or the crow had taken her somewhere outside of the garden. Either way, she was stranded.

It wasn't until she reached the building before her that she could relax and recover. Afterwards she would attempt to deduce her exact location. It was different from the others, it was more of a mansion than a castle. Scanning the area, she noticed something of a garden behind it. Next to that garden was a simple cottage.

Not giving much thought, she entered the cottage. It was close to the garden and didn't seem as troublesome as the actual pavilion.

The cottage was small but well maintained. Everything was in one room. There was a full set of furniture, a fireplace, a desk with multiple books on top. On both sides of the desk were worktables, full of strange and peculiar equipment. She went towards the desk and pulled the chair out. Her wound was still bleeding profusely as she took her hand away to examine the wound.

With her cultivation, that wound would have begun to heal but instead it grew worse.

A hole that pieced through her stomach yet narrowly missed her innards. Rather it struck through her muscles from the front to the back, leaving a clear hole for one to see through.

Looking at it, she noticed splotches of black ink still present inside that hole.

”How terrifying!” she thought.

To think that the ink of the Luminous Ink Crow would cling to her wound like this. It was like a barbed arrow that someone pulled out of her. The ink continued to cut through her wound, slowly expanding it.

”I have to get rid of it!”

She went down on the floor and crossed her legs. Beginning to meditate, she cycled her energy and began to cleanse her body of this blight. As her energy tackled the black ink, the ink began to steam and dissipate. But the process of was long and difficult, the ink was full of energy despite being separated from the crow's body. She had to endure the sharp pain of the ink digging into her flesh.

It wasn't until the next sun rose up that she had expelled all of it and the wound had stopped bleeding.

Her body was covered in sweat and the wound slowly shrunk. In the end, the hole that once went through her body was no more. However, she could not prevent scarring and now the lower part of her stomach and back had scars an inch wide. They weren't difficult to hide under her clothes but they were visible on her bare body. She wasn't very bothered by it and continued on to her recovery.

Being heavily injured within the span of ten days is bound to have some hidden damage. If it wasn't properly dealt with, it could harm her in the coming years. She took advantage of the garden as well as the other resources here.

At the same time, she was amazed at the vastness of the garden. It was several acres in size and absolutely filled with medical plants, from the most common to things she thought were extinct. Taking what she needed, she spotted a large tub behind the cottage. Luckily, the tub was made of metal and made it easier for her to just dump everything in and boil the water, like a large pot of soup. Dumping in the medicinal ingredients and water she took from a nearby stream, she created a medicinal bath.

This was a relatively common recipe that she learned from Elder Hua though the things used were of a much higher age and quality.

She stirred it around with her scabbard and watched it go from clear to milky. It had become slightly thick and produced a smell similar to finely brewed tea, bittersweet and gentle. After an hour, it was completed and the bath had cooled down to a comfortable temperature. She undressed herself and dipped inside the tub.