Chapter 417 - Halfway Mortal Cleansing (1/2)

”Ah, I'm sorry,” the princess immediately apologized. ”Let's go in quick.”

She opened the door and entered. Fu Wen smiled and showed Ma Rong and Alex the way inside. Even as they went inside, Alex looked towards the guard, but the guard wouldn't turn to look at him at all.

Comparing her to the woman in red robes— the difference was truly immense.

Alex ignored her for the moment and walked in. The people in front of him stepped aside and went around a bed to show a woman with very black skin on the bed.

Alex knew that woman quite well. After all, he had spent the 3 days in a caravan in the same carriage as her. 'The princess' mother? No… that was probably a lie too. This woman is not the empress I saw that day,' Alex thought.

”Sect leader Ma, this is my mother,” Fu Wen said, lifting up the veil of confusion from Alex's mind. ”It has been a few months since she has been in this condition and I was hoping you would know something about it.”

”Um… City Lord Fu, if this is your mother then… you should have already asked senior Lai, right?” Ma Rong asked.

”Yes, we did. But he couldn't come up with anything either,” Fu Wen said as he shook his head.

”Then, I'm afraid I might not be able to do much either,” Ma Rong said.

”To be honest, we aren't expecting any result from letting you check up on her, Sect Leader Ma,” the princess said. ”Our expectations will be very low from the very beginning, so freely check her without any worries.”

The princess moved to the side and let Ma Rong check her.

Ma Rong went up to the sleeping woman and was slightly shocked at how black her skin was. There was nobody so black in the entirety of the Crimson Empire. She checked her wrist, temperature, breathing, eye responses, and anything else she could.

She checked for quite a while and noticed two things that were very unusual to a human body.

First, her skin was fully black. While Ma Rong had heard about such people existing, she knew for sure that the Emperor's sister-in-law was not one with such skin. So, the black in her skin was fully unnatural.

Secondly, her body was very hot, to the point that Ma Rong thought she had a fever.

She continued checking to learn more about her.

”Hm, she isn't exuding any cultivation aura at all. Do any of you know what her cultivation base is?” Ma Rong asked.

”Hm. Wuying, do you remember?” Fu Wen asked.

”Um, I think it should be somewhere between the 2nd True Emperor realm and 4th True Emperor realm. Aunt had already reached that stage when she went on the expedition to the southern forest a few years ago,” Fu Wuying said.

True Emperor realm— Alex was shocked to hear that. Even his master was in True King realm. 'How talented must she have been to reach True Emperor realm at such a young age,' he thought as he looked at her face.

”Senior Lai already figured out this part right?” Ma Rong said.

Fu Wen's eyebrows suddenly perked up. ”Yes, we sort of know the cause of her problem already. I was just wondering if you could find it out as well so that we know if you two are figuring out the same thing,” he said.

”I think I have an idea as to what is happening,” Ma Rong said. ”Her body was for some reason stuck in the middle of mortal cleansing, wasn't it? The filth that should have been removed fully was stuck halfway on her skin and thus turning it black. Her filth from the meridians must also be stuck inside it since it was only removed halfway.”

Fu Wen was surprised when he heard her explanation and said with wide eyes, ”Yes. That's exactly the reasoning the Royal Alchemist gave too,” he said with a smile.

Ma Rong nodded when she heard that. ”Well, Senior Lai must've been faster than me though,” Ma Rong said.

”Don't sell yourself short, Sect Leader Ma,” Fu Wen said. ”So, do you know what we can do?”

”Before that, how did she go through Mortal Cleansing, but only halfway? Did she… find a Divine Devil's fruit?” Ma Rong asked.

”Yes, She did,” the princess answered. ”When returning from her expedition to the southern forest, she apparently found a Divine Devil's fruit. Only… it wasn't ripe, and would need another few hundred years to fully ripen.”

”I guess… she believed she didn't have to wait that long and ate it right there.”

Ma Rong shook her head. ”The only way I can think of healing her is to continue her Mortal Cleansing,” Ma Rong said. ”But that is impossible.”

”Sigh, you're right. Senior Lai said the same thing,” the princess said. ”He is constantly searching for ways to make pills that can induce Mortal Cleansing, but as you said, that's impossible.”

”Still, can you give it a try, Sect Leader Ma?” Fu Wen asked.

”I… I will see what I can do,” Ma Rong said.

”Master…” Alex called her from behind. ”Will getting the black stuff off of her skin help at all?”

”Hmm… I don't know. It would certainly be a good idea to start with that,” Ma Rong said. ”However, the main problem should be the filth stuck around her brain and meridians.”

Alex thought for a second and took out a pill before handing it to Ma Rong. ”Master, what about this pill?” he asked. He successively handed her the recipe for the pill as well.

”Sweating pill? You made this?” Ma Rong asked.

”Yeah, it's one of the more useful, but still useless pills I made. It opens the sweat glands on your skin and makes you sweat buckets load of sweat. I wondered that if we fed this to her, won't she sweat away all the filth?” he asked.