Ch 381: The Alchemist Woman
Liu Ke brandished the hilt of his sword, using all his strength to strike at the Nuhu with a fierce blow.
Surprisingly, this single strike easily killed the Nuhu.
Liu Ke mused to himself, wondering if his Boundless Mysterious Annihilation was too powerful, or if the Nuhu had become weak during the battle. However, before he could think it over, he suddenly felt his power draining away, disappearing without a trace.
The sword in his hand became abnormally heavy, as if weighing a thousand pounds. Liu Ke struggled to grip the hilt, but could no longer bear the weight, and finally had to let go, the sword falling heavily to the ground with a clear clang.
At the same time, Liu Ke’s body felt enveloped by an invisible weight. Sweat poured from him, instantly soaking his clothing.
He felt his clothing become incredibly heavy, as if a thousand-pound burden was pressing down on him.
Enduring this indescribable discomfort, Liu Ke quickly removed his clothing.
However, this didn’t ease him much; he still felt unusually heavy, as if every action required immense stamina.
Liu Ke lay weakly on the ground, gasping for breath. He knew that for the next two days, even lifting anything heavier than five pounds would likely be a hopeless endeavor.
After a long while, Liu Ke slowly got up from the ground. His legs were weak, and his body swayed, but he still managed to stand firm.
“Mantis… I…” Liu Ke muttered to himself, only then realizing that his mantis seemed to have disappeared.
At that moment, Xu Liang’s consciousness gradually returned. He looked around in bewilderment, and when his gaze fell upon Nanqing Mountain, split in two, he was clearly startled.
He saw his sword case was still there, but not far away, Liu Ke was gasping for breath, having taken off his clothes, with sweat continuously flowing down his body.
Xu Liang was startled and hurriedly asked, “Liu Ke, what happened to you?”
Liu Ke weakly said, “I used Boundless Mysterious Annihilation to kill the Nuhu, but afterward my strength was completely drained. Also, my mantis is gone. My Boundless Mysterious Annihilation is incredibly powerful, but it has huge side effects.”
“I can guess; after all, you used the Power of the Gods.”
Liu Ke and Xu Liang looked in astonishment at the scene before them: a huge alchemy furnace appeared before them, and beside the furnace stood a woman dressed in thin clothing, her hair disheveled. Her eyes were somewhat deranged, revealing an unsettling atmosphere.
At this moment, the entire Nanqing Mountain had been split in two by Liu Ke. They were somewhat relieved she wasn’t dead. Their gazes locked onto That Woman, secretly guessing that, if they weren’t mistaken, she should be the Dan Family member that Kong Yunzi had captured.
The woman slowly took a blackened pill from the furnace. The pill looked strange, seeming to emanate a dark atmosphere. However, strangely, she didn’t swallow the pill, but stared at it intently, a crazed smile on her face.
Suddenly, as if touched by something, the woman began to cry loudly. The cries echoed in the empty mountains, involuntarily eliciting pity.
Liu Ke and Xu Liang exchanged glances, both thinking that That Woman had probably been driven mad by Kong Yunzi’s torment. Just then, a flame suddenly ignited in That Dan Family member’s hand, and she began to dance in place.
Her dance was strange and frantic, crying and laughing at times, completely immersed in her own world. Liu Ke and Xu Liang stood there, somewhat at a loss.
After a long while, the woman’s dance finally stopped. She murmured, “The Pill is complete, the Pill is complete…” Her voice revealed an irrepressible excitement.
Liu Ke and Xu Liang cautiously approached That Woman, but Liu Ke stayed behind Xu Liang. After all, his current physical condition was extremely poor; he couldn’t even beat a chicken.
He could only hope that That Woman wouldn’t attack them, and even if she did, Xu Liang’s strength should be able to handle it.
The woman seemed completely unaware of Liu Ke and Xu Liang’s approach, only spinning in place with the blackened pill in her hands, repeatedly muttering, “The Pill is complete… Father will praise me… Kong Yunzi? No, he’s a swindler!”
She suddenly stopped, and violently struck the pill against the alchemy furnace. The pill shattered, and black powder fell down, burning tiny black holes in the furnace wall.
Liu Ke and Xu Liang were both shocked; the pill’s corrosiveness was incredibly strange.
“Swindler! You all deceived me!”
The woman suddenly screamed, grabbing the tongs beside the furnace and smashing it against the furnace. “What about refining oneself into a pill to save Father? It’s all lies! I refined ‘Heart-Eating,’ but I couldn’t save Father’s life!”
The tongs struck the furnace, producing a deafening roar, but she seemed not to hear, her hands randomly groping at the bottom of the furnace, her fingernails burned black by the scorching hot walls, completely unnoticed.
Suddenly, she touched something cold, and violently pulled it out—it was a broken half of a jade hairpin, with a blurry “Dan” character carved on the head.
“Father…”
Her crying suddenly softened. Holding the hairpin, she crouched on the ground, her shoulders shaking violently, “They refined you into a medicinal ingredient… I saw it… in that old guy’s alchemy formula…”
Xu Liang was about to speak, when he saw the woman suddenly look up, her eyes bloodshot as she stared at them, “You’re also here to steal the pill? Like Kong Yunzi?”
She suddenly grabbed the black powder on the ground and threw it into the air. The powder met the wind and transformed into countless tiny black insects, buzzing toward the two of them.
“Careful!”
Xu Liang opened his sword case and drew a sword, sweeping the Sword Qi to cut the insects into dust. But the powder, after falling to the ground, recombined, and even crawled up his sword blade toward his hand.
Although Liu Ke was weak, he had a sudden inspiration: “That alchemy furnace! Her power comes from the alchemy furnace!”
Hearing this, the woman’s face changed drastically. She frantically rushed towards the alchemy furnace: “Don’t touch my furnace! It’s what Father left me!”
She opened her arms to protect the furnace, as if it were the only support in the world, but a trace of clarity flashed in her eyes.
“You… help me burn it, okay? Burn this harmful thing…”
Before she finished speaking, she suddenly coughed violently, black foam spilling from her lips.
The crushed pill powder had seeped into her skin through her fingertips, leaving behind hideous black marks.
Xu Liang looked at Liu Ke, who nodded, then sheathed his sword and stepped forward, “We’re not here to steal things. Kong Yunzi is dead.”
The woman froze, murmuring, “Dead? Then what’s the use of me refining this pill…” She looked down at her hand covered in black marks, and suddenly let out a shrill laugh, the laughter echoing in the split valley, making one’s scalp tingle.
