Lu Zheng was dumbfounded.
However, sensing the faint trace of demonic aura mixed with the bloody scent of the liquid in the pottery bowl…
This really was the blood of that large rooster!
They actually killed it!
My goodness! Did you not buy this large rooster for cockfighting?
“Good! Good!” Old Master Wang looked at the pottery bowl on the wooden tray. “With this bowl of blood, Xiao Wan might be able to return to normal for a month!”
A glimmer of hope flashed in the old servant’s eyes, but he could not help asking, “Master, if the young miss can return to normal, why not take her to White Cloud Temple to have a look?”
“No, she cannot go!”
Old Master Wang declared firmly. “What if the Taoist priests at White Cloud Temple cannot cure her and decide to exorcise demons instead?”
“But dragging it out like this is not a solution, is it?” the old servant said worriedly.
“It is well known that once corpse poison takes hold, it is irreversible.” Old Master Wang took a deep breath and sighed. “It was I who harmed her. Let us keep her going as long as we can.”
“Come, while the blood is still warm, to the small building.”
Old Master Wang said this and then stood up, heading toward the rear courtyard.
The old servant responded and hurriedly followed, carrying the wooden tray.
The Wang residence was large, with many people inside, but when they reached the most secluded courtyard in the northwest of the rear grounds, there was hardly anyone around.
“Xiao Wan!”
Before entering, Old Master Wang called out softly.
“Father?”
The voice, though recognisably female, carried a trace of hoarseness.
“How are you?”
“I, I am fine, just, just my nails have grown out again.”
“Father came across a rooster brimming with yang energy today. It has been slaughtered and its blood drawn. Drink this bowl of blood, and it will surely restore you for a month.”
Old Master Wang entered the small courtyard, pushed open the door to the building within, and the old servant, licking his lips, followed with the tray.
Naturally, Lu Zheng followed as well.
Inside the small building, all the windows were tightly shut. A woman dressed in green sat at a table, her back to the door, emanating faint wisps of eerie corpse energy.
However…
Lu Zheng glanced around the room and saw that the doorframe, windows, and walls were adorned with roughly a dozen peace talismans.
Though their effect was minimal, they managed to block out the not-so-intense corpse energy completely.
“Xiao Wan, drink it quickly while it is still warm.”
Old Master Wang approached the woman, took the pottery bowl from the wooden tray, and placed it on the table beside her.
“Thank you, Father.”
The woman spoke softly, turning her head and reaching out to grasp the bowl. Her outstretched hand revealed a tinge of ashen green, with nails an inch long, grey-black and cracked.
Pain flashed in Old Master Wang’s eyes, and the old servant behind him looked both worried and fearful.
At this moment, Lu Zheng had moved to the front of the woman.
Her face, like the skin on her hands, was ashen green, her lips dark, her teeth black and yellow, though her eyes remained normal, like those of an ordinary person.
Lu Zheng was quite surprised. “This really looks like someone afflicted with corpse poison, but how has her soul not been consumed by it?”
Then, the woman lifted the chicken blood to her lips, tilted the bowl back, and drank it all in one go.
“Phew!”
Exhaling deeply, Lu Zheng saw the woman close her eyes. Faint streams of energy flickered within her body, forming a cycle that, combined with the rooster blood infused with demonic aura, slowly suppressed the corpse poison within her.
Her skin gradually turned white and soft, her nails slowly shortened and returned to normal.
In just the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, the woman had remarkably returned to the appearance of an ordinary person.
However, the corpse poison was difficult to eradicate completely, still lurking in her vital organs, ready to resurge once the effect of the blood wore off.
This woman could cultivate.
Yet she was clearly a novice, and evidently self-taught, unable even to fully expel the corpse poison that had penetrated her organs.
However…
It seemed her soul was naturally strong, and with her cultivation, she had somehow prevented the corpse poison from eroding her soul?
If that was the case…
Why not seek help at White Cloud Temple?
It must be known that the notion that corpse poison cannot be removed applies to ordinary people, as corpse poison not only transforms the body but also quickly erodes the soul, destroying the mind of an ordinary person entirely.
By then, even if a cultivator managed to remove the corpse poison from the body, the person afflicted would already be long dead.
Hence the rumour.
In truth, in the early stages of corpse poisoning, when the soul has not yet been tainted and the body has not been fully transformed, there is still a chance for a cure.
The woman before him not only had an unaffected soul but also had relatively mild corpse poison that had not fully transformed her body. It merely lurked within, altering her outward appearance, and had been consistently suppressed by her cultivation and the rooster blood.
As long as an expert stepped in to remove the corpse poison and she recuperated for a month or two, she could recover.
It could only be said that neither Old Master Wang nor this minimally cultivated woman understood this concept, fearing that powerful cultivators might kill her to exorcise demons, unaware of how long she had been enduring this.
Ignorance is truly frightening!
“Father!”
Having returned to normal, the woman turned to face Old Master Wang.
“Xiao Wan!”
Old Master Wang was overjoyed. “How did you recover so thoroughly this time?”
“I do not know. It seems this bowl of blood was quite extraordinary,” Wang Xiao Wan said.
“How long will it last this time?”
“Perhaps… twenty-odd days.”
Old Master Wang nodded repeatedly. “At last, you can go out and see the sun.”
At this, Old Master Wang could only muster a strained smile and sighed. “It was Father who harmed you. If I had not insisted on repairing the ancestral grave, we would not have stirred up that zombie.”
“It has nothing to do with you, Father. It is fate,” Wang Xiao Wan shook her head, then took a breath and said to Old Master Wang, “Father, the corpse poison in my body is growing stronger. Ordinary rooster blood is increasingly unable to suppress it. I do not want to stay at home anymore. I want to go to White Cloud Temple.”
“No!”
Old Master Wang stood up and said, “As long as you have not turned into a zombie, I absolutely cannot let you go to White Cloud Temple!”
“But…”
“No buts!”
“Ignorance is truly frightening.” A faint voice rang in the ears of the three.
“Who?” Old Master Wang shot to his feet.
Wang Xiao Wan also immediately stood, stepping away from Old Master Wang. “I do not know which senior has arrived. This matter is entirely due to Xiao Wan’s fear of death and unwillingness to end her life. It has nothing to do with my father!”
Lu Zheng’s eyes flickered, and he understood Wang Xiao Wan’s meaning.
So, she was worried that while he might exorcise the demon, he would also consider Old Master Wang to be harbouring a zombie and kill him too.
What a filial daughter.
With a slight smile, Lu Zheng had no intention of indulging in some cruel test of human nature. The father and daughter’s earlier actions were already sufficient.
However, the things that needed to be clarified still had to be clarified, to make them understand that professional matters must be handled by professionals.
“But your father is preventing you from seeking help at White Cloud Temple. Is that not essentially harming you?”
