69 Heading to the Ice Forest

His strength was failing him.

Even though Li Yu Rong acted quickly, using his energy to seal off the poison in his wound to prevent further spread, it was still difficult to move. It was as if he had multiple weights tied all over his body encouraging him to follow the laws of gravity to the floor.

Yet, this pressing weight forcing him down was promptly ignored as he fought his way to the edge of the boat. He was desperate to follow after the kidnapped Asya, fearful of her fate after being captured by these depraved creatures. In his struggled forward, being so singled minded in his efforts to give chase, his shoulder had been torn into.

The creature taking fabric and skin with its leave.

Again he quickly sealed the poison in the wound. Now, even more, his body grew heavy for want of giving in. Ignoring the screaming protests of his every part, Li Yu Rong began to utter an incantation beneath his breath.

When Lu Se Ying heard the words, his blood ran cold. Quickly decapitating the Shaqi he fought in an unusual show of strength, he disposed of the parts overboard beyond the barrier, before flying to his master's side.

Hand clamping over his master's mouth while the other secured itself around his waist, Lu Se Ying jumped to the roof of the boat's enclosure. The wood, made weak from being smashed into, groaned under their combined weight.

"Master, forgive the impertinence, but are you seeking to die? The condition of your body is already delicate and now with the poison zapping away at your vital energy, the spirit energy within you is becoming turbulent."

An Ying was below them, valiantly preventing the four remaining Shaqi from slipping past him to the roof. Li Yu Rong didn't say anything as he watched him, his mind contemplating their next moves. Lu Se Ying knew as he saw that look in his master, that the only reason he wasn't attempting to break free was to conserve his strength for more important things.

Emboldened by this fact, he continued to scold him. "What do you think would happen if you were to release the seal on An Ying? The strongest seal you've made, can you undo it so easily, and in your current condition? You can't, isn't that so? If you undo it you won't be able to maintain the barrier.

"Right now, the only thing distracting the Shaqi is their mad attempt to break through it. Once it falls we'll be swarmed by them. Even if an unsealed An Ying would be able to handle them all, what's to say that none of them won't follow after the one that took that girl?

"Both Hui Se Ying and Paoxiao went after them to save her. Do you want to make it harder for them to do so? The best thing you can do right now is to focus on fighting the enemy in front of you and then on regaining your strength.

"Besides, by the time you've recovered those two will have probably already saved the damsel in distress, escorting her back to your side." Lu Se Ying ended his harsh words lightly and then waited for his master's response. Even if his master decided to punish him for his reprimand, he would have no qualms about it.

All that matter was that Li Yu Rong's mind cleared up, allowing for him to accomplish what needed doing at this moment.

Taking a deep breath, calming his frazzled nerves, Li Yu Rong gathered his wits about himself. Though he was still incredibly worried, though he wanted to go after Asya and see to her safety himself, he stamped down the frantic need.

Even though his mind worked out a way to do it, he put it aside.

Lu Se Ying was right. If he kept on being foolish it'd only bring more harm.

"An Ying won't be able to keep this up for long." The Shaqi were beings that never tired while they were not. If the battle dragged on any more than this, it'd be difficult carry out the plan he thought up after being thoroughly rebuked. "Quickly give me the antidote and then go help him. Try to keep the upper parts of one without letting it regroup."

Relieved to see his master back to his usual self, Lu Se Ying fished out an energy cleansing pill from a pouch in the folds of his black robe. After handing it to his master, he jumped from the roof to the deck below to aid An Ying. Unlike his master and the other two Ying subordinates, he was apt at medicine more than he was at fighting.

He, by no means, fell into the category of average and commanded some enviable skills. However, creatures like the Shaqi required a mightier hand to dispose of them. They were the bane of the Spirit Realm that even the five supreme clans, second only to the ruler of this realm, avoided them if it could be helped.

If his master wasn't, first, trying to feel out the purpose of the attack and then found himself thrown into a frenzied mess by that girl's capture, his energy wouldn't have digressed in its fight against each other for supremacy. He wouldn't have found himself injured to this degree. Even if it took a moment, they would have been able to secure the situation while capturing one of the Shaqi to wordlessly interrogate its body for information.

Sadly, things don't always go as one wishes. However, even if desires fall away, they can always be grabbed again after traveling on another path. Thus, though his strength wasn't as good as his compatriots, Lu Se Ying gave it his all to buy his master time.

Even if they had to travel down several roads, they could and would grab victory in the end.

Swallowing down the pill, Li Yu Rong closed his eyes as he turned his mind inward to cleanse his veins and his inner core of the corrupted energy with the help of Lu Se Ying's divine grade medicine.

He pulled the corrupted energy out through his pores and dissipated it as though smoke. While he purified himself under the aid of the cleansing pill, he regulated his dual energies until they were pushed back to equal levels; restoring their balance.

This insane rate of recovery was something only Lu Se Ying's medicine could achieve.

He had only been within himself for a moment before pulling out; successful. Li Yu Rong turned his attention to the wounds on his body, pulling out the blood made black with poison until it flowed out red.

Unwilling to waste energy to forcefully coagulate the tears, he instead left them as is. Standing from his meditative pose, Li Yu Rong felt energized as if he'd been given half a day to rest. Although he still felt worried, he didn't allow himself to fall prey to that worry.

Well, not entirely.

He no longer cared to find the "why" of the attack. He only wanted the who and the where. Whoever trapped these horrific creatures with a contract would be the mastermind of Asya's kidnapping. The one that got away with her was likely returning to the master that commanded him.

Unable to wait for Hui Se Ying or Paoxiao to recover Asya and bring her back, he was determined to play the hero himself. Therefore, no longer holding the caution he maintained before to both save his strength and gather information, he walked up to his subordinates after separating the remaining Shaqi from them with a shield.

"Master, what are you-!?"

Before Lu Se Ying could finish his words, Li Yu Rong had already written a few symbols with energy over the shield he placed that separated them from the Shaqi. He slammed his hand across the glowing symbols, muttering the incantation, "rent the flesh and spear the bones," effectively silencing the question of the genius doctor at his side.

The moment the words fell, the Shaqi immediately fell to pieces on the deck. Those outside the ship also seemed to be torn asunder by invisible blades. The minute the deed was done, he fell to his knees, blood dripping from his nose and the left corner of his lip.

Though the recoil was harsh, it was worth it for the time it saved.

"I can't move," he muttered weakly, "so retrieve a neck for me and toss the rest."

Lu Se Ying opened his mouth, again, to scold his master for this unnecessary show of force. Yet, after looking into those determined dual-colored eyes and stubborn set brow, the words failed to come. Heaving a sigh, he merely did as he was bid to do and brought forth a neck tattooed with a contract.

While maintaining the barrier to prevent the already reassembling Shaqi from once again boarding the boat, Li Yu Rong squeezed out his energy to see beyond the surface properties of the inscribed contract.

His sword-like brows drew down into a tight frown. The identifying traces remaining in the contract didn't belong to any of the Gate Guardians. Yet, there something familiar in it. "Lu Se Ying, a bottle." Slipping a knife from a wrist sheath hidden by his wide sleeves, Li Yu Rong used it to slice off a portion of tattooed flesh to be studied at greater lengths another time.

Scrapping it off into the bottle, placing in the stopper, he tossed it toward the doctor. As he did so he looked up to be met with Lu Se Ying's green-flecked eyes bright with worry and scolding thoughts. Though he smiled slightly in response, he didn't acknowledge the shifting emotions he'd seen in those eyes.

Instead, he commanded, "Keep that for me," before turning to An Ying. "Help me to the bed to rest and then set the boat's course to the teleportation arrays."

The boat hadn't sat in one spot and had been drifting forward throughout their struggle. The link he had with Asya through the mark on her wrist was blocked by the interference of the ice forest water sky.

He couldn't pinpoint where she was, nor could he tell her condition.

The only option left was the teleportation arrays. If Hui Se Ying or Paoxiao managed to rescue her they could also be traveling toward the direction of the arrays.

The only way to exit the Ice Forest.

As he laid down, settled in for a light yet uneasy rest, he never once allowed himself to relax completely so as to prevent the barrier's collapse. From on the bed, within the enclosure, the dull and muffled sounds of the Shaqi rising up to once again continue their siege, accompanied them as the boat drifted toward the teleportation arrays.