Chapter – 46 - Trying To Remove Poison From Caiwei's Body

Caiwei's body was indeed in a very bad condition. Even with her limited knowledge, Rihanna could sense the different strains of poisons in her body, and they were in conflict with each other. The poisons had gone deep, affecting all organs, blood and even entered the bone marrow. The organs were not only deteriorating, some even showed signs of drying up. The blood cells in the bone marrow was expanding at an alarming rate, and there seemed to be some weird growth on her bones as well as in the bone marrow. The blood too had turned much darker and seemed to be more viscous.

Rihanna was at a loss. In her present condition, if she tried to remove too much poison, that might make her body react and reject the sudden treatment. On the other hand, her body would probably not last till evening if left alone. The only solution seemed to be taking out a little bit of the poison at regular intervals. Only then could the body readjust to the changes, and slowly all the poison could be extracted.

'I think she must have been given some kind of medicine which was regulating these different poisons and controlling them. Now, we have been on the road for so many days, and she must have missed her doses. That's why the poisons are starting to all act up.'

'It was wrong of me to have brought her away without properly considering her condition.'

'That is difficult to say. With her body's current condition, she probably would not have lasted very long. Either way, it looks like she would be dead soon.'

'Don't say that. I still haven't tried....and I am not going to give up without trying. Now I am going to start inserting my energy in her body and let it go through all her veins. I will try to collect all the poison in her blood into my energy stream and see if I can force it to her fingers. Maybe if I make a cut on her finger and force out the poison accumulated in her blood, the body will stop reacting so strongly to the rest of the poison. Little Purple, keep a look out for me if I get too immersed.'

Rihanna concentrated her energy into a thin and continuous stream, letting it enter through Caiwei's forehead, letting it travel along every vein, slowly absorbing the dark greenish-black poison particles she could sense floating within her blood. The poison started coagulating into a thick viscous liquid, separating out from the blood, and flowing along with the stream of her energy.

It was a time taking and extremely strenuous work, and Rihanna was slowly getting drenched in sweat as she released more and more energy, letting it travel in a painstakingly slow pace, accumulating all free-floating poison particles throughout the body. She could feel the strain of her diligently cultivated spiritual energy draining out of her body. But if she stopped in the middle, all her hard work would be for naught. Moreover, it might also have a backlash on her and Caiwei. So despite the pressure she could feel throbbing in her head, she had to go on.

After a very long time, Rihanna finally managed to guide the thick and viscous poisonous liquid to the tips of Caiwei's fingers. Heaving a deep breath, she tried to keep her focus as she opened her eyes and took out a crude dagger from within the folds of her clothes. She had bought this in the market of Green-stone in order to have some sort of weapon for protection. She hadn't thought its first use would be to taking out poison.

Making a tiny cut on Caiwei's right hand finger, she gently held it with her fingers and squeezed out the thick greenish-black poisonous blood. Only when the blood turned bright red did she stop, taking out a strip of cloth from the space ring and binding up the wound. Then she quietly lay down next to Caiwei, panting heavily.

'Though you managed to force most of the poison to the finger, still your energy actively absorbed some of the poison from Caiwei's blood when you were separating it.'

'Hmmm....i noticed. This body of mine can really absorb anything around it when I actively use my energy! However....I don't really feel anything yet.'

'Strange....I too can't detect any poison inside your body!.....Then where did it go?'

Rihanna looked at her hands, then suddenly she loosened the collar of her dress and pulled it down. She stared at the tattoo in disbelief. The inner circle of the tattoo had turned a dark greenish-black, and was slowly moving in a circle, like a snake curled around, its body heaving with every breath.

'What the heck?! The....The tattoo absorbed all the poison?! What the hell kind of a tattoo is this?'

'This.....this is so strange! This....also looks like some kind of complicated locking tattoo! How come I did not sense this before?'

'Another locking tattoo?...But what in the world is it locking?.....Is this a secret of this body?.....or did this tattoo come with me? It was not there till the first time I started absorbing energy!.....Is this related to my....soul?'

'Stupid girl! Run!...There are too many of them....I don't think I can hold them back!'

Rihanna stood up in great fear and anxiety and rushed out of the cave.

'Fluffy! Where are you? No matter who it is....you come back here this instant! Don't try to be a smart ass!! Little Purple...what is it? Who is coming?'

'This is bad. There are quite a few people coming this way. Looks like they still managed to follow us. We need to leave this place immediately. Run towards the Inner Circle...now!'

Without a second word Rihanna rushed back into the cave to bring out Caiwei, simultaneously instructing Fluffy and Phantasm to take the two kids and run ahead of her. Tying Caiwei tightly on her back, she rushed on catch up with the group.

'How many of them this time?'

'Around twenty....they are all at least at foundation level....I can't handle all of them!'

'Don't even think about it!'

Rihanna was rushing on, looking around at the same time to see which way would be the best for them. The mountainous terrain ended at the banks of a broad river. There was a stone bridge some way ahead, which was what people used to cross over. On the other side she could see the glistening white rocks of the Great Dividing Wall. They were so close. She couldn't let them all be caught in such a place.

Taking a deep breath, she turned towards young An, loosening the rope tying Caiwei to her back. In one smooth movement she dragged Caiwei's body to her front, then thrust her towards An.

"Here! From now on she will be your responsibility. You both, along with Caiwei, will follow Phantasm and Fluffy and go across this river and go right through the Great Dividing Wall. Do not stop anywhere till you reach Frost City. Seek out the Convoy of Commoners who are going to Ancient Beast Aura Sect. Go there and join the workers group. I will seek you out later."

Without stopping her steps, she took out a large purse filled with low grade spirit stones and shoved it inside Siyu's clothes. An had already tied up Caiwei to his back, and had caught up with them.

'What do you mean go with them?! I am your contract beast! Of course I have to come with you!'

'Nobody argues! Phantasm, can you make an illusion on the ground or water?'

'Elemental Illusion?...Hmmmm.....but it will only last for a couple of hours at most.'

'More than enough time. I will separate here, and run in another direction to divert them away. Make an illusion on the water. It should last till you cross the river. By that time you'll have enough time to cross over even if the illusion breaks. Go!'

Taking a deep breath to boost her own courage, Rihanna turned decisively, and sped off in a random direction, telling Little Purple to help erase all aura of the other team. This way the group chasing after them would only come after her. Even if she couldn't fight them, with her enhanced physique plus the speed fruit.....she could at least evade their grasp?....maybe?!

She knew she was taking a very big risk....but she just couldn't allow those innocent and completely helpless group of children fall into their hands because of her. She was the one who had made all the schemes and taken all the actions....it was only right she face off against all incoming consequences. Though....she had no interest in simply standing and awaiting her death!

'Stupid girl! Do you think you can just toss me over whenever you please?! I am your soul bound spiritual beast! If you die, then I will die and be reborn with you! We are bonded together for all eternity!! Dare you to leave me behind once more!'

Fluffy was panting loudly even as he cursed and screamed inside her mind. Rihanna glanced at the still hairless blob of black bouncing behind her at great speed....and a strange choking sensation rose in her chest, stifling her breath. Other than Little Purple, Fluffy was her first friend in this world. And they had gone through so much together in this past little more than one month. Right now, even as she had no idea if she could get past this chasing obstacle, this simple gesture of being there through thick and thin blazed through her heart like a warm and endearing sun. She grinned happily, then turned forward and sped up, still smiling crazily.

'Wipe off the silly smile! I have news for you...Su Maihiya is in the group following us.'

'So she couldn't sit and wait anymore? Or she is trying to show her sincerity to the sect leader by catching me herself? Little Purple, scout around a bit and check for all hidden pathways which we can take.'

As Little Purple sent off a stream of dark purple energy, Rihanna too spread out her perceptions to the surrounding. These cultivators were much better than the ones who had been coming after them previously. Definitely belonged to the Moon-grave Sect...and had more experience in chasing....could they be elites?.....Would the Sect Leader really send off elite cultivators to catch a commoner? Wouldn't that be blackening his own face?

'There is something behind the mountain to the right of this path.'

'Huh?! That's too far off! They'll catch up before we can even reach the foot of the mountain!'

'Stupid girl.....Dodge!'

Rihanna had already felt the heat of the fire attacks heading her way as she leapt up to dodge the flaming ball, landing on a tree branch high above. She hesitated for a few seconds, turning to glance at the large group chasing behind. True enough, Su Maihiya was rushing on at the back of the group, her eyes burning with fury as she locked her eyes onto Su Matsao. How dare a commoner cause so much trouble for her?!

As the next ball of fire shot out to burn the entire branch into a crisp, Rihanna jumped off once more, popping the few remaining speed fruits into her mouth. Like a shot of drug, the adrenaline in her body went up, and she increased her speed, diverging from the trodden path and running off towards the mountain. With this sudden boost, Rihanna was having trouble coordinating her body with the high speed, and even as she jumped over boulders and stones and fallen trees and large roots crawling out of the ground, she could feel her feet stumbling a few times.

The roots of the trees suddenly enlargened, crawling out of the ground like huge earthworms and spreading out like a net to catch her. Rihanna took out a few energy explosion bombs and threw them at the web randomly, dashing through the burning holes without looking back. Wind blades flew at her feet to trip her, and though she stumbled on quite a few, she didn't dare to stop.

As she rushed up the mountainside, she was already running low on energy. She could feel the effects of the speed fruits also lessening, an her body was turning heavier. But she was still running on with sheer determination and fear. She couldn't get caught.....because the end that waited her if she did give in now was definitely going to be horrifying!

'How much....further?'

She gasped out through her heavy breathing, trying to will herself with all the energy she had to keep going.

'It should be somewhere...here....!!'

Rihanna tripped over a large rock as she tried to jump over it, and crashed headlong onto the ground. The ground sloped down at a crazy angle, and unable to stop the momentum, she rolled down at high speed, her body banging into every single rock, bush and tree on its way. She could not see anything in front, and everything around flew by in a haze as her crazy descent became faster and faster.

'Wha.....How long is this slope?! Why can't I stop?'

'Don't stop! They are still following us.....but your fall has increased your speed, so the distance had increased. If you try to stop now, not only will suddenly braking this momentum hurt your body, it will also allow them to catch up.'

'But where the heck are we heading to?! Ahhhh!....Why are we falling into a pit at the end of the slope? Is this another underground palace or something?!'