Poison

"Senior Sheng Tian!"

Sheng Tian turned around to find a fellow disciple of the Sky Sword Sect calling him. The youth walked over and bowed respectfully.

"Two disciples of the Lotus Fairy Valley are looking for you. They're waiting at the garden east of here"

He thanked the disciple and stealthily sent a wisp of his qi into his Dantian which would help the youth on a major breakthrough.

After that, he made his way east and quickly arrived at the garden the disciple had specified. Sitting by a circular stone table next to a small pond were three women instead of the two the young man had said.

The two that he recognized were naturally Xiao Hua and Bing Xue, dressed in red and blue respectively.

The unfamiliar woman was dressed in green and wore a veil that covered the lower half of her face. Sheng Tian recognized her to be the Lotus Fairy Master of the Lotus Fairy Valley.

Xiao Hua saw him arrive and quickly waved her hand and gestured towards an empty seat.

Before sitting down, Sheng Tian bowed slightly towards the Lotus Fairy Master, but didn't lower himself. After all, their cultivation bases were similar, and it didn't make sense to call her 'senior' when they are part of different powers.

"I wonder what Lotus Fairy Master wants from me"

The woman in green glanced at Bing Xue, who took the hint and began to explain the situation to Sheng Tian.

"Xiao Hua had told Master that you are a talented alchemist in addition to your unbelievable prowess," she started.

Sheng Tian glanced at Xiao Hua, who promptly turned away while whistling a tune.

Sheng Tian then looked back at Bing Xue, who bowed in an apologetic manner, "Xiao Hua has a tendency to run her mouth every so often"

He waved his hand, "It's not a problem. Anyways, Lotus Fairy Master must require my skills for something, I assume"

Bing Xue nodded, "Our Master has been suppressing an unknown kind of poison for many years. Since you are a talented alchemist, she hopes that you possess the skills to cure her. Even now, she is putting most of her concentration on suppressing the poison, thus making speech difficult"

Sheng Tian assessed what he could see of the Lotus Fairy Master's face. While most would say that her eyes were the definition of tranquil, Sheng Tian saw that her brows were creased ever so slightly, and that her mental state was unfocused.

He agreed without much thought, "Alright"

Sheng Tian then held out his hand and laid it flat on the table, "Hold out your hand, I need to accurately assess the situation"

The veiled woman hesitated slightly, before turning to her 2 disciples who looked on with expectant expressions.

Then, in a melodious voice akin to a reflection of the moon on a tranquil lake, she said one word, "Leave"

Surprised and stunned, the 2 reluctantly left in a hurry as they knew that they would be of no help.

Sheng Tian snapped out of his awe as she put one of her fair hands on top of his.

With a thought, he sent his spiritual sense into her body. Lotus Fairy Master then used a part of her spiritual sense and guided Sheng Tian's sense to the location of the poison.

In a few seconds, Sheng Tian's spiritual sense arrived at her Dantian. Sheng Tian looked at the circular Dantian which held an ocean of qi. This made Sheng Tian view the Lotus Fairy Master in a better light, as she was completely trusting him with this operation.

Her spiritual sense guided him up, until they were face to face with a repulsive mass of black qi which was currently tied up into a ball by hundreds of strands of wood qi. Occasionally, the qi would try to erupt, but more wood qi would come and suppress it.

'No wonder the Lotus Fairy Master is so quiet. If I had a ticking bomb like this above my Dantian, I would put 90% of my focus of suppressing it'

Sheng Tian then sent a voice transmission after studying the patterns of the black qi.

"Allow me to send a bit of my qi into your body, I wish to see how it will react when probed"

Sheng Tian could feel the woman tense slightly, but finally relaxed to a point where he could safely send qi in.

Whoosh!

Sheng Tian's powerful qi was like a rising tide, and he was forced to calm it down to a simmer before sending some into Lotus Fairy Master's Dantian.

The golden qi rose up to the black mass and unbeknownst to Sheng Tian, Lotus Fairy Master's eyes shot open when she felt the powerful aura and bloodline power contained in the golden qi.

She hurriedly refocused when the golden qi was about to interact with the black qi.

With a single thought, Sheng Tian made a portion of his qi into a tiny needle. Lotus Fairy Master parted the wood qi ever so slightly while keeping more just in case the black qi erupts.

Very carefully and slowly, Sheng Tian stabbed the black qi with his qi needle.

Sizzle!

"Scree!"

The black qi started to squirm and screech as Sheng Tian's powerful qi started to burn it. Sheng Tian was as equally surprised as Lotus Fairy Master, but he quickly found the reason.

Bloodline power can affect the power of one's qi, and since Sheng Tian's bloodline is incomparably noble and contains draconic might, all energies are suppressed by it.

The needle was quickly exhausted, but Lotus Fairy Master was ecstatic to find that the poison that had plagued her for so many years could be eradicated by the young man before her.

Sheng Tian started sending more qi and amassed a sum large enough to wrap around the black qi. As if sensing danger, the black qi started to quiver even more, making him furrow his brows.

Weng!

Without another thought, Sheng Tian wrapped the black qi in his golden one.

The black qi started to screech even louder as it slowly shrunk due to being burned by Sheng Tian's qi.

Just as Sheng Tian was thinking he didn't need to refine a pill today, there was a sudden reversal.

"Screech!"

The now fingernail sized black ball started to squirm, with bumps forming along it like some disgusting tumor.

Sheng Tian reeled back while Lotus Fairy Master's heart sank.

Bang!

2 black koi fish appeared as the black qi completely dissipated. Before the 2 of them could react in time, the 2 fish disappeared.

"What!?"

Sheng Tian scanned his spiritual sense around but to no avail. He only retracted his spiritual sense when he felt the Lotus Fairy Master move.

He opened his eyes to the Lotus Fairy Master slightly hunched over while pressing a hand against the table. She started sweating and even with the veil, Sheng Tian would tell that her face was beet red.

"Are you ok?"

She quivered and forced out a few words, "M-my back..."

Sheng Tian hurriedly stood and went behind her. with 2 fingers, he formed a qi sword that parted her green dress slightly.

On the woman's back were the 2 koi fish, unmoving like a pair of tattoos.