He lifted
After a moment,
Beyond that, her physical body was in terrible shape as well. She had presumably spent far too long in the Frozen Wasteland, and the life-extinguishing cold had corroded her flesh. Most of her muscles and tissues had lost their vitality — if left untreated any longer, this body of hers would be destroyed beyond recovery.
Yang Kai wasted no time. He released his Divine Sense and quickly located a cave nearby. Scooping Zhu Qing into his arms, he rushed inside.
The cave might have once belonged to some wild beast — a pungent, acrid smell hung in the air. But it had been abandoned for a long time, judging by the fact that no living thing had set foot in it for what appeared to be ages.
To avoid any unnecessary disturbances during treatment, Yang Kai simply brought out the Mysterious World Bead and carried Zhu Qing into the Small Mysterious World.
Amid a paradise of birdsong and fragrant flowers, Yang Kai laid Zhu Qing flat on the ground. He pulled out a large handful of Spirit Pills from his spatial ring, pried open her mouth, and unceremoniously stuffed them in.
Zhu Qing's condition was thorny. The Frozen Wasteland's cold had severely damaged her physical body, and for reasons unknown, her Dragon Yuan had become wildly erratic. To save her, he had to work from the outside in — forcing the invasive cold out of her flesh so she could regain control over the Dragon Yuan within.
The pills in Yang Kai's possession were overwhelmingly high-grade Spirit Pills. That handful alone was worth at least a million Source Crystals.
But the effect was also remarkable. With Yang Kai's assistance, the medicinal power quickly dispersed, circulating through every limb and bone of Zhu Qing's body. A wave of bone-piercing cold began to radiate from her — the same cold that permeated every inch of the Frozen Wasteland. It seeped out from within her, and the flowers and grass nearby withered and died almost instantly.
Gradually, her icy body gained a trace of warmth, and a hint of life returned to her snow-white face.
Yang Kai called her name repeatedly, even sending his Divine Sense into her consciousness sea in an attempt to wake her.
Yet despite all of this, Zhu Qing showed no reaction whatsoever. She seemed entirely cut off from the outside world, her eyes shut tight as though she were already dead.
All Yang Kai could do was continuously channel Imperial Yuan to stave off her crisis.
He had no idea how long he persisted. After the Imperial Pills had fully taken effect, the cold inside Zhu Qing's body surged once more. It was as if the chill possessed a will of its own — capable of dividing and proliferating inside her body, able to stage a comeback as long as even the slightest trace remained.
Yang Kai withdrew his hands with a sigh. He gazed at that delicate face for a long time before finally making some kind of decision. He reached out and grasped at the empty air.
A ball of emerald-green light suddenly appeared in his palm. The light was a deep, vivid green, and though it was merely a wisp of radiance, it contained a staggering surge of vitality.
The essence of the Ageless Tree!
This time Yang Kai had not plucked a leaf from the Ageless Tree — there were too few remaining. Any more, and the tree would be left completely bare. Extracting its essence like this would inevitably cause some damage to the Tree, but with a life hanging in the balance, Yang Kai could not afford to be cautious.
"You'd better pray this works. If even this can't save you, then I'm afraid your fate has truly run its course," Yang Kai murmured to himself. With one hand he pried open Zhu Qing's mouth, and with the other he pressed that clump of green light between her lips.
The green light transformed into a droplet of sap that rolled down Zhu Qing's throat and into her stomach.
A dazzling radiance erupted forth. In that instant, Zhu Qing's entire body turned a hazy green, as though carpeted in moss. At the same time, her feeble vitality burst forth like a bucket of oil thrown onto a blazing fire.
Ssssss, ssssss, ssssss...
Threads of cold seeped out from Zhu Qing's pores like tiny worms, dissolving against the green light on her skin with a dense, crackling chorus.
Yang Kai watched in silence, his Divine Sense monitoring Zhu Qing's condition without a moment's rest.
As time passed, less and less cold emanated from Zhu Qing's body, and the green light on her skin grew increasingly faint — as though both the cold and the Ageless Tree's essence were exhausting their energy.
Zhu Qing's physical body was steadily regaining its vitality. The skin exposed to the open air slowly flushed a healthy crimson.
Yang Kai quietly let out a breath of relief. It seemed his efforts had not been in vain after all.
At last, when the final wisp of cold was expelled from Zhu Qing's body, the green light enveloping her gently faded away. The essence of the Ageless Tree had not been fully depleted — instead, it would become a foundation for Zhu Qing's future growth, lying dormant within her flesh and blood.
She lay there on the ground, as though she could sleep until the end of time.
Yang Kai folded his arms and stood over her, gazing down from above. His eyes swept from her head to her toes, unrestrained and unapologetic, his mind savoring the memory of having held her in his arms just a short while before — and he could not entirely suppress a small thrill of excitement.