Only after seeing Luo Liufeng fully retreat did Xiang Shaoyun heave a huge sigh of relief. His current situation was extremely precarious; if his opponent had stayed, he would not have been his match.
Xiang Shaoyun did not dare to directly extract the arrow from his shoulder. Rather, he forced himself to limp towards the tiger cub with the arrow still embedded in his shoulder.
Kid, you’d better not die! Xiang Shaoyun prayed in his heart.
No matter what had happened before, it did not change the fact that the cub had saved his life in a critical moment. He really hoped that nothing happened to it. Before he had even drawn close to it, the tiger cub began to trot towards him slowly. Although it was visibly uncomfortable, it was not in dire straits like Xiang Shaoyun.
“Good, you’re indeed worthy of being a demonic beast!” Xiang Shaoyun could not help but praise.
“Meow.”
The cub replied to Xiang Shaoyun in a very seemingly humane manner before running over and nuzzling Xiang Shaoyun’s legs, showing its intimacy.
Xiang Shaoyun felt a wave of warmth wash over him. Yes, it was indeed warmth. In the past, he was betrayed by two of his most beloved companions. Hence, the pain of betrayal created an innate sense of caution towards anybody who tried to draw close to him. Since that was the case, he would remember anybody who truly and sincerely treated him well. Although the party in question this time around was a demonic beast, it was more trustworthy than most humans.
“Maybe your mother has already left. Since you’re following me, Xiang Shaoyun, then stay with me from now on and become strong together with me!” Xiang Shaoyun told the tiger cub solemnly, shaking its paw. The tiger cub immediately leaped up into the air, landing on Xiang Shaoyun’s uninjured shoulder.
Gritting his teeth, Xiang Shaoyun picked up the pack lying on the floor before quickly fleeing, completely ignoring the dead youths’ items. Right now, he was in no good shape. There was no need to waste time over a few low-grade items. Thankfully, the appearance of a Great Demon had scared off numerous Minor Demons and Intermediate Demons, giving Xiang Shaoyun a chance to escape with his life.
Otherwise, he would end up in extremely dire straits if one or two demonic beasts suddenly pop up. After walking for quite some distance, Xiang Shaoyun began feeling light-headed, signalling that he was losing blood faster than it was being replenished.
With no other choice, Xiang Shaoyun retrieved the yellow ginseng he had gotten and stuffed half of it down his throat. The yellow ginseng was indeed worthy of being close to low-grade spirit medicine. It had wondrous medical efficacy, directly entering his bloodstream and replenishing his vital qi. With the support of the yellow ginseng, he walked a bit further before settling down in an isolated area.
“I must quickly extract the arrow. Otherwise, if the wound gets worse, it’ll be quite a bit of trouble,” Xiang Shaoyun muttered to himself. As such, he made haste to retrieve a few medicinal herbs from his bag, as well as a stalk of 100-year-old blood-clotting grass he had gotten back at Martial Hall Palace. Thoroughly grinding the herbs up, he prepared to use them to clot his blood.
External wounds healed much faster after medicine was applied. After he was done with his preparations, he tore off his upper garment, exposing the numerous wounds on his body. These were all wounds he had received from the past few days of fighting demonic beasts. That being said, the most life-threatening one of all was the one from Luo Liufeng, which had directly cut into his bone.
“I will remember this grudge,” Xiang Shaoyun viciously muttered to himself. He tightly grasped the arrow at the base where it met his skin then yanked the arrow out in one go.
“Ah!”
Immediately after plucking out the arrow, blood began spurting from the spot like a fountain, staining his entire body with fresh blood, and he was pained to the point of fainting.
Gift of visualization!
Xiang Shaoyun forced himself into a state of visualization, distracting himself from the pain. His free hand reached for the package of medicine lying on the ground then administered the medicine to the fresh wound.
Sizzle!
The moment the mixture was administered to the wound, Xiang Shaoyun began gasping breaths of cold air, cold sweat furiously falling down his face. Luckily for him, the state of visualization helped him think of other thoughts during this ordeal and reduced the pain he felt.
As the medical efficacy of the herbs slowly took effect, Xiang Shaoyun's pain slowly but surely subsided. Catching his breath, he pulled out a healing pill from his bag of loot and swallowed it. Being healed from both the outside and the inside, he began to feel much better.
After roughly half a day, Xiang Shaoyun's situation was much better than before. However, his face was still deathly pale, needing him to replenish more blood and qi before he could resolve this issue. Taking out some meat jerky, he began munching on it as he threw some to the young tiger cub. The cub was starving, as apparent when it devoured the jerky within two or three mouthfuls.
Xiang Shaoyun himself did not bring a lot of jerky. Leaving just enough for himself to get by, he gave the rest of the meat to the cub. This tiger cub was one of the kings of beasts, and it once again cleanly finished up the meat in mere moments. Only after it had done so did it happily snuggle up to Xiang Shaoyun's hand as a sign of affection.
"Kid, you really are able to eat a lot! It seems that I have to recover quicker in order to get you more food to eat," Xiang Shaoyun chuckled, petting the tiger cub. He could feel that this tiger cub was special, being able to perceive human language at such a young age. Its bloodline could not be as simple as a mere striped tiger. Regardless, he had already decided that he would raise the cub, helping it grow stronger with him.
"You just play around the area for now. Don't stray off too far!" Xiang Shaoyun warned it before he started his next phase of healing. After the cub obediently left, Xiang Shaoyun took out the remaining half of the yellow ginseng he had and swallowed it whole.
Relaxing his mind, Xiang Shaoyun began revolving the Heaven Conquering Overlord Manual, swiftly absorbing all the ginseng's medical properties. After having fought and slaughtered numerous beasts over the past few days, Xiang Shaoyun had raised his seventh-stage Basic Realm cultivation base to the very peak. With the help of the yellow ginseng, breaking through to the next stage would not be an issue for him.
After he had absorbed all the ginseng's medical efficacy, the wounds on his body had more or less completely healed. Furthermore, his nine stars were also furiously churning out energy, allowing him to reach the eighth stage of the Basic Realm in one fell swoop. A single 300-year-old yellow ginseng would allow the typical Basic Realm cultivator to easily break through two stages.
However, Xiang Shaoyun's foundations were much thicker than that of a normal Basic Realm cultivator. Adding on the fact that he had awakened his nine stars, a single yellow ginseng allowing him to ascend one stage was already quite good considering he had used half of its medical efficacy to heal his wounds. This bit of energy pushed him straight to the initial phase of eighth-stage Basic Realm.
Although he had only increased ever so slightly in cultivation, Xiang Shaoyun could feel that the increase in his own strength was not as simple as just merely 50 kilograms. In fact, it was around 3 to 5 times as much as a normal person's.
This was the benefit of having his stars awakened early. With his breakthrough, Xiang Shaoyun was visibly in much better condition than before. His blood qi was also much more vigorous, quickly healing the wounds he had sustained.
After meditating for another half a day, he felt that his wounds were much better than before. By this time, the sun had already set, meaning that numerous monstrous beasts would be coming out to hunt for food. The cub had also returned to his side, not daring to wander around.
“Roar!”
Nearby, a black shadow popped out from behind a rock, slowly inching its way towards Xiang Shaoyun. Entering a defensive stance, Xiang Shaoyun took a quick look and exclaimed, "A blackblood lion! Good thing it hasn't matured yet. It should currently be at the peak of Minor Demon."
Feeling Xiang Shaoyun's eyes plastered on it, the blackblood lion charged straight at him.