Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

When it came to interacting with people, Yan Zaizen wasn’t like most people. He was rather unsociable. During his initial childhood, he had the protection of his parents, the love of his grandfather, and the care of the clan. However, after their deaths, the revealing of his talents, and his subsequent failures that followed, he was treated like an outcast. Everyone pitied him or mocked him. Some even treated him as a fool and laughed in his face. It was because of these events that he wasn’t very comfortable with people and why he didn’t take Lin Feilin or Shin Xuanji’s previous attitudes to heart.

Oftentimes, he would act out for attention by stealing. Such as stealing Uncle Louzen’s extra food or Auntie Qinlan’s undergarments. Well, the latter was because of his puberty phase. Nevertheless, he stole them. Other times, he would take off without prior notice outside the clan and hide away from his sadness produced by his bleak reality. It was because of this that he came across Han Genji and the subsequent events that happened after which lead to this point. It was because of all these things, that he rarely interacted with people earnestly.

Therefore, when asked to help, he just stared at this pale youth with furrowed brows.

"..." Bai Dongzhe looked at Yan Zaizen with a pleading expression.

"..." Yan Zaizen continued to stare with not a word.

"..."

"..."

"..."

That pleading expression turned awkward and with a trace of fear. Why wasn’t he speaking? Bai Dongzhe couldn’t help but think odd thoughts. The event just turned into a staring contest as both didn’t seem like they were going to utter another word. Yan Zaizen, for his own reasons. Bai Dongzhe, cause he was a little scared.

This continued for a full minute before Ying Sumian decisively broke the silence. "Young Hero, what he means is, currently we have someone who’s injured, as you can see and wanted to see if you have anything which can help the situation. If not, we’re still indebted to you." Her words exhibited her well-trained mind and adeptness towards the situation. Her voice was like a refreshing spring.

"Oh?" Looking at the pale youth once more, then seeing the poisoned wound on his calf, he couldn’t help but come to a sudden realization that he was surrounded by poisonous things he wasn’t equipped to handle. This scared him a little, urging him to want to leave as soon as possible.

"Should we...amputate?" He hesitatingly suggested. In truth, he didn’t know much about poisons and only the very basic of wound treatment. Typically, that involved the usage of Qi, but his cultivation was below even this youth. What could he do?

Hearing his words, Bai Dongzhe’s expression fell considerably. Was he truly going to become a cripple to live? Bai Wangzhe had stayed silent during this entire event, continuing to funnel Qi into his brother’s body relentlessly to repress the poison, and even he started to look pale from exhaustion. However, his expression also fell when he heard Yan Zaizen’s suggestion.

"I see, thank you Young Hero, but we’ll try to find another way." Ying Sumian said, obviously taking Bai Dongzhe’s feelings into account.

Originally, Yan Zaizen wanted to take his leave immediately, but now he felt somewhat guilty. He didn’t know why, but he felt like there was a way for him to help this young man, but he just couldn’t think of it. It was like an itch at the back of the head that he just couldn’t scratch.

Lowering his head, he started concentrating his full mental faculties. He sat and started ruminating on what he could do.

Seeing this, Ying Sumian once more decisively gave an order. "I’ll reset the formations that were broken by the Katori. Xing Xuehan and Su Fengyan, dismantle the Cerulean Python for materials and store the excess in the spatial bag. Afterward, we’ll focus on the Katori." Her words woke up everyone. She excluded the Bai Brothers because of their predicament and walked to the perimeter to once more repair the formation.

Xing Xuehan wanted to object, thinking they shouldn’t be resting and just leave. What if another Katori comes along? However, she looked at the sitting Yan Zaizen and her heart calmed. As long as he was here, they were safe. Su Fengyan also looked towards Yan Zaizen, but her expression was filled with a strange glint.

The practiced movement of a hunter team in dismantling a disaster beasts assets was shown in full at this moment. It only took them twenty minutes before the Cerulean Snake’s important bits — eyes, gallbladder, venom sack, and fangs — were removed without damaging the corpse. If Yan Zaizen saw this, he’d be genuinely surprised. Later, the corpse and contents were stored in their spatial bag which Ying Sumian had previously given them.

After an hour, Ying Sumian came back, with a slightly wary expression. Setting up formations twice in a brief period of time was rather draining even to an Essence Formation cultivator like herself. Her eyes looked towards Yan Zaizen, and realizing he hasn’t moved from his spot while mumbling some words to himself, she left him alone to help with the Katori corpse.

The Katori corpse was even harder to dismantle, and it had too many important pieces. After realizing they didn’t have the strength to take damage the head, they gave up and stored the entire body into the spatial bag, and begun to rest.

Xing Xuehan sat near Yan Zaizen. Her gaze from time to time moving towards him and away like a shy girl in high school. Yan Zaizen may not be incredibly handsome, but he had what many handsome men did not have - strength. To someone like her, attraction towards Yan Zaizen was amplified because of this. A girl like her, in a dangerous forest like this, simply wants to feel safe. Yan Zaizen provided this transparent sense of safety. Not to mention, it’s not like he doesn’t have any good features. That vibrant amber eyes and his youthful look was quite charming in its own right.

It was nearing night time, several hours had passed since Yan Zaizen’s arrival, but he still remained in thought. Until...

"I got it!" It was a eureka moment for Yan Zaizen. "I have the Unyielding Flame of Life. If I used this with my Qi to target the poisoned area of his leg, it might help. Flames burn things, right?" He wasn’t completely sure on if it was possible, but it was the only thing hours of contemplation left him with. He was even thinking of injecting Bai Dongzhe with his blood and hoping his Herculean Physique could produce a miracle.

His exclamation attracted the attention of the others, especially Xing Xuehan who was right next to him. Walking towards Bai Dongzhe, he ignored the confused gazes of everyone and placed his hand on the poisoned area of his leg. Seeing this, Bai Dongzhe and Bai Wangzhe were startled. Bai Wangzhe almost attacked Yan Zaizen thinking he was going to amputate his brother’s leg, but thinking about his weakness and Yan Zaizen’s strength, he gave up. He knew what needed to be done, and if someone strong did it, then his brother would live.

Maybe Bai Dongzhe would hate Yan Zaizen for life instead of him. That would be a preferable end.

Not even considering Bai Wangzhe’s thoughts, Yan Zaizen funneled his Qi into the wound. Using his enhanced spiritual sense, he could feel in an unusually accurate representation of Bai Dongzhe’s body. He could even see his organs, all of them. Setting aside his disgust, he concentrated. His peak initial-Qi Revolving Realm Qi started to swim through his body. It surrounded all the poisoned area, causing Bai Dongzhe to wince and howl in pain.

Yan Zaizen wasn’t very adept at using his Qi into another body, so he caused damage as a result. It was like a knife searing through you from the inside, so his nightmarish screams were expected.

The others looked onwards. Said nothing, each of their expressions solemn. However, Su Fengyan looked a little worried.

After wrapping up all of the poisoned parts of the leg, he ignited the conceptual world law: Unyielding Flame of Life! His Qi as the medium augmenting it, it exploded violently inside the leg. The leg glowed bright and appeared to be surrounded by a vibrant white flame.

Yan Zaizen was right about one thing and wrong about another.

He was right that the Law of Life could counteract the law of poison, as poison is typically related towards degrading life or affecting it. Therefore, it works both ways. Life Qi can degrade poison and affect it. He was wrong in that the Unyielding Flame of Life burns. It does not. It doesn’t emit heat either. The concept of a flame is to consume and thrive and to emit a form of unique energy.

A few examples being frost flame, which consumes heat and emits frost.

Yin Flame consumes soul energy but emits burning emissions that affect only the soul.

Unyielding Flame of Life consumes the essence of the world as well as the energy of its creator but emits pure lifeforce energy.

His understanding as he observed the flame degrade the poison rapidly with powerful lifeforce energy made his own understanding of the flame to be enhanced. He felt that he’d already touched upon a boundary of the next level - Force-level Concept.

Possessing a strong soul typically meant one’s perception of the laws were clearer, but one’s comprehension was dependant on the individual. An individual who had a Perfect Nascent Soul could perceive the same thing Yan Zaizen saw, but that didn’t mean they would touch upon the concept of force relating to their law.

The lifeforce energy only took a minute before the poison was completely eradicated, and the remnant energy surged into Bai Dongzhe, causing his originally pale face to grow remarkably healthier. It healed all the damage Yan Zaizen had caused with his untrained intrusion.

"I’m helping! I’m helping!" An excited grin emerged on his face, his eyes bright. Even though the Qi consumption was a little much, since he started with a full tank, he was left with more than half. Not to mention, he felt like this little white flame was getting closer to him on a spiritual level, and that felt brilliant.

However, when he looked around, Ying Sumian, Su Fengyan, and Xing Xuehan were wide-eyed and in disbelief.

"L-life laws?" Ying Sumian stuttered. Her usually calm appearance was completely thrown away as her mouth gaped in shock, and her eyes as wide as an egg.