Chapter Sixty: The Flourishing of Lady Xia Taizhen

Thousand Gold Pavilion.

“Knock knock!” Suddenly, the sound of knocking at the door echoed from outside.

“Who is it?” Jiang Wei asked through the door.

“Master Jiu Dai Ji asked me to bring this medicine,” came the voice of a young child from outside.

Jiang Wei opened the door and saw a little Daoist boy about six or seven years old, dressed in a blue-grey robe. His eyes were bright and watery, his cheeks still round with childishness, and two hair buns were tied atop his head with a red ribbon. He stood at the threshold, holding up a celadon bottle, and Jiang Wei hastily invited him inside.

“Thank you, Immortal Child, please convey my gratitude to the Medicine Immortal. Once this matter is settled, I shall thank him in person,” Jiang Wei said to the little immortal.

“Immortal Lord, you are too polite. My master said this medicine will help heal the wound, but it cannot eliminate the poison lurking within the flesh,” the boy replied in his childish voice.

“There is poison from being wounded by the Qiongqi?” Jiang Wei was surprised; this was the first he had heard of such a thing.

“Yes. My master says Qiongqi is one of the ancient ferocious beasts, trapped in a foreign realm. The tiniest creatures from that realm are deadly to ordinary people. Judging by how badly this lady is hurt, the wound’s edges may already be seeping yellowish-green fluid. That is a sign of poisoning,” the child glanced at Qin Xiaomo.

“Jiang Wei, check my wound for me. I can’t get up,” Qin Xiaomo said, looking at Jiang. The little immortal also looked to him.

He appeared troubled, more because of the impropriety between men and women, especially since Qin Xiaomo was the young mistress. Not wishing to trouble him, Qin Xiaomo turned to the little immortal and said, “Could you look at my wound, please? I truly find it difficult to move.”

Without hesitation, the boy came forward and gently peeled back the cloth at the wound. The edges were not only seeping yellow-green fluid but also tinged with bluish-purple. His tiny brows knitted instantly. He tilted his head, staring at the wound for a long while before saying, “It’s Qiongqi’s poison, but besides this, it seems…” He stopped mid-sentence.

“Don’t hesitate, Immortal Child, just say it,” Qin Xiaomo pressed. She knew it couldn’t be good news; it was like when a doctor asks you to fetch your family before hearing a diagnosis—usually an incurable illness.

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“To be honest, I’ve never seen a wound of this color before. You’ll need to consult my master for specifics. But what’s certain is that this can’t be cured in the short term; we can only stave off the symptoms for now. You should find time to visit my master and let him take a look,” the little immortal said, then gently poured the powder from the celadon bottle onto her wound. He coated his hands with a layer of yellowish transparent liquid and gently pressed them on the wound.

“Hiss… Immortal Child, what is this yellow stuff? It hurts!” Qin Xiaomo’s face twisted with pain.

“It’s honey. It isolates the wound from the outside and speeds healing. The pain is because the honey is disinfecting. Soon the pain will ease. See if it already feels better than before,” the little immortal asked, his large eyes searching her face.

Qin Xiaomo felt the pain recede, and warmth flowed from the child’s plump hands into her wound, tingling and soothing. Overall, she was much improved.

After a while, the boy lifted his hand. Where she had been wounded, only a plum-sized bluish-purple mark remained, shaped like a flying bird.

Qin Xiaomo touched the mark in disbelief, as if she’d never been injured. Remembering the child said the remedy would only stave off symptoms for a short while, she asked, “Thank you, Immortal Child. Earlier you said the symptoms would only be suppressed temporarily—how long will it last? And what happens when it flares up?”

“When it flares up, you’ll be in such pain you’ll lose consciousness. The duration depends on your constitution. Here’s a pain-relieving pill—if symptoms start, take it and hurry to Immortal Mountain to find my master,” the boy said, then rose to take his leave.

Listening to him, cold sweat broke out on Qin Xiaomo’s forehead. Pain so intense it caused fainting—what a terrifying affliction. After seeing the child off, Jiang Wei wanted to return to the Heavenly Realm immediately, but he was uneasy about leaving her alone, so he decided to wait for Liu Banshen and the others to return before departing.

After a long quiet, Qin Xiaomo asked Jiang Wei, “You say Qiongqi is an ancient beast—how did we manage to catch it so easily?”

“Young mistress, the Qiongqi we saw today had only recently been reborn as a young beast, with little magical power. That’s why it was subdued so easily.”

“Recently reborn? It’s just a baby? Qiongqi can be reborn? Are such ferocious beasts allowed to reincarnate?” Qin Xiaomo was bewildered.

“Young mistress, you may not know—Qiongqi is a beast of endless reincarnation. The world keeps balance, yin and yang in tandem. If either good or evil disappears, chaos follows. These beasts die and are reborn continuously to maintain equilibrium.”

“What if it’s killed?” Qin Xiaomo voiced her doubt.

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“If you kill it, its resentment fuses with its original soul, and it will be reborn as a beast a hundred times more powerful than the original Qiongqi. Then not just the mortal realm, but all four seas and eight wildernesses would be doomed,” Jiang Wei gestured dramatically, afraid she wouldn’t believe him.

“Has it ever happened before?”

“Young mistress, you’re astute. I only know what I’ve heard. Sixty-five million years ago, the mortal world was flourishing, with cultivators at their peak, especially fond of keeping exotic beasts as mounts. So many creatures from foreign realms appeared. Qiongqi somehow ended up in the mortal world—perhaps it slipped in among the exotic beasts. Many were wounded then, and cultivators banded together to finally slay it. But not long after, a monstrous beast appeared, never seen before—thousands of miles long, its roar shook the heavens, its steps shook the earth. No one could subdue it. It took the combined forces of all three realms to barely suppress it, and after fifty million years, the beast’s resentment finally dissipated. Then the Heavenly Realm decided to return it to its original world, leaving it to live and die naturally. That’s why I said we shouldn’t kill it.”

“Sixty-five million years ago? That date sounds familiar… Ah! The age of dinosaurs! Is that when this happened?” Qin Xiaomo listened carefully and now understood why the beast mustn’t be killed, but the date struck her as familiar.

“Perhaps. We call them exotic beasts.”

“So according to you, the extinction of dinosaurs wasn’t caused by an asteroid impact and volcanic eruptions, with ash destroying the food chain, but by Qiongqi turning into a monstrous beast?” This was the most astonishing thing Qin Xiaomo had heard all day. She wished she could tell all the scientists she was the first person on Earth to learn the real reason for the dinosaurs’ extinction.

Having explained, Jiang Wei told Qin Xiaomo to rest, while he surveyed the living room. At its center stood an altar dedicated to the Three Pure Ones. Beside it, a table held a turtle shell and six ancient coins from Xia Taizhen. A peachwood sword radiated blue light from the wall, imbued with spiritual energy. Something felt off. Jiang Wei picked up the coins to examine them closely, and at that moment, the Immortal Seal seemed to sense something, trembling violently.

He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out the Immortal Seal, which flickered and strained to break free.

Jiang Wei thought, “This is bad. I must return immediately. If Qiongqi breaks free again, I won’t be able to capture it.” He was about to leave, but the seal’s power to bind the beast weakened and its glow faded.

With a crack, the Immortal Seal split in two. The wounded Qiongqi bared its fangs, gasping for breath, its savage eyes fixed on Jiang Wei and Qin Xiaomo.