Chapter 268.1: One Hand
Elder Zhuang calmly reached out with both hands. A layer of emerald-green light instantly blocked the fist-sized hole in Yuhao’s chest. Following that, Elder Zhuang’s hands started to move in an orderly manner. One could see countless tiny strands of green light as thin as strands of hair piercing Huo Yuhao’s body.
He was deft indeed, the countless strands of green light vibrated non-stop. The wound on Huo Yuhao’s chest recovered at an astonishing pace. Not only that, but the meridians around the Fire Poison returned to their original positions in a neat and orderly manner.
Elder Xuan walked to the side of the bed and pressed down on a particular spot on Huo Yuhao’s abdomen with two hands. A gentle soul power came from his palms and entered Huo Yuhao’s body, enveloping his internal organs. Only then did Elder Xuan nod slightly at Elder Zhuang.
Elder Zhuang intoned, “Return to your positions!”
The two elders acted together. The soul power Elder Xuan released vibrated slightly, and Huo Yuhao’s entire body trembled violently. He spat out a mouthful of purplish-red blood.
The Snow Lady raised her right hand, and a ray of dark-blue light shot out. Instantly, the blood froze into an ice cube, which she held on to.
Elder Xuan’s hands remained where they were, while Elder Zhuang started to hit Huo Yuhao’s body rapidly with his palms.
The two elders worked together. Elder Xuan protected Huo Yuhao’s internal organs, while Elder Zhuang helped get his passageways back in order. Throughout this entire process, not only did Huo Yuhao have to endure great pain, but he also had to use his Spiritual Detection to assist the elders in finding the right spots.
Wang Dong’er had turned around by now. She stood near Huo Yuhao’s head. Her beautiful eyes were icy as she continually used a towel to wipe away the filthy blood that came out of Huo Yuhao’s mouth and nose. To calm herself, she appeared to have sealed off her feelings. If not, she probably would not have been able to endure the emotional pain.
The entire process did not take very long, only around three minutes. However, to the four of them, these three minutes felt like a year!
Finally, Elder Zhuang stopped. With one last stroke, he let his hands sweep Huo Yuhao’s body from his shoulders all the way to his abdomen. A powerful vital energy reverberated through his body and then slowly rose up through his body from his guts, following the motion of Elder Zhuang’s hands.
A massive amount of filthy blood spurted out from Huo Yuhao’s mouth. This was the clotted blood in his body. Elder Zhuang had just expelled it from him.
Now, Elder Zhuang’s hands were back on Huo Yuhao’s shoulders. Both he and Elder Xuan sighed in relief. Color seemed to be seeping back into Huo Yuhao’s face.
Elder Zhuang’s head steamed. The treatment just now had drained him, too. While the entire process did not require a lot of soul power, it was still extremely stressful for him. He had to organize all of the chaotic passageways in Huo Yuhao’s body, place his organs back into position, and expel his clogged blood.
This process had to be completed quickly, as Huo Yuhao might not be able to withstand it. If that happened, his efforts would have been wasted. Furthermore, the longer it took, the more blood Huo Yuhao would lose.
Huo Yuhao panted and took in great gasps of air. His chest, which had showed no real movement in the past twenty days, started to rise and fall gently.
Wang Dong’er had already used up many towels. She did not let a single drop of filthy blood stain his body.
Elder Zhuang turned to look at Elder Xuan and nodded slightly.
Elder Xuan withdrew his soul power. However, the two elders looked at Huo Yuhao anxiously.
Now that his organs were back in position and his main passageways had been cleared, the important thing was whether Huo Yuhao’s body could rebuild its circulatory system. This included the circulation of his blood and soul power, and whether he could control their circulation.
Huo Yuhao’s pale-white face forced a smile. He had no energy to talk, and his entire body was covered with a dense layer of sweat. His body was wracked with excruciating pain.
At this moment, the most important issue had been resolved. However, the ice-type origin energy of heaven and earth was still in his body. His own soul power, other than what was below his dantian, was still in a state of chaos. Furthermore, there were countless passageways in his body. Elder Zhuang had only helped him clear up the most important ones. As for the rest, he had to do it himself.
When he saw that trace of a smile on Huo Yuhao’s face, Elder Xuan finally exhaled in relief. This guy’s life is safe. He will now enter a normal recovery phase.
Huo Yuhao closed his eyes. He knew that this was not the time for him to rest. His organs and passageways had just returned to their original positions. The vast ice-type origin energy of heaven and earth in his body had finally came under control thanks to Elder Zhuang’s soul energy. If he could not exert control over it immediately, his internal situation would surely regress after a night’s rest. No one knew how long it would then take for his passageways to clear up.
Thus, Huo Yuhao did not care how weak his passageways were, he immediately tried to connect his spiritual power with the soul power in his dantian. Then, he forced his soul power to circulate through his body. He wanted to regain autonomy of his body, so he had to allow his soul energy to flow through his body. Only then could he suppress the origin energy present within him.
This was a painful process. As his soul energy rose in his body, he had to endure a pain that was akin to being pierced by ten thousand needles. Even more beads of sweat dripped from his body. The mattress underneath him was almost completely soaked.
Wang Dong’er continually wiped him down with towels. Elder Zhuang and Elder Xuan observed him carefully from the side.
A look of admiration slowly appeared in Elder Zhuang’s eyes. He turned to look at Elder Xuan and nodded, saying, “No wonder Elder Mu chose this child. Among all the soul masters I’ve seen, he has the strongest will. He can bear such intense pain, and he did not utter a single word throughout the entire treatment. What a lad!”
Elder Xuan nodded too, and said, “Looking at him now makes me relieved. He really is like an indestructible cockroach. As long as he can recover, he’ll be even stronger than before. The origin energy in his body is vast, indeed. If he can absorb all of it, it’ll surely aid his cultivation in the future. For a soul master with an Ultimate soul, this increase would be as fast as a rocket. It seems like he is growing up much faster than we had expected.”
Elder Zhuang chortled, “Just don’t force him to grow up quicker than usual. For him, we should protect him well. He’s our hope for the future! As long as the Academy has him, we have nothing to worry about for the next hundred years.”
Elder Xuan snorted, “If this bastard gives me any more problems in the future, I’ll tie him to the main pillar of the Sea God’s Pavilion so that he can’t run anywhere.” After he said that, he could not help but laugh too. Indeed, the deeper the love, the stricter the treatment!
Huo Yuhao’s soul power slowly rose through his body, and his passageways slowly opened up. Under his careful guidance, which was derived from his control over his spiritual power, he inserted the origin energy of Ultimate Ice into his legs as he continued to let his soul power rise through his body.
Even the naked eye could see that icy-blue energy creeping over his legs. Huo Yuhao’s body trembled slightly, but he was now sweating much less. His legs experienced the greatest change. Whenever sweat appeared, it would freeze over.
As Huo Yuhao came up with his recovery plan, he came to a difficult decision after much analysis. The ice-type origin energy of heaven and earth in his body was way too powerful, to the point where his soul power could not operate as usual with its presence. All his soul power could do was circulate through his body at a sluggish pace. Even if his body made a complete recovery, his cultivation would only be at the level of a three-ringed soul master. This was unacceptable.
Even though he was severely injured, he still cared about the tournament. As the main player of his team, how could he not take part? Hence, he thought of a plan, which was to send all the origin energy of heaven and earth into his legs.
In the human body, the legs took up the greatest space. Blood flowed easily there. In comparison, the most important area for the circulation of soul energy was the torso. By forcing the origin energy of Ultimate Ice into his legs, it was akin to turning his legs into a storage space as he compressed the origin energy into them. Doing so would allow his soul power to circulate through the upper half of his body. According to his estimate, as well as the two elders’ calculations, he could recover up to 70-80% of his cultivation. This would be enough for him to enter the tournament. Furthermore, the normal flow of his soul power would make it easier for him to absorb the origin energy of heaven and earth. It would be absorbed more quickly. This was the most optimal treatment possible.
However, it was not without its problems. The main problem was that the only way to store the ice-type origin energy of heaven and earth was for him to fill his legs with it. Huo Yuhao would lose control over his legs. Before he could fully absorb the energy, he would not be able to walk or move his legs at all.
Temporarily, he would become a cripple. Furthermore, the origin energy of Ultimate Ice was no laughing matter. If he could not absorb it in time, he might lose control of his legs forever!
The elders had not wanted him to do this at first. Instead, they had wanted to slowly let his soul power circulate through his entire body, which would be a more stable but slower way to absorb the origin energy. It was less risky, and while Huo Yuhao’s cultivation would drop by quite a bit, it would not affect his body.
However, doing so would take him a few months to recover completely, as he would need to adapt to the origin energy. After his injury, the recovery of his passageways would also be affected by the presence of the origin energy. He would recover much slower, which meant that he would miss the upcoming tournament!