"Good, it's a little bit better now," He Shan said as he performed a once-over check on Zou Yi.
Zou Yi agreed with his summations as she seemed visibly relieved too, though she still looked worried about Zou Yi.
The most grievous injuries Zou Yi had were on his back more than anywhere else. When he got blasted by the snapping willow tree, he crushed back first into every tree he came across within that one-kilometer stretch before he finally stopped. A majority of those trees were as sturdy as rocks, so Zou Yi took considerable damage when he crushed into them and the force with which he crushed into them.
Luckily Zou Yi seemed to have guarded his neck when he was crushing into those trees; otherwise, ending up with a broken neck would not have been an impossibility.
With Zou Liqin and He Shan working together, they reset some of his bones, restitch his wounds, and braced his body up as they applied different herbs. Once they were done doing the best they could with what they had, He Shan, at the end, fed him the leaves of a blue ocean felonwort which would help boost his blood circulation and vitality.
When they cleaned his body of the grime and blood, his skin was slightly pale from exhaustion and blood loss. The blue ocean felonwort usually was an earth-rank herb that was used by qi refinement cultivators in restoring their blood and healing their injuries. It had gentle properties that made it usable even by those in the body refining stage.
The herb He Shan had on hand was young and wasn't of the best of qualities, thus barely qualified as an earth-rank herb and could, at best, be considered a top-tier mortal-rank herb. However, considering Zou Yi's realm and present needs, it suited the moment perfectly.
The whole treatment took almost a quarter of an hour to do, and Zou Yi had been lucid throughout the whole treatment. The more time went by, the better he seemed in terms of awareness and mobility.
He grabbed the blue ocean felonwort from He Shan and ate them as he grimaced from the disgusting taste. Some color seemed to return to his face as he chewed on it.
"We need to start moving. Some of our friends here may decide to abandon all caution and try to find out the cause of the commotion. It wouldn't be too good for us if they find us in this state..." He Shan said as he scanned his surrounding with a solemn expression.
Even though fifteen minutes didn't seem like a long time, it was long enough for any spirit beast or human that had that commotion to start getting curious in the place of caution, and if they were found in the state they were in, they would be sitting ducks.
He Shan was barely hanging on, and Zou Yi was a stitched-up pile of broken bones, blood loss, and injuries. They did the best they could, but Zou Yi would need some time until his natural vitality kicked in. As for Yu Mei, while she had gotten her breathing in check, He Shan could still spot tremors in her body, which showed she was in no condition to fight, let alone even make a speedy escape.
Zou Liqin was the only fighter they had, but even though physically, she seemed okay, mentally, she was spent. She had poured every mental energy she had into ensuring Zou Yi's injuries were addressed, from the broken bones to the tiniest of cuts, while also ensuring he wasn't poisoned or had a parasitic creature or any other nefarious object in him. She rechecked over and over with He Shan before she finally settled down, and when she did, all that mental strain during those fifteen minutes came flooding back into her body.
He Shan seemed to hesitate about something before he finally took out a mushroom that looked like it was made of red animal flesh from a cloth where he stored most of his things. The cap was the most distinctive as it seemed like it was even beating.
Zou Yi and Zou Liqin both flinched when they saw it, and He Shan's wary expression when he took it out amplified their fear of the strange-looking mushroom.
"This is the red suckle berserker mushroom. It gives anyone a temporary boost in strength for fifteen minutes. With our state, Zou Yi, I, and Yu Mei should take it. Zou Liqin, take this."
He Shan handed Zou Liqin what looked to be a crudely wooden mallet. Zou Liqin took the mallet, questioning why He Shan would suddenly hand her a mallet.
When she grabbed it, she was surprised at how heavy it was. She could still comfortably hold it with one hand, but from its weight, it roughly weighed twenty kilograms. She couldn't help but evaluate the wood it was made out of. It was dark grey and scaley looking.
"Zou Liqin, please carefully monitor us. When you see any of us froth at the mouth, please use the mallet to knock the person out immediately. The mallet is made from grey tempering oak, which has properties that will help us keep our sanity or knock us out.
In exchange for giving us a temporary boost in strength, the red suckle berserker mushroom erodes the mind, and after the fifteen-minute duration is out, it will leave us paralyzed for thirty minutes to an hour. It varies.
Honestly, I'd rather not use it because of the many risks, but..."
He Shan left a few words unsaid as he smiled bitterly at the rustling sounds around them. Clearly, a few curious individuals were already making their way to them.
"Why don't I take the mushroom in place of my brother? In his state, wouldn't it be a risk for him? We could take it, and both carry him," said Zou Liqin worriedly.
With Zou Yi's body already frail, she shuddered to imagine what further damage he would suffer when the side effects of the red suckle berserker mushroom kicked in.
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