Chapter 303: Preparations
The feat was hardly new to Liam, which was shocking in and of itself.
Cultivators typically went their entire lives seeing the gaps between stages as insurmountable. Only a few heroic exceptions could consider overcoming them, and that mostly when it came to magical beasts.
Even then, those exceptions wouldn’t just face stronger magical beasts head-on, relying instead on what made cultivators superior, on top of choosing the playing field and more.
However, Liam had sealed his status as an exception among exceptions in that battle. He had faced the level three snake without resorting to careful hunts, and before reaching the peak of the rooting stage.
Most importantly, Liam had won.
Which was why the feat was incomparable to killing Cecilia, the level two coyote, and Simon, at least to Liam. He didn’t see it as a heroic achievement. It was proof of personal growth, of undeniable progress toward his impossible goals, both in terms of strength and mindset.
Nevertheless, the victorious mood couldn’t last long. At least, it couldn’t have priority over Liam’s condition.
The lingering hyper-clarity perfectly told Liam how terrible his predicament was, forcing him to experience everything with almost unbearable intensity.
Liam’s body was broken. Neither his feet nor legs moved, and even his left arm was unresponsive. His right hand radiated pain nonstop, and the same went for his back and nape.
Multiple injuries were also bleeding profusely, be it the ones on Liam’s chest, leg, and feet, and his Qi didn’t even attempt to stop it. His cultivation was in disarray, leaking energy at the cost of its integrity, having forgotten how to control it.
The hissing auditory hallucination afflicted Liam’s brain, too, being so loud it attempted to drive him crazy. If it weren’t for the hyper-clarity, that noise would have taken over his sanity, damaging his psyche forever.
The Primal Urge wanted Liam to experience everything without the solace of insanity, but he could use that to his advantage. He had done so already, and he had never been readier for it.
Carefully wielding Qi was out of the question, but Liam could force some of its wild release to go toward the space-ring, activating its functions.
Several alchemical products materialized on the floor, far more than Liam had planned to summon. Still, he only cared for seizing a pale flask with his somewhat responsive right hand, working against the uncontrollable writhing of his flesh to bring it to his mouth.
Some of the pale liquid spilled out, dripping from Liam’s bloodied lips, but what he managed to ingest immediately showed its effects.
A sooting sensation spread in Liam’s lower abdomen, and focusing on the pulsating reddish canvas showed its benefits. A pale glow invaded his cultivation, calming his core, spiritual, and minor roots. They stopped leaking Qi, and a nourishing membrane even enveloped them.
Liam knew what his greatest asset was and what price it exacted, so part of his preparations in the Roaring Thunder Sect had aimed at counteracting those drawbacks.
The Primal Urge’s main danger was the damage to Liam’s cultivation, so he had concocted specific restorative elixirs that would work better than his pipe, having more targeted and immediate effects.
The nourishing membrane gradually restored the cultivation’s vitality, allowing it to resume its passive functions. It generated more Qi, which the high-grade circulation technique sent into Liam’s body, stabilizing that, too.
However, not all was good.
’They shrank,’ Liam realized, that thought fighting through the auditory hallucination to expand in his mind.
The eleven fully developed minor roots were fine, weak, but otherwise intact. Instead, the other eighty-nine had receded, with few even featuring shallow cracks that the pale membrane was mending.
It seemed the still-growing minor roots didn’t share the fully developed one’s firmness, making them more susceptible to the Primal Urge’s drawbacks.
Liam used the little strength returning to his mostly unresponsive body to sit up, spitting blood and foam still inside his mouth. He stored the items he hadn’t wanted to release, replacing them with the pipe.
Breathing in poison helped the pale membrane’s restorative process, restarting the roots’ growth. It was slow and painful, as if the strain on the glass structure that represented Liam’s cultivation was too much for its weakened state, but everything still responded to the stimulus.
The Primal Urge had lowered Liam’s cultivation, but the damage wasn’t permanent. In a week or two, he would probably recover everything he had lost.
’This was close,’ Liam acknowledged. ’I need to use the Core-Sheltering Pill first next time.’
Among Liam’s preparations, he had also concocted Pills that could apply a protective membrane to his cultivation, shielding it from the Primal Urge’s debilitating effects. The fight against the level three snake simply hadn’t given him the chance to use them.
’At least I know that alchemy can counteract part of the Primal Urge’s drawbacks now,’ Liam concluded.
That advantage was immense. Turning that suicidal technique into something quasi-reliable increased Liam’s battle prowess by leaps and bounds. Through alchemy, he could abuse what could ruin others on the spot.
Of course, alchemy couldn’t accomplish miracles, sort of. Even with the right preparations, a cultivation would accumulate stress that might eventually be its downfall.
There were also the impurities that alchemical products contained. Liam couldn’t rely on them all the time unless he wanted to clog his cultivation, as it had happened to his Master.
Nevertheless, the partial solution still enabled an undeniably powerful option, and the benefits of alchemy didn’t stop there.
Liam smoked in silence until the restorative membrane ran its course, fixing the damage on the undeveloped minor roots. He let the poison nourish his cultivation some more before summoning four items from his ring.
Four rank 1 healing pills appeared in Liam’s palm. He had plenty of their rank 2 version, but the former would lose value the more he grew. He had decided not to sell those remaining rank 1 products due to their useful properties, and relying on them now could preserve his stronger preparations.
Liam threw the four pills in his mouth, and their restorative properties immediately spread. They were unsuitable for a rooting expert, but quantity could somewhat compensate for that weakness.
The pills dealt with the worst injuries first, quelling whatever internal damage Liam had suffered. Then, they went for his bones and tendons, which he helped with.
Liam held the pipe between his teeth while pressing his right hand on his shoulder, popping it back into place. His left arm soon regained some responsiveness, and he used both to deal with his ankles and knees.
Crunching noises resounded in the silent hall as Liam fixed his joints. Everything quickly swelled, only to deflate just as fast, leaving behind a sense of soreness and weakness that the four rank 1 healing pills failed to solve.
Nevertheless, Liam called himself satisfied. He was far from fully healed, but the worst was behind him. He could move now, and his Qi was returning, applying its passive recovery. He planned to rest anyway, so he would let nature run its course instead of relying on his rank 2 products.
The hyper-clarity was also waning by then, only leaving the auditory hallucination, which Liam knew would be gone in a few hours, too. So, he finally diverted his attention while continuing to smoke.
The fake snake was no more, but Liam couldn’t see the usual stand with the reward. Even the flower that should advance him to the next trial wasn’t there, but the hall had produced something that made his eyes go wide.
Something had appeared behind Liam without making any sound or alerting his superhuman senses. The white, half-transparent figure of an elderly man stood a mere meter away, staring down at him.
And maybe due to Liam finally noticing the man, the latter began speaking.
"So," The half-transparent figure sighed, his deep voice echoing throughout the hall, "The bloodline of the Ancestral Snake has stepped into the world."
