Wreath of Lilies, Cauldron of Poison

Chapter 5

Restarting Cultivation from scratch

A day had passed and the blood pool had receded by half. Its colour was now a good deal paler.

A head suddenly appeared from the pool, followed by the rest of the body. The figure coated in blood then reached out to the edge and dragged herself with great difficulty.

From the cocoon of dead skin, a beautiful young girl emerged. Her skin had the faint smell of blood and the pale skin was like fresh milk. Her long, golden hair now had a thin streak of red on one side of the bangs.

“Yin Gu Body,” she said, examining her newly born self. The Gu Body refers to one that had been baptized with poison, making the blood and marrow become poisonous, thereby changing the body's alignment into that capable of secreting and absorbing poison. Its concoction differs from person to person. This Gu Body is Yin, referring to the Cold element within its creation, which naturally comes to a female.

“It is different from the Yang one I had, it has a certain coldness to it.”

She blinked. For a second, her eyes turned into a snake’s. She cracked her neck and began moving her limbs. After the tempering it felt as if her body was bursting with power. Her joints had grown more limber and supple. She did a few jumps and basic techniques. Each movements drawing a faint gash into the cave walls.

“Ouch! Gah, something…is odd,” she spat, and the ground sizzled.

Surprised, she ran to the nearby lake and pried open the sides of her mouth. “Two fangs, near two inches,” she pressed on her gum and saw a small drop of poison being secreted from the tip of the fang. Its color was pale yellow. “Paralyzing poison. Weak, but useful.”

She then stuck out her tongue. The reddish pink tongue went on for a while before ending in a fork. She tried moving it around and she found that she could control its length and movement as if it was a limb that she had all her life.

“Yeah, that’s not normal. Not normal at all. My Yang Body did not have this transformation before.”

Wang Tian Gu, or rather Connie, felt for her Poison Core. It had now grown to the size of a fist with Yin Energy flowing inside. Her cultivation state had reached Shedding Mortality Middle Stage. It was a good starting point. But still far from being at her best state. It would need a lot of materials for her to ascend to Treading Earth Stage.

Then she felt a familiar presence inside her core.

“Yao-er?” she called.

A small golden silkworm appeared on her palm. It wiggled in affirmation excitedly.

“How can you be here?!”

Yao-er was the name of the silkworm. It was the first Contracted Beast Wang Tian Gu bonded with during childhood. Its only ability was letting out silk threads, but these silk threads were among the strongest material in the world. Due to an attack from the Sand Palm Sect Grandmaster 39 years ago, it fell into a catatonic state, causing his power to decrease a lot. If Yao-er was still awake at the time of his infiltration, no sword could have hurt him.

“Oh, you poor thing. Let’s get you some mulberry leaves once we leave this godforsaken place,” she looked at her body and frowned. “I have to change first.”

She had grown a few inches taller so her armor could not fit anymore. So she looked around the place and found a chest filled with clothes. She took a simple shirt, long trousers and put it on. Though her body was a girl’s she still felt apprehensive when thinking about wearing female clothing. She wanted to ‘borrow’ a pair of shoes, but seeing the condition the bandits’ feet were in, she decided against it.

Just as she was about to leave, she heard a sound. It was coming from the cage.

“Hoh, I thought whatever was inside died after Fasina thrashed it.”

She walked towards the cage and easily wrenched it open.

“Urgh…”

“Relax. I will not hurt you,” she said. “My name is Connie. I owed you for your help.”

The thing was huddled in a corner, fearful of her.

“…kill…”

“What?” the voice was distinctly soft and feminine. A female?

“Kill…me.”

“Death is easy. But why do you want to die?” she asked. “I killed the bandits, you can go home now. I’ll take you there if you want.”

“No. I have…no home.”

She then noticed the pointy ears on the sides of her head.

“Are you not human?”

The woman did not answer, instead she coughed up a mix of blood and phlegm. “(Cough)The pain…it’s too much,” she said in between laborious breath.

“Let me see,” Connie grabbed the cloth and pulled it away.

“No!” the caged female screamed.

Once the cover was removed, what was revealed was something…inhuman. It had the form of a female, but the bumps and sores and the sour-smelling pus had morphed her figure into something indistinguishable. Blood seeping out of the cracked and dark dried skin also smelt rank and disgusting.

Her head was a mess of scars, sores, and pus. Her right eye was destroyed and a longs scar ran right down from the top of her forehead to her cheek.

“What’s your name?” Connie asked. Her face was still, but her eyes scanned the form in front of her coldly.

“Illumca...” she said warily, half surprised by her nonchalance, and half fearful of her cold, analytical gaze.

“Laceration…infection. Inflamed wounds and necrotic tissues. The pus…need to clean that up…” she mumbled. “This needs a large operation. But first…I need to check your innards. Hold still and bite on the cloth.”

“What?”

Connie shoved the cloth inside Ilumca’s mouth and stabbed her forefinger into her right stomach.

“NGGH!!” The pain was agonizing. But Connie simply kept that position for two full minutes.

When she let go, Ilumca touched her stomach, expecting to find a bloody hole in her stomach, yet there was nothing. She could also feel as if something warm was running in her belly.

“You said you want to die, yet you looked so worried when I pierced your stomach,” she mused. Then she continued. “Bad news is your innards, half of it is almost destroyed and your liver definitely has seen better days. If it is left alone, you would have died in about, two or three days. The good news? I have absorbed about half of the poison in your body. That would have prolonged your life.”

“Can you…save me?” she asked. Her voice trembling.

“Oh, now you’re honest. Then what will you give me…if I say I can?”

“I can’t do…anything…with this body,” she said in between laborious breath. “If you can save me…I will offer…myself to you.”

Connie smiled. “Such a wonderful gaze, you remind me of her eyes.”

She then grabbed a cloak from one of the dead bodies and put it on her.

The old monster crouched down and pointed at her back. “Get on then. We’ll leave this place. We’ll speak about the details once are out of here. The bodies are starting to stink.”

Illumca crawled forward and struggled to get on Connie’s back. She smelled of earth and rust. The smell of a battlefield.

“Wrap your arms around me tight.”

“Wait, do I need to take the leader’s head with me?” she glanced at a piece of leg protruding from under the snake’s belly. “I suppose not. Let’s go.”

With the new sense of smell, Connie easily could easily find the way out.

Once outside the cave, they were greeted by a foggy, wet morning. The sun had just risen, peeking from under a canopy of trees.

Connie took a deep breath enjoying the fresh, cold air. A new world, a new start. She thought. The feel of a forest in the morning is still the same in any world. Contrary to her comfortable sensation, the cold made Illumca shiver.

“Keep well, we will reach Cairula soon.”

“Cairula?” Illumca said. “It is more…than a day’s journey.”

“How do you know that?”

“The sound of the carriage…when they took me…I still remember.”

“Oho. What a nice talent to have. But don’t you worry. You'll se what I can really do.”

Connie walked on until she reached the main road according to her memory. The road was well worn and there were still streaks from carriages heavy with commodities upon it.

Despite the supposed traffic, it was still very early in the morning and there was no one on the road. She looked back and forth and grinned.

“Hold on to your hood. It’s going to be a bit cold.”

“Wha – aaaah!!”

With a kick to the ground, Connie dashed forward. Each steps covering about 10 meters. Illumca held tight as the view around her blurred. Even a carriage at top speed could not be as fast as her running.

A hay seller sitting leisurely on his cart saw nothing but a shadow going past him, the speed causing a wind that took his hat off.

Connie, who was used to a speed much faster than this, did not feel uncomfortable and had full control of her movements. She zigged and zagged through carts that were starting to appear on the road, causing people to wonder about the strong wind this morning.

Soon the dirt road turned into stone and she could see the huge stone gate of Cairula a few kilometres away. She started to brake and the friction caused her feet to hurt from the flesh burn.

One of the guards, seeing the sudden plume of dust coming their way said. “What’s that?”

“Something’s coming at us really fast!” the more perceptive of the guards readied his spear. “Close the gate!!”

The large iron gate slammed down. Its spikes digging into the slots created from repeated use over the years.

“Good morning, Gents! A fine morning, isn’t it?” The girl coming from within the cloud of dust said cheerfully. Her mood has been good ever since she could breathe fresh air.

“Who goes there?!” the smarter of the guards ordered.

“My name Cornelia Asterium Steelheart. I wish to enter Cairula,”

“You must be kidding. Lady Steelheart would not be seen in such a state!”

“No, you’re thinking of the Duchess Ethaine Steelheart, John,” the other guard said, then he spoke very quietly. “I think this one’s the Duke’s daughter.”

Connie could hear the words, of course. However, she decided not to say anything.

“(Cough) sorry, then.” Hearing that, the guards relaxed. “Your identification, please.”

“I lost my identification during a fierce battle with Gerudo and his gang.”

“Gerudo? The Tamer Gerudo who owns a B-Ranked Crimson Firesnake? Impossible! You are still level 5!”

“Believe me or not, you can check for yourself.”

She then told him about the place, the condition, and the number of people dead. The guard absent-mindedly gathered the information and relayed it to his superior. Another, shorter guard came by and whispered to him.

Even the guards knew about him, how come that foolish girl didn’t know? Either she was a real fool or there is something else going on here.

“Your identity has been verified, Lady Steelheart. How about the other one?” she nodded at Illumca.

“John? Look. Look at her. Look at what she’s wearing,” Connie said coldly. “I saved her from a bandit’s cave. Now you want to ask her to remember what happened? Shame. Shame on you.”

“I – uh, I –“ he stammered. He was expecting today to be another boring watch but suddenly she was told off by a noble. He looked at the other guard resignedly. This was above his paygrade.

“Pardon my rudeness, Lady Steelheart!” he saluted, his voice now sounded more respectful. “I’m sorry. We will send some soldiers to check. In the meantime, your identity has been checked,” he yelled out to the soldier manning the gate mechanism. Open the gate!!”

The large iron gate creaked open, dust cascading off its large spikes.

“Welcome back to Cairula, Milady.”