Chapter 6: A Blessing in Disguise

“Huh?”

Along with a crisp, brisk, and girlish voice, Lei Qing heard it in his ears as if it were the sound of an immortal . His mind could not help but relax slightly. It was precisely this small relaxation that made the will he had been persisting with impossible to maintain, and he passed out.

Amidst the raging wind and snow, a small figure blurred into view. She was wearing a set of thick cotton hunting robes that wrapped her face in as well, leaving only two transparent, clear, and round eyes visible. Her short stature was holding a hunting bow about a meter long, and by her side followed a black-backed hunting dog that was half the height of a person.

“Woof~ Woof.” The hunting dog bared its teeth and barked, protecting its master behind it. Just as it was preparing to rush up and bite, the short figure shouted sternly, “Da Hei, come back.” The voice was crisp and pleasant to listen to, yet slightly immature, clearly belonging to a little girl who had not yet grown up.

The well-trained hunting dog immediately obeyed and returned to its master’s side, but its eyes still stared vigilantly ahead, letting out low whines of restlessness.

The little girl carried the hunting bow and walked two steps with extremely agile movements; surprisingly, she did not leave many footprints in the snow. When she saw the scene before her clearly, she could not help but widen her round eyes and exclaim in a low voice, “Heavens, it’s the Scar-Head Wolf, and it’s actually dead. This, this is?” The little girl discovered Lei Qing, who was biting the throat of the alpha wolf. She hurriedly squatted down, turned him over, and checked his breathing, which made her let out a slight sigh of relief. But soon she knitted her brows, hurriedly took off her somewhat worn-out thick cotton coat, revealing a delicate, pretty little face with cheeks slightly red from the cold, and clumsily wrapped Lei Qing in the cotton robes.

After thinking for a moment that something was not right, she untied the cotton robes again to check the injuries on Lei Qing’s body. The hideous wounds startled her; fortunately, the cold weather and the Frost Fighting Qi had indirectly helped him stop the bleeding. She hurriedly took some cloth strips and herbs from her small bag, took a deep breath, and carefully treated his wounds, bandaging them tightly.

Although the little girl was small, she did not possess the least bit of the squeamishness and coquettishness of those lolitas in the Imperial Capital. Facing the bloody mess and wounds, she showed no disgust at all, but instead treated the wounds seriously and solemnly. Her technique was experienced and skillful, clearly not her first time doing this.

Afterward, she took out a short shovel from her travel bag and quickly shoveled the snow to clear a space about ten feet square. She gathered some withered branches and leaves and skillfully set up a bonfire. After carefully moving Lei Qing to the side of the bonfire, she then began to deal with the Scar-Head Wolf.

This Scar-Head Wolf was already an Entry-rank Bronze Demonic Beast and had run rampant for over ten years within a radius of several hundred miles. Its body was huge, probably not less than a hundred and fifty catties. But although the girl looked delicate, she handled matters very efficiently, and her strength was not low either; she easily dragged the alpha wolf to the side of the bonfire.

She took out a sharp dagger and began to butcher this Demonic Beast. Her technique was shockingly skilled. In a short while, an entire wolf skin was peeled off. Along with it, she took out a snow-white, jade-like Crystal Core from its chest, emitting waves of cold air.

“Phew. Sure enough, a Crystal Core will grow inside a Bronze-rank Demonic Beast.” After the little girl wiped this Crystal Core clean with snow, she looked at it somewhat infatuatedly and murmured, “What a beautiful Crystal Core.” However, she was not greedy about it, but instead wrapped it in the wolf skin and placed it beside the sleeping Lei Qing.

Afterward, she greedily cut off a piece of wolf meat and began to roast it over the bonfire. Her travel bag was like a treasure chest; she actually carried some salt, seasonings, and a small iron pot with her. She poured some clean snow into the small iron pot and started to boil water.

In a short while, the roasted wolf meat began to emit waves of meat aroma, sizzling with oil, making one’s mouth water just by looking at it. Her obedient black-backed hunting dog squatted obediently to the side, looking longingly at the wolf meat.

However, she did not know that Lei Qing’s injuries at this moment were also undergoing some peculiar changes. This severe injury was close to death; it was the most serious damage Lei Qing had ever experienced. If this little girl had not appeared and saved him, he would have likely died directly in this desolate place.

The thick cotton robes and the heat of the bonfire helped him maintain his body temperature. After the Frost Fighting Qi in his body dissipated, the wounds were luckily treated and bandaged; otherwise, he would have died from blood loss. However, given the current situation, even if his life was saved, this injury would still require a period of recuperation to recover.

However, a strange thing happened. An ancient Jade Pendant that Lei Qing had worn on his chest since childhood quietly emitted a pale green, warm, and water-like aura. It drilled into his skin and began to spread toward the wounds along his meridians.

That pale green aura seemed to possess extremely strong healing abilities. While constantly nourishing the wound muscles, it actually stimulated the wounds to start healing bit by bit. Although the speed was somewhat slow, it far exceeded a human’s normal healing speed.

By midnight, Lei Qing’s entire body turned red, and his forehead was burning hot. The little girl guarding him by his side saw this and secretly cried out that it was bad; for a person who was heavily injured, developing a fever like this was the most taboo thing. Once he could not pull through, he would kick the bucket.

Fortunately, this little girl seemed to be quite skilled in treating injuries. She hurriedly pinched some snowballs, wrapped them in cloth pieces, and applied them to his forehead to help lower the temperature.

After busying herself clumsily all night, Lei Qing’s condition also stabilized. His sleeping consciousness gradually cleared, and he slowly opened his eyes to see a little girl wearing unlined clothing, her face seemingly red from the night wind, staring at him with concern.

Several months of tribulation had caused Lei Qing to shed his former greenness; his state of mind had become very tough and somewhat mature. At this moment, he also calmly looked at the little girl. In his mind, he carefully recalled some of the events before his coma. When he saw the worn cotton coat on his body, a look of gratitude appeared in Lei Qing’s eyes, “Little sister, thank you for saving my life.”

The little girl also let out a sigh of relief and smiled; her smile was very nice, “Very good, it seems your brain hasn’t been burned out. My name is Zuo Qianqian. You killed the Scar-Head Wolf, very impressive. So, you can call me Qianqian.”

Just as Lei Qing was preparing to speak with confusion, Zuo Qianqian stopped him, “You just woke up, don’t waste your energy speaking. Your body is very weak and can’t eat roasted wolf meat for now, but I prepared some meat soup for you.”

After Zuo Qianqian finished speaking, she brought the small iron pot that was still boiling and fed Lei Qing the meat soup spoonful by spoonful. The meat soup was cooked very flavorfully, with salt and various seasonings. After drinking that hot meat soup, Lei Qing’s spirit gradually roused, and he recovered quite a bit of strength. The Fighting Qi in his body also recovered a little in its natural state.

Energy is conserved, and Fighting Qi does not appear out of thin air. According to the continent’s Fighting Qi theory, after supplementing food, part of the food would be converted into physical strength factors, and the excess part would become reserve energy like sugar and fat. And for experts who have achieved success in cultivating Fighting Qi, usually, even if they do not actively temper and condense physical strength factors into Fighting Qi, as long as the Fighting Qi in the Qi Sea is not full, the body’s functions, along with breathing, would also, in a slow way, gradually condense the reserve energy in the body into Fighting Qi to replenish the Qi Sea and maintain consumption.

But besides natural recovery, experts could also speed up the recovery process of Fighting Qi by actively circulating it.

At this time, Lei Qing had long since adapted to recovering his Fighting Qi through meditation in any environment. Immediately, after expressing his gratitude to Zuo Qianqian once more, he sat cross-legged and entered a meditative state.

Using long, deep breaths as a catalyst, the body began to enter a complex operating mechanism. The inhaled air underwent a series of reactions with some solid stored energy in the body, miraculously converting into physical strength and replenishing every life factor in the body.

Following that, after his physical strength recovered to the limit, theoretically speaking, the body mechanism would automatically stop replenishing physical strength. However, Lei Qing began to urge his Fighting Qi to travel slowly along the meridians in his body. Through micro-vibration, he stimulated the life factors, intensely condensing and tempering the physical strength into Fighting Qi, joining the increasingly thick army of Fighting Qi.

As the physical strength was extracted, the body functions had to continue operating to replenish physical strength for the body. As a higher existence of physical strength, Fighting Qi was naturally much more condensed than physical strength. At this time, Lei Qing needed approximately four physical strength factors to condense one Fighting Qi factor. Therefore, the energy produced after one Fighting Qi factor was burned was four times that of a physical strength factor.

“Huh? Four times?” Lei Qing, who was in the midst of recovering his Fighting Qi, was slightly startled in his heart. Has it already reached this level? Could it be that he had broken through? From life to death, taking another step forward from the top of a hundred-foot pole?

Lei Qing hurriedly performed an internal inspection. Just as expected, his current Fighting Qi was much thicker and more refined than yesterday, seemingly full of explosive power. This was definitely not an effect that a Mid-stage Bronze could display; perhaps he had really broken through to the High-stage Bronze.

In his heart, he felt extremely delighted. Misfortune and fortune depend on each other; he originally thought he was going to die in this desolate place. But he never expected that not only did he stubbornly survive, but he also profited from the misfortune, breaking the shackles and advancing once more to the High-stage Bronze.

It should be known that every promotion is a leap in life. At this time, his Fighting Qi not only possessed more explosive power, but the amount accommodated in his Qi Sea would also be greater. Not only that, so-called evolution is the transformation of life factors, becoming stronger. After his promotion, various physical qualities, such as vision, hearing, smell, reaction, and so on, would also become sharper. Pure strength and speed would also be faster, and his constitution would strengthen. More importantly, his physical strength and the ability to temper Fighting Qi would also achieve a qualitative leap.

……