Chapter 521 - 488: Fairy’s Spellcasting, Peerless Divine Skill

At first, Zhou Mu and the others didn’t sense the impending crisis.

The Deer-Horse Demon Beast only let out strange cries. It could speak the demon tongue but not human words, a clear sign it was a Wilderness Demon that hadn’t even formed a Demon Core!

Zhou Mu’s group formed up, preparing to slay both beasts. But unexpectedly, the Deer-Horse Demon Beast charged, and as if it possessed a Divine Eye, it shattered their formation in the very first clash.

It rammed directly into the Female Cultivator Liu Qingqing, who held a key support position, shattering her sternum and leaving her collapsed on the ground, on the brink of death.

Their nine-person Nine Palaces Array was instantly broken.

There is little need to detail the rest of the battle. In short, it was bizarre and intense. Although the Deer-Horse Demon Beast was only in the Spirit Communication Stage, it possessed not only immense strength but also an uncanny ability to interrupt the Cultivators’ spellcasting with perfect timing.

Despite their skills, Zhou Mu and his team felt utterly helpless and thwarted at every turn. Not only was their spellcasting constantly interrupted, but even when they succeeded, the Magic and Magical Artifacts they unleashed would often go astray.

Sometimes, they wouldn’t just miss the enemy—they would accidentally strike their own allies!

’How are we supposed to fight this?’

Adding to their woes, the heavily injured Lion Demon was no pushover either. With one beast attacking and the other running interference, the battle against Zhou Mu’s team of Human Race Cultivators sent sand and stones flying and blood splattering everywhere.

The scene grew from intense to utterly brutal.

In the end, Zhou Mu and his team exhausted all their Elixirs and Spirit Talismans. Zhou Mu even had to detonate a Lower Grade Magical Treasure, and several others suffered grievous injuries, but they finally managed to slay the two demon beasts.

But though the demon beasts were dead, Zhou Mu’s group was completely spent.

They had used up all their healing Spirit Pills, and the severely injured lacked the strength to make it back to the city. A grim despair settled over them. But just as all hope seemed lost, an auspicious cloud appeared on the horizon.

It was an expert, Riding the Clouds and Mist!

In his desperation, Zhou Mu cried out for help. It was a plea from a hopeless situation, a last-ditch effort—like trying to treat a dead horse as if it were still alive.

However, it was just like the story of Ye Gong’s love for dragons.

Before the True Dragon appeared, Ye Gong dreamed of them day and night. But when a True Dragon actually descended before him, he fainted from fright on the spot.

The current situation for Zhou Mu and his group was remarkably similar.

When the Fairy passed by overhead, Zhou Mu waved his arms desperately to call her down. But when she actually descended, he grew timid.

The young woman in white had an extraordinary aura. As she descended from the clouds and stood aloofly on the sand dune, her gaze swept over them, and an indescribable, unfathomable shudder suddenly seized their hearts.

The already miserable group shivered. All eyes, except for those of the unconscious and dying, immediately turned to Zhou Mu.

Zhou Mu stood frozen, at a loss for a moment. Then, gritting his teeth, he cautiously stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Fairy, we were severely injured while hunting demon beasts. We beg for your aid. Once we return to the city, we will offer you... three hundred Battle Merits!"

Song Ciwan seemed not to notice his apprehension. She simply gave a slight nod and walked toward a woman who was half-lying on the ground, cradled by a Cyan-robed Female Cultivator. Her aura was the weakest of all.

This woman was, of course, Liu Qingqing, the one who had been injured by the Deer-Horse at the very beginning, her entire chest cavity collapsed.

Of course, Song Ciwan didn’t know her name was Liu Qingqing. But that wasn’t important. What was important was that Liu Qingqing was so grievously injured that even though she was a Cultivator, she hadn’t practiced Body Refining and had already stopped breathing completely.

Only a sliver of her True Spirit lingered in her physical body, not yet fully departed. The Cyan-robed Female Cultivator cradling her was using her own True Qi to protect this final wisp of Primordial Yang.

The Cyan-robed Female Cultivator’s name was Liu Tantan, and she and Liu Qingqing were blood sisters, born of the same mother.

The two sisters shared a deep bond. Liu Tantan’s face was now completely drenched in tears, though she herself seemed unaware. With wide eyes, she wept silently, quietly pouring every last ounce of her True Qi into her sister.

Liu Qingqing lay in her arms like a broken doll. Apart from that final spark of Primordial Yang, she was completely unresponsive.

The True Qi being poured into her body simply flowed in and then right back out; it was impossible to retain any of it.

Just then, Song Ciwan crouched down beside Liu Qingqing.

Liu Tantan shuddered. Though silent, she wasn’t completely oblivious to what was happening around her.

She knew Song Ciwan was a passing expert whom Zhou Mu had called down. ’But can this expert save my sister?’

Not every expert specialized in healing, and besides, Liu Qingqing’s injuries were severe.

She was only stubbornly trying to preserve her sister’s last bit of Primordial Yang because she refused to give up. In truth, with injuries like these, any ordinary Medical Cultivator in a Demon Suppression City clinic would have declared Liu Qingqing dead on arrival.

Dying while hunting demons was hardly an uncommon way to go in Demon Suppression City.

Every single day, far too many Cultivators died just like this.

Even if a top-tier master possessed the power to raise the dead and regrow flesh on bones, and even if Daoist Skills were miraculous and Immortal Techniques profound, how could ordinary Cultivators like them ever hope to encounter such a legendary figure?

Liu Tantan’s face was numb. She could only feel the passing expert crouching beside her and her sister.

She kept her eyes downcast, letting tears blur her vision. If she could, she would have blocked her hearing, too. She was terrified, so terrified, of hearing someone declare, "Your sister is beyond saving. My condolences..."

"Don’t!" Liu Tantan blurted out.

But the shrill cry came out as barely a whisper, as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.

Liu Qingqing, who had been half-cradled in her arms, was somehow no longer there.

A pair of hands had gently brushed past and taken her.

Liu Tantan shot upright and raised her head. She instinctively reached out to snatch her sister back, but her hand froze midway.

Liu Qingqing had been laid flat on the sand. The young woman in white was crouched beside her. She raised a hand, and with a light flick of her finger, a cool shower of Spirit Rain began to drizzle down from midair.

It was the Ganlin Healing Skill!

The Ganlin Healing Skill was the advanced version of the Ganlin Spell.

If the Ganlin Spell was a mandatory Magic for any ordinary Medical Cultivator, then the Ganlin Healing Skill was the signature Magic of a master Medical Cultivator.

Normally, not even one in thirty or fifty Medical Cultivators could ever hope to learn the Ganlin Healing Skill.

The Spirit Rain descended. At first glance, it looked like rain, but it was actually made of countless motes of spiritual light, brimming with vitality.

The translucent motes of light fell like fine raindrops, and for a moment, they refracted the desert sun, creating a wondrous, colorful halo.

A refreshing coolness emanated from it. Even though the onlookers didn’t feel the Ganlin Healing Skill on their own bodies, just watching the Spirit Rain fall filled them with an exceptionally gentle and comfortable sensation.

All the Cultivators stared with wide eyes, holding their breath.

Liu Tantan quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, terrified of making the slightest sound and disturbing the White-clothed Fairy’s treatment.

THUMP THUMP! THUMP THUMP!

Liu Tantan could hear her own heartbeat, the hushed breathing of the others on the silent dune, and the mournful whisper of the wind sweeping across the sand.

The Ganlin drizzled down for the span of several dozen breaths.

Within that time, everyone watched, transfixed, as Liu Qingqing—whose chest had been caved in and body covered in small wounds—began to heal. The external, scattered wounds on her body visibly closed and smoothed over.

From her chest came the CRACKLING sound of shifting bones. It was—it was her sternum, knitting itself back together!

This was the miracle of a Cultivator’s Magic. There was no need to manually set the bones; under the effect of such powerful Magic, a shattered sternum could actually knit itself back together!

And that wasn’t all. After the sternum reconnected, the ribs in her chest were also restored.

Then came the ruptured organs and torn flesh.

The Ganlin continued to drizzle down, and Liu Qingqing’s body underwent what seemed like a miraculous restoration.

All her injuries were undone, returning her to her original state.

The sternum healed; the flesh was reborn.

At that moment, all the onlookers were rendered speechless.

However, Liu Qingqing had not yet woken up, so it was far from over.

After all, while wounds of flesh and blood are easy to heal, damage to the meridians and the Divine Soul is not so quickly mended.