Tales of Demons and Gods : The Legend of Xiao Ning'Er

As the numbing effect of the poison began to wear off, she felt a sharp burst of pain and remembered that her shoulder was still dislocated. Gritting her teeth, she firmly grabbed her shoulder with her left hand and with a loud crack, popped it back into the socket as she let out a cry of pain. She had set injuries like this many times in her past life for others who had been hurt, and oftentimes for herself as well when there was no other choice.

In the meantime, her grandfather had fallen down on both his knees as he continued to heave and cough up blood, while he fought to regain control over the insidious lightning poison that raged inside his body. When he had activated his soul power for external battle, he had to temporarily relinquish much of the attention that he had on holding the poison at bay. Almost as though having an awareness of its own, the poison had flared up aggressively to take advantage of this small opening. It was fortunate that the battle was extremely short and the opponents were only at early gold rank and even so, he was left struggling in the space between life and death.

If it were anyone else but his precious granddaughter, he would have thought twice about getting involved because if he were to risk his life like this, he would have wanted to make sure that he did as much damage as possible to the abominable Sacred Family, who had caused so much suffering to his own beloved clan over the years. But he didn't hesitate for one moment the instant his perception sensed that she was in serious trouble.

Who would have wanted to attack a 15 year old girl, anyway? Was it really just a random group of bandits who encountered her by chance? Three gold ranked warriors for one little girl? Whoever it was, he was just glad that she was safe now. His life would be a small price to pay for hers.

Ning'Er finished purging out the paralysing drug from her system and stumbled next to her grandfather, supporting his side with her shoulder. "Grandpa, tell me what to do! Please tell me what to do! Please don't die…Grandpa!!" She cried out in complete panic and tears poured down her face when she saw his eyes glaze over and his head nod down in unconsciousness.

They laid him down on his bed and quickly began sponging the blood off him, while cooling his feverish body. He flickered in and out of a semi-conscious state, groaning as his body was wracked in pain every few moments.

"Grandma, is there any medicine we can feed him to help him? Or at least something to reduce his pain?" she tentatively asked, trying to hold back more tears that threatened to spill out. "I can't bear to see how much he's suffering…"

"No, the poison that's in his system doesn't respond to any medication at all. It can only be kept in check by the strength of his internal soul force. And if I give him something for the pain, it may dull his mind and soul to fight it off. We can only keep him as comfortable as possible and trust that he will fight through…once again." her grandmother replied in a sorrowful voice.

Ning'Er realised that her grandmother must have gone through many rounds of seeing Grandpa Xiao fight against whatever poison was in his body, and this was why she had been so calm at seeing the state that he was in outside in the private courtyard. As she continued to watch his body twisting in pain, she asked, "Is there any medication that can boost his internal soul force?"

Grandma Xiao shook her head. "We've thought of trying that too. Unfortunately, all the pills and medication that have this effect are too violent for his current constitution and may even cause his fragile blood vessels to rupture…"

Ning'Er's heart sank as she watched her grandfather grow weaker and weaker, even labouring for his next breath. It was clear that he was losing the battle with the poison that rampaged within. Suddenly, an idea hit her like a bolt of lightning.

"Grandma, I'm going to try something to help. It's a bit risky but if we don't do anything, I'm afraid there might not be any more chances after this."

Her grandmother looked her with narrowed eyes, trying to read her level of confidence. After a short moment, she sighed and said, "Go ahead…I think you're right, we're losing him this time round. I won't hold you responsible even if…even if he didn't make it." A tear finally rolled down her grandmother's brave, wrinkled face as she whispered, "Ning'Er, please save him for me."

Ning'Er quickly sat down beside her grandfather and started breathing in the unique pattern of the Purifying Art of Sacred Lightning. She then channelled her soul force to coat her mouth, throat and stomach, and subtly put berries from the Blood Essence Wolfsbane into her mouth so as to not alarm her grandmother. She felt the berserk energy coursing through her body, and then steadily become gentler as the purifying technique she was using refined it thoroughly.

This time, instead of letting it diffuse to her veins, muscles and bones, or circulate in her cultivation cycle, she placed both her hands onto her grandfather's chest. He was still twitching weakly in pain but as she gently directed the refined energy gently into his body, she saw the agonised expression on his face ease into one of comfort. His body started absorbing the force from her fingers greedily like a sponge but she was not worried because of all people, she knew the efficacy of the berries she had just eaten. Even if she ran out of the energy, she had one entire flower left in her interspatial ring.

Grandma Xiao looked on in shock as her husband's body began to glow with vitality. His breathing became deeper and more relaxed, and his fists, which had been constantly clenched in pain, opened to rest gently on the bed. She released all her pent up emotion and began weeping silently in relief, knowing that the worst of it had passed for now.

When Ning'Er sensed that her grandfather could not absorb any more of the energy that she was pouring into him, she moved to the side of the room to continue her cultivation practice. She wanted to remain close by in case he took a turn for the worse, but she didn't want to waste the excess energy from the Blood Essence Wolfsbane either. It was much too precious!

From experience, she knew that she had consolidated enough martial experience in her body to break all the way to Gold Rank tonight. From her experience today with the three masked men, she realised even more urgently that she was still too weak to make a difference and that her weakness placed her in greater risk in her pursuit of the goal to confront the Sage Emperor.

Without any more hesitation, she threw all the berries from the remaining flower of the medicinal plant into her mouth and channelled her purifying technique as a great rush of berserk energy started to build up within her body. Once she sensed that the energy had been refined, she circulated the Lightning Dragon Technique and felt the energy rapidly pour into her dantian. She felt a roar in her soul as her cultivation rose higher and higher, easily breaking through to 5-Star Silver Rank which she had already been at the edge of for awhile, and then continuing to climb at a scary speed.

BOOOMM!!

Her soul force spun like a violent, out-of-control hurricane and shredded through the barrier like a spear piercing through paper, then surged out of her like a raging tornado which began shaking the windows and doors around the room. The whirlwind, which had taken a semi-tangible state, morphed into the form of a fearsome Winged Dragon that was so large that its body wrapped many times around the room.

Grandma Xiao felt chills of fear down to her bones, her teeth chattering, as she saw the blood red eyes of the misty dragon glaring at her. In the next moment, the entire phenomenon dissipated into thin air and she looked at the girl quietly sitting with her eyes closed at the either side of the room in complete amazement. She had never heard of such a powerful manifestation of soul force whenever any of her clan members had broken through over the years, even if they had broken through to Black Gold Rank. Was this girl really still the cute and playful granddaughter she had known from a baby?

Ning'Er opened her eyes with her jaw set firmly in conviction. Gold Rank, finally! Now she could put more of her plans in place, and go on some of the expeditions she had been putting off. She could even begin creating black gold rank equipment, as long as she could find the required materials! This would be invaluable in her quest to grow stronger!

She saw movement on the bed and she rushed over to her grandfather's side.

"Grandpa, you've woken up!!" She couldn't control her emotions anymore as she burst into tears. "Wuuhuuuhuuu…I thought…I thought…wuuuuuhuuu…"

His voice was raspy and dry as he tried speaking, "Ning'Er…it's ok, I'm ok. I thought I was done for this time round after I lost unconsciousness but I had a weird dream that I was suddenly dipped into a warm pool filled with nourishing liquid which strengthened me to fight off the poison. In fact, I feel like my body is stronger than usual, and my soul force is more concentrated as well!"

Grandma Xiao had moved to the bedside as well, smiling as tears ran down her face. "Don't talk anymore. Get some rest. Just know that it was little Ning'Er who saved you this time. I'll explain more once you've rested."

His eyes looked up in surprise at his granddaughter. "Ning'Er…"

"It's OK, grandpa. It was a small thing. I'm just glad my idea worked to help you fight off the poison. I'll let you rest now." she replied as she exited the room.

He couldn't find anymore words to say as he wondered how she could have helped him in such a life-threatening emergency. His granddaughter was becoming more and more mysterious to him. Perhaps she would be the one who could help him to obtain the cure that he so desperately needed for the poison coursing through his veins. But he would not tell her where to find it until she reached Black Gold Rank at least because of the extreme danger involved.