CHAPTER 122: CHAPTER 121: TIANYI TOURNAMENT (PART 13)

In the forest, there was no need to track the Tianyi team, as the "Discipline Specialist" team returned to its original arrowhead formation, swiftly moving forward.

Li Xing led the Big-mouth Flower at the front, clearing the path, completely unaware that the three teammates behind couldn’t keep up with her pace.

"Ah Xing... let’s take a break for a while." Ye Qingting felt dizzy and exhausted as if she’d just battled a Star Beast for hundreds of rounds.

"Sister Xing, I-I can’t move anymore either," Qi Ming’s face looked worse, while Cui Tianxiao simply sat on the ground, panting with his tongue out like a dog.

Li Xing turned around, and to her surprise, she was startled when she saw that the three teammates’ faces were ashen, their cheeks were sunken.

"What happened to you all?"

Ye Qingting shook his head and said, "I don’t know, just feel more and more tired, dizzy, and out of breath..."

Li Xing, with her sharp eyes, noticed a small brown stain on Ye Qingting’s collar under the moonlight, resembling a dried bloodstain. Considering their dehydrated and anemic appearance, Li Xing’s heart tightened, and she quickly took out the Qi Mechanism Tent and dragged her three teammates inside.

"Xiao Ming, turn around, take off your clothes!"

Qi Ming was stunned for a moment, a light blush appeared on his face as he shyly removed his upper garment, revealing his back.

Cui Tianxiao let out an odd scream, and the Big-mouth Flower raised its two web-shaped roots, covering its head anthropomorphically, shivering as it hid behind Li Xing.

Qi Ming instinctively tried to look back, but Li Xing held him down.

"Don’t move."

"W-what’s wrong? Is there something on my body?"

The more he was told not to move, the more Qi Ming felt something was odd. Plus, Cui Tianxiao’s ghost-like expression fully proved that there was something on his back, and it was something terrifying. Unfortunately, Li Xing’s strength was too great for Qi Ming to resist.

"Nothing, just Waterdrop Leeches. They inhabit the leaves in the rainforest and fall on humans passing by to suck blood. You’re dizzy and weak due to excessive blood loss."

The Waterdrop Leech is tiny, falling on a person feels similar to a raindrop, easily confused with water droplets on rainforest leaves, so it slips into the collar and starts sucking blood.

The Waterdrop Leech specifically targets the thickest skin on a person’s back when biting, and its mouthpart contains an anesthetic that numbs the skin, so there’s no pain when biting. It feeds and injects the anesthetic slowly, which is why Qi Ming had so many leeches on him without realizing it.

Cui Tianxiao’s legs turned to jelly as he trembled and asked, "S-Star Xing, you mean we both have these things on us too?"

Li Xing nodded.

Cui Tianxiao gazed at the densely packed leeches on Qi Ming’s back, their bellies bulging like little fists, still squirming, and let out another sharp, ghostly scream.

Outside the Qi Mechanism Tent, the consecutive screams made the programmer operating the invisible camera feel like weeds were growing in his heart.

He was also one of the "Heavenly Court CP" fans, and in his mind, hundreds of episodes of melodrama were unfolding. If it weren’t for the strict contest rules prohibiting filming inside the tent, he would have shown this drama to millions.

Cui Tianxiao was tempted to touch his back but was terrified of the slimy feeling he might find. He was stuck in a dilemma.

At this moment, he wished he could faint and not have to witness what came next, but alas, his nerves were too thick-skinned to act weak.

Li Xing took out a bottle of medicinal powder, picked a bit with her pinky nail, and sprinkled it on a Waterdrop Leech that had drunk its fill. The leech, large as a ball, shriveled swiftly, and not long after, dropped off from Qi Ming’s back.

Ye Qingting suppressed his discomfort and asked, "Ah Xing, what are you doing?"

"These Waterdrop Leeches have already taken a lot of your blood. Simply removing them will still leave you dizzy and weak. After all, even taking a Heavenly Essence Pill, it would take two to three hours for your blood to replenish. We don’t have that much time. The best way is to have the Waterdrop Leech return the blood it took back into your body now."

Seeing the clear fear in Ye Qingting’s eyes, Li Xing added reassuringly, "Don’t worry, the digestive tract of Waterdrop Leeches is very clean, without pathogens or parasites, and their saliva contains a special enzyme that promotes blood circulation, which is beneficial and harmless to the human body."

Li Xing swiftly made all the leeches shrivel and fall off, leaving Qi Ming’s back covered in needle-puncture marks, but his complexion quickly turned rosy.

Li Xing ground a Red Medicine pill into powder, mixed it with water, and applied it to Qi Ming’s back, healing the needle marks in the blink of an eye.

"Sister Xing, I-I feel strong again!"

Li Xing nodded and let him sit down to rest for a while, then called Cui Tianxiao over.

Cui Tianxiao was scared out of his wits, shaking his head like a rattling drum, "No, no, no, I don’t want it! I have a lot of blood; let’s just consider it a treat for them. No need for it back!"

Li Xing gave him no chance to refuse, swiftly stripping off his shirt and applying the medicinal powder to remove the leeches.

Though the process was painless, just thinking about the blood in the leeches returning to his body made Cui Tianxiao shiver, and he couldn’t stop making a series of "Eek-Ya!" "Yo-Weh!" nasal sounds, irritating Li Xing enough to silence him with a Silence Talisman until Ye Qingting’s leeches were all removed.

After lifting the ban, Cui Tianxiao’s eyes were red, and he grabbed Ye Qingting’s sleeve, pouting, "Qingtian, I’m unclean now!"

Veins bulged on Ye Qingting’s forehead as he angrily told him to get lost.

Ye Qingting asked Li Xing, "Ah Xing, how about you...?"

Li Xing was a girl, and it wouldn’t be convenient for her to undress in front of them, but she certainly couldn’t reach her own back either, leaving them puzzled on how to help.

Li Xing shook her head, "I don’t have any leeches on me."

Cui Tianxiao perked up, "Star, don’t be shy, come on, let me check for you... Oof—!"

He took a heavy punch to the stomach, curling up on the ground like a boiled shrimp, groaning in pain. The broken sounds spread outside, exciting the invisible camera outside the tent even more, flying up and down.

After solving Cui Tianxiao with a punch, Li Xing reiterated solemnly, "I really don’t have any."

As a Body Cultivation practitioner, her skin was as tough as jade, so if she couldn’t resist a leech’s tiny teeth, it would be a joke.

"Today’s incident was my oversight. Marching in the rainforest, we should have guarded against the harassment of leeches and poisonous insects, but I was careless..."

In Li Xing’s original world, Cultivators naturally had Protective Gang Qi, so snakes, insects, mice, and ants wouldn’t dare to have any ideas.

But Li Xing forgot that this was the Qianyuan Continent. The ravages of the Star Beasts here couldn’t be judged by past experiences, and if neglected, even low-level creatures like leeches could cause Heavenly Armor-class warriors to bleed to death unknowingly.

"I have some sulfur powder here, which can repel poisonous insects. Everyone, make do with it for now, and I promise to refine Insect Avoidance Pills as soon as possible, so you never have to worry about leeches and such pests again."

Cui Tianxiao scrambled up, grabbed a bottle, and started applying it to his neck while muttering:

"The leeches sucked my blood, not Xing’s, why blame you? But we do need to hurry up with those Insect Avoidance Pills, I don’t want to be a snack for these disgusting bugs again!"