An hour later, the Tigerheaded Dragon had recovered about twenty percent of his strength and was ready to set out again. Su Jing, weak and barely able to speak, said, “Wait…”

He bent his toes back, pressed hard on the mangled wound, and pus mixed with blood burst out. From inside, he forced out a waxy pellet about the size of a fingernail, and with trembling hands pushed it into Liu Xiaolou’s palm.

“Brother-in-law… Dragon Gall… Yin-Yang Pill… you and Fifth Sister… can finally… consummate your marriage…”

The moment he got the words out, Su Jing felt a wave of relief and sank back into unconsciousness.

Tigerheaded  Dragon looked stunned. “Brother, so it’s true you really can’t do it? For this kind of problem, you don’t need pills. Come to my Jiao family instead. I’ll teach you the secret body-refining technique.”

Liu Xiaolou cursed furiously. “Get lost! You’re the one who can’t do it… Thirteen, you idiot, you’re the biggest fool in the world!”

He carefully tucked the wax pellet away.

Tigerheaded Dragon shook his head. “Still won’t admit it…”

Having managed to bring Su Jing out alive, Liu Xiaolou finally let out a long breath of relief. He loosened his grip on the pouch and bone flute in his hands. “Spoils of war. According to the rules, we split them…”

Tigerheaded Dragon opened up the pouch. “Not bad. This guy actually had some wealth on him. Twenty… seven spirit stones, and some spirit pills…” He uncorked a few bottles, sniffed them, and his face lit up. “Heart-Nourishing Pills! Brother, you should take one first…”

“Mmm… follow the rules. We split them evenly…”

“Haha, fair enough. Earning spirit stones with your own hands really does feel good… Oh, there’s even Tiger Bone Pills. You have any injuries? No? Then Thirteen and I will take the Tiger Bone Pills first…”

“Mmm…”

“What’s this pill? Never seen it before…”

“Huu…”

“There’s also a token. Looks like this Badong bandit’s surname was Suo? Brother, you ever heard of him? Together, we managed to kill a tenth-layer Qi Refiner. If word got out, our names would spread across the land…”

“Huu…”

“Forget it, better burn it. Spreading this around would just be trouble. If the Badong bandits come one after another for revenge, even if we’re not afraid, it would be more hassle than it’s worth. What do you think, brother? Brother… Brother…”

Seeing that Liu Xiaolou had passed out again, he quickly checked his meridians, then Su Jing’s. Both were suffering from heavy poisoning. Not daring to waste any more time, he packed everything away, hoisted one man over each shoulder, and set off once more on the road home.

After about an hour on the road, a sudden commotion rose behind them. Badong cultivators were shouting as they gave chase. Tigerheaded Dragon panicked, unsure what to do. Then, a figure appeared up ahead. For a moment he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but then his face lit up with joy. “Ninth Lady!”

...

Liu Xiaolou really had been poisoned, but this wasn’t any ordinary toxin. It was poison-qi from a Badong cultivator, a corruption of true qi itself. Right now, that poison-qi was rampaging through his Liver Meridian, tearing it apart almost completely.

That was why he had slipped back into unconsciousness.

After shattering the Liver Meridian, the poison-qi surged into the Triple Burner Meridian of the hand, wrecking that channel as well. Then it forced its way into the Pericardium Meridian, breaking through Zhongchong and Laogong before slamming into the Daling acupoint.

Just as it was about to destroy Daling acupoint in one final burst, something unexpected happened. The poison-qi that rushed in was stained with a hint of green light. That green presence stopped the rest of the poison-qi in its tracks. It faltered, hesitated, and suddenly had nowhere to go.

More and more of the poison-qi was touched by that green light. The toxic force within was dissolved and erased, leaving behind nothing but pure true essence.

No one knew how much time had passed before enough true qi had gathered in the Daling acupoint. Then, it began to counterattack the poison-qi. From Zhongchong acupoint to Laogong, it reclaimed lost ground while repairing the shattered meridians and acupoints, at the same time transforming more of the poison-qi into true qi.

Once the Pericardium Meridian was restored, it moved on to mend the Triple Burner Meridian of the hand. Afterward, it circled back to the Liver Meridian, retaking each acupoint one by one like storming a fortress. Every reclaimed position was quickly suffused with green light, which went on to heal all the damage left behind.

Liu Xiaolou’s cultivation had only reached the fifth level of Qi Refinement, just around the Zuwuli acupoint. But the converted true qi was so abundant that after reclaiming Zuwuli, it surged onward to Yinlian. It broke through there in one sweep, then pressed on to Jimai and Zhangmen. After shattering those acupoints as well, it poured toward the final gate of the Liver Meridian—the Qimen acupoint.

At Qimen, the green-tinged true qi and the Badong cultivator’s poison-qi clashed in a fierce battle. Again and again they fought over control, until the acupoint itself was battered and broken. At last, the remnants of the poison-qi scattered in panic, fleeing into the Gallbladder Meridian.

With Qimen broken through, Liu Xiaolou had stepped into the sixth layer of Qi Refinement!

The green-infused true qi, after mending Qimen, pressed its advantage and charged straight into the Gallbladder Meridian.

The Gallbladder Meridian was a major channel, forty-four acupoints on each side, beginning at the corner of the eye at Tongziliao and ending at Zuqiaoyin near the foot.

The transformed true qi and the poison-qi continued their fierce struggle, battling acupoint by acupoint. From Tongziliao they forced their way through Tinghui, Shangguan, Hanyan, Xuanlu, Xuanli, Qubin, Shuaigu, Tianchong, Fubai, Touqiaoyin, and Wangu—twelve acupoints in all—before finally halting just short of the Benshen acupoint. Only then was the last trace of the Badong cultivator’s poison-qi completely wiped out, converted down to the last wisp.

That trace of green light quickly withdrew, gathering again at the Daling acupoint, hiding itself in the shadows until it faded from sight.

The battle within Liu Xiaolou’s meridians had lasted for over a month. He himself remained unconscious for just as long. When he finally woke, what he felt was a dramatic surge in his cultivation. His memory of it was vague, but it seemed that his true qi had absorbed and refined the last of the Badong cultivator’s poison-qi.

So this is what they mean by great fortune on the edge of life and death? Looks like I’ve experienced it myself…

Thinking this, he opened his eyes and saw a window, and a door.

The familiar window lattice, the familiar curtain. This was the bedroom of Yiling Hall.

He turned over and sat up, but a sudden dizziness made him fall back onto the bed. It was just from lying down too long.

After resting a moment, he tried again. This time, a maid lifted the curtain and stepped inside. It wasn’t Susu, but Ninth Lady’s personal maid, Xiaoqin.

Xiaoqin carried in a basin of water. Without a word, she set it on the stand by the bed, then left.

Stunned for a while, Liu Xiaolou washed up. Only then did he realize his clothes had already been changed. He put on a long robe and stepped out.

The big goose he hadn’t seen in a while was splashing in the pond, chasing two long-whiskered golden carp. It looked up at him, gave two sharp honks, and tilted its head as if studying him.

From the eaves, the black cat let out a “meow” before leaping up to the rooftop and vanishing from sight.

The SunRain Hibiscus Garden was unusually quiet, so much so that Liu Xiaolou felt a little unsettled.

After a while, Ninth Lady came in. She walked straight into Yiling Hall, her expression complicated as she looked at Liu Xiaolou. In a soft voice she said, “It’s good you’re awake.”

Liu Xiaolou asked, “Tigerheaded… where’s Jiao Hu?”

“He was badly injured,” replied Su Wan. “Once we got back, we sent him home to the Jiao family. Don’t worry, he’s recovered, but they’ve confined him. This time it’s for a year.”

Liu Xiaolou gave a small laugh. “He expected that… What about Thirteen?”

She said, “You don’t need to worry about his poisoning either. He’s been cured. Half a month ago he went with White Sword Master back to the South Sea. Before he left, he told me to invite you to visit the South Sea Sword Sect once you’ve recovered. He still hasn’t forgotten your illusion formation.”

Liu Xiaolou burst out laughing. “Then I can finally let him into the formation.”

Su Wan rolled her eyes. “And you can still laugh! Do you even realize how badly the three of you were hurt? You almost died! And that’s not all. You’re in serious trouble now. Father and Second Uncle are furious, and I don’t know yet what they’ll decide to do with you!”

“How else could they punish me?” Liu Xiaolou brushed it off with a smile, not really concerned. He only asked, “And Thirteen, what did he say?”

With clear irritation, Su Wan replied, “He claimed it was his own decision to go to Zhuoshui, said he wanted to temper himself between life and death, and that it had nothing to do with anyone else. He took more than a dozen lashes from Second Uncle, but kept his mouth shut. Second Uncle meant to lock him up for six months, but White Sword Master spoke up and took him away instead.”

Liu Xiaolou sighed. “In your Su family, only Thirteen feels like one of us from Wulong Mountain. Oh, and Brother Tigerhead too, he has a bit of that Wulong spirit.”

“Nonsense,” Su Wan shot back. “That blockhead Tigerhead refused to say a word either. Later I asked him in private, and he told me it was about your reputation, so he couldn’t even tell me. But how could something like that stay hidden? I heard it from a friend on Mount Tianmu. Thirteen first went there to ask for a pill for you. Since Tianmu Mountain had nothing like that, he went on to Zhuoshui. Anyway, you’d better start thinking how to explain it. Oh, and this is what Tigerhead left for you.”

She opened a pouch. Inside were the sash of the dead Baduo cultivator and a bone flute. In the sash were thirteen spirit stones and a few small pill bottles.