Chapter Ninety-Two: Injuries

An endless rain ruled heaven and earth.

Manman carried Ji Hao and fled north like a headless fly. As she ran, she kept sniffling and sobbing now and then; rain and tears merged into one, leaving only her bloodshot eyes visible.

Still half dazed, Manman fled on pure instinct and had no thought for concealing her trail. With each bound she leapt two or three li, her brute strength leaving crater after crater in the ground, her fierce body smashing countless trees to splinters. Even a pack of blind men following behind her could have tracked her with ease.

Ji Hao was breathing with difficulty. Within his Purple Mansion Core, a faint strand of violet qi coiled and drifted, while clear, distant phoenix cries rose from time to time.

The phoenix essence blood gifted by the phantom had only fused with Ji Hao in a rudimentary way. This time, as Ji Hao’s soul nearly shattered, the drop of phoenix blood hidden deep within his body was fully awakened, turning into boundless violet qi that merged completely with his soul.

What had once been like a broken porcelain vessel, riddled with cracks everywhere, began to heal. From the depths of Ji Hao’s soul, mysterious and magnificent violet radiance flashed from time to time, noble and transcendent. Under the nourishment of that violet qi, the Purple Mansion Core, which had nearly collapsed, began to mend at once. Spinning furiously, it drew in the surrounding primal energies of heaven and earth, continuously absorbing them to repair its injuries.

As his core and soul healed themselves, Ji Hao finally regained a trace of clarity.

He lifted his head. Crystal raindrops poured down from the sky, and all at once a wisp of violet qi flashed deep within his eyes, causing his vision to change in a wondrous and uncanny way. In that instant, within the twenty-li range covered by his spiritual sense, he could see the course of every raindrop with perfect clarity, and he could instantly discern the path of every current of wind.

In an instant, Ji Hao could calculate where each raindrop would go in the next moment, could determine how every thread of wind within twenty li affected each drop of rain, and could compute the size, force, shape, and intricate changes caused by their friction with the air.

It was almost an omnipotent, supreme state.

He sank into that marvelous, indescribable realm for perhaps only a trillionth of a moment before the tiny amount of soul power he had just recovered was completely exhausted. Ji Hao spat out mouthfuls of blood, hurriedly shaking his head as he forced himself to pull away from that wondrous state.

It was not a realm he was qualified to touch now. Let alone a mere minor shaman like himself, Ji Hao even suspected that whether a peak grand shaman, or even a shaman king, possessed the right to brush against such a miraculous world was still an open question.

"Old bastard, you really nearly killed me!" Ji Hao cried out soundlessly, cursing the phantom in a torrent.

That first Heaven-Opening strike had torn open a heavy curtain before Ji Hao’s eyes and revealed an unbelievable world to him. But even a speck of dust in that world far exceeded Ji Hao’s limits. Though he had gained benefits that he still could not even begin to describe, it had also nearly cost him his life.

Breathing deeply, he drew in breaths according to the unique method of the Nine-Character Mantra Alchemical Scripture. Primal energy of heaven and earth transformed into visible wisps of multicolored mist that flowed continuously into his body. In his lower abdomen, a multicolored flame blazed fiercely. The essence blood of more than a dozen grand shamans Ji Hao had slain in the fierce battle against the tribal coalition in recent days hovered above that multicolored flame. The roughly seventy percent of grand shaman essence blood that had not yet been digested released blinding light, constantly transforming into multicolored radiance that nourished Ji Hao from head to toe.

Both his body and soul received nourishment from the radiance formed by the grand shaman essence blood, and the cracks in Ji Hao’s bones healed at once.

Recovering a little strength, Ji Hao looked up at the sky, then at the surrounding trees, and said through gritted teeth, "Manman, you’re running north? We can’t go north. Our Fire Raven Tribe is already the northernmost tribe in the Southern Wastelands. Any farther north, and it becomes a completely uninhabited wilderness."

Manman, who had been running in a muddled daze on instinct all this time, swayed, then stopped helplessly. She looked blankly at Ji Hao and asked through tears, "Then where do we go? Wuwu, Old Yan is dead, Old Yan was killed by them... wuwu, A Xing and A Hua and the others will be so sad, waah~"

Like a helpless infant, Manman burst into loud sobs.

She was only a few months younger than Ji Hao. Even in the Southern Wastelands, Manman was still just a child not yet grown. She had been pampered and well cared for since childhood, with everything handled properly for her by Ying Yan. How could she ever have experienced such peril?

That she had still managed to think of carrying Ji Hao to escape with her proved that this little girl was truly conscientious and deeply loyal.

After crying only twice, Manman suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. The hot blood sprayed all over Ji Hao’s face and head. There was fierce heat in her blood, as though it were molten lava, scorching Ji Hao’s skin until it sizzled, and the pain nearly made him cry out in agony.

This was the formidable power born of Manman’s own bloodline. That heat had always lain hidden within her body, but it seemed that the little girl had never once awakened that terrifying strength. Throughout their flight, she had relied entirely on brute force.

"Manman, you’re hurt?" Ji Hao struggled free from her shoulder and looked toward her back.

The moment he saw Manman’s blood-soaked, mangled back, Ji Hao drew in a sharp breath and his heart instantly tightened.

When Manman carried Ji Hao away, Di Luo had used the Blood Moon Dim Ghost Killing Formation, already on the verge of collapse, to strike her hard. Because the formation was disintegrating, the blow had veered slightly off her vital point and landed only on her right back.

After subduing the mountain god, Manman had been mischievously gathering all sorts of gemstones in the mountain god’s cavern. Finding the armor on her body awkward and cumbersome, she had taken it off, leaving only a long dress woven from scarlet-gold thread.

This dress was clearly also an extraordinary shamanic treasure. It had withstood the full-force strike of the Blood Moon Dim Ghost Killing Formation, and the fabric around Manman’s back blazed brilliantly, countless densely packed runes surging and rolling across it.

But the killing formation’s power was overwhelming. In the end, the dress, brilliant with light, had been pierced by a hole no larger than a baby’s fist. Manman’s right back was nearly penetrated through. Through the bloody wound, one could see her crimson bones, burning like charcoal, and her lungs, writhing and likewise spewing great tongues of flame.

With her lungs injured, every word Manman spoke brought up more blood.

With such a grave injury, this little girl, who had never once faced life or death in the abyss, had nevertheless carried Ji Hao and fled for so long, so far.

"Good Manman. This time, if not for you, we’d already be dead." Ji Hao was stunned by the severity of her injuries. For an ordinary person, such a wound would have been fatal long ago. But Manman’s body was unimaginably sturdy; these injuries had only greatly affected her walking and speaking. There was no immediate danger to her life.

Manman clutched Ji Hao’s sleeve, sobbing, her eyes blurred with tears as she looked at him.

Now that Ji Hao had awakened, Manman had completely lost her bearings and no longer knew where to run.

Fierce gusts of wind and breaking air sounded behind them. In the brief time it took them to exchange a few words, the people of the Blood Fang Band had already caught up.

Ji Hao reached out to pat the crow lord huddled and trembling in his arms, then lifted Manman at once and, moving carefully and lightly, darted into the mist-shrouded forest.

Unlike Manman, whose every step shook the world, Ji Hao left almost no trace at all, slipping into the woods like a ghost.

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