"A demonic barrier has been set up here. If you can dispel the demonic arts, we might all be able to leave," the Yao Beast said faintly.
"A demonic barrier..." Mu Anxiao said as she walked forward. She discovered that a demonic barrier was indeed attached to the cave entrance. However, considering the Yao Beast's abilities, she still felt confused. "Why don't you do it yourself?"
"I do it every day," the Yao Beast replied.
Mu Anxiao knitted her brows. "You come here every day..."
"Not exactly, but there's a passage in the water where I hide. I've already broken through the demonic barrier before that passage, otherwise, how could that immortal have gotten here? Now," the Yao Beast pointed at the cave, "this is the only one left. I didn't have the courage to come here before, but since you're asking for my help, I'll reluctantly come up."
"Then how..."
"My spiritual energy is heavier than yours, making it harder to be detected underwater. It's different here, though."
"Is that so? Then, if that's the case," Mu Anxiao, picking up on the Yao Beast's words, thought deeper and realized, "Did that immortal promise you he would break this demonic barrier?"
"Yes. Since he's been captured, it seems it has to be you."
"Alright, but before that, you have to teach me that spell. Otherwise, if I break it and you run off, what then?" Mu Anxiao said deliberately.
The Yao Beast couldn't help but chuckle. "I knew you'd be this cunning. But I won't leave until you leave, so don't worry about that." He then pointed at Mu Anxiao's hand.
"What are you doing?" Mu Anxiao didn't understand.
"Give me your hand, and I'll teach you. After you learn," the Yao Beast said, tilting his head towards the cave, "we'll break the barrier."
"Fine," Mu Anxiao agreed and handed her hand to the Yao Beast.
As the Yao Beast held Mu Anxiao's hand, he said, "Refining immortal blood isn't something that can be achieved overnight. If you want to save someone, it has to be a quick method, but the quickly refined immortal blood will only yield five drops."
"Five drops? That's too little."
"What I mean by five drops is five small vials. One drop a day. If you give the refined immortal blood to that immortal each day, he'll be fine after five days," the Yao Beast said, conjuring a small medicine bottle and handing it to Mu Anxiao. "Take this, and I'll teach you the incantation now."
"Okay," Mu Anxiao nodded and took the medicine bottle.
"By the way, is your relationship with that immortal unusual?" the Yao Beast asked, displaying a gossipy expression.
"If it were ordinary, I wouldn't have thought of saving him with immortal blood," Mu Anxiao thought. With things having come to this point, it was impossible to deny her relationship with Feng Qishi anymore. She became composed. "Hurry up and teach me. If he dies, I'll make you pay with your life."
"You saying that really hurts my feelings," the Yao Beast said, taking Mu Anxiao's other hand. "The next process might be a bit painful. If you can't bear to watch, just turn your head away."
"What are you going to do?" Mu Anxiao had a bad premonition.
The Yao Beast: "Activate your immortal blood so you can refine it. What a silly question." With that, he raised two fingers and made a deep cut on the back of Mu Anxiao's hand. Blood gushed out, and the pain struck. Mu Anxiao had no time to say anything else before she turned her face away.
Half an hour later.
Mu Anxiao leaned tiredly against a rock by the cave entrance. She then looked down at the wound on the back of her hand and sighed, "I guess I've managed to refine the first drop of immortal blood." She took a breath and turned to look at the Yao Beast, who was holding the small vial.
The Yao Beast shook the vial in his hand and said, "You've refined it. Here, you can go find that immortal now." He handed the vial to Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao: "Don't you need to dispel the cave entrance..."
"Your sacrifice is so great, it can be seen how seriously injured that immortal is. So," the Yao Beast said, "saving the immortal is more important. Hurry and go."
"He is indeed quite badly hurt," Mu Anxiao said, standing up and taking the small vial from the Yao Beast.
The Yao Beast: "I'll wait for you here."
"Aren't you going back into the water?" Mu Anxiao asked, steadying herself as she walked unsteadily.
"Ouyang Ye won't come here anyway. As for me," the Yao Beast said, pointing at Mu Anxiao's hand, "I'll try here to see if I can break that demonic barrier while concealing my spiritual energy. If I can break it, then you, the injured one, won't have to bother." After he finished speaking, Mu Anxiao's hand was bandaged.
Immediately, Mu Anxiao looked at the white cloth wrapped around her hand without surprise and said faintly, "I didn't expect you to be so conscientious. Since that's the case, I will definitely return to help you." With that, she turned and left.
The Yao Beast watched Mu Anxiao's departing figure, sighed lightly, and muttered, "Refining immortal blood is not an easy task. Tomorrow... it will be even more painful." After he said that, he recalled Mu Anxiao's forbearing expression when she was refining the immortal blood, shook his head, and turned around.
In an instant, Mu Anxiao arrived at the tower again. However, this time, the noisy clamor of those immortals was gone. Mu Anxiao felt a bit uneasy. "Why is it so quiet?" she murmured. She walked to the door, paused for a few seconds, shook her head, turned, and circled around to the back of the tower.
Inside the tower.
The immortals imprisoned in individual large iron cages also sensed Mu Anxiao's spiritual energy. However, due to the severity of Feng Qishi's injuries, they couldn't be distracted. They all stood in front of their cages, looking at Feng Qishi in the adjacent cage, who was curled up on the ground with his hands and feet shackled by iron chains, and furrowed their brows.
The wolf demon and the others, who were imprisoned with Feng Qishi, squatted beside him helplessly, growing anxious.
"What should we do? If this continues, he's definitely going to die," Jiong Ye said anxiously.
The vine spirit also said, "Yes, if he dies, what will happen to us? In the end," he frowned tightly, "we won't all be buried with him, will we?" He looked at the wolf demon.
The wolf demon sighed softly and said, "It would be great if Mu Anxiao could come." After he spoke, he raised his single hand emitting a red glow.
Seeing this, the vine spirit quickly said, "Ouyang Ye instructed us not to..."
"I won't listen to him," the wolf demon interrupted, trying to heal Feng Qishi with demonic arts.
At the same time, Feng Qishi opened his eyes. "Don't bother with me," he said in a low voice.
Hearing this, the wolf demon immediately stopped his actions, anxiously saying, "If I don't help alleviate your pain, you'll die from it."
"Ouyang Ye always keeps his word," Feng Qishi said, looking at the wolf demon with exhaustion, and coughed twice. "I advise you... you'd better not take the risk."