Chapter 103: The Day of the Contest

"Father," Nangong Xue called out softly as she entered the pavilion, looking at the man lying quietly on the ice bed. But she received no response.

The man lying on the ice bed was none other than Nangong Xiong, the current Patriarch of the Nangong Family. He was also the strongest cultivator in the family, possessing a level of cultivation that others could not fathom. Yet, even a powerhouse like him could not withstand the dread of the Five Poisons Gu. After all, this ancient curse had been passed down from antiquity, and its toxicity was naturally pervasive.

"Xue'er, leave the rest to Alchemist An. Since the antidote has already been refined, the Five Poisons Gu in your father's body should be cured," Nangong Hao said, gently pulling Nangong Xue back.

"Yes, Xue girl, don't worry," Deacon Xie and the other two deacons standing nearby nodded in agreement.

"Actually, to cure the Five Poisons Gu in Patriarch Nangong, this antidote is all that is needed. It doesn't really matter whether I'm here or not," Alchemist An said. With a flick of his wrist, a mutton-fat jade porcelain bottle appeared in his hand, and he divided the original antidote into two portions.

"This batch of antidote is actually enough for two doses. If he consumes too much, the efficacy will be greatly reduced. Moreover, Soul Grass is hard to find, so we must not waste it," Alchemist An explained.

"Alright, this dosage is just right. Miss Nangong, hurry and have your father take it."

"Thank you!" Nangong Xue thanked him as she took one of the portions from Alchemist An. She turned, approached the ice bed, and carefully administered the medicine to Nangong Xiong.

Everyone stared intently, watching Nangong Xiong's reaction after taking the antidote. To their relief, the dark aura that had been lingering on his face began to recede at a visible speed. Within a few breaths, his complexion regained a healthy, ruddy color.

However, even after the dark aura had completely vanished and the time it took for an incense stick to burn had passed, he still showed no signs of waking, remaining in a deep slumber.

"Do not worry. The poison in Patriarch Nangong's body has already been neutralized. However, because he was poisoned for many days, his consciousness is still drifting. It is only natural that he won't wake up immediately," Alchemist An said with a smile, sensing everyone's doubts.

Hearing this, everyone finally let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Then roughly when will my father wake up?" Nangong Xue asked worriedly.

"Indeed, Alchemist An. How long will the Patriarch remain in this state? It would put our minds at ease to have a general idea," the others chimed in.

Everyone knew that in four days, the scheduled competition against the coalition of forces led by the Blood Fiend Gang would take place. If Nangong Xiong woke up, the Nangong Family could escape their current awkward predicament. With Nangong Xiong guarding them, the forces led by the Blood Fiend Gang would surely restrain themselves.

...

In the blink of an eye, a day and a half had passed.

Inside the small cabin in the bamboo forest, the blood cores piled around Ye Cheng were now completely exhausted. Deprived of the blood energy to devour, Ye Cheng woke from his state of running the Spirit Devouring Art. The blood energy within his body had been entirely compressed into the Star Blood Crystal. Unless he actively summoned it, there was not a trace of blood energy left in any other part of his body.

Over the past day and a half, all the blood energy from more than five hundred blood cores had been funneled into Ye Cheng's body without a single drop wasted. Through the constant operation of the Spirit Devouring Art, he purified and filtered the devoured blood energy, circulating it bit by bit through his body to stimulate the latent blood energy within him.

A vast ocean of blood energy once again filled every part of his body, flowing between his organs. His heart beat with increasing strength, each throb causing a faint resonance in the air.

"Still not enough!" Ye Cheng felt that the blood energy his body could accommodate had not yet reached its limit. It felt like a bucket of water that was only half-filled. Thus, he did not rush to compress the blood energy. After all, compressing blood energy to condense the Star Blood Crystal required an immense amount of it. If the quantity fell short even by a hair, he would not be able to trigger the qualitative change. Forcing the condensation would only cause his hard-earned blood energy to go to waste.

With the Spirit Devouring Art and his Devouring Physique, Ye Cheng could forcibly absorb blood energy to cultivate at an extremely rapid pace. But for anyone else, every thread of blood energy had to be painstakingly accumulated through hard work.

Therefore, if given the opportunity to condense the Star Blood Crystal, most people would choose to proceed steadily and cautiously.

"Continue!" With a wave of Ye Cheng's sleeve, the Sumeru pouch at his waist instantly flattened as he took out all of his remaining blood cores at once. The exhausted blood cores were replaced by this new batch.

Ye Cheng plunged back into his cultivation, continuing the monumental task of devouring blood energy.

Another two and a half days quietly slipped away as Ye Cheng cultivated. On this day, the blazing sun rose in the east. The newborn morning sun burned through the morning mist, casting a shimmering golden light. The wet leaves of the pines, cypresses, and hollies, which had bathed in the night air, caught the cascading sunlight. The morning mist settled and seeped into the soil, sending up waves of damp warmth.

Sunlight filtered into a small bamboo forest of the Nangong Family, casting dappled shadows on the ground through the leaves. Outside a cabin in this bamboo forest, two pretty young girls paced back and forth, staring anxiously at the tightly shut door, stamping their feet in worry.

"Ningyue, when do you think Young Master Ye will come out? Today is the day of the competition," one of the sweet-looking girls said, biting her lip as she spoke to the other girl with a ponytail.

The sweet-looking girl was named Ningxue, while the one with the ponytail was named Ningyue. Both were maids of the Nangong Family and personal attendants to Nangong Xue. When they entered the Nangong household as children, they were given the names Ningyue and Ningxue—meaning "condensed moon" and "condensed snow"—representing purity and beauty, in the hope that they would grow into lovely young ladies.

And indeed, they had grown up to be quite beautiful. Many young male disciples of the Nangong Family wished to claim them for themselves, but none succeeded. The reason was simple: they were the personal maids of Nangong Xue, the most talented and influential figure among the younger generation of the Nangong Family.

Now that they had been sent to serve Ye Cheng, it was undoubtedly with Nangong Xue's tacit permission. From this, one could see that Ye Cheng held a rather significant position in her eyes.

"I don't know. The competition starts at noon. It is only sunrise now, so there is still half a day left. Let's wait a bit longer. If Young Master Ye still hasn't come out by then, we'll have no choice but to knock. The young mistress told us not to disturb his cultivation, but she also reminded us to alert him on the day of the competition. We just need to follow her orders," Ningyue said, furrowing her brow slightly as she pondered.

"Alright, we'll do as you say. We'll wait another two hours. If two hours pass and Young Master Ye still hasn't come out, we'll knock," Ningxue agreed.