Chapter Ninety-One: Traces of the Miraculous Medicine

Lu Zhe strode swiftly downward and, in the blink of an eye, had already reached the hall on the first floor.

As he entered, he looked ahead and saw Doctor Healer standing alone in the middle of the hall. Around twenty male serpentfolk had formed a ring, hemming the old doctor in from every side. From the skill in their movements, it was plain they were no ordinary foes.

Doctor Healer was charging recklessly through their midst, thrusting left and right, but the serpentfolk held him in an iron encirclement. Whenever one was struck down, another immediately stepped in to take his place, never leaving the slightest opening.

Turning sharply, Doctor Healer moved three steps to the left and came before one serpentman. With three rapid strikes he split the man’s skull, but at once the two serpentfolk beside him seized the chance and thrust their swords toward the old doctor’s underarms.

With a sudden withdrawal, Doctor Healer retreated five steps and returned to the center of the ring. Yet the place of the serpentman he had just killed was instantly filled by another, and the more than twenty attackers continued their assault.

Crouching low, Doctor Healer used his left leg as a pivot and shot out his right, sweeping in a broad circle. He sent three closing serpentfolk sprawling, then drew back his leg, sprang upward, bent his knee, and crashed down upon one of the fallen men.

Thud.

Doctor Healer slammed heavily into the serpentman’s chest. The force struck the floor into a crater, and cracks as thick as fingers spread outward like a spiderweb in every direction.

He quickly rose from the serpentman’s body and cast his eyes around. He found himself still completely surrounded, with not the slightest flaw in their formation.

“What a formidable formation,” he murmured. Looking around, he saw how they had him spinning within their encirclement, while their formation remained watertight, without a single opening.

Suddenly, Doctor Healer’s gaze fell upon Lu Zhe, who was watching the battle from the stairway landing. He shouted, “Run!”

At that cry, the serpentfolk surrounding him also turned and noticed Lu Zhe. But just as they turned, Doctor Healer flipped cleanly over their heads, landed beside Lu Zhe, seized his shoulder, and a pair of enormous red wings, each nearly ten feet long, appeared behind him. With a single beat, a gale burst forth, and carrying Lu Zhe with him, he shot straight out.

“After them!”

Seeing Doctor Healer flee with Lu Zhe, a middle-aged serpentman shouted. He shook himself, and a pair of blue wings, also about ten feet long, unfolded behind him. With a light beat, he took the lead in pursuit.

“After them!”

The serpentfolk behind him echoed the cry in unison. They too summoned wings of spiritual power and chased after the old doctor, who had already become a red speck beyond the door.

Whoosh.

A red human shadow flashed by.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Behind him, a great multicolored swarm of silhouettes streamed after him.

Doctor Healer glanced back and saw that the serpentfolk were clinging to him without slackening, and they were drawing closer by the moment. If things went as he expected, they would catch him before long. At once, he caught Lu Zhe with his right hand, reached into his robes with his left, and drew out a blue vial, which he hurled backward.

Bang.

When the vial had flown about ten feet back, it suddenly exploded. A mass of gray smoke immediately appeared beneath the black vault of heaven, then spread outward, expanding into a vast gray wall of mist that severed Doctor Healer from the serpentfolk.

The pursuers behind them also noticed the sudden change ahead. The middle-aged serpentman in front waved his hand, and the others stopped at once, beating their wings to hover in midair. The leading serpentman stared grimly at the spreading gray smoke, then after a moment shouted, “Back off! The mist is poisonous!”

The serpentfolk behind him were startled, but none hesitated. They hurriedly beat their wings and descended to the ground.

Watching Doctor Healer, now no more than a red speck vanishing into the black edge of the sky, the middle-aged serpentman clenched his right hand into a fist and slammed it hard against the ground, cursing in fury, “Damn it. We let him escape.”

A young serpentman stepped forward behind him and clasped his hands. “Instructor, I have something to say.”

The middle-aged serpentman rose from the ground and looked at him. “What is it? Speak.”

The young serpentman lifted his gaze toward the sky where Doctor Healer had disappeared and hesitated before saying, “This man was able to hold out so long against our national guardian formation, the Coiling Serpent Array, and remained undefeated. I suspect that he…”

The middle-aged serpentman raised a hand to cut him off. His brow furrowed slightly. Lowering his head, he pondered for a moment, then looked up and let out a soft sigh. “It wasn’t merely that he remained undefeated. He was clearly in absolute control. This man’s strength is unfathomable. If he did not wish to break our formation, then he must have been delaying time so that the youth he was carrying could make it farther down from the upper floor. The upper floor…?” Suddenly, he seemed to wake to something and cried out, “No, the princess!”

The middle-aged serpentman hastily summoned the red wings behind him, and with a fierce beat his body transformed into a streak of crimson light, flying toward the majestic palace.

……………

Doctor Healer dragged Lu Zhe along at a speed almost terrifying to behold. The onrushing wind sliced across Lu Zhe’s face like sharp blades, the pain like flesh being cut.

After flying for a short while, Doctor Healer gradually beat his red wings and landed on the ground. A few feet above the sand, he casually tossed Lu Zhe aside, then turned in midair with a lightness that made the heavy seem effortless, descending with graceful ease before shaking his shoulders and folding away the great red wings.

Lu Zhe pulled his head out of the sand and said, “Am I a sandbag? You just throw me around.”

Standing on the sandy ground, Doctor Healer looked at him quietly and asked in a calm voice, “What were you doing?”

“Nothing much. I just went to the very top of the palace,” Lu Zhe said as he poured the sand out of his shoes.

“What did you go there for? What was up there?” Doctor Healer asked in confusion.

“Nothing. Only the serpent princess was there,” Lu Zhe said casually.

At this, Doctor Healer’s brow lifted in disbelief. After a moment, he wore an aggrieved expression and said, “Good heavens, I went to all that trouble helping you search for clues, and you go running off to chase girls. Have you no shame?”

Lu Zhe took off his outer robe and shook it, spilling out the fine sand caught within, then put it back on and stood up. Looking at Doctor Healer, he said flatly, “I didn’t go chasing girls.” Then his tone changed as he asked, “Right, what clue did you find?”

Doctor Healer took a scroll from his robes and tossed it to Lu Zhe. “I found this scroll in their secret chamber. It says that something strange happened recently in the Endless Desert.”

Lu Zhe unrolled the scroll Doctor Healer had thrown him. Written vertically in neat script were several lines. As he read carefully, he discovered the following:

On the eighteenth day of the twelfth month, a red light suddenly shot skyward in the northern region of the Endless Desert, lasting three seconds. It was suspected that a rare treasure had appeared, but after many days of searching, no such treasure was found, and they ultimately had to return empty-handed.

After reading these words, Lu Zhe considered them for a moment. The eighteenth day of the twelfth month was about fifteen days ago, which meant this had been recorded fifteen days earlier.

“Well?” Doctor Healer asked him calmly.

Lu Zhe rolled up the scroll and handed it back. Lowering his head in thought for a moment, he said, “You mean to say the ‘rare treasure’ mentioned in this scroll is a wonder drug?”

Doctor Healer nodded without committing himself. “The only thing likely to cause such an unnatural phenomenon would be the appearance of a wonder drug.”

Lu Zhe nodded in agreement.

“It’s better not to delay. We leave at once. If a wonder drug has appeared, it has surely drawn plenty of attention. We must hurry,” Doctor Healer said suddenly.

Lu Zhe nodded. “All right.”

The two of them exchanged a look and set off toward the northern reaches of the Endless Desert.