Chapter 297: Dire Straits

　　Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations

　　Other than himself, only Cen Shuyin could perform the Lightning Flash. There were signs of somebody performing the Lightning Flash here. This meant that Cen Shuyin had been here, and she hadn’t lost her ability to move. If Cen Shuyin had to perform the Lightning Flash here, does that mean that there were demonic beasts present?

　　Demonic beasts that could survive in these conditions were certainly no ordinary beasts.

　　Mo Wuji used his spiritual will to cover the entire area. Within seconds, he discovered that a Howling Wind Beast had died a few hours ago. It lay outside an opening along a cliff and was blocking the path through the opening.

　　As Mo Wuji approached the Howling Wind Beast, he deduced that it must have been past its youth. It was about 10 metres in length. Even though it was only 10 metres in length, this Howling Wind Beast’s skill must have been frightening. It must have been comparable to someone who was early in True Lake Stage. Mo Wuji estimated that Cen Shuyin was probably only late in Yuan Dan Stage. Could she really have killed this Howling Wind Beast?

　　A place like the Thorny Wind Gate was ideal for Howling Wind Beasts to live. Such a beast, early in True Lake Stage, must have been formidable. By pure logic, even if Cen Shuyin had been here, she would never have been able to defeat one.

　　Mo Wuji studied the wounds on the beast. Indeed, they were caused by the Lightning Flash and sword art. Among these was a sword radiance that pierced straight through the Howling Wind Beast’s dantian. Clearly, Cen Shuyin’s sword art was not that much poorer than his Invisible Sword. He wondered what kind of sword art she performed.

　　The wounds on the Howling Wind Beast made it clear – Cen Shuyin had killed it.

　　Mo Wuji once again used his spiritual will to make a sweep over the area. Despite sweeping all the way to the opening, he could not sense Cen Shuyin.

　　The fierce winds outside seemed to have died down a little. Mo Wuji paused for a moment, before beginning to roll the Howling Wind Beast straight out of the opening.

　　Given the way the wind was raging outside, this Howling Wind Beast would be ripped to pieces in no time.

　　Mo Wuji started to fly out. Then, a thought surfaced in his mind. If he were Cen Shuyin, he would not have left just like that. Even though a Howling Wind Beast had entered this opening, it was much safer inside than it was outside.

　　Once again, he used his spiritual will to sweep the area. He covered the same grounds as he did earlier, except this time, he tried to look on either side of the opening, among the cliffs.

　　Indeed, Mo Wuji immediately sensed a cave. The entrance to this cave was blocked by many, many jagged rocks that lay haphazardly.

　　Mo Wuji returned to the opening and hurriedly pushed aside the rocks. He entered the cave.

　　Even though there only lay a few illuminating stones inside the cave, Mo Wuji spotted Cen Shuyin the moment he entered.

　　Cen Shuyin’s clothes were ripped into shreds. It was impossible to tell if what covered her neck and arms was soil or blood. Everything was a mess of brown.

　　Mo Wuji gasped, and rushed to Cen Shuyin’s side. He held her up, and realised that she was no longer breathing.

　　His heart ached. Cen Shuyin was indeed an independent woman. And she was one of the highest calibre. If not for Xia Mu, there was no telling how far she would have made it.

　　But something was not right. Cen Shuyin must have been here for a long time. If so, why was her body still soft?

　　Mo Wuji quickly went to retrieve a pail of spring water, and began to clean Cen Shuyin up.

　　After a short while, all of the soil was cleaned off of her body. However, what Mo Wuji saw took him by surprise. Not one inch of her body was spared from wounds. It was a good thing that she wore a body-protection suit, which protected all her vital organs. Otherwise, she would have been much worse off.

　　Every part of her body from her forearms to her biceps, from her neck to her thighs, was covered in blood and battle wounds. Even her face was covered in streaks in all directions, which must have been caused by the whips of wind outside.

　　Mo Wuji heaved a huge sigh. He wasn’t surprised. When he had just entered Thorny Wind Gate, he was much worse off than Cen Shuyin. From the looks of it, the body-protection suit that Cen Shuyin was wearing was of high quality. It could even be the spiritual body-protection suit that he had, to that point, yet to encounter.

　　Just when he was considering using his spiritual will to do a thorough check, he felt Cen Shuyin’s heartbeat weakly. Then, it went still. If not for the fact that he had been holding her, he would not have felt it.

　　The weak pulse that he had just felt confirmed his suspicions. She was still alive, or at least, she was not completely dead. She still had a chance to live, and that was only probably because she had used some deep sleep cultivation technique. The major sects were indeed highly knowledgeable. Mo Wuji had only heard of such a technique, but had not actually encountered it. Cen Shuyin, on the other hand, came from the Heaven Seeking Palace’s Sword Lake. This technique was familiar to her.

　　Mo Wuji had to find out if Cen Shuyin was still alive. Since she wasn’t responding to his calls, he used his spiritual will to check her spirit channels.

　　Anyway, Cen Shuyin lay in his arms, naked except for what the remaining of the body-protection suit covered. Moreover, given her state, the view was not pleasing to the eye.

　　Yet, wasn’t he similar? In fact, he was much worse than her. One could not afford to wear clothes in such a place, and he didn’t have a body-protection suit like she did.

　　True Lake Stage?

　　Mo Wuji was shocked when his spiritual will came to Cen Shuyin’s elemental lake. The only reason he could reach True Lake Stage was that all hundred-over meridians of his were absorbing spiritual energy at the same time. That was all thanks to his modified reverse circulation technique. Cen Shuyin was only of a better calibre naturally – yet she had also reached True Lake Stage.

　　From the looks of it, the training conditions in Zhen Mo Continent were a thousand times better than those in the Lost Continent.

　　But now, Cen Shuyin’s elemental lake was dry. There wasn’t a drop of elemental energy left. What’s worse, her elemental lake had signs of damage. She was in her final stage in life – no wonder she had to go into a deep sleep. Mo Wuji couldn’t even sense her willpower. Clearly, even her soul was badly injured.

　　Suddenly, two drops of tears formed at the corners of Cen Shuyin’s eyes. They flowed down her temples.

　　Mo Wuji empathised. Cen Shuyin was a lady after all. It was already bad enough that he was looking at her while she lay exposed. Now, he was even using his spiritual will to study her internally.

　　However, he had no choice. Even if he could put a coat around her now, it would still be ripped to shreds when they stepped out. And he had to use his spiritual will to check on her. He couldn’t possibly leave her to die.

　　Cen Shuyin’s entire body was trembling by now. Mo Wuji quickly retrieved a piece of clothing and used it to cover her body. He apologised, “Senior Cen, I am Mo Wuji. We can talk after I save you. Please don’t be agitated. If you continue this way, I won’t be able to help you.”

　　Cen Shuyin was dying – her wounds couldn’t even begin to heal. If she carried on this way, her soul would definitely leave her body.

　　After hearing his words, Cen Shuyin’s body gradually stopped trembling. Slowly, she became more still. Yet, the tears continued to flow from her eyes. She was obviously ashamed.

　　Mo Wuji used his spiritual will to delve deeper into the cave. He found that deep inside was an empty area, of about 200 to 300 square metres. From the looks of it, that place belonged to the Howling Wind Beast. For the Howling Wind Beast to have found such a place to live in Thorny Wind Gate, it must have been quite capable.

　　Mo Wuji only felt the rich spiritual energy when he arrived at the Howling Wind Beast’s resting place.

　　The spiritual energy in Thorny Wind Gate was already considered impressive. Not long ago, he had made use of these conditions to break out of Yuan Dan Stage and enter True Lake Stage. However, the spiritual energy in this place was much purer and richer.

　　In his heart, he decided that no matter what, he had to stay here to train for a period of time. If he didn’t take advantage of such a place, his trip here would be wasted.

　　Carefully, Mo Wuji lay Cen Shuyin down atop a boulder. Then, he began to tear apart the cloth that he had covered her with earlier. If he wanted to save her, he had to first treat her physical wounds. Otherwise, what would there be to save?

　　He began to grind 2 Clear Jade Pills into powder, before rubbing the powder onto her wounds. He took 2 more Clear Jade Pills and fed them to Cen Shuyin.

　　The Clear Jade Pill was Mo Wuji’s best medicine used to treat wounds. It was a Tier 5 wound-healing spiritual pill. It would completely heal the physical wounds on Cen Shuyin’s body, but it would not help her to regain consciousness.

　　Since she was barely breathing, she was not able to swallow the Clear Jade Pills that he had put into her mouth. He had no choice but to help her refine the pills.

　　With his strong spiritual will and a large amount of his elemental energy, he helped her to absorb the Clear Jade Pills in a matter of minutes.

　　The Clear Jade Pills started to take effect. Her wounds gradually disappeared, and her skin slowly became clear again.

　　4 hours passed. On the outside, Cen Shuyin had almost fully recovered. The skin on her neck and arms were fair once again. Now, Mo Wuji truly appreciated how perfect Cen Shuyin’s body was.

　　If Mo Wuji hadn’t known better, he would think that Cen Shuyin had fully recovered. At least, that was how she appeared. However, he was well aware that Cen Shuyin remained gravely injured internally. For one, her Elemental Energy Lake was still dried up.

　　In addition, Cen Shuyin was incapable of absorbing spiritual energy to aid her own recovery.

　　Mo Wuji also realised that apart from the body-protection suit that she was wearing, Cen Shuyin had nothing left on her. Even her ring was gone, nowhere to be found.

　　He let out a huge sigh, “Senior Cen, I am limited by my abilities. I can only help you to this point…”

　　Suddenly, he remembered something. While he couldn’t sense Cen Shuyin’s willpower, it didn’t mean that it was completely gone. The fact that she could still shed tears earlier was proof that she was only very weak now.

　　Mo Wuji could not help to return her elemental lake to its original state. But he did have something that would help to heal Cen Shuyin’s soul.

　　The Immeasurable Soul-prolonging Flower. This was the premium spiritual herb, that was highly effective in healing the soul. It could heal even the gravest injuries to the soul. Not only had he used it on himself before, he had also used it to save Jing Lengbei.

　　Without further hesitation, he retrieved the Immeasurable Soul-prolonging Flower. He peeled a petal and placed it into Cen Shuyin’s mouth.