Chapter 22: Life Continuation Pill

In the fields, the villagers struggling against the white-banded serpent were gradually losing ground.

The snake was fast, and its hide was thick and tough — you had to strike its vital spot to kill it in one blow.

On top of that, it held a grudge and refused to stop until it had bitten each of them at least once.

Not that it was a laughing matter — this was a venomous snake. If it bit you, could you even survive long enough to find a doctor?

Several of the men were already thinking about retreating, wondering if they should just run.

But they feared the snake would give chase, leaving their backs exposed. And if the serpent slithered off to hide in some corner of the fields, they'd be on edge every time they came to tend the crops.

The men were still hesitating when a sharp cat's cry suddenly rang out beside them.

"Mrow!"

In the next instant, a nimble black shadow streaked past the group of men and launched itself straight at the white-banded serpent.

The Demonic Aura that hit the snake head-on made it freeze instinctively.

That moment of paralysis cost it its life — the black cat's razor-sharp claws found their mark.

Three deep gashes, cut to the bone, tore open the snake's vital spot.

The white-banded serpent let out one last agonized, resentful hiss, then collapsed in the field and lay still.

The men snapped back to their senses to find the serpent already dealt with.

Xuanmo, her jet-black fur gleaming, stood before the snake's carcass with her chest puffed out, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

The men who had been so tense just moments ago erupted in delight.

"It's the Cat Demon, my lady!"

"Thank you, my lady, for slaying the serpent and saving us!"

"The Cat Demon is incredible!"

"This must be Lord Xuanqing's divine will at work — he sent the Cat Demon to us!"

Song Xuanqing, who had been silently watching from above: "……"

Not quite.

Xuanmo had simply noticed that Song Xuanqing cared about these villagers, and had taken it upon herself to protect them on his behalf.

After all, it was just an ordinary snake that hadn't even become a Demon Beast — it cost Xuanmo barely any effort.

But in the eyes of the villagers, this was Lord Xuanqing watching over them, sending his black cat to slay the serpent.

By now, the entire Song Family Village had come to accept that Xuanmo represented Song Xuanqing's will.

Gradually, the villagers had stopped being afraid of Xuanmo.

After all, from the moment Xuanmo appeared, she had never once harmed them — on the contrary, because of Song Xuanqing, she had always helped protect them.

Not only were they no longer afraid; sometimes, when Xuanmo wandered into a villager's home, they would even bring out fish to treat her.

Song Family Village residents: The black cat is a good Demon Beast.

Song Xuanqing shook his head with an amused smile and turned to leave.

Xuanmo, who had been basking in the villagers' praise and admiration, spotted Song Xuanqing walking away and immediately hurried after him.

The villagers naturally didn't dare stop her, and let her chase after the Song Xuanqing they couldn't see.

Xuanmo followed Song Xuanqing all the way to the entrance of Xuanqing Temple, meowing at him.

"My lord, is there anything this little demon can do for you today? I'll carry out whatever you entrust to me perfectly!"

Song Xuanqing glanced at her with casual indifference. "No."

He wasn't an NPC — it wasn't as if walking up to him would trigger a quest.

Arriving at Xuanqing Temple, Song Xuanqing was about to return to his idol and continue practicing his minor soul-projection technique.

By now he could already expend one-third of his divine power to project a soul-fragment with one-eighth of his true body's strength.

He was just about to shoo away the clingy Xuanmo when he saw two villagers carrying an elderly man, rushing back into the village at a hurried pace.

Both men had wet mud and grass clippings on their legs, their trouser legs rolled up — clearly they had just come from the fields.

The old man they were carrying had already lost consciousness. His lips had turned a dusky purple, and his silver hair hung in disheveled strands.

One look at his face, and Song Xuanqing recognized him immediately — it was Village Chief Song Tiancheng.

"Hurry, hurry! The Village Chief was bitten by a green-flower snake — if we wait any longer, there'll be no saving him!"

The two villagers called out as they ran, carrying Village Chief Song Tiancheng at full speed in the direction of Old Doctor Song's home.

Song Xuanqing paused mid-step and changed his mind.

Instead of returning to his idol, he followed the two villagers and Village Chief Song Tiancheng to Old Doctor Song's house.

The moment the two men carrying the Village Chief entered the courtyard, they shouted urgently.

"Old Doctor Song, come quickly! The Village Chief was bitten by a snake — save him, please!"

Old Doctor Song was in the west-facing room — the one that had been built specifically for patients to lie down or sit in.

Mu Tong and Mu Nan had lain there as well, back in their time.

At this moment, three people were already lying in the west room: a woman and two children, all villagers.

Old Doctor Song had been applying snake-venom antidote herbs to them when the shouts from outside startled him so badly his hand trembled. He spun around and rushed out.

"What? The Village Chief was bitten by a snake too?"

The villager said urgently, "Yes — and by a green-flower snake, one of the deadly ones! The Village Chief is still breathing — Old Doctor Song, please save him!"

Old Doctor Song wiped the sweat from his brow and said quickly, "Bring him inside."

He truly hadn't been this busy in a long time.

In recent days, quite a few villagers had been bitten by snakes. Since such incidents were rare in normal times, he hadn't stocked much of the antidote herbs.

Fortunately, none of the snakes had been particularly venomous — until now.

But the Village Chief had been bitten by a green-flower snake? One of the deadly ones?

Old Doctor Song felt his vision go dark.

He worked frantically — squeezing out the venom, applying herbal poultices, decocting medicine for internal use.

After a flurry of effort, Song Tiancheng's venom finally eased somewhat, and the purple-black color faded from his lips.

The two villagers who had carried him there watched with anxious faces.

"How is he, Old Doctor Song? The Village Chief will be alright, won't he?"

Song Tiancheng had always commanded great respect and goodwill in the village, and the villagers genuinely did not want anything to happen to him.

Old Doctor Song wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a long sigh.

"I don't know. The green-flower snake is lethally venomous. I have done everything I can — whether the Village Chief pulls through now is up to fate."

Song Tiancheng's wife and family, who had just rushed over, walked in to hear exactly those words.

The old woman immediately let out a wail and threw herself forward, seizing Song Tiancheng's hand as tears streamed down her face.

"Old Song! You absolutely cannot leave me!"

She wept with such heartbreak that it seemed as though the sky itself were falling.

The children and grandchildren who had come with her were equally worried, but dared not show it. They hurried forward to comfort the old woman.

"Mother, don't worry — Father is blessed with great fortune. He'll pull through. It's just a snakebite; he'll be fine."

Old Doctor Song stood to one side, watching, and sighed.

Of course he wanted Song Tiancheng to survive — but in his heart, he knew the truth: when it came to deadly venom, whether a person lived or died truly was a matter of fate.

In this era, ordinary people had no advanced methods for treating severe venom. When faced with a truly lethal snake's poison, a doctor could only do his best and then leave the rest to Heaven.

Meanwhile, unseen by anyone, Song Xuanqing's brow furrowed.

Ordinary mortals couldn't see clearly, but he could tell plainly that the venom had not been fully expelled.

Worse, the toxin was aggressively continuing to move through Song Tiancheng's body, trending toward his heart.

Once it reached the heart, there would be no saving him at all.

He glanced at the other patients on the sickbeds — the woman and the two children — who had clearly also been bitten by snakes. The snakes that had bitten them were simply not as venomous as the one Song Tiancheng had encountered.

But even with the medical knowledge of this era, a small amount of residual toxin would remain in the body, impossible to fully purge.

For adults, that might be manageable. But the children were young and their bodies weak — he feared they might suffer lasting complications.

Song Xuanqing frowned, then left Old Doctor Song's house.

He found a nearby secluded spot and opened the System Shop.

[Life Continuation Pill (Low Grade): Revives the dead and restores flesh to bare bones. Usable by anyone with a physical body; limited to mortals or those of low Cultivation.

Price: 1 Incense Value

Purchase Limit: 0/10]

The price was cheap enough that buying them wouldn't sting at all.

Something that claimed to revive the dead and restore flesh to bare bones — saving an ordinary person who had been bitten by a venomous snake should be no problem, right?

After all, in theory, if the body were strong enough, even the deadliest venom would be like a tiny bacterium that had gotten in — easily crushed.

Wasn't there an old saying? Brute strength can send bricks flying.

Song Xuanqing thought it over and redeemed three pills, spending three Incense Value.

Three small, round white pills appeared in his hand, giving off a faint medicinal fragrance.

Song Xuanqing then produced a sheet of white paper and wrote out the instructions for using the pills.

He then called Xuanmo over and had her take the paper-wrapped pills in her mouth.

"Deliver this to Old Doctor Song. Be quick about it — once it's done, I'll give you a small reward."

Song Xuanqing had not originally intended to involve himself in something as minor as a snakebite.

He felt that as a god, even though he received the villagers' offerings, it was impossible to attend to every little thing and help them with every matter.

But sometimes, theory was one thing and reality another. When it came down to it — when he could save a life and chose not to, watching someone die right before his eyes — Song Xuanqing found he simply couldn't do it.

He wasn't that cold-hearted.

Perhaps it was because he hadn't been in this world very long.

Even though he was a god now, before becoming a god, he had spent twenty years as a human being.

For the time being, he couldn't bring himself to act like a truly detached deity — lofty and indifferent, looking down upon all living things with uncaring eyes.

Xuanmo didn't understand Song Xuanqing's inner thoughts. Her eyes sparkled with delight, and she nodded eagerly again and again.

Then, without a moment's delay, she took the paper-wrapped packet of pills in her mouth and ran.