Chapter 596 Really? Zombies? Really...
Once I was done preparing the mix, I separated half of it into a consumable pill and the rest I bottled to the side.
I then put the pill inside the woman's mouth and began using my Qi to help her absorb it since she was unconscious. Once the pill settled in and began melting inside her stomach I then began applying the balm on her body, slowly covering all the wounds that the Bone and Body Grinding Poison had left on her.
Soon, her face returned to normal, but she was still bald due to the potency of the poison and it's erosive properties.
That can easily be solved with a pill though so I didn't bother.
"Please leave the room," I said to the three behind me.
"Is there a problem?" asked the general.
"No, but I'll have to apply this all over the young lady's body, and if you're in the room…"
"Ah, right, excuse us then," said the general as he left along with the driver and old Fu.
I could hear them discuss among themselves afterward. The general asked about the origin of both me and old Fu and what we were doing here. But since old Fu decided that he would leave the talking to me, the General didn't press any further.
The general then began asking the driver about how all of this happened.
"We were attacked by masked individuals as we were returning from our expedition. The young lady managed to find one of the Walkers lairs but just as we tried to report the matter they appeared. It seemed as if these individuals were actively trying to increase the reproduction of these Walkers and were trying to control them…"
Most of their conversation didn't make sense to me since I wasn't a part of this world or culture, so since I had no knowledge or understanding of what was going on I decided to ignore it for now and focus on healing the young woman.
I began applying the balm all over her body, making sure to not leave a scar or injury unhealed. The needles served in extracting whatever miniscule amount of poison or impurities that the poison had left along with all the dead tissue and fractured bone.
While the balm healed her body and the pill supplemented it with all the nutrition's it needed to recreate the destroyed parts.
After a couple hours of treatment, I removed all the needles and covered the lady up.
"Alright," I said as I stood up and left the room, "Get someone to pick her up and send her home. Make sure it's done carefully, she'll need a month to recover and will be good as new if not better," I said to the general as I walked out.
"Really? Can I see her?" he asked.
"Go on ahead I replied as I moved out of his way.
"Old Fu let's go," I said to the old man as the two of us left.
The Driver tried to stop us but heard the general say, "Get a couple of guards with a palanquin and take her home," he then rushed toward us, "Benefactor, please! Don't go, what can I do for your help, if it wasn't for you, I'd have lost my only daughter!" he said.
"I don't really need anything, consider it pro-bono," I said.
"Pro what? I don't understand, but I must reward you handsomely, Dwei told me that the man calling himself the Medicine King almost gave up and was about to mercy kill my daughter, but you on the other hand healed her and clearly retained her former beauty. If I don't reward you I'd forever regret it, what would the people say if I as the general of the West doesn't reward my benefactor? At least stay as a guest of honor in my manor," he said.
I thought for a moment and said, "Alright, since we have nowhere to stay for now, I'll take you up on that offer."
"Then please follow me, a caravan that will take us home should be waiting for us outside."
I nodded to the general and the three of us went out. Not before long a full a bunch of guards came rushing in with four of them holding a covered palanquin.
Two guards rushed inside, and carried the lady then placed her on the palanquin while the three of us rode behind on a carriage that was led by four six-legged horses.
The ride to the general's palace wasn't long and we arrived in minutes. He had a palace of his own on the west side of the city next to one of the walls. The palace was not as grandiose as one would assume from what a general would own. It was big don't get me wrong, but compared to many of the other buildings in the city, it wasn't as… pertinent.
The whole building was barely three floors of height and had more than a hundred barracks surrounding it.
"Welcome to my humble abode," said the general as he left the carriage first and led the way.
You could hear soldiers training far in the distance and many servants running around taking care of their needs.
"Are they preparing for a war or something," I mumbled under my breath. But that didn't escape the general's ears.
"I had my assumptions at first, you two are not form around here," he said.
I shook my head, "We come from a far away place." I replied.
"From the brand on your arm, you two must belong to the Red Sun faction, they're pretty close to the Red Sea… I suppose something wrong went out and you fell out of grace. But worry not, here in the Sea of Demons everyone is like that, and since you have done me a great favor and earned great merit, you may join my camp for however long you want," he said.
"No need, we'll only be staying for a while in the Sea of Demons," I replied.
"Then good. All I can advise you is to stay near my camp, for whoever harmed my daughter fears not the power under me, and they may find you an eyesore for helping. I'll make sure to get to the bottom of this, also, do not wander outside the city at night," he said.
I turned to Old Fu, then back at the old man and said, "Night? Isn't that a few years away?" I asked.
"Oh…" the general said as he looked up to the skies, "It's different here, night comes and goes in this land due to that," he pointed at the cloud. "It's a strange phenomenon that exists only here in the Sea of Demons. The cloud sea thickness and instead of raining, it becomes a bulwark that stops the rays of light from penetrating it creating the illusion of night. It happens on a twenty-four-hour cycle and lasts for twenty-four hours each time. And it's about to get dark soon," he said.
"Is there any danger in going out at night?" I asked.
"Inside the city, nothing more than the crooks and petty thieves, but outside the city… the Walkers start roaming."
"I heard you mention the Walkers before what are those?" I asked.
"Let's talk about that once we're inside," he said.
The general then led us all the way to the inside of his palace, and just like outside, it wasn't decorated as would a king would do, it had a minimalistic design. With nothing but the essentials in it, no overly expensive and useless decors in sight.
There was a big table however in the middle and several bottles of wine on it. Empty mugs were neatly placed on the table waiting for us.
The general then took a seat and gestured for us to sit.
"About the walkers," he said as he poured us both some wine.
"We don't know where they come from, or their origin, but they've been here for as long as the Sea of Demon existed. And the walls around this city is what's holding them at bay, for now," he said.
"I assume they can't fly?" I said.
"Thankfully no, but they are mighty strong. The weakest of them is at the Ascendant Stage, and some can go beyond the Void Stage. But those are rare. And the ones we're fighting are but a small fraction of the overall population of these Walkers. They come in at night and begin hunting, and if they were to capture someone…"
"Let me guess, they turn him into one of them?" I asked.
"Indeed, how did you know that?" he asked.
"Well, since they're still here for such a long time I could assume that they have this sort of ability since you mentioned that they've been here for a while. Also I would assume that they're weak to the sunlight," I said.
"Indeed that is true, we did capture a few to send them outside the Sea of Demons for testing, but the moment they come in contact with the sun they immediately perish into ash. They can only survive under this massive fog sea, and they become stronger when it thickens. And in a few dozen years the Beyond will turn dark and these creatures will crawl out in massive numbers, far beyond what anyone could see to wreak havoc over all of the Beyond," he said.
"None of the other Suns intervene in this?" I asked.
The general shook his head, "This event is too far below the interest of any of the Suns to take note of, and most sects use it to train their disciples. It isn't much of an issue for most of the people outside the Sea of Demons. But for us, we always suffer incredible damage and destruction due to them and being in the center of this whole ordeal makes it far worse for us."
I sighed.
"What's wrong?" asked old Fu.
"I never expected that I'd see Zombies here… cultivation Zombies, you gotta be kidding me man…"