Chapter 576: Elder Song's Hidden Trouble
Whoosh~
Feeling curious and worried about Elder Song at the same time upon seeing the state of the house, Xuan Hao did not remain standing in front of the house for more than a few seconds before entering to find out what happened.
"Cough! Elder Xuan? Is that you…?"
Hearing the weak voice of someone calling out to him the moment he entered the half-destroyed house, Xuan Hao quickly turned in the direction of the voice. Only to be met with a person covered from head to toe in some sort of black gooey liquid.
"Elder Song…? I-is that really you…?" Already knowing who the person covered in some sort of black gooey liquid was with a quick scan of his divine sense, Xuan Hao still did not dare believe it. After all, Elder Song's current appearance was a stark contrast compared to what he was used to. The wise elder was nowhere to be seen and had instead been replaced by a human shaped black gooey liquid…
"Yes, It's me! I… I happened to encounter an accident while refining the medicine for my granddaughter…" Smiling a bit awkwardly while saying this, Elder Song pointed towards the area at the centre of the disaster that had just taken place.
"I see that, it's quite lucky for you that Song Jia is not here at the moment- Now that I think about it, where is your granddaughter? Did she perhaps run away after you locked her up at home for too long…?" Looking around the room as he realized that Song Jia was nowhere nearby, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit curious about what had happened to the little girl.
After all, she had quite a good talent when it came to finding spiritual herbs and sensing the aura of people around her. Even if she was blind, she could still somewhat see the world around herself by sensing the aura of people and plants around herself… At least that was Xuan Hao's conclusion about Song Jia so far.
Even more importantly than that, Xuan Hao understood that Elder Song would not be one to be wasting his time refining medicine if his granddaughter had run away!
"My granddaughter? Ah! You don't have to worry about her, I asked Zu Fei to help me look after her for the next few days so I could focus on refining her medicine without any worry! The Sect Master also helped take care of my usual workload… Although I doubt, he will be able to last for more than a day or two…"
"I see, that's great! For a second, I thought she had run off to explore the demon beast forest just next to the sect…"
"Haha! Indeed, that would be something that little one could come up with! If that really happened, I would indeed not be able to calmly refine medicine for her… Well… Not that I even managed to refine any medicine in the first place…"
Assured that Song Jia had not run away to explore a demon infested forest or something even more dangerous, Xuan Hao focused his attention on the location where the cauldron had exploded and the 'medicine' that covered Elder Song from head to toe.
Analysing the spot where the cauldron had exploded first, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he realized just how strong the explosion of the cauldron had been.
Even if he retreated in time, such an explosion would be more than enough to injurie someone at the First Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm like Elder Song!
"…"
Inspecting Elder Song more closely with his divine sense, Xuan Hao could not help sighing in his heart upon realizing that the old man had been injured by the explosion. Not only that, but the injuries he had received would take up to a week to recover from!
Looks like Feng Chen will have to take over for Elder Song for a bit longer than he expected… Will he really be okay…?
Preforming a silent prayer for Feng Chen, Xuan Hao focused his attention on the black sludge that covered Elder Song from head to toe.
From a glance, the black sludge did not look special in any way, but after looking closely, Xuan Hao could clearly make out that several Spirit Grade Spiritual Herbs had been used in the making of the black sludge. Allowing him to understand that the medicine Elder Song had been trying to make clearly a potion made by an Expert Alchemist! Not only that, but a Peak Expert Alchemist!
"Now that you are on the topic, would you mind if I took a look at the medicine you are making for Song Jia? I'm quite skilled as an alchemist, so maybe I can help out?"𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
Feeling curious about the medicine in question, Elder Song's sudden alchemy skills and the reason why Song Jia needed the medicine, Xuan Hao could not stop himself from asking this as he waited for Elder Song's response.
"This…" Seeing Xuan Hao's expectant look, Elder Song was caught slightly off guard, as he didn't know how to answer. The fact that he had not asked the Alchemy Hall for help when it came to refining the medicine for Song Jia had to do with the origins of the medicine and the price one had to pay while making the medicine!
However, after thinking it over for a short moment, Elder Song realized that there was no reason to hide anything about the medicine in front of Xuan Hao. In the first place, he understood very well that he would not be able to refine the medicine by himself in time this time around with his current injuries…
"Haa… Actually, it's like this-"
Having decided to explain the medicine he was making for Song Jia to Xuan Hao in hope that he would help him make, Elder Song fully explained what the medicine in question actually was!
"-The medicine is not really something belonging to the normal branch of alchemy like you might have expected. Instead, it belongs to the demonic branch of alchemy! The medicine-"
Listening to Elder Song talk about the medicine he had been making for Song Jia, Xuan Hao could not help feeling shocked! Not because of the fact that it was a demonic medicine, but due to the price Elder Song paid every time he refined the demonic medicine for Song Jia! The price in question was his lifespan!
Every time he refined the medicine, he would lose 1 year of his natural lifespan! Even if this did not sound like much, Elder Song had done it over the past 12 years and had lost 12 years of his lifespan due to this!
The price in question was not something one would normally have to pay while refining the demonic medicine, but Elder Song was unwilling to sacrifice some innocent person to refine the medicine according to the recipe. For this reason, he had used a year of his own lifespan as a substitute for this!
Considering he had reached the Nascent Soul Realm; it did not sound like much. Especially when people in the Nascent Soul Realm could live for thousands of years… However, constantly drawing on his own lifespan had caused a backlash and he had ended up in his current situation. The reason for this, was that it was incredibly damaging to not only his body, but also his soul to forcibly extract his own lifespan!
Not to mention, he had done it so many times.
Xuan Hao could not help feeling a wave of shock go through him after realizing this. After all, Elder Song should have been incredibly exhausted and weak due to constantly draining his own lifespan… But even with all this, he had never seen Elder Song exhausted before!
Not only had he never seen him being exhausted before, but Elder Song was always the one to do the most work in the Flying Sword Sect! Even now, he was doing his best to help refine medicine for Song Jia without anyone knowing just how much he was sacrificing to do this!
"Elder Song… Take a rest for now, I will go over the medicine and see if I can came up with a way to safely make it without having to sacrifice something to make it…" Letting out a soft sigh as he said this, Xuan Hao used his power to clean up the house and Elder Song before making the old man get some rest.
Over the years, Elder Song had always been giving his all to help him and the rest of the Flying Sword Sect out. Even if he had used demonic alchemy, Xuan Hao did not care about this at all. Especially considering the fact that he had been using his own lifespan to refine the medicine in question. This time around, he should be the one to help out Elder Song for once…
Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao quickly picked up the demonic medicine recipe laying on the floor before starting to read through it.