Book 2 Chapter 16 – Battle to the Death

　　Bai Ze leaned against a broken wall as she tried her best to focus the energy inside her body towards the recovery of her wounds. The echoes of the loud explosion and the halos of light, bearing testimony to the ferocity of the battle, unsettled her quite a bit. What made her worry even more what that presence she felt, the presence of a phoenix. If she was in her full form, perhaps she would not have worried so much, but now, and with how weak Li Yiming was…

　　'Please don't die…' Bai Ze cried inwardly. Suddenly, her bitterness turned into shock, and then fear.

　　Someone appeared in front of her. A man, skinny, not very tall, dressed in square pajamas and with his pants rolled up to his knees. He wore a pair of plastic slippers and had a knit-bag in his hands.

　　What scared Bai Ze the most was not the attire of her visitor, but the way he had come. 'How…? I didn't even sense his presence, and I'm Bai Ze! Even now, he's standing in front of me, but it feels like as if he doesn't exist! But my eyes aren't lying to me…'

　　The man did not mind Bai Ze and instead gazed at the Dragondog. Ah— The man sighed. He remarked melancholically. "This guy's also someone worthy of praise." Then, with a swift swing of his arm, the Dragondog's corpse disappeared.

　　"Who are you?" Bai Ze squinted as she gathered the last bits of energy she had left. If this stranger was an enemy, then she would not go down without a fight.

　　"Calm down." The man raised his hand, and Bai Ze's eyes widened; the energy she had just gathered had faded away.

　　"Not bad, little girl. The Bai Ze beasts aren't renowned for their fighting capabilities, yet you managed to defeat the Dragondog," the man knelt down right in front of Bai Ze and examined her wounds.

　　"Just who are you?" Bai Ze asked in a grave, mistrustful voice.

　　"Oh, I just happened to walk by, and I want to see what the ruckus was all about," the man answered casually. "You seem quite hurt, and it's probably going to take quite a few years if you're left to recover by yourself. Here, take this."

　　The man took out a black pill from his bag, and, before Bai Ze could react, shot it into Bai Ze's mouth with a flick of his fingers. The pill had already melted inside of her mouth before she could spit it out, and she felt a feeling of warmness reach deep inside her.

　　Bai Ze moved her lips without saying a word. As the feeling of warmth reached her abdomen, she could feel her wounds healing quickly. The bad cut she had suffered on her thigh had also begun to regenerate, and the flesh was renewing itself almost visibly. "Nine Transformations Life Lengthening Pills?" Bai Ze was shocked once again when she felt the changes within her body. 'This is a holy pill for healing wounds. Rumored to be of the rarest kind, and he just…?' She glanced at the knit bag and it seemed like the pill furnace of the Taishang Laojun. ¹

　　"Incredible knowledge for a little girl. Oh well, Bai Ze, from the stars to below the earth, from important matters to trivial details. Hmmm, interesting."

　　"Thank you for your help, mister." Bai Ze struggled to get up for a salutation. It was natural for her to repay kindness with politeness.

　　"Ah, sit down, sit down." The man raised his hand, and Bai Ze was pushed back down. "You're too hurt to do anything right now. If you don't take care of yourself, you won't be pretty when you grow up. Your outer wounds may be mended, but you still haven't completely recovered. Refrain from using your powers for a while, otherwise you'll suffer permanent consequences."