Depthless Hunger

Chapter 411: The Last Lifeline of the Pureflower Sect

Technically, going to the Pureflower stronghold should have made Zae Zin Nim feel more safe, yet as they ascended away from Kai she only felt isolated. Leaving all men behind would have been a blessing in her youth, but now giving up Kai in exchange for a large number of women she couldn't trust didn't seem like a good trade. All she could do was stick close to Omilaena and believe in her ability.

When they reached the top, despite being in a Pureflower sect ship, they were immediately scrutinized by several cultivators. They had both purified themselves beforehand, however, and all of Kai's things were in his spatial ring, so they were permitted into the sect.

"You've returned." One of the elders regarded them with a degree of incredulity.

"You thought our word was worth so little?" Omilaena asked with a hurt expression, as if she hadn't been arguing for them to leave just a month ago. "We cannot promise that we can cure Kir Mei Bai, but we will do our best. We... hope that she is well?"

"She is not well, but she still lives. Come this way."

They were ushered through the sect headquarters to the isolated building, which had been even more heavily fortified since their last visit. Zae Zin Nim noted that the atmosphere in the corridors was more muted, and many of the women she passed looked sorrowful. Once they got inside the innermost chamber, however, everything looked untouched.

Only Kir Mei Bai herself had changed: she was paler and thinner, yet somehow still exquisitely beautiful, like a fragile flower. It made Zae Zin Nim think of her own illness, coughing up black bile while the ragged scars across her body bled all over her.

"We're reaching our limit," one of the alchemists said from the bedside. The woman looked half-dead herself. "She has taken two Divine Remedy Pills, so she can take only one more in her entire lifetime. We have also done our best to draw out drops of poison, but it grows more virulent with every attempt."

"I will do what I can." Omilaena went to the bedside with a good impression of reverence, then touched the Prana Jewels to the matriarch's forehead.

The poisoned woman's breathing became smoother almost immediately and she seemed to settle into a deeper sleep. The alchemists murmured excitedly, but Omilaena shook her head.

"I cannot remove the poison in an instant. I'll need more time."

"Do you need me to endure a drop of the poison?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"Thank you, but no." Omilaena touched her arm with a smile that looked like the first authentic expression she'd had in the sect. "Step outside and make sure we aren't disturbed."@@@@

That didn't seem necessary, in the Pureflower stronghold, but maybe Omilaena needed more privacy to work. Zae Zin Nim stepped out into the hallway and awkwardly stood alongside the other guards. Even these guards were only Earth Souls, so she was actually the strongest of them, and would be the best defense if Omilaena really did need defending.

Ten minutes later, however, the threat came from within the sect instead of outside it. Shen Yu Yei approached over the bridge and her face twisted in an unsightly expression when she came into sight. Truthfully, Zae Zin Nim had forgotten about the young woman and whatever she had been upset about. When Shen Yu Yei tried to move toward the door, however, Zae Zin Nim raised a palm.

"The healing work requires solitude."

"How little you think of me!" Omilaena's old teasing smirk returned. "No, I honestly think I might be able to cure her permanently, but the real issue is that I'm stuck on a new theory. You remember what I said about it being strange that there was a limit of three pills?"

"Yes, but we barely discussed it."

"Well, Kir Mei Bai's soul changed since we last saw her, just a little. It gave me an idea, though not a fully formed one. I might be able to understand a little more about the fundamentals of power, and if I can, that might lead us to a solution."

Which meant she was far more excited about the theory than about actually healing the matriarch, but that only made Zae Zin Nim smile. That would make Omilaena happy, and it never hurt to have a powerful sect in their debt.

"So what do you need?" Zae Zin Nim asked. "Can I help?"

"Mostly I need access to their resources, but you're more familiar with Cloudspire medicine. If this works the way I'm guessing, the pill might take a bit of a toll on her, so we need some other ingredients to keep her strong." Omilaena cut off as the alchemists entered, bringing them a variety of different boxes, but could barely restrain herself until they left to keep speaking.

"How did her soul change?" Zae Zin Nim asked before her wife could go off on a tangent.

"It's like this: when I first used the Prana Jewels, I was trying to drain poison out of every aspect of her power. Most of that is a big pool of cultivation, but there's also her Physique, something called the Divine Yin, and so on."

"That's probably heavenly cultivation, only achievable by a Sky Soul. What about it?"

"Well, there were other pieces, little fragments that didn't seem relevant. But when I healed her this time, two of them were missing. Two pills taken, two fragments missing... maybe it's just a coincidence, but that would make sense."

"Oh." Zae Zin Nim stared in surprise as she considered it. All her life she had taken for granted that there were simply limits to certain pills or types of cultivation, but Omilaena was speaking about such rules on a deeper level. "Then... you're saying that each time she takes a pill, she sustains herself by burning out a piece of her soul?"

"And there are only three pieces to burn, right." Omilaena stared down at the little pill in her hands. "These aren't massive capacities, not like cultivation or a chakra ability. But if I'm right, they represent something, I just need to figure out what. We can use the last pill to make sure that she's fully healed."

Which would also test her theory. While that was slightly underhanded, Zae Zin Nim had seen how ill the matriarch was, so extreme measures were justified. Besides, she wanted to find out the answers too. Since this was likely to go beyond her expertise, all she could do was offer support.

"Do you think this is going to take a long time?" she asked.

"Days, not weeks. If I can't figure this out now, I won't." Omilaena rolled the pill around her palm and grinned. "Time to get to work."