Chapter 55
The girl hurriedly continued speaking.
“I-I mean, I got… got lost. I was on my way to the marketplace with my grandmother, but I lost her, and while wandering around looking for her, I ended up coming all the way here…”
“Then why is your foot like that?”
“I was wandering around the mountain when I misstepped… I happened to roll all the way down the mountainside…”
“Ah.”
I nodded, but I was overcome by a strange sense of incongruity.
‘You came all the way into the mountains looking for your grandmother?’
The girl’s story seemed plausible.
From the moment I’d first seen her, she’d been crying like a child who had lost her parents, and the fact that her entire body was covered in dirt made sense if she’d rolled down the mountain.
But something didn’t sit right with me. For example, the way she’d been frightened when she first saw me…
I hid my suspicions and asked again.
“You said you were on your way to the marketplace, right? Then did you live somewhere nearby?”
“Well, no…”
“Then do you remember where you lost your grandmother? If you came all the way here by yourself, it probably wasn’t that far away. Is there anywhere you can think of?”
“I don’t really know that either…”
“……”
Looking at the girl stumbling over her words, I became certain.
‘She’s hiding something.’
There was definitely some kind of circumstance behind this. But the girl didn’t seem to have any intention of telling me about it. Rather, she seemed terribly anxious, as though she was afraid that I’d discover whatever that circumstance was.
What should I do?
Of course, I had no intention of leaving an injured child alone, but it was also unsettling for me when she kept hiding things like this…
Noticing my hesitation, the girl hurriedly spoke.
“I’m sorry. I-I know that I’m acting strangely too. But I really can’t move, and I’m scared to stay here…”
“……”
“C-can you help me, just a little? I won’t ask you to do anything unreasonable. Just… please take me as far as outside the mountain. Just that far is enough…”
“The thing is…”
Just as I finally opened my mouth…
“……!”
Thump.
I suddenly clutched my chest. My eyes flew wide.
‘Wait, why all of a sudden?’
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
My heart began pounding like crazy. Soon, a sharp ache spread through one side of my chest.
I knew this sensation well. That sensation that had tormented me until just moments ago. The sensation that made my entire body tremble just thinking about it…
“Aaagh…!”
I clutched my chest and collapsed forward. I couldn’t breathe properly. It felt as though countless awls were stabbing into my body. No, it felt like a gigantic nail had been driven deep into my chest and was gouging out the inside.
Drool dribbled from my mouth. Then the familiar chill came crashing over me. Before I knew it, I was in the middle of a bitter winter.
My hands and feet turned white, and my teeth chattered. The cold that had invaded my entire body burrowed deep into my organs. A horrible pain struck me, as though shards of ice inside my body were carving away at my internal organs.
It hurts, I’m cold, it hurts, I’m cold, it hurts, I’m cold, it hurts, I’m cold, it hurts, I’m cold, it hurts, I’m cold, it hurts, I’m cold.
“……! Um, are you okay, are you okay?! Why is this suddenly happening… What do I do, what do I do…!”
Through my blurred vision, I saw someone’s tearful face.
The young lady?
No, that wasn’t right. I’d already parted from the young lady.
Then who?
Right. The child I’d treated…
“……Kugh!”
No sooner had I regained consciousness than the pain came rushing back, and I clawed at my chest.
I couldn’t even tell whether I was moving that way because I was trying to cover myself against the cold or because I was trying to claw out the pain.
My desperate movements caused the collar of my shirt to come undone.
At the same time, I noticed something. A bluish handprint right in the center of my chest.
The girl must have seen it too, because a horrified voice burst out beside me.
“…Frost Palm!”
The girl hurriedly continued.
“That blue handprint on your chest. It’s the Frost Palm! How did this happen? Were you attacked by a master of the Frost Palm?”
“Ugh…”
“No, this isn’t the time for that. If we leave it like this, the cold poison will penetrate your internal organs and reach a point where nothing can be done! You need an antidote, but medicine that can neutralize cold poison…”
The girl muttered incomprehensible things to herself while hurriedly reaching inside her clothes. She rummaged around and pulled something out.
It was a small bottle.
The girl tilted the bottle and took out a pill about the size of a fingernail. She held it to my lips.
“You have to swallow this. Hurry!”
I didn’t have time to question it and struggled to swallow the medicine as it entered my mouth. Somehow, I felt a refreshing energy in my throat.
When that refreshing energy traveled downward and reached my chest…
“……!”
My eyes widened.
The pain was subsiding!
‘Really?’
It didn’t disappear all at once like magic, but the pain was gradually, unmistakably fading.
My trembling body began to calm, and the chill started to recede. As the temperature inside my body returned to normal, I could finally breathe again.
When the pain had subsided to nothing more than a dull ache in my chest, I raised my head.
A small figure stood before me. My benefactor, the person who had freed me from that pain.
“How are you? Are you feeling any better?”
The girl was looking at me with concern.
“Huh? Y-yeah…”
I was bewildered by the girl, and the bout of pain had also left me utterly exhausted, so I panted for breath before finally speaking.
“I feel better, but… what exactly happened to me…?”
“That’s a relief! It looks like the Hundred Poisons Analysis and Dissolution Pill worked. Ah, this medicine was made by my Uncle Papa after analyzing a hundred different poisons to create an antidote. It’s effective to some degree against most poisons.”
“Really…?”
“Yes, but cold poison is a little unusual, so it’ll be difficult to completely neutralize it. The Hundred Poisons Analysis and Dissolution Pill can only prevent it from getting worse…”
“If it’s unusual…”
I hurriedly asked,
“What makes it unusual? Cold poison? What is the Frost Palm?”
The girl hesitated. I desperately asked again.
“If you know something, please tell me. Just like you said, I was attacked by a suspicious man. This pain started after that, and I had no idea what was happening. I thought I was going to die without even knowing why…”
“That…”
The girl seemed hesitant for a moment. But soon, she slowly began to speak.
“The Frost Palm is a technique in which a master who has cultivated yin-cold internal energy releases powerful cold energy to inflict a fatal injury on their opponent.”
“Okay.”
“If you’re struck properly, you’ll suffer a fatal internal injury, and cold poison will seep into your body. That’s what’s unusual about cold poison. Like an internal injury, the Frost Yin Energy damages your meridians and gradually freezes your blood.”
“……”
“Eventually, once the cold poison breaks out, your hands and feet will freeze within three days, leaving you unable to move. After seven days, all your blood will freeze, and you’ll die just like that. And when someone dies from cold poison, even their corpse doesn’t decay, so it remains for a long time.”
“Gasp…”
I rubbed my arm, which had broken out in goosebumps.
If what she said was true, then I had been in enormous danger. I had nearly frozen to death on the roadside instead of ever meeting the young lady again.
And if even my corpse wouldn’t decay… As I shuddered, the girl muttered to herself.
“But I heard the Frost Palm is an extremely vicious and cruel martial art that has almost completely died out, except for the one evil demon lord who learned it long ago…”
‘How do you know that?’
There was definitely something very strange about this child.
I’d suspected she was hiding something from the moment she couldn’t properly answer my questions, but hearing her casually rattle off information I’d never even heard of made it clear that she wasn’t an ordinary child.
‘What on earth is she? Could she be the daughter of some powerful martial arts family?’
But it was obvious that she wouldn’t tell me even if I asked, so I asked her something else.
“Then… what happens to me now? You said it’s difficult to completely neutralize the cold poison with that medicine. I feel much better now, but… if I keep taking the medicine, won’t I eventually recover?”
The girl came to her senses and shook her head.
“No. As I said, the Hundred Poisons Analysis and Dissolution Pill is only a temporary treatment. To get rid of the cold poison, you need to see a proper physician and receive treatment.”
“A physician?”
“Yes, but an ordinary physician won’t do. Cold poison is also related to internal injuries, so you need a physician who understands internal energy well. Ah! My grandmother might be able to treat you. She’s knowledgeable about poisons, but she’s also highly skilled in medicine…”
“Ah…”
I looked at the chattering girl with a troubled expression. It seemed like the girl was already thinking about taking me to her grandmother and having me treated. But that was difficult for me.
What was the thing I needed to do right now?
Wasn’t it to hurry to Jiangxi Province and find the young lady?
And when would I have the time to find this girl’s grandmother and receive treatment?
I didn’t even know where her grandmother was right now…
‘What should I do?’
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