While Long and Gua where having a showdown, Xia was still unconscious.
The old dragon's soul started to panic. 'Oh my god, what should I do? I don't have any more blood essence as well.' It pranced around the room.
"Should I go out and inform senior dragon? But my soul can't handle that travel, ah," it shouted. It felt extremely conflicted. It was a mud dragon before death. It was just a glorified name for an earthworm. But still, it never let anyone pull him down.
Since he was an earthworm, he was inherently scared to go outside, fearing that predators like Birds might attack.
Now that he was dead he can easily move outside but... his soul was already diminishing if he went out he would turn to dust. The spiritual lake in this space was keeping him here till now.
"What should I do? Master.... master..." he tried calling Xia again. But he was still unconscious.
He checked his pulse. It was too turbulent for a few minutes and silent for a few minutes. "Shit, his meridians are too strained. I have to do something or he might die," he whispered.
The old dragon soul softly lifted him up and dashed towards the spring room. He slowly lowered him waist down in the spring water.
Xia was mildly conscious when he did so. So he tried to circulate his spiritual power again. But the blockage was so serious that he started bleeding badly.
Soon the water turned red.
"Oh god, what should I do now?" the old dragon soul panicked even more. He knows that people who have their meridians blocked will go to spirit deviation. Most of them end up losing their life, ah.
"Fine ill go out maybe my dragon senior Long can help you," the old dragon soul decided.
"No, don't!" Xia shouted and gazed at him. "I won't die, please don't..... risk your life for me," he whispered.
"Master..." The old dragon soul cried. He could feel Xia's spiritual energy diminishing quickly. "Master, hold on.. let me find some elixir for you," it said and searched through its hoard.
The number of pill bottles was numerous, so he was not able to find the one he was searching for. But after minutes he found it.
It was the blood calming pill.
"Master here, have this," he carefully placed it in Xia's mouth and handed him a glass of water.
Xia gulped it down with difficulty.
"Hmmmm," he moaned in pain. His forehead became soaking wet in his struggle. He was panting hard from the pain. It was as if a worm was crawling through his nerves and wiggling around.
The pill was able to calm him down only for an hour, so after which his symptoms started again. Xia moaned and held his aching dantian.
The old dragon soul saw this and secretly freaked out. He put on as much as robe as he can and crept towards the exit.
"AHHH," xia's scream came from behind him.
The dragon's soul rushed over to him. Xia was hugging his legs and crying out loud.
"Master, please hold on for an awhile I will bring master Long here," it said and disappeared.
Xia watched him disappear through his tear filled vision. The spring water felt too hot on his skin. It made him sick in the stomach. He slowly got up from the spring water and crawled over to the bed.
He hugged a pillow and curled up. The familiar smell of Long was still lingering on the pillows.
"Long...it hurts," he cried.
Unknown to him, a small box in the corner started to shimmer. It was the box given by the demon lord Icarus. When he was in the cave alone, he was too anxious to look into it, so he kept it here.
The box trembled on its own. It levitated a little and flew towards Xia. In overwhelming pain, he glanced at it.
"Is this your gift for me, old man? Did you anticipate this?" Xia whispered. His trembling hand reached out and touched the box.
It opened on its own and a small chain-mail glove was revealed.
Xia chuckled softly, "so this is what he meant protect my life ha,"
He caressed the cold metal. It moved as if it could feel his breath. The chain mail glove wound around his hands. It was a fingerless type with a small ring connected in the middle.
Xia raised his hands above his head and admired it. It was very snug on his hands. "Pretty," he whispered.
The chain-mail glove vibrated as if it was happy.
"Do you understand me?" he whispered.
The chain-mail vibrated softly. "Looks like you are a weapon spirit," he mumbled.
Weapons spirits are the spirits that are formed when a weapon is honed well. It is very, very rare for a weapon to form a spirit. And even if they do so, it will have intelligence of a new-born baby.
This spirit looked like it understood every word of his.
Xia sighed and placed it on his face. Its cold surface cooled down his sweaty face.
"Father, is this your way of apologizing? Did you even think about me for once before? So why now? Why?��� he whispered. His tears pooled in his eyes. But he refused to shed them.
"Long... I... it's so painful. I wish you were here," he sobbed and hugged the pillow tightly.
The chain-mail glove vibrated in intervals as it sensed its master's low mood.
"I'm fine. I will be. I have to be," Xia mumbled and pulled himself up. He sat crossed leg and rated to meditate. It had been so long since he properly cultivated. So it took time for him to be immersed in it.
The chain-mail spirit watched him as he was fighting to open his blocked meridian. It let out a purple glow from its ring.
It transferred to Xia's body through his finger.
Xia felt the soothing energy enter his bloodstream. This energy started to eat up the turbulent silver light energy that man left on his body.
He did not want to be distracted, so he calmed his heart and started cultivating seriously. His water energy flowed to one of his blocked dantian and hit against it. It was quite painful for him but he still persisted. The purple energy also helped him out.
After a long while of struggling, he was able to clear all his blocked meridians. But he was not able to completely abolish the silver light energy.
'I guess I will contain it for now,' he thought as he worked towards it. With the help of eth purple energy, he was able to contain n it for now.
Xia opened his eyes and let out a deep breath filled with black miasma and black blood.
He wiped it with his sleeve and whispered, "I guess there is benefit in danger as well. I have advanced ah," he said cheerfully.
It was all thanks to old hold dragon soul and the chain-mail glove spirit's help. He softly caressed the glove on his hand.
The old dragon soul returned just at that time. "Master ah.... I couldn't find master long. He was not in the cave," it cried.
It then took a deep look at him. "Master, you......you have advanced!" he shouted.