15 Avoiding disaster

Kai tried to open his eyes but his eyelids were heavy. His body refused to listen to him, however, he could clearly sense that there were people standing around him.

"Kai, Kai wake up!"

"Kai...can you hear me?"

"go get him some water, he's been out for so long, he must be thirsty"

"Ok, Sister "

Kai could barely hear a word of what the two were saying. But he could tell that it was Mina and Ryu. He opened his mouth but no words came out.

=[System Warning: Host's body is suffering from fatal [Grade 3 Roaming Spider] Venom. Host is advised to find a cure within 6 hours]=

Kai just lied there completely motionless as Mina and Ryu talked to each other around him.

"It seems I'll be dead in less than a day. I should have known that people would use poisons in this world and been more prepared somehow. This place isn't a game..."

Kai's injuries were very serious. Usually, his full body Qi enhancement plus his Mortal Grade 2 body would have been able to eventually recover from physical damage.

However, Kai's poisoned status meant his condition would only worsen if he enhanced his body with Qi. He remembered how his strength was drained during the fight because of his constant movements and exertion.

"After all I've been through, am I really going to die from poisoning?"

Kai couldn't accept it.

"System, is there anything I can do?"

"..."

"Come on, you told me it was a venom from a [Grade 3 Roaming Spider], so you should know how to heal it right?.."

"..."

"Right, sorry I forgot that you only know how to create manuals and point out the obvious. what good are you outside of that.?"

"wait a minute..."

Kai was mentally berating his system but suddenly had a crazy idea.

"System, can you create a manual out of the venom in my body?"

=[Create Manual]=

[Base material [ 1 drop of [Grade 3 Roaming Spider] venom selected. This will cost [5 Qi]. would you like to proceed?]

Kai was both thrilled and disappointed

"So I can turn the poison in my body into a manual, but only one drop?. Is it because I'm still too weak?..."

Kai didn't have too much time or options so he decided to just accept it. Ridding himself of one drop of venom should be of help anyway...

A few hours earlier...

Mina and Ryu were worriedly standing over Kai's bloodied body.

After Kai defeated the mysterious Internal cultivators within what felt like moments, he immediately fell to the ground and was out cold.

They tried everything they could to wake him up but eventually decided to just give him emergency medical aid then carry him to safety.

They didn't know who the mysterious group of cultivators were but if they were found outstanding around the bodies of their fallen comrades, it wouldn't end well for them.

Mina used what strength she had to carry Kai on her small back while Ryu meticulously covered their tracks. Only when it was dark, were comfortable enough to set up camp by a natural cave they found.

Mina would have preferred they keep moving, however, Kai's mysterious condition seemed to have been worsening so they decided to give him some rest.

"Sister..." Ryu was the first to speak. This entire time they had been walking silently as the battle had completely overwhelmed them.

" I know Ryu...He is probably an Internal Cultivator. People like us can't associate with him...but why didn't he say anything before?."

"I don't know, he is obviously a very powerful Internal cultivator. He could have killed us at any time..."

"No, I don't think he's that kind of person. He defended us from danger when we were attacked and even suffered this much damage just to protect us"

"Yes, and I'm grateful but still sister, Internal cultivators are different from us...we should leave here before he..."

Before Ryu could continue, the two noticed little motes of light slowly flow out of Kai's body.

The lights gathered over his body and hovered together for a while before they mysteriously combined together to create a single parchment that slowly fell down onto Kai's chest.

The mysterious piece of paper disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared back into small particles of light. This time the lights went into Kai's temple and finally disappeared without a trace.

Both their jaws were agape as they stared at Kai wondering what mysterious secrets this young Internal Cultivator was hiding.

Kai had just absorbed the manual he had just created and took a look at it.

=[New Manual Recorded]=

=[Martial Arts Cultivation Manual]=

>Unnamed Martial Arts Manual [ E-Rank - Based on [Grade 3][Roaming Spider Venom]

[Ability 1, Active]: Add a corrosive attribute to physical attacks

[Cost]: 2 Qi per attack

[Ability 2, Active]: Infects any attacker with corrosive poison

[Cost]: 1 Qi, lasts 30 seconds

==[System Warning: Host's Martial Arts Manual's are full, please select a manual to forget]==

"E-Rank?, did I really just get an E- Rank skill?"

Kai yet again felt happy but also slightly disappointed.

"I finally got an E-Rank skill but it's not really what I need right now. From what I can see, this hasn't increased my poison resistance so I'm still going to die in a few hours..."

Kai looked at his remaining [4 Qi] and didn't know what to say. He wanted to try turning another drop of venom into a manual but he was 1 Qi short.

He had started the fight with [10 Qi] and gained [6 Qi] by defeating the mysterious men.

However, [6 Qi] had been used for his skills and enhancements during the fight, he only had [9 Qi] left. After using [5 Qi ] to create this manual, Kai was only left with [4 Qi] and yet again officially out of options.

"I'll have to do something myself then. For now, I'll just ignore this new skill."

Kai had realized a while back that if he didn't accept or deny the latest new manual, it would just stay there in limbo. He could not use it as a skill however it would also not disappear until he chose to forget it.

The only downside was that he couldn't try learning a new manual of the same type since that would automatically replace the one he had been waiting for.

"If only there was a way for me to detoxify the poison. Kai thought about it some more and eventually figured that the guy who poisoned him must have an antidote.

"Unless he was immune to the poison, he should have an antidote...I need to search his body..."

Kai still couldn't move his body. The poison had essentially paralyzed his entire body which both benefited him by not exasperating the poison, but also doomed him because he couldn't actually move around or talk to find help.

"If I enhance my entire body, I could probably move for a while but I risk accelerating the poison.

Kai took a deep breath and decided to give it a shot.

Kai activated his [Dragon Subduing Manual]. This Internal cultivation manual only had the ability to steal [Qi 3] from beasts as well as gather [1 Qi] passively every day.

However, using his own deductions after seeing the flow of Qi, Kai was able to figure out how to force Qi into various parts of his body, enhancing him physically as well as adding Qi to his attacks and defenses.

Kai didn't think he was special since he was able to do it so easily. He figured any Internal Cultivator in this world should be capable of the same.

However, Kai suddenly remembered the previous fight...

"Those two guys didn't enhance their bodies at all, did they?. One just enhanced his darts with Qi to increase his piercing damage and speed, while the other guy enhanced his sword to throw out a sword Qi blast"

"Is body enhancements using Qi not common in this world?. I doubt I'm the first person to do something this simple. Maybe there is an obvious detriment to it that I haven't seen yet..."

Kai didn't stick to that train of thought too long. He was running out of time and options so he didn't want to talk himself out of his last-ditch effort to survive.

He looked at the system's warning and saw that he only had 5 hours 32min left

Kai thought about his next steps carefully then injected his whole body with Qi.

His whole body was only enhanced regularly, however, it was enough to fully gain his body's motor skills.

He quickly checked the time from the system and realized he only had 45 minutes left.

"My 5 hours go erased just like that..."

Kai was essentially helping the poison spread faster through his body by enhancing his entire body, however, it was too late to regret now.

Kai quickly got up and looked down at a completely shocked Ryu and Mina. they had both fallen onto their butts, surprised by his sudden movement.

"The unmasked man's body, where is it?"

Kai said in a calm yet hurried tone.

"Kai, you're awake. We thought you had died trying to save us" Mina said while trying to wipe away the tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

Kai noticed this but was in too much of a hurry so he just turned to Ryu and asked the same question.

Ryu couldn't even respond and was just staring at Kai with a sense of fear and astonishment. They were the same age however the pressure Kai was giving off in his Qi enhanced state was frightening to Ryu.

Kai sighed and turned back to Mina. The girl was on the verge of balling into tears but Kai didn't bother with all that. He only had less than an hour to live.

Kai grabbed the small girl by the waist, threw her over his shoulder, and ran out of the small cave.

"Mina, take me back to where those two guys' bodies are, quickly!"

"Kai, what are you doing, put me down!. tell me what's going on?".

Mina's face was slightly flushed as she tried to free herself from Kai's grip, however, she gave up after a while. Kai seemed frantic after waking up so she decided to just listen to what he was trying to do.

Once Mina stopped struggling and calmed down, Kai quickly explained the situation.

Mina was shocked but realized it made sense. She initially thought it was fatigue however when he was not responsive to any stimulus, she knew it had to be more serious than that. However, Mina had never seen a person who could wake up so suddenly and move this actively from a paralytic poison.

Mina quickly replied.

"Their bodies should be a few hours South of here but I think...wait Kai!, stop!"

Before she could finish, Kai was already sprinting at full speed towards the south. every movement costing him a few seconds extra of life but he couldn't waste any time.

"Kai, I said stop!"

"I can't stop, if I don't get an antidote within 30min, I'm a goner"

"As I said, stop. I think we have what you're looking for already!".

"..."

Kai's feet immediately stopped. Most would have been off balance if they abruptly stopped at such a high speed however Kai still had the invincible [Twig] to keep him balanced.

"You already have the antidote?"

Kai asked in shock as he put her down and looked at her with hopeful eyes.

Mina sighed and shook her head while mumbling profanities under her breath

Kai ignored this and just waited for her to continue.

"We searched their bodies before we left and found some stuff. There were a few unknown vials in that man's satchel"

"Yes that could be it! let's go back". Kai pushed down and ignored the feeling of embarrassment that was trying to bubble up shamelessly.

Kai picked her up in princess carry this time and doubled back to the cave.

Mina didn't protest this time but she hid her face with her hair.

When they got back, Ryu was outside the cave. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his sister safe. He ran to her side while he eyed Kai angry at his attempt to kidnap his older sister.

However, he was too terrified to actually voice it so he only gave off venomous looks in Kai's direction.

Kai ignored this as well and asked Mina to fetch the antidotes.

Mina came back with three small vials containing about 100ml of green liquid were presented to Kai.

He used Qi detection on each of them.

[Grade 3 Roaming Spider [Venom] [83 Qi]

[Grade 3 Roaming Spider [Antidote] [92 Qi]

[Grade 3 Roaming Spider [Venom] [78 Qi]

Kai looked at the three vials and was surprised. two of them were actually venom, but they all looked exactly the same and had no distinct markings. Meaning if he assumed they were all antidotes and drank the wrong one...

"Was this the man's final trump card to bring down whoever would be able to kill him?".

Kai yet again thanked the system's accuracy as pointing out what it saw as obvious. He popped open the vial of antidote a drank the contents in one go.

=[Host has consumed antidote, Body detoxification in progress]=

Kai didn't need the system to tell him since he could physically feel his body getting better. Kai quickly canceled his enhancement and sat down on the ground allowing the antidote to purify his bloodstream.

He turned his head to look at the siblings who were staring at him with continuously changing emotions on their faces, ranging from curiosity and relief to suspicion and fear.

Kai sighed and made a 'come over' motion towards the two.

"You obviously have a lot of questions so might as well start asking now," Kai said as he closed his eyes to inspect the Antidote in his body.

Ryu looked at Kai with a mixture of fear and caution but didn't respond.

However, Mina smiled and walked over to Kai confidently.

"Well if you insist!... How did you become an Internal Cultivator with no spiritual root?...and can you teach me how too?".