Chapter 50: The Mysterious Old Man

"Send another group to search within hundreds of miles. Anyone who is a martial artist should be taken under control. If anyone dares to resist, it's better to err on the side of caution than to let them go."

The general who had spoken before issued his command once again.

"Yes."

Everyone responded loudly and then quickly dispersed, searching in all four directions.

All those suspicious or possessing cultivation were taken under control. Only those who were just entering the martial realm or the spiritual realm were allowed to go. Any strong person who had stepped into the Mysterious Spirit realm was either killed or captured without exception.

"Thud!"

Half an hour after Chu Xiaotian left, he finally collapsed from exhaustion and severe blood loss, feeling only darkness before his eyes before he heavily fell to the ground.

"Huh? Someone?"

It was very rare to see a person in such a wild and deserted place, and Chu Xiaotian was heading towards an even more secluded area.

"His injuries are severe; his life is in danger!"

This was an old man with a cart, his head full of white hair, yet his eyes were bright and spirited. From afar, he had noticed Chu Xiaotian's critical condition.

"Meeting an old man in such a place, it seems, young man, that we are fated."

The old man didn't care how the injuries came about.

He always believed in fate. Since heaven had made them cross paths in such a remote and uninhabited place, it simply meant the other's life was not yet meant to end. This was fate, and this was destiny.

"Let's go."

With a light wave towards the direction where Chu Xiaotian lay, a mighty spiritual energy swept from his body, transforming into a giant palm, as if it truly existed, and placed Chu Xiaotian's injured body on the cart. Then, he quickly left the area.

The cart seemed very slow, like a snail crawling, but in the blink of an eye, it had disappeared without a trace.

"Hmm?!"

Chu Xiaotian was unconscious for a long time.

He felt as if he had fallen into darkness.

There was no sunlight there, only darkness; no life, only desolation.

He lingered in that dark, barren land for too long, as if for a year, or perhaps a hundred years.

So long that Chu Xiaotian forgot the time, so long that he even forgot who he was.

"What is this place?"

The moment he opened his eyes, a ray of sunlight shone into his eyes, and he saw that he was in a simple room. He shook his slightly dizzy head and said.

It was as if he had opened another door, walking from darkness into light, from desolation into vitality.

"Are you awake?"

Suddenly, a voice entered Chu Xiaotian's ears.

Then, an old man appeared with a bronze face, eyes like copper bells, and a pointed chin with a goatee. Tall and broad-shouldered, though he seemed to be well past his prime, when he spoke, his voice was as powerful as a great bell.

The old man in front of him was completely different from the one who had saved Chu Xiaotian at the beginning. Apart from the spirited eyes of the former, there were no other distinguishing features.

Now, the old man gave off an aura of an immortal, a hermit from the outside world.

Of course, Chu Xiaotian had been unconscious at that time, naturally unaware of all this.

"Was it you, senior, who saved me?"

Seeing the old man, Chu Xiaotian tried to stand up but found he couldn't and asked instead.

"Yes, our meeting was fated, and I happened to save you."

"If you wish to leave, you may do so at any time. There's a boat outside, and a map for leaving this place is outside the room."

The old man nodded, showing no pride in his deed, rather seeming eager for Chu Xiaotian to leave soon, not wanting his own life disturbed.

"Uh!"

Chu Xiaotian was clearly stunned at the directness. Isn't that a bit too straightforward?

"Although you've awakened, the injuries inside your body have not fully recovered, so you need some time before you can leave or get off the bed."

"Your constitution is very strong; otherwise, with such injuries, you wouldn't have recovered in a week."

Leaving these words behind, the old man turned and left the place.

Before leaving, he left a bowl of medicinal soup for Chu Xiaotian to drink himself and recover as soon as possible.

"Thank you."

Seeing the old man leave, Chu Xiaotian didn't say much, just uttered a word of gratitude.

Such hermits are often very eccentric and unpredictable, and Chu Xiaotian naturally didn't want to say too much.

After drinking the soup.

Chu Xiaotian felt a robust power coursing through his meridians and organs, rapidly healing his internal injuries.

The energy in the soup was so abundant that his complexion couldn't help but improve.

Even his nose bled from the excess nourishment.

"What kind of medicinal soup is this? Its efficacy is even stronger than that of pills!"

Chu Xiaotian was astonished and quickly sat down to meditate, using the Qiankun World Technique to digest the medicinal power fully, even using the residual energy to improve his strength slightly.

Though he hadn't officially entered the second layer of the Mysterious Spirit realm, he was much closer now.

"Indeed a strong medicine, purer than the energy of pills."

"Ding! Congratulations, host, you've triggered a task to obtain the old man's medicinal formula and receive a special task gift pack."

The system had detected the strong efficacy of the medicine, even surpassing the system-produced pills, and thus issued a task.

"Special task?"

Of course, Chu Xiaotian didn't hear the system's voice, only the task reminder sound.

"What treasures might be in the special gift pack?!"

Chu Xiaotian smiled. Since he had triggered a system task, it seemed he needed to stay here a bit longer.

Three days later, thanks to the old man's medicinal liquid, Chu Xiaotian was completely able to get out of bed, and his internal and external injuries had fully recovered.

To all this, Chu Xiaotian was nothing but astonished.

When had medicinal liquids ever surpassed pills?

Since the time when the power of pills surpassed that of medicinal liquids, the status of pharmacists had almost vanished, rarely seen.

Now this mysterious old man possesses such a powerful medicinal formula, he must be a pharmacist.

After Chu Xiaotian recovered, the old man quickly chased him away, but he soon returned to the hut.

Because this island was too terrifying, the island was inhabited by powerful beasts, the weakest of which was at the Mysterious Spirit realm, and what's more, Chu Xiaotian couldn't even defeat the weakest, let alone the others.