Chapter 1791: Ice Essence Body
Fairy Yue Hua was quite befuddled to hear this, and she was also feeling quite uneasy as she didn't know why this Senior Han was so interested in her granddaughter.
However, in Bai Guo'er's current tormented state, there really wasn't much worse that could happen to her. On top of that, the elderly woman was relentlessly urging her to comply with Han Li's request with her eyes, so she could only grit her teeth, and replied, "In that case, I'll lead to you see Guo'er right away, Senior Han."
Thus, she led Han Li and the others toward the rear hall of the cave abode.
After passing through a side door and a simple corridor, they arrived in a bedroom. There was a faint red wooden bed in the room, and Bai Guo'er was lying on the bed in an unconscious state.
Her delicate face was slightly scrunched up with pain, and there was a layer of azure light over her body. Her lips also appeared a little purple.
As Han Li approached the wooden bed, he was struck by a burst of scorching heat, which came as a slight surprise to him. However, he then briefly inspected the wooden bed and immediately understood the situation, upon which he shook his head, and remarked, "Using Flame Wood to craft a bed can repress the glacial energy within her body to a certain extent, but her frost poison has already fused into her meridians, so this won't really do much."
"I'm aware of that, but I'm hoping against hope that this bed will slightly alleviate Guo'er pain when she's beset by her frost poison," Fairy Yue Hua said with a sympathetic and doting look as her gaze fell upon the little girl on the bed.
Han Li nodded initially upon hearing this, but then shook his head as he strode over to the red wooden bed. He gently grabbed onto one of Bai Guo'er's wrists, and blue light flashed incessantly through his eyes.
Everyone else looked on with bated breath and didn't dare to make a single sound. Bai Huaji and Fairy Yue Hua were both staring at Han Li with hope in their eyes.
Around 10 minutes later, Han Li's eyes suddenly flashed, and a layer of five-colored glacial light instantly appeared around Bai Guo'er's wrist.
As the glacial light swirled, the layer of azure light over Bai Guo'er's body converged directly toward the part of her arm that was in contact with Han Li's hand. Moments later, an egg-sized ball of faint azure light had taken shape within her wrist.
Han Li immediately flipped over his other hand upon seeing this to reveal a shimmering silver needle between two of his fingers, and he stabbed the needle toward Bai Guo'er's wrist in a flash.
"Argh!"
Bai Huaji and Fairy Yue Hua's expressions changed drastically upon seeing this, and they had to hold themselves back from instinctively rushing forward.
Silver light flashed, and a small hole was punctured into Bai Guo'er wrist, following which a drop of blood essence was expelled from the hole at Han Li's behest.
The silver needle then vanished from between Han Li's fingers, only to be replaced by a palm-sized white jade plate that was extremely intricate and flawless.
Han Li placed the jade plate under Bai Guo'er's wrist, and the drop of blood essence instantly fell, freezing solid mid-fall and clattering onto the plate with a pleasant chime.
Everyone's expressions changed upon seeing this, but Han Li seemed to have been enlightened by this experiment.
He stowed the jade plate and the drop of blood essence away, and the five-colored glacial light emanating from his palm increased in brightness.
The ball of azure Qi flashed within the glacial light before quickly fading away into nothingness.
Immediately thereafter, Bai Guo'er gave a delicate moan and opened her eyes in a slightly disoriented manner.
Fairy Yue Hua and Bai Huaji were ecstatic to see this, and hurriedly expressed their gratitude toward Han Li once again.
Han Li smiled as the five-colored glacial light radiating from his hand faded, and he released Bai Guo'er's wrist. He then extended a finger and tapped it against her forehead, upon which a white incantation seal vanished into her head in a flash.
Bai Guo'er's body shuddered slightly in response, and she fell unconscious once again, which was slightly alarming to the others in the room.
"No need to worry; the frost poison in her body has just been eradicated, but she's still quite frail and needs more rest. I've already examined her condition; let's go back to the front hall to discuss the other matters," Han Li said before striding out of the room.
Everyone else was quite confused, but they naturally didn't dare to disobey him and hurriedly followed him out of the room.
Not long after that, Han Li was seated in the hall again, sipping a cup of spirit tea. His eyes were flashing with contemplation, seemingly suggesting that he was grappling with some kind of difficult decision.
Everyone else naturally didn't dare to disrupt him, and they were all waiting respectfully in silence for Han Li to speak to them.
After a long while, Han Li raised an eyebrow and placed the teacup in his hand down onto the table beside him, seemingly having made a decision.
"Fellow Daoist Bai, how much do you know about the frost poison your daughter has been afflicted with?" Han Li asked.
Bai Huaji's heart jolted upon receiving this sudden question, and he hurriedly replied, "I've invited some other powerful cultivators to diagnose Guo'er's condition in the past, and they told me that Guo'er has been afflicted by a special type of frost poison that's vastly different from the ordinary frost poisons in the world. Aside from getting a Body Integration cultivator to forcibly expel this poison, the only other option open to us is to find a few legendary spirit medicines of extreme Yang attribute to neutralize this poison."
"Hehe, it's no wonder that they would say that," Han Li chuckled in an ambiguous manner.
"Senior Han, is there something else that's amiss about Guo'er's frost poison?" Fairy Yue Hua asked in a concerned manner.
"Do the two of you know when she first became afflicted by this glacial poison?" Han Li asked as opposed to answering Fairy Yue Hua's question.
"It was when she was nine. She suddenly fell unconscious while cultivating, and only then did we discover the presence of this frost poison within her body. In the beginning, it was only an inconspicuous tiny wisp, so we didn't think much of it and used some normal methods to eradicate the poison. However, that only sped up the deterioration of her condition, to the extent that she's in her current state. Back when she was first born, my mother-in-law and I both conducted thorough inspections of her body, but we didn't discover anything amiss. We figured that one of our enemies must've planted this poison in Guo'er's body without us noticing. It's a pity that I haven't been able to find who's responsible for this. Otherwise, even if I have to give up my life, I'd..." Bai Huaji's pained expression was gradually replaced by one of vengeful fury as he spoke.
Fairy Yue Hua's expression had also darkened significantly, clearly also very resentful toward this "enemy".
"Enemy? I'm afraid you're mistaken. This frost poison is something that she's carried from birth, and it's indeed no ordinary frost poison," Han Li said in an indifferent manner.
"I'm sure you know far more about this matter than we do, Senior Han. Would you be able to explain the situation to my disciple to clear up their misconceptions?" the elderly woman asked in a respectful manner.
"I certainly will. I would've done so even if you hadn't asked me. Guo'er actually possesses a legendary spirit physique known as the Ice Essence Body. This type of physique is impossible to detect at birth, and its effects will only begin to show at nine years of age. The first time this poison rears up is when it's at its most ferocious, and it's said that most of the people who possess this spirit physique perish when this poison first appears. As such, there are very few records of this type of spirit physique, even in ancient tomes, and if I hadn't just so happened to have read one of those records, I would also be led into thinking that this was some kind of frost poison that was brought onto her by someone else," Han Li explained.
"Ice Essence Body?"
Fairy Yue Hua and Bai Huaji exchanged an astonished glance upon hearing this. This was the first time they had heard of such a spirit physique, so they were naturally rather perplexed. In contrast, a hint of recognition and shock flashed through the elderly woman's eyes upon hearing this.
Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi had naturally never heard of this Ice Essence Body, so they could only stare at everyone else.
After revealing this information, Han Li picked up his teacup and took another sip, seemingly completely uncaring about whether everyone else believed what he had just said.
"So Guo'er really does possess the Ice Essence Body. In that case, it really will be hard to say whether this is a blessing or a curse," the elderly woman murmured to herself.
"You know about this type of spirit physique as well, Master?" Fairy Yue Hua asked in a surprised manner.
"I heard about this type of spirit physique from one of my good friends many years ago, and it's exactly as Senior Han has described it. Never did I think that Guo'er would possess such a physique. It really is difficult to say how this will affect her," the elderly woman replied after taking a glance at Han Li.
"What do you mean, Master?" Fairy Yue Hua asked.
"I heard from a good friend of mine that not only will the Ice Essence Body begin to manifest itself when the host is nine years of age, the frost poison will continue to worsen one year after another, and generally speaking, those who possess this spirit physique will be dead for sure by the time they turn 15 or 16. There are only two ways for someone with this physique to survive," the elderly woman sighed.
"What are those two ways, Master?" Fairy Yue Hua hurriedly asked in an ecstatic manner.
"One of those ways is to find a Body Integration cultivator to use their magic power to force this frost poison out of Guo'er's body every year, then use their true essence to help cleanse her meridians. After 100 years of this, Guo'er will become accustomed to her physique, and it won't pose any further threat to her. On top of that, through her cultivation, she would be able to harness this glacial energy to master an incredibly powerful ability known as the Ice Essence Glacial Soul," the elderly woman replied after a brief hesitation.
"In that case, this Ice Essence Body should be a fantastic blessing; why do you say that it could both be a blessing and a curse, Senior?" Bai Huaji also asked in an elated manner.
"That's because those who possess this physique are born with glacial energy within their bodies, and that energy is not that easy to repress. The first few decades aren't too much trouble; a Body Integration cultivator would be able to easily repress this glacial energy given some time. However, the last few decades will become extremely troublesome. The Body Integration cultivator has to forcibly expel the frost poison, but also ensure that their magic power doesn't harm the host's body, so they have to expend a lot of true essence per expulsion process.
"In particular, the true essence expended during the last decade or so can't be replenished through meditation, and this is still discounting the fact that during this time, the Body Integration cultivator will have to expend even more magic power to cleanse the host's essence. Hence, this will essentially delay a Body Integration cultivator's cultivation for several decades; which senior would be willing to do something so detrimental to themselves?" the elderly woman said with a wry smile.