Chapter 30

Fuoosh! Zairen appeared in the interdimensional space.

“...guh!” Immediately, he groaned out, instantly feeling a familiar immense pressure bore down on him. Although it was slightly weakened, it was still overbearing as ever.

Attempting to get used to the feeling, he grit his teeth. Since he was significantly stronger than before, with the help of his pills, it wasn't so bad that he was nearly incapacitated.

He turned toward the mysterious kimono-clad woman lying in the center of the space.

“..!” Just as his gaze landed on the woman, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes. Up close in plain vision, the woman was in even worse condition than he had thought: dressed in a long kimono that emphasized her jerky movements, her breaths were sharp and quick, as if she was struggling to breathe! Zairen could immediately tell - likely, if left alone, she would not last more than two days.

Luckily, he had checked up on her.

Clenching his fists, Zairen took a deep breath and paused for a few moments. Gazing toward the direction of the mysterious woman like a sailor lost at sea spotting land within the mist, his eyes suddenly glazed with determination.

He was a medical saint! This was his duty!

He quickly eyed downward and roughly calculated the distance at which the woman was from him - just as the previous time he had entered the space, the woman was about fifty meters away.

Tak. Quickly, he took a step forward. The pressure instantly increased, although minimally. He then took another step… and then another. Soon enough, he was walking steadily forward - as he did, the pressure boring down on him steadily increased.

Tak… tak… tak...

After a few steps, he realized that he had underestimated himself. Even after getting closer to the woman, he was able to conserve a lot of his strength. The medicine in his body constantly rejuvenated any sort of fatigue his body was experiencing, so he didn’t feel too much strain. Furthermore, after a life-threatening fight, he had gotten significantly stronger than before.

With steady steps, he soon reached within twenty meters of the woman in this comparatively leisurely manner, and had barely used any of his spirit energy. He could feel a rush of his spirit energy constantly rejuvenating to full even as it was spent.

Yet, his eyes still focusedly staring forward, he didn’t dare get complacent. He knew that this would change as he got closer to the woman. The pressure aura around her was like a gravity field: the areas closest to her would be exponentially harder to traverse.

Sure enough, after he had approached the woman within twenty meters, it started to get much tougher.

Tak… tak… Each step Zairen took now was steadily getting slower and slower, and as the difficulty rose, he was beginning to become slightly out of breath. His jaw clamped, he was well aware of the rapidly increasing pressure, and inwardly started to prepare himself for the real challenge.

He remembered that the first time he had tried to reach the woman in the space, as this point, the pressure had become almost unbearable for him. This time, he could handle it much better. But, that didn’t mean it wasn’t still difficult!

With a smooth movement, Zairen grabbed a couple more rejuvenating pills out of his pocket and swallowed them. Then, he took a deep breath and continued on.

At this point, the pressure had finally tipped the scale versus Zairen’s pills, and Zairen was finally started to feel significantly strained. He was slowly starting to spend more of his spirit energy to withstand the pressure.

By the time Zairen had reached within fifteen meters of the woman, he was finally starting to sweat from the exertion, and in response, he began circulating spirit energy rapidly throughout his body in order to support his muscles and facilitate easier bodily movement. Even so, he continued on unimpeded.

However, by the time Zairen reached within ten meters of the woman, the pressure had nearly doubled! His muscles straining, Zairen immediately bent down and started to hunker down from the pressure, even with the support of his spirit energy and various pills. His spirit energy was now around a quarter spent, even with it getting quickly regenerated from his pills.

He again brought out some more of the same rejuvenating pills and swallowed them. He knew that taking so many of these medicines in such a short time period was not healthy, but he had no choice!

Thunk! At five meters away from the woman, Zairen sank onto his knees and started to crawl. The pressure was just growing much too strong for him to stand up much longer. His spirit energy was now 40% spent, the rate of its expenditure becoming significantly greater than the rate of its restoration.

He let out a breath. Even though he had experienced the pressure before, and currently, it was weaker what it had been before, it still surprised him with its intensity! Since he had gotten much stronger and was now using his pills, he didn't think it would be this difficult!

A few painful minutes later, Zairen finally managed to crawl and successfully reach the beautiful black-haired woman. As he reached the area within a meter of the woman, just as before, he immediately felt the pressure increase several-fold!

“Kuh!” Zairen couldn't help but choke out. Instinctively, he emptied out his pockets and swallowed the last of the pills in his pocket. Slowly, he could feel the compounded effects of all of his pills increasing, and he slowly started to feel better. Even so, he now only had about a third of his spirit energy left, and it was constantly depleting!

Immediately, Zairen got down to business and sat down cross legged next to the woman. He had no time to waste! Not allowing the woman’s beauty to affect him in the slightest, he immediately placed his hands on woman’s waist, on top of her dress, and began to feel around.

The woman didn't react. Even when unconscious, it seemed that she was in too much pain.

A moment later, even through his exhaustion, Zairen’s eyes brightened. He had found where the bulk of the Dragon Poison had congregated! Although Dragon Poison did spread through the bloodstream to most organs in the body, it tended to coagulate in the stomach region of the body; then, it would be most prevalent in the lower body. Zairen knew this from when he had treated Dragon Poison before in his previous life.

Immediately, Zairen struggled a bit before pulling the kimono up and off the woman, exposing her smooth bare skin. He didn't have time to think about the amazing material of the kimono that was basically indestructible.

Although she was still wearing a pair of matching white bra and underwear underneath, Zairen couldn’t help but feel momentarily guilty. Anyone else watching this would see him as a pervert! However, he was also a seasoned Doctor who had seen the naked body countless times, and thus wasn't terribly moved. He knew that massaging the bare skin was very important, or else the massage wouldn't have as great of an effect.

‘Start!’ Zairen grit his teeth, placed his hands on the woman’s soft belly, and immediately began to use his Heaven Divine Healing massage technique. His hands started to move in an illusive and rhythmic manner, massaging the woman’s belly, as if the fingers were divine treasures!

Although this miracle-like massage technique couldn’t cure the poison, it could relieve the symptoms and stall it so that the woman could regain her strength and fight the poison evenly once again, allowing her to survive much longer.

Zairen couldn't help but inwardly groan. Currently, he was dealing with a massive pressure on him as well as dealing with trying to maintain his Heaven Divine Healing technique! That was not easy, and took up a great amount of spirit energy. His spirit energy was already only at a fifth of his maximum capacity, and he could sense that it was emptying rapidly!

Hopefully, it would work!

As Zairen continued to massage, the woman’s face started to relax a bit. Although her eyebrows were still furrowed, she didn't seem to be in as much pain anymore. In a few minutes, she started to breathe much more evenly.

However, these few minutes also took a large toll on Zairen! Already, his spirit energy was almost completely depleted; it was now at only 10% max capacity!

He could tell that in just another few minutes, he would completely drained of his spirit energy. That wouldn't be nearly enough time to do anything significant!

‘Shit!’ Zairen grimaced.

He continued to massage, and his spirit energy continued to lower. 10%... 5%... 3%... 1%!

‘Looks like I have no choice…’’ The next moment, Zairen whipped out his Shadow Dragon Sword from his consciousness and placed it on the ground next to him. Using the stored spirit energy in the black stone as his source, he immediately continued massaging.

Fuoosh! Milky white flows of spirit energy steadily shot from the black stone to Zairen’s hands.

‘God dammit...’ Zairen felt that it was painful to use the black stone’s spirit energy. It was supposed to be his lifesaving reserve, used only in emergencies! If he used all of the stored spirit energy now, what if he got into a bind later? He would be helpless!

Yet, he had no choice. In order to help the mysterious woman gain consciousness before it was too late, he had to do this and continue to massage.

‘This better work!’ Zairen bit the bullet and unrestrainedly used the spirit energy stored in the black stone. Although it felt like he was stabbing himself in his own leg, as a medical Saint, he had his own morals and pride! He had gone so far already; he was determined to at least try his best to heal this woman and not let her die!

Half an hour soon passed in this manner. At this point, Zairen looked completely pitiful. It was clear that he was in constant excruciating pain, and his face was now completely soaked in sweat.

However, he was finally satisfied with how effective his massage had been on the woman’s stomach, and now moved down the woman’s body and started massaging her thighs. He was making progress!

“Ze… Ze…” Zairen groaned. It was so painful! He carefully worked up and down all across the surface of the woman’s thighs, making sure to not miss a spot. After spending about another half an hour on the woman’s thighs, he promptly moved on down, finally, to the woman’s shins and calves.

He closed his eyes, feeling as if it was too tiring to even keep his eyelids up. As a genius doctor, he would be able to feel with his touch and spirit energy where and how to use his Heaven Divine Healing technique most effectively anyway.

After about ten minutes of this, Zairen appeared almost like a zombie. He wasn't even thinking about the massage anymore, and was just relying on pure instinct. Knead… Pull… Push… Tug… Zairen continually worked the woman’s calf muscles, alternating between the two legs. His entire body was trembling, and his mouth was gaped open in utter exhaustion, with countless beads of sweat pouring down all over his face and body. He had already used up more than a third of the stored spirit energy inside of the black stone.

At that moment, the woman suddenly stirred. Her face contorted for a moment, and she wriggled her body around for a more comfortable position.

However, Zairen was much too tired and physically as well as mentally crushed to notice the changes in the woman. He was single-mindlessly devoted to massaging the woman. He knew if he slipped up for even one second, he would instantly lose consciousness!

Just at that moment, the mysterious woman’s eyes slowly opened. She was clearly drowsy, and she moved her head confusedly to see what was going on.

She looked down at her legs, and saw a figure touching and squeezing her calves!

‘Who…?!’ Instantly, her eyes opened wide and she became completely alert.

A furious anger clouded her eyes, and she lifted her palm menacingly.

“LECH!!!” She screamed. She swept her open palm forward, streaking it towards Zairen’s face!

“...huh?” At that moment, even with his eyes closed, Zairen finally realized that something was amiss.

Although he was too exhausted and tunnel-visioned to hear the woman’s scream, his instincts suddenly stood on end! He felt like he couldn't breathe at all.

He didn’t know what was happening, but he felt a massive pressure crush in on him, which made him feel as if he was a mortal standing on the gigantic palm of Buddha, too small and insignificant to do anything.

“Huh?!” As her slap rushed toward Zairen, the woman finally noticed Zairen’s youthful appearance, and was momentarily shocked. She was too groggy to see clearly before, but now she noticed that the person who was pervertedly groping her legs was actually an innocent-looking little boy, no older than seven years old!

‘How could someone so young and pure-looking be a pervert?!’

‘If I hit him, it’ll surely kill him! He… he’s just a young child!’ She came to a startling realization and panickedly attempted to stop her slap.

However, as the palm had already reached Zairen’s face, she only managed to halve its power before it struck Zairen like thunder.

BOOM!!!!!!!

The moment the woman’s palm touched him, Zairen lost consciousness. The next second, his face deflated like a balloon, and his entire body shot across the interdimensional space like an arrow.

BAM! A moment later, his body slammed into the side of space, an entire five hundred meters away. Cracks appeared in the wall, and Zairen’s body dropped down onto the floor like a broken puppet.

Panic on her face, the black-haired woman hurriedly got up and rushed toward Zairen. Whoosh! Her body flashed and with just a single step, she arrived by his side.

Picking up his tattered and breathless body off the ground, she tenderly nestled him in her arms.

A strange light blue aura started to flow from the woman into Zairen’s limp body. Although at first glance it seemed to be spirit energy, upon a closer look… It seemed to be different. Instead of flowing like a liquid… It seemed to be more of a gas!

As the light blue aura entered Zairen’s body, his body suddenly coughed out some blood. His chest began to heave up and down again again, and his dead complexion instantly became brighter. Inside his body, his shattered bones started to mend, his squashed organs started to heal, and his torn muscles started to rebuild… Slowly, he was brought back from the brink of death.

“Phew.” After a minute, the woman receded the light blue aura. She touched her hand on Zairen’s forehead to make sure his condition was stable, and then used her other hand to wipe the blood and sweat off of her face.

Although he was horrifically injured and would likely be in a coma for some time, he had luckily escaped death. Thank goodness Zairen had been diligently training his body - if it was the Zairen from a week ago, he would have no doubt perished instantly.

She looked at Zairen’s face. It was the face of an innocent-looking seven year old boy. Although battered and swollen, his face was fit in a serene expression.

Seeing this familiar image, her heart shook. Instinctively, her expression softened, and she hugged the boy tighter.