"If you're alright, then Frank Pang should be fine too, right?" Jade Yu thought of Frank Pang. She'd felt guilty ever since Frank Pang and Joe Di were sent to the First Outpost and Frank Pang went missing. Now that she knew Joe Di was an expert, she felt Frank Pang was probably safe as well.
"Frank Pang is fine. Take this pill first, and I'll help treat your broken leg," Joe Di said, handing another pill to Jade Yu. He thought to himself, not only is Frank Pang safe, but Tyler He is too.
Jade Yu didn't hesitate. After swallowing the pill, she looked at Joe Di in confusion. "You can set broken bones too?"
Joe Di ignored Jade Yu and began tapping acupoints on her leg. Jade Yu's broken leg was far worse than his had been, and she'd been losing blood ever since, with no chance to recover. In this state, even the best orthopedic hospital might not be able to heal her.
Jade Yu could only be considered lucky to have encountered Joe Di. Even before he cultivated the Grandwalk Codex, Joe Di could have easily healed a leg like hers. Now, having reached the peak of Qi Gathering Stage Six, just one step away from Stage Seven, his skills combined with his medical expertise made treating Jade Yu’s injury effortless.
With Joe Di’s rhythmic tapping, the bones and meridians in Jade Yu’s broken leg quickly reconnected. The speed of her recovery was almost visible to the naked eye.
Jade Yu’s mouth hung open, completely forgetting her situation and what she’d wanted to ask.
She could clearly feel waves of warmth spreading from the site of her fracture, and sensation returned to her previously numb leg...
What kind of medical technique was this? She’d thought Joe Di was formidable in martial arts, but now she realized his medical skills were even greater.
"Alright, rest for a while, and you should be able to walk on your own soon." Joe Di stopped tapping. With his cultivation level, reconnecting broken bones required almost no effort—he didn’t even need to set them in place.
Jade Yu stared blankly at Joe Di. Earlier, she had been deeply grateful to Joe Di, for he had spared her the lonely torment before death. If she had died from being drained by a tree root, perhaps her soul would have lingered in endless agony.
After Joe Di saved her, she felt a sense of release. She knew she would never have the courage to go on living. That was why she hadn’t cared when Joe Di saw her in her tattered, exposed state. Both her legs were broken, and after being drained of blood for so long, recovery seemed impossible.
Recalling her former self—now reduced to a shriveled figure, like a dry stick—and spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair, Jade Yu simply couldn’t accept it. The tree root had sucked her dry, leaving only skin and bones; even if she recovered, she’d never look the same again.
Faced with such a blow, she had no intention of continuing to live.
But now, Joe Di had healed her broken leg—her own leg bone, she was certain of it.
She could now wiggle her toes, and she even suspected that if she tried, she could stand up right now.
"Your medical skills are that strong?" Jade Yu finally regained her composure, murmuring to Joe Di, unsure if she was asking him or speaking to herself.
Joe Di took out one of his own shirts and tossed it to Jade Yu. "I don't have any women's clothes, so you'll have to make do. By the way, your trial should have ended long ago—why are you here?"
Jade Yu, who had previously resolved to die, hadn’t cared if Joe Di saw her body. Now that her leg was healed, her will to die vanished, replaced by an overwhelming desire to live. That wish subtly changed her mindset.
Regardless of whether her body was worth looking at, she quickly grabbed Joe Di’s shirt and put it on.
Joe Di was half a head taller than Jade Yu, and the shirt was extra long. When the frail, skin-and-bones Jade Yu put it on, it looked baggy and loose.
After putting on the shirt, Jade Yu’s demeanor became more natural. She sighed and said, “There have been huge changes here. Dean Wu Cheng’s prediction was right—many powerful fiend beasts have entered our safe trial zone. In the first ten days, we lost nearly twenty people. Around the twentieth day, after regrouping at the second outpost, we lost another ten. On our way to the third outpost, I received a distress signal from our class’s genius student, Stah...”
Seeing the confusion in Joe Di’s eyes, Jade Yu explained, “Stah is the class leader of Elite Class Five, and also its most talented student. At the second outpost, he broke through to the Earth Rank—he’s the only one in our class to reach that level.”
"What about Stah?" Joe Di asked. Judging by the name, Stah was probably a foreign student.
Jade Yu sighed again before continuing, “When I saw him, he was in the same state as I was when you found me. Stah was hung up by a tree root, probably being drained of blood. I wanted to rescue him, but my leg was broken, and then two more roots came and trapped me. After Stah’s blood was drained, the root tossed him aside...”
Jade Yu pointed to the pile of bones, then continued, “After the root tossed Stah aside, it wrapped around me again and started draining my blood once more.”
Joe Di’s expression changed. He asked, “If that’s the case, did you press the distress signal?”
The terror here was such that even Dean Wu Cheng would likely meet his end if he came.
“I didn’t press the distress signal.” Jade Yu finally understood how Joe Di had found her. She remembered that when Joe Di rescued her, she was still holding the locator.
No wonder Joe Di looked upset. In such a dangerous place, if she had activated the distress signal on the locator, it would have been sending others to their deaths. Even though Jade Yu wanted to survive, she would never do such a thing. Besides, she hadn’t planned on living at all—what she feared wasn’t death, but being slowly drained to death.
Joe Di realized it must have been the tree root’s doing. Deep within, that little tree spirit had become sentient, luring people in one by one to drain their blood.
"I understand. I need to go in and take a look." Joe Di had long been displeased with that little tree spirit. With his medical expertise, he knew that the rich vitality within was extremely valuable to him.
He glanced at Jade Yu and frowned slightly. Jade Yu still couldn’t walk, and leaving her here didn’t seem safe.
"How about I wait here for you?" Jade Yu was afraid to stay alone, but she also saw that Joe Di didn’t want to carry her. She understood that Joe Di was reluctant to take her along.
Joe Di hesitated for a moment and said, “Alright then.”
If those tree roots attacked Jade Yu, as long as it was within a kilometer or so, he should be able to rush back and rescue her in time. Jade Yu was at least an Earth Rank martial artist—even though her cultivation was currently weak, she should be able to hold out for ten seconds or so.
Watching Joe Di leave, Jade Yu sighed. She guessed that when she and Wang Chuantian abandoned Joe Di and Frank Pang at the First Outpost, it had made Joe Di look down on her.
Joe Di had barely walked ten meters before a dozen tree roots whipped toward him in a frenzy. It seemed that the roots hadn’t attacked him earlier because he hadn’t made a move. Someone as formidable as Joe Di, if he didn’t act, the tree roots wouldn’t risk provoking him.
Now that Joe Di was advancing, the tree roots would no longer stay still.
Joe Di’s Cleaver transformed into countless blade shadows, slashing out in all directions. In an instant, the force of the blade spread throughout the space beneath the tree roots.
"Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!" Joe Di severed seven or eight tree roots in quick succession. Red and green fluids splattered everywhere from the roots.
The next moment, even more tree roots surged forth, some from deeper within, carrying a strong scent of bloodlust.
Bang! A broken tree root slammed into Joe Di’s Cleaver. The root was immediately shredded to bits by the vortex of blade force. The powerful impact forced Joe Di back several meters, landing him beside Jade Yu again.
"Are you alright?" Seeing Joe Di seemingly forced back by a powerful force, Jade Yu asked anxiously. If anything happened to Joe Di, she would surely die.
"I'm fine. These tree roots are quite formidable. It seems I misjudged before—the closer I get to the center, the stronger the little tree spirit’s resistance." As Joe Di spoke to Jade Yu, his gaze fell on the web of roots around them.
Before, he’d thought these tree roots were nothing special—even if he went straight for the tree spirit, the roots wouldn’t be able to harm Jade Yu in the short term. Now, Joe Di had changed his mind. Even one of those broken roots could easily reduce Jade Yu to dust if it struck her.
Jade Yu could stay here, but first, Joe Di had to clear out the surrounding web of tree roots.
Joe Di focused his spiritual sense on the dense web of tree roots. After preparing for a moment, he unleashed a sweeping arc of blade light with his Cleaver.
The blade light transformed into blade force, which in turn formed a space of blade momentum. The overwhelming intent of the blade swept outward—anything daring to block its path would be reduced to dust.
This time, Joe Di struck with full force—he refused to believe he couldn’t defeat a mere tree spirit. He unleashed the Fourth Blade: Bleakwind Blade.
Crack! Crack! Crack! A series of sharp explosions echoed as tree roots burst apart under Joe Di’s blade force, like dry wood meeting raging fire. Once the blaze started, it could not be stopped.
Jade Yu shivered, staring in awe at the countless blade lights. She could clearly feel the terrifying killing intent—the resolute will that would destroy anything in its path. Within that blade intent, she sensed a tragic aura of no return, and the surrounding space grew suddenly cold.
What kind of blade technique was this? Jade Yu was stunned. Even Dean Zeng Dongling couldn’t unleash such terrifying blade intent.
She realized she’d been mistaken—Joe Di’s blade was even more formidable than his medical skills. How could someone so powerful be so young? She’d never heard of him on Celestia before.