When Evan Chu approached Ethan Fenn, he saw that Ethan’s face was already bruised and discolored. Using his divine sense, Evan checked Ethan’s heart—it was barely beating. If he didn’t act fast, it might be too late to save him.
Evan knew he couldn’t afford to panic. He had to pinpoint the exact location of the child-gu and the spot where the gu poison was blocked—only then could he save Ethan.
Slowly, Evan sent his divine sense into Ethan’s body. He saw that several of Ethan’s organs were damaged, and near the heart was a large clump of black matter—this had to be the gu toxin. But after searching for ages, he still couldn’t find any trace of the child-gu.
Unwilling to give up, Evan checked again and again, but still found nothing. Divine sense was slow for this kind of search, and hours slipped by—Ethan was now in even greater danger.
“Luna, where’s the child-gu? Tell me, quick! Ethan doesn’t have much time left!” Evan shouted anxiously.
“Now you’re in a hurry? Why didn’t you ask me sooner? The child-gu is inside that clump of gu toxin—it’s already dissolved into blood. If it weren’t for the cold here, it would’ve flowed away with the blood, and not even a Saint-tier expert could save him,” Luna said.
“Saint-tier expert? Is that supposed to be impressive?” Evan blurted out, then snapped to attention. “Wait, you’re saying the child-gu is gone? Why didn’t you say so earlier? I wasted so much time because of you!”
“Because I felt like it! What’s wrong with that? I just don’t like him, so I did it on purpose!” Luna shot back.
Evan wanted nothing more than to teach Luna a lesson, show her what happened when she was rude to her man. But right now, he was powerless—there wasn’t time for any of that, and Luna was a soul-body anyway.
Even if Luna regained her physical form, Evan sensed he’d be no match for her. She might even surpass Lord Frostbane himself.
"Evan Chu, you'd better not let your mind wander to those dirty thoughts. You should know I can see exactly what you're thinking. I wouldn't mind giving you a taste of something 'wonderful,' but don't blame me if you end up unable to save that kid." Luna teased, her voice ringing in his mind.
Evan's forehead immediately darkened with frustration. He knew Luna's tricks all too well—her so-called 'wonderful feeling' could easily make him wish he were dead. What annoyed Evan even more was that Luna could read his thoughts, but he couldn't read hers. He wanted to ask why, but didn't dare.
Evan didn't say another word. Now that he knew the child-gu was hidden within the toxin mass, it was finally time to save Ethan. He immediately activated Watershift, letting his palm slowly merge into the layer of Mystic Ice around Ethan's body.
If it had been before, Evan wouldn't have been able to do this at all. But as his strength grew, his mastery of Watershift did too, so now merging with this Mystic Ice barely took any time.
Soon, with a thought, Evan opened a hole in the Mystic Ice over Ethan's chest—right where the gu-poison mass was concentrated. Then, he slowly drew the Frostbane Sword, ready to cut open Ethan's chest and remove the toxin.
His hand holding the sword was actually sweating despite the freezing temperature—a clear sign of how nervous Evan was. His other hand was already merging into another part of the ice.
He had to keep feeding wood element into Ethan to sustain his life—otherwise, even if he cleared out the gu poison, Ethan wouldn't survive. Evan was truly multitasking to the extreme.
Once Evan had the position fixed, he slowly pierced Ethan's body with the Frostbane Sword. But there was no blood as the blade cut through—Ethan's blood was completely frozen, saving him from the danger of bleeding out.
Evan's heart was pounding. He was basically playing surgeon now. He remembered once seeing the town doctor back in Flowing Cloud City cut open a demonic beast to remove a bone stuck in its stomach. But at least that doctor had plenty of tools—Evan only had a single sword.
Evan worked slowly and carefully, using only the Frostbane Sword. At the same time, his other hand kept channeling wood element into Ethan's body.
After a while, Evan finally saw the so-called gu poison. To his surprise, it wasn’t black at all, but a pale gold, almost like his own blood.
He quickly pressed his palm over the wound and carefully activated his Chaos Dragon Force, drawing the toxin out strand by strand. Every move was cautious and precise.
If he used too much force, the gu poison would invade his own body. Evan wasn’t afraid of the poison itself, but getting rid of it would be a huge hassle.
Time ticked by. Evan’s other hand kept feeding wood element into Ethan’s body, and he felt like half his reserves had been drained by this guy already.
"Evan, that’s enough. Ethan’s gu poison should be completely cleared now. Hurry up and restore his life force—this place is too cold, you need to get him outside the cave." Luna urged.
Evan withdrew his hand from Ethan’s wound, then pulled out a seventh-grade healing pill from his storage ring—a relic from Lord Frostbane’s past. But Ethan’s whole body was encased in ice except for his chest and the spot where Evan’s other hand was fused, so he couldn’t give him the pill yet.
After thinking for a moment, Evan picked Ethan up, teleported out of the cave, and found a wind-sheltered spot to set him down. He used Watershift again to melt the ice around Ethan’s head and finally fed him the healing pill.
All of this took even more precious time. Now, Evan needed to remove the rest of the ice and restore Ethan’s blood flow—only then would he truly be saved.
Just then, the shadow of the Freewind Palace Lord flashed through the air and landed in front of Evan. Seeing Ethan’s condition, she exploded in rage: "Evan Chu, I asked you to save my son, and you butchered him instead! I’ll kill you!"
The Freewind Palace Lord said this because she saw the gaping wound on Ethan’s chest. With his blood frozen, she could see his internal organs, and the cut was clearly made by a blade.
"Hey, are you crazy? I’ve nearly worked myself to death for your son, and you accuse me of killing him? If you keep wasting my time, you’ll really kill him! If it weren’t for Serena Dream’s sake, I’d want to kill you myself!" Evan snapped, his temper finally flaring. All this effort, and no appreciation.
"What did you just say? Did you call me a crazy hag? Even if Ethan can’t be saved, I’ll kill you today! No one in the Azure Tide Ruins has ever dared talk to me like this!" The Palace Lord was furious.
"You think I’m scared of you?" Evan shot back, refusing to back down…