Alex arrived at his sister's side by the time the 2nd prince had told her what he was going to do. Then, he crouched in front of his sister and held her hands, closing his eyes to sense everything around and within his sister.
Hannah was incredibly weak right now, with her Dantian mostly closing up, with only a trickle of it coming out. So, Alex hadn't realized what her cultivation base actually was.
He knew he should have asked, but given how long ago she had been poisoned and had remained without the ability to cultivate, he felt that she had to be weak in cultivation.
At least, he figured that she had to be no stronger than a Saint Foundation realm cultivator. The punch that hurt him barely gave her any strength either, helping to add to the misinformation.
But now that he had heard what her cultivation base was, he knew what mistake he had made. He had assumed her cultivation wrong.
Adding it into the mix with everything else, painted a different picture of the puzzle. A picture so simple he couldn't believe he had missed.
Saint Condensation realm was when one first became a true cultivator by opening their Dantian.
Saint Foundation realm was when they made their Dantian stronger.
Saint Core realm was when they took their previously weak spirit into a golden core inside the Dantian to help it become stronger.
Saint Soul realm was when the spirit came out as a Nascent Soul, stronger than ever.
Saint Transformation realm was when the Soul grew and became one with the body. It was when the body and soul were connected far stronger than they ever were.
When the Soul and Body became equal at the end of the realm, that was when they were finally allowed to become Immortal.
That was the missing piece of the puzzle. His sister was in the Saint Transformation 7th realm, with a soul that was closely connected with her body to a point where a wound in her soul would manifest in the body.
At the same time, an attack on her body would manifest in her soul. It was a dangerous connection, but one that was required if one wanted to become an Immortal.
Then… where the hell was Hannah's soul?
After the Saint Soul realm, the Spiritual sea became a part of the Nascent Soul. While the Nascent soul was part of the body, the Spiritual sea manifested where it always did, in one's mind.
But when the Nascent Soul wasn't there, it couldn't manifest anywhere in the human body.
That was what Alex should have questioned the moment he sensed the missing Spiritual Sea. However, since he thought her too weak, he didn't even consider that she could have a soul, and thus assumed there was a problem with her spirit and not her Nascent Soul.
Since she had no Spiritual sea, it meant her Nascent Soul was missing from her body.
But that should be impossible, as far as Alex knew. If one's Soul wasn't in one's body, the body would fall unconscious. It wouldn't die, but it would be no different from a patient in comatose.
Hannah was showing no sign of that. And her body was showing signs of poison that wasn't present in her body.
'A reflection of the Soul.' Alex understood.
His spiritual sense reached deeper and deeper, looking for anything he might have missed along the way, but he was sure he didn't. What he was looking for had to be in the first place he had looked at and didn't bother checking again.
The Dantian.
The Dantian was closed, which Alex ignored the first time around as an effect of the poison. But now that he was looking at it, it was no effect of the poison. It was something the Dantian was doing on its own.
A person with a Nine Revolution Celestial body, where the body would automatically cultivate them, preparing them for the upcoming breakthrough. There was no way such a body would have a simple Dantian.
This Dantian knew what it had to do in the case of such dangerous poison. Hannah's body knew how to protect her, as it should.
'Her Dantian hid her soul, to protect it,' Alex thought. He was damn certain of that.
"Tell her what I'm about to do next might hurt her," Alex said. "She might not feel anything hopefully, but there is a possibility of pain."
The 2nd prince quickly wrote down what Alex wanted Hannah to know.
Alex wasn't looking and only knew Hannah was ready when the 2nd prince spoke what she had said. Knowing that his sister was ready, he sent his Spiritual sense into the tiny opening to her Dantian and pushed in.
There was some resistance at first. Dantian by itself was not something one could use their spiritual sense to prod in the first place. Pushing one's spiritual sense into a Dantian, even with the person's complete concession to their body, still proved difficult.
Alex tried but found it nearly impossible to send anything in. He would have to use more force.
He took a moment to consider but decided that he had to do it anyway. Hannah was ready for the pain, so he had to do it right now. He couldn't give her false hope of it being done and give her sudden pain.
Hannah grunted in pain as Alex began.
Alex pushed more Spiritual sense into her Dantian, more and more, until he finally made it into it.
As soon as Alex was in, he felt dread.
Poison.
Such an incredibly strong poison.
Alex saw a glowing pool of energy inside the Dantian, surrounded by a dark aura that was the poison. Where was the soul?
Prying inside a little more, Alex found Hannah's soul half dead inside the pool of Qi itself.
That was problematic.
Her soul was damaged, she was poisoned, and her body was hurt.
A spirit healing pill, an antidote pill, and a regular healing pill would be required to treat her. But how was he to make them work?
He saw only one way to make it work and that was to open up her Dantian. But that brought more complications.
Another problem Alex saw was the lack of Qi in Hannah's body. A trickle came out every time she needed to use it, but nothing went in. So, after decades, her Dantian was only half filled with Qi.
Seeing as how it was her Qi that protected her soul from the poison, he couldn't open the Dantian, as that would make her use up her Qi, and cause the poison to take effect.
'I need to close the dantian,' he thought. At least for now, he needed to close it. He would open it later when he was ready to treat her.
'How do I treat her?' Alex thought. He needed to know that firsthand. His senses lay on the poison, feeling it's terrible dread, and he steeled his heart.
"I need this," he thought and used his senses and his intent to grab onto a portion of the poison.
If he wanted to make an antidote pill, he needed to understand the poison first.
