Lin Xue had just taken a few steps and hadn’t yet walked out of the ancestral hall’s main entrance when she noticed her left leg had, without her realizing, grown a bit limp and weak.
Her steps even faltered slightly.
She thought it was just because she’d been sitting for too long and her leg had gone numb.
But soon, she realized her left arm also felt somewhat numb and tingly.
In fact, the entire left side of her body was growing weak.
She was startled.
What’s happening to me?
Why am I suddenly like this for no reason?
Just then, she heard Zhang Zongnian behind her let out a surprised “Huh?”
He exclaimed, “Miss Lin Xue, please wait! There’s a wound on your arm—it seems you’ve been poisoned.”
Zhang Zongnian had been watching Lin Xue’s departing figure with lingering reluctance when he suddenly noticed her steps weren’t steady.
He looked at her suspiciously and saw a tear in the sleeve of Lin Xue’s left arm, revealing a wound underneath. The wound had turned black.
Having studied medicine for several years, he knew at once these were symptoms of poisoning, so he hurriedly called out to Lin Xue.
Upon hearing this, Lin Xue was shocked.
She quickly looked at the wound on her arm, the one she got when fighting Yu Honglian.
Sure enough, through the torn sleeve, she could see the wound had turned black.
She rolled up her sleeve and discovered the blood vessels around the wound had all become black, spreading out in a spiderweb pattern, covering nearly half her arm—a terrifying sight.
In that instant, she remembered what the female demon had said before dying: “You’ll be coming down to join me soon.”
The blade of the Blood Fiend was poisoned!
She’d been poisoned long ago!
No wonder the female demon had said that.
Lin Xue panicked.
She wasn’t a doctor; she had no idea how to detoxify poison.
This wasn’t Blue Star either, where you could run straight to the hospital for treatment if you were injured or poisoned.
Of all the medicine she’d gotten from Yang Yuhai, none happened to be antidotes.
What should she do?
This poison looked truly vicious.
Will I die from the poison?
Is my only option to watch helplessly as the poison takes my life and then meet that demon woman and her daughter in the Netherworld?
Lin Xue instantly became completely flustered.
Amid her panic, she heard Zhang Zongnian say, “Miss Lin Xue, before I joined the Bureau, I studied medicine with my master for a time. May I take a look at your wound?”
Lin Xue felt as if she’d found a lifeline and immediately returned to him, rolling up her sleeve and holding out her arm.
Her snowy-white arm, glimmering like jade, had over half its blood vessels turned black, spiderwebbing over most of her arm.
At the ends of these black blood vessels, she could even see them spreading slowly outward with the naked eye.
Lin Xue saw how quickly it was spreading, her face turning pale.
Zhang Zongnian examined it closely, his brow furrowed and his face grave. He sighed.
Seeing his expression, Lin Xue’s heart skipped a beat.
Her voice trembled, “What is it?”
Zhang Zongnian’s expression was solemn as he said, “Miss Lin Xue, you’ve been afflicted with Corpse Poison. It will continue to spread inside your body. Once it reaches your head, you’ll lose consciousness and become a mindless walking corpse.”
Lin Xue’s heart nearly stopped.
A mindless walking corpse?
How is that any different from death?
Then Zhang Zongnian continued: “Because you have cultivation, you possess some resistance, so the poison shouldn’t have acted so quickly. I imagine after being poisoned, you kept fighting that Evil Daoist, which sped up your blood flow and hastened the poison’s spread.”
“Then you were bound by the Fuyao Wang, and your demon power was suppressed. Without your demon power holding it back, the poison spread even faster, reaching this level.”
“At this rate, if you don’t get treatment, I’m afraid in the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, the poison will reach your head.”
Lin Xue suddenly felt chilled to the bone, as if she’d fallen into an ice cave.
A stick of incense—a mere half hour.
Do I only have half an hour left to live?
Her eyes became vacant as she asked, in utter despair, “Is there any way to save me?”
Zhang Zongnian nodded. “There is.”
Those two words were like a heavenly melody to Lin Xue. It was as if she’d been plucked from the ice cave.
She snapped back to her senses, heaving a sigh of relief and patting her chest.
There’s a cure, there’s a cure.
Damn it, this guy scared me half to death—I thought I was about to die right here.
She’d patted her chest hard. Her Daoist Robe was loose, so her chest bounced violently from her own slap.
Zhang Zongnian’s gaze lingered for a moment, before he snapped back to himself with a hint of regret. “But my medical skills are shallow. I can’t save you.”
Lin Xue nearly fainted on the spot.
First, he tells me there’s a cure, then immediately says he can’t save me.
Are you kidding me?
Messing with me on purpose?
But Zhang Zongnian’s next words pulled her back from the edge of collapse: “However, my Senior Brother specializes in the Physician’s Path, especially in treating poison. He can save you.”
Lin Xue felt as if she’d been granted amnesty and sighed in relief again.
Thank goodness.
As long as someone can save me.
Panting, she patted her chest and asked, “Where’s your Senior Brother?”
Zhang Zongnian replied, “In Stone Plate Town. He runs a Divine Physician clinic there—it’s easy to find.”
Lin Xue was about to ask how to get to Stone Plate Town, but Zhang Zongnian’s brow furrowed again and he said, “But Stone Plate Town is over a hundred li from here. You only have the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn. I’m afraid you can’t make it in time.”
Lin Xue clutched her chest and staggered back several steps.
So you mean I still have to die?
Then why did you bother saying so much nonsense just now?
Her pretty face was suddenly full of despair.
But then Zhang Zongnian continued,
“But Miss Lin Xue, don’t worry. I have some detoxifying medicine here—my Senior Brother specially refined it for my protection. While it can’t cure Corpse Poison, it can at least suppress its spread. If you trust me, let me apply it to your wound first. That way, you should be able to hold out until we reach Stone Plate Town.”
Lin Xue was on the verge of tears.
With eyes brimming, she looked at Zhang Zongnian, feeling as if a herd of llamas was stampeding through her heart.
Damn it, can’t you say everything in one go?
This dramatic buildup is like a roller coaster—my emotions are up and down.
I nearly died from fright before the poison could kill me!
She resisted the urge to give Zhang Zongnian a beating and said, “Of course I trust you, Brother Zhang. Please help me apply the medicine.”
Zhang Zongnian reached for his waist, only to remember his Storage Pouch had torn, and all his medicine bottles had spilled to the ground.
Lin Xue had no choice but to drag her weak body over, gathering up the bottles and other scattered items and setting them beside him.
Zhang Zongnian picked up a bottle, pulled the stopper out with his teeth, poured out a pill, crushed it, and gently applied the powder to the wound on Lin Xue’s arm.
Lin Xue felt a cool sensation at the wound. The black veins, which had been spreading hideously, instantly stopped expanding.
Once Zhang Zongnian finished applying the medicine and observed carefully, he said,
“Alright, from now on, as long as you don’t make any overly vigorous movements, don’t circulate your demon power too much, and don’t stimulate the Corpse Poison to spread again, you should be able to make it to Stone Plate Town.”
Lin Xue felt a bit more at ease.
She let her sleeve fall and asked, “Then I’ll go find your Senior Brother now. How do I get to Stone Plate Town?”
Zhang Zongnian bowed his head, thinking for a moment, as if making up his mind.
He looked up at Lin Xue. “Miss Lin Xue, I’ll go with you. I need to seek medical treatment for my own injuries anyway. We can look for my Senior Brother together, and I’ll show you the way.”
Lin Xue was taken aback. “But, I’m a demon, and you’re a Demon Slaying Division Officer. I even killed your superior. If we leave together and the villagers see, won’t that cause trouble for you?”
Zhang Zongnian let out a bitter laugh, raised his severed right arm, and his face showed a trace of sorrow.
“My right arm is gone. I can’t hold a sword. I’m a cripple now. The Demon-Slaying Bureau doesn’t keep cripples—they won’t let me stay.”
“As for Yang Yuhai, he killed so many villagers. Being killed by you was only justice! If the higher-ups come to investigate, the villagers will tell them the whole story. I, Zhang Zongnian, have a clear conscience. Yang Yuhai’s death shouldn’t be blamed on me.”
When Lin Xue saw the bitter smile as he called himself a cripple, she felt a weight in her heart.
She nodded. “Alright then. We’ll go together. We can look after each other on the way.”
Zhang Zongnian brightened.
He could spend more time with Lin Xue again.
The two decided to set out immediately.
Lin Xue helped the now-disabled Zhang Zongnian, and the two of them left the ancestral hall together.
Zhang Zongnian had wanted to comfort the remaining villagers, but the few Survivors were so terrified they’d all hidden far away and wouldn’t come near, so he gave up.
Lin Xue took the wooden carriage from Yang Yuhai’s Storage Pouch.
This wooden carriage was drawn by two wooden horses. It needed no driver and was powered by the user’s spiritual power, the direction controlled by thought—extremely convenient.
Zhang Zongnian also had a wooden donkey mount—standard issue for Demon Slaying Division Officers.
Normally, it looked like a small toy, but when infused with spiritual power, it would transform to the size of a normal donkey for travel.
But given his condition, riding the donkey wasn’t suitable, so the two of them rode the carriage together and set off for Stone Plate Town.
Some time after they’d left, a streak of light flew through the sky, landing straight on the open ground in front of the ancestral hall.
It was a magnificent flying boat.
On the flying boat stood two people—an old man and a young man.
Both wore the black robes of the Demon-Slaying Bureau, with identical jade pendants at their waists, each carved with the character “Yang”.