Chapter Thirty-One: The Lifeblood Corpse Poison

"Of course it's true," Kisaragi said with a smile.

"Really? Master?" Bingling craned her neck, looking up at Ye Wuyá to confirm once more.

"It's true," Ye Wuyá nodded.

"Yay! I knew Master couldn't be that bad! Master's the best!" Bingling hopped around the three of them in delight.

Watching Bingling's excitement, Ye Wuyá remarked languidly, "So small, you'd barely fill a gap between my teeth. Better to fatten you up before anything else."

With a thud, Bingling tumbled to the ground upon hearing this.

Ignoring Bingling's look of utter despair, Ye Wuyá turned to the two women and asked, "How long have we been in here?"

Kisaragi counted on her fingers for a moment before answering, "It's been almost five days, I think."

As soon as Kisaragi finished speaking, a dizzying sensation swept over them. When they opened their eyes, they found themselves standing in a familiar round, underground ice vault, the ice staircase before them.

The two women gazed happily at this well-known place.

"Husband, let's go out," Kisaragi said, looking toward the exit.

No response came for a long moment.

"Hmm? Husband?"

Neither Kisaragi nor Snow had heard Ye Wuyá reply. They turned around—and were met with a terrifying sight.

Ye Wuyá's face was contorted and twisted in agony, as if enduring some unbearable pain. His body trembled uncontrollably, sweat dripping from his brow and hissing as it struck the ice, melting a large hole.

"Husband!" the two women cried out, rushing forward to support him.

Bingling instantly flew out from Ye Wuyá's body, exclaiming anxiously, "Mistresses, don't touch Master!"

Snow looked to Bingling, panic in her voice. "What's wrong with him? Why is this happening all of a sudden?"

"It's corpse poison," Bingling replied.

"Corpse poison? How could he be poisoned all of a sudden?" Kisaragi asked.

"It's not poisoning," Bingling explained, "Whenever Master awakens a new attribute, he also awakens the corpse poison tied to that attribute. The stronger he grows, the more violent the corpse poison becomes. With your strength at the Gathering Spirit Realm, you wouldn't last even a quarter of an hour if you were poisoned too! So you mustn't touch him!"

The two women, seeing Ye Wuyá's intense suffering, asked, "Then what should we do?"

"Mistresses, you must leave and prevent anyone else from entering. I can sense it—the poison inside Master is about to erupt! It's extremely dangerous for you to remain here," Bingling relayed, speaking Ye Wuyá's intentions.

Ye Wuyá gritted his teeth, desperately suppressing the corpse poison raging within him. A single misstep, and it would erupt completely. That was why he'd had Bingling warn the two women to leave.

"No, we're not afraid. We won't go," they said resolutely.

Seated on the ground, Ye Wuyá heard their words and thought wryly, "These two little fools..."

Opening his tightly shut eyes, Ye Wuyá looked at their worried faces and spoke softly, "Yue'er, Xue'er, go on ahead. I've survived this twice before, haven't I? Trust me. Please, be good and go. Hurry."

Seeing the confidence on Ye Wuyá's face, the two women nodded. Kisaragi said, "Husband, you must come back to us safely..."

"I will," Ye Wuyá nodded.

The sisters quickly left, hurrying up the ice stairs. They knew that staying would do nothing to help—in fact, it might only endanger Ye Wuyá further.

Once they had gone, Ye Wuyá's face grew even paler.

"Aaah!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed again and again in the round ice cavern.

Inside his body, the corpse poison was rampaging, colliding furiously with his own energy. Ye Wuyá activated the Frenzied Corpse Seal, forcing his spiritual power to battle the toxin.

Two surging forces clashed within him, his body on the verge of bursting apart. Ye Wuyá felt himself growing weaker by the moment; his situation had never been more dire. The ice spiritual energy within him was being corroded by the toxin, unable to withstand it, and was steadily losing ground.

He frantically drew in the scant spiritual energy left in the space to replenish himself, but it was never enough.

"What do I do? Damn it! Is this innate corpse poison really so tyrannical? It attacks friend and foe alike—even its host! What did I ever do to deserve this? In less than half a month, every disaster seems to have found me. I almost miss the old days, digging up a grave just for something to do..."

The corpse poison began to spread into his limbs, sharp pain radiating through his body, until he felt he was about to lose control entirely.

"Bingling, think of something! My body's slipping away! The poison's headed for my dantian now!" he cried.

"Master, I—I don't know what to do!" Bingling, only recently awakened to sentience, had never faced anything like this and darted about in a panic.

"You useless little glutton!" Ye Wuyá ground out through gritted teeth.

Suddenly, a thought struck him.

"Eat? Never mind, it's worth a try! Better you than me!"

"Bingling, quickly, draw out the corpse poison from my body!" he ordered.

"Master, that's impossible! I can feel it—if I touch the poison, I'll die for sure!" Bingling protested.

"Die? If I die, you won't survive either. If you die, I..." Realizing his mistake, Ye Wuyá almost forgot that his first corpse spirit, though a bit foolish, had awoken to true intelligence. Foolish? That's it—foolish!

Seizing the moment, Ye Wuyá softened his tone. "No, trust me, Bingling. I care about you too much to eat you—even if I wanted to, how could I send you to your death? Right?"

Bingling pondered this seriously. "That sounds right! You said you wanted to fatten me up before eating me. I'm still so small—Master would never let me die now!" she replied guilelessly.

"Exactly! Bingling, you're so clever! My precious corpse spirit. Now, can you start absorbing it? If you don't hurry, I'll be the one to die!" Ye Wuyá felt the poison about to reach his organs and kept coaxing the gullible little spirit.

"Alright. Don't worry, Master. It's just corpse poison! For you, I'll do it!" Bingling declared with righteous fervor.

With that, she leaped onto Ye Wuyá, crawled to his right palm, shrank herself, and slipped into his index finger.

Inside the finger, Bingling opened her mouth wide, and a powerful suction began to draw the poison toward her.

Ye Wuyá felt the corpse poison flowing toward his right index finger. His spirits lifted—it's working! I really am a genius!

Time passed...

Ye Wuyá rejoiced inwardly, thinking, I did it! The corpse poison in my body is almost all gone, thanks to Bingling!

Gradually, he felt his body coming back under his own control. In his heart, he cheered, It's really working! My life-bound corpse spirit is good for more than just eating after all!

"Bingling, Bingling—are you dead? If not, say something!" he called out in his mind.