The muffled thud of the rotting wooden door closing completely swallowed Uncle Fu’s stoic, hunched back.
The small courtyard returned to a dead, suffocating silence.
The cold wind swept through the hole in the roof, its howling sound adding a desolate, piercing chill.
Qin Lie collapsed against the ice-cold base of the wall. Every breath pulled at his newly opened meridians, sending a stabbing agony straight to his heart.
Cold sweat mixed with bloody grime clung to his face, cuttingly cold.
The lingering pain of his torn soul had not yet faded, and it felt as though steel needles were stirring wildly inside his skull.
He opened his palm.
The Bronze Shard lay quietly there, its edges pressing against his skin—cold and rough.
The dark gold patterns were frozen like death, devoid of the slightest trace of radiance.
Only a faint lingering warmth remained, proving that the madness just moments ago had been no dream.
The price had been disastrously heavy.
But it was worth it!
His consciousness sank into his body.
Within that tiny qi aperture forcibly carved out by the Ancient Mirror, located right beside the toxic bruise on his chest,
a wisp of pale gold qi, as thin as a hair and as dense and heavy as mercury,
was pulsing weakly yet stubbornly.
With every pulse, it emitted the crushing weight of a mountain and the biting, razor-sharp edge of a blade breaking through shackles.
Strength!
Pitiably weak, yet it was strength that belonged to him, and him alone—Qin Lie!
The very first spark kindled in this wasteland of a crippled body!
"Hah..."
Qin Lie twitched the corner of his mouth, cracking his dry lips and opening a bloody split.
The searing pain instantly cleared his chaotic thoughts.
Not enough!
This shred of strength couldn't even pinch a sick cat to death!
The two poisonous dragons entrenched within his body, clinging like maggots in the bone, were still frantically devouring his remaining vitality!
The gloomy, freezing deathly qi of the Purple Heart Bone-Corroding Poison occupied his internal organs and bone marrow.
The dark green, corrosive force of the Soul-Dispersing Severed Vein Wine was locked deep within the fractures of his dantian.
These were the executioner's blades hanging over his head!
They had to be cleared away, or at least suppressed, as quickly as possible!
Otherwise, before he could even exact his revenge, this crippled shell would be hollowed out by the poison!
His consciousness gathered once more.
Enduring the piercing pain in his soul, he wrapped his awareness like spider silk around the Ancient Mirror in his palm.
His target pointed straight at the core dark gold patterns!
"Reflection!"
Hum!
A faint tremor came from within the shard.
An ice-cold, indifferent perception—like a freezing current from the highest heavens—instantly fed back!
It pierced through flesh and skin, reaching straight into the depths of his internal organs!
Qin Lie's "vision" shifted abruptly!
It was no longer a blurry internal view.
Under the "reflection" of the Ancient Mirror's cold light, the internal scenery of his body was displayed down to the finest detail, like a specimen laid out on a dissection table!
Meridians!
The river channels that should have been tough and unobstructed were twisted, fractured, and severely clogged at this moment.
Purplish-black, viscous toxic sludge adhered firmly to the tube walls like foul mud.
Especially at crucial acupoints like the heart, liver area, and Shenshu, the accumulation was thickest, radiating a gloomy and freezing deathly qi.
That was the bitter fruit of the long-term erosion by the "Purple Heart Bone-Corroding Poison"!
Dantian!
The space of the Qi Ocean was completely shattered, riddled with spiderweb cracks.
Dark green, viscous toxic residue, crawling slowly like a living thing, resembled the foulest pus-filled sore.
It was deeply embedded in every single crack, exuding a destructive, corrosive aura.
This was the masterpiece of the "Soul-Dispersing Severed Vein Wine," severing the foundations of martial arts!
And it didn't stop there!
The light of the Ancient Mirror swept ruthlessly on.
At the nodes of those fractured meridians, and within the tiny gaps of flesh and blood among his internal organs,
there actually lurked wisps of pale cyan, nearly transparent, bizarre mists!
Like cunning leeches, they quietly melted into his flesh and blood, numbing his vitality and blocking his perception of Yuan Qi!
"Power-Dissolving Powder?!"
Qin Lie’s heart tightened.
Vague memories from his past life surged forth.
This was a vicious, insidious drug specifically targeted at martial artists, capable of slowly dissolving cultivation and numbing perception!
Colorless, odorless, and extremely difficult to detect!
It had actually been administered to him as well! And for no short amount of time!
Three kinds of virulent poisons!
The Purple Heart Bone-Corroding Poison to grind away his foundation, the Soul-Dispersing Severed Vein Wine to cut off his path forward, and the Power-Dissolving Powder to numb his senses!
Triple shackles!
Interlocking ring by ring!
Not only did they want him crippled, they wanted him dead—and they wanted him to die soundlessly, like a true waste!
How vicious!
Su Qingxue, Xia Yuanchen, and those shadowy masterminds behind the scenes!
A monstrous hatred surged like boiling magma, nearly bursting through his chest!
Qin Lie clamped his back teeth together, blood oozing from between them.
He forcibly suppressed the raging fire burning his heart.
Hatred was useless!
To survive! To clear out the poison! Only then would he have the qualification to speak of revenge!
His consciousness locked onto the perception fed back by the Ancient Mirror.
The cold light acted like a shadowless lamp on an operating table, precisely focusing.
It heavily "reflected" the accumulation points of the purplish-black "Purple Heart Bone-Corroding Poison."
Especially just below his heart, where a dark purple, fist-sized toxic origin bruise sat!
Under the scan of the light, the internal structure of the bruise was dissected layer by layer.
The circulation nodes of the freezing deathly qi, the fragile points where the poison and flesh intertwined...
Even at the very core of the bruise, an extremely tiny, nearly transparent pale purple crystal was captured by the light of the Ancient Mirror!
Could that be... a poison core?!
Qin Lie's mind shook violently.
The "reflecting" power of the Ancient Mirror could actually delve to such a microscopic level!
At the same time, a vast and abstruse fragment of information flooded into his mind once more.
It was still the vague concept of "analyzing" and "tracing sources."
Yet this time, it seemed to lean more toward... the disassembly and reconstruction of material essence?
Enduring his headache, Qin Lie seized this fleeting flash of inspiration.
His consciousness acted like the most brilliant apothecary, combining the toxic structure and circulation nodes seen through the "reflection."
He began frantically searching through the fragmented, vague knowledge of toxicology and pharmacology from his past life.
Detoxification...
Neutralization...
Rejection elimination...
He needed a medicinal primer!
High-grade spiritual herbs were out of the question.
Right now, there was only this dilapidated courtyard and those... wild weeds!
Qin Lie's cold gaze swept across the corner of the courtyard like a searchlight.
The moonlight was pale, barely illuminating the desolate courtyard.
In the corners, between the stones, under the withered trees.
A few clumps of wild weeds, shivering in the cold wind, stubbornly poked their heads out.
Dogtail grass, its leaves withered and yellow, its fuzzy heads drooping.
Plantain weeds, their limp leaves plastered against the ground.
Dandelions, leaving only bare stems topped with fluff.
And a few plants with jagged, saw-toothed leaves... bitter greens?
They were the most common, unremarkable things, often regarded mere weeds.
Could they... be of any use?
A flash of desperate ruthlessness crossed Qin Lie's eyes.
Desperate times call for desperate measures!
His consciousness sank into the Ancient Mirror once again.
"Deduction!"
Target: Utilize the "herbs" currently present in the courtyard to preliminarily neutralize or guide out the "Purple Heart Bone-Corroding Poison"!
Hum!
On the surface of the bronze shard, the dark gold patterns in the core area lit up with a faint glow once more!
It was much dimmer than when he had optimized his cultivation technique earlier, but it carried a strange rhythm directed at material transformation.
Countless tiny specks of light flowed, collided, and combined across the surface of the shard.
In Qin Lie's mind, his vague pharmacological knowledge of those wild weeds (clearing heat and detoxifying, promoting diuresis and reducing swelling, etc.) was extracted.
It frantically intersected and calculated with the toxic structure and circulation node information "reflected" by the Ancient Mirror!
Countless possible combinations, ratios, and modes of action were generated and extinguished within the cold deduction.
Finally.
Several extremely faint, nearly illusory rays of light projected out from the shard's radiance.
Like invisible arrows, they pointed precisely toward the corner of the courtyard—
Three wilted, yellowing plantain weeds!
Two dandelions with fluffy heads!
And... in the crevice of the wall in the corner, a clump of bitter greens with tiny serrations along the edges of their leaves!
Deduction result: Plantain juice (primary) supplemented with dandelion root juice (catalyst) can mildly stimulate the kidneys, accelerate water metabolism, and guide a portion of the water-soluble Purple Heart Bone-Corroding Poison deathly qi to be discharged from the body via urine. Bitter greens juice (trace amount), with its faint bitter and cold nature, can slightly neutralize the coldness of the poison and relieve visceral cramps.
The plan was crude to the point of being laughable.
The effect was weak, and the process would be excruciating.
Yet, this was the only viable path at present!
A cold glint flashed in Qin Lie's eyes.
Without a trace of hesitation, he struggled, dragging his body—which felt as heavy as lead—toward the corner of the wall.
Every movement tugged at the stabbing pain of the newly opened meridians and the freezing visceral cramps deep inside.
Cold sweat poured like a waterfall.
Gritting his teeth, he reached out and grabbed a wilted, yellow plantain weed.
With a hard pull!
The roots came up with damp, cold soil.
He then plucked the dandelions and bitter greens.
Returning to the base of the wall,
he picked up a sharp-edged broken tile.
Gathering the three kinds of weeds together,
he began to vigorously grind and cut them using the rough edge of the tile!
The grass leaves were crushed, and an acrid, green plant juice mixed with the earthy stench diffused into the air.
It stained Qin Lie's palms completely.
He didn't care in the least.
Like the most focused artisan, he ground them repeatedly.
Until a small puddle of sticky, turbid dark green plant juice—exuding a strong bitterness and earthy odor—remained in his palm.
Looking at the foul liquid in his palm,
Qin Lie's eyes remained completely devoid of ripples.
There was only a frozen, resolute determination.
He raised his head.
Opened his mouth.
And without the slightest hesitation, poured the puddle of plant juice mixed with soil and shattered leaves straight into his throat!
"Rch—!"
An indescribable mixture of bitterness, earthy stench, and raw vegetation exploded inside his mouth like a bomb!
It instantly stimulated his stomach into a violent spasm!
An overwhelming wave of nausea came crashing down!
Qin Lie clamped his hands tightly over his mouth!
The veins on his neck bulged fiercely!
His body arched like a shrimp from the violent retching!
He couldn't vomit!
If he threw it up, all previous efforts would go to waste!
He widened his eyes, a dense web of blood vessels covering them!
Using every ounce of his willpower, he suppressed the churning urge to vomit!
His throat rolled violently!
It felt as though he were swallowing a white-hot blade!
He forcefully swallowed that foul juice mixed with dirt and weed dregs down into his stomach!
"Ugh-ah—!"
The moment it went down, it felt not like juice, but like a ball of burning charcoal!
It burned all the way from his throat down into his stomach!
Immediately following that, an extremely overbearing and intensely irritating freezing current violently erupted from within that "charcoal"!
Like countless cold steel needles, it fiercely pierced the fragile walls of his stomach! Then, following his meridians, it rampantly surged toward the kidney region!
"Hah... hah-hah..."
Qin Lie curled up on the ground, his body twitching violently beyond his control!
His complexion instantly shifted from pale to a terrifying blue-purple!
Large beads of cold sweat instantly covered his forehead!
It was too fierce!
The dosage and effects deduced by the Ancient Mirror were based on an ideal state!
Yet this body of his had long been riddled with holes and rendered fragile by virulent poisons!
The impact of this "potent medicine" far exceeded expectations!
The freezing medicinal power rampaged like a wild horse losing its reins among his fragile internal organs!
Its intended target was to guide water metabolism and flush out the toxins.
At this moment, however, it had turned into indiscriminate destruction!
A knife-twisting agony came from the kidney region!
It felt as though countless ice picks were stirring wildly inside!
His bladder, too, throbbed with a distended pain as if it were about to explode!
"Pfft!"
Another mouthful of dark red stagnant blood spewed out!
Mixed within it were actually a few wisps of fine, purplish-black threads!
That was the deathly qi of the Purple Heart Bone-Corroding Poison, forcibly flushed out and stripped away!
Effective!
Yet the process... was worse than death!
Strokes of black danced before Qin Lie's eyes as his consciousness drifted up and down on the tide of agonizing pain.
He clawed desperately at the cold ground, his fingernails shattering and dripping with fresh blood.
He couldn't pass out!
If he lost consciousness, the medicinal power would run wild and likely directly destroy his already fragile kidneys!
He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue!
The sharp pain and heavy taste of blood snapped his spirit back to alertness!
Like a drowning person grasping at the final straw, his consciousness plunged stubbornly back into his body.
Guide it!
He had to guide it!
Enduring the inhuman torment, he concentrated every bit of his remaining consciousness.
Following the vague guidance route from the Ancient Mirror's deduction,
he didn't try to control the violent medicinal power.
Instead... he channeled it!
Like using willpower to painfully carve out a drainage ditch amid a breaching flood!
Wherever his consciousness passed, the violent, freezing medicinal power found an outlet and surged even more furiously!
Yet the direction of the impact was forcibly twisted, converging toward the channels leading to the kidneys and bladder!
"Ugh-ugh-ugh—!"
A low roar like a beast's tore from Qin Lie's throat.
His body curled to the absolute limit, then snapped straight again!
With every spasm, dark red froth spilled from the corners of his mouth.
On the surface of his skin, those cyan-black patterns formed by the accumulation of toxins twisted and crawled like living things!
Wisps of visible, foul-smelling purplish-black sweat seeped frantically from his pores!
Instantly soaking his tattered undergarment!
His entire person looked as though he had been fished out of a pool of foul blood and mud!
A stench filled the air!
Detoxification!
Carried out in the most painful, direct, and tragic manner!
How much time passed, he did not know.
It felt as though he had been rolled back and forth through a cauldron of purgatory oil a thousand times over.
That violent, freezing medicinal power within his body finally subsided slowly like a receding tide.
The twisting pain in his kidneys and the distended ache in his bladder eased slightly as well.
Qin Lie collapsed like a thoroughly ruined lump of mud onto the cold, filthy ground.
His entire body was covered in purplish-black foul blood, sweat, mud, and crushed weeds.
The stench was choking.
He breathed heavily, every inhalation accompanied by the wheezing rattle of a broken bellows.
Stars danced wildly in his vision, and his ears rang incessantly.
The dual torment of soul and flesh had nearly torn him apart.
Yet his bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the pool of stagnant blood he had spat out on the ground, mixed with its purplish-black threads.
His consciousness sank laboriously back into his body.
Once more, he "internalized."
Though it remained chaotic and dilapidated,
under the cold perception of the Ancient Mirror:
Beneath his heart, the edge of that deep purple toxic origin bruise
seemed to have blurred... by a tiny fraction?
The freezing deathly qi circulating within the bruise was also weaker by an infinitesimal wisp!
More importantly!
Those purplish-black toxin accumulation points entrenched at the nodes of his visceral meridians—
at a few of the relatively weak spots, the accumulated toxins were noticeably thinner!
Though it was still a drop in the bucket,
this undeniable weakening was like the first gleam of light penetrating a dark abyss!
It proved that this path...
was feasible!
Qin Lie's blood-stained mouth twitched upward with extreme difficulty.
Carving out an arc that was cold, utterly exhausted, yet brimming with boundless madness and hope.
Step one.
Succeeded!
Struggling, using his very last shred of strength,
he turned his head toward the broken clay jar in the corner of the wall.
Inside, the low-grade steamed bun and wound medicine left by Uncle Fu lay quietly.
His gaze swept past the bun.
And finally, it locked onto the coarse pottery bottle labeled "Trauma Powder."
Inferior medicinal powder...
Perhaps... it could also be put to waste-recycled use?