Phosphor fires flickered unsteadily inside the cavern, casting long, distorted shadows of the group. The lingering warmth of Su Qingxue's soft armor still brushed against the tips of Ye Fan's fingers, the edges of the scorched mark tinged with an eerie cyan-black hue—unmistakably the result of the Bone-Corroding Poison carried within the old man's black mist.
His Adam's apple bobbed slightly. As he lowered his gaze, an ice crystal from Lin Zhaoyue's sword tassel fell squarely into his palm. The biting chill made him shiver involuntarily: this Frost Flower Sword had just taken the old man's three bolts of shadowy lightning head-on, and the ice crystals on the tassel—originally protective talismans condensed from her true essence—were now shattered beyond recognition, indicating that the impact she had endured was far more severe than it appeared on the surface.
"A-Xue," he called out softly, placing a hand gently over Su Qingxue's pulse. A faint flush bloomed across the woman's pale cheeks as she averted her gaze. "It's just that my soft armor blocked thirty percent of the poison, and Hanmei Pavilion's Hundred-Poison Ointment has already suppressed it." Even so, her fingers quietly hooked into his sleeve, resembling a startled yet stubbornly proud little cat.
Chapter 201