Chapter 53: Little Sister's Kiss
Since the incident at the Chamber of Commerce building banquet, the two have been locked in a cold war.
However, it should be said that Sang Ying was unilaterally ignoring Xie Lingyu. For several days in a row, she would not look at him when eating, would not sleep with him, and would completely ignore him when reading.
Sang Ying held the book of knowledge she had found online, and flipped through it. It was different from the one her mother had left behind. The last few pages of this book were complete and intact, and it recorded a strange kind of talisman.
It has no name or written description, so we don't know what its function is.
Sang Ying decided to draw it and see where the talisman was. She raised her hand to see where the talisman was, but the bright yellow talisman was already placed on the table in front of her by her slender fingers.
She paused, then turned her hand, and the young man used his other hand to press the paperweight onto the talisman.
She changed direction again, looking into the distance, where a jade dragon's tail, wrapped around a writing brush dipped in cinnabar, was handed to her, just as it was placed in her hand.
"..."
Sang Ying snorted coldly, pulled out the brush and threw it aside, then grabbed the dragon's tail.
Xie Lingyu paused, his dark eyes looking at her, thinking she was finally willing to talk to him. He raised his voice slightly, and the tip of his dragon tail swayed.
"If junior sister wants to touch me..."
A slender hand pulled the dragon by the tail, dipped it in a cinnabar dish, and the tip of the fluffy white tail was instantly stained with a bright red.
Xie Lingyu: "..."
Sang Ying, expressionless, grabbed the dragon's tail and drew a talisman. She finished quickly and then ruthlessly tossed the tool and the dragon's tail aside.
She moved the paperweight aside, picked up the talisman with two fingers, and used her spiritual power to ignite it.
The talisman burned to ashes, which fell to the ground, but there was no reaction.
Sang Ying frowned. Could it be that she drew it wrong? But she clearly drew it exactly as in the book.
"I did not sense any spiritual energy fluctuations."
The young man beside him had his tail resting in the ink-washing pool, the clear water spreading a red hue. He touched his lips and pondered for a moment, "It seems to be a problem with the medium."
Sang Ying looked at the cinnabar, then grabbed the dragon's tail that was draped over the ink-washing pool, dipped it in, and drew another talisman.
It was confirmed to be top-grade cinnabar, clearly rich in spiritual energy connecting to the talisman; it wasn't fake. But when the nameless talisman was drawn again, it fell silent, showing no reaction whatsoever.
"Can't cinnabar exert the power of the talisman?"
Sang Ying muttered, "This is unheard of. You know, cinnabar is already the best medium for drawing talismans. It's the preferred material for talisman cultivators in the cultivation world. Is there an even better medium?"
The young man beside her turned to leave, but Sang Ying grabbed the tip of his tail. "Where are you going?"
“Deep in the sea of Yunling Realm, there is a kind of Crimson Jade Stone, which is formed from the death of a plant. When ground into fine powder, it resembles cinnabar and has a bright color. The longer it is aged, the more concentrated its spiritual power becomes. It is worth a try.”
Sang Ying knew that he was still thinking of running around even though his injuries hadn't healed. She coldly grabbed his dragon tail and sat him down, continuing to dip her brush in cinnabar to draw talismans, and said coldly.
"You're not allowed to go anywhere until my talisman is finished."
The young man obediently sat down and watched her draw talismans. After a while, the tip of the dragon's tail suddenly twitched.
"hiss."
Sang Ying pinched the dragon's tail, a little annoyed, "Don't move. This talisman costs two hundred spirit stones. If you mess it up, you'll lose all your allowance next month."
The young man asked softly, "Junior sister, are you worried about me if you don't want me to go?"
Sang Ying fluttered her eyelashes and glanced at him dismissively: "Who cares about you? I just find this brush easier to use for drawing talismans."
Her ear tips flushed an unnatural red, but thankfully her hair covered them. Looking down at the dragon tail in her hand, she caught a glimpse of the crimson stripe on the golden ring at the end of the tail.
Sang Ying paused slightly, and using the action of drawing a talisman, she turned the binding ring around and found that there was only this one red stripe.
Hmm... does that banquet from last time not count?
That's right. When she went back later, she didn't find the same sandalwood dew she had seen the first time, which means the joint cultivation was not completed.
Thinking of this, Sang Ying's ears burned even hotter. The cool dragon tail in her hand seemed to have become a hot potato. She couldn't draw any more talismans and put it aside to read a book.
Suddenly, there was a rapid knocking on the door.
A loudspeaker outside the door announced, "Young Miss, something has happened to Senior Brother Xiao!"
Sang Ying's face stiffened, and she quickly put down her book and walked towards the door, with the young man following behind her.
"What happened? Didn't he go to the cultivation world to discuss business partnerships a couple of days ago? What went wrong?"
The loudspeaker quickly explained the situation: "Senior Brother Xiao fell ill on the day he arrived in the cultivation world. He was dizzy, vomiting, and had a fever. He thought it was just a cold and didn't pay attention to it. Who knew that he would lose his sight the next day."
Sang Ying was stunned. Blindness and fever... Isn't this the strange infectious disease that Xiao Lingzhou told her about?
But last time he said this disease was only in a small town in the southwest, while he clearly went to the east. How did he get this disease?
Could it be...?
Sang Ying opened the glass mirror and saw that a large number of comments discussing infectious diseases had suddenly appeared on the homepages of various spiritual networks today. There were hundreds or even thousands of cases in various parts of the cultivation world, and everyone was now in danger and panicked.
Sure enough, the news had already spread from the southwest throughout the entire cultivation world.
She frowned. Such a highly contagious disease hadn't been mentioned at all on the Spirit Network a few days ago. The Immortal Alliance must have blocked the news to avoid panic.
It wasn't until now, when even the Immortal Alliance couldn't suppress it anymore, that it finally erupted completely.
"What about my second senior brother? Where is he now?" Sang Ying asked, looking up.
The loudspeaker announced: "Senior Brother Xiao said that he is not suitable to return to Yunling Realm at the moment, so he stayed in the Immortal Alliance with the patrol department of the Immortal Alliance and was temporarily quarantined."
Sang Ying lifted her skirt and was about to walk out when two people blocked her way, one in front and the other holding her wrist.
"Junior sister."
"Young Miss."
The loudspeaker said solemnly, "Miss, Senior Brother Xiao instructed me to keep an eye on you. Given your physical condition, you would definitely get infected if you went there."
“He said he’s fine, you don’t need to worry. Apart from not being able to see, it’s just a cold. He’s a Golden Core cultivator, he can handle this little illness.”
It's already quite strange that a highly skilled cultivator would catch a cold, isn't it?
Sang Ying bit her lip, "That's only now. This disease is so strange, who knows how badly it will get?"
The young man behind her looked at her pale face, paused, then grasped her wrist and said gently, "Junior sister, treating illnesses is the business of medical cultivators. Going there now won't help at all. If you also get sick, it will only cause him more worry."
Sang Ying covered her eyes. She knew in her heart that Xie Lingyu was right. She didn't know any medical skills, so even if she went there, she could only watch. But she couldn't suppress her panic and tension.
She took a deep breath, tried to calm herself down, and quickly went to ask about the others.
Lengmian and Jingxi quickly replied to her message, saying they were fine and not to worry. Sang Ying told them to stay at home and not go anywhere.
However, there was still no news from the eldest brother.
Sang Ying anxiously sent many messages, and after a while, a message came through: 【Xiao Ying, I/? I'm fine】
When Sang Ying saw this message, her heart sank, as if she had fallen into an ice cave, and she felt completely lost and helpless.
The eldest brother had obviously guessed that these messages were from her, which was why he wanted to pretend nothing was wrong, but because he couldn't see, he bumped into something else.
The glass mirror in her hand was taken away, and Xie Lingyu led her to sit down. He was never good at comforting or coaxing people. After a couple of seconds of silence, he said softly, "Don't think about it too much. It will be resolved."
The girl, however, reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She bristled, snatched the glass mirror back, and her face was pale and bloodless. "How can I not think about it? You don't have a deep relationship with them, how could you understand this feeling!"
Xie Lingyu stared at her blankly, vaguely noticing the redness at the corners of her eyes. She pursed her lips and said nothing more.
In the following few days, Sang Ying felt like she was dreaming.
Upon learning of the outbreak of the plague in the cultivation world, Demon Emperor Xie Yucang immediately sealed off the passage between the cultivation world and the demon realm, prohibiting any cultivator from entering.
Even so, the demon realm fell in just a few days, with large numbers of demons showing the same symptoms: colds, fever, blindness, and palpitations.
Even the four great demon kings were not spared. Their symptoms were more severe than those of ordinary demons. They experienced a drop in their cultivation level, were unable to use their spiritual power, and suffered damage to their meridians, resulting in a slump in their consciousness and an inability to move.
The only safe place in the entire demon realm right now is the Cloud Spirit Realm. Before the disease spread, the Demon Emperor, together with the elders of the Dragon Clan, set up a spiritual energy barrier in the Cloud Spirit Realm to isolate it from all external influences.
Currently, both the cultivators and the demons are extremely busy, but they have yet to find a cure for the disease. This is because even the most skilled cultivators have fallen ill and are powerless to heal themselves.
Sang Ying worked day and night for the past few days, investigating and collecting a large amount of information, including cases of infected people, the origin and time of the first case of the disease...
She found something strange.
After careful comparison of the timelines, the earliest case appeared in a remote town in the southwest, and the following day, a case also appeared in a remote village in the far north.
The distance between these two places is so great that even Xie Lingyu would need to fly at full speed on his sword for a day and a half to reach them.
It's possible that there are reclusive masters living in that small town who are beyond the Nascent Soul stage, but why would a reclusive master travel from the southwest to an unknown village in the far north after contracting the disease?
Unless he did it intentionally, he was not infected and deliberately spread the disease in these two places.
After having this conjecture, Sang Ying began to verify it.
These two locations are at the top and bottom of the cultivation world on the map, adjacent to the Four Seas and the Great Wilderness. They are sparsely populated and remote, making it difficult to detect a crime.
The left side of the map borders the demon realm, and the right side borders the evil realm. If we start from here, it will be easy to be detected, and the source of the disease can be nipped in the bud, preventing it from spreading.
It is clear that this was a premeditated crime.
Sang Ying frowned in thought, but she had been isolated and had no contact with anyone, so why did she still get the disease?
Just like the senior brother who lived on Yuntai Mountain, there was no one around him and he had no contact with others, but he still got sick.
Some demons take care of sick family members, providing close care, yet remain completely unharmed.
Moreover, investigations revealed that all those infected with the disease, whether human or demon, shared a common trait: they possessed profound cultivation levels.
Furthermore, the severity of the illness is linked to one's cultivation level; the higher the cultivation level, the more severe the illness, while the symptoms are milder for those with lower cultivation levels. This completely defies common sense. Logically, shouldn't the weaker the person, the less able they are to resist the erosion of the disease?
Suddenly, Sang Ying had a flash of inspiration and understood.
She was misled from the start; this is not a contagious disease at all!
"Xie Lingyu, I understand..."
Sang Ying suddenly raised her head to look for Xie Lingyu, but found herself all alone.
Where did he go?
Sang Ying was stunned. She had been focused on searching for information these past few days and didn't even know when he had left her side.
Sang Ying got up to go out and look for it, but when she pushed the door, it was locked.
The loudspeaker sitting outside noticed the commotion and jumped up. "Young Miss, you've finally moved! These past few days, when I brought you food, you never looked up and ignored me completely. It worried me so much! Luckily, you've reached the Foundation Establishment stage, so you won't starve."
"Sigh, Sword Lord instructed me to supervise your meals. Now look what's happened, he'll definitely give me a piece of his mind when he gets back."
"Miss, are you hungry? I'll get you some food right away, just wait a moment."
Sang Ying felt a headache coming on from his rapid-fire questions, and rubbed her temples. "I don't want to eat anything. Where's Xie Lingyu?"
The speaker scratched his head: "The day you found out, Jianjun went out. I don't know where he went, so he arranged for me to keep an eye on you."
"Did my junior sister need something?"
Upon hearing the young man's voice, Sang Ying paused, then, recalling her deduction, quickly spoke up: "Xie Lingyu, this isn't an infectious disease. Someone has poisoned it, spreading it through the spiritual energy in the underground veins. That's why it spreads so quickly, and why the higher the cultivation level, the more severe the symptoms, because they absorb more spiritual energy!"
Humans cannot stop breathing. Ordinary people inhale little spiritual energy and do not absorb it; they simply exhale and inhale.
Cultivators need to maintain the circulation of Qi, which requires absorbing spiritual energy, so those who are poisoned are naturally cultivators with high cultivation levels.
The door was pushed open, and a young man in white, his clothes tinged with coldness, walked in carrying a tray. He responded in a cold voice, "Yes, I already know about this matter. I have informed my father, and he is discussing a solution with the people from the Immortal Alliance."
Seeing his calm expression, Sang Ying relaxed a little. "Xie Lingyu, where have you been these past few days?"
"Junior sister wants to know?"
He slowly walked to the table, put down the food on the tray, and said, "Then come and eat."
Xie Lingyu usually serves her porridge and vegetables, feeding her until she's full, and Sang Ying has gotten used to it.
Sang Ying walked over and sat down. After waiting a few seconds, she saw that he didn't seem to want to serve her any porridge, but she didn't think much of it and assumed he was tired. So she picked up a bowl and spoon and served herself a bowl.
After taking a couple of sips, she felt something was off. He would always stare at her, his gaze intense, which made her feel awkward and shy.
But this time she didn't feel that gaze. She raised her eyes in confusion and looked over. The young man sitting opposite her was casually resting his chin on his hand, his dark eyes hidden in the darkness, quietly watching outside.
Sang Ying, biting her spoon, asked, "Xie Lingyu, how did you know?"
“I went to the place where the symptoms first appeared, searched for several days, and found traces of human activity in that area, which is 700 miles away from that small town. Then I followed the trail and found the spiritual vein that had been tampered with.”
“I took some back and gave it to the clan so they could analyze the ingredients and develop an antidote.”
So that's how it is. Going straight to the source is indeed his style—decisive and efficient.
Sang Ying was nodding when she realized something, suddenly looked up, and froze. "Then weren't you poisoned too?"
She stared wide-eyed. No wonder he stopped serving her porridge and wouldn't look at her; it was because he was blind!
The spoon clattered to the ground, Sang Ying's heart pounded wildly, her nose suddenly stung, and her eyes instantly filled with tears. "Xie Lingyu, your eyes..."
The young man glanced at her indifferently with his dark eyes, his tone neither warm nor cold: "Junior sister, do you think I dare to go without preparation?"
Sang Ying paused.
The young man in front of her lowered his hand, bent down, and precisely picked up the spoon that had fallen on the ground, placing it on the tray. He then took a new spoon and gently put it into her bowl.
He said in a calm tone, "The Azure Dragon Clan has outstanding talent. When they cultivate, they can absorb hundreds of times more spiritual energy than ordinary people. If they didn't have a unique filtering technique, their meridians would have been blocked by impurities in the spiritual energy long ago."
Sang Ying: "..."
You cried too soon.
The next step was to wait for the antidote to be developed. Seeing hope, Sang Ying finally relaxed.
My eyelids started to feel heavy. I hadn't slept for several days, and now drowsiness washed over me like a wave. Before I even got back to my bedroom, I fell asleep on the table.
The young man waited a moment, then asked, "Junior Sister?"
A few seconds later, he stood up, walked along the edge of the table to the girl, picked her up, and slowly carried her back to the bedroom.
...
I woke up the next day in the evening.
The first thing Sang Ying did after getting up was to take out the glass mirror and inquire about the health of the people she was worried about. In the past few days, Jingxi and Lengmian had also developed mild symptoms.
Fortunately, their conditions are not serious, and neither of the two senior brothers is in mortal danger.
Sang Ying then asked about Rong Xueman's situation, as they had discussed solutions with the Immortal Alliance members yesterday.
Rong Xueman sighed: "This isn't good. There is indeed something special in some of the spiritual veins Xiaoyu brought back, but it's not an ordinary poison."
Even the dragon, the most skilled in purification techniques within the clan, couldn't filter this substance from entering his body. According to him, it seemed to exist naturally, coexisting with spiritual energy, and the body would instinctively feel fear.
[The Immortal Alliance is also at a loss. Almost all of their higher-level cultivators have been wiped out, and the Immortal Alliance elders who have been communicating with us are all seriously ill. The current solution they've agreed upon is to use medicine to seal their own energy channels and deplete their mental energy to prevent the poisoning from worsening. They've already begun mass-producing and distributing the medicine.]
Sang Ying stared blankly at the second paragraph of the long message Rong Xueman sent.
...Even the dragons, who are most skilled in purification techniques, cannot filter out this poison?
That Xie Lingyu—
Footsteps sounded at the door, and a young man walked in carrying a tray, placing the food on the table. "Junior sister, dinner is ready."
Sang Ying walked over and sat down, her eyes fixed on him without blinking. The young man naturally picked up a bowl, ladled out some porridge, and placed it in front of her.
After a moment, he asked in a nonchalant tone, "Why are you looking at me, Junior Sister?"
Sang Ying paused, picked up her bowl and drank her porridge. "Xie Lingyu, I want to eat shrimp."
The young man picked up a pair of chopsticks, placed a boiled shrimp in her small bowl.
Sang Ying immediately frowned and said with dissatisfaction, "Xie Lingyu, I said I wanted to eat shrimp, why did you add a green pepper to my plate? You did this on purpose!"
The young man paused slightly, then said calmly, "Eat more vegetables."
Sang Ying slammed her chopsticks down and stood up with a loud bang.
Xie Lingyu was taken aback, then softened her tone: "If you don't want to eat it, just throw it away..."
"Xie Lingyu, you can't see anymore, can you?"
Xie Lingyu froze abruptly, realizing that she was being tested, and fell silent for a moment.
The girl in front of him remained silent.
It's so quiet.
The silence made him feel uneasy.
It was pitch black before him, and he couldn't see what her expression was like, or how those always clear and bright eyes were looking at him now.
Was it disgust? Was it disdain? He couldn't see it, he could only feel her gaze fixed on his face, burning, scrutinizing every inch.
She didn't like him to begin with, and now that he can't see her, she's even less likely to like him.
So ever since he came back, he had been pretending that nothing was wrong and trying to fool everyone, but now that he had been exposed, the panic surfaced.
His eyelashes fluttered, and he instinctively wanted to grab her hand, wanting her not to leave him, but he couldn't find his way.
Suddenly, cool fingers covered my cheek.
Then her slender fingers cupped his face, as if it were very cold, her fingertips trembling slightly.
"Xie Lingyu..."
Xie Lingyu was startled and lifted her face following her force.
In the deep, deathly darkness, a warm, incredibly soft feather gently landed on his eyes.
"Don't be afraid."
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It will recover _(:з」∠)_
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