Chapter 18 - Ten Thousand Dragon Soup
Inside the cold stone chamber, time seemed to be stretched into sticky amber.
I don’t know how long it took... Chu Linyuan half-knelt in front of the stone bed, like an unchanging sculpture.
A palm pressed tightly against Su Tang's shoulder blade. The pure dragon evil energy mixed with the warm vitality of the earth's core jade turned into a tough and cold torrent, continuously pouring into the small body, and engaged in a tug of war with the extinction force attached to the Soul-Destroying Dagger, which was like a maggot on the tarsal bone.
Su Tang's breath was as weak as a candle in the wind, her face was as pale as paper, and every tiny breath she took touched the hearts of the other two.
Xie Zhao's wrist was still as if trapped in a nightmare, and he kept mumbling. He leaned against the cold stone wall, his peach blossom eyes bloodshot, staring unblinking at Su Tang's pale face and the ominous dagger.
Every time Su Tang's breath wavered slightly, his heart felt as if it were being gripped by an invisible hand, and the suffocating guilt and pain wrapped around his soul like poison ivy.
The coldness of the bloody memory overlapped with the warm body in front of him that blocked the knife for him, almost tearing his sanity apart.
"It's my fault... It's all my fault..." Broken, nasal mumblings kept coming out from his clenched teeth, and his body trembled slightly due to the huge emotional impact.
If he hadn't been entangled by the silver lock, if he hadn't forcibly triggered the blood talisman to backfire... Su Tang wouldn't have...
"Shut up." Chu Linyuan's cold voice interrupted his self-blame, carrying an unquestionable command, "Stay calm and protect her heart!"
Xie Zhao shuddered as he met Chu Linyuan's deep, yet now blazing, eyes. There was no reproach in those eyes, only an almost paranoid insistence—an insistence that he live, an insistence that he protect her together.
Xie Zhao took a deep breath and forced himself to suppress his turbulent emotions. His fingertips trembled as he gathered a weak but pure talisman power, which he carefully probed into Su Tang's body to protect her almost exhausted heart meridian.
The golden talisman power and Chu Linyuan's cold murderous aura converged in Su Tang's fragile meridians, forming a strange balance.
Outside the stone gate, an oppressive silence enveloped the Guixu Sect. Iron Ox silently carried the huge stone, gradually repairing the mountain gate and the edge of the deep pit that had been destroyed by the Silver Lock Guards. His movements were mechanical and heavy, and the bloodstains on his body were particularly glaring on his bronze skin.
The white deer curled up in the corner, holding the still sleeping Moon-Eating Rabbit. No one knew how long he stayed in this corner.
Luo Hongyi stood in front of the coarse earthenware cauldron that had been used to cook countless poisonous soups. Her beautiful face was cold, and her eyes were like the deep sea where a storm was brewing.
Her gaze was fixed on the closed stone door of the cave, then on the mirror-smooth dust mark left by Uncle Chen's broom. Finally, her sight fell on the unassuming old clay pot in the corner of the kitchen—the one that contained the "pepper" she had exchanged.
"Pepper?" Luo Hongyi's red lips curled up in a cold and resolute arc. "The Immortal Alliance's Soul-Severing Dagger... the dragon vein resentment of the Burial God Abyss..."
She strode over and picked up the dusty earthenware jar.
The jar was cold, rough, and heavy in the hand. She removed the clay seal, and an extremely rich, mixed scent of dust, sulfur, and some indescribable deep earthy air hit her face!
At the bottom of the jar, there was a thick layer of gray-black powder that looked like star fragments.
Within the powder, countless extremely tiny dark golden dots sank and floated, emitting a faint yet pure power that seemed to come from the core of the earth! Moreover, wisps of ancient and vast dragon vein aura were firmly locked in this inconspicuous powder!
This was the very essence of the dragon vein's origin, emanating from the core fragments of the Dragon Locking Disk, buried by time and dust! It was also the "dust" that was inadvertently absorbed and deposited on the altar when Chen Bo's sword energy swept across it!
"Earth vein dragon marrow crystal powder..." Luo Hongyi muttered to himself, a startling light flashing in his eyes. "From the extreme of death comes life, from the extreme of resentment... It contains the purest source of vitality of the imprisoned dragon vein, but it is also tainted with the resentment of ten thousand years! Some try..."
She no longer hesitated and poured the entire jar of powder into the huge stoneware pot with a rustling sound! The crystal powder fell into the cold bottom of the pot, making a slight rustling sound.
"Iron Ox! Take the cold water from the deep pit where the evil spirit is most concentrated!"
"Little Deer, bring me the half of 'Meteorite Essence' that Rabbit gnawed on yesterday!"
"And..." Luo Hongyi's eyes swept over Tie Niu. "You come and give some blood as a medicine guide."
Tie Niu didn't hesitate and replied in a deep voice, "Okay!" Then he cut his palm.
Bai Xiaolu immediately put a piece of iron that was gnawed by the Moon-Eating Rabbit into the pot. The iron block still emitted pure star power but had holes in it.
Tie Niu took out another large bucket of black water that emitted a biting chill and a strong evil aura and poured it into the pot.
Luo Hongyi lit the stove. This time, she didn't use any poisonous herbs. Instead, she transformed her pure poison energy into the gentlest catalytic fire, carefully surrounding the cauldron. The flames were no longer a strange green, but a chaotic color.
As the flames rose, the scene inside the pot began to become strange.
Stimulated by the chaotic flames and the frigid waters of the deep pit, the gray-black dragon marrow crystal powder awakened like billions of dormant stardust! Countless dark golden points of light suddenly lit up, twinkling like stars! The meteorite iron essence slowly melted, transforming into a flowing silver, star-like liquid. The Iron Ox's blood perfectly fused with this liquid, and the evil spirit in the deep pit's frigid water was drawn and transformed by the original vitality within the crystal powder!
Gulp…Gulp…
The pot was no longer filled with dark green poisonous soup, but a boiling liquid that looked like the concentrated galaxy!
Against a deep, inky background, countless dark golden stars rose and fell, wisps of silver starlight swirling within! An indescribable aura, a blend of the earth's heaviness, its vibrant vitality, and a hint of a deep dragon's resentment, permeated the air! This aura was incomparably overbearing, yet it also contained a majestic power of nirvana and rebirth!
"Ten Thousand Dragon Soup..." Luo Hongyi looked at the strange soup boiling in the pot, his eyes flashing with enthusiasm and solemnity. "Using the resentful evil of dragon veins as fuel, the essence of stars as a guide, and fusing the vitality of chaos... success depends on this pot!"
The moment the soup was completed, an invisible wave swept across the entire Guixu Sect! The fragment of the Dragon Locking Plate at the bottom of the deep pit hummed again! The earth's core chalcedony beneath Chu Linyuan's cushion shone brightly! Furthermore, a barely perceptible aura, emitting a wisp of golden light like the final finishing touch, quietly merged into the bubbling soup!
The galaxy soup in the pot suddenly burst into a brilliant light! Then the light subsided, and the soup calmed down. The surface was like a mirror, reflecting the blood-red vortex of the sky, emitting energy fluctuations that made the soul tremble!
"It's done!" Luo Hongyi shouted softly and extinguished the flames.
She took out a large stoneware bowl and carefully scooped up a bowl of Wanlong soup, which was as thick as pulp and shimmered with stars. The soup in the bowl exuded an irresistible attraction.
Luo Hongyi walked to the door of Chu Linyuan's stone chamber, carrying a bowl of soup. Her voice was penetrating and undeniable: "Open the door! The life-saving soup is ready!"
The heavy stone door slowly opened a crack, revealing Chu Linyuan's cold and tired profile, and Su Tang, who was still breathing weakly on the stone bed behind him, but her brows were slightly frowned as if attracted by the smell of soup, and Xie Zhao, who was pale and full of hope beside him.
Luo Hongyi handed the bowl of soup to Chu Linyuan: "Let her drink it up! Don't leave a drop!"
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