Chapter 70 - Vitality
Uncle Chen's hoarse voice was like a spell that lifted the spell.
The Immortal-killing Spear Intent and Dragon Evil within Chu Linyuan's body, which were out of control due to rage and about to explode, were like being tightly grasped by an invisible giant hand of ice!
Instantly frozen, solidified! The madness in the crimson eyes faded, and the coldness took over again, but beneath the ice layer was a panic and pain that was even more turbulent and more piercing than before!
The Immortal-Slaying Spear in his hand hummed unwillingly, the dark gold rune glow dimming. The cold, heavy spear seemed to have become a red-hot iron, burning his palm. He could no longer hold it, or rather, he dared not hold it again!
The Immortal-Slaying Spear fell from his hand, slamming heavily onto the dark red lava ground with a dull thud. Chu Linyuan's figure vanished from the spot as if he had teleported!
The next moment, he knelt beside Xie Zhao!
The speed was so fast that it left afterimages, yet the movements were carried out with a kind of cautiousness that bordered on collapse. He didn't dare touch it, but the hands that had just controlled the power to annihilate the heavens were now shaking like leaves in the wind.
His cold pupils were fixed on Xie Zhao's face - the face that always showed laughter, anger and scolding, but now it was as pale as gold paper, and even his breathing was so weak that it was almost cut off.
"Xie Zhao!" Chu Linyuan's voice was broken and hoarse with the sound of metallic friction. Every word seemed to be forcibly dug out from a frozen throat.
He stretched out his hand, his fingertips hovering above Xie Zhao's cold cheek, but he didn't dare to let go, as if he was afraid that a touch would completely dissipate this last bit of life.
"Don't die..." These two extremely low and heavy words, mixed with gasps like shattering ice, struck the deadly air, carrying an unprecedented, almost pleading fragility.
"Get out of the way! You're in the way!" Luo Hongyi roughly pushed Chu Linyuan's dangling hand away. Her beautiful face was bloodless, but her eyes were sharp as a scalpel. Her fingers flew, a faint emerald-green poisonous mist lingering on her fingertips. Like the most precise probes, she quickly pressed against Xie Zhao's heart, between his eyebrows, and at his dantian, a few vital points. With each tap, the poisonous mist on her fingertips fluctuated violently, and her face darkened. "The blood of the burning life talisman... backfires into the marrow... the soul is exhausted... the vitality... is gone!" Her voice was filled with unprecedented solemnity and a subtle hint of despair. Her fingertips finally came to rest on Xie Zhao's still chest, and with a sudden tremor, that faint pulse... vanished!
"No!" Su Tang let out a heartbreaking cry. Her psychic eyes clearly saw the last flickering flame of life in Xie Zhao's body. Like a candle in the wind, it went out with a puff! Only a shattered and exhausted sea of consciousness and a lifeless body remained.
"Second Brother!" She rushed forward, shaking Xie Zhao's cold shoulders in vain, tears streaming down her face.
Tie Niu's massive body lurched violently, as if struck by an invisible hammer. His bronzed face instantly lost all color, and blood oozed from his tightly bitten lips. The mountainous silence was broken. A deep, wounded animal-like whimper escaped his throat, and his massive fist slammed down hard on the nearby lava column! Boom! Debris flew, and the tip of his fist was instantly covered in blood!
Bai Xiaolu held Bunny in her arms, tears silently streaming from her clear eyes. She clutched Xie Zhao's cold hand tightly, her small body trembling slightly with sorrow. Bunny, too, let out a low, mournful whimper, her ruby eyes dimmed.
Deathly silence. The cold, deathly silence instantly engulfed everyone.
Chu Linyuan knelt there, as if his entire soul had been drained away in an instant. His body, having just gained supreme power, was as stiff as a stone sculpture, his cold pupils hollowly reflecting Xie Zhao's lifeless face. The hideous dark golden dragon pattern on his cheek had completely extinguished its light, leaving only a dark, ashen mark.
The sounds of the world seemed to disappear, leaving only the excruciating pain of the heart being repeatedly pierced by an icicle, so clear it was suffocating.
A very light smacking sound, filled with the fatigue of ten thousand years, was heard.
Uncle Chen's hunched figure had unknowingly stood at the periphery of the crowd. His cloudy old eyes swept over Xie Zhao's lifeless body, then over Chu Linyuan's hollow, lifeless face, finally resting on the red tassel at his waist, which had faded to a dull, lifeless gray.
He slowly raised his skinny hand, pointing not at Xie Zhao, but at the gray tassel on Chu Linyuan's waist.
"That thing..." His voice was still hoarse, but it carried an unquestionable command that penetrated the dust, "...light it."
Everyone was bewildered. Chu Linyuan's hollow pupils shifted slightly as he numbly gazed at the gray tassel at his waist. Xie Zhao had said he'd bought it on the street, but he'd added his own heart's blood to refine it, creating a soul talisman that protected his spirit and soul. It was also the deepest bond between them, now completely dimmed with the passing of its owner.
"Ice lump! What are you daydreaming about!" Luo Hongyi was the first to react, and as if grasping at a last straw, he screamed, "Your evil spirit! The purest black ice evil spirit! Pour it in! Ignite it!"
She understood the principles of poisons, and even more so, the glimmer of hope for a life-saving transformation! Uncle Chen's words were like a revelation! The soul-protecting talisman was forged with the blood of the heart, connected by the heart and blood! As long as the talisman exists, the soul thread remains! Perhaps... perhaps there is still one last, almost impossible, glimmer of hope!
Chu Linyuan's lifeless pupils suddenly shrank! Like a drowning man grasping at a piece of driftwood! His frozen will was instantly shattered by a raging desire to survive! He didn't even have time to think, and almost instinctively, frantically, he urged the icy, bone-chilling black ice evil spirit within his body that had just subsided!
A point of extremely condensed blue light emitting an absolute zero degree of chill instantly condensed at his fingertips!
The light was pure and cold, as if it could freeze the soul! His trembling fingers, stained with Xie Zhao's pale golden blood, with a desperate determination, fiercely pointed at the grayish red tassel on his waist!
The moment your fingertips touch the tassels!
Sizzle——!!!
Like plunging a hot iron into ice water! A piercing sound accompanied by a violent clash of energies!
The moment the gray tassels came into contact with Chu Linyuan's pure black ice murderous energy, they suddenly burst into a last faint, struggling dark red light! That was the last ember of Xie Zhao's heart blood! It was the final struggle of the soul-protecting talisman!
Chu Linyuan's icy murderous aura was unparalleled, with the will to freeze everything in sight, attempting to forcibly "ignite" the final ember! The two forces violently collided and annihilated at his fingertips! The red light on the tassel flickered wildly, flickering unpredictably, as if it would completely shatter in the next second!
"Not enough! Bingtuzi! Heart! Use your heart!" Luo Hongyi's heart was broken as she screamed a warning! Strength alone is not enough! This is a soul-protecting talisman! It's a bond talisman! What's needed is a trigger! It's obsession!
Chu Linyuan's icy face was twisted by immense pain and some emotion that was forcibly torn apart! Heart? His heart that had been frozen for too long, long since accustomed to the dead silence?
The Warm Sun Talisman flashed before my eyes when I was practicing swordplay in the rainstorm, and that person put a playful smile on his face...
When he was in danger after crossing the abyss, the man screamed with his blood burning, "Brother, bite me if it hurts!"
Flashing across the Wanxian Terrace, the man's resolute, blood-stained face as he burned his life and drew the talisman...
The talisman pen with the crooked "Chu" character engraved on it flashed by...
Flashing by... beneath that red tassel, someone forced themselves to laugh and curse, yet secretly wasted their blood...
“Ugh—!!!!” An extremely suppressed roar, like a trapped beast on the verge of death, erupted from Chu Linyuan’s throat! He closed his eyes tightly, no longer trying to “ignite” it with his icy murderous energy. Instead, he channeled his frozen, now completely ripped open by excruciating pain and panic, his never-before-seen “mind”—a mixture of rage, fear, regret, and a scorching torrent of reluctance buried deep beneath the ice, one he himself hadn’t even noticed—unreservedly, he channeled the mysterious murderous energy from his fingertips, madly pouring it into the struggling tassel!
Buzz——!!!
The struggling dark red light on the tassel, upon contact with this scorching "thought," seemed to be infused with a new soul and suddenly stabilized! The red light ceased to flicker, transforming into an extremely condensed, extremely warm, crimson spark that emanated a faint yet tenacious vitality! Though small, the spark was like a beacon in the darkness, instantly piercing the cold and silent Xuanbing evil aura, emitting a warm will of protection and bondage!
"Lock the soul!" Luo Hongyi shouted fiercely. The last bit of emerald green poison mist on her fingertips transformed into an extremely thin chain, wrapping around the crimson spark with incredible precision! The poison mist chain was not an attack, but rather formed a thin, life-giving protective film, preventing the last soul star seed from being eroded by the external evil energy!
"Return to the ruins!" Chu Linyuan roared hoarsely. The red spark ignited by his thoughts, under the protection of Luo Hongyi's poisonous fog chain, followed his guidance, like a firefly returning to its nest, slowly and gently, floating towards Xie Zhao's flat chest, and finally sinking into his heart!
An extremely faint heartbeat, but like thunder exploding in everyone's heart, came from Xie Zhao's cold chest!
Although it is weak and intermittent, it is like a candle flame in the wind!
But, that's a heartbeat!
Vitality! Rekindled vitality!
"Second Brother!" Su Tang covered her mouth, tears bursting out again, but she was crying with joy!
Tie Niu's body, which was as tense as a mountain, suddenly relaxed, and his huge palm wiped across his face, leaving behind traces of water mixed with blood and sweat.
Bai Xiaolu held Xie Zhao's hand tightly, feeling the extremely subtle warmth on his fingertips, and hope rekindled in his clear eyes.
Luo Hongyi collapsed to the ground, sweat pouring down her beautiful face. The poisonous mist chains on her fingertips slowly dissipated. She looked at the extremely faint but real rise and fall of Xie Zhao's chest and exhaled a long breath of foul air with a bloody smell.
Chu Linyuan was still kneeling there, maintaining the posture of pointing his finger.
The dark blue, black, icy aura on his fingertips had long since dissipated, leaving only a faint, burning red mark. His icy face remained tense, but deep within those empty, lifeless pupils, beneath the aeons of frozen ice, something seemed to be...prying open a tiny crack with great difficulty...by that faint crimson spark.
He slowly, extremely slowly withdrew his hand, his fingertips curled up unconsciously, as if the scorching heat of the Mars still lingered.
He lowered his head and his gaze fell on Xie Zhao's face, which was still pale but finally showed a hint of life.
Only the fallen Immortal-Slaying Spear, its cold tip reflecting his tense profile, and the tassel on his waist... which had rekindled a faint red glow.
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