Chapter 2553: Soul Surgery

Seeing that the few of them still wanted to reminisce, Saville, who had been silent since entering, could no longer hold back. He reminded Xia Duo, "Whatever you have to say, it won't be too late to say it after the curse is lifted!"

"Don't worry, there's still time."

Although he said that, Xia Duo still stopped talking and immediately took action. In truth, he was right; if they had followed the normal procedure, Aipusi might not have even lasted through his examination time.

The reason he was so confident was because of the 【Time Protection Barrier】 on his person; by slightly expanding it to cover Aipusi, it was roughly equivalent to the previous Stasis state.

But compared to the Stasis state, where external forces could almost never interfere, Aipusi, while in the Time Deceleration zone, could still be affected by normal spells.

Contact-based spells might be difficult to apply to him, but detection spells were mostly instantaneous and did not suffer from delayed effects due to Time Deceleration.

As the flow of time within the Time Deceleration zone rapidly slowed, Aipusi's movements and expressions solidified at a speed visible to the naked eye.

But this was not true solidification; rather, changes were occurring at an extremely slow speed, and this naturally included the Aging Curse on Aipusi.

Xia Duo had examined Aipusi several times before, but because he was in a stagnant state, he hadn't been able to delve in completely. This could be considered the first comprehensive, thorough examination.

Consistent with previous examination results, this time, upon deep inspection, Xia Duo immediately determined that Aipusi was suffering from a soul-related Aging Curse, which was not something that could be solved by simply changing bodies.

"You are about to finish casting." (Note: This line appears to be a transcription error in the source text, likely meant to be "You are about to start the treatment.")

By this point, Saville had been barely saved, but after this curse, Saville's future longevity effects would be greatly discounted. Of course, if technology improved in the future, perhaps it could still be compensated for.

After checking Saville's symptoms and the spell characteristics of the curse, Xia Shao was about to begin the formal treatment.

However, just now, after more than fifty minutes of meticulous examination, he had checked the damage to Saville's body and soul bit by bit, especially the connection state between the body and the soul.

……

Time passed bit by bit during Xia Shao's simulated surgery. The Stasis Chamber was silent. Although Niya and Aipusi said nothing, the anxiety in their eyes grew thicker as time passed.

Once a soul decays, it cannot live. Even for undead creatures, their souls have some fresh parts; they are just tending toward total decay. But once fully decayed, they fall into eternal slumber.

Hearing Xia Shao say this, Niya's spirits were instantly lifted. She subconsciously covered her mouth, her eyes fixed tightly on the Spell Source Point in front of Xia Shao, praying incessantly in her heart.

The reason it was passed down was, to a large extent, because it was activated extremely quickly and pointed directly at the soul, making it very difficult to resist.

While Xia Shao was examining Saville, Niya and Aipusi watched with tense expressions. The atmosphere in the Stasis Chamber was nearly frozen. After about fifty minutes, Xia Shao finally let out a long sigh of relief.

If he chose to destroy the curse structure, Xia Shao worried about triggering some potential contingency left by that Elf Spellcaster. He was saving a person, and he was saving Niya's father; it was impossible to handle this matter using the means of a Spell Duel.

But also because its lethality was not significant enough, it never truly became popular, instead becoming a private collection for the general Elf population.

And what Xia Shao was doing now was more akin to "fighting poison with poison," using Negative Energy to directionally erase the infected parts of Saville's soul.

……

Since Xia Shao neither wanted Saville to die nor wanted him to be converted into an undead, this surgery could only be performed by him.

"It's okay, the curse can be lifted."

Although he already had a treatment plan, Xia Shao did not act immediately, but instead simulated the surgical process in his mind over and over, along with possible emergencies.

At the end of the day, Saville was Niya's father, not his. Currently, only Xia Shao could perform this surgery. It was not easy for a normal person to perceive their own soul state, let alone perceive someone else's soul; this violent extraction of the soul was not the same thing.

Of course, one could choose to destroy the structure that the curse used to draw Positive Energy, but spellcasters usually liked to make some personalized adjustments to the spells they used, which was especially common among Elf Mages.

As for the former, before he truly researched a practical Time Barrier, it might have been difficult, but now, as long as the flow of time where Saville was located was slowed to the extreme, Saville's soul fluctuations could be minimized.

It was necessary to sever the source of the curse within Saville's soul. This was only the first step. Once this step was done, Saville would only be maintained in his current state of extreme aging; afterward, he would still need to repair his body to nourish his soul.

Therefore, wanting to lift this curse using methods like Positive Energy was useless; instead, it would fuel the spread of the curse's power. The reason Saville was near death only a few days after being cursed was largely because he had accepted Positive Energy treatment from Temple Priests.

Seeing this, Niya hurriedly asked, "How is it? Is Father's body alright? Can the curse be lifted?"

This curse was said to have been developed by an abandoned, desperate Elf woman. As a curse, its lethality was actually not significant.

All symptoms matched the characteristics of the Elf Despair Curse.

……

The most important thing to pay attention to here was the perception of Saville's soul state, followed by the precision of the operation. The latter was not a problem for Xia Shao; he could use specifically designed spells to complete it.

The primary principle was not to lift the curse, but to find a way to keep Saville alive!

The method was actually very simple. The reason this curse could make a person constantly age was that, in essence, the root of the curse was driven by the target's life force—or, in other words, Positive Energy—and it directionally converted the Negative Energy produced by the disappearance of Positive Energy into aging power.

This looked like the same thing, but the difference was actually huge. Therefore, Xia Shao chose to use Negative Energy to directionally erase Saville's infected soul. Although it temporarily worsened the injuries, in the long run, it was a good prescription.

Only by being able to perceive Saville's soul could he perform the surgery on him precisely. Otherwise, one slip-up and he would cause Saville's entire soul to decay; there would be no need for the curse to kill him, as Xia Shao would have killed him first.

As for Xia Shao, it wasn't that intense. From basing his design on Aipusi's soul state to designing the spell and then simulating the surgery, he had already reached the limit of what he could do; his mindset should be leveled out.

Xia Shao was actually secretly relieved in his heart. Although he was very confident in concluding that the curse he obtained from the Red Heart Alliance was the same one Saville was suffering from, he had not examined it in detail after all, so there was still a certain degree of uncertainty.

A classic case of good intentions leading to bad results.