Chapter 133: Backlash Crisis

Liu San Ye lay on the bed, his complexion bluish-black, lips purple, his body shuddering uncontrollably. His eyes were tightly shut, his brows knotted in pain, and from his throat came meaningless ho-ho sounds.

The most terrifying part was that on the skin exposed on his body, faintly visible were extremely thin black lines wriggling beneath the skin, as if alive.

Zhang Jun stepped forward quickly, placing his fingers on Liu San Ye's wrist. The pulse was deep, rough, and chaotic, and so weak it was barely detectable, like a candle flame in the wind.

What startled him even more was that an extremely cold yin force clung near Liu San Ye's dantian qi sea, incessantly gnawing at his vitality.

But this force was not merely pure yin cold. Zhang Jun activated his pure yang internal force, cautiously probing into Liu San Ye's body.

As soon as the internal force touched that yin cold force, it felt a strong repulsion and... resentment! This was not the cold of a dead thing, but an energy with some kind of activity, full of malice!

Within this energy was mixed an extremely strange undulation, as if forcibly twisting and reshaping Liu San Ye's body!

"It's not just a simple possession..." Zhang Jun withdrew his hand, his face solemn, "This is... an evil sorcery curse, or rather... he is being forged into..."

He hadn't finished speaking, but the meaning was crystal clear—a half-corpse puppet!

Those Zhou Family devilish things!

Liu San Ye probably didn't just pick up some evil qi in the ancient tomb; it's very likely the Zhou Family people used him as a test subject for some kind of evil sorcery!

Hu Lao heard Zhang Jun's words, his legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

"What... what is he being forged into? Divine Doctor Zhang, you must save Third Master!"

At that moment, Lin Xue, who had been standing at the side, suddenly tensed her body imperceptibly.

She closed her eyes, and her profound yin internal force began to circulate at an unprecedented speed.

She clearly felt that the special, vital yin evil qi permeating the room bore an astonishing resemblance to the extremely faint qi she had sensed in the wall runes of the underground stone chamber of the White Pagoda Temple's old residence.

They... seemed to come from the same source!

Some fragmented images, like icy tidewater, once again washed over her mind.

A huge, cold altar built of some kind of black stone...

The altar was covered with twisted runes, more complex and more sinister than those in the stone chamber...

Countless blurred, struggling shadows wailed around the altar...

And a hand wearing a black glove was gripping a strangely shaped dagger...

Lin Xue snapped her eyes open, her fingertips icy and piercingly cold.

Zhang Jun's attention, however, was on the stone table.

On the tabletop, besides thick ash, there were several unusually shallow irregular scratches. He blew away the ash and examined them closely.

The shapes of two of those scratches matched the outlines of his bronze fragment and Lin Xue's dark blue crystal almost perfectly!

Had those two fragments been placed here before?

Just as the two of them were startled into stillness—

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A dull, forceful impact sound suddenly came from the direction of the passage they had entered through!

The sound grew nearer and louder, as if someone outside was desperately smashing something against the stone door of the entrance!

Zhang Jun and Lin Xue's faces changed instantly, and they immediately went on guard.

"Go!" Zhang Jun hissed lowly.

We don't know who's coming, but a head-on clash definitely won't work.

The two wasted no time, turned sharply, burst out of the stone house, and ran back along the original route at full speed.

The pounding sound behind them continued, growing more urgent.

They rushed out of the underground passage at top speed, returned to the surface, and hurriedly pushed the stone slab back into place, erasing any trace.

The courtyard remained dead silent, and the gray-robed old man was gone.

"Hu Lao, get strong liquor—the more the better! Also find some potent realgar!" Zhang Jun ordered quickly and urgently, giving Hu Lao no chance to hesitate.

He flipped his hand, opened the needle case, and a dozen or so silver needles lay there, cold and glinting.

"Divine Doctor Zhang... Third Master..." Hu Lao's voice trembled.

"He won't die, but we must act fast!" Zhang Jun pinched the three longest needles between his fingertips, gripping them tightly.

Lin Xue said nothing, already having moved to the other side of the bed. The chilling aura on her that could freeze a person solid had drawn in a bit, yet became purer and heavier.

"I'll help you." She said just those three words, her tone flat, but to Zhang Jun's ears it felt exactly right.

Zhang Jun nodded. He understood that whatever was in Liu San Ye's body was off, had changed; relying solely on his own pure yang fire to forcefully push through might leave residues uncleaned and burn him out first. Lin Xue's profound yin internal force was just right—it could protect the pulse and also suppress the rampant evil qi.

Zhang Jun drew a breath, pinched the needle with his fingers, and poured internal force into it.

The base of the needle instantly turned red, heating the air until it warped, emitting a faint sizzling sound.

"Guard the pulse!" he shouted lowly.

With a flick of his wrist, the bright red fire needle steadily pierced the three vital points on Liu San Ye's chest and abdomen.

Lin Xue raised her hand as well, not touching Liu San Ye, but lightly pressing above his heart. A pure, startling yin cold seeped in softly, forming a thin-ice-like shield over his fragile pulse—thin in appearance, yet hard as steel.

"Sizzle—!"

The fire needle plunged in, like hot oil poured onto snow!

The evil force lurking inside Liu San Ye's body exploded instantly!

The black lines crawling on his skin suddenly thickened and blackened, writhing wildly! A thick, foul-smelling black qi spewed from his mouth, nose, ears, eyes, and every pore, making one want to vomit.

Liu San Ye's body jerked upward, and from his throat came an inhuman, monstrous howl.

Sweat beaded on Zhang Jun's forehead, but his hands remained steady and frightening; his pure yang internal force flowed continuously into the needles. The fire needles glowed red-hot, nearly transparent, and the high heat traveled along the meridians, burning away the black qi.

Lin Xue wasn't taking it easy either; she had to meter her profound yin internal force just right—protecting the pulse while suppressing the evil qi so it couldn't escape, a delicate task. A layer of white frost had already formed on her fingertips.

One was scorching hot to the touch, the other bone-chillingly cold.

The two opposing forces, completely twisted together, used Liu San Ye's body as a battlefield, locked in a death struggle against that wicked, heretical thing.

The temperature in the room swung high and low, the air twisted, and on the walls sometimes water beads hung, sometimes ice shards formed.

Seeing the black qi forced back considerably, it was almost—

Hum!

In Liu San Ye's dantian qi sea, the core of that evil power gave a sudden jolt!

The remaining black qi whooshed back, twisting into a clump, sticky and black, like a shield, tightly guarding the last bit of its root. No matter how the fire needle burned or the cold qi froze, it just couldn't be broken!

The evil technique struck back!

Just as that black shield formed, a cold and toxic surge rushed back along the fire needle and the cold qi!