Chapter 1010: Ah Xun, Marry Me

Tang Yaocao wanted to lift her head to see what was dripping onto her head, it was too unbearable.

But she couldn't lift her head.

Her body being trapped by the Ghost Face Formation Array was bad enough, but now the Soul-locking Nail felt like it weighed a thousand jin, massive mana continuously pressing down, desperately pouring into her heart.

What's worse, her heart was beating too fast, the amplitude too large, feeling like it could burst her skeleton at any moment.

Tang Yaocao clearly felt that the liquid constantly dripping from above was catalyzing the mana of the Seven Halls Yama's inner elixir, and her body obviously could not withstand such a massive mana impact.

Tang Yaocao was a cultivator, having crossed blows with Xiao Jiu several times; even though she couldn't lift her head, she actually guessed what was dripping down.

It was the lamp oil inside the Soul-guiding Lamp.

The lamp oil of the Soul-guiding Lamp is extremely precious; if combined with the corresponding incantation, it can directly guide souls into reincarnation.

But now, Xiao Jiu certainly isn't using the lamp oil to ferry Tang Yaocao's soul.

Each drop of lamp oil falling from within the Soul-guiding Lamp heads straight for the Soul-locking Nail, its purpose being to further catalyze the mana of the Seven Halls Yama's inner elixir.

Since the Seven Halls Yama has already chosen this path, the arrow is on the bow, there's no turning back, so Xiao Jiu decided to go along with it.

Xiao Jiu also didn't believe the Seven Halls Yama had no backup plan; she also wanted to see, the Seven Halls Yama handing over its inner elixir's power to Tang Yaocao in such an all-or-nothing gamble, what exactly it was for.

Boom!

After a bursting sound, Tang Yaocao's outer flesh casing on her skeleton shattered with the noise, skin and flesh crackling as they fell, turning to water as they dropped, a rich strange fragrance spreading out.

Xiao Jiu instinctively held her breath, afraid to inhale any bad odor, lest she be poisoned.

But soon she relaxed her grip, eyes wide open, staring incredulously at Tang Yaocao.

Tang Yaocao, once again returned to a skeletal corpse, was now lowering her head to look at her own skeleton.

The color of that skeleton was gradually turning white.

Like being continuously drained of moisture, the bones losing nutrition and turning that deathly white.

This process lasted a while, about a quarter of an hour.

At first, Tang Yaocao's reaction was the same as Xiao Jiu's, feeling astonished at the changes in her own body parts.

But soon, Tang Yaocao began to struggle.

She looked in great pain, but her struggling was quite limited; later, Xiao Jiu heard her constantly muttering curses.

Cursing the Seven Halls Yama for being sinister and treacherous; cursing Xiao Jiu to die badly; cursing herself for being blind and making a deal with wolves; finally she began to accuse fate of injustice, her life miserable……

These curses and accusations made Xiao Jiu's ears feel like they were about to grow calluses.

She felt no sympathy at all for the girl before her.

Yes, fate truly was unfair to her.

But she had no choice in her birth; after death, cultivating, she did have a choice.

But she was blinded by hatred, committed slaughter, her desires insatiable, actually fantasizing about devouring the Seven Halls Yama's inner elixir.

How dare she do that!

Now suffering backlash, it's nothing but her own doing.

Xiao Jiu only cared about her bodily changes, staring unblinking at the corpse skeleton bound by the formation she set up, missing no detail.

The series of changes after Tang Yaocao's flesh casing broke overturned Xiao Jiu's understanding of corpse decay.

Xiao Jiu had fought many zombies and ghosts, both low- and high-level.

But without exception, when those foul things were killed, quickly turning into blood water, pus water, or even a handful of ash, they all emitted an indescribable foul stench.

That was the corpse stench.

Smelling it once, you wouldn't want to eat for three days.

If you stayed in that environment for a long time, even if you immediately washed upon returning, the corpse stench clinging to you would not disappear for a while.

But when Tang Yaocao's flesh casing rotted, the liquid that fell was green, the strange fragrance it gave off carrying a pleasant medicinal scent…… thus Tang Yaocao's "rebirth", this newly grown flesh casing outside her skeletal corpse, was fundamentally not a human flesh casing……

Xiao Jiu settled down to think carefully, arriving at a more appropriate conclusion…… the Seven Halls Yama used its inner elixir's power to help Tang Yaocao "reborn"; what was "reborn" was not Tang Yaocao's flesh body, but her spirit body…… or perhaps her true form!

And what Tang Yaocao prided herself on most was her Empress's Destiny Pattern.

Once she broke free from the constraints of an ordinary human flesh casing, the true form reborn through cultivation, according to ancient records, should be an ancient spirit herb.

After the flesh casing burst, the series of changes in Tang Yaocao's skeletal corpse made Xiao Jiu even more certain that her flesh body was transforming toward a spirit body|true form.

When Xiao Jiu once again fixed her gaze on Tang Yaocao's constantly beating heart, she was already certain that the heart was probably not like an ordinary person's.

At that moment, Tang Yaocao suddenly let out a mournful shriek, crying and cursing; not long after, she began to beg for mercy.

"Feng Wu Jiu, Earth Deity Maiden, please have mercy and spare me."

In fact, the lamp oil had long stopped dripping.

Tang Yaocao painfully shouted: "Let me go, please let me go."

But then she spoke in a hysterical manner: "Can't let go, can't……"

Xiao Jiu thought, she probably realized that without the Ghost Face Formation Array supporting her, her entire skeletal corpse would likely shatter.

"Please help me pull out the Soul-locking Nail, okay?" Tang Yaocao gazed pleadingly at Xiao Jiu with her eyes, "Please give me a chance to live; in my next life, as an ox or horse, I will surely repay you……"

She chattered on incessantly.

Xiao Jiu turned a deaf ear.

She had said it, she had given Tang Yaocao a chance.

If Tang Yaocao had willingly accepted reincarnation from the start, Xiao Jiu had at least two or three ways to help her.

But she failed to accept the goodwill Xiao Jiu extended to her.

The reason Tang Yaocao now asks Xiao Jiu to help her pull out the Soul-locking Nail is to have Xiao Jiu release her soul.

She played with fire with the Seven Halls Yama, never imagining she would end up burning herself.

Xiao Jiu helplessly said: "This is the contract you made with the Seven Halls Yama; he gave you his inner elixir, thus keeping the contract; you yourself can't handle it, it's your lack of ability, no one to blame; since there is a contract between you, even if I intervene and release your soul, do you think you could survive?"

Earlier Tang Yaocao used the contract to suppress them; now she's been punished by the contract, reaping what she sowed.

Xiao Jiu's words directly struck Tang Yaocao's Mìngmén.

Tang Yaocao suddenly burst into manic laughter.

Trying to get the tiger's skin was nothing but her foolish daydream.

Now, the dream—it's time to wake up.

At the moment the four ghostly faces flew back into the Soul-guiding Lamp, Tang Yaocao's entire skeletal frame instantly shattered into powder.

Her heart followed, falling down as well.

Xiao Jiu was about to reach out to catch that heart when a hand reached out from behind and stopped her.

The heart fell to the ground, breaking into pieces.

A strong, strange fragrance filled the entire space.

Xiao Jiu turned to look and saw that the person who had stopped her was Liu Junyan.

She exclaimed excitedly, "Āyàn, where have you been? How did you only just arrive?"

Liu Junyan did not answer Xiao Jiu's question; he pulled a black token from his bosom.

That token was quite thick, its whole body exuding a chilling aura; its front was carved with a snarling ghost face, while its back bore a small seal script character "Dong".

This is the token of the Seven Halls Yama.

Xiao Jiu faintly sensed something in her heart.

Indeed, when Liu Junyan pointed that token at the Soul-locking Nail still hanging in midair, a powerful mana surged continuously into the token.

When the mana of the Seven Halls Yama's inner elixir was completely drawn into the token, the Soul-locking Nail instantly turned to powder and dissipated in the air.

Xiao Jiu then knew that the Seven Halls Yama must have left a backup plan.

Liu Junyan must have been instructed by the Seven Halls Yama while at Hu Shan, for example, to use this token to help the Seven Halls Yama reclaim its inner elixir's mana.

Based on Xiao Jiu's experience, this token can recondense the Seven Halls Yama's inner elixir.

When Liu Junyan put the token away, Xiao Jiu then asked, "How is the situation at Hu Shan?"

Liu Junyan glanced at Xiao Jiu, a hint of sorrow flashing in his eyes; Xiao Jiu's heart gave a sudden jolt, and she urged anxiously, "Āyàn, tell me the truth—no matter the situation, I… I can accept it."

"When I arrived at Hu Shan, Tang Yaocao had already obtained the Seven Halls Yama's inner elixir," Liu Junyan said. "Logically, the Seven Halls Yama should have been reduced to ashes then, but my aunt…"

Liu Junyan struggled to continue, but Xiao Jiu understood: "My aunt must have used her phoenix inner elixir to forcibly coalesce the Seven Halls Yama's soul; though both still have a breath left, they each have only that single breath."

Xiao Jiu knows Tang Xun all too well.

Tang Xun is precisely the sort of person who would give everything for those she loves.

Back then, to protect herself, she gave her all.

Now, to protect the Seven Halls Yama, she remains the same.

Liu Junyan sighed, then added relievedly: "Fortunately, your side was effective, timely controlling Tang Yaocao; otherwise, even if the Seven Halls Yama's scheme ultimately succeeded, Tang Yaocao would have chosen mutual destruction at that point."

Yes, if Xiao Jiu hadn't broken the formation, hadn't set up a formation to trap Tang Yaocao, hadn't used the Soul-guiding Lamp's oil to catalyze the inner elixir's mana… giving Tang Yaocao any chance, she might have escaped alive.

By the time Liu Junyan settled affairs at Hu Shan and came over, everything would already be too late.

From the start, Xiao Jiu knew they had to act separately, cooperating, to best stabilize the situation.

They did.

But now Xiao Jiu cannot feel happy.

She asked, "Once the Seven Halls Yama's inner elixir successfully recondenses in the token, and you then help return it to his body, will they both be able to wake up?"

Actually, Xiao Jiu already has the answer in her heart.

But she just wants Liu Junyan to tell her himself, so she can be at ease.

"In theory, they can wake up." Liu Junyan shifted tone, "but the problem is, years ago my aunt's soul was completed by the Spirit Butterfly; if Tang Yaocao turns to ashes, the Spirit Butterfly will vanish as well, and my aunt will fall back into danger."

Xiao Jiu's palms were sweating: "Tang Yaocao hasn't turned to ashes; she merely lost her flesh and bone entirely, but under the catalysis of the Seven Halls Yama's inner elixir mana, her true form should have partially recovered."

"Wait." Liu Junyan said, "Now everything can only be left to time and heaven's will; we've done all we can."

Xiao Jiu's gaze fell to where the heart had dropped, then she swept her eyes over the entire Lingdie Valley and the whole Yao Tian.

She understood Liu Junyan's meaning.

The lives of the Seven Halls Yama and my aunt are now mutually dependent.

They must wait.

Wait for the Seven Halls Yama's inner elixir to recondense.

Wait for Tang Yaocao's true form—the legendary ancient spirit herb—to sprout, then use it to nourish Tang Xun's soul.

Condensing the inner elixir is merely a matter of time.

Next, Liu Junyan will join others to accelerate this process.

The difficulty lies in whether Tang Yaocao's true form can actually grow, and whether it truly possesses the miraculous efficacy spoken of in legend.

"Āyàn, take the token and go back first," Xiao Jiu said. "I'll stay behind to guard the Lingdie Valley."

Liu Junyan opened his mouth, wanting to advise Xiao Jiu.

But when the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back.

If he were in Xiao Jiu's position, he would also stay.

Liu Junyan ultimately only reminded: "Xiao Jiu, act within your limits."

Xiao Jiu nodded, seeing Liu Junyan off.

When Liu Junyan returned to Hu Shan with the token, many people had already gathered there; for the next at least half a month, they will remain in Hu Shan, refining the Seven Halls Yama's inner elixir together with Liu Junyan and sending it back into the Seven Halls Yama's body.

Everyone also inquired about Xiao Jiu's situation; Liu Junyan reported only good news, saying Xiao Jiu had her own matters to attend to, so everyone shouldn't worry excessively.

Meanwhile, Xiao Jiu sat cross-legged at the heart of the Lingdie Valley, forming hand seals, pressing her sword finger to her brow; the light of the Five-Colored Earth gathered at her fingertips, then she turned her hand and pressed her fingertips to the ground.

The mana of the Five-Colored Earth, centered on Xiao Jiu's fingertips, continuously seeped outward in all directions.

As Xiao Jiu continuously repeated this action, first the land of Lingdie Valley recovered Spiritual Power, then the whole Yao Tian gradually regained its vitality.

Five-Colored Earth is the soil of the state and grain.

After Tang Yaocao's ghostly qi and the Resentful Qi dissipated, Xiao Jiu used the Spiritual Power of Five-Colored Earth to nourish the entire Yao Tian field; before long, this place will once again restore the scenery of a utopia.

Of course, this process will consume a large amount of Xiao Jiu's internal energy and Mana; that is the fundamental reason why Liu Junyan urged her to act within her limits.

Fortunately, everything went very smoothly.

After one week, Yao Tian was already lush and thriving.

In Lingdie Valley, a familiar wonderful fragrance seeped up from underground.

When Xiao Jiu smelled that wonderful fragrance, her heart stirred; she then injected a stream of Spiritual Power from Five-Colored Earth into the spot where her heart had previously fallen.

When she finished her motion, at the spot her finger had just pointed to, a tender shoot sprouted.

Xiao Jiu was overjoyed and quickly injected another stream of Spiritual Power into the shoot's root; the shoot shot up considerably in an instant.

Under Xiao Jiu's careful care, when that plant grew, it resembled a banana leaf plant; it quickly bolted, extended its branches and leaves, and then at the exact center of its leaves, it nurtured a flower bud.

The flower bud kept growing; when it was about to bloom, it already showed a hint of bewitching charm.

Xiao Jiu stared intently at the flower, watching it burst open like a giant, multicolored butterfly, then gradually wither, falling away together with its leaves.

When the entire plant had withered, Xiao Jiu bare-handed went to dig up its roots.

Her movements were swift yet gentle; she carefully, bit by bit, unearthed the plant's entire root system.

It turned out to be a tuber the size of a fist, shaped like a human figure, exuding a rich wonderful fragrance throughout.

Xiao Jiu tore a piece of cloth, wrapped it tightly around it, and hurriedly headed for Hu Shan.

Meanwhile, on Hu Shan's side, the inner elixir inside the token had also recondensed.

When Xiao Jiu hurried back, Bai Shulan had already arrived.

Liu Junyan and Xiaoye jointly sent the inner elixir back into the body of Seven Halls Yama.

Bai Shulan had already used the spirit herb tuber that Xiao Jiu brought back as a medicinal primer, simmering a large bowl of decoction and giving it to Tang Xun to drink.

After the inner elixir remerged into his body, Seven Halls Yama woke up.

He recovered quickly, but the Mana of the inner elixir had been somewhat consumed by Tang Yaocao, requiring a period of secluded cultivation to repair.

But he now had no mind to enter seclusion; from the moment he woke up, he never left Tang Xun's side.

Actually, everything was under his control.

Even with the help of Liu Junyan and Xiao Jiu, the final outcome would be much better than expected, but seeing Tang Xun vomit nonstop after drinking the decoction, he still worried endlessly.

Tang Xun vomited so violently that even his bile seemed about to be thrown up.

Then he fell into a coma.

Xiao Jiu suddenly felt as if she were back in the scene when she helped Tang Xun remove the Ghost King Butterfly.

Tang Xun indeed underwent another process of cocooning and shedding skin.

When her skin had shed once and new skin grew, it was not only pink and tender but also emitted a faint wonderful fragrance, making people unable to resist wanting to get close to her.

This is the marvel of Jade Herb, this ancient spirit herb: it not only makes people more beautiful, but also more charming.

Afterwards, many years passed, and Tang Xun's appearance remained forever young.

Her skin was as supple as if frozen at the state of a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old, yet her whole body exuded the allure of a mature woman, making it impossible to love her enough.

But what moved everyone most was that, when Bai Shulan confirmed Tang Xun was about to wake up, Seven Halls Yama, who had been guarding her bedside for so long, tidied himself up neatly.

As soon as Tang Xun opened her eyes, she saw Seven Halls Yama holding fresh flowers, kneeling on one knee beside the bed, with a sincere expression proposing: 'A-Xun, marry me!'

This time, Tang Xun smiled as she took Seven Halls Yama's flower, firmly nodding in reply: 'Good!'

(End of book)