Chapter 866

Talk is talk, laughter is laughter, but Xiao Jiu is still more worried about Bái Sōnglán's physical condition.

Bai Qiong had told Xiao Jiu that this time Bái Sōnglán's breakthrough of the bottleneck would cause all the spines on her hedgehog-like flesh, along with the entire skin, to shed; this process is especially prone to infection and could even be fatal.

Guyun Que being able to follow Bái Sōnglán back and insisting on giving her a medicinal bath must be because of this.

Thinking of this, Xiao Jiu carefully asked: "Shulan sis, tell me in detail about your breakthrough this time, I want to hear."

Shulan - Shulan (appears as Shulan sister)

"It's already dark." Xiao Jiu said, "Those with only shallow acquaintances came during the day and left; those still here are our own people—Āyàn, Grey Fifth Lord, and Green Ribbon Sister—and they will be well hosted."

Grey Fifth Lord - Grey Fifth Lord

Bái Sōnglán's hands were cool, her skin very tender, yet not rosy; one could see it was new skin grown after shedding, but because her body had not fully recovered, it lacked color and was not plump.

White Immortal lineage - White Immortal lineage

The Bai Xian lineage excels in medicine; in terms of Xiūwéi alone, they are far inferior to the others, and the most visible sign of a Bai Xian's cultivation level is the spines all over their body—we are born with a full coat of flesh spines, and as Xiūwéi increases, we successively go through the white-spine, silver-spine, blood-spine, and gold-spine stages.

Flesh spines are fragile, white spines are hard, silver spines are not only sharp but can also be used medicinally to treat illness; blood spines carry poison, yet they are also precious medicinal guides—being able to cultivate to the gold-spine stage already means Mahayana.

Xiao Jiu understood that if one could cultivate to the gold-spine stage, Bái Sōnglán could ascend to the upper realm immortals, like Liu Junyan.

She certainly had not reached the gold-spine level, and Xiao Jiu had seen her true form before—she was already at the silver-spine stage.

In other words, Bái Sōnglán's breakthrough this time should have brought her to the blood-spine stage.

So Xiao Jiu asked: "Blood spines are toxic; is that the fundamental reason you've been stuck at the bottleneck?"

"Yes." Bái Sōnglán said, "Among my ancestors, those who could cultivate to the blood-spine stage were already few; of those who successfully shed their skin and grew new spines without infection, only one is recorded in the clan genealogy."

Liu Junyan - Liu Junyan

"Our branch's clan has withered badly; perhaps other clans still have more and stronger individuals." Bái Sōnglán said, "As for that successful one, the experience is not to be taken as a model."

Xiao Jiu was even more puzzled: "If they succeeded and it was recorded, surely it was so that later generations could learn from the experience, right?"

Bái Sōnglán shook her head: "Because he was nailed to the pillar of shame as a negative example."

Initially, that person was practicing dual cultivation with his lover; they both reached the bottleneck stage together, mutually supporting each other as they shed skin and spines, but during the process of growing new skin and blood spurs they both became infected. Originally they had no chance of survival, and they had vowed to share a quilt in life and a coffin in death, to go together to the Yellow Springs.

But at the critical moment, that person personally pulled out the few precious blood spurs his lover had painstakingly grown, using them as a medicine guide to save his own life, while his lover's whole body rotted and died.

Xiao Jiu drew a deep breath and said indignantly, 'No wonder you called that person a negative example nailed to the pillar of shame—this is utterly inhumane. What happened later? Did he attain the Dao and achieve Great Vehicle?'

'No.' Bái Sōnglán said, 'Although he successfully cultivated to the blood spur stage, he was tormented by inner demons and perished during a tribulation crossing, dying a bad death.'

Evil deeds inevitably lead to one's downfall; this is self-inflicted.

Xiao Jiu asked curiously, 'Although this is a negative example, it is indeed experiential wisdom, right? Surely someone in your clan would try to emulate it?'

In this world, the thing that cannot withstand scrutiny is human nature.

'Of course there are.' Bái Sōnglán said, 'But few couples cultivate together, and even fewer reach such a high level. In our clan there have been examples of brothers mutually pulling out blood spurs, but none succeeded; thus this method of using blood spur as a medicine guide might exist only between lovers.'

Quite ironic.

Lovers, yet for cultivation they pull out each other's blood spur as a medicine guide, disregarding the other's life and death.

Such a paradox is truly ironic to the extreme.

This is not an orthodox cultivation method; it counts as Evil Cultivator.

After hearing Bái Sōnglán say all this, Xiao Jiu summed it up: for Bái Sōnglán to successfully reach the blood spur stage, there is basically no experience to follow.

If it weren't for meeting Guyun Que, Bái Sōnglán would likely have died helplessly in this process.

Fate, oh fate, is truly wondrous.

Who could have imagined that the witch spirit's gu seed left back then would produce this chain of extra effects ten years later?

In the dark, everything is predetermined.

But the details Xiao Jiu wants to know go far beyond this: 'How did Guyun Que discover you were at the bottleneck stage? And what gu did he use to help you?'

'It was an accident.' Bái Sōnglán said, 'At that time he went berserk, opening a killing spree; when I rushed over, he had already made a pile of enemies in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains—calling him a target of universal enmity is no exaggeration. In the process of helping him finish off his enemies, I was hit by someone else's gu poison, and under its catalysis I was forced into the blood spur stage.'

Indeed it was like that.

No wonder Xiao Jiu, in recent times, tried to contact that side but could never get information about Bái Sōnglán.

Xiao Jiu at the time was still thinking that once her affairs here were settled, she must personally make a trip to the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

'Fortunately he was there.' Bái Sōnglán whispered, 'The gu poison came like a flood; my whole body's silver spikes almost completely rotted away overnight, then came the skin. During that time we were trapped in a cave, lacking enough water, I couldn't bathe or apply medicine—of course ordinary medicine couldn't dispel the gu poison either; I could smell the foul stench emanating from myself. Xiao Jiu, back then I thought I was surely doomed…'

Xiao Jiu immediately reached out and embraced Bái Sōnglán.

Although she hadn't witnessed it herself, she could also imagine that scene.

Even to this day, when Xiao Jiu holds Bái Sōnglán, she can still feel her body trembling faintly.

That is a nightmare forever unforgettable yet too painful to recall again.

Bái Sōnglán choked up slightly: 'He didn't despise me, constantly feeding me his own blood; his blood can suppress the spread of the gu poison. He tore off his own clothes, soaked them in his blood, and bit by bit helped me wipe away my festering skin all over, guarding me for two days and two nights until his people arrived.'

Back in the stronghold, he personally devised the medicinal bath formula for me, from selecting herbs and gu powder to decocting the liquid, even… even the scrubbing, all done by his own hands…

Day by day I improved, slowly growing new skin; when the first blood spur sprouted, he immediately adjusted the medicinal bath formula for me, gradually exploring alongside me to get through the crisis…