Chapter 291. Blood Governance Art (2)

"..."

At this moment, Zhou Xuchuan didn't resemble a hero of the Righteous Faction. If anything, he looked more like a Demon Head of the Demonic Path.

His demeanor was so unsettling that no one would argue if he were accused of having a personality disorder.

However, the sheer shock of witnessing the Human-faced Spider speak overshadowed everything else.

"That's. Not. A. Hard. Thing. To. Do."

"Well, the negotiations have broken down. There's nothing I can... huh?"

"Giving. You. Mine. Is. Hard. But..."

Scritch, scritch.

A group of about fifteen spiders crawled out from beneath the Human-faced Spider's belly, carrying something.

"This. Is. From. A. Male. Of. The. Same. Species."

There were many cases where female spiders killed the males during mating, mistaking them as prey or threats.

This was also the case with the Human-faced Spider. To her, the male was nothing more than a breeding mount.

If she was full and too lazy to do anything, she would leave the males alone, but generally, she would kill any male who came near to mate mercilessly.

Among those she had slaughtered, some had been spiritual beasts like herself, creatures that had lived for centuries. The neidan now resting in Zhou Xuchuan's hand had once belonged to one of them.

The flow of qi emanating from it was immensely powerful—not something to be taken lightly.

Hmm.

Zhou Xuchuan received the neidan from the spider and checked it.

It was a round ball the size of his palm.

It doesn't seem fake...

The flow of qi emanating from it was immensely powerful—not something to be taken lightly.

Considering it felt this strong before he even took it, its effectiveness went without saying. This was definitely the real thing.

If they have this level of intelligence...

An idea suddenly came to mind.

"Human-faced Spider."

"Speak."

"Wouldn't you like to make a deal?"

"A. Deal?"

Zhou Xuchuan nodded.

"Whether you believe me or not is up to you, but there are forces outside this forest targeting you. They want more than just your neidans—they're after your webs as well."

"I. Know. I. Remember. Them."

The Human-faced Spider's intelligence was extraordinary.

Even though she had been under the control of the Blood Governing Art, she remembered most of what had happened, if not all.

Of everything she had endured, what had angered her the most was the sight of them extracting everything—from the spiders' webs to their poison and blood.

Since Old Man Blood Poison was also skilled at poison arts, he often extracted their poison and blood and used them as experimental materials for making blood poison and other things.

"I'll take care of them for you."

"Hm. Mmm."

One might assume that killing their enemies would be enough. But considering the decades of suffering the spiders had endured, such a simple resolution felt insufficient.

For over thirty years, the Human-faced Spider had been ruled by the Dark Heavens Association and had been forced to live like livestock. That pain was indescribable.

While in the case of her children, because of their low intellect, they might not have been aware of everything, or anything at all, she, who possessed a high intellect, was different. She hadn't easily given away the neidan that she had hidden in case she was seriously injured later for no good reason.

"What. Is. It. That. You. Want?"

"A regular supply of poison and your webs."

The spider leg connected to Old Man Blood Poison twitched. Had it not been for the favor she owed Zhou Xuchuan, she would have torn him apart instantly.

"Don't misunderstand. It'll only be within the limits of what's possible. As long as what you're offering isn't too small, you decide the amount."

"Human. Greed. Has. No. End."

Zhou Xuchuan immediately understood her concern.

Even if she had no issue parting with poison and webs, neidans were a different matter altogether. The neidan of a spiritual beast was a treasure that couldn't be purchased with just money to martial artists.

If news spread that they were trapped here with their neidans, it was inevitable that greedy martial artists would come hunting them down.

"Only a handful of people know this location. We'll be keeping it that way in the future."

This area was covered in a mysterious and terrifying Nature Formation. Let alone ordinary people, not even martial artists could easily approach it.

"If more than ten people enter the forest in the future, you can kill them at your discretion."

Moreover, those who would visit this habitat had already been determined.

The direct lineage of the Tang Family.

They were the only ones who truly knew the entrance, exit, and the location of the Nature Formation's life gate.

Before anyone had even set foot in Xiling Gorge, Zhou Xuchuan had the expedition team swear secrecy regarding its existence. Since the location had been a closely guarded secret passed down through generations of the Tang Family, Tang Youqi had specifically requested it.

I don't know about the rest of the murim, but if the Tang Family had to choose between poison, spider silk, or neidans, they would naturally opt for the first two.

For a poison master, extreme poisons were more valuable than neidans. Zhou Xuchuan knew this fact well because of his training in the Green Eyes Ten Thousand Poisons Art.

Yes, as the neidan of the Human-faced Spider, a spiritual beast that had been around for at least a thousand years, the neidan was equivalent to the greatest of artifacts.

In the short term, the neidan would be the most beneficial.

However, in the long term, the regular provision of spider web and venom, which were materials for the Formless Poison, was the best.

"..."

The Human-faced Spider was silent, perhaps lost in thought.

It was an unpleasant silence, one that made Zhou Xuchuan and the others nervous.

If the spider refused here, it was obvious what would happen next.

The expedition party prepared themselves mentally to fight at any moment.

While it would have been helpful to gauge her expression, even if they stared at her face, they wouldn't be able to read her thoughts.

So, they simply waited.

"I'll. Accept. It."

"Really?"

"The. Conditions. Are. Acceptable. Moreover. There. Isn't. Any. Other. Choice."

How incredible.

The Human-faced Spider was no longer just intelligent for a spiritual beast—She fully understood her situation, weighed the pros and cons, and reached a rational decision.

Moreover, she knew that if she rejected the offer, she and the others would inevitably be hunted down.

"Zhou Xuchuan!"

Just as the negotiation concluded, an urgent voice called out to him.

He quickly turned to see what was going on.

"The two of them don't look so good."

Tan Xiang's face was filled with urgency.

In a blur, Zhou Xuchuan disappeared, then reappeared in front of Luo Xiaoyue and Tang Hui.

"...!"

As he got closer, a foul stench hit him.

Black sweat.

The strong, pungent odor came from the black sweat covering their bodies. It signified that the poison was being expelled, which was a good sign.

However, despite this, the two still looked unwell.

Their faces were twisted in pain, and their complexions were pale.

Tang Hui's skin was gradually darkening from the neck upward.

Leaving them like this is dangerous.

In a normal detoxification, there would be no reason for them to experience such intense pain or this kind of skin discoloration.

Had it only been Luo Xiaoyue experiencing these symptoms, it might have been a different story.

But with Tang Hui showing the same signs, it was clear that the poison had spread between them.

What should I do?

Even with time running out, Zhou Xuchuan found himself hesitating.

Had Luo Xiaoyue been the only one affected, he wouldn't have second-guessed his actions.

But Tang Hui was already in the process of detoxifying Luo Xiaoyue, meaning that he couldn't act rashly.

When someone else's qi enters a person's body, even if done with good intentions, it could be catastrophic if the imbuer wasn't careful.

If the imbuer were to make even the slightest mistake, their qi would get entangled in the meridians, lose control, and run wild, destroying the person's meridians and veins.

Zhou Xuchuan didn't know what would happen if the qi of not one, but three people were intervening within Luo Xiaoyue.

"Ugh!"

"...!"

The moment he heard Luo Xiaoyue's pained groan, the hesitation vanished.

"Please act as our Dharma Protectors!"

Zhou Xuchuan sat down next to Luo Xiaoyue and Tang Hui, who was gripping Luo Xiaoyue's back, forming a triangle.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I'm going to be intervening now."

Of course, there was no answer. In a situation like this, it would be suicide to open one's mouth rashly.

"Now, I'm starting."

Before placing his hands on them, Zhou Xuchuan reached into his robe and pulled out the Human-faced Spider's neidan.

Crunch!

He bit into it.

Before he could even chew properly, the neidan melted like water, sliding down his throat.

Before the spirit qi from the neidan could even spread evenly throughout his body, he quickly placed his hands on their shoulders.

...!

The moment his Violet Haze True Qi entered their bodies, he immediately understood the situation.

There was no need for him to go through her meridians to verify.

As expected, it's roughly what I was thinking!

He hadn't said that he would help without a reason. He had been trying to guess what had happened.

The fact that the poison was being expelled through their sweat meant that the detoxification was proceeding smoothly.

However, the fact that the spread continued meant that the speed of detoxification was likely not keeping up with the speed of the poison's spread.

In short, they were lacking strength.

Ten Thousand Blood Poison.

Since the very beings of Mount Ailao, which was known as Poisonblood Valley and the pits of hell, were the ingredients, its power went without saying.

Even though Tang Hui was a skilled poison master with profound qi reserves as a younger generation talent, there was bound to be a limit.

She couldn't possibly overcome the Ten Thousand Blood Poison, a creation that Old Man Blood Poison had spent decades perfecting, pouring his heart and soul into it.

Fortunately, the problem isn't complicated. All I have to do is supplement with strength. However, in this case, the aid is limited to Spirit Qi.

There was something called Replacing the Bones and Washing the Marrow within the

murim

.[1]

It referred to when a Paragon Master purged the accumulated waste from a person's body with their qi and opened up the extraordinary meridians such as the Conception Vessel or the Governing Vessel. In doing so, the body would become optimal for learning martial arts.

However, the technique was rarely used. The qi consumption was immense, recovery was difficult, and the process itself was highly complex.

For that reason, it was typically reserved for dying Paragon Masters or for the chosen successors of Single-Lineage Sects.

Simply put, "Replacing the Bones and Washing the Marrow" was not something just anyone could receive.

The conditions were as strict as it was effective. One wasn't allowed to learn any cultivation methods prior.

In other words, it was for those who didn't train in martial arts.

Injecting one's qi into someone else was inherently dangerous. This was because there was a high possibility that the imbuer's qi would clash with the recipient's existing qi and cause problems. Even if the two individuals practiced the same cultivation method, conflicts could still arise.

The human body was far more complex than most people assumed. It wasn't for nothing that Daoism expressed it as a microcosm.

It became easy if one considered it a river.

Even if the starting point was the same, the flow or nature could change depending on whether someone threw a stone, the ecosystem of the living fish, or the surrounding terrain.

The true qi, nature, gender, age, and even enlightenment of a martial artist couldn't be completely the same as another.

Therefore, the target of Replacing the Bones and Washing the Marrow had to be in a pure, untouched state before the vessel of qi, the dantian, was created.

In this way, if one wanted to supplement strength, it had to be resolved with a relatively neutral Spirit Qi such as through an elixir or a neidan.

The reason martial artists could consume neidans or elixirs and increase their qi reserves even if the nature of their qi was a bit different from the cultivation resource was because of Spirit Qi.

Of course, if the resource was too far on one end of the extreme, it could end up as a poison, but in other cases, such issues ended with only the effects being reduced in half. That was how versatile Spirit Qi was.

While there's a way to transfer the poison to me and for me to deal with it instead, it's already too late. Even the meridians are already damaged, so if I'm not careful, the passage could be completely destroyed.

The method Tang Hui had chosen was a desperate one.

Since the poison had reached a point where it couldn't be handled internally, she had opted to split it between herself and Luo Xiaoyue—detoxifying it in both their bodies simultaneously.

But even halving the poison was too much.

That was why they were at their limit now.

I have to control it well.

The Spirit Qi contained within the Human-faced Spider's neidan was far from ordinary.

The amount and quality were comparable to that of the Millennia Fire Carp.

In normal circumstances, their bodies would have been able to endure Spirit Qi. But in their weakened state, such qi could be no different from poison.

With their bodies already struggling to handle the poison, if he introduced Spirit Qi recklessly, their internal balance could collapse instantly.

Understanding the delicacy of the situation, Zhou Xuchuan carefully divided the qi and guided it throughout their bodies, ensuring it flowed evenly.

I'm going to imbue them with Spirit Qi to target the Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel. If either of the two gets cleared, it would be of a great help in the detoxification.

Zhou Xuchuan hoped and begged that nothing would go wrong.

1. The literal phrase here is replacing the hair and washing the marrow. It's a combination of the two phrases, Replacing the Bones and Washing the Marrow, and Shedding the Skin and Regrowing the Hair. However, considering bone replacing and marrow washing is the accepted terminology throughout Wuxiaworld, we stuck to it here. There is a similar term called Bodily Reformation that is essentially the same thing (the hanja are different characters that mean the same thing), but that's what one does to oneself, so we will be keeping these terms separate. ☜