Undying Martial Soul

Gut-Severing Powder slid down his intestines and into his stomach. Shi Yan felt a faint ache in his gut, as if slow-acting sulfuric acid had been poured inside him, gradually eating away at his insides. The pain throughout his body grew by the moment.

"The Gut-Severing Powder is extremely potent, but it doesn't take effect all at once. It works slowly. An ordinary person's insides will be completely rotten in two days, and in three at most, the rot will spread throughout the body until they die." Kalu narrowed his eyes and spoke unhurriedly. "There's no rush. Let's wait a day and see."

"Fine. We'll come back at this time tomorrow night." Mo Yan Yu nodded, cast Shi Yan a pleased glance, and left happily alongside Kalu.

"Heh heh, kid, your good days are over." Qiang Sen bared his teeth and laughed loudly. The thought that Shi Yan would soon die with his entire body rotting away suddenly lifted a great weight from his heart.

Shi Yan lowered his head, his gaze icy.

The Gut-Severing Powder had already begun to take effect in his gut. He could feel it clearly. It was as though billions of ants were fighting over territory inside him, gnawing at his insides.

The wisp of essence in his lower abdomen silently circulated, quickly flowing into his gut. Like a warm, gentle stream, it washed over the poison under his control. Wherever the essence passed, it slowed the poison's growing potency. Shi Yan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

A damp breeze swept over him. Shi Yan greedily drew in a breath, then sat down right where he was without avoiding Qiang Sen. He focused all his attention on circulating his essence to withstand the poison's corrosive effects.

That wisp of essence, which had grown considerably in recent days, became Shi Yan's lifeline. It continued to flow through his gut, and with every circuit, the poison's potency seemed to weaken a little. It never managed to corrode him any faster.

Only now did Shi Yan understand the wonders of essence. His resolve to cultivate diligently and become the strongest Martial Artist grew even firmer.

If essence alone could bring him such great benefits, just how powerful were the "Martial Souls" that Martial Artists revered as gifts from heaven? If he could possess a "Martial Soul," wouldn't he grow even stronger and suffer far less?

Shi Yan suddenly resented the previous owner of this body for failing to inherit the Shi Family's "Petrifying Martial Soul." If he had, perhaps he would have fought back just now, using the "Petrifying Martial Soul" to withstand Mo Yan Yu's "Lightning Martial Soul" and escape instead of swallowing that deadly Gut-Severing Powder.

Time flew by, and the moonlight grew ever cooler. Before long, the night was half over. The Martial Artists in the distance had traveled all day and now settled down in silence, each finding a comfortable spot to cultivate essence, hoping to break through the limits of their bodies, enter a deeper realm, and gain greater strength.

The Medicine Slaves stared up at the sky. In the quiet of night, they found it easier to miss the family they had left behind, and easier to give in to fear. Whenever they thought that tomorrow they might be chosen as someone's test subject and become another corpse, despair filled their bodies, and a chill crept through them.

Beneath the moonlight, Shi Yan sat cross-legged. His calm face gradually took on a grave expression.

Five hours of circulating essence had kept the Gut-Severing Powder from spreading rapidly through his body. Yet without realizing it, he had used up a third of his essence—and it was still draining away!

But the Gut-Severing Powder in his gut showed no sign of losing its potency. On the contrary, it seemed stubbornly alive.

It was as if the poison were waiting for its chance, waiting for the moment his essence ran out before suddenly striking back!

Shi Yan suddenly felt cold all over.

Once his essence was gone, he would have nothing left to rely on. By then, there would be nothing he could do. Like an ordinary person, his body would begin to rot from the gut and the decay would spread until it consumed him completely.

He had no other options.

In this situation, he couldn't even cultivate to gather more essence. If he stopped guarding against the poison in his gut, the Gut-Severing Powder there would grow stronger all at once, bringing him even closer to death.

So even knowing that this would end in death, he could only keep going.

Another two hours passed.

The poison's potency had not weakened at all; it was gradually growing stronger. The essence inside him was being used up faster, and he could feel it clearly!

He seemed to see himself drawing ever closer to the Grim Reaper...

Once his essence ran out, his gut would rot. He wouldn't die right away, but the decay would continue spreading to his organs. He would last five or six days at most before meeting the same end as the other Medicine Slaves, his whole body rotting away.

Shi Yan's face darkened. His eyes were cold as ice, and his gaze struck Mo Yan Yu, who sat in the distance atop an ancient tree.

Beneath the bright moon, Mo Yan Yu sat on a thick branch, her skin as pale as frost and her pretty face serene. Her long hair fluttered gently in the breeze, making her look like an elf of the night. She hadn't noticed Shi Yan's vicious stare and was silently cultivating, using her essence to nourish the meridians that held her "Lightning Martial Soul."

At the back of the group, Kalu leaned against another old tree, his left hand tucked into a loose sleeve. He held a scroll of the Poison Scripture in his right hand and was reading with great interest.

From time to time, Kalu glanced toward Shi Yan, a malicious smile at the corner of his mouth.

This wouldn't work. Shi Yan furrowed his brow, continuing to circulate essence to resist the poison's invasion as he desperately thought of a solution.

At this rate, his essence would run out before dawn. Once that happened, he would be doomed! With the poison inside him, even running away wouldn't change a thing. His only solution was Kalu!

Kalu could refine the Gut-Severing Powder, so he must have an antidote. Only by getting it from Kalu could Shi Yan escape his inevitable fate of rotting away. But Kalu wasn't just an apothecary; he was also a Martial Artist in the Innate Realm. Trying to seize the antidote from him would be little different from suicide.

Shi Yan observed him in secret. Kalu seemed absorbed in his book, but he kept glancing toward Shi Yan's spot. Clearly, Kalu was on guard. He might even have guessed what Shi Yan would do and be waiting for him to walk straight into a trap.

One thought after another flashed through Shi Yan's mind. He knew that although his chances of success were practically nonexistent, he had to go after Kalu—and he had to act soon. Once all his essence ran out, his chances of survival would be even slimmer.

Shi Yan quietly adjusted his breathing, temporarily ignoring the poison in his gut as he drew all his essence back, preparing to risk everything.

As expected, once the essence was withdrawn, the Gut-Severing Powder suddenly grew more potent, and the poison spread faster. The pain in his body naturally intensified along with it.

Just as Shi Yan was about to act, the rotting part of his gut suddenly changed!

The cells in the rotten tissue suddenly sprang to life. Strands of faint, feeble power wound around the damaged area, as if an invisible hand were mending his rotten gut with needle and thread. The already-decayed tissue slowly began to heal...

Shi Yan suddenly froze.

He had been about to act, but instead of rushing out recklessly, he immediately calmed down and focused all his attention on observing the strange change within his body!

His cells were incredibly active, as if they had suddenly come alive. The rotten flesh twitched faintly, and the damaged area gradually healed. In just half an hour, the rotted tissue had returned to normal, and he could no longer feel even the slightest pain.

It was as if an electric current had passed through his body. Shi Yan was overjoyed, but his face betrayed nothing. He remained as still and calm as water, as though sunk in a deep sleep.

Any unusual talent that didn't require the circulation of essence had to be a special kind of "Martial Soul"!

A line defining the characteristics of "Martial Souls" suddenly sprang into his mind. After pondering it for just a moment, Shi Yan realized that the changes in his body were the work of a special "Martial Soul."

Regeneration—this was a special talent. It seemed he had awakened a wondrous "Martial Soul" that had yet to reveal its full potential!

The poison struck again! It began to work in his gut once more. With no essence to resist it, the poison soon caused another part of his gut to rot.

Astonishingly, that rotted tissue changed again. As the cells sprang into action, the damaged area healed in a short time!

The poison kept taking effect, corroding Shi Yan's gut again and again. Yet whenever it did, his regenerative "Martial Soul" would activate. Before the poison could strike again, it had already repaired the damaged tissue.

"Martial Souls" grew stronger as a Martial Artist's realm advanced, and could even undergo special changes. The higher a Martial Artist's realm, the stronger the special talents their "Martial Soul" displayed.

Another line about the characteristics of "Martial Souls" came to mind. Shi Yan was overjoyed. Judging by the talent this regenerative "Martial Soul" had displayed, as his realm advanced, even severe injuries could heal quickly. Perhaps once he reached terrifying realms like Heaven Position or Connecting to God, even severed limbs would grow back as good as new.

If he could reach that point, wouldn't he be able to recover even after someone stabbed him through the heart, and thereby escape death?

A string of thoughts flashed through Shi Yan's mind. After careful consideration, he silently named this "Martial Soul" the "Undying Martial Soul."

After silently testing it for a while and confirming that the "Undying Martial Soul" could withstand the poison, Shi Yan finally relaxed. He abandoned the idea of risking his life to seize the antidote from Kalu and continued sitting motionless, leaving the repeated battle in his gut alone as he secretly recovered his essence.