Seven Kill Stele

Qin Shuanglian rushed into the room and saw a man lying on the bed. His face was as pale as paper, his eyes tightly shut, and his lips a dark, near-black red. He had no breath left.

"Sister Qin, Fang Zhidong... he's dead..." A man in a short, fitted outfit stood beside the bed, his face filled with fear and bewilderment.

"Dead?" Qin Shuanglian blurted out. She hurried to the bedside and checked his pulse, then listened for his heartbeat. Only after a long while did she confirm that her teammate was truly dead.

The young woman in a crimson dress stood there at a loss, staring blankly. When she had gone out, Fang Zhidong had merely been unconscious, completely unaware of his surroundings. Yet in the time it took her to turn around, he had already died?

Shi Tiangao glanced at them, took a deep breath, and asked, "Hanqiu, Huashan, what exactly happened?"

Zhu Hanqiu, dressed in a short, fitted outfit, looked deeply confused. "I was studying the sword manual we got last time. Huashan was practicing hidden weapon techniques with the chess pieces, and Zhidong was meditating to regulate his breathing. None of us said a word... Everything was fine, just as it always was. There wasn't anything unusual until just now, when he suddenly let out a scream and rolled off the bed. His teeth were clenched, his eyes squeezed shut, and he fell unconscious. His pulse and heartbeat kept growing weaker."

Zhu Huashan, the young woman in the crimson dress, stood beside the table. Black and white chess pieces lay scattered across it, left just as they were, revealing how hurriedly she had left. She added, "We were afraid Zhidong had gone into qi deviation, so Hanqiu used his inner strength to protect his heart meridians