His chest hurt.
His head spun.
His mouth tasted bitter!
His whole body was burning—was it the snake venom?
Xiang Yuan drifted in and out of consciousness, a bitter medicinal taste in his mouth. He felt himself lying on a bed. He barely cracked his eyes open and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
He remembered being bitten by a barbarian's venomous snake, calling to Heaven with no answer and crying to Earth with no reply. With no other choice, he had plunged headfirst through the Jambu Gate, so...
He had transmigrated again.
The poisonous true qi Yin Mu had left inside Xiang Yuan had yet to dissipate. The lingering snake venom burned through his heart like blazing fire, leaving his body as immovable as if filled with lead. His eyes had only been open for a moment before they closed again.
He fell asleep at once.
In his hazy state, Xiang Yuan heard voices conversing by the bedside—one old, one young, seemingly master and disciple.
"Master, he seemed to wake up just now. Could that have been a final flash before death?"
"How could that be? Your master is known as 'Yama's Foe.' Before Yama puts brush to paper deciding who lives and who dies, he still has to ask for my opinion."
"But the snake venom in his body is so strange, along with that true qi as poisonous as venom itself. I don't know what vicious fiend did this... Master, is it really wise for us to save him? What if we bring disaster upon ourselves?"
"I know. I have a reason why I must save him. Stop asking."
"But, Master..."
Xiang Yuan could not hear the rest of their conversation. Knowing that he had been saved and was safe for the moment, the stone hanging over his heart