Xiao Yi Xian

"Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion..."

Yun Zimo softly recited the characters inscribed upon the plaque, walking slowly into the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion amidst the awe-filled gazes of passersby.

"I never would have guessed you possessed such a talent for management..."

Watching the silver-haired girl hunched over under the lamplight, scribbling away at something, Yun Zimo spoke up in a teasing tone.

"Zimo?"

The girl looked up, her eyes filled with a hint of pleasant surprise. Though her features were not those of a peerless beauty, she was nonetheless a rare sight to behold; her smile carried a fresh, ethereal quality that held a charm difficult to refuse.

What was most stunning, however, was the slender waist beneath her white dress, cinched by a green ribbon that seemed as if it could be spanned by a single hand.

"I haven't seen you in over half a year, and now you finally have time to visit me?"

There was a trace of reproach in Xiao Yi Xian's tone, leaving Yun Zimo to offer only an awkward smile.

"Oh, right, this is the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture I had Master Gu He revise for you."

Yun Zimo hurriedly produced the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture and placed it gently before Xiao Yi Xian.

"Master Gu He? Pill King Gu He!"

Xiao Yi Xian gasped in astonishment. She had never imagined that Yun Zimo would actually move the Pill King Gu He to act, and all for the sake of someone like her—someone destined to become a poison master!

"Thank you."

Xiao Yi Xian gave a playful smile. After tucking the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture into her storage ring, she picked up the ledger in her hand and waved it in front of Yun Zimo as if seeking credit.

"Look, I've been managing your Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion quite well, haven't I?"

The Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion had belonged to the Yun family for six years now, and naturally, those managing the affairs within were all disciples of the Misty Cloud Sect.

"I trust you completely, though I never expected the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion to grow to this scale. You truly are an excellent chief physician."

Xiao Yi Xian smiled with pride, feeling happy in her heart that she could do something for Zimo.

Six years ago, she had met him at her most desperate hour. It was he who gave her hope and allowed her to find a reason to keep living.

"Father, Mother... please, don't die..."

The filthy, white-haired girl knelt before a patch of fresh grave mounds, whispering in a daze with vacant eyes. Under the torrential rain, her frail figure remained motionless, like a walking corpse that had crawled out of hell.

"Hm? There's still a survivor here?"

Yun Zimo, who had finally managed to descend the mountain, maintained a soul barrier against the downpour. As he bypassed the desolate village to reach the rows of graves, he spotted the small, thin figure at a glance.

"So that's why a plague suddenly broke out here; it was because of you..."

Seeing the poisonous Dou Qi swirling around the girl, Yun Zimo realized the truth, though he had not expected to find a poison master within the Jia Ma Empire.

Glancing at the girl's mud-stained, scarred little hands, Yun Zimo stepped to her side and erected a soul shield.

"I will teach you how to control your Dou Qi; perhaps then you won't harm anyone else."

"..."

Seeing the girl remain completely still, Yun Zimo crouched down to see if this child was...

"Swish!"

"Hiss~"

Yun Zimo quickly shook his hand. Cyan-white Dou Qi surged, and wisps of purple poison gas drifted out from the wound; the beast-like claw marks on his arm vanished in an instant.

"So you are still alive."

Yun Zimo shook his uninjured hand, not feeling particularly angry. After all, when one loses their entire village, it is understandable that they would not be in a good state of mind.

"You won't be able to starve yourself to death like this. Since you have already cultivated Dou Qi, you won't die so easily; it will only make you live in more pain than an ordinary person."

"I will help you become strong so you never lose control and hurt others again, how about that?"

"Come with me. I will teach you how to kill, and then you can commit suicide to atone for your sins."

"..."

"How about I teach you how to save people? The kind of method that uses poison to save lives, how does that sound?"

Yun Zimo's throat was nearly parched. Finally, he asked a question on a whim, and the small, statue-like figure actually stirred.

"Save... save people?"

Because she had not spoken or drank water for so long, her voice came out hoarse from beneath her disheveled silver hair.

"Poison can also save people?"

Seeing that his words had finally taken effect, Yun Zimo's spirits lifted. He began to speak incessantly about the way of the poison physician, terrified that the girl might give up and take her own life.

"Teach... teach me!"

"What?"

The girl suddenly kowtowed before Yun Zimo. Her hoarse voice had become much clearer, though it cracked slightly from the force of her shout.

"Please, teach me!"

The torrential rain poured down as a lonely, tiny figure knelt on the ground, head raised to look at the person before her. Behind her, white mourning cloths fluttered on rows of fresh graves, and the person before her bowed slightly while the cawing of crows echoed in the distance.

Yun Zimo gently helped the young girl up, reaching out to draw a mass of water from the air to carefully wash away the stains on her body.

"What is your name?"

"Xiao Yi Xian."

"What?!"

"I said, my name is Xiao Yi Xian!"

Recalling that pitiful appearance from six years ago and looking at the graceful young woman she had become, a touch of pride welled up in Yun Zimo's heart.

I am the one who taught her!

"I took a stroll around Green Mountain Town; why didn't I see Ka Gang and the others?"

Yun Zimo asked out of curiosity, thinking of his own mercenary group.

"They went to escort a herb-gathering team into the Magical Beast Mountain Range."

Xiao Yi Xian, who was standing on tiptoe to reach for something, replied without looking back.

"Didn't you notice that the Pavilion has been much emptier today?"

"So that's how it is."

Yun Zimo reached out to help Xiao Yi Xian take down a medicine box from the top of the cabinet.

"I thought they had all gone to sleep since it was so late, but it turns out they are all in the mountains."

"By the way, you came here today for a reason, didn't you?"

Xiao Yi Xian asked while opening the medicine box.

"To take you back to the Misty Cloud Sect."

Yun Zimo said it casually.

"Clatter!"

A medicine bottle fell into the box. Xiao Yi Xian hurriedly picked it up again, smiled at Yun Zimo, and pretended to be indifferent.

"The Misty Cloud Sect? I'm doing just fine here; why would I go there?"

"I want to ask Master Gu He to help see if there is any solution for your strange constitution."

Hearing Yun Zimo say this, Xiao Yi Xian's heart trembled. Her movements paused for a moment before she nonchalantly picked up a bottle of medicine to show him.

"This is the 'Yang-Returning Powder' I concocted according to the method you taught me; it can restore a small amount of Dou Qi."

"Oh, not bad! Restoring Dou Qi is an effect usually reserved for second-tier medicinal pills."

Distracted by Xiao Yi Xian, Yun Zimo stopped talking about taking her back to the sect, and they spent the entire night discussing her current level of medical knowledge.

"Xiao Yi Xian? Xiao Yi Xian?!"

On the bed, Yun Zimo sat up and rubbed his slightly dizzy head. What happened... He suddenly remembered vaguely seeing Xiao Yi Xian get up the previous night.

He rushed to the living room, where a steaming breakfast was laid out on the table, and sure enough, a letter was pressed under a bowl.

"Zimo, I'm leaving. I've managed the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion for you for so long; it's time you handled things yourself. Don't come looking for me. I know my own body. Perhaps I will go to the Chu Yun Empire and become a notorious poison master, or perhaps I will die somewhere while traveling the continent. But regardless, I will not drag you down. You are a big shot in the Misty Cloud Sect; don't waste any more effort on me."

Signed, Xiao Yi Xian.

Yun Zimo gripped the letter, the corners of his mouth curling upward until he finally burst into loud laughter, though his eyes were filled with icy coldness.

"You think this means you aren't causing me trouble? Whether you are a trouble or not is for me to decide!"

The aura of a nine-star Dou King exploded outward, and his vast Dou Qi wings unfurled. With only a slight sensing, Yun Zimo transformed into a streak of light and flew rapidly toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

"Get lost!"

A fifth-rank flying magical beast tried to block this arrogant human, but a massive sword light struck it head-on, instantly splitting it in two. The beast king didn't even have time to let out a roar before it plummeted from the sky, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The furious Yun Zimo only wanted to find Xiao Yi Xian, and the magical beasts in the mountain range were wise enough not to trouble him further. In less than half an hour, Yun Zimo spotted a paradise of birds and flowers.

His Dou King aura swept wantonly through the small valley. A first-rank Blue Eagle lay trembling on the ground, and after letting out a weak moan, it looked up and pointed toward a small thatched cottage nearby.

"Xiao Yi Xian!"

Yun Zimo burst into the hut, his palm generating a howling wind that dispersed the thick smoke inside, instantly revealing Xiao Yi Xian on the bed, her face pale and blue.

"No! How could the Woe Poison Body erupt so quickly!"

Xiao Yi Xian's face was tinged with seven colors, a smile on her lips, while her body involuntarily emitted wisps of purple, smoke-like poison Dou Qi. Yun Zimo's palm generated a sudden wind pressure to blow away the poisonous mist, and he lunged to her side.

Quickly tapping several acupoints on her body, Yun Zimo helped Xiao Yi Xian into a cross-legged sitting position. He channeled his Dou Qi into his palms and pressed them against hers; he was actually attempting to use his own Dou Qi to suppress the eruption of the Woe Poison Body!

Using his soul power to guide several medicinal pills into Xiao Yi Xian's mouth, Yun Zimo's Dou Qi worked in tandem with the power of the pills to rapidly suppress the violent, chaotic poison Dou Qi within her.

"She's almost a Dou Shi! No wonder it erupted so early!"

Yun Zimo felt annoyed and self-reproachful; he hadn't realized that Xiao Yi Xian's strength had grown so quickly, to the point of triggering the Woe Poison Body.

"I refuse to believe this!"

Yun Zimo's body erupted in brilliant light as several precious medicinal herbs flew from his storage ring. Wrapped in cyan-white Dou Qi, the impurities were rapidly purged, and the resulting medicinal liquids and powders flowed directly into Xiao Yi Xian's body with her shallow breaths.

"I didn't save you back then just for you to throw your life away now. Wake up!"

"All Beings Equal!"

A sword intent of absolute supremacy burst forth from between Yun Zimo's brows. A single strike descended, instantly cleaving away the majority of the violent poison Dou Qi, while the remainder was violently suppressed back into Xiao Yi Xian's Dantian cyclone. Under the turbulent impact of the Dou Qi, Xiao Yi Xian could not help but spit out a mouthful of sizzling black blood!

"Zi... Zimo?!"

"You, you have to leave me alone, you'll die!"

Seeing Yun Zimo's grim expression, the previously dazed Xiao Yi Xian instantly snapped to her senses, even attempting to pull her hand away.

"Shut up, don't move!"

Yun Zimo roared, his soul power guiding the Dou Qi as it surged into Xiao Yi Xian's body, weaving an arcane, delicate seal that he gently imprinted upon her cyclone.

His face pale, Yun Zimo finally let out a sigh of relief, grinning as he looked at Xiao Yi Xian, whose aura had withered significantly but had finally returned to normal.

"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"

Mist clouded Xiao Yi Xian's eyes, and unable to hold it in any longer, she laughed through her tears, landing two light punches on him before embracing Yun Zimo and sobbing aloud.

"Alright, alright."

Exhausted, Yun Zimo patted Xiao Yi Xian's back and reached out to pull her into his arms.

"Stop crying, stop crying. Look, aren't we both still perfectly fine?"

"You aren't allowed to leave without saying goodbye ever again. It's just a Woe Poison Body, it's not like it can't be solved."

"You knew all along."

Xiao Yi Xian wiped her tears as Yun Zimo wiped the bloodstains from the corner of her mouth and spoke.

"Have you forgotten who taught you medicine? I've finished studying this Seven-Colored Poison Scripture as well."

As he spoke, Yun Zimo gently lifted the hem of Xiao Yi Xian's garment. On her smooth lower abdomen, a winding seven-colored line snaked upward, pointing directly toward her internal organs, but at this moment, a cyan-white seal blocked the line, preventing it from advancing even a fraction further.

Xiao Yi Xian's face flushed slightly. Looking at the mark on her abdomen, her heart was nearly overflowing with emotion.

Gazing at his handsome face so close to her own, she could barely suppress the feelings in her heart, but the moment she thought of her hopeless constitution, the light in her eyes rapidly dimmed.

"There is no way..."

Xiao Yi Xian's body remained in Yun Zimo's arms, her dejected voice laced with a hint of a sob; despair had long since swallowed her whole.

"I know of one person who can solve the Woe Poison Body!"

Xiao Yi Xian's eyes brightened, only to dim again instantly; she assumed Yun Zimo was merely trying to comfort her.

"Believe in me! Just like you did six years ago!"

Xiao Yi Xian looked up at Yun Zimo, and in a trance, the scene overlapped with that moment from six years ago.

The perspective of the two was exactly as it had been six years prior!

"Believe in me, Xiao Yi Xian!"