Changing Qian Renxue's Fate

"Don't move."

Bai Li reached Qian Renxue's side in a few steps and supported her left arm.

Beneath the slashed cuff, the red scar that had originally been only the length of a fingernail had turned dark purple, and a thin line of poison was climbing up along her lower arm.

Han Yue leaned against a tree and sat down, the smile on his face gone.

"The same as mine?"

"Not the same."

Bai Li lowered her head to inspect the injury.

"You were slashed directly by a spider leg, but Xiaoxue was only grazed by a spider web, so the poison that entered won't be as much as yours."

Han Yue breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's good then."

"What's good?"

Bai Li glared at him.

"Man-Faced Demon Spider poison is still poison even if there's a little less of it."

She took out the medicine bottle again and poured out an Antidote Pill.

Qian Renxue took it and swallowed it.

The few of them all stared at her arm.

A few breaths later, the speed at which the poison line was spreading really did slow down.

Yet it didn't stop.

Bai Li's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

"Back to the city."

She put away the medicine bottle.

"We leave right now."

Han Yue braced his short axe and prepared to stand up.

"She's lighter than I am, so we should make it in time, right?"

"As long as we don't delay on the road again—"

Bai Li hadn't even finished speaking when Lu Yuan already looked toward the top of Qian Renxue's head.

[Qian Renxue]
[Today, Qingshi Valley]
[Fate Node: Severe Injury]

There was no change.

Lu Yuan didn't move.

"Wait, don't leave yet."

Bai Li turned her head back.

"What is it?"

Han Yue also frowned.

Han Yue's death node had already changed.

That meant as long as they hurried back to Spirit City, they could save the person.

Yet Qian Renxue was different.

Her severe injury node was still firmly hanging right there.

In other words, just heading back like this right now was still not enough.

Lu Yuan squatted down beside Qian Renxue.

"Does your hand still have feeling?"

Qian Renxue moved her fingers slightly.

The movement was obviously slower than usual.

"A bit numb."

"What about pain?"

"It hurt just a moment ago."

"Now?"

"Not much feeling left."

Bai Li's expression instantly sank quite a bit.

"No pain is not a good thing."

She inspected it all over again.

The Antidote Pill had already taken effect.

Although the poison line was still spreading, it was much slower than before.

Logically speaking, as long as they returned to Spirit City immediately, it should be in time.

Yet the gray text in Lu Yuan's eyes still hadn't dissipated.

He stared at the wound for a few breaths.

Suddenly he noticed that a spot in the middle had the wrong color.

Grayish-white, very thin.

It looked like a strand of hair stuck to the skin.

"Right here."

Lu Yuan raised a finger and pointed over.

"Is there still something there?"

Bai Li followed the position he pointed to and lowered her head.

She didn't spot it at first glance.

She leaned in closer, and her expression changed abruptly.

"An arrow."

The Short-Spear Youth hurriedly pulled one out from his quiver and handed it to her.

Bai Li used the tip of the arrow to gently poke at it a few times.

A nearly transparent fine thread was actually picked up bit by bit from the middle of the wound.

It was only half an inch long, and the end was still firmly stuck to the skin.

Han Yue's face turned dark as he watched.

"Spider silk?"

Bai Li didn't speak.

She swiftly cleaned away the residual silk, rinsed the injury repeatedly with water, and finally sprinkled a layer of medicinal powder over it again.

"I was only paying attention to the spider web on her clothes just now."

Qian Renxue didn't blame her.

"It's so thin, it's normal not to have seen it."

"What's normal."

Bai Li's complexion didn't look good.

"Leaving it there all this time is equivalent to letting poison seep into the wound the whole way."

Han Yue leaned against the tree and let out a laugh.

"You'll probably get scolded when you get back."

Bai Li raised her head to look at him.

"If you still have the energy to gloat, walk by yourself."

Han Yue immediately shut his mouth.

Lu Yuan still stared at the top of Qian Renxue's head.

The gray text was still there.

The spider silk had already been cleared away.

Why hadn't it changed yet?

Qian Renxue raised her left hand.

Faint golden light emerged from her fingertips.

Lu Yuan noticed it at the very first moment.

The Six-Winged Angel's soul power was slowly flowing along her arm.

Almost at the exact same time the golden light appeared—

That dark purple poison line that had already slowed down suddenly surged upward by a small section.

Lu Yuan's pupils constricted.

"Stop!"

Qian Renxue looked up.

"What?"

"Don't circulate your soul power."

"I want to suppress the poison."

"Stop first."

Lu Yuan stared at her arm.

"The poison had already slowed down just a moment ago."

"The moment you moved your soul power, it rushed upward again."

Bai Li abruptly lowered her head.

Sure enough, that poison line was a section longer than it was before.

She quickly reacted.

"Qi and blood."

Han Yue also looked toward her.

Bai Li had already reached out and pressed down on Qian Renxue's wrist.

"He's right."

"Soul power circulation will drive your qi and blood. What you're doing right now isn't suppressing the poison; you're carrying the poison along as it moves upward."

Qian Renxue looked toward Lu Yuan.

"Are you sure it only sped up after I moved my soul power?"

"I was watching the whole time."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"Stop and look again."

Qian Renxue didn't continue to ask.

The golden light at her fingertips rapidly dissipated.

The soul power that had originally been actively circulating inside her body was also calmed down by her bit by bit.

None of them spoke.

Lu Yuan kept staring at that poison line.

Finally.

It stopped.

After a while longer, the dark purple at the very top began to slowly grow lighter.

Bai Li let out a breath.

"That's right."

She re-bandaged the wound for Qian Renxue.

"Don't actively circulate your soul power again."

"Leave it to the Healing Soul Master after we return to the city."

Qian Renxue gave a soft acknowledgment.

Yet Lu Yuan had already raised his head.

The gray text above her head swayed gently.

[Fate Node: Severe Injury]

The two characters for Severe Injury gradually blurred.

Finally, they completely scattered.

New text emerged.

[Qian Renxue's severe injury node has changed]
[Obtained Origin of Destiny]

The breath that had been tightly held in Lu Yuan's chest finally relaxed.

It worked!

This was the first time he had truly changed Qian Renxue's fate.

The girl whom the Eye of Destiny had first seen linked together with the three characters "Xue Qinghe".

The severe injury that originally belonged to her had genuinely been moved away from her fate by him.

The next moment.

A warm current noticeably richer than before poured into his body.

The strand of the Origin of Destiny obtained from changing Han Yue's death node hadn't completely dissipated yet.

At this moment, two forces seemed to collide within his body.

The Dark Iron Spear in Lu Yuan's palm shook fiercely.

Hum!

That streak of dark gold patterns that had already emerged at the tail of the spear suddenly lit up.

The vibration was several times stronger than just now.

"Lu Yuan?"

Qian Renxue raised her head.

Han Yue and Bai Li also looked over at the same time.

A second dark gold pattern appeared following that.

Then came the third one.

Strip after strip of fine patterns continuously spread upward from the tail of the spear.

It did not look like it was carved on.

Instead, it looked like it had been hidden inside the spear body all along, only truly awakening until this very moment.

The spear body remained pitch black.

Yet the color was deeper than before.

The roughness originally like ordinary iron gradually faded away bit by bit.

Lu Yuan instinctively gripped the spear shaft tighter.

Soon he noticed another change.

Smooth.

Previously, he was only six years old, and the Dark Iron Spear was taller than his entire person; even after practicing for so long, holding it for a long time would still make him tired.

Yet now, the actual weight of the spear did not truly vanish, but that obvious heavy-handed feeling grew much weaker.

As if this spear were actively adapting to his body.

The dark gold patterns traveled all the way up.

Finally, they all converged at the spear tip.

On both sides of the originally ordinary black spear tip, two extremely thin dark gold edge lines slowly emerged.

Hum—

The final soft chime fell.

All vibrations abruptly ceased.

New gray text appeared before Lu Yuan's eyes.

[Origin of Destiny absorbed]
[First evolution of Martial Soul completed]
[Dark Iron Spear → Piercing Spear]

First evolution.

Lu Yuan stared at those three words for a few breaths.

Piercing Spear.

Han Yue no longer had the spare capacity to care that he was still poisoned.

"Wait a second."

He leaned against a tree to stand a bit straighter.

"Was your spear like this just now?"

"No."

The Short-Spear Youth also walked two steps closer.

He himself was an instrument martial soul user of the spear type, and he looked much more carefully than the others.

"The spear tip has changed."

"There is this here too."

He pointed at the dark gold patterns on the spear shaft.

"Just now clearly only the tail of the spear had a little bit."

Bai Li frowned.

"Martial soul mutation?"

Han Yue glanced at her.

"Have you seen it?"

"Never seen it."

"Then you speak so with certainty."

"At the very least I know that a martial soul that just awakened not long ago won't turn into this for no reason."

The gazes of several people simultaneously fell onto Lu Yuan.

Qian Renxue did not speak.

She had seen Lu Yuan's initial Dark Iron Spear.

During youth special training, at the outer courtyard of the consecration hall, and when fighting the Man-Faced Demon Spider just now, she had seen it all.

It was definitely not like this right now.

Lu Yuan temporarily ignored them.

Soul power slowly poured into the Piercing Spear.

The moment he thought of moving.

His soul power had already rushed straight to the spear tip along the spear shaft.

Lu Yuan stopped for a split second himself.

Too smooth.

In the past, when soul power entered the Dark Iron Spear, there would always be a slight sluggishness.

After using it for a long time, he had almost grown accustomed to it.

Now that layer of obstruction was completely gone.

Han Yue saw him staring fixedly at the spear.

"Want to try it?"

Bai Li turned her head.

"Did you forget that you are poisoned?"

"It's not me trying it."

Han Yue motioned with his chin toward the Man-Faced Demon Spider on the ground.

"Isn't that thing's carapace quite hard?"

Lu Yuan looked over as well.

The abdomen of the Man-Faced Demon Spider had already been split open by Han Yue's third soul skill.

The dorsal carapace, however, was still intact.

He walked to the side of the corpse.

He did not activate Piercing Edge.

Neither did he deliberately channel his strength.

Gripping the spear with both hands, he stabbed directly at a complete patch of black-purple carapace.

Plop.

The spear tip sank in by half an inch.

The Short-Spear Youth squatted down immediately.

"It really pierced through?"

Han Yue's mouth corners twitched as well.

"Could that Dark Iron Spear of yours from before do that?"

"No."

Lu Yuan pulled out the Piercing Spear.

The dark gold edge lines were still intact.

There was no rolling of the edge.

He could not even see the slightest bit of wear and tear.

An ordinary stab could break armor.

What if he used Piercing Edge as well?

The moment Lu Yuan had this thought, Bai Li had already stood up.

"Test it after returning to the city."

"There are two poisoned people here."

She looked at Han Yue.

"Especially you."

Han Yue turned around and left.

"Let's go."

Bai Li was even slightly stunned.

"Suddenly so obedient?"

"My right leg is about to lose all feeling."

"..."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Just found out."

The team delayed no further.

The corpse of the Man-Faced Demon Spider was too large, so they could only leave a Spirit Hall mark and send people to handle it after returning to the city.

Han Yue walked slower and slower, and in the end was still supported by the Short-Spear Youth.

Qian Renxue's condition was lighter.

The poison line was no longer spreading, only her left arm was temporarily unable to exert strength.

Along the way, Lu Yuan did not put away the Piercing Spear.

The new weight.

The new soul power conduction.

The new sharpness.

Every single thing required re-adaptation.

Until dusk, the high walls of Spirit City finally appeared at the end of his vision.

A team of people had already been waiting outside the north gate for a long time.

Several healing soul masters swiftly rushed up to meet them.

"Han Yue!"

"Look at the young lord first."

"I can still speak."

Han Yue raised his right leg.

"It's just about to lose all feeling."

The healing soul master completely ignored his nonsense and directly carried him away by force.

On the other side, someone also arrived before Qian Renxue.

Bai Li followed along to explain the process of the poisoning.

Before leaving, Qian Renxue turned her head back.

Her gaze landed on Lu Yuan first.

Then it fell onto the Piercing Spear.

"I will look for you tomorrow."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"Go detoxify the poison first."

Qian Renxue did not retort.

Shortly after, she followed the healing soul master into the city.

Lu Yuan was just preparing to return to the East Training Area.

Ahead of him, however, an extra figure stood.

An old man wearing golden robes stood by the roadside.

Lu Yuan had never seen him before.

The old man did not introduce himself first either, his gaze simply resting on the Piercing Spear.

From the tail of the spear.

All the way up to the spear tip.

He paused for a full several breaths.

"Lu Yuan?"

"Yes."

Only then did the old man raise his eyes.

"Don't return to the training area."

Lu Yuan gripped the Piercing Spear.

"Where to?"

The old man glanced toward the depths of Spirit City.

"The grand pontiff wants to see you."