A Hair's Breadth from Disaster

When Ye Wan brought Chen Fan into the valley, many of its residents crowded around them, their expressions visibly agitated. It seemed they all knew Ye Wan. One woman hurried to Ye Wan's side and asked anxiously, "Wan'er, you finally came back. How did it go? Did you find the antidote?"

For a moment, Ye Wan did not know how to answer. The people of this valley had lived here for generations, like one great family. Whenever one household faced trouble, everyone did their utmost to help. This time, when her younger sister had fallen into danger, everyone had worried themselves sick. Now, Ye Wan was their only hope, yet she had brought back no good news.

Just then, Chen Fan suddenly spoke. "Everyone, don't worry. Although Fairy Ye did not find the antidote, she found me. I came here this time to detoxify her."

The crowd was instantly overjoyed. Some even cheered and jumped for joy. Several people walked at the front, signaling for the crowd not to block the way. Thus, Chen Fan and Ye Wan were ushered all the way to Ye Wan's younger sister's residence.

The moment they entered the small house, Ye Wan leaned close to Chen Fan's ear and whispered, "This poison is extremely strange. Are you really confident you can cure it?" Along the way, Chen Fan had kept comforting her, saying that he had encountered those human traffickers and inhaled that poisonous incense himself, so he had gained some understanding of it. But Ye Wan had only taken it as an attempt to comfort her. She had not expected him to truly declare that he would detoxify her sister the moment he arrived, and she was somewhat surprised.

Chen Fan did not answer Ye Wan directly. He walked into the inner bedroom and saw a girl of twelve or thirteen lying quietly on the bed. Her face was utterly bloodless, and her breathing was weak. One look told him she had gone without food for a long time. If another three to five days passed, she would likely starve to death outright.

Chen Fan walked to the bedside, pressed two fingers against the girl's brow, and closed his eyes to sense her condition for a while. Then his fingers moved to her neck. After a moment, he raised his head and said to Ye Wan, "As expected, she's been poisoned by Spirit-Mystifying Incense." Few could match his familiarity with this incense, so after examining her, he could immediately confirm it. Chen Fan could not help sighing inwardly. Even a child with a constitution as strong as Ye Wan's younger sister could not resist the poison's effects. The fate of those abducted children was easy to imagine.

"We investigated in Pingliang City before, but we couldn't find an antidote. Do you really have a way?" Ye Wan asked again. At this moment, she was like a helpless child. Seeing Chen Fan's confident appearance was like seeing a lifeline. She looked at him, her eyes brimming with expectation.

Chen Fan was drumming in his heart as well. If the girl had only recently been poisoned, he could have given her the pills he had refined to control the poison first. Then, with Ye Wan's Internal Qi cultivation, she could slowly dissolve the poison until the girl recovered completely. But it was clearly too late now. The girl could no longer endure any further strain, nor could she swallow pills. One slight mistake, and she would croak on the spot.

He had just claimed he came to detoxify her. Was he about to get slapped in the face already? Being embarrassed was a small matter. Wan'er's younger sister would be his younger sister from now on. At that thought, Chen Fan's expression abruptly turned solemn. He said to Ye Wan, "We returned too late. Your sister's condition is now hanging by a thread. We can only take a gamble! What happens next may not be pleasant to watch, so please have the villagers wait outside."

Ye Wan froze at his words, but she did not hesitate. Turning around, she persuaded the onlookers to leave the house. Then she returned to the room and closed the door. Her heart was tense beyond measure, and she knew her younger sister's life was likely... At that thought, glistening tears welled up in her eyes.

Chen Fan glanced at Ye Wan, his heart heavy as well. He sighed softly, then wasted no more time. He rushed to the girl's side, bent down, and gently parted her lips.

Ye Wan watched in confusion. What was he doing? This guy had kissed her just yesterday—was he going to do something to her younger sister? But she immediately came to her senses. How was that possible? At a time like this, what was she even thinking? Yet the next scene before her made her lovely face drain of color, and she nearly screamed.

A palm-sized dagger suddenly appeared in Chen Fan's hand. Then he slashed directly at his wrist. In an instant, the razor-sharp dagger cut through his skin, and blood began to seep out continuously.

What was he doing? Slitting his wrist to kill himself? Ye Wan was completely dumbfounded by Chen Fan's actions and could only stare blankly.

As blood flowed from his wrist, a trace of resolve appeared in Chen Fan's eyes. He directly held the wound between the girl's lips, letting the blood slowly flow into her mouth.

This was... feeding her his own blood? What was going on? Ye Wan now knew what Chen Fan intended to do, but she still could not understand what use it would serve. Just as she was about to step forward to look, Chen Fan raised the index finger of his other hand to his lips, signaling for her to stay quiet and not come closer.

From then on, Ye Wan could only stand where she was, staring blankly at the blood-feeding process before her. Yet inwardly, she became even more panicked and helpless. What exactly was this for? Could this detoxify her? But was there even such a detoxification method? It was simply unheard of. Even if it could cure the poison, if he lost too much blood, would he die? Countless question marks plagued Ye Wan's mind.

Chen Fan's actions were naturally not without purpose. He had once seen a peculiar detoxification method in the Treasure Record: when a poisoned person's condition had persisted too long, their vital signs nearly vanished, no medicine could reach them, and Internal Qi could not be forcibly guided into their body. One could fuse the detoxifying substance with the Origin Qi of heaven and earth, then continuously inject it into the poisoned person's mouth. By relying on the body's instinctive ability to absorb, the medicinal effect could spread throughout the body, allowing for slow yet stable recovery.

According to the Treasure Record, the detoxifying substance had to fuse with the primordial energy of heaven and earth. This was not as simple as directly ingesting the energy and antidote together, but a more complex process of reaction and fusion, somewhat like how the giant snake had previously absorbed the primordial energy of heaven and earth and transformed it into venom. Neither he nor Ye Wan, at their current realms, could easily accomplish such an operation in a short time. So he thought of his own constitution. With his ability to eat poison and drink poison, he was no less formidable than Eastern Heretic and Western Venom. In other words, there had to be products within his body formed from poison fused with the primordial energy of heaven and earth. Since he could not spit venom or anything of the sort, the only thing he could think of was bloodletting. His blood surely hid such an effect as well. He was not entirely certain, but after analyzing it all, he still believed it was feasible.

Yet even if his blood worked, it was not a complete antidote. Its principle was still fighting poison with poison. But as long as it could suppress the poison of the Spirit-Mystifying Incense, Fairy Ye should be able to handle the rest.

Blood continued to flow into the girl's mouth. Chen Fan kept two fingers from his other hand on her neck, sensing the changes within her body. Second by second, Chen Fan's face grew paler and paler. Yet he could also feel the girl's pulse becoming increasingly distinct. His blood must have taken effect.

At last, Ye Wan could no longer hold herself back. She rushed to the bedside, only to see a faint smile appear on Chen Fan's pale face. The next moment, Chen Fan's body went limp and he was about to collapse to the ground. Ye Wan reached out and caught him, tapping several points on his wrist in succession. The blood instantly stopped flowing. Just as she was about to ask him something, Chen Fan said weakly, "Quick... go save her, or my blood will have been shed for nothing..." Before he could finish, his eyes rolled back and he fainted.

This... Ye Wan's heart clenched with panic. But there was not a moment to waste. She still chose to follow Chen Fan's words and save her younger sister first. When she arrived at her sister's side, she could clearly feel that the aura of life within her frail body had recovered considerably. The state caused by the Spirit-Mystifying Incense—where her blood and Qi had congealed and all breath had vanished—had already been lifted by more than half. Ye Wan hurriedly circulated her cultivation to help her continue expelling the poison.

Ye Wan was deeply shaken. Judging from the original situation, she had already abandoned all hope. She had only wanted to see her younger sister one last time, to at least do everything humanly possible. Yet this guy actually... Ye Wan looked again at Chen Fan, who lay collapsed on the floor. Her eyes reddened slightly. What exactly had this guy done? Though she did not know his detoxification method, it was obvious that this was very likely an exchange of one life for another.

At this moment, Chen Fan's place in Ye Wan's heart underwent a heaven-and-earth reversal. Beyond gratitude she could never repay, Ye Wan found that she even wanted to scold this guy. If he died saving her younger sister, what was she supposed to do afterward? At that thought, the tears at the corners of Ye Wan's eyes could no longer be restrained and streamed down her face.

Because she had to keep using her arts on her younger sister, she could not examine Chen Fan's injuries. Her heart was frantic with anxiety, and she could only silently watch Chen Fan and weep alone. If anyone else had seen this scene, they would have been moved to sorrow as well.

Don't die, please. I don't want you to die... Ye Wan kept crying out in her heart. At this time, her younger sister's condition improved further. With Ye Wan's Internal Qi realm, so long as her sister's body could withstand the injection of her Origin Qi, the poison of the Spirit-Mystifying Incense was nothing worth mentioning. Ye Wan could also vaguely sense an indistinct fluctuation of Origin Qi within her sister's body, neither quite poison nor not poison. That should have been brought in by Chen Fan's blood, right? What kind of freak was this boy?

However, she felt that whatever was contained in that blood did not harm her younger sister. After Ye Wan expelled all the Spirit-Mystifying Incense poison that had invaded her sister's body, she stopped attending to her and rushed straight to Chen Fan.

By then, Chen Fan's face was even paler, and his breathing was extremely weak. When she touched his hands, they were ice-cold. It was clearly caused by excessive blood loss. This fool! If he had let himself bleed for even a little longer, he might already have passed on. If Chen Fan had been poisoned or injured, Ye Wan would have had a way to help him recover. But in this situation, she was utterly at her wits' end and could only pray that his vitality was strong enough for him to pull through.

Ye Wan suddenly pulled Chen Fan into her arms. The only thing she could do now was at least keep him from being so cold and slightly aid the circulation of blood through his body. As she held Chen Fan, she suddenly remembered the endless tenderness of the previous night, when they had seemed to be embracing as well. But then, she had completely lost her reason, while Chen Fan had burned like a blazing sun. It was nothing like their current embrace. She could feel as though Chen Fan's vitality had faded a little more.

"No! Don't!" she roared wildly, tears streaming down without end. She pressed her cheek tightly against Chen Fan's nose and mouth, sensing his breath. Chen Fan's breathing was weak, appearing and disappearing, as though he might stop breathing at any moment. Ye Wan panicked. Suddenly, she kissed Chen Fan once more. This time, she was completely clear-headed. Their lips met as Ye Wan frantically urged her True Essence, pouring streams of vital essence into Chen Fan's body through their lips and teeth.

This method was similar to the artificial-respiration resuscitation used by ordinary people, except that when cultivators used it, the effect should be somewhat better. However, for Chen Fan's current state, it was undoubtedly a cup of water against a cartload of firewood.

Ye Wan continued holding Chen Fan, sending some Origin Qi into his mouth from time to time. Second by second, time passed. After who knew how long, an almost inaudible voice sounded. "Is this heaven? Just as beautiful as the rumors said." Chen Fan slightly opened his eyes and looked at Ye Wan, and a besotted expression unexpectedly appeared in his gaze.

"Hmph, you're already this weak, yet you're still thinking about such things! If I'd known, I wouldn't have bothered with you." Though Ye Wan said this, she was clearly overjoyed. The tears she had only just stopped instantly came flooding out again.

"So I didn't die. If I'd known, I would've pretended to stay unconscious a while longer." Chen Fan was still weak, but so long as he could catch his breath, with a cultivator's powerful constitution, he only needed to rest and recuperate for a time, then meditate and circulate his cultivation to breathe in the Origin Qi of heaven and earth, and he would recover completely.

"Don't ever do that again, understand? It was too dangerous." Ye Wan's voice was filled with tenderness.

"I'll listen to you in everything." Chen Fan forced out a faint smile. "How is your younger sister?"

"She's out of danger now. This time, it's all thanks to you..." She had many questions she wanted to ask Chen Fan, but it was clearly not the right time.

Afterward, Chen Fan recuperated at Ye Wan's household, while Ye Wan stayed by her younger sister's side each day. Strangely, although her younger sister had already awakened, she could only lie there and could not speak. Several days passed, yet the situation remained the same, and Ye Wan began to feel somewhat worried.