"The Heavenly Poison Pearl."
Xiao Lin slowly uttered those words, his voice low, yet seemingly imbued with a mysterious magic that silenced the entire stone chamber.
"The Heavenly Poison Pearl?"
Xiao Yi Xian murmured, her brows knitting slightly. She had read widely in her pursuit of medical knowledge, yet she had never encountered that name in any ancient text.
"A miraculous pearl containing boundless space, with supreme powers of poison and purification."
Xiao Lin explained, his tone carrying a profound significance.
"It can devour every poison under heaven and refine all things through its power of purification. If placed within your dantian, it can absorb every trace of poison that escapes the control of your Woeful Poison Body. Its purification power can also repeatedly temper your Dou Qi, until finally..."
He paused, watching her eyes tremble slightly with excitement.
"You turn poison into your source and enter the Dao through poison. Then your cultivation speed will far surpass that of ordinary people, and you will have no further worries."
Xiao Yi Xian's heart surged as she listened, an unnatural flush spreading across her lovely face.
She stepped forward and seized Xiao Lin's sleeve, her voice turning somewhat shrill with urgency.
"Brother Xiao Lin! This Heavenly Poison Pearl... where can I find it?!"
Xiao Lin lowered his gaze to the small hand that had gone pale from gripping so tightly, and a meaningful smile curved his lips.
He slowly raised his eyes, his gaze seeming to pierce the stone chamber's vaulted ceiling and reach toward the distant horizon.
"As it happens, that object isn't very far from here."
"It's within the Misty Cloud Sect."
"The Misty Cloud Sect?!" Xiao Yi Xian cried out involuntarily.
"Indeed." Xiao Lin nodded, his voice drifting softly to her.
"Have you ever heard of 'Inheritors'?"
Xiao Lin turned to look at the flush gradually fading from her lovely face and asked pointedly.
Xiao Yi Xian's red lips parted slightly. She had indeed heard that name-
Several months earlier, news of [Inheritors] had spread throughout the Jia Ma Empire through the Misty Cloud Sect's deliberate publicity. Even a humble physician living in secluded Qingshan Town like her had heard of it.
"You mean... people like the Misty Cloud Sect Master and the young sect master?"
Xiao Lin nodded, his voice low and distant.
"In recent years, a handful of people with strange abilities have emerged across the continent. Some awakened special constitutions, some obtained heaven-defying treasures, and some learned powerful cultivation methods in their dreams... whether innate or acquired, none of these abilities had ever appeared on the continent before."
"And those who possess these things from beyond our world are collectively known as-Inheritors."
Xiao Yi Xian stared at him blankly as countless thoughts flashed through her mind.
Inheritors... things from beyond this world... could my Woeful Poison Body be one of them?
As though seeing through her thoughts, Xiao Lin suddenly smiled, his expression carrying a deeper meaning.
"The Woeful Poison Body has appeared on this continent since ancient times. It isn't a constitution from another world."
"But that Snow-Colored Swan Kiss you possess truly is something from beyond this world."
"What?!" Xiao Yi Xian shuddered, as though struck by lightning.
She had obtained that crystalline, blood-colored plant "by chance" in a secluded spot several years earlier.
At the time, she had only felt that its aura was strange and that it shared a deep affinity with her. She had known nothing of its origins.
Now Xiao Lin had revealed it with a single remark. He even knew this secret down to the last detail!
"You... how do you know about the Snow-Colored Swan Kiss?!" Her voice trembled, her eyes filled with shock.
Xiao Lin did not answer. He merely raised his hand, a strand of heavenly Dao energy flowing around his fingertip as he traced the outline of a plant in the air, its long, slender leaves curving like a swan's neck.
The outline was identical to the Snow-Colored Swan Kiss, down to the fine patterns on its petals.
Xiao Yi Xian drew in a sharp breath. As she stared at that illusory outline, her heart churned like an overturned sea.
Just what kind of being is Brother Xiao Lin? Before his eyes, I seem to have no secrets at all!
"Then the Heavenly Poison Pearl..." She forcibly suppressed her shock and pressed him urgently.
"Could it also be an Inheritor's possession?"
"Clever."
Xiao Lin withdrew his energy and turned to look beyond the stone chamber, his voice drifting softly back to her.
"Yun Shan, the former master of the Misty Cloud Sect, had a son named Yun Che. His talent was extraordinary, and he should have been the undisputed choice to become the sect's next master. Yet several years ago, he suddenly vanished without a trace under mysterious circumstances."
"And the Heavenly Poison Pearl... was his inheritance."
He turned back, a playful glint flashing in his eyes.
Xiao Yi Xian's emotions rose and fell as she listened, but many questions also arose, drawing her delicate brows into a tight frown.
"If Yun Che disappeared, wouldn't the Heavenly Poison Pearl have disappeared with him? How could I possibly obtain it..."
A meaningful smile curved Xiao Lin's lips. "Because although Yun Che has never been found, alive or dead, the Heavenly Poison Pearl remained in the Misty Cloud Sect, under the personal safekeeping of its former master, Yun Shan."
"Unfortunately, Yun Shan doesn't know the Heavenly Poison Pearl's wondrous uses, nor can he refine it for his own use. He simply keeps it with him as a memento, while still sending people to the Central Plains Continent to search quietly for traces of Yun Che."
At this point, Xiao Lin shrugged and spoke with apparent helplessness.
"But those efforts are futile. As for Yun Che himself... he left this world long ago."
"What?!" Xiao Yi Xian cried out, her eyes widening.
"Left this world... what does that mean? Are you saying he left the Dou Qi Continent?!"
"If things from worlds beyond can enter this world, then naturally, someone with the right extraordinary opportunity can leave it as well."
Xiao Lin spoke slowly, his tone as calm as though he were discussing some ordinary triviality.
"But whether someone can leave still depends on the world will's judgment. The man could go, but the Heavenly Poison Pearl had to stay."
"..."
Xiao Yi Xian's mouth hung so wide open that she felt she could fit an egg inside.
"This secret... even the Misty Cloud Sect didn't know it. Brother Xiao Lin, how did you find out?"
After calming herself somewhat, Xiao Yi Xian seemed to catch something he had overlooked. She stared at Xiao Lin suspiciously, an inexplicable hint of scrutiny entering her gaze.
"That isn't important. What matters is whether you want to obtain it." Xiao Lin waved a hand, ignoring her look.
"Of course I do... after all, something like Heavenly Flames is still far beyond my reach."
Xiao Yi Xian lowered her head at his words, seemingly still far from optimistic about her condition.
"Brother Xiao Lin..."
She lowered her head and took a deep breath, a gleam of resolve flashing in her eyes.
"Since you can tell me all this, surely... surely you have a way, don't you?!"
Xiao Lin watched her quietly, the curve of his smile deepening.
He slowly stepped forward and gently lifted her chin with his fingertip, forcing her to look directly into his eyes.
"Since I've told you how to resolve your poison body's problem, naturally, I also have a way to obtain it."
A shadowy light shimmered in his eyes, and even his voice seemed imbued with a magic that could draw a person helplessly into its depths.
"I can help you join the Misty Cloud Sect."
Before you continue