Chongren Ward, Gao Residence.
Candlelight flickered in the underground secret chamber.
Gao Jian paced anxiously inside the chamber, glancing now toward the entrance, now toward the figure seated as immovable as a boulder. At last, he could not help speaking, his voice dry with tension. "Senior Yin, the arrangements at the Spirit Pivot Institute... are they truly foolproof? Lu Changfeng is a highly skilled physician, and he has the Shennong Glazed Glass Art. What if..."
"There is no what if."
Yin Xuanhe interrupted him, his voice like the low cry of a night owl.
He remained shrouded in his deep-purple cloak, his withered fingers stroking the shaft of his snake staff. "The Marrow-Drying Curse Seal is the most vicious of the Eight Curses of the Yin Meridians. Its power takes root in the yin linking meridian, eroding bone and rotting flesh. Even Shennong Qi cultivated through a Sixth Tier art can only work slowly. Otherwise, the yin linking meridian will be damaged, leaving the victim's life hanging by a thread."
"And when transferring qi to save someone, nothing is more costly than circulating it slowly. The slower it flows, the greater the expenditure. With all eight patients in the same condition, no matter how abundant his true qi or how divine his medical skill, he will inevitably exhaust most of his Xiantian cultivation. His mind and spirit will be worn out, his lamp drained of oil!"
He looked at Gao Jian, a trace of mockery in his tone. "Do not forget, Pavilion Commander Gao, these eight are merely an appetizer, poisoned bait he has no choice but to swallow. Only after he has treated them, when he is at his weakest, will the killing blow come!"
At those words, vicious delight flashed through Gao Jian's eyes, as though he could