"Senior Sister, you're so good to me."
Zhao Changfeng could not help laughing sarcastically, the dejection in his expression no longer possible to conceal.
All his efforts and attempts had come to nothing. He felt he would likely not escape death this time, and though he was unwilling to accept it, he could only resign himself to his fate.
Perhaps something will go wrong during her breakthrough. Perhaps there's still a chance...
Zhao Changfeng still clung to a thread of hope, waiting for some unexpected turn that might let him escape this calamity.
"Don't blame me."
Knowing Zhao Changfeng would soon die, Ruan Meizhen stopped hiding her intentions and said softly, "You chose to join the sect."
As she spoke, she lightly flicked a finger. A wisp of jade-green smoke cloud containing the shapes of countless tiny poisonous insects seeped from Zhao Changfeng's chest into his flesh.
Numbness and weakness swept through his entire body. Zhao Changfeng no longer had the strength to stand. He first sank to the ground, then fell onto his back with his limbs turned skyward.
The night sky was cold and clear, chilly stars sharing it with a full moon, but Zhao Changfeng had no heart to admire the sight.
The numbing poison slowly spread through every limb and bone. Gradually, he lost even the ability to twitch a finger, finally becoming a lamb awaiting slaughter.
He utterly loathed this feeling of helplessness, yet he truly was helpless.
Ruan Meizhen was right beside him, preparing the things she needed for her breakthrough with faint rustling sounds. He could only hear those weak noises; he could not even watch how she attempted her breakthrough.
His mouth could make no sound, so he could not provoke or distract her with words.
Apart from idle thoughts, there was nothing he could do.
Beyond the heavens... I wonder whether that Bronze Cauldron can appear again. I wonder...
He could only pin his hopes on a miracle from outside, praying that fate might favor him.
Strangely, he really could faintly sense that Bronze Cauldron, suspended somewhere far beyond the heavens, as motionless as he was now.
Previously, he had only known that the Bronze Cauldron existed in the Outer Domain Starry Sky, but had been unable to sense it at all.
The cauldron hasn't appeared, yet I can clearly sense its existence. What's different about me now?
Is it because I advanced to the yuanqi stage? Or because the illusory Small Cauldron in my sea of spiritual qi took shape again?
Unwilling to give up, Zhao Changfeng could not move his limbs and could only probe with his senses in secret.
Eventually, he confirmed that the reason he could detect the Bronze Cauldron beyond the heavens was the illusory Small Cauldron within his own body.
Since the Small Cauldron within him had originated from the mysterious power bestowed from beyond the heavens, it seemed to have become a medium between him and the Heavenly Cauldron from Beyond the Heavens.
Unfortunately, merely sensing it did not let him do anything. It still could not help him escape his current predicament.
Suddenly, a bold conjecture came to him.
According to them, once a cultivator successfully enters the primordial spirit realm, the sea of divine sense in their mind is activated, allowing them to refine their soul into a primordial spirit.
An ordinary person's perception is intangible, but perception in the primordial spirit realm is called divine sense-a strange power that is real and visible.
Stronger cultivators can even send their primordial spirits outside their bodies to perform all manner of incredible feats. Even if their flesh is annihilated, their primordial spirits can survive.
Right now, I can only sense the Heavenly Cauldron from Beyond the Heavens. But if I could open the sea of divine sense in my upper dantian and refine a primordial spirit of my own, could I use it to truly connect with the cauldron?
Possibilities flooded Zhao Changfeng's imagination.
What a pity...
His boundless imaginings ended in despair.
After an unknown stretch of time, Zhao Changfeng gradually heard intermittent gasps. They clearly came from Senior Sister Ruan beside him. Despite her desperate efforts to suppress them, they sounded like sobbing.
Having experienced it himself, Zhao Changfeng knew how arduous a realm breakthrough was, and Ruan Meizhen was attempting to enter the even higher primordial spirit realm.
Naturally, he felt not a shred of pity. He only felt that surviving in this world truly meant facing danger at every step.
For cultivators, this was especially true. One careless mistake could plunge them into eternal ruin.
If I survive, I'll do everything I can to pursue higher realms and greater combat strength.
Zhao Changfeng thought silently.
"Wah! Wah!"
Ruan Meizhen broke into tearful wails, as though she had recalled the most tragic experience of her life, one that left her in unbearable anguish.
Having experienced failure himself, Zhao Changfeng immediately realized that heart-demon evil desire had turned against her. This breakthrough attempt would likely end badly.
Sure enough!
Unable to see his surroundings, Zhao Changfeng heard the sound of a body laboriously crawling across the sand. He immediately realized that Ruan Meizhen's condition was far worse than he had imagined.
Ruan Meizhen could no longer even walk!
A hand slowly felt its way toward him, then seized his left hand with difficulty. He knew it was Senior Sister Ruan's only hand, which usually looked so soft, smooth, and alluring.
Now, however, Zhao Changfeng felt his hair stand on end.
Through their joined hands, an invisible, intensely poisonous power poured madly from Ruan Meizhen into his body. In an instant, it flooded his flesh with a force countless times fiercer than the paralyzing poison from before.
Glowing specks of various poisons seemed to become tangible things, darting through his organs, his stomach and intestines, his blood, and even his marrow.
Zhao Changfeng suffered agony worse than death, yet could not make a sound. He could only await death's arrival.
In the distance.
The members of the Crippled Demon Sect seemed scattered about, but in fact remained within sight of one another, not far apart.
Rustle! Rustle!
Chen Haoming and Ling Mei, who had disappeared for a while, emerged from behind a mound of sand and returned to sit where the others were gathered.
Ling Mei, who had contributed a defective "Spiritual Qi Pill" to Zhao Changfeng, had sand clinging to her rumpled robes, and the hair at her temples was disheveled.
She kept her head lowered, looking at no one.
As though nothing had happened, Chen Haoming took out a spirit stone and began cultivating without another word.
Everyone had heard Ling Mei's faint cries of pain and knew perfectly well what had just happened, but no one had intervened. Clearly, they had tacitly approved of Chen Haoming's actions.
Life was the most precious thing of all.
Her "Spiritual Qi Pill" had been defective and nearly ruined Ruan Meizhen's plans. When the enraged Ruan Meizhen had been about to kill her, it was Chen Haoming who had spoken up to save her.
In everyone's eyes, a little repayment with her body was hardly worth mentioning. Each of them remained indifferent.
Yet no one knew that the defective "Spiritual Qi Pill" had not been taken from a rogue cultivator. Ling Mei had bought it from Chen Haoming inside Demon Mountain.
She had paid spirit stones and had also been forced to offer her body, yet what she received was a defective "Spiritual Qi Pill."
She dared not reveal the truth in front of Chen Haoming for fear of angering him, so she had only said it came from a rogue cultivator.
Chen Haoming had probably spoken up to save her because he feared she would reveal the matter if she really faced death, leaving no one willing to trade with him secretly afterward.
Chen Haoming was the root of the problem, and he had only saved her to protect his own reputation. Yet he still used the matter to coerce her into offering her body once more.
She was only at the yuanqi stage, with no one in the sect to rely on. She could only obediently submit.
What could she do, even with a heart full of resentment?
Was this not simply the way of the world?
With the others speaking up every quarter of an hour, time passed slowly until two hours had elapsed.
"Judging by the time, it should be about over. Senior Sister Ruan's attempt should have reached a conclusion." Chi Jingchen rose with a heavy heart and suggested, "Shall we go take a look?"
The others stood one after another and walked together toward Ruan Meizhen and Zhao Changfeng. From far away, they saw the two lying on the ground, their hands tightly clasped, like a loving pair of mandarin ducks about to face death together.
The scene looked warm and tender, but their bodies had turned blackish green and were giving off a faint glow of the same color.
"She failed."
Chi Jingchen sighed deeply and shook his head regretfully. "The barrier to the primordial spirit realm truly is incredibly difficult to cross. From the look of Senior Sister Ruan... I'm afraid she won't survive."
A chill spread through everyone's hearts, bringing a heavy sense of oppression. They could not help contemplating their own futures.
Ruan Meizhen had already attempted several breakthroughs.
During her previous attempts, the people who bore the calamity for her had at least allowed her to keep her life despite failing. This time, she had clearly prepared Zhao Changfeng properly as her calamity-bearer, yet she still had not escaped death.
If this happened to her, what about me?
Feeling the cruelty of the cultivation path, none of them even wanted to speak.
"Since she failed, let's divide up Senior Sister Ruan's spirit materials and get moving."
Chen Haoming's expression was cold.
With some lingering reluctance, he cast several more looks at Ruan Meizhen's voluptuous figure before finally barking, "Stop wasting time!"
They had stayed in camp the previous night not only because the demon spirits were stronger at night, but also to wait for Zhao Changfeng to attempt his breakthrough.
This time, they had been waiting for Ruan Meizhen's attempt.
Now that Ruan Meizhen had failed, they could no longer count on her to detect the demon spirits from the primordial spirit realm. They could only begin the journey back to Demon Mountain.
Even if Demon Mountain might be equally perilous, they still had to investigate, because that was where they were most likely to find Teng Kun.
The seven-day deadline was almost up, and Teng Kun had always been punctual. They all placed their hopes in him.
"All right."
Once again, Chi Jingchen stepped forward and stripped Ruan Meizhen of all the spirit materials she carried, even taking the spirit stones whose spiritual power had not yet been exhausted.
Ruan Meizhen, in whom everyone had placed such high hopes, had still been their hope and leader only a few hours earlier. Now, poisoned after her failed breakthrough, she had been ruthlessly abandoned.
No one sighed or lamented. Clearly, they were long accustomed to this.
The group set off into the night.
At the front of the group, Chen Haoming and Zhang Mu walked slowly, occasionally surveying their surroundings and checking the people behind them for signs of demon spirit possession.
"Senior Brother..."
Zhang Mu spoke softly.
Chen Haoming stopped and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Go on. Rush ahead a little first, then take a detour back there."
Although Ruan Meizhen and Zhao Changfeng were at the yuanqi stage, the potent poison afflicting them had tainted their blood, making it useless to his Essence-Devouring Demon Art.
For Zhang Mu, who cultivated the Corpse Demon Art, however, their bodies would still make excellent nourishment for his cultivation.
"Senior Brother, Senior Sister Ruan isn't completely dead yet. You..."
Zhang Mu offered a reminder.
Chen Haoming exhaled helplessly and shook his head. "She's suffering a backlash from the poison and can't even control those toxins herself. If I force myself on her in this state, I might very well follow Junior Brother Zhao into the grave and die just like the two of them."
Having coveted Ruan Meizhen for so long, he had naturally considered it carefully. But after seriously weighing the consequences, he had ultimately decided to give up.
Lustful though he was, he remained cautious enough that he would never gamble with his life.
Zhang Mu indicated that he understood and said quietly, "There's no time to lose. I'll go ahead."