That power came without warning.
One moment, it had still been confined to his lower abdomen.
The next, it surged into his dantian and swept through his meridians into his entire body.
Chu Yunfei's blood flowed faster and faster.
With every beat of his heart, the scorching heat inside him intensified.
"This is bad. I've been poisoned!"
Chu Yunfei's expression changed abruptly.
In just a few breaths, an unnatural crimson flush spread across his exposed skin. His whole body burned, and even his exhalations carried a searing heat.
This was no ordinary poison.
That heat was burrowing into his sea of consciousness!
"Lustfire Soul-Devouring Incense!"
Chu Yunfei finally recognized it.
In his previous life, he had read about it in a damaged ancient text.
Lustfire Soul-Devouring Incense required neither an external wound nor ingestion.
Inhaling even a wisp allowed its poison to seep into the flesh and erode the soul.
Those poisoned first experienced agitation in their Qi and blood, followed by mental confusion.
Once their soul's defenses fell, instinct would take complete control of their body.
Ordinary detoxification methods were almost useless against it.
Even the Chu Yunfei of his previous life could only have sealed his soul first, then slowly sought a way to counter it.
But why was there Lustfire Soul-Devouring Incense here?
Chu Yunfei whipped his gaze toward the stone coffin.
After the lid had been pushed aside, that faint, subtle fragrance had never dispersed.
Earlier, it had smelled delicate and refined. Now, it was like a spark falling into dry grass, a single breath enough to burn into a person's soul.
The poisonous fragrance came from the stone coffin!
"Damn it. I was careless."
Chu Yunfei cursed under his breath and immediately sat cross-legged.
He drove the Boundless Creation Scripture at full force!
The Qi vortex in his dantian spun madly.
Streams of spiritual power surged into his meridians, trying to force the fragrant poison hidden in his flesh out of his body.
At first, the poison was indeed somewhat suppressed.
But after just two breaths, more fragrant poison surged from deep within his flesh.
Wave after wave.
For every inch he suppressed, it counterattacked three feet in an instant.
Chu Yunfei's heart sank.
The Lustfire Soul-Devouring Incense had already merged with his Qi and blood and was still eroding his soul.
The Boundless Creation Scripture alone was nowhere near enough.
He forcibly steadied his mind and sank his consciousness into his sea of consciousness.
"Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate!"
As long as he could still activate the divine cauldron, there was a chance to refine the poisonous fragrance.
But when Chu Yunfei's consciousness entered his sea of consciousness, his heart immediately sank.
The Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate still hovered in its depths.
But every ancient marking on the cauldron had gone dark, and it gave no response whatsoever.
The divine cauldron was right before him, yet he could not send his will to it, no matter what he tried.
It was as though an invisible soul curtain lay between them, completely severing their connection.
"Xiaoxiao Dragon!"
Chu Yunfei called out sharply within his sea of consciousness.
No response.
"Xiaoxiao Dragon, wake up!"
His sea of consciousness remained deathly silent.
The dragon who normally talked more than anyone now seemed to have had her voice abruptly cut off.
He could not activate the divine cauldron.
Xiaoxiao Dragon had also fallen silent.
Of all times, it had to happen now!
Before Chu Yunfei could think of another solution, the Lustfire Soul-Devouring Incense launched its second counterattack.
Boom!
Chu Yunfei's body jolted.
Scalding Qi and blood rushed to his head, and his breathing immediately grew heavy.
He opened his eyes and looked ahead.
On the stone coffin's surface, the remaining ancient array markings were going dark one by one.
Nine patterns resembling soul chains wound around the coffin, seemingly having suppressed something before.
But now, the array markings fractured, and the soul chains lost their light.
Wisps of faint, subtle fragrance drifted from the skin of the woman inside the coffin, silently filling the entire burial chamber.
Chu Yunfei stared at the woman, his gaze growing grave.
The source of the poison was indeed inside her.
Perhaps her soul was not the only thing the Nine Nether Soul-Suppressing Array had suppressed.
There was also the Lustfire Soul-Devouring Incense, which had long been entwined with this body.
Once the array broke, the poisonous fragrance lost its restraints as well.
No sooner had this thought surfaced than a burning pain shot through Chu Yunfei's sea of consciousness.
It felt as though countless sparks had exploded at once.
His reason was being burned through bit by bit.
Chu Yunfei bit through the tip of his tongue.
The taste of blood burst in his mouth, and the sharp pain barely restored a sliver of clarity.
"Suppress it!"
He formed hand seals, driving the Boundless Creation Scripture to its limit.
The spiritual power in his dantian was drawn out furiously, washing through his meridians and flesh over and over.
Ten breaths.
Twenty breaths.
Thirty breaths.
Sweat soon soaked his clothes.
Chu Yunfei's chest heaved violently, and an unnatural red tinged his eyes.
It was no use.
He still could not suppress it.
It was not that his will was too weak, but that his cultivation was far too low.
However powerful the Boundless Creation Scripture was, it still needed enough spiritual power to sustain it.
He had only just reached the first layer of Qi Condensation.
The little spiritual power in his dantian could not possibly outlast the Lustfire Soul-Devouring Incense invading his soul.
Chu Yunfei forced his eyes open.
Everything before him began to distort.
The stone walls, luminous pearls, and array markings on the floor overlapped constantly, trailing blurred afterimages.
Only the woman in the stone coffin grew clearer and clearer instead.
Cold, fair skin.
Eyes tightly shut.
And a face so exquisite it seemed almost unreal.
Supporting himself with the Abyss-Devouring Sword, Chu Yunfei stood up and tried to retreat toward the burial chamber's exit.
But his legs felt filled with lead, every step astonishingly heavy.
One step.
Two steps.
When he could make out the scene before him again, not only had he failed to approach the exit, but he was already standing beside the stone coffin.
"Stop..."
"That's a corpse..."
Chu Yunfei's remaining reason still struggled.
But his body had already raised a hand and pressed it against the cold rim of the coffin.
The sensation of skin touching came through his palm.
Just then, an extremely faint blush actually appeared on the previously bloodless cheeks of the woman inside the coffin.
Her lips moved slightly.
Chu Yunfei froze.
She moved?
Alive?
The moment this thought arose, the fragrant poison completely swallowed his last shred of clarity.
Darkness crashed down.
The burial chamber fell silent again.
Only the array markings on the stone coffin's surface continued to shatter, one after another.
Crack.
Crack, crack.
The stone coffin, which had lain silent for countless years, began to tremble gently.
The body of the woman inside also began to change.
Her paper-pale skin gradually regained its color.
From the side of her neck to her cheeks.
The body that had slept for untold ages seemed to welcome life anew at this moment.
Her tightly closed lips parted slightly.
An exceedingly faint breath escaped between them.
The next moment.
The woman opened her eyes.
They were eyes of utter clarity.
Her irises were very pale, almost amber.
There was neither the confusion of someone newly awakened from a deep sleep nor the panic of discovering an unfamiliar man.
She merely watched Chu Yunfei quietly.
As though she had already waited for many years.
A moment later, the woman raised her hand and gently touched a fingertip to Chu Yunfei's brow.
A warm, gentle power entered his sea of consciousness.
Chu Yunfei's disordered soul was immediately protected.
The agony that had nearly burned through his consciousness also eased somewhat.
But the Lustfire Soul-Devouring Incense did not dissipate.
As the woman awakened, the poison buried deep within both their bodies seemed to be fully triggered, erupting violently.
The woman lowered her eyes.
She glanced at Chu Yunfei, then sensed the poisonous fragrance entwined within her that would not disperse. Her expression remained calm.
"Let me borrow you."
Her voice was very soft.
Yet it left Chu Yunfei no room to refuse.
The woman raised her hands to support Chu Yunfei.
Their breaths drew closer.
A warm, soft sensation came through his lips.
Chu Yunfei trembled slightly, his confused consciousness sinking once more.
The rustle of fabric flickered past his ears.
Everything afterward seemed veiled behind a layer of fog that would not disperse.
He could neither see clearly nor hear distinctly.
He knew only that, following a muffled groan, the bone-piercing heat was gradually receding.
He was tightly enveloped in a warm, gentle power.
The sensation was comfortable to the extreme, as though his entire being had melted into a warm ocean.
The instant the flows within their bodies converged, the dormant Dragon and Phoenix Dao Yellow Scripture began circulating on its own.
Ancient passages of scripture emerged one after another.
Yin and yang converged.
Their Qi linked together.
Chu Yunfei vaguely sensed his spiritual power flowing into her.
It was not a brutal plundering.
It was more like an exchange in which each replenished the other.
His spiritual power entered the woman's body, awakening the flesh that had lain dormant for so many years.
At the same time, a purer, vaster power flowed back through the connection between them.
Boom!
The moment that power entered his dantian, the barrier of the first layer of Qi Condensation shook violently.
It did not even hold out for three breaths.
The barrier burst apart with a crash!
Second layer of Qi Condensation!
But this was only the beginning.
More power poured into his dantian.
The Boundless Creation Scripture circulated on its own, continually compressing and purifying the incoming power, transforming it into Chu Yunfei's own spiritual power.
The Qi vortex in his dantian rapidly expanded.
His meridians widened along with it.
His flesh, sinews, and bones underwent another transformation as the power washed through them.
The second cultivation barrier held out for only a moment.
Boom!
Third layer of Qi Condensation!
Chu Yunfei's body was like a riverbed that had long run dry, frantically absorbing the power flowing from her.
That power was of an astonishingly high order.
Even after repeated refinement by the Boundless Creation Scripture, it remained terrifyingly potent.
Cracks soon appeared in the third barrier.
One.
Two.
Until it shattered completely.
Fourth layer of Qi Condensation!
He had broken through three cultivation layers in succession!
Yet Chu Yunfei's consciousness was sinking deeper and deeper.
He did not know how much time had passed.
Nor could he make out what was happening around him.
He only remembered that the power had protected his soul throughout.
It was like a dream without end.
Until every trace of their presence settled back into stillness.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Chu Yunfei's consciousness finally struggled free of the darkness.
A faint, delicate fragrance still lingered in the burial chamber.
But the poison that had scorched his soul had vanished completely.
The next moment.
Chu Yunfei abruptly sat up in the stone coffin.
His clothes were disheveled, and his breathing had yet to settle.
Several distinct scratch marks remained on the coffin's inner walls.
Chu Yunfei looked down at himself, then at the stone coffin beneath him, his expression shifting repeatedly.
It was not as though he remembered nothing of what had happened.
It was just that all those images lay behind a veil of mist, blurred and fragmented.
But the most crucial part...
He seemed to remember that.
Had he just done something utterly outrageous to a woman's corpse?
The moment that thought arose, Chu Yunfei's scalp prickled.
No.
Wait!
He jerked his head up.
A figure in white sat at the other end of the stone coffin.
The woman's back was turned to him.
Her ink-black hair fell to her waist. She was already neatly dressed in her plain white gown, its hem spread evenly across the bottom of the coffin.
She sat properly, her back straight.
The corpse-like coldness and deathly stillness from before were gone.
She was breathing.
She had a living presence.
And there was a vitality about her that could not be ignored.
Chu Yunfei froze completely.
Alive.
She really was alive!
So she hadn't been a corpse just now?
In an instant, the whole affair went from outrageous to even more outrageous.
The woman did not turn around.
She merely sat quietly, as though she had long been accustomed to having everything under her control.
A moment later, she spoke mildly.
"I'm sorry."
Her voice was soft, but her tone was far too calm.
As though she were speaking of the most ordinary little matter.
"I used your body."
Chu Yunfei opened his mouth.
"Huh?"
She had used his body?
Shouldn't it have been him who had used hers?
Chu Yunfei looked down at his open collar, then back at the woman's poised, elegant figure.
His train of thought snapped completely.
So, just now...
Who exactly had taken advantage of whom?