When they arrive at Starsword Peak, Wu Yulan and Lan Xiaohui immediately proceed to one of the available rooms and lay Yun Fei down on the bed.

Yun Fei’s hands and stomach bear deep wounds, but they are, ultimately, not life-threatening. There is very little chance of infection either, but despite this, Wu Yulan still, helpfully, cleans Yun Fei’s half-naked form with a towel drenched in purified, spirit-rich water that she obtained from her family.

However, Yun Fei’s internal wounds are far more severe, but it is difficult to assess the extent of her damage just by looking at her.

“I need to gain access to Yun Fei’s internal system,” I tell Lan Xiaohui.

It takes a moment for my owner to understand my request, which may be either because of the way how I phrased it or the perceived absurdity of my request.

“You want me to stab her?” Lan Xiaohui asks with a tone between confusion and surprise — but no reluctance.

“Correct,” I tell her.

Lan Xiaohui’s question gains Wu Yulan’s attention briefly, and then the girl glances in my direction before comprehending the situation.

Lan Xiaohui licks her lips, looks at Wu Yulan, and then hesitates. After a few seconds, she nods. “Okay,” she says and grasps my form that is hovering next to her shoulder.

She takes a step forward and turns me upside down so that my tip points toward Yun Fei. “Where… should I…?”

Lan Xiaohui doesn’t wait for my reply and slowly presses my tip against Yun Fei’s stomach, just beneath the hole that the spear left. She doesn’t wait for my reply because she already knows the answer — it doesn’t really matter where she stabs me, as long as it is close to the dantian. The question is merely meant to buy her time to hesitate some more, but in a sword cultivator’s vocabulary, the word “hesitation” does not exist.

My tip bites into Yun Fei’s flesh, drawing a tiny amount of blood before my partially-spiritual vessel passes through the physical and accesses the spiritual.

The entirety of Yun Fei’s spiritual vessel becomes known to me in an instant.

Lan Xiaohui’s meridians sparkle and glimmer, like liquid silver. Yun Fei’s meridians are black, glassy, and lusterless. Deep in her dantian, there is a mist-like substance that is entirely black, swirling like a dark cloud. Even if I were to disperse this cloud — which is possible — it would not be a solution.

Beyond the dantian, Yun Fei’s spiritual roots are shrouded in the same Yin-attribute mist that is poisoning her, and this mist originates from her spiritual roots. In order to “cure” Yun Fei, destroying the spiritual roots, or the connection to the dantian is the only way; but a true “cure” does not exist.

At this stage, Yun Fei’s own spiritual roots are killing her.

But this “poison” does not seem like such a vile thing to me. It reminds me of those nanomachine enhancement drugs that were illegal during the era of my achievements; a simple kind of medicine that could turn a human into a bio-machine of great power, enhancing all aspects of life. However, just like this “poison”, once the nanomachines are spent, withdrawal symptoms always end in fatal outcomes.

Strictly speaking, it is not the poison that is killing Yun Fei, but these withdrawal effects. For a time, Yun Fei’s cultivation speed and aptitude must’ve been greatly increased — especially if she cultivated with a male partner who could provide a powerful Yang source. However, now that the efficacy of the “poison” has been depleted, it is devouring Yun Fei’s vitality to, in a sense, replenish itself — cannibalizing her meridians and spiritual vessel in the process.

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After all, in this world, there is no such convenient thing or wonder drug that can enhance one’s spiritual aptitude for free or without significant consequences.

A fist-sized flame of black color with blue sparkles within it springs into existence above my black jade core. Even though it appears still and tame, the temperature in the room immediately begins to increase. Its stillness is by no means an indicator of its ferocity or its very powerful Yang property.

Though it has been my intention to refine Yun Fei’s internal system and purify her with my [Purifier Soul Fire], it is, coincidentally, also a very powerful Yang source.

The flame dips down, gliding along my vessel, and then disappears into Yun Fei’s body.

Yun Fei’s eyes suddenly snap open, but I detect only a very faint consciousness there. Her thighs rub together, her knees bend, and her hands ball into fists.

A moment later, her body trembles, and she screams at the top of her lungs as my flames burn her body.

“What are you doing?” Lan Xiaohui asks, but there is not a sliver of doubt in her tone. She even sits in Yun Fei’s lap to stop her from writhing.

Even Wu Yulan discards her towel to hold down Yun Fei’s arms.

The thought that I could be killing her on purpose never even seems to cross their mind, despite the situation looking exactly like that.

“I am accelerating nature,” I tell Lan Xiaohui.

I find it ironic; once upon a time, the only nature I have accelerated is the destiny of extinction; but now, I am helping one of these carbon-based organisms adapt into a form they were never meant to possess.

To begin with, why extinguish a “poison” that helps one cultivate faster? In my eyes, such a thing is not something vile or something that needs to be exterminated; rather, it should be utilized.

If Yun Fei’s current, inferior internal system cannot accommodate this poison, then it is not the poison that needs to be removed, but the system itself needs to be reconfigured.

In a normal environment of poison and Yin, a cultivator could adapt over years and build a tremendous tolerance; such internal alchemy would no doubt result in a Physique that could be regarded as a Heavenly Treasure.

It is convenient, then, that my refining flame is meant exactly for this purpose — creating Heavenly Treasures.

As my flame sinks into Yun Fei’s dantian and sheds its brilliance, it reacts with the dark mist and results in something I can only describe as rotation — like a storm cloud revolving on its axis, driving powerful atmospheric effects.

At this moment, I channel my Sword Qi into Yun Fei’s body and drive a current of Qi through her meridians, optimizing them and smashing open the many terminals where the Qi of Heaven and Earth can enter and leave her body.

As a result, Yun Fei’s body suddenly bursts into black and purple flames that shed neither heat nor cold. This sudden burst of flames startles Wu Yulan and Lan Xiaohui, but once more, they do not suspect my motives.

“These Yin flames are extremely toxic,” I tell both of them, simultaneously. “Do not touch them.”

Lan Xiaohui’s expression is even more devastated than before. It is almost as if seeing these flames and hearing my warning, describes to her in better detail than ever before just how dangerous Yun Fei’s state is.

Unable to listen to any more of Yun Fei’s agonized screaming, Wu Yulan leaves the towel on the bed, bows her head to Lan Xiaohui, and then wordlessly leaves the room, a glimmer of unshed tears in her eyes.

Lan Xiaohui barely even notices Wu Yulan depart, her attention entirely on Yun Fei.

“Didn’t Lady Yue say that if her Qi circulates, Yun Fei would die?”

“If her Qi doesn’t circulate, she will also die,” I tell Lan Xiaohui.

I am not just merely circulating Yun Fei’s Qi. What I am doing is potentially far more dangerous.

I am helping her cultivate poison.

Within my sea of consciousness, the waves and the pressure of my soul force have been smashing into the undying corpse of the snake for a while now, stimulating its venom glands.

At that moment, I collect a small, fingertip-sized glob of poison and deposit it within my internal storage. There, with the automated refining arrays, I combine it with a tiny measure of my life force and true essence. This tiny amount of poison could likely kill every person in this sect that is under the Nascent Soul realm, but when combined with my lifeblood in this way, and refined, its toxicity remains the same, but its properties change significantly.

I allow this drop of snake venom to fall onto Yun Fei’s bare stomach, and immediately, a black circle appears on her skin. Jagged and broken black lines begin to extend from the circle, crawling over Yun Fei’s body in a spiderweb fashion. The skin beneath the black lines turns red, then purple, and smoke begins to rise from them.

This time, when Yun Fei screams, it makes all previous screams sound like a gentle lullaby.

“This will take ten to twelve hours,” I tell Lan Xiaohui. “During this time, if you touch Yun Fei, you will most likely immediately die. It is best if you leave.”

Lan Xiaohui chews her bottom lip, her eyes also filling with tears, but after a moment, she nods and stands up.

“Please help her, Yaoyue,” she says and then departs.