As Qin Yun pressed his hand onto He Zihao's shoulder, he could feel something foreign trying to invade him. It felt cold and hostile, like a venomous snake slowly crawling up his limbs through his meridians, seeking to reach his core. Even his skin seemed to lose its colour as dark grey veins bulged on it, and yet, he made no attempt to impede it, only letting it flow until they were fully connected.

The foreign invader even spread to his brain, seeking to take control of him, which Qin Yun couldn't help but ponder. From what he had observed, he had seen no evidence of He Zihao being under its control.

It seems he was merely a carrier. If not for the introduction of that woman's energy, it would have remained dormant until it had achieved some sort of condition. I was wrong to think of it as a parasite. Those things act more like pathogens than living creatures. Spreading is merely what they do.

With a slight grasp of this entity, Qin Yun finally acted before the grey substance could take control of him. With but a thought, Qin Yun separated a piece of his qi from his core, letting it flood his system, washing over the grey entity.

The two opposite forces battled just as they did within He Zihao. Yet, unlike the misty apparition's force, Qin Yun's tribulation qi was much more suited to eradicate the invader. Even then, the process was lengthy and painful, yet it couldn't come close to what he had endured as he forged his body.

For over a quarter of an hour, the scene remained still as the man in white looked upon Qin Yun, feeling slightly puzzled. He had seen the changes within, starting from when the grey substance infiltrated Qin Yun's core to when it was finally pushed out, leaving nothing behind, yet he still couldn't comprehend how Qin Yun had done it. After all, even his sect leader's force couldn't achieve the same thing. The most apparent evidence was that He Zihao was still battling this corrosion.

“What’s happening?” Yao Ruolan said, held tight in her master’s embrace, unable to rush to He Zihao’s side. “Isn’t there anything we can do?”

The man only shook his head, keeping a careful eye on the situation as he spread his aura in his surroundings, ensuring no bystanders would be foolish enough to attempt to approach them.

"This corruption isn't something that could usually be expelled," the man replied. "Not unless you reached the sect leader's level. If she was here, she might be able to help them, but with only the remaining force she had placed into the token, there's no telling how things will end up."

"Then, why did Yun seem to have repelled it?"

“Is that his name?” the man said, looking back at Qin Yun. “How did you encounter this young man?”

Yao Ruolan quickly explained how they had met, glossing over some details, yet told her master all that was relevant, not forgetting to include the demise of the Emerald Lord's four disciples. The man in white couldn't help but frown as he heard the news, especially the manners in which they had perished.

“According to what you witnessed, those were indeed signs of corruption," the man said before musing out loud, "However, how could they bypass the Great Barrier? How could they make it through the formation to the other side if they were infected? There's no way... unless..."

“Master!" Yao Ruolan said, breaking her master out of his thoughts as she pointed toward the two in the midst of an inner battle. "Something seems to be happening!"

A bright light spewed from Qin Yun's core, propagating to every part of his body before receding into countless small golden runes pulsating on his skin. The man in white couldn't help but frown, feeling a slight trace of oppression as he looked at them.

He tried to probe them using his divine sense, yet all it amounted to was a backlash he couldn't help but suffer. While not enough to cause any damage to someone with such deep cultivation, he was unable to comprehend the depths of those characters, which somehow reminded him of what it felt to come into contact with a domain, albeit a really weak one.

Unbeknownst to exterior factors, Qin Yun was fully absorbed into repelling the grey corrosion, pushing it out using the remnants of tribulation in his core. However, the grey entity was much more stubborn than he had first anticipated.

It's only to be expected. Otherwise, the Heavenly Dao would have already dealt with it without involving me. Still, this is just a small part, separated from the whole, yet the energy found within is extraordinary. Simply getting rid of it seems like too much of a waste. Isn't there anything I can do about it?

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

As Qin Yun pondered, the two forces reached a stalemate, creating an unsteady balance that could crumble at any moment through the slightest of fluctuations. Worse yet, the two forces were polar opposites, repelling each other, unable to blend at all.

While on the verge of letting go of this opportunity, Qin Yun felt a third foreign entity pulse within his body, not belonging to any of the previous two. He couldn't help but frown, trying to uncover what it was. To his surprise, it was something he could barely believe.

Deep within his black storage, in an unused corner as if forgotten, a small sphere pulsed with energy like a beating heart. This was the crystal insect egg he had retrieved over two months ago yet had found no use for, as the tribulation had done what his innate qi had failed to do. As such, he had left it in his storage, collecting dust—if dust was present within that space.

Why would it appear now? Besides, time and space shouldn't exist within the storage... All things within should remain as they were, stuck in stasis, and yet here it is in my body as if a bond had been formed... A bond?

Despite his countless lifetimes, Qin Yun was always amazed at how little he knew. There was always so much more out there that he could barely conceive. These crystal insects were much more miraculous than he first assumed.

Is it that sub-space link? Can it truly pierce through the void of that dimensional storage, shattering time and space merely to form a connection with me? But to what purpose? What is it trying to achieve?

While slightly unnerved by the sudden awakening of the crystal egg, Qin Yun chose to let it proceed out of intellectual curiosity. While he knew the dangers of allowing something unknown to roam within his body, he couldn't help himself.

As the two forces struggled against each other, a subspace channel brought forth by the egg awoke among them and began siphoning them both, exhausting their strength. Then, as if to ensure their continued existence against this outside threat, the two opposing entities joined forces, trying to push back the third force's encroachment.

Feeling the mess his body was now in, Qin Yun couldn't help but wince as pain assaulted him, yet he chose not to interrupt it. After all, he had noticed that all the remaining grey substance in He Zihao's body had flooded his own system, rendering He Zihao clean of any corruption.

Qin Yun removed his hand, letting He Zihao fall back to the floor, unconscious. While the corruption had left him exhausted by its departure, his breath was stable, and his skin gradually regained some colour.

Seeing her senior brother out of danger, Yao Ruolan rushed toward him, slipping out of her master's grasp as he was too fixated on Qin Yun's condition to bother about his sect's disciple. If anything, a small amount of qi pooled within his palm, poised to strike at any moment should Qin Yun threaten the frontier's security.

Unaware of any external factor, Qin Yun was much too absorbed in the strange phenomenon happening to care about anything else. Struggling against the vortex sapping their strength, both forces blended into each other, yet the egg kept carving at their strength, leaving them helpless to resist it on their own.

These energies act as if they possess sentience. It doesn't surprise me in the tribulation qi's case, as it is this part of the Heavenly Dao—as everything in this world is. However, what's the purpose of the grey substance? Is it just to spread? Still, I shouldn't allow this to continue for much longer, lest it drains all the qi I have accumulated.

Through thoughts alone, Qin Yun sought to close the connection between the egg and himself by isolating his storage. He had continuously tried to uncover the black box's mysteries through countless lifetimes, almost to no avail. He could only glean from it that it possessed power over dimensions, a higher realm of existence than mere space attribute. As such, cutting off the subspace channel the egg had created was quickly done by the object.

However, sensing that something seemed to interfere, the egg redoubled his siphoning efforts, if only to gain all it could. Noticing this, Qin Yun retracted all the tribulation qi he had used to keep the grey substance at bay back to his core, letting the two remaining forces flood his system.

His skin became a dark grey, losing all colours, as did his eyes. Dark veins bulged on his skin, making him look ghastly, yet it only went on for a moment until most of it was snatched away by the egg as if a creature suffering from unending hunger—an insatiable thirst to further its growth.

Less than a moment later, Qin Yun's body returned to normal; the grey substance had all disappeared as if it were a mere snack. Then, the egg turned his attention toward Qin Yun's core, hungering for Qin Yun's tribulation qi. However, Qin Yun had already predicted this and closed the channel as soon as he found no more foreign energy assaulting him, rendering the egg cut off from this dimension. Qin Yun did not relax just yet. Before opening his eyes, he thoroughly examined his body for any foreign entity.

While my body and meridians suffered some damage from the struggle, nothing can't be healed with time. The crystal insect energy is gone—at least for now. Still, there's no telling what might come out of that egg once its hunger has been satiated, nor how much it would take. As for the corruption...

Qin Yun frowned as he scanned his core, finding a wisp of grey matter intertwined with the tribulation qi. The dark brown seed with golden lines on its surface now had a single gray line intertwined with the others. What puzzled him most was that the seed remained stable, and the two energies didn't reject each other, almost as if they had become one, but not yet.

He tried to extract some qi from the seed, only to find that its purity had risen, making him slightly surprised. After all, he had expected the opposite. However, what truly concerned him was that he felt his qi's connection to the Heavenly Dao become slightly blurry. While barely noticeable, this proved enough to open countless doors before him.

As he pondered the ramifications, he felt a deep oppression flood over him, making him shiver unconsciously. His eyes jerked open as his gaze flew upwards, yet there was nothing in the sky other than the ever-raging sandstorm on each side of the city.

He felt his heartbeat pound in his chest, and sweat pooled on his skin. He couldn't help but feel a slight sense of dread in his heart. He took a deep breath to calm himself before lowering his gaze, only to see the man in white looking over him, a puzzled expression on his face.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

"I'll survive," Qin Yun replied, yet his thoughts were still on fleeting feelings he had sensed.

A warning, was it?