The moment the thought surfaced, the mark inside her sea of consciousness trembled violently. Sensing her intent, the Soul Chasing Seal erupted in unprecedented resistance. Agonizing pain surged like a tidal wave, making Xie Zhaolin choke back a groan as blood trickled from the corner of her lips.
The queen bee hovered frantically around her shoulder, but she waved it off.
"I'm fine." She wiped away the blood, her eyes flashing with cold resolve. "The more it fights back, the more it proves my idea will work."
She drew in a deep breath, forming a hand seal. Black qi seeped from her fingertips and once again burrowed into the purple-blue poison marks on her chest.
The instant the black qi touched the venom, her entire body convulsed. It felt like someone had shoved a red-hot iron brand into her meridians. The toxin, guided by the black qi, began surging upward, gnawing through her flesh like ten thousand ants biting into her heart.
"Kh…!"
A ragged growl tore from her throat, but she clenched her jaw tight. Veins bulged across her temple, cold sweat soaking through her robes, yet her technique only circulated faster.
"Not enough!"
Enduring the pain, she kept forcing the poison upward. When it reached the area near her heart meridian, her movements slowed to a crawl. Her fingertips trembled, every inch of progress as dangerous as walking a tightrope over an abyss.
"I can't… let it touch the heart meridian…"
That was a cultivator's lifeline. If poison invaded it, at best she'd lose her cultivation, at worst she'd drop dead on the spot. She knew this better than anyone, but she had no choice. To drive the venom into her sea of consciousness and strike the Soul Chasing Seal, she had to bypass the heart meridian and guide the poison through the tiny gaps between channels.
It meant she'd have to endure a longer, more torturous process.
She adjusted her seal, black qi flickering as she directed the venom to creep along fragile minor veins wrapped around the heart. Normally, even baleful qi barely touched these threads. Now she was forcefully flooding them with venom, each stretch like tendon and marrow being torn apart.
"Ugh—!"
Her back arched sharply. A mouthful of black blood splattered onto the cave wall. Her nails dug deep into the ground, joints bone-white from the strain, yet her left hand held the seal steady, not letting the poison stray an inch.
The queen bee's wings buzzed in agitation, but it dared not interfere. It could only watch her convulse as the purple-blue poison lines writhed under her skin like living creatures.
Every inch the toxin advanced, her breath grew heavier. Her vision blurred, her ears rang, yet her consciousness remained razor-sharp. She could feel every twist, every creeping motion of the venom inside her veins.
"Go around…" she hissed between clenched teeth, "just… a little further…"
At last, the poison reached a hidden meridian behind her heart. This path linked to the Tianzhu point at her neck, the only gateway toward her sea of consciousness.
But at that critical instant, her fingers twitched.
The channel was even narrower than she expected. The poison couldn't push through!
"Damn it…" Her pupils shrank.
If she forced it, the vein might rupture. The venom would flood straight into her heart. But if she stopped here, not only would her efforts be wasted, the venom lingering in her veins would eat away her foundation.
"Think, think! Xuanyin Foundation Technique… no. Hundred Poisons Body Tempering Art? Useless. What else…"
Her fingertips brushed something cold—the jade slip of the Netherwater Art!
"I've got it!" Her eyes lit up. "The three overlapping routes!"
Though incomplete, she'd already deduced its hidden circulation pattern. Right now, it was her only chance.
Her hand seals shifted without hesitation.
First, she used the Yinsha Soul Locking Chains to condense the venom into a needle. Then, with the broken path of the Nether Breathing, she slipped that poison needle into the crevice of the meridian. Finally, with the Yinsha Body Protection Art, she forcefully widened the vein's end, carving open a temporary passage!
"Pff—!"
Three mouthfuls of blood sprayed out, each laced with faint glowing runes. The three techniques clashed violently inside her body, tearing out an impossible new path.
"Open!"
With a hoarse roar, the purple-blue venom shot through the bloody tunnel she'd carved with her own life force, racing toward the Tianzhu point. The agony of shredded meridians darkened her sight, but her consciousness burned brighter than ever.
The queen bee circled above her head, its instincts shrieking danger. Even as a poisonous insect, it felt dread from the venom swirling around her.
By the time the venom reached her neck, she was drenched in blood. Black ichor leaked from her seven orifices, purple veins crawled beneath her skin like webs, but her eyes only shone fiercer.
"The final step…"
Summoning every shred of strength, her consciousness plunged into her sea of awareness.
The Soul Chasing Seal, sensing peril, blazed with blue light and shook wildly. She stared at that savage mark and let out a cold, mocking smile.
"You thought…" She raised her hand in a claw, venom from her body surging into her sea of consciousness, "…you had me?"
The purple-blue miasma gathered into a giant serpent, lunging at the seal. The brand thrashed, lashing out with spears of blue light, but they were devoured instantly.
"Ahhh!"
In reality, she let out a scream so raw it scraped the soul, her body curling tight. The agony was worse than flesh being ripped apart, as if a blunt knife was slicing her Primordial Soul bit by bit. Still, she clenched her teeth, forcing even more venom into her sea of consciousness.
The serpent grew massive, coiling tight around the seal. Blue and purple clashed violently, every explosion rattling her mind to the brink of collapse, yet she clung to the last strand of clarity.
"Break!"
Her roar shook the void. The serpent constricted hard, the Soul Chasing Seal cracking with spiderweb lines. Poison seeped into the fissures, eroding it from within. But at the last instant, the seal unleashed a desperate counterattack. A piercing blue arrow shot straight at her consciousness core.
On the brink of life and death, she didn't dodge. Instead, she spread her arms wide.
"Come on!" She bared her teeth in a feral grin. "Let's see who's more poisonous!"
The moment the blue arrow struck her core, the venom she'd amassed erupted. The two forces collided in the most fragile part of her soul, blasting through her sea of consciousness.
Outside, her body went rigid, then collapsed heavily onto the ground, unmoving.
The queen bee landed on her nose, antennae trembling. Faint, shallow breaths still lingered.
Inside her sea of consciousness, the storm faded.
The Soul Chasing Seal had vanished completely. Only a cluster of purple-blue mist hovered over her soul core, perfectly fused with her consciousness. This venomous mist didn't harm her at all. Instead, it gave her a brand-new weapon, a deadly attack born from her soul itself.