Chapter 211: Chapter 211: Heart-Eating Worm
What kind of Pupil Technique is this?
Everyone’s expression changed.
"Your Majesty!" Chu Yunfei’s figure blurred as he moved to step forward.
"Calm yourself. Master Ye Xuan is performing a diagnosis," Zhao Jing said in a low voice. He could sense no malice in the light from Ye Xuan’s eyes.
A moment later, Ye Xuan withdrew his gaze. To everyone’s astonishment, his azure pupils turned black again.
"Master Ye Xuan..."
Seeing Ye Xuan remain silent for so long, Zhao Jing couldn’t help but ask nervously. For some reason, he felt exceptionally tense this time.
"Your Majesty, if you hadn’t met me, you would have died violently within two years."
Ye Xuan had suddenly said something that shocked everyone.
"That’s impossible!" Yang An blurted out.
He stared intently at Ye Xuan, frowning. "His Majesty’s condition, while serious, has shown great improvement with the treatment of the Spirit Suppressing Pill. Furthermore, his illness has persisted for many years. Although it’s been developing, it has always been under control. How could he possibly die violently within two years?"
As the head of the court Alchemists and a Fifth Grade Alchemist who had been treating Zhao Jing all this time, Yang An naturally had his own understanding of Zhao Jing’s illness.
Zhao Jing’s expression was placid, showing no change. He stared intently at Ye Xuan. "Master Ye Xuan, is there any basis for what you say?"
"Young Master Xuan?" Hua Luoxuan was also filled with doubt, but he believed that Ye Xuan would never make such a claim without reason.
"Your Majesty, if I’m not mistaken, you received this injury nineteen years ago!" Ye Xuan suddenly asked.
"How do you know that?" Zhao Jing’s expression faltered.
"At the time, your opponent must have injured your chest. It felt like being pricked by a needle. Initially, your chest seemed fine, but after three days, a dull pain began. A year later, the pain intensified, making life worse than death."
"That is correct."
"Back then, however, the injury could still be managed with Pills. But after three years, the pain would have spread from your chest to your ribs, and then gradually down to your lower abdomen."
"This..." Zhao Jing looked horrified.
"After ten years, the pain would have spread to your limbs, feeling like you were being cut by knives. Gradually, the pain worsened, becoming a paralyzing agony, like a lightning strike. In the end, whenever the pain flared up, you wouldn’t even be able to walk."
At this point, Zhao Jing looked as if he had seen a ghost.
It wasn’t just him; Yang An, at his side, was also dumbstruck, completely stunned, staring at Ye Xuan in utter shock.
Ye Xuan continued speaking as if to himself, "In the beginning, you could still suppress the injury with your Profound Qi. But gradually, using Profound Qi not only became useless, it actually intensified the pain. By now, you can’t even mobilize your Martial Soul, because the moment you try, the Profound Sea where your Martial Soul resides feels like it’s being pierced by needles. The pain is unbearable."
"And after taking the Spirit Suppressing Pill, your injury was indeed greatly suppressed, and your suffering was significantly alleviated. However, the pain has now moved into your heart acupoint. That area around your heart acupoint is now in constant, dull pain, though it doesn’t affect your movement."
Zhao Jing’s gaze was filled with horror. What Ye Xuan described was identical to his condition.
Even the location, timing, and nature of the pain were exactly the same, without the slightest deviation.
If Ye Xuan could have learned the previous details from Hua Luoxuan or Yang An, this last statement made Zhao Jing realize that Ye Xuan had seen all of this for himself.
Just as Ye Xuan had said, the Spirit Suppressing Pill had suppressed his condition, but his heart acupoint was in constant, dull agony. This was something he hadn’t even had the chance to tell Yang An.
Thinking back to when Ye Xuan said he would die violently within two years, Zhao Jing broke out in a cold sweat.
"Master Ye Xuan, is my injury really that severe...?" Zhao Jing asked in a low voice, his face grave.
If what Ye Xuan said was true, it was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for him.
However, that wasn’t the most important thing. With no Crown Prince appointed in the kingdom, if he were to die suddenly, the entire kingdom would be thrown into chaos and teeter on the brink of collapse.
At first, Zhao Jing had been skeptical of Ye Xuan’s words, but as Ye Xuan continued his explanation, Zhao Jing became more and more convinced.
"Your Majesty, if you don’t believe me, you can look at your own body. There should be a faint black dot at the location of your heart acupoint."
RRRIP!
Without any hesitation, Zhao Jing tore open his dragon robe. Everyone looked and saw a faint, almost imperceptible black dot on his chest. The dot was extremely small and flickered in and out of sight; it would have been easily missed without looking for it specifically.
"There really is a black dot! How have we never seen it before?"
Yang An and Hua Luoxuan exchanged a look, their eyes filled with horror.
’Doesn’t this mean that everything Ye Xuan said is true?’
"It can’t be. I’ve carefully examined His Majesty’s body. After taking the Spirit Suppressing Pill, that cold, sinister power in his body was suppressed. Logically, it should be very difficult for it to erupt again."
Yang An couldn’t believe it. According to his diagnosis, although His Majesty’s condition wasn’t fully cured, it was in a suppressed state and shouldn’t be able to erupt again as it had before.
But Ye Xuan’s words left no room for doubt.
"That’s because what infiltrated His Majesty’s body was no ordinary cold, sinister power!" Ye Xuan said.
"Then what is it?" Everyone present, including Zhao Jing, pricked up their ears in an instant.
Ye Xuan frowned. "What Your Majesty was afflicted with is a type of venomous parasite called a Heart-Eating Worm. This worm releases a sinister, venomous power. Once it enters the body, it doesn’t seem like much at first, but it develops along the path of one’s Cultivation Technique. This path is different for everyone. It gradually spreads and corrodes every meridian point the Cultivation Technique passes through. This corrosion is extremely subtle, impossible to detect with ordinary Profound Sense. Not only that, but even Soul Sense has difficulty perceiving the changes."
"Once this Heart-Eating Worm enters the ’Tianmen’ acupoint, the victim will die instantly. The heart acupoint is the final checkpoint before it reaches the Tianmen."
"If the Spirit Suppressing Pill had been taken in the earliest stages of this injury, there might have been a chance of a cure. But His Majesty’s condition has already reached the final stage. The Spirit Suppressing Pill merely forced the Heart-Eating Worm inside him into hibernation, but it will continue to develop."
"The only reason His Majesty has been able to hold on for so long is because his cultivation as a Tier Five Martial Sect has restricted the Heart-Eating Worm’s development. An ordinary person wouldn’t have lasted ten years. Even so, twenty years is the absolute limit His Majesty could endure. So, despite the suppression from the Spirit Suppressing Pill, in less than two years, when the Heart-Eating Worm spreads to the Tianmen, that will be the time of His Majesty’s violent death."
Ye Xuan explained the entire process in great detail.
"It develops along the path of my Cultivation Technique?" Zhao Jing murmured, his face ashen.
The path of the pain in his body—from his chest, to his ribs, then to his lower abdomen and limbs—did indeed match the circulation route of his Cultivation Technique.
If, even now, Zhao Jing didn’t realize that what Ye Xuan said was true, then he was a complete idiot.
"Master Ye Xuan, since you can identify the Heart-Eating Worm, is there any hope for a cure?" Yang An asked nervously.
"That’s right, can it still be treated?" Zhao Jing also grew tense, his heart thumping wildly in his chest.
Originally, he had only sought treatment from Ye Xuan with a "might as well try" attitude. He never expected such a diagnosis. It filled his heart with despair, but amidst that despair, a sliver of hope couldn’t help but emerge.
’If Ye Xuan could diagnose my condition, then maybe... just maybe, he has a way to cure my injury.’
"There are of course methods, and more than one. However, they are all extremely difficult."
"Please, Master, tell us what they are!"
"The simplest method is to burn it with Celestial Fire. The Heart-Eating Worm is a creature of absolute yin. You just need anyone who possesses Celestial Fire to infuse a wisp of its essence into Your Majesty’s body. The Celestial Fire essence will naturally incinerate the Heart-Eating Worm into nothingness."
Celestial Fire?
Zhao Jing and the others looked at each other in dismay.
Celestial Fire was the most terrifying flame on the Celestial Profound Continent. Any type of Celestial Fire was a priceless treasure, capable of inciting countless powerful experts across the continent to fight to the death over it.
In a remote place like the Liuyun Kingdom, it was difficult to even find Earth Fire. Most Alchemists used Profound Fire for their Alchemy. Some of the more powerful Alchemists might at most collect some internal fire from Demon Beasts. How could they possibly find something like Celestial Fire?
"Second, a Seventh-Grade or higher Nine Yang Supreme Pill. The Yang Qi contained within it can also exterminate the Heart-Eating Worm."
Zhao Jing smiled bitterly.
Another impossible solution. A Seventh-Grade Pill could only be refined by a Seventh Grade Medicine King. Such a figure would be a famous and distinguished person even in the center of the Celestial Profound Continent.
In the Thirteen Nations Alliance, the strongest Alchemist was merely a Sixth Grade Venerable Alchemist.
As for Liuyun Kingdom’s strongest, Yang An and He Zhen, they were merely Fifth-Grade Sect Level Alchemists.
"The third method is to have any Sixth Grade Soul Refiner come and use a Soul Seal to seal the Heart-Eating Worm, after which it can be safely extracted."
"The fourth method..."
Ye Xuan listed five or six methods in a row, but with each one he finished, Zhao Jing and the others looked even more distressed.
All the methods Ye Xuan mentioned required powerful experts to carry them out, and were completely beyond their capabilities.
And Ye Xuan himself sighed helplessly.
The truth was, his current level was too low. His Soul Power was only at Mid-Third Grade. If he could break through to the Fourth Grade, or if Zhao Jing’s condition was still in its early stages, he would have had a way to extract the Heart-Eating Worm himself.
But now, Zhao Jing was already in the final stage, and the Heart-Eating Worm had matured. With his Mid-Third Grade Soul Power cultivation, it would be difficult for him to employ any effective countermeasures against it.
’Is there really no other way?’ Zhao Jing thought, unwilling to accept it.
Ye Xuan shook his head. Then, suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he spoke up. "Actually, I do have one more method. It’s much simpler than the previous ones, but the difficulty is still quite high."
