Chapter 53: Little Sister’s Kiss

Ever since the incident at the Chamber of Commerce Building banquet, the two had been in a cold war.

Though it would be more accurate to say that Sang Ying was the one giving Xie Lingyu the silent treatment. For several days in a row, she wouldn’t look at him during meals, wouldn’t sleep with him, and while reading, she completely ignored him.

Sang Ying was flipping through the Zhi Qu Talisman book that Laba had found. Unlike the one her mother had left behind, the last few pages of this copy were intact, recording a strange talisman.

It had no name, no written description, and its purpose was unknown.

Sang Ying decided to try drawing it. As she raised her hand to look for the talisman paper, a sheet of bright yellow paper was already placed on the table before her by slender fingers.

She paused, then turned her hand in another direction. The young man’s other hand pressed a paperweight onto the talisman paper.

She shifted her gaze again, looking into the distance. The Azure Jade Dragon Tail curled around a brush dipped in cinnabar and handed it to her, right to her side.

“…”

Sang Ying snorted coldly, pulled out the brush and tossed it aside, then grabbed the Dragon Tail.

Xie Lingyu’s body stiffened, his dark eyes turning to her. Thinking she was finally willing to acknowledge him, his tone lifted slightly, and the tip of his Dragon Tail swayed gently.

“If junior sister wants to touch it…”

Her slender hand tugged the Dragon Tail over, pressed the tail into the cinnabar dish, and the fluffy white tip was instantly stained with a bright red.

Xie Lingyu: “…”

Sang Ying expressionlessly used the Dragon Tail to draw the talisman. Once finished, she unceremoniously tossed the tool-like Dragon Tail aside.

Removing the paperweight, she picked up the talisman paper with two fingers, channeled her Spiritual Power, and ignited it.

The talisman paper burned to ashes, the remnants falling to the ground, but nothing happened.

Sang Ying frowned. Was her drawing incorrect? Yet she had followed the book exactly.

“I didn’t sense any Spiritual Power fluctuations.”

Beside her, the young man’s Dragon Tail rested in the ink-washing pool, the clear water tinged with red. He pressed his lips together in thought for a moment. “It seems to be an issue with the medium.”

Sang Ying examined the cinnabar, then grabbed the Dragon Tail resting in the ink-washing pool, dipped it in, and drew another talisman.

It was confirmed—the cinnabar was indeed high-grade, rich with Spiritual Power to connect the talisman incantation, not a fake. But when she drew the nameless talisman again, it remained lifeless and unresponsive.

“The cinnabar can’t activate the talisman’s power?”

Sang Ying muttered. Such a thing was unheard of. After all, cinnabar was already the best medium for drawing talismans, the preferred material for Talisman Cultivators in the Cultivation World. Could there be a better medium?

The young man beside her turned to leave, but Sang Ying immediately grabbed the tip of his tail. “Where are you going?”

“Deep in the Yun Ling Realm’s seabed, there’s a type of Chi Xuan Stone. It forms from the remains of a plant after it dies. Ground into fine powder, it resembles cinnabar, with a vibrant color. The older it is, the richer its Spiritual Power. It’s worth a try.”

Sang Ying knew it—he was always thinking of running off before his injuries had even healed. With a cold expression, she tugged his Dragon Tail and sat him down, continuing to dip the cinnabar and draw talismans as she said coldly,

“You’re not going anywhere until I finish drawing my talismans.”

The young man obediently sat down, watching her draw talismans beside her. After a while, the tip of his Dragon Tail suddenly twitched.

“Tsk.”

Sang Ying pinched the Dragon Tail, slightly annoyed. “Don’t move around. Each sheet of talisman paper costs two hundred Spirit Stones. If you ruin it, I’ll deduct all your allowance for next month.”

The young man whispered, “Junior sister, are you stopping me from going because you’re worried about me?”

Sang Ying’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as she glanced at him dismissively. “Who’s worried about you? I just think this brush draws talismans more smoothly.”

The tips of her ears flushed with an unnatural pink, fortunately hidden by her hanging hair. She lowered her gaze to the dragon tail in her hand, just catching sight of the crimson pattern on the golden binding ring at its tip.

Sang Ying paused slightly, using the motion of drawing a talisman to turn the binding ring around. She discovered there was only this single crimson pattern.

Hmm… So the incident at the banquet last time didn’t count after all?

That made sense. When she returned afterward, she hadn’t found any White Sandalwood Dew like the kind she saw the first time, meaning the dual cultivation hadn’t been completed.

At this thought, the tips of Sang Ying’s ears grew even hotter. The cool dragon tail in her hand suddenly felt like a hot potato, and she could no longer focus on drawing talismans. She tossed it aside and picked up a book to read.

Suddenly, urgent knocking sounded at the door.

Laba called from outside, “Young Miss, something’s happened to Senior Brother Xiao!”

Sang Ying’s small face tightened, and she quickly put down the book, heading toward the door. The young man behind her followed.

“What happened? Didn’t he go to the Cultivation World two days ago to discuss a business collaboration? What went wrong?”

Laba quickly explained the situation, “Senior Brother Xiao fell ill on the very day he arrived in the Cultivation World—dizziness, vomiting, and a high fever. He thought it was just a common cold and didn’t pay it much mind. But the next day, he lost his sight.”

Sang Ying was stunned. Blindness and fever… Wasn’t this exactly the strange infectious disease Xiao Lingzhou had told her about?

But last time, he said this disease was only in a small town in the southwest. He had clearly gone to the eastern region—how could he have contracted it there?

Could it be…

Sang Ying opened the Glazed Mirror. Today, the front pages of the Spirit Network were suddenly flooded with discussions about the infectious disease. Hundreds, even thousands, of cases had been reported across the Cultivation World. Now, everyone was on edge, gripped by panic.

Indeed, it had already spread from the southwest throughout the entire Cultivation World.

She furrowed her brows. For such a highly contagious disease to have no prior rumors on the Spirit Network in the past few days—the Immortal Alliance must have suppressed the news to avoid panic.

Only now, when even the Immortal Alliance could no longer contain it, had the outbreak erupted completely.

“What about Second Senior Brother? Where is he now?” Sang Ying looked up and asked.

Laba replied, “Senior Brother Xiao said it’s not suitable for him to return to Yun Ling Realm right now, so he stayed with the Immortal Alliance’s inspection department and has been temporarily quarantined.”

Sang Ying lifted the hem of her skirt, ready to head out, but two people stopped her simultaneously—one in front, the other gripping her wrist.

“Junior Sister.”

“Young Miss.”

Laba spoke seriously, “Young Miss, Senior Brother Xiao insisted I keep an eye on you. Given your physical condition, if you go, you’ll definitely get infected.”

“He said he’s fine and you shouldn’t worry. Aside from the blindness, he only has symptoms of a common cold. As a Golden Core cultivator, he can handle a minor illness like this.”

But wasn’t it already strange for a high-level cultivator to catch a common cold in the first place?

Sang Ying bit her lip. “That’s just for now. This disease is so bizarre—who knows how it might worsen?”

The young man behind her looked at her pale face, hesitated for a moment, then tightened his grip on her wrist and said gently, “Junior Sister, treating illnesses is the work of medical cultivators. Going there now won’t help at all. If you get infected, it’ll only add to his worries.”

Sang Ying covered her eyes. In her heart, she knew Xie Lingyu was right. She didn’t know any medical skills—even if she went, she could only watch helplessly. Yet, she couldn’t suppress the panic and anxiety in her heart.

She took a deep breath, trying her best to calm down, and quickly inquired about the others’ situations.

Lengmian and Jingxi soon replied to her messages, saying they were fine and not to worry. Sang Ying told them to stay home and not go anywhere.

There was still no news from the senior brother.

Sang Ying anxiously sent many messages, and after a long while, one finally came through: 【Little Ying, I/? am fine】

Seeing this message, Sang Ying’s heart sank as if she had fallen into an ice cave, leaving her feeling utterly lost and helpless.

It was clear that the senior brother had guessed these messages were from her, which was why he tried so hard to pretend everything was fine, but he had accidentally pressed something else because he could no longer see.

The Glazed Mirror was taken from her hand, and Xie Lingyu led her to sit down. He had never been good at comforting or coaxing others. After a moment of silence, he said softly, “Don’t think too much about it for now. It will be resolved.”

But the girl reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly bristling. She snatched the Glazed Mirror back, her small face pale and drained of color. “How can I not think about it? You don’t have deep feelings for them, so how could you possibly understand this kind of pain!”

Xie Lingyu stared at her blankly, faintly noticing the redness at the corners of her eyes. He pressed his lips together and said nothing more.

In the following few short days, Sang Ying felt as if she were living in a dream.

Upon learning of the outbreak of this epidemic in the Cultivation World, Demon Emperor Xie Yu Cang immediately sealed off the passage to the Cultivation World, prohibiting any human cultivators from entering the Demon Realm.

Yet, even so, the Demon Realm fell into chaos within just a few days. Large numbers of demons began showing the same symptoms: colds, fevers, blindness, and heart palpitations.

Even the Four Great Demon Kings were not spared. Their symptoms were more severe than those of ordinary demons, manifesting as a decline in their cultivation base and an inability to use Spiritual Power. Their meridians were also damaged, and their Divine Sense grew muddled and weak, leaving them unable to act.

The only safe place in the entire Demon Realm now was the Yun Ling Realm. Before the cases could spread, the Demon Emperor, together with the elders of the dragon clan, set up a spiritual barrier in the Yun Ling Realm, isolating it from all external influences.

Currently, medical cultivators from both the Cultivation World and the Demon Realm were overwhelmed with work, yet they still had not been able to develop a cure for the disease. This was because even the most highly skilled medical cultivators had fallen ill and were unable to heal themselves.

During these days, Sang Ying worked tirelessly day and night, investigating and gathering vast amounts of information—case studies of the infected, the origin and time of the first symptoms…

She discovered something strange.

Upon carefully comparing the timelines, the earliest cases appeared in a remote small town in the southwest. The very next day, cases also emerged in a distant village at the northernmost end.

The distance between these two places was so great that even Xie Lingyu would need to fly at full speed on his sword for a day and a half to cover it.

It was possible that a reclusive expert beyond the Divine Transformation Stage might have been living in that small town, but why would such an expert, after contracting the illness, travel from the southwest to an unknown small village at the northernmost end?

Unless it was intentional—he was not infected but deliberately spread the source of the disease in these two locations.

With this suspicion in mind,

Sang Ying began to verify it.

These two locations were situated at the top and bottom of the Cultivation World on the map, bordering the Four Seas and the Great Desolation. They were sparsely populated and remote, making it difficult for any wrongdoing to be detected.

In contrast, the left side of the map bordered the Demon Realm, and the right side neighbored the Devil Realm. If the perpetrator had started from there, it would have been easily noticed, and the source of the disease could have been cut off before it spread.

Clearly, this was a premeditated act.

Sang Ying frowned in thought. But if they were already isolated and had no contact, why were they still getting infected?

Just like the Cloud Terrace Mountain where the senior brother lived—completely isolated with no one around, and he had no contact with others—yet he still fell ill.

Meanwhile, some demons who cared for infected family members, providing close companionship, remained completely unaffected.

Moreover, after investigation, it was found that all infected cases, whether human or demon, shared a common characteristic: they all possessed profound cultivation bases.

The severity of the illness was directly linked to the level of cultivation—the higher the cultivation, the more severe the symptoms, while those with lower cultivation experienced milder symptoms. This completely defied common sense. Logically speaking, shouldn’t it be the weaker individuals who are less able to resist the erosion of the illness?

Suddenly, Sang Ying had a flash of insight and understood.

She had been misled from the start—this was not an infectious disease at all!

“Xie Lingyu, I know now…”

Sang Ying abruptly looked up to find Xie Lingyu, only to realize that the space beside her was empty and deserted.

Where had he gone?

Sang Ying was stunned. She had been so focused on gathering information these past few days that she hadn’t even noticed when he had left her side.

Sang Ying stood up, intending to go out and search for him. She pushed the door, but it was locked.

Outside, Laba, who had been sitting there, noticed the movement and jolted awake. “Young Miss, you’ve finally moved! These past few days, whenever I brought you food, you wouldn’t even look up or acknowledge me. I was so worried! Thankfully, you’ve reached Foundation Establishment and won’t starve to death.”

“Ah, the Sword Lord instructed me to supervise your meals. Now that you’ve finally moved, he’ll surely reprimand me when he returns.”

“Young Miss, are you hungry? I’ll bring you food right away. Just wait a moment.”

Sang Ying felt a slight headache from his rapid-fire barrage of words and rubbed her temples. “I don’t want to eat. Where is Xie Lingyu?”

Laba scratched his head. “The Sword Lord left the day you received the news. I don’t know where he went either. He just told me to keep an eye on you.”

“Is there something you need from me, Junior Sister?”

Suddenly hearing the young man’s voice, Sang Ying was momentarily taken aback. Then, remembering her deduction, she quickly spoke up, “Xie Lingyu, this isn’t an infectious disease. Someone has poisoned the spiritual veins underground, spreading it through the spiritual energy. That’s why it’s spreading so quickly and why those with higher cultivation are more severely affected—because they absorb more spiritual energy!”

People cannot stop breathing. Ordinary individuals inhale little spiritual energy and do not absorb it; they merely exhale and inhale.

However, cultivators need to maintain the circulation of Zhou Tian and must absorb spiritual energy. Thus, it is naturally the high-level cultivators who are poisoned.

The door was pushed open, and the white-robed young man, his clothes carrying a chill, walked in holding a tray. His voice was cold as he responded, “Mm, I already know about this. I’ve informed my father, and he is discussing solutions with the Immortal Alliance.”

Seeing his calm expression, Sang Ying relaxed slightly as well. “Xie Lingyu, where have you been these past few days?”

“Does Junior Sister want to know?”

He slowly walked to the table and set down the food on the tray. “Then come and eat.”

Usually, Xie Lingyu would serve her porridge and pick dishes for her, feeding her until she was full. Sang Ying had already grown accustomed to it.

Sang Ying walked over and sat down. After waiting a few seconds and seeing that he had no intention of serving her porridge, she didn’t mind, assuming he was tired. She picked up a bowl and spoon and served herself a portion.

After taking a few sips, she felt something strange. Usually, he would always watch her intently, his gaze so intense that she would feel unnatural, shy, and awkward.

But this time, she didn’t feel such a gaze. Puzzled, she raised her eyes and glanced over. The young man sitting opposite her was casually propping his chin, his dark eyes hidden in the shadows, quietly looking outside.

Sang Ying bit her spoon. “Xie Lingyu, how did you find out?”

“I went to the place where the illness first appeared. After searching for several days, I discovered traces of human activity about seven hundred li from that small town. Following those traces, I found the spiritual vein that had been tampered with.”

“I brought back a portion and handed it over to the clan, asking them to analyze its composition to develop an antidote.”

So that was it—going straight to the source to investigate. That was indeed his style, straightforward and efficient.

Sang Ying nodded, then suddenly realized something. She stiffened and looked up. “Then… you were poisoned too?”

Her eyes widened. No wonder he didn’t serve her porridge anymore, and no wonder he wasn’t looking at her—it was because he couldn’t see!

The spoon clattered to the floor. Sang Ying’s heart pounded wildly, her nose instantly tingling with sourness, and her eyes welled up with tears. “Xie Lingyu, your eyes…”

The young man glanced at her with his dark eyes, his tone indifferent. “Do you think I would go unprepared, junior sister?”

Sang Ying paused.

The young man in front of her put down his hand, bent over, and accurately picked up the spoon that had fallen to the floor, tossing it onto the tray. He then took a new one and gently placed it in her bowl.

His tone remained calm. “The Azure Dragon clan possesses exceptional innate talent. When cultivating, they absorb spiritual energy hundreds of times more than ordinary cultivators. Without a unique filtering technique, their meridians would have long been clogged by impurities in the spiritual energy.”

Sang Ying: “…”

She had cried too soon.

Now, all that was left was to wait for the antidote to be developed. Seeing hope, Sang Ying finally relaxed.

Her eyelids grew heavy. She hadn’t slept for days, and now drowsiness washed over her like waves. Before she could return to her room, she fell asleep with her head on the table.

The young man waited for a moment. “Junior sister?”

A few seconds later, he stood up, walked along the edge of the table to the girl’s side, picked her up, and slowly carried her back to her room, laying her on the bed.

…

The next time she woke up, it was already evening.

The first thing Sang Ying did after getting up was take out the Glazed Mirror to inquire about the health of the people she was worried about. In recent days, Jingxi and Lengmian had also shown mild symptoms of the illness.

Fortunately, their conditions weren’t severe, and neither of her senior brothers was in immediate danger.

Sang Ying then asked about Rong Xue Man’s situation, as they had been discussing solutions with the Immortal Alliance the day before.

Rong Xue Man sighed: 【Not good. The portion of the spiritual vein Xiao Yu brought back does contain something unusual, but it’s not an ordinary poison.】

【Even the dragon in our clan most skilled in purification techniques couldn’t filter this substance from entering the body. According to him, this thing seems to exist naturally, coexisting with spiritual energy, and the body instinctively feels fear toward it.】

【The Immortal Alliance doesn’t have any solutions either. Most of their higher-cultivation cultivators have been completely incapacitated, and the Immortal Alliance elders communicating with us are all in critical condition. The current plan they’ve discussed is to use medicine to seal one’s own energy channels, exhausting mental energy to avoid deeper poisoning. They’ve already started mass-producing and distributing the medicine.】

Sang Ying stared at the long message Rong Xue Man had sent, her gaze lingering on the second paragraph, stunned.

…Even the dragon most skilled in purification techniques couldn’t filter this poison?

Then what about Xie Lingyu—

Footsteps sounded at the door as the young man walked in carrying a tray, placing the meal on the table. “Junior Sister, time to eat.”

Sang Ying walked over and sat down, her eyes fixed unwaveringly on him. The young man naturally picked up a bowl, filled it with porridge, and set it before her.

A moment later, his tone was indifferent. “Why are you staring at me, Junior Sister?”

Sang Ying paused, then picked up the bowl and began drinking the porridge. “Xie Lingyu, I want shrimp.”

The young man picked up a pair of chopsticks and placed a boiled shrimp into her small bowl.

Sang Ying immediately frowned, dissatisfied. “Xie Lingyu, I said I wanted shrimp. Why did you add a green pepper for me? You did it on purpose, didn’t you!”

The young man paused slightly, then replied calmly, “Eat more vegetables.”

Sang Ying slammed her chopsticks down with a loud thud and stood up.

Xie Lingyu was taken aback, his tone softening. “If you don’t want to eat it, just throw it—”

“Xie Lingyu, you can’t see anymore, can you?”

Xie Lingyu froze, realizing she was testing him, and fell silent.

The girl before him also remained silent.

It was far too quiet.

So quiet that it made him feel uneasy.

In the pitch-black darkness before him, he couldn’t see what expression she wore now, nor how those always clear and bright eyes were looking at him at this moment.

Would it be disgust? Would it be disdain? He couldn’t see, only feeling her gaze fixed on his face, burning and scrutinizing every inch.

She never liked him to begin with, and now that he couldn’t see, she would like him even less.

That’s why, ever since returning, he had pretended nothing was wrong, brushing it off. Now that he was exposed, that panic surged to the surface.

His eyelashes trembled, and he instinctively wanted to grab her hand, to beg her not to leave him, but he couldn’t find the direction.

Suddenly, cool, gentle fingers touched the side of his face.

Then slender fingers cupped his face, trembling slightly as if from cold.

“Xie Lingyu…”

Xie Lingyu was startled, lifting his face in response to her touch.

In the thick, lifeless darkness, a warm, incredibly soft feather gently landed on his eyes.

“Don’t be afraid.”