Chapter 205
Chapter 205
During our long heart-to-heart at the Teahouse, Gu Yan had mentioned that she could use a Gu insect to help suppress my Symbiotic Curse. I had hesitated even then.
Now, Liu Junyan had enshrined a Buddha Lamp for me at the Great Dharma King Temple. As time passed, the ‘Slave’ mark on my right cheek was growing fainter and fainter.
The effect was obvious.
For the time being, I didn’t need a Gu insect to suppress the Symbiotic Curse.
In the past, I would have refused Gu Yan again without hesitation.
But now, things were different.
Gu Yan had already decided to return to Xiangxi. This wasn’t some casual trip home. She was returning with a mission.
If I needed her help again in the future, I might have a very hard time finding her.
More importantly, I had seen Feng Lishu in the Paradise Beyond the World at the edge of the Netherworld Realm.
The state she was in terrified me.
It seemed as though the Symbiotic Curse had backfired on her.
When it came to people, greed wasn’t actually the most frightening thing.
What was truly frightening was being driven into a dead end — being driven to madness.
Once she gave in to despair, her counterattack would only become more vicious and utterly merciless.
I had a feeling Feng Lishu wasn’t far from that point of despair and insanity.
With that thought, I cautiously asked Gu Yan, “When you told me about the Symbiotic Curse last time, you described it as a curse where one party takes and the other provides. It’s one-sided and irreversible, right?”
Gu Yan nodded. “Yes. You’re the one who was cursed — the party being drained.”
I continued, “In other words, there’s no way the other party could suffer any backlash, right?”
Gu Yan was far too perceptive to miss the implication behind my question. Her expression changed instantly. “Has it backfired on her?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure, but she seems to be in very poor condition.”
Gu Yan lowered her head and fiddled with the box containing the Ice Silkworm, lost in thought.
Only after a long silence did she look up at me again and say with absolute certainty, “Under normal circumstances, the party being sustained by the Symbiotic Curse could never suffer a backlash. Unless… the enslaved party… performed a Soul Sacrifice!”
Soul Sacrifice… I was all too familiar with those words.
Since the Pawnshop reopened, more than one of the Souls had made a Soul Sacrifice to the Soul-Guiding Lantern.
A Soul Sacrifice ultimately ended in complete annihilation.
Special cases like Fu Wan were exceedingly rare.
In other words, if the Symbiotic Curse really had backfired on Feng Lishu, then in my previous life, I must have ultimately chosen to perform a Soul Sacrifice.
But if I had performed a Soul Sacrifice, how had I survived?
My thoughts were a tangled mess, and the confusion was almost unbearable.
Gu Yan pushed the box toward me again. “Xiao Jiu, I know you’ve found some way to temporarily hold back the effects of the Symbiotic Curse. You may even have caused it to backfire on the other party. But this isn’t a foolproof solution.
“You’re fighting to survive, and she’ll only fight harder. After all, she wants to live too.
“The Ice Silkworm… you’re going to need it.”
That was the real reason I was hesitating this time.
The Buddha Lamp at the Great Dharma King Temple could help me for a while, but it couldn’t protect me forever.
The entire Phoenix Clan stood behind Feng Lishu. The moment she realized what was happening, she would do everything in her power to cut me off from the Buddha Lamp’s protection.
When that happened, what would I do?
Perhaps the Ice Silkworm… would be my final way out.
Even if it was no different from drinking poison to quench my thirst.
In the end, I reached out and opened the box.
The wooden box was icy to the touch, and I couldn’t tell what kind of wood it had been made from. Inside lay an insect whose entire body was transparent.
At first glance, it looked like a small chunk of ice.
But on closer inspection, I could make out its antennae and legs, along with two eyes as tiny as black sesame seeds.
There were also two slight bumps above its tail.
It lay motionless inside the box, still dormant.
“The Ice Silkworm is different from ordinary Gu. It won’t remain with you for the rest of your life,” Gu Yan explained in detail. “When you decide to use it, prick any part of the character on your cheek. Once a bead of blood wells up, place the Ice Silkworm on it. After drinking your blood, it will recognize you as its master.
“Once it burrows into your body, it will gradually dissolve into your bloodstream, cleansing and purifying all the blood in your body. The process brings extreme cold and excruciating pain. If you can’t endure it, your life may be in danger.
“But if you survive, you’ll gain a three-month barrier period.
“During that barrier period, you’ll be completely shielded from every effect of the Symbiotic Curse. You’ll even be immune to all poisons.”
“Only three months?” Li Qingying complained. “Isn’t that way too short?”
I didn’t think it was short at all.
A lot could be accomplished in three months.
I asked, “What happens after those three months? Once the barrier period ends, what will be waiting for me?”
“Your body will gradually turn to ice until you stop breathing,” Gu Yan said.
I wasn’t particularly surprised.
This was what it meant to drink poison to quench one’s thirst.
The moment I chose to bond with the Ice Silkworm, I would be staking everything on one final gamble, trading my eventual death for three last months of freedom.
After all, if I ever chose to use the Ice Silkworm, it would mean I could no longer withstand the Symbiotic Curse.
Li Qingying unconsciously grabbed my hand and asked, unwilling to accept it, “Is there really no way around that?”
“That is precisely why I dared to advise Xiao Jiu, time and again, to accept the Ice Silkworm,” Gu Yan said. “All things in this world counter and restrain one another. The Ice Silkworm has two natural enemies: Nirvana Fire and Dragon Bone Blood.
“There’s no need for me to explain Nirvana Fire. A single baptism by Nirvana Fire can erase every trace of the Ice Silkworm from your body and eliminate it completely.
“Dragon Bone Blood refers to blood collected by cutting open a Dragon’s horn. That shouldn’t be difficult for Seventh Master to obtain. The drawback is that Dragon Bone Blood cannot completely eradicate the Ice Silkworm’s Gu Poison. To stay alive, you would have to use Dragon Bone Blood once every month.”
My heart stirred. Li Qingying’s grip on my hand abruptly tightened, and light returned to her eyes.
She leaned closer and whispered, “We can ask Lord Xiao to help with that.”
Li Qingying had told me that Lord Xiao was the most unruly figure in the Linghai Dragon Clan.
He had even dared to overturn a table while the Dragon King of Linghai was hosting a grand banquet. That alone spoke volumes about his status within the Linghai Dragon Clan.
It probably wouldn’t be difficult to ask him for some Dragon Bone Blood.
The difficult part was that we would need it every month.
Even Dragon horns made of iron couldn’t withstand that kind of repeated abuse.
Besides, Lord Xiao already wanted something from Liu Junyan. I was afraid Liu Junyan might end up being forced to do something beyond his capabilities in return.
So, ultimately, Nirvana Fire was still the better solution.
Perhaps by then, I might have the chance to undergo Nirvana.
Or perhaps I would never need to use the Ice Silkworm at all.
The Ice Silkworm was only a last resort, not an inevitable choice.
With that thought, I closed the box containing the Ice Silkworm and accepted it.
I thanked Gu Yan, then chatted with her for quite a while longer.
After seeing Gu Yan off, Li Qingying and I opened the refrigerator together and placed the box containing the Ice Silkworm in the freezer.
On the shelf directly below Snow Phoenix…