Chapter 232

Chapter 232

But as I continued tidying up, my mind began to drift. Waves of dizziness washed over me, and I had no choice but to lean back on the sofa and rest.

By the time Li Qingying called me to dinner, the hair at both my temples had turned completely white.

Li Qingying looked at me with worry written all over her face, but she had no idea what to do.

That evening, I only managed to drink a little soup. My entire body felt uncomfortable, so I washed up and went to bed early.

Li Qingying didn’t dare leave me to sleep alone, but she also needed to keep an eye on Snow Phoenix. In the end, I slept in her room that night.

The moment I closed my eyes, I felt my body falling endlessly.

It was as though my consciousness had plunged into an abyss, trapped so deep that I couldn’t pull myself free.

And that abyss was filled with fire.

Amid the sea of flames, the woman who had taken Fengwu appeared once more.

She stood silently in the flames, watching me the entire time.

I cautiously stepped toward her.

For some reason, seeing her again filled me with an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

That feeling rose from the depths of my heart, making me instinctively want to draw closer to her.

But before I could approach the sea of flames, I sensed a faint force pushing me away.

A Formation? Or a barrier?

I took another two steps forward, wanting to find out what was going on.

Just then, an enormous butterfly flew straight at me, blocking my vision and shattering my dream.

At the same moment, something cold touched my lips. A chilled, metallic-tasting liquid flowed down my throat and instantly spread through every inch of my body.

My eyes snapped open.

“Xiao Jiu, you’re finally awake! You scared me to death.” Li Qingying’s tearful voice reached my ears.

Someone helped me sit up, and I saw two people standing beside the bed.

One was Li Qingying.

The other was… Snow Phoenix?

A trace of blood still stained the corner of Snow Phoenix’s mouth.

I instinctively touched my own lips. There was blood on them too.

My heart sank. I looked at Snow Phoenix and asked, “So you were the one who fed me blood just now?”

Snow Phoenix immediately nodded.

Li Qingying hurried to explain. “Xiao Jiu, you were trapped in a Nightmare. You wouldn’t wake up for hours. Thankfully, Snow Phoenix took human form. She said the Symbiotic Curse might have trapped you in your sleep. She ate the Ice Silkworm and has already assimilated it completely, so using her blood to ease the Symbiotic Curse’s hold on you would be even more effective than the Ice Silkworm itself. And look — you woke up right after she fed you a little of her blood.”

The explanation made perfect sense.

From Li Qingying’s perspective, she truly had no choice at the time but to let Snow Phoenix save me.

The problem was, I hadn’t woken up because of the blood Snow Phoenix fed me. I had awakened because that enormous butterfly had forced me back.

The Ice Silkworm had fused with Snow Phoenix, which meant its Gu Poison had already permeated her blood.

As creatures of the same elemental type, Snow Phoenix could withstand the Ice Silkworm’s bone-chilling Gu Poison, but I might not be able to.

Feeding me her blood so rashly…

I studied Snow Phoenix for a moment, suspicion in my eyes.

She looked back at me nervously, as though terrified she had done something wrong. Her doe-like eyes were filled with innocence.

Uncle Huo had said Snow Phoenix was still a fledgling and had only recently taken human form… Perhaps I was overthinking this.

I let the suspicion fade from my eyes and said, “Snow Phoenix, thank you.”

Snow Phoenix immediately replied, “You saved my life, Sister, and I ate your Ice Silkworm and Dragon Bone Blood. I can never repay you enough. Whatever you ask me to do, I’ll do it.”

I smiled. “It was nothing. You don’t need to take it to heart.”

“Xiao Xue, stay here with Xiao Jiu. I’ll be right back,” Li Qingying suddenly instructed.
Snow Phoenix nodded repeatedly. “All right, Sister Qingying. Hurry back. I’ll take good care of Sister.”

Li Qingying turned to leave. I reached for her sleeve but missed and hurriedly asked, “Sister Qingying, where are you going?”

“I’m going to ask Lord Xiao for Dragon Bone Blood.” Li Qingying was already rushing out as she spoke. “Xiao Jiu, go back to sleep. I should be back around dawn.”

She left so quickly that she didn’t give me any chance to respond.

Only Snow Phoenix and I remained in the room.

I understood why Li Qingying was in such a hurry. After using Snow Phoenix’s blood, my Gu Poison could flare up at any moment.

The odds of it not flaring up were vanishingly small.

And Dragon Bone Blood wasn’t something one could simply ask for and receive.

Li Qingying was racing against time for my sake.

I sat up straight and had Snow Phoenix sit beside the bed. It wasn’t dawn yet, so this was the perfect time to talk.

I asked, “Do you know about the Symbiotic Curse?”

Snow Phoenix froze for a moment before replying, “I do. Most members of the Phoenix Clan know that the Symbiotic Curse exists.”

Most members knew about it?

But the Symbiotic Curse was used on twins, and surely not every pair of twins went through what I had.

This was clearly a closely guarded secret. They had even erased every trace of my existence, so Snow Phoenix’s explanation didn’t hold water.

I continued, “Then can you tell me about the Symbiotic Curse? And while you’re at it, tell me about Feng Lishu.”

Back at Paradise Beyond the World, it had been Feng Lishu who tore off one of Snow Phoenix’s wings and nearly bit her to death. Snow Phoenix should have known her.

But she said, “I’m sorry, Sister. I’ve only been able to take human form for a few decades. I know of the Symbiotic Curse, but I don’t know the details. As for Feng Lishu, I don’t know her well either.”

My eyes narrowed, and my voice turned cold as I pressed her. “You don’t know Feng Lishu well? Then why did she target you and try to kill you?”

“Someone in my family was sick,” Snow Phoenix said. “Spirit Butterfly Valley borders Cangwu Mountain, and all kinds of rare medicinal herbs grow there. I secretly slipped over from Cangwu Mountain to dig some up, but I ran into Feng Lishu, who had also snuck into Spirit Butterfly Valley. She nearly bit me to death.”

So that was what had happened.

I relaxed slightly, then asked, “Since you came from Cangwu Mountain and belong to the Phoenix Clan, you must be very familiar with the routes there, right?”

“I am. Extremely familiar,” Snow Phoenix said. “My home isn’t far from the foot of Cangwu Mountain.”

Delight surged through me. “Then you must know Cangwu Mountain very well. Can you tell me about the Grand Witch and the Fire Witch Goddess — ugh…”

Before I could finish, a sudden pain pierced my chest, and I spat out a mouthful of black blood without warning.

A chanting voice immediately began echoing in my ears.

The chant was like an invisible hand clenching my heart. A dull agony throbbed through my chest as blood surged up my throat, making me vomit blood over and over again.

Seeing me like this, Snow Phoenix began trembling uncontrollably.

The guilt in her eyes deepened.

Tears filled her doe-like eyes, and her lips quivered. “I’m sorry, Sister. I had no choice. More than a hundred members of the Snow Phoenix Clan are all under his control. I have to obey him. I… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”

Tears streamed silently down her cheeks as she begged my forgiveness again and again, endlessly repeating her apologies.

And amid the excruciating pain, I heard a voice that was both strange and familiar.

“Ah Li, if you want to know about the Grand Witch and the Fire Witch Goddess, come ask me. You’re my fiancée. Whatever you want to know, I can tell you myself…”