Star Dou Great Forest
Xiao Wu darted through the dense trees. Just as she was about to break out of the mixed-spirit beast zone, her eyes caught a flash of familiar blue. She approached, and her expression shifted instantly.
After being captured by that woman, Bibi Dong, Xiao Wu had felt her life was nearing its end. Unexpectedly, by some stroke of fortune, the Soul Power restraints Bibi Dong had placed on her failed, and she regained her freedom. This left Xiao Wu overjoyed. Before Bibi Dong could return, she fled the cave, heading toward the safe direction her "instincts" pointed, only to be met with a combination of surprise and horror.
Xiao Wu looked at the man she had missed day and night for the past two years, now appearing before her in such a wretched state. Yes, "wretched" was the only way to describe Tang San at this moment.
Bibi Dong's palm strike had shattered who knows how many of his bones, leaving him in a life-threatening condition. Afterward, to "protect the environment," Bibi Dong had followed up with a corrosive poison that had melted the left side of his body into a gruesome mess. It was only thanks to the combination of his Blue Silver Emperor Lineage and his Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone that his vitality remained strong; otherwise, Xiao Wu wouldn't even be seeing him now.
Xiao Wu cried out.
"Third Brother!"
Tang San, who had been tortured to the brink of delirium by the virulent poison and agony, felt a surge of joy upon hearing a familiar voice. His will to survive drove him to speak with great effort.
"Xiao... Xiao Wu?"
Hearing Tang San's "heavy metal" rasp, Xiao Wu's heart shattered, and tears streamed down her face.
"Third Brother, how could this happen? How did you end up like this?"
Tang San was indeed in a miserable state. His left arm was gone, his chest was pitted and scarred, revealing bone, and his once-handsome face was a deep, bruised purple. The skin and flesh on the left side of his face had been melted away, leaving his inner anatomy exposed.
Looking at Tang San like this, Xiao Wu didn't dare move him, terrified of causing further injury.
"What do I do? What should I do?" Xiao Wu asked Tang San, desperate for guidance.
Xiao Wu was not one for study; aside from fighting and cursing, she knew nothing. With no other choice, Tang San had to endure the agony and speak with difficulty to instruct her.
"I... I am covered in poison. First, take... the knife. Cut away the rotting flesh, scrape the poisoned bone."
Hearing such a terrifying method of treatment, Xiao Wu's face turned pale. Was it really this bloody? She asked if there were any other ways to save him.
"Third Brother, is there no other way?"
After saying this, Tang San felt his strength fading and spoke weakly.
"No."
Xiao Wu looked at the drifting, semi-conscious Tang San, who looked like he was about to pass on. Gritting her teeth, she took a dagger from Tang San's Twenty-Four Bridges on a Moonlit Night and began, with trembling hands, to cut away his flesh and scrape his bone.
As the blade touched him, Tang San's spirit snapped back, his eyes bulging as he let out a low roar.
"Ahhhhhh!"
This "death by a thousand cuts" style of treatment was far too stimulating for a living person, and combined with Xiao Wu's mediocre knife skills, it made Tang San feel that the Human World was truly not worth it.
Tang San screamed in pain, and Xiao Wu scraped away while sobbing.
Finally, ten minutes later, at the cost of Xiao Wu accidentally cutting away an extra layer of healthy flesh, Tang San's torture ended. Feeling that Tang San was now on his last breath, he faintly saw the figures of Tang Hao and Ah Yin.
Xiao Wu couldn't afford to think; seeing Tang San's eyes losing focus, she called out loudly.
"Third Brother, you can't sleep! Third Brother!"
Tang San summoned his final ounce of strength.
"Find the antidote for the Death Spider Emperor Poison," he said, before falling completely unconscious.
When he had cleared the Hell Road, the box Huliena gave him contained exactly that. He never expected it would become his final lifeline.
Could such a painful process really save his life? Tang San wasn't sure, but it was the only method he could think of.
Receiving her next instruction, Xiao Wu began rummaging through Tang San's Spatial Soul Tool.
A few minutes later, Xiao Wu found the antidote labeled with the correct name among Tang San's pile of bottles and jars and fed it to him.
The subsequent treatment proved that Tang San had indeed achieved some mastery in the skills of the Tang Sect. Not long after the antidote was ingested, the purple hue on his face began to fade. Xiao Wu breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the results.
But the good times didn't last; a new problem arose. While it was good for Tang San's complexion to go from purple to white, it was not good that he was turning so pale he no longer looked like a living person.
As the possessor of the Blue Silver Emperor Lineage and a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, Tang San's vitality was indeed tenacious, but tenacity did not mean he was immortal.
This time, Tang San's injuries were too severe—internal trauma, external wounds, poisoning, the secondary damage from Xiao Wu's treatment, and the toll the antidote took on his body. The damage his body could withstand had been pushed to the absolute limit. Furthermore, the treatment had come too late, exceeding the threshold of his survival capabilities; his life force could no longer be contained.
Xiao Wu looked at Tang San, whose vitality was even weaker after the detoxification, his breath as thin as a thread. The relief she had just felt vanished. She shouted Tang San's name, trying to wake him, but Tang San could no longer hear her.
Just as Xiao Wu was weeping and at a loss for what to do, a "kind soul" provided her with a solution.
A flash of red light crossed Xiao Wu's eyes, and a resolute thought jumped into her mind. Although this thought was fatal, for the sake of Tang San, she was willing.
Looking at the withered and exhausted Tang San, Xiao Wu gently stroked his cheek.
"Third Brother, I've found a way to save you!"
"It's just a pity that after I save you, we will never be able to see each other again."
At this point, Xiao Wu felt a pang of sorrow, but thinking that Tang San would survive, she forced a smile.
"But it doesn't matter. Even if I can't see you, I will always be watching over you. Every minute, every second, I will be there."
"I will watch you grow stronger and stronger, until you finally reach the pinnacle of the Soul Master World."
At the end of her words, Xiao Wu kissed Tang San lightly and said with regret.
"Goodbye, my love."
"Ah--"
An incomparably shrill cry of grief suddenly erupted from Xiao Wu's throat. That piercing sound seemed to make the entire Star Dou Great Forest tremble in its wake.
Blinding red light suddenly spread from the center of Xiao Wu's brow, transforming into a ring of red radiance that expanded in an instant. Wherever the red light passed, everything was dyed the color of blood, and everything, at this very moment, came to a standstill.
This was the method given by that 'kind-hearted person': sacrifice, using Xiao Wu's life to trade for Tang San's life.
God Realm, Shura God Palace.
The Shura God watched the scene of Xiao Wu's sacrifice in the light screen and nodded with satisfaction; things had finally reached the stage he had envisioned.
The light screen shifted, and the interface of another youth appeared simultaneously. He looked at the two youths of the same age in the light screen and whispered.
"I truly look forward to the moment we meet."
With this matter concluded, the light screen vanished, and the palace returned to silence.
Human society has a phrase for sworn brotherhood: 'Not seeking to be born on the same day of the same month of the same year, but seeking to die on the same day of the same month of the same year.' This is something most humans cannot achieve, but now Xiao Wu, Da Ming, and Er Ming, the three Soul Beast siblings, had achieved it; it could be considered a form of fate, after all.
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: DaoistReader