He tried to stand up to greet her, but was held firmly in place; the golden cord in his throat made it almost impossible for him to breathe.
“Mingjie, sit down,” Xue Ziye said calmly, gently pressing his shoulder. “I’ll take care of your injury.”
He lay silently, docile and obedient. His wounds ached all over, and the deadly poison was slowly eroding him, yet he gritted his teeth with astonishing willpower and remained silent, as if afraid that the slightest sound would shatter the tranquility of the moment.
Every moment spent together like this is extremely precious.
They were separated by vast distances for over a decade, passing each other without recognizing one another; but years later, after surviving countless near-death experiences, they met again, only to immediately face separation by death.
He didn't speak again, but just lay there silently, savoring the tranquility and beauty of this brief moment. The murderous intent and bloodlust that had filled his heart for more than a decade vanished like mist. At this moment, he didn't think about killing or taking revenge. He just wanted to lie there like this, without saying a word, and die quietly beside her.
Xue Ziye did not stop for a moment. She attached the tinderbox to the iron cage, dipped her hands in the ointment, and quickly applied it.
It must have been too cold in the prison, because she coughed intermittently, her voice shallow and hollow.
"Bear with it." After applying medicine to all the wounds on his body, Xue Ziye moved her hand to his head, pressing inch by inch along his brow and temples. Suddenly, she flipped her wrist, and a flash of bright light appeared between her fingers. In an instant, four silver needles pierced deeply into his skull from both sides!
The Jingming and Chengqi acupoints were sealed, and the silver needle was inserted two inches deep, yet Tong remained silent despite the excruciating pain.
"Open your eyes." He heard the gentle command and opened his eyes in the darkness.
Still, I can't see anything... My eyes, eroded by the deadly poison, are completely blind.
However, the moment she opened her eyes, something warm and moist gently probed in and touched her blind eyeballs.
"No!" Tong was startled and instinctively tried to back away, but his body was already blocked in advance, and he couldn't even make a sound. In that instant, he realized what she was doing and almost shouted out loud.
Xue Ziye simply held his shoulders, firmly holding his head, and leaned over to lick his poisoned eyes with the tip of her tongue.
Tong tried to close her eyes, but found that after the acupoints on her head were sealed, she could no longer close her eyes.
She...did she arrange everything early in the morning? What is she planning to do?
Startled, Tong tried to forcefully break through the acupoints by circulating his inner energy, but how could he possibly succeed with such severe injuries? Tong repeatedly tried to attack the acupoints with his inner energy, but he could not move them even slightly.
Xue Ziye held his head in her arms, gently and carefully licking away the poison from his eyes. He felt her breath on his face, the cool and gentle touch constantly stimulating him, and the excruciating pain in his head gradually lessened.
However, her heart grew colder and colder—what was she doing?
That's the Seven Star Begonia, the most poisonous plant in the world! How could she dare to taste it with her tongue?
Stop! Stop! He almost screamed like a madman, but the intense shock made him lose his voice for a moment.
In the dark prison, the tinderbox gradually went out, leaving only the gentle, warm touch of the tongue continuing silently. Pupil was unable to move, but he knew what the other was doing, and he knew that the terrifying poison was transferring from his body to the other's. Time seemed to stand still in that instant; in the dark, cold snow prison, the silence was so profound that one could hear their heart shatter into a thousand pieces.
Tears welled up silently in eyes that had been dry for over a decade, only to be gently licked away by the tip of a tongue.
It's salty and bitter, with a taste like poison.
In a short while, Xue Ziye had licked all the poison from her eyes, spat it on the ground, and sat up straight to catch her breath.
"Alright." Her voice carried a faint smile as she took out a medicine from her medicine pouch and gently applied it to Tong's eyes. "The poison has been removed. Apply some snake gall eye powder, and he should be able to see completely in less than three days."
Tong felt a chill in her heart and wanted to scream, but her body was completely immobile.
"You..." His speech acupoint wasn't sealed, but he didn't know what to say, and his face turned pale.
"Can you see the shadow?" she asked, waving her hand in front of his eyes.
He was still speechless, but his eyes unconsciously followed her hand.
“Everyone said that there was no cure for the Seven Star Begonia, but they were wrong.” Xue Ziye laughed happily. “Twenty years ago, Grandmaster Linxia pondered this for a month and died from exhaustion—but he finally found a solution.”
“This poison is fatal upon contact with the skin and spreads extremely rapidly—but precisely because of this, it can be cured by using silver needles to force the poison throughout the body to one spot, and then having someone knowledgeable in medicine act as a guide to draw the poison out. No medicinal herbs are even needed.” She spoke softly, her voice carrying a sense of triumph in conquering an incurable disease. “In his dying words, the Linxia Patriarch mentioned that a female physician named Cheng had also used this method to cure the Seven-Star Begonia poison—”
She spoke calmly, but her voice gradually slowed: "So, the Seven Star Begonia isn't incurable... it's just that most doctors in the world are unwilling to risk their own lives..."
However, the terrifying poison spread rapidly the moment it touched her tongue. Xue Ziye's speech slowed, and she felt dizzy, swaying and almost falling. She quickly poured a jade-green pill from her bosom and put it in her mouth to calm the intensely corrosive poison.
“Mingjie, I won’t let you die.” Xue Ziye took a deep breath, smiled, her eyes bright and firm, and took out a jade bottle from her bosom. “I won’t let you die in front of me like Xuehuai and the rest of the village.”
She carefully poured a crimson pill from the bottle, and its rich aroma immediately filled the entire room.
"This is the Vermilion Fruit Jade Dew Pill. You must have heard of it." Xue Ziye put the pill into his mouth—the pill melted into nectar as soon as it entered his mouth, and he felt an indescribable comfort throughout his body.
"Take good care of yourself and recover well," Xue Ziye said, wiping away the blood that had seeped from the corner of her mouth. She released her grip and whispered, "Don't worry about the King anymore."
He was suddenly startled—don't worry about the Pope? Could it be... could it be that she's going to...
“Mingjie, the pressure points on your body will naturally be released in twelve hours,” Xue Ziye said softly as she left his side. “I will now unlock your chains. Once you can see again, leave on your own. Once you regain your martial arts skills, nothing in the world can hold you back. But listen to me, do not kill anyone indiscriminately.”
With a few clanging sounds, the golden chains on his hands and feet all fell off.
Losing his support, he fell heavily, but was caught by Xue Ziye halfway down.
"This thing must be a treasure of your sect, right?" She helped him sit down, placed the object in his arms, and spoke softly, her expression calm and composed, completely unlike someone suffering from a deadly poison. "Take this. With this, you can do whatever you want from now on, and you'll never be controlled by anyone again..."
Tong touched the heavy, cold thing in his palm and his whole body trembled: This, this is... the Holy Flame Token of the Pope?
Her meticulous planning seemed to be taking care of everything from head to toe!
"I don't want this!" he finally blurted out, his voice desperate and piercing, "I just want you to live!"
Xue Ziye was startled, and the tears she had been holding back for so long finally fell—the weariness from years of suffering overwhelmed her, and she suddenly lost the power to control her emotions. She reached out and pulled his head into her arms, bursting into tears.
How could it have turned out like this? How could it have turned out like this?
One was a proud daughter of a prestigious medical family in the capital, and the other was a poor boy from a remote village in the far north—their lives should have never intersected, and they should have lived carefree lives. How did things turn out like this today?