Chapter 52: The Evil Cultivator's Plague: The Crisis of the Medicine Valley Saintess

Shen Yan was awakened by a piercing chill.

As soon as his eyelids cracked open, a searing pain shot through his chest. The Dust-Severing Sword was still embedded in his body, the blood long congealed into a dark purple scab. He tried to raise his hand to pull out the sword, but the moment his fingers twitched, he slipped back into a semi-conscious state.

“Don’t move recklessly.” Ye Zhao’s voice sounded close to his ear, slightly breathless. “The protective shield won’t hold much longer.”

Only then did he notice a thin, cicada-wing-like membrane of light above his head, being slowly corroded by the thick fog, like plastic paper soaked in strong acid. The Frost Soul Sword was slanted into the ground, its hilt trembling faintly. Ye Zhao sat cross-legged beside it, her face paler than paper, clearly having nearly exhausted her Sword Qi.

From the rubble pile nearby came rustling sounds as Pei Yue crawled out from the debris. Her green dress was torn, but she held her Medicine Pouch tightly in her arms. Without bothering to straighten her clothes, she rushed to Shen Yan’s side in a few quick steps. The moment her fingertips touched his wrist pulse, her brows furrowed tightly.

“Yang meridian frozen? No…” she muttered softly. “This poison doesn’t seem to be an external invasion… more like… a backlash erupting from within his own body?”

Before she finished speaking, as the Silver Needle had just penetrated a fraction of an inch, its tip suddenly frosted over and cracked with a snap.

“Damn,” Shen Yan mumbled groggily. “Even needles are getting competitive these days? They have to pass a cold resistance test before stabbing someone?”

Pei Yue ignored his joke, growing even more tense instead. She abandoned the needle entirely, pressing two fingers against the convergence point of his Bloodline. A cold current flowed along his meridians, and as soon as it reached his heart, her entire body shuddered violently.

“Heaven’s Secret Holder…” Her lips turned pale. “What’s inside your body… it’s the same as recorded in the Medicine Valley Ancient Texts.”

Shen Yan wanted to laugh. “What? I thought it was just a Programmer’s overtime sudden death constitution.”

But halfway through his laugh, his phone suddenly lit up on its own.

A Terminal Interface with black background and green text filled the entire screen:

【Detected Heaven’s Secret Holder gene sequence activation】

【Risk Level: Highest】

【Recommend immediate isolation of Host】

As soon as the Notification Tone ended, a fragmented Children’s Rhyme drifted from deep within the valley.

“The crescent moon shines over the nine lands, big brother codes, I have no worries…”

The tune was wildly off-key, but every beat perfectly synchronized with the Loop Program running in the background of Shen Yan’s phone. With each line sung, a fragmented Rune appeared in the air, as if someone were typing Code in the void but always missing a line to Compile.

Ye Shi’er stood atop a high rock, his back to the three of them, fragments of a mask hanging on his face. One hand gently tapped the rhythm as he hummed that wildly off-key Children’s Rhyme.

“Is he being controlled?” Ye Zhao tried to stand up but was held back by Pei Yue gripping her wrist.

“No.” Pei Yue stared at the Star-Shattering Token Imitation in her hand, its edges already smoking from heat. “He’s responding—like… a System self-initiating.”

Shen Yan lay on the ground, his consciousness hazy, but his fingers twitched uncontrollably.

His phone automatically switched to Debug mode. On the Screen, two Data Streams slowly approached each other—one labeled “Host,” the other reading 【Unknown Terminal ID: Ye Shi’er】.

“So that’s it…” Pei Yue murmured. “You two aren’t separate Bugs at all… but dual cores of the same System.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Shen Yan suddenly opened his eyes.

Not the kind of opening eyes when waking up, but with his pupils glowing with a faint green Code Flow, he unconsciously recited a string of Commands:

“Loading… Source Code Spiritual Root v2.3… Initiate… Bidirectional Authentication Protocol… Permission Key… Ying’er…”

Ye Shi’er’s singing abruptly ceased.

The figure on the high cliff swayed, the mask completely shattered, revealing a face identical to Shen Yan’s—except for an old scar on the left cheek, like a brand seared by a Data Stream.

“Brother,” he spoke, his voice hoarse and inhuman, “you’ve finally… connected to me.”

Shen Yan coughed violently, spitting out a mouthful of blood mixed with strands of golden, thread-like substance that snaked across the ground, forming an ancient rune pattern.

Pei Yue’s pupils contracted sharply: “This is the core pattern of the ‘Fate-Reversing Formation’! The Medicine Valley’s Forbidden Techniques mentioned it—it can rewrite the Book of Life and Death… but only the blood of a Heaven’s Secret Holder can activate it!”

She frantically reached for the black jade in her Medicine Pouch, only to find fine cracks appearing on the stone’s surface, its cold energy rapidly dissipating.

“No good, the Seal is about to collapse,” she gritted her teeth. “This place has been tampered with. The entire valley is a living Formation, specifically waiting for a Heaven’s Secret Holder to bleed and trigger it.”

Ye Zhao struggled to stand up, her Frost Soul Sword humming incessantly: “Who set this up? Xie Wujiu? Bai Guizhen?”

“Neither,” Shen Yan spoke with difficulty, his gaze clearing but tinged with lingering fear. “This is… a family matter.”

He reached out to pull the sword from his chest, but as soon as his fingers touched the hilt, the entire valley suddenly shook violently.

Thick mist churned, the ground cracked in a spiderweb pattern, and eerie blue runes crawled up from beneath the earth, forming a massive cage-like Formation that trapped the four firmly in the central depression.

“Welcome home,” Ye Shi’er said softly, a strange curve lifting the corner of his mouth. “Mom has been waiting for you for a long time.”

Shen Yan froze completely.

“What did you say?”

“You thought the teleportation malfunction was an accident?” Ye Shi’er descended step by step from the high cliff. With each step he took, another bloody rune matching his palm print appeared on the ground. “‘Mother of Tribulation’ altered the destination of the Abyss Gate. She wants to see you—in the most ancient way.”

Pei Yue suddenly threw herself in front of Shen Yan, spreading her arms to shield him: “Wait! His Meridians are fragile right now. Once his Bloodline is fully activated, the Cold Poison will backlash into his heart! If you want to save him, you have to let me stabilize his foundation with acupuncture first!”

Ye Shi’er halted, watching her quietly.

“You’re from Medicine Valley?” he asked.

Pei Yue nodded: “The Saintess’s successor.”

“Heh.” Ye Shi’er laughed. “Then do you know what the first step of the ‘Heaven’s Secret Holder Sacrifice Ritual’ is?”

No one answered.

He slowly raised his hand, pointing at the sword in Shen Yan’s chest:

“Pull out the sword, let the blood flow, and stir the Earth Vein’s resonance.”

Shen Yan looked down at the Dust-Severing Sword. The blade reflected his own pale face and the churning crimson thunderclouds behind him.

“So… this is the real trap?” he smiled bitterly. “I didn’t come to explore a Secret Realm—I came to be a sacrifice?”

Pei Yue’s hand stealthily moved toward the last Silver Needle in her sleeve, her fingertips trembling, but she refused to retreat.

“If you dare touch him,” her voice was soft but unusually firm, “I’ll use this needle to pierce through your heart Meridian.”

Ye Shi’er looked at her, then suddenly grinned.

“Interesting,” he said. “The last person who dared speak to me like that was my mother.”

Before his words faded, he abruptly raised his hand, sending a bloody rune straight into the earth’s core!

The ground collapsed with a roar. The earth beneath Shen Yan instantly split open, forming a deep, dark vortex. A fierce wind whipped up debris, and Pei Yue stumbled, falling into Shen Yan’s arms.

Ye Zhao swung her sword to block, but was repelled by an invisible force field.

Shen Yan felt his body become weightless, the sword in his chest plunging deeper into his heart with the motion of the fall. The intense pain darkened his vision.

In his final moment, he heard Pei Yue shouting in his ear:

“Grab my hand—don’t let go!”

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(End of Chapter)