258: Chapter 257 Evil Pill

Heavenly Sword Peak, Cold Abyss Cave.

A nauseatingly cloying, sweet scent filled the cave. It was the smell of Sword Gu mixed with essence blood, like rotting seaweed soaked in bloody water, so thick it was suffocating.

Han Qing sat cross-legged on an ice platform, his eyes tightly shut and his face as pale as paper.

A layer of dark red mist swirled around him. Within the mist, countless fine black tentacles could be seen slowly writhing. With every movement, a faint buzzing sound emanated from the mist, sounding like ten thousand insects gnawing on bone.

The medicinal power of the blood gu pill was backfiring.

It had been seven days since he consumed that evil pill.

For seven days, he had used his own essence blood as a lead and the Sword Gu Secret Technique as a medium to forcibly refine, absorb, and achieve Fusion with the violent power contained within the blood gu pill.

His cultivation had skyrocketed from the Early Stage of the Dragon Fetus Realm to the Peak of the Middle Stage of the Dragon Fetus Realm, crossing an entire minor Realm.

But the price was more tragic than anticipated.

The Sword Gu within his body had completely spiraled out of control during this process.

The Intent-Devouring Gus that had originally been dormant within the sword had now tunneled through his Meridians into his limbs, bones, and internal organs.

They nested, multiplied, and transformed within his flesh, feeding on his essence blood, using his True Intent as nourishment, and his Divine Soul as a breeding ground.

His Physical Body was becoming a nest for the Sword Gu.

His Dao Heart was being eroded bit by bit by the bloodthirsty instincts of the Sword Gu.

His will was locked in a day-after-day slaughter against the primal desires of the Sword Gu.

"Not enough..."

Han Qing muttered to himself, his voice as raspy as sandpaper. He opened his eyes; those once sinister and sharp eyes were now bloodshot, and deep within his pupils, fine black patterns could be seen slowly flowing.

Those were the marks of the Fusion between the Sword Gu and the Divine Soul.

He took a jade box from his robes and opened it.

Lying inside the jade box were three pitch-black Medicinal Pills with blood-red patterns flowing across their surfaces.

The pills emitted a nauseating stench. With just one sniff, he felt the blood and Qi in his body surging wildly, and his True Intent trembled uncontrollably.

blood gu pills.

Three of them.

He had originally only prepared one.

But over the past seven days, as the backlash of the Sword Gu became increasingly violent, he realized that what he needed was not suppression, but more power.

Only with sufficiently strong power could he suppress the backlash of the Sword Gu.

Only with sufficiently strong power could he decapitate Jiang Hanzhou at the Sword Discussion Assembly.

Only with sufficiently strong power could he let everyone know that the lead Disciple of Heavenly Sword Peak was not someone anyone could trample upon.

He picked up a blood gu pill and placed it in his mouth.

The moment the pill entered his stomach—

Boom!

An even more violent power than before exploded within him! That power was not blood and Qi, nor True Intent, nor Divine Soul, but the power of the Sword Gu's Origin.

Ten thousand Intent-Devouring Gus rioted simultaneously, frantically biting, devouring, and transforming within his body!

Nourished by his essence blood, their bodies expanded rapidly, growing from the thickness of a hair to that of a toothpick, and then from a toothpick to a chopstick!

Han Qing's body convulsed violently, and the blood vessels on his face bulged, like black snakes slithering beneath his skin!

His eyes turned blood-red, and the black patterns in his pupils grew denser and deeper, eventually staining his entire pupils ink-black!

Pain!

Pain to the extreme!

That kind of pain was not of the Physical Body, but the pain of the Divine Soul being gnawed on by ten thousand Gu insects at once.

Every single Gu insect was devouring his True Intent, eating away at his Dao Heart, and defiling his Divine Soul.

His will nearly collapsed at that moment, and a beast-like roar escaped his throat.

"Aaaaaaaaah—!"

The roar echoed through the Cold Abyss Cave, causing the frost on the cave walls to fall in showers.

But he gritted his teeth, using his remaining will to forcibly suppress the backlash of the Sword Gu, refining, absorbing, and fusing that violent power bit by bit.

One hour.

Two hours.

Three hours.

When the third ray of morning light pierced through the frost at the cave entrance and shone upon him—

He opened his eyes.

A black light flashed and vanished in his eyes, replaced by an indescribable dead silence.

There was no anger, no killing intent, and no madness in those eyes; there was only a hollow, numb, stagnant-water-like calm.

His aura skyrocketed once again at this moment!

From the Peak of the Middle Stage of the Dragon Fetus Realm to the Late Stage of the Dragon Fetus Realm!

But he felt no joy.

Because he knew that this Realm did not belong to him. It belonged to the Sword Gu.

He looked down at his hands.

Beneath the skin of his hands, those originally faint black patterns were now clearly visible.

They writhed slowly under his skin like living things. With every movement, a wisp of cloying, sweet scent escaped from his pores.

His body no longer belonged to him.

He was merely a vessel for the Sword Gu.

A walking, fighting vessel carrying ten thousand Intent-Devouring Gus.

He stood up, walked to the cave wall, and looked at his reflection in the frost.

The person in the reflection had a gaunt face, high cheekbones, sunken eye sockets, and a face as pale as paper.

In those hollow eyes, a bloodthirsty glint would occasionally flash; that was the instinct of the Sword Gu, a desire for slaughter that he was finding harder and harder to suppress.

"Jiang Hanzhou..."

He spoke, his voice terrifyingly calm.

"All of this is because of you."

He raised his right hand, and with a slight thought—

A pitch-black longsword slowly emerged from the flesh of his palm.

The sword was engraved with dense blood-red patterns that wound like worms and writhed slowly on the blade. With every movement, a wisp of cloying, sweet scent drifted from the sword.

But now, the patterns on the sword were denser and deeper than before.

Those patterns were no longer just "carved" on the blade; they were like the tentacles of a living thing, extending from the sword to wrap around his arm, shoulder, and neck.

The Sword Gu was now completely bound to him.

If the sword existed, he existed.

If the sword perished, he perished.

He gripped the hilt, and a bloodthirsty longing transmitted from the sword—

Kill! Kill! Kill!

Those longings flooded his mind like a tide, battering his remaining will.

His eyes turned crimson in that instant, and a low growl escaped his throat, like a trapped beast.

But he suppressed it.

Using his last shred of lucid will, he pushed down the Sword Gu's desire for slaughter.

"It's not time yet."

His voice was raspy, like a curse coming from the depths of Hell.

"At the Sword Discussion Assembly, I will let you kill to your heart's content."

He retracted the longsword into his body and turned to walk out of the cave.

As he reached the entrance, he suddenly stopped and said without looking back:

"Elder Han Shuang."

Outside the cave, an aged figure stepped out from the shadows.