195: Chapter 195 temporarily ends.

The burning snow sword tore through the protective Poison Mist and slashed accurately across his back.

Pure Yang Mystic Power poured into his body through the wound, frantically burning his Meridians.

Zhou Heng let out a shrill scream, and his movements suddenly became sluggish.

Han Qingxue seized the opportunity; her azure longsword broke through the withered poisonous python in front of her and pierced through his right chest.

It wasn't a vital spot, but it was enough to make him completely lose his combat capability.

Zhou Heng stumbled backward, looking down at the sword wound that pierced through his chest.

He then looked at his own trembling hands.

There were at least three things fighting each other inside his body.

Han Qingxue's icy Sword Qi, Ye Yun's Pure Yang Mystic Power, and his own poison essence that had erupted from overdrawing his Origin.

The three forces collided frantically within his Meridians, making him unable to even stand steadily.

A large mouthful of black blood gushed from his mouth, and he slumped against a stone pillar by the official road like a pile of mud.

His body leaned crookedly as he gasped for air in large gulps.

Every breath was accompanied by violent trembling; he no longer had that smug appearance from before.

Seeing Zhou Heng heavily wounded, the bald burly man roared, swinging his mountain-splitting axe to rush over and save him.

Without even turning his head, Ye Yun swung his sword horizontally in a backhand strike.

The fiery red sword light drew a blinding arc, accurately striking the handle of the bald burly man's axe.

The handle was severed, and the head of the mountain-splitting axe flew off, slamming onto the ground.

The bald burly man stood there dazed, his hands empty.

Ye Yun gave him no time to react. With a flash of his body, the back of the burning snow sword slammed heavily against his temple.

The bald burly man's vision went black, and his body collapsed like a small mountain, falling unconscious.

The remaining two Great Martial Master Ninth Level combatants, Skinny and the short man, had long been half-crippled by Han Qingxue's frost.

They curled up on the ground shivering, lacking even the strength to flee.

Ye Yun walked up to Zhou Heng and looked down at him from above.

"Who sent you?"

Zhou Heng looked up at Ye Yun, blood foam hanging from the corners of his mouth, his green-glowing eyes filled with spiteful malice.

"You think I'll tell you?"

Ye Yun glanced at him without wasting words.

With a swing of the burning snow sword, the blade's edge swept across Zhou Heng's neck.

Zhou Heng's eyes bulged, his mouth open as if to say one last word, but only a raspy wheeze escaped.

Then his body slumped over, hitting the ground and kicking up a small cloud of dust.

Ye Yun flicked the blood off his blade and turned to walk toward Han Qingxue.

Han Qingxue was leaning on her sword, kneeling on one knee with a pale face, blackened blood continuously seeping from the corner of her lips.

In the wound on her shoulder, black patterns had already spread to her neck and were extending toward her heart.

Ye Yun's brow furrowed. He crouched down and reached out to support her shoulder.

When his fingertips touched the exposed skin of her shoulder, Han Qingxue's body gave an extremely slight shudder.

Her body temperature was very cold, not a temperature a normal person should have; it was the icy chill leaking out as her Ice-type Mystic Power suppressed the toxin.

"Senior Sister, you've been poisoned."

Ye Yun's gaze fell on the spreading black patterns on her neck, and his tone turned grim.

Han Qingxue looked up at him.

Those cold eyes were now covered by a thin layer of mist—physiological tears forced out by the pain.

Yet she still maintained that indifferent expression.

"It's fine. A minor poison."

"Minor poison?"

Ye Yun pointed at the black patterns on her neck.

"It's almost reached your heart, and you call this a minor poison?"

Han Qingxue didn't respond, merely closing her eyes and beginning to circulate her ice-attribute Cultivation Technique to suppress the toxin.

But Ye Yun could tell she couldn't suppress it.

That poisonous energy was too strange; the more it was suppressed, the more it rebounded, and the more it was blocked, the deeper it penetrated.

Although her Ice-type Mystic Power could freeze Poison Mist, it couldn't force out the toxins that had already invaded her Meridians.

If this continued, it was only a matter of time before the toxin invaded her heart.

"Stop being stubborn."

Ye Yun's tone brooked no refusal.

He reached out to wrap his arm around Han Qingxue's waist, helping her up from the ground.

Han Qingxue's body was very light, so light that Ye Yun was slightly stunned.

Through the fabric, he could feel the slenderness of her waist; that willow-like waist could be held in one hand and was incredibly supple.

Due to years of practicing ice-attribute Cultivation Techniques, her body temperature was lower than average; leaning in his arms, she felt like a piece of cool jade.

Ye Yun looked down at her, just as Han Qingxue looked up.

The distance between the two was very close.

Close enough that he could see the tiny ice crystals clinging to her eyelashes.

Close enough that he could smell the clear, cold fragrance of winter plum blossoms in her hair.

A very faint flush quickly flickered across Han Qingxue's pale cheeks.

She turned her face away, her voice still cold but a few degrees softer than usual.

"I can walk by myself."

"Walk how?"

Instead of letting go, Ye Yun drew her a bit closer into his embrace.

"You can't even stand steadily, yet you're still being stubborn."

Han Qingxue's lips moved as if to say something, but in the end, she didn't speak.

However, the fair skin of her neck exposed by the torn fabric was imperceptibly stained with a very faint pink.

By then, Ye Yun had already unceremoniously picked Han Qingxue up in a horizontal carry.

Her body was very light, so light that he was slightly surprised again.

Through that thin layer of plain white fabric.

He could clearly feel the slenderness of her waist and the cool touch of her skin.

Han Qingxue's body stiffened for a moment, and she instinctively raised a hand to press against his chest.

That hand was pale and slender, her fingertips still stained with blackened blood; the force of her push was so light it was almost non-existent.

"Put me down."

Her voice remained cold, but it was lower than usual, sounding as if it were squeezed through her teeth.

Ye Yun looked down at her.

Han Qingxue turned her face away, refusing to meet his eyes, leaving him only the view of her long, fair neck.

The black patterns on her neck were slowly creeping upward, already reaching below the base of her ear.

"If I put you down, can you walk on your own?"

Ye Yun's tone was firm; instead of letting go, his arms tightened slightly, drawing her closer to his chest.

Han Qingxue's eyelashes fluttered slightly, and the hand against his chest slowly dropped, no longer resisting.

However, she didn't wrap her arms around him either, simply letting them rest quietly at her sides, her fingers slightly curled.

"There's a hollow up ahead; there should be a place to shelter from the wind."

Ye Yun strode toward the rolling hills beside the official road.

The withered grass of late autumn rustled at his feet, and occasionally one or two startled birds fluttered up from the bushes.

The messy battlefield behind them grew further and further away.

Zhou Heng's corpse lay slumped by the stone pillar, and the bald burly man was still unconscious on the ground.

Skinny and the short man had breathed their last at some point.

Han Qingxue leaned in his arms, her breathing very light and shallow.

Ye Yun could feel her using her Ice-type Mystic Power to suppress the toxin.

But that poisonous energy was too strange; every time it was suppressed by a fraction, it would rebound with even greater force.

Her body temperature was getting colder, and the blood seeping from the corner of her lips was getting darker.

Ye Yun quickened his pace.

...

After crossing a low mountain ridge, a small valley indeed appeared ahead.

Surrounded by mountains on three sides with a narrow entrance, the valley had a clear spring seeping from a rock crevice, gathering into a small pool.