56: Chapter 56 He'd rather die than let his fellow Daoists die than himself.

He weighed the options. Killing one Shen Xiao, but losing one Xia Lengbai. This trade was a massive loss.

Xia Lengbai was no ordinary woman; she was the "fated sacrifice" reserved for him on the heavenly dao chessboard, the most crucial "human-shaped grand elixir" for his breakthrough into the Soul Transformation realm.

If she were to perish prematurely, his subsequent path of advancement would be completely severed, and his Heavenly Dao Luck would collapse along with it.

Restrained by fear of collateral damage. These four words seared into his Divine Soul like a red-hot iron.

He took a deep breath. The air, mixed with ice shards and the scent of blood, cooled his churning rage, turning it into a more sinister and vicious calculation.

"Lengbai, do you truly believe that using such a suicidal, foolish method can save him?"

Lin Yun's voice pierced through the water mist, carrying the cruelty of a cat playing with a mouse.

"His Blood Poison has already penetrated his internal organs; even the gods couldn't save him. Even if I were to retreat now, in at most an hour, his insides will burn up, and he will melt into a pool of pus and blood. In the end, you will merely be holding a corpse, dying alongside him."

These words were spoken both for Xia Lengbai and as a reminder to himself. There was no need to dirty his own hands. Once Shen Xiao died from the poison, the life-Soul contract on Xia Lengbai would naturally dissolve, and everything would return to the right track.

However, Shen Xiao, who was slumped in the ice pit by the pool, let out a low laugh at this moment, sounding like a broken bellows being dragged.

His entire body twitched like a fish thrown onto the shore, and every breath was accompanied by bloody foam spilling from the corners of his mouth. Yet, his eyes were frighteningly bright, clear without a trace of the murkiness of impending death.

"Cough... cough cough..." He coughed violently, using his last ounce of strength to fumble in his blood-soaked embrace.

His movements were extremely slow; every time he moved, his arm would hang limply, as if it might break at any moment. Eventually, he held a blood-red rune between his fingertips, trembling as he raised it before Xia Lengbai's eyes.

The style of the rune was identical to the engraving on the soul sound bell in Bailian's hand, and it was emitting a faint resonance that echoed with the soul sound bell from afar.

This was a "soul sound bell" resonance sub-rune that he had replicated from the memory fragments plundered from Bailian.

"Xia Lengbai..." Shen Xiao's voice was as faint as a whisper, yet it carried a wicked amusement.

"Just now... in order to save me, you swallowed the powder of the nine-turn heart-protecting pill, and then... passed it to me with the tip of your tongue. Your acting was very realistic; I am quite moved."

Xia Lengbai was stunned, not understanding why he was bringing this up at such a time.

Shen Xiao's smile widened, pulling at the wound at the corner of his mouth, causing more black blood to gush out.

"What a pity... I had mixed a 'poison heart pill' seed into that packet of powder beforehand."

This sentence exploded like a thunderbolt in both Xia Lengbai's and Lin Yun's minds!

Shen Xiao's gaze locked onto Xia Lengbai's shocked face, and he continued in a tone like a devil's whisper:

"You used your Ice Spiritual Power to catalyze the medicinal properties, which happened to also germinate that seed. Now, it has co-evolved with your spiritual power and my Blood Poison... into a new, strange poison. As long as my Blood Poison remains unresolved, you will be unable to shake off this shared poison. In other words..."

He paused, every word like a poisoned nail, hammering fiercely into the depths of Xia Lengbai's Soul.

"You must now live within my world."

Xia Lengbai froze completely. She looked down at her fair wrists, as if she could see something invisible flowing beneath her skin along with her blood.

She never expected that this man, while on the verge of death, would dare to use even life-saving medicine to scheme against her! He was a complete madman!

Her lips began to tremble. A flash of humiliation from being betrayed first crossed her eyes, but that humiliation was quickly replaced by an even more intense, more insane emotion.

In the end, she laughed. It wasn't a cold laugh, nor a bitter one, but a laugh that came from the heart, filled with morbid excitement.

"Good... what a madman! Shen Xiao, you truly... never disappoint!"

She laughed until tears streamed down her face, then suddenly looked up, staring fixedly into Shen Xiao's eyes.

"Then let me also tell you a secret!" Her voice was sharp and high-pitched, filled with the resolution of someone who had nothing left to lose.

"In the packet of powder I swallowed just now, there wasn't just the nine-turn heart-protecting pill! I also mixed in a drop of 'Yao Race Core Blood' stolen from Lin Yun! If you dare to die, I will immediately detonate this essence blood, stirring your Soul and mine together, achieving complete Fusion! I won't let you rest even in death, and you will never be able to get rid of me for eternity!"

When she said this, there was not a shred of fear in her eyes; instead, they flickered with a nearly manic light, like a gambler who had finally found their life's pursuit, revealing their last and most insane trump card.

Shen Xiao looked at her face, flushed with excitement and breathtakingly beautiful, and was stunned for a moment. Immediately after, he revealed a weak yet incredibly sincere smile. That smile was as clean as a child's, as if he had just heard the most beautiful love words in the world.

"Deal."

Two lunatics. Listening to the conversation between these two, Lin Yun felt a chill shoot straight from the soles of his feet to his crown.

He suddenly realized that he had lost control of the situation. These two people had completed a Soul binding that transcended the life-Soul contract through this bizarre method!

The poison heart pill, the Yao Race essence blood... what consequences would arise from these things intertwining was something even he could not predict!

Even more terrifying was the resonance sub-rune that Shen Xiao had just revealed! That thing was clearly related to Bailian's soul sound bell.

Since Shen Xiao could replicate the sub-rune from Bailian's memories, it meant he had a considerable understanding of the control chain of the soul sound bell.

If he were to force his hand again, who could guarantee that Shen Xiao wouldn't use this sub-rune to operate in reverse, detonating the control brand he left in Bailian's Sea of Consciousness? At that point, not only would Xia Lengbai die, but even Bailian, his most important Puppet, would be ruined on the spot!

He couldn't wait any longer! Lin Yun's teeth chattered as he gritted them, the murderous intent and frustration in his heart almost burning his reason to ashes.

He turned abruptly, grabbed the shoulder of Bailian, who stood behind him like a Puppet, and crushed a teleportation jade talisman he had prepared long ago with his other hand. Space began to twist, and a rift tore open before him.

The moment before being sucked into the rift, Lin Yun turned back, his vertical pupils burning with golden flames of rage, and glared viciously at Shen Xiao, squeezing a sentence out from between his teeth.

"Shen Xiao, you had better die thoroughly! Otherwise, I will make you... wish for death but be unable to die!"

Before his words faded, his figure and Bailian disappeared into the twisted space rift, leaving only a resentful echo circling in the empty ice cave.

The moment Lin Yun retreated, the entire world seemed to have been pressed on mute. Only the howling wind and the "gurgling" sound of steam rising from the cold pool remained.

That suffocating pressure vanished. Shen Xiao's tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and he slumped into the cold pool water like a pile of mud, without even the strength to lift a finger.

Xia Lengbai also seemed to have been drained of all her strength; her legs went weak, and she collapsed beside him. The two leaned against the cold pool wall, neither speaking, only heavy panting rising and falling.

On their bodies, one was emitting black smoke due to the Blood Poison and pill fire, while the other was emitting white smoke from the excessive consumption of Ice Spiritual Power; the two types of smoke intertwined and rose between them, looking exactly like two freshly cooked human-shaped skewers.

After a long while, Shen Xiao struggled to sit upright. He raised his hand, which was still trembling slightly, and struck his own chest with a "bang."

"Pfft..." A large mouthful of viscous black toxic blood was spat out by him, splashing into the pool water in front of him and quickly freezing into ice dregs.

After forcibly compressing the remaining Blood Poison in his body into a ball, he once again fumbled for the blood-soaked paper packet in his embrace, and in front of Xia Lengbai, opened it in a leisurely manner.

Inside was the powder of the "nine-turn heart-protecting pill." A wisp of crimson-gold Burning Heaven Pill Fire rose at his fingertips, wrapping around and refining the powder once more.

A moment later, a Medicinal Pill the size of a dragon's eye, gleaming with golden light, formed in his palm. Without even looking at it, he tossed it into his mouth and swallowed it whole.

After doing all this, he turned his head to look at the bewildered Xia Lengbai and said in a calm tone, as if discussing the weather:

"The poison heart pill I mentioned to you just now was fake." He paused, then added another sentence, as if stating an insignificant fact. "I just wanted to see if you were willing to completely break with your former fiancé for my sake."

Xia Lengbai was stunned at first, her brain crashing for three seconds. Subsequently, an indescribable, massive emotion suddenly overwhelmed her reason.

"You, you bastard!" She lunged forward, raised her fist, and smashed it fiercely onto Shen Xiao's chest.

This punch used up the little strength she had left, but it was soft and weak, like she was acting spoiled. Her eyes were red, and bean-sized tears rolled down uncontrollably, her voice choked with sobs. But the corners of her mouth were, damnably and uncontrollably, curling up wildly.