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墨書 Inktalez
His face was pale, tinged with a faint bluish hue, and his breath was weak, as if a gentle touch could turn him into a wisp of smoke and make him vanish. It was clear he was on the brink of death. I looked at his complexion in astonishment; how could a sword wound resemble a deadly poison? After taking his pulse, I realized he had been unconscious because he was poisoned. That damned Jimo had coated his sword with lethal toxins!
I hurriedly called out to the Old Woman, who was about to leave us behind without a care: "You can save him, right?"
She didn't turn around but smiled ominously. "What you should be asking is whether I want to save him."
"But you’ve saved us once before. You pulled us out of the lake."
Suddenly, she turned her head sharply, her gaze icy as she looked at me. "I told you I pulled you up just to keep the Holy Lake's purity intact." Then she grinned widely, her voice hoarse and dry: "Once I save someone, I never care what happens next." With that, she glanced aside.
Following her gaze, I gasped in horror. Countless white skeletons were piled up along the lakeshore against the cliffs. Some were still clad in tattered clothing, while others had already turned into eerie white bones. Their hollow eye sockets maintained complete skeletal structures, and some were surrounded by various weapons. Their postures seemed to convey how unwilling they were to die and how much pain they had endured. Waiting for death in one place truly inflicted both physical and mental torment on them. What kind of place was this?
Had we already left the world behind and entered the realm of the dead?
I stared blankly and asked, "Did you kill them?"
"Ridiculous?!" She burst into laughter, her dry voice echoing throughout the valley, ringing painfully in my ears as I covered them in agony.
Finally, she stopped. "How could an old woman like me let these vermin dirty my hands? They died here on their own. Perhaps they starved to death or succumbed to infected wounds or died from despair... Maybe soon enough, you'll understand their suffering." She smiled coldly. "This valley has no exit except for me; it’s like a cage. Those who are saved here fall from relief straight into hell. Trapped alive in this place is worse than death. You can hear their wails every day until they perish. I advise you not to struggle; just wait here quietly." There was no trace of emotion on her face. What a cruel Old Woman!
"Wait," I gasped as I rushed after her. This was absurd; if she left, we would truly be waiting for death to come upon us—knowing we would die yet feeling utterly helpless drove me to madness. Besides, my death didn’t matter much; it wouldn’t change anything for the world at large. But he couldn’t die—he was the Emperor; an entire nation awaited him.
As I took a breath, pain shot through my chest fiercely; it hurt so much that I could barely breathe. But at that moment, I couldn’t care less about my own suffering. Desperately clinging to her foot, I pleaded pitifully, "Please, save him! If you don’t, he will really die! Please..."
She struggled fiercely to break free from my grasp and coldly sneered, "Whether he lives or dies is none of my business."
My mind was a chaotic mess, and after a long while, I finally found a reason: "He is the Emperor! His life affects the fate of the world; he cannot die. If anyone should die, it shouldn't be him..."
She ruthlessly interrupted me, "Which one of those who fell in here isn't famous..." She pointed to a nearby skeleton dressed in finery and said, "That is the Ninth Prince of Later Qin." Then she gestured to several other skeletons that I couldn't identify, saying, "That person claims to be the Wealthiest Man of Jin... that one is a general... and that one is the Greatest Swordsman in the Martial World..." A pleased expression crossed her face, as if the deaths and suffering of these people brought her immense enjoyment. "Which of them isn't well-known on the continent... But whether they live or die has nothing to do with me. Your companion's fate is irrelevant to me. You should just pray for your own safety; your internal injuries are severe. If you don't treat them in time, you'll soon be accompanying him."
This demon! I didn't care; I clung tightly to her leg, driven by a single belief: I must not let him die. He was injured for me, he fell into this strange abyss for me, he was dying because of me... I couldn't give up!
"Let go of me, Dead Girl!" When she saw that I wouldn't release her, she kicked at me with her other foot—one kick after another, mercilessly and powerfully. I bit down hard on my lip until it turned purple and bled to keep myself from groaning. She showed no mercy: "He has been poisoned; he can't survive."
I felt dizzy from the kicks but still wouldn't let go. Even if I died, I wouldn't release my grip!
She wasn't so easily deterred; she stopped kicking but struck down at my neck with her palm. Pain shot through me as if my whole body had gone numb. My hand still instinctively clung to hers.
She bent down and pried my fingers open one by one. Inadvertently, my sleeve was torn completely off my arm. By then, my head was spinning, and I had lost track of what was happening.
"Ah—" She seemed surprised by something she saw. After pondering for a moment, she suddenly burst into wild laughter as if recalling something amusing. "Do you really want to save him?" she asked me, who had already fainted.
My consciousness was hazy, but I reflexively nodded.
She cruelly stated, "I can only save one of you two; only one can live while the other dies. If you want to save him, then you must die. Think carefully about it."
I unconsciously moaned, "Please, save him; I'll do anything..."
She walked over and made me swallow a pill, and I quickly regained consciousness. My head was still spinning as I struggled to sit up, only to realize that the sleeve on my left arm had been torn off at some point, revealing the mark of Feng Fei.
She looked at me coldly and said, "If you want to save him, take this Soul Severing Pill."
"What was the pill you just gave me, and what is this one?" Her crow-like voice was truly—
She laughed dryly as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world. "The last one was just an ordinary stimulant. This one, however, severs the soul. Once you take it, your soul will scatter, and no one in this world can save you; you will undoubtedly die. But death may not be so easy—"
Death may not be so easy—A few minutes later, I understood what she meant by those words.
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