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墨書 Inktalez
I lay on the ground, my hand pressed against my painfully bruised knee as I turned to the side. There, I saw Yao Long still in a state of unconsciousness, while the Old Woman had already lost her shimmering wings and was slumped helplessly beside me, her eyes appearing somewhat vacant.
"Old lady, what happened to you?" I asked with concern, forcing myself to get up from the ground despite the pain in my body, and slowly moved over to Old Woman's side.
At that moment, I noticed with shock that one of her exposed arms had turned a dark purple color. Moreover, that patch of skin was beginning to show signs of decay.
"Please tell me the truth. Did you get poisoned while saving us?" I said as I reached out to help the Old Woman up from the ground.
To my surprise, as soon as I extended my hand, she swiftly blocked it with her other hand and said, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me; just help your friend inside." With that, Old Woman struggled to push herself off the ground and shakily stood up.
Her movements were much weaker than before. Seeing this, I felt at a loss for words and could only turn around to help the unconscious Yao Long up from the ground, then supported him as we made our way into the house.
Once inside, I carefully placed Yao Long on the bed. At that moment, his face showed no signs of distress; he looked just like he was asleep.
Just then, Old Woman slowly walked in from outside. Behind me, she said weakly, "Don't worry; your friend will be fine. After a good night's sleep, he'll recover on his own."
After saying this, she turned to leave. I hurriedly called out to her, "What exactly is wrong with you?"
Without turning back, she replied, "I've done all I can for you now. The rest depends on your friend's fate. As for my situation, you don't need to concern yourself..."
Seeing her attempt to leave again, I quickly stepped forward and blocked her path. "You saved our lives; out of both obligation and reason, I can't just ignore this. If you're facing any difficulties, please let me know. Otherwise, I'll feel guilty."
Seeing my determination, Old Woman realized she could no longer hide the truth and said, "Since that's the case, let me show you something. Follow me."
The Old Woman brushed past me and walked ahead, leading me to a thatched hut not far away. It was a very narrow room, seemingly able to accommodate only one or two people.
Seeing this, I thought to myself, what could possibly be hidden in such a room? Could it be another underground chamber?
As I pondered, the Old Woman silently pushed open the door of the cramped space and walked in without a word.
At the moment she entered, a flicker of fire suddenly illuminated the dark room. The Old Woman stood inside holding a candlestick, and indeed, as I had suspected, there was a staircase leading down beside her.
“What is this…” I looked at the dark passage extending downward, feeling somewhat puzzled.
“Don’t you want to know what happened to me? Now I will take you to see the truth…” With that, she turned and began to descend the stairs, holding the candlestick aloft.
Although I had no idea what she intended to show me, my curiosity and desire to help her compelled me to follow her down the stairs.
We walked in silence. After several minutes in the deep stairwell, illuminated by the flickering candlelight, we suddenly arrived at a more spacious underground chamber.
Standing at the entrance, the Old Woman gestured for me to wait while she entered the room with the candlestick. After a while, she lit all the candles around the room and came back to me, saying, “These are what you wanted to know.”
With that, she pointed behind her. Following her gesture, I saw several crude wooden racks standing behind the Old Woman. The shelves were filled with many jars and bottles; most were made of clay, with only a few being brown copper pots. However, none of these containers were transparent, so I couldn't discern what they held inside.
“Old Woman, what do these jars contain? How are they related to your symptoms?” I asked in confusion.
“This is certainly related because all that is stored in these jars are Gu Insects…” The Old Woman sighed and continued, “It is precisely because I have spent years crafting and cultivating these insects that I have accumulated a large amount of Gu Poison within my body…”
"That's not right. Don't you also have the Worm King? Why are you still being eroded by Gu Poison? Could it be that the Worm King has some side effects?" I couldn't help but worry about the sleeping Yao Long, fearing he might suffer some aftereffects.
The Old Woman explained, "You may not know this, but the black armor growing on my body, like your friend's, is indeed due to the presence of the Worm King. However, my Worm King is not as complete as your friend's. This is because I made a mistake when I first refined the Worm King. Because of that mistake, the Worm King in my body is only half complete, which means its effectiveness is only half as well..."
"But at first, I was unaware and thought that possessing the Worm King would allow me to resist Gu Poison. So I recklessly began to refine various kinds of Gu. During that time, I was injured multiple times by the Gu I had refined, causing more and more Gu Poison to accumulate in my body. It was then that I realized that the Worm King within me was not a complete Worm King..."
At this point, the Old Woman's expression turned somewhat sorrowful. Seeing her fall into silence, I asked in confusion, "Is there such a thing as an incomplete Worm King? What exactly is a complete Worm King and what is an incomplete one?"
Upon hearing this, the Old Woman said, "A complete Worm King is not only extremely powerful but can also neutralize all poisons in the world by merging them with itself, thus resolving all toxins and turning them to its advantage..."
"An incomplete Worm King can only merge with the poison it has absorbed but cannot neutralize it; it can only delay the onset of toxicity... However, as the toxins in my body increased, my condition gradually worsened. Coupled with my previous battle against that Witch, where I was poisoned again, the original toxins in my body merged with that potent poison into an indomitable toxin. So now, my time is running out..."
At this point, the Old Woman looked back at those Gu Insects that had accompanied her day and night and murmured to herself, "Those who do harm to others will ultimately bring disaster upon themselves... If only I had seen through this earlier, perhaps I wouldn't have ended up in such a situation..."
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