Chapter 341 Almost Sinking

That pleasure surged like a tide, wave after wave, with almost no respite.

It battered his will, attempting to drag him into the abyss of indulgence.

Shen Wen gritted his teeth, deathly determined to maintain that single thread of clarity.

Old Man Shennong's words echoed in his mind—

"As the primary vessel, you absolutely cannot sink into this pleasure."

"Otherwise, instead of drawing out the poison, you will damage your own Soul."

He knew the consequences.

So he could not fall.

Those black gases continued to surge, and the pleasure continued to accumulate.

His Soul was trembling, groaning, longing to let go completely and sink into that endless delight.

But he did not.

He just stood there like a reef, allowing the tsunami of pleasure to crash against him time and again, remaining motionless.

An unknown amount of time passed.

The last wisp of black gas was drawn out of Xuan Yi's Soul and surged into his body.

The chains binding her snapped completely.

Her figure relaxed slightly, and her tightly furrowed brows slowly smoothed out.

The flush on her face gradually faded, returning to a somewhat normal complexion.

Shen Wen looked down at her, and after confirming that her Soul had begun to repair itself, he turned to leave.

...

In the stone chamber, Shen Wen's Physical Body opened its eyes.

In the next moment, his Soul returned to its place.

Then he let out a muffled groan, his entire body swaying violently, nearly collapsing.

The black gas that had been drawn into his body erupted completely at this moment!

They crashed wildly within his Sea of Consciousness, tearing at everything around them. That cold and decaying aura spread out, attempting to erode his Soul Origin.

Shen Wen's face turned pale, and fine beads of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

He knew these forces were overbearing, but he hadn't expected them to be this dominant.

If his Soul hadn't already reached the Heavenly Realm Great Perfection, if he didn't have the protection of the bodhi heart and the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, and if he hadn't Cultivated the Past Amitabha Sutra—

He might have fallen right then.

Just then, Old Man Shennong's voice came from outside the cave.

"Kid, you still alive?"

There was a hint of teasing and a hint of concern in that voice.

Shen Wen took a deep breath, steadied his mind, and spoke: "Alive."

"That's good," Old Man Shennong continued. "Those forces are quite overbearing, but with your Soul cultivation and your own foundation, suppressing them temporarily shouldn't be a problem."

"I suggest you refine them slowly; don't rush. They won't be able to turn the world upside down."

Shen Wen nodded.

Of course he knew they wouldn't turn the world upside down.

At this moment, within his Sea of Consciousness, the phantoms of the eight great ancestral talismans had all lit up, surrounding the black gas.

The Flame Ancestral Symbol burned, the devouring ancestral talisman absorbed, the darkness ancestral talisman assimilated, the life and death ancestral talisman stripped...

Though the black gas was overbearing, before the eight great ancestral talismans, it couldn't stir up even a single ripple.

He didn't even need to do anything actively; those ancestral talismans and divine objects were suppressing and purifying on their own.

Shen Wen closed his eyes, sensed for a moment, and after confirming everything was under control, he opened them.

Then he heard a soft groan.

"Mnh—"

Xuan Yi.

He looked down.

On the stone platform, Xuan Yi's eyelids fluttered slightly.

A moment later, those eyes slowly opened.

Dazed.

Her eyes were filled with confusion, like a child who had just woken up, not knowing where she was or what had happened.

She blinked, her gaze sweeping over the simple stone walls before finally landing on Shen Wen's face.

The confusion in those eyes gradually turned into doubt.

"Shen... Wen?"

Her voice was raspy and so weak it was almost inaudible.

Shen Wen looked at her and nodded.

"Aunt Xuan, it's me."

Xuan Yi was stunned for a moment, then she moved, wanting to sit up.

But as soon as she moved, her expression changed.

That change was very strange.

First blankness, then confusion, then recollection, and finally shock.

Her gaze fell upon herself.

Those tattered alchemist robes, those scraps of cloth that covered almost nothing, her body nearly laid bare.

Her gaze fell on Shen Wen again.

He was sitting cross-legged by her side, his face slightly pale, with fine beads of sweat still on his forehead.

Blurred images began to surface in her mind.

Those images were fragmented and chaotic, yet she could vaguely piece some things together—

Black gas, golden light, and...

That feeling.

That indescribable feeling that surged from the depths of her Soul.

Xuan Yi's face turned from white to red.

Intensely red.

So red it seemed blood might drip from it.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found her tongue tied, unable to make a sound.

Looking at her like this, Shen Wen sighed in his heart.

"Aunt Xuan..."

He spoke, his voice calm.

"I must explain the situation just now."

Xuan Yi didn't speak, she just stared at him.

The emotions in those eyes were extremely complex—shame, shock, disbelief, and a trace of something indefinable...

She couldn't even tell what it was herself.

Shen Wen continued: "You fell victim to the Hun Clan's insidious methods, and your Soul Origin was being eroded.

Ordinary Medicinal Pills were useless, and the Living Spirit Flame could only temporarily maintain your life force."

"Revered Master taught me a Soul Merging Technique that can draw the toxins from your Soul into my body."

"So..."

He paused.

"What happened just now was out of necessity."

As Xuan Yi listened, the flush on her face deepened.

She certainly knew what Soul merging was.

She was a giant of the Pill Tower and had lived for nearly a century; what hadn't she seen?

Soul union was more extreme than physical union.

Once merged, a deep bond would be created between the two.

She looked at Shen Wen, looking at this young man she had always doted on as a junior, and her heart was a tangled mess.

Shame?

A little.

Anger?

There seemed to be a bit of that too.

But more so, it was an indescribable complexity.

She remained silent for a long time.

So long that Shen Wen thought she wouldn't speak.

Then she suddenly asked a question.

"Are you... in pain?"

Shen Wen was stunned for a moment.

He hadn't expected her to ask that.

He nodded and said truthfully: "Those forces are very overbearing, but I can suppress them."

Xuan Yi looked at him and suddenly smiled.

That smile held a bit of bitterness, a bit of helplessness, and a bit of an indefinable meaning.

"Silly boy."

She said softly.

"I was asking you, while drawing out the poison just now, was it... painful?"

Shen Wen fell silent.

While drawing out the poison, was it painful?

It wasn't painful.

It was pleasure.

Extreme pleasure.

But he couldn't say that.

He just shook his head.

"It wasn't painful."

Xuan Yi stared at him for a moment and then suddenly gave a soft snort.

"Liar."

She paused, turned her head away, and her voice was so low it was almost inaudible.

"That feeling... I felt it too."

Shen Wen was taken aback.

Xuan Yi didn't look at him, she just stared at the stone wall, her voice still very low.

"Even though I was unconscious, those feelings remained in my Soul."

"It was like... like experiencing it firsthand."

Shen Wen opened his mouth to say something, but found he didn't know what to say at all.

The stone chamber fell silent.