73: Aftermath 2

The Tai Ling Ancient Clan calls it 'Spirit Light Silk,' and it is the Spirit of the Plane's Origin," Ling Xiao explained. "But I don't know if it can be used as a medicinal ingredient..."

Xiao Bing carefully checked the Jade Slip: "It says it requires 'three inches of pure and flawless Spirit Light Silk.' Your hair clearly meets the requirements."

"What about Big Brother's 'Fire Seed' and Second Brother's 'Ice Crystal'?" Ling Xiao asked.

Xiao Bing frowned in thought: "I vaguely remember having a special Ice Crystal in my body when I was a child, but I handed it over to the Tai Ling Ancient Clan for safekeeping when I joined them. It should still be in the Forbidden Ground." He paused, "As for Big Brother's Fire Seed..."

"I know." Xiao Yan's voice suddenly echoed in the tent, and a silhouette drifted in from outside the door. "When I was young, there was an unnamed Fire Seed in my body, which was later taken by the Soul Clan through their schemes. If I'm not mistaken, it should be in the Soul Clan's treasury."

Xiao Bing and Ling Xiao looked at Xiao Yan simultaneously: "How are things in the three southwestern cities?"

"Not good." Xiao Yan's silhouette flickered, conveying a sense of worry. "The spatial collapse is expanding, and the Source World is collapsing faster than expected. We have at most... one month left."

Silence fell upon the tent. One month to find two companion objects that might be scattered to the ends of the earth, and to refine a ninth-grade Profound Pill... This was an almost impossible task.

Ling Xiao suddenly threw back his blanket and struggled to stand up: "Then let's not waste any more time. Second Brother, go to the Tai Ling Ancient Clan to retrieve the Ice Crystal. I'll go to the Soul Clan's treasury to find the Fire Seed..."

"Nonsense!" Xiao Bing pressed him down, "In your current state, you can't even walk out of the tent!"

Ling Xiao tried to argue, but suddenly coughed violently, a trace of black blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth. Xiao Bing quickly helped him lie down and re-examined the mark on his chest—the black claw mark seemed to have expanded slightly.

"The contamination hasn't been completely cleared..." Xiao Bing's face was grim. "Ling Xiao, you must conserve your strength."

Xiao Yan's silhouette floated to the bedside: "Xiao Bing and I will split up. You stay here and recover."

Ling Xiao bit his lip unwillingly, but he also knew that he was a burden now. Suddenly, he remembered something: "Wait, the ancient clan's texts might have a way to travel between the two places quickly! What about the box of books Xuan Guang Venerable brought?"

Xiao Bing took out a box of ancient texts from his storage ring—these were precious texts that Xuan Guang Venerable had specially rescued from the ancient clan ruins to thank them for saving his life.

Ling Xiao suppressed his dizziness and quickly flipped through them. Most of the books talked about ancient clan history or Cultivation methods, until he came across a seemingly ordinary "Chronicles of the Source World." When he opened it, it triggered a hidden page!

"This is... Senior Elder Gu Yuan's handwriting!" Ling Xiao exclaimed.

On the yellowed pages, Elder Gu Yuan's vigorous handwriting was clearly discernible:

"Latercomer, if you are reading this letter, it means the crisis I predicted has already occurred. There is another hidden truth about the plane of origin splitting into three..."

The three huddled together, reading with bated breath. The letter revealed that when the plane of origin split, the Ice Heart Saintess not only divided her power into three, but also hid the three Origin objects separately—the Fire Seed in the Xiao Clan's ancestral land, the Ice Crystal in the Tai Ling Forbidden Ground, and the Spirit Silk integrated into the newborn Ling Xiao's body.

"When the three are gathered, combined with the Soul Plating Pill, it will not only solve problems like unstable energy and Soul contamination, but also allow you three to maintain independent consciousness while being able to become a three-in-one entity at any time, truly inheriting the complete power of the plane of origin..."

At the end of the letter, Elder Gu Yuan wrote:

"Yao Chen already knows about this, but to prevent the Chaos Devourer from spying, he dared not speak directly. Remember, the survival of the Source World depends on you..."

Xiao Bing's hand trembled slightly: "Teacher... Senior Elder Gu Yuan... they had planned everything long ago..."

Xiao Yan's silhouette fluctuated violently: "No wonder Old Yao said 'refining medicine is like being a person, one must be guided by the heart' before he passed away... He was hinting at us!"

Ling Xiao gently stroked the letter paper: "But... one month... it's too tight..."

Before he finished speaking, Xiao Yan's silhouette suddenly flickered violently, and his right arm actually began to dissipate! He hurriedly absorbed the energy from the Soul Condensing Jade, barely stabilizing his form, but the jade consequently cracked.

At the same time, Ling Xiao painfully curled up, and more black blood seeped from the black claw mark. Xiao Bing frantically applied medicine to him, but found that the new ointment's effect was far less than before.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the tent, and Xuan Guang Venerable rushed in in a panic: "This is bad! Cracks have appeared in the sky again!"

All three of their faces changed dramatically. Xiao Yan's silhouette floated outside the tent, only to see a new, terrifying black crack slowly expanding in the distant sky, even more gruesome than the previous one...