The First Summoner - Chapter 4

The masked men searched the area several times with extreme caution. Only after finding no trace of Feng Xingyao did they exchange looks, tear open the void, and leave.

Shen Yan remained calm.

She doubted they had truly gone. This was likely a test, so she did not dare step outside the concealment barrier Feng Xingyao had placed around her.

Sure enough, the masked men reappeared moments later.

An icy aura radiated from their leader, startling every living creature in Lingyan Forest. Countless spirit beasts flattened themselves against the ground, trembling in fear.

He looked down at the disk in his hand. Its needle spun without stopping, unable to settle on a direction.

“Damn it! He really escaped, and the Ninefold Demon-Suppressing Pagoda is gone as well!”

“We return for now!”

With an angry roar, the leader ripped open the void with his bare hands and led the others away for good.

Only then did Shen Yan truly relax.

The moment she did, her consciousness began to blur. Every part of her body hurt, from old wounds and new.

She leaned against the tree and pinched her thigh hard, using the pain to clear her mind.

Her dry, split lips parted. “They’re gone. It’s time for you to leave too.”

Feng Xingyao’s pleasing voice sounded directly in her mind.

“My apologies. I may have to stay a little longer.”

Shen Yan’s expression instantly chilled.

As if sensing her anger, he continued with a helpless laugh in his voice. “You said you would save me. You ought to finish what you started.”

“I saved you once. I’m not going to keep doing it. Get out.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the Ninefold Demon-Suppressing Pagoda came flying out of the spatial domain and dropped straight into her hand.

His voice followed.

“The Ninefold Demon-Suppressing Pagoda is your reward for saving my life. In exchange for letting me remain in your spatial domain awhile longer, I will teach you to control it. Do not worry. Once I recover some of my strength, I will leave.”

Shen Yan studied the pagoda in her hand. After a moment’s consideration, she accepted his terms.

“Fine.”

Then she remembered that her Spirit Bone had never awakened, and her brows tightened.

“Do you know any way to awaken my Spirit Bone?”

Inside the spatial domain, Feng Xingyao paused.

He had seen how cleanly she fought, and he had watched flame burst from her hand. The thought that she had never awakened a Spirit Bone had not even occurred to him.

The mysteries surrounding this girl were becoming far too intriguing.

“Why has your Spirit Bone not awakened?” he asked. Then he added, “Come inside first. I cannot examine you otherwise.”

Shen Yan was still wary of him, but she had only just arrived in this world and knew little about awakening Spirit Bones.

She wanted to become stronger.

Without further hesitation, she returned to the spatial domain.

The sight before her made her pause.

The bewitchingly handsome man in red reclined against an elegant black-and-gold chaise. Iron chains still pierced his four limbs and hung from them. His face was bloodlessly pale, his body weak, yet there was an indescribable beauty to him even now.

His eyes seemed full of affection at first glance. Look closer, however, and there was nothing in them but cool indifference. A faint smile lingered at his lips.

“Come closer.”

Shen Yan’s voice turned cold. “Don’t order me around.”

Feng Xingyao stilled, then an unruly smile spread across his handsome face.

“Then… come a little closer,” he said, softening his tone as if coaxing her.

Anyone else might have been delighted to hear him speak that way.

Shen Yan remained entirely unmoved.

She walked over.

“Your hand.”

Feng Xingyao took in her expression and lifted one brow.

His long, pale fingers settled lightly against her wrist. They were somewhat cold, yet the hand itself looked lean and powerful.

He sent his spiritual sense into her body to inspect her Spirit Bones.

Only then did he discover that a thin membrane of black blood had sealed her Core Spirit Bone completely, preventing it from awakening.

The membrane was both a toxin and a type of seal.

His gaze changed.

By all reason, a method capable of sealing a Spirit Bone this way should never have appeared on Guiyuan Continent.

“There’s something wrong with my Spirit Bone, isn’t there?” Shen Yan caught the shift in his expression at once. Her heart sank.

“Yes and no.”

She frowned.

Feng Xingyao explained, “There are two types of Spirit Bones in the human body: the Core Spirit Bone and the Body Spirit Bones. Both must awaken before a person can cultivate. There is nothing wrong with your Body Spirit Bones, but your Core Spirit Bone has been sealed by a toxin.”

“A toxin?” Shen Yan’s frown deepened. She asked with genuine humility, “What kind? Is there an antidote?”

Feng Xingyao lounged lazily against the chaise and arched a brow. His wicked smile held an effortless, seductive charm, and amusement glimmered in his dark, fathomless eyes as he watched her.

“There is. But why should I help you?”

Their relationship had been one of mutual benefit from the start.

Their previous exchange had left them even. If Shen Yan wanted the method to neutralize the toxin, she would now be the one asking him for a favor.

She fell silent for a moment.

“What do you want?”

“What is this?” Feng Xingyao raised a hand, and a vial of clear medicine flew into his palm. He tipped it gently from side to side.

Shen Yan paused. “Medicine for treating injuries.”

He looked up at her. “I want this.”

“Fine.”

The exchange was settled.

Feng Xingyao said, “If you want to remove the toxin sealing your Spirit Bone, find a Blood-Devouring Pearl first. Once you have it, I will undo the poison for you.”

“All right.”

“Time is short. If I leave before you find it, you will not be able to remove the toxin.”

Shen Yan frowned. In the end, she had to ask, “What does a Blood-Devouring Pearl look like?”

“No idea.”

Shen Yan stared at him.

…

She left the spatial domain with a grave expression.

A toxin had been placed over the original Shen Yan’s Core Spirit Bone, yet her family knew nothing about it.

She slowly raised her head toward the first glimmer of dawn in the east.

Morning was near.

It was time to return to the Shen family in Nanxiao Kingdom. She wondered how that adopted daughter called Shen Xue would react when she saw her alive.

Shen Xue had nearly drained the original owner dry.

If not for the potent medicine stored in her spatial domain, even Shen Yan’s arrival in this body would not have kept it alive for long.

Bracing a hand against the tree trunk, Shen Yan slowly pushed herself upright.

“Shen Xue,” she said coldly, “you truly are an ungrateful wretch.”

She staggered out of Lingyan Forest. The moment she stepped beyond the trees, sunlight spilled across her body, exposing every wound and every trace of her miserable condition.

She kept walking into the light.