Volume Three: Tomb of the Fox Immortal - Chapter Twenty-Six: The Might of the Soul-Severing Blade

After I finished speaking, the woman’s body stiffened. She parted her lips but said nothing. Seeing her like this, I said, “Have you thought it through? I’m not certain this method will work, and it carries a certain degree of risk.”

The woman bowed her head in deep thought for a moment before raising her eyes to look at me. “Master, with my son in this condition, how much longer does he have to live?”

I spoke gravely, “If he doesn’t make it through tonight, even if the Headless Ghost doesn’t come for you, your son won’t survive the night…”

Upon hearing this, the woman made up her mind. “Master, please, save my son. No matter the danger, I accept it.”

I nodded, glanced at the little boy beside her, and asked, “What is his name?”

“Liu Liang,” she replied.

I nodded again, then drew from my waist a Soul-Cutting Blade I had never before used.

Before coming here, I had strapped a cartridge pouch to my waist, and the size of the Soul-Cutting Blade fit perfectly inside it. So I placed the blade on top of the pouch.

Xu Tian and Li Kun saw me draw the Soul-Cutting Blade and were both taken aback. They knew the blade’s power well. They both came to my side, and Xu Tian whispered, “Old Liu, are you trying to kill this kid? Last time, I barely survived a small cut; what are you planning now?”

I looked at Xu Tian and Li Kun, then spoke openly, loud enough for the woman to hear, “Since the Soul-Cutting Blade can absorb corpse poison, it should be even more effective against this death aura or corpse energy. But whether it will obey me, I only have about an eighty percent certainty.”

Then I turned to Li Kun. “Old Li, do you remember that this blade can also heal wounds?”

Li Kun nodded and clapped his hands. “Yes, it healed your wound before, Old Liu. The injury was gone in no time.”

I said, “Exactly. Since the Soul-Cutting Blade has fused with me, it means I can control it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t resort to such a risky method. And if I don’t save this child, he certainly won’t survive tonight.”

With that, I stepped in front of the boy and crouched before him, raising my hand to wave in front of his eyes. Indeed, the boy’s gaze was vacant and unfocused. When I waved my hand, he seemed not to see it at all.

The woman’s heart sank at the sight of her child, but she kept her eyes fixed tightly on my movements.

I carefully observed the waves of death aura emanating from the boy’s body, searching for where it was most concentrated.

After some scrutiny, I found the death aura densest on the palm of his left hand. Glancing at the woman’s right palm, I saw the same intense death aura there. It seemed the mother and son were transmitting this death aura through their hands.

Seeing this, I reached out and lifted the boy’s left hand. The moment my palm touched his, the death aura on his hand strangely circumvented my palm as if it were meeting a fatal obstacle.

I looked at the inheritance ring on my finger and silently marveled. I hadn’t expected the ring to block death aura too. No wonder it was a treasured heirloom of the Dragon-Seeking Celestial Masters.

I examined the boy’s palm closely and saw a small black dot about one centimeter in diameter at its center. From this dot, thick black death aura seeped outward.

I then drew the sheath of the Soul-Cutting Blade, revealing its sharp blade. The three around me held their breath at once; the woman didn’t dare even to breathe.

I said to Li Kun and Xu Tian, “Old Li, Old Xu, come here. Hold the boy down and lay him flat. Don’t let him move. He’s likely to tremble in pain. Keep his arms steady—don’t let them move an inch. The Soul-Cutting Blade is too sharp. If he moves, I might cut his hand off.”

They approached and laid the boy on the ground. Li Kun firmly held the boy’s body, while Xu Tian pressed his arms tightly to the ground.

With everything ready, I took a deep breath, placed the boy’s palm flat with my left hand, and gripped the blade with my right. I gently stabbed the blade into the black dot on his palm.

The moment the blade pierced the boy’s hand, I was surprised. Usually, stabbing anyone with this blade causes a cold, sharp pain. But the boy lying on the ground showed no reaction, as if unaware of the blade’s presence.

I was momentarily stunned but continued. I pressed the blade in a little deeper.

At that instant, the boy’s body arched upward, lifting the burly Li Kun off the ground, though the boy made no further movement.

Li Kun, shocked, looked down at the boy beneath him. “My goodness! This little guy just lifted me! What kind of strength is that?” He steadied himself with one hand and pressed the boy back down.

Meanwhile, I felt another sensation. My eyes closed slightly as a bone-chilling coldness radiated from the blade, which trembled faintly in my hand.

I gripped the blade tightly, sensing it was conveying excitement—like a ravenous wolf feasting on a sumptuous meal.

Opening my eyes, I saw the black death aura on the boy’s body rapidly converging toward the blade’s edge.

Soon, the boy made faint groans, his brow furrowing, lips trembling.

I said to Xu Tian and Li Kun, “Hold on tight. The boy is feeling pain now.”

Their faces grew serious, and they tightened their grip.

Suddenly, the boy’s mouth snapped open, and a torrent of black death aura spewed forth.

The three without the Heavenly Eye saw this and were stunned, staring at me with wide eyes—yet I remained motionless.

At that moment, I felt the Soul-Cutting Blade twitch in my hand, as if it wanted to pull itself free from the boy’s palm.

Curious about this strange reaction, I knew the blade had a soul of its own.

After struggling once more, I realized the blade had absorbed all the death aura from the boy’s body. If it went deeper, the blade would unleash its own corpse poison.

I gently withdrew the blade from the boy’s palm. Then, the four of us witnessed a startling scene.

The blade floated up on its own, then suddenly shot toward the black death aura the boy had just expelled.

We were all shocked. I suddenly understood why the blade acted this way.

When the blade had absorbed the death aura from the boy’s body, it was like a feast. As the boy expelled the black aura, the blade sought to devour all of it.

Thinking this through, I paid no further mind to the blade. That black death aura could not escape its edge. Soon, the blade would return to my hand—the sheath was still in my possession.

I slid the blade back into the cartridge pouch and said to Li Kun and Xu Tian, “Get up quickly. You can’t keep holding him down like that; he won’t stand it.”

As I spoke, the boy coughed softly and his complexion brightened. His palm twitched slightly, but when he felt a sharp pain, his brow furrowed tightly.

Seeing this, the three of us were astonished. Li Kun said to me, “Old Liu, well done! I never thought you could really save this kid. You’re like a living Hua Tuo!”

The boy slowly opened his eyes, looking around in confusion. When he saw Li Kun, Xu Tian, and me, he was momentarily stunned. But upon seeing his mother, he called out “Mom,” and tears streamed down his cheeks.

The woman’s eyes reddened as she hurried to kneel and embrace her child tightly.

The boy raised an arm and wrapped it around his mother, sobbing as he spoke, “Mom, what about Dad? Is he all right now?”

At these words, the woman began to quietly weep. “Daddy has gone,” she whispered. She released one of his arms, took hold of the other, and gently stroked his head. “Don’t worry. Mom won’t let anything happen to you.”

The boy nodded softly, about to raise his hand to wipe his mother’s tears. But as he lifted it, a sharp pain shot through his arm. His brow furrowed tightly, and he gasped in surprise.