Chapter 146: Poison Spirit

"You... you... how did you get in?" Yun Che's mind froze for a second, and he stammered as he spoke.

"Didn't you tell me to come?" the white-robed fairy asked, her beautiful eyes turning to him, her voice devoid of emotion.

"But you're too... fast!" Yun Che silently swallowed... Oh my goodness! It wasn't surprising that she could enter the outer and middle compounds without a sound. But the inner compound's entrance had extremely powerful seals and restrictions, and elders of the Profound Palace guarded it day and night. Yet, she had simply walked in, even faster than he had!

As an exclusive imperial institution, the Azure Wind Profound Palace had stood for a thousand years. Besides Qin Wushang, there must have been other Sky Profound Realm experts guarding it. Yet, she had bypassed everyone in the Profound Palace and arrived here as if it were an unpopulated area... Was the difference between a Half-step Sovereign Profound and a Sky Profound Realm genuinely that vast?

"When do we start the detoxification?" the white-robed fairy asked coldly, clearly not wanting to say more to him.

Yun Che walked in, closed the door, and pondered. "We can start now. However, you've personally experienced the power of this profound ice poison; even with your profound energy, you can't dissolve it. So you must know that dissolving it won't be simple or easy. We are strangers. If I were to detoxify you for free, I believe you wouldn't feel at ease, and I'm not that selfless myself."

"I told you I would give you a generous reward."

"What kind of reward?"

"...What do you need?" As the white-robed fairy spoke, her gaze remained piercingly cold, like the ten-thousand-year-old profound ice eternally frozen on a snowy mountain.

"I want you to agree to three requests!" Yun Che stated bluntly. Before the fairy could show anger, he quickly explained, "But don't worry, I'm absolutely not someone who forces others. These three requests will not violate any of your principles or conscience, nor will they involve any evil, greed, or anything of that sort. They won't even harm your interests. And if you think any request is excessive, you can refuse immediately."

"Are you sure you can completely dissolve the poison in my body?" When he mentioned "three requests," the white-robed fairy's beautiful eyes grew noticeably colder. Only after hearing his subsequent words did her expression soften slightly.

"My confidence isn't high," Yun Che said. "It's ninety-nine point nine-nine-nine-nine percent. Because during this process, I can't guarantee that lightning won't suddenly strike me dead from the sky."

It was a sudden, dry joke, but it didn't evoke even the slightest emotional fluctuation from the fairy before him. Her only response was two cold, indifferent words: "Speak."

"Alright, I'll speak..." Yun Che secretly pouted, feeling a bit bored. He thought to himself: Although my wife, Qingyue, has a cold personality, she's still a sixteen-year-old girl, and she reacts somewhat when provoked. This little fairy... she's like a block of profound ice! The difficulty of melting her is extraordinarily high...

"My first request is: tell me your name," Yun Che said earnestly. "This should be simple enough, right?"

The fairy remained silent for a moment, then shook her head: "No."

"Hey, hey! Even if you look like a fairy, you can't be so stingy. If I dissolve the poison in your body, I'll be half your savior, yet you won't even tell me your name! I've already told you mine completely. Besides, if you won't even tell me your name, what should I call you?" Yun Che grumbled in dissatisfaction.

"Call me whatever you wish," the fairy said coldly.

"Fine," Yun Che said, looking resigned. "Since that's the case, I'll change my first request. I won't ask for your name anymore. From now on, let me call you 'Little Fairy.' That should be acceptable, right?"

"Little Fairy?" The fairy's delicate brows twitched slightly, and she said coldly, "Absurd! My age is sufficient to be your elder!"

Yun Che jumped up, his face full of indignation. "Even if you are a true fairy, you're being a bit too overbearing! I'm the one who's going to remove the terrifying profound ice poison from you, the one who's going to save half your life! I haven't asked you for anything, only to know your name, and you refused... Fine, I'll endure it. You even said yourself that I could call you whatever I wish. Now I just want to call you 'Little Fairy,' and you won't agree! You're going too far!"

"And you're deliberately lying to take advantage of me in terms of seniority! I'm almost seventeen, and you look at most twenty. How can you be considered my elder! This is too bullying! Forget it, I'm not detoxifying you. Not doing it."

Yun Che plopped down on his bottom like a sulking child, his back to the fairy, a huffy expression on his face.

The fairy was silent, then seemed to feel that she had indeed been too harsh, and relented, saying, "In that case, call me whatever you wish."

Yun Che "whooshed" around, his anger completely gone, and he smiled. "That's a good girl, Little Fairy. I'm going to state my second request... Take off your veil. I want to see your true appearance."

"I refuse," the fairy replied without hesitation.

"Hey! It's just knowing your name, that's not too much, is it?" Yun Che said, displeased.

The fairy said coldly, "You and I are merely passing acquaintances. If you can truly dissolve the poison in my body, I will naturally give you a generous reward. After that, we will owe each other nothing and go our separate ways, perhaps never to meet again. You don't need to know my name, much less my appearance."

Even though she was asking for a favor, her voice remained so firm and cold, and her demeanor exuded a sense of keeping people at a thousand miles' distance. If it weren't for this little fairy's terrifying strength and beautiful appearance, Yun Che would definitely have washed his hands of it. He said helplessly, "Alright, alright. In that case, I'll change my second request... If I perfectly dissolve the ice poison in your body, I hope you can secretly protect me for a period of time two months from now. The protection doesn't need to be too long, three or four months would be fine... Is that a problem?"

Half of the fairy's aloofness was innate, and the other half was due to her already unapproachable status. But the more such a person is, the less willing they are to owe others anything. She considered Yun Che's request only briefly before directly nodding: "Good, I agree to this. I will secretly protect you for three months, starting two months from now."

"Then it's settled!" Yun Che nodded with joy. "As for the third request... I haven't thought of it yet. I'll tell you when I do. Of course, the decision to agree or not is still yours. So, let's begin the detoxification now."

Approaching the fairy, Yun Che extended his hand to her and said very seriously, "Little Fairy, please extend your hand first. I must first ascertain the condition of the profound ice poison within you."

The fairy found the term "Little Fairy" extremely uncomfortable, but since she had reluctantly agreed to Yun Che earlier, she could only accept it with a frown. However, his subsequent words and actions made her face turn to ice: "I never let any man touch my body."

Yun Che paused, then smiled. "Don't worry. As a true divine physician, how could I not understand how to diagnose pulses from a distance? I guarantee I won't touch any part of your body."

With a cold glance at him, the fairy finally extended her right hand. Her palm was excessively fair, and shimmered faintly with an ice-like translucence, causing Yun Che to feel a momentary dizziness. He could hardly believe it was a woman's hand... He preferred to believe it was a perfect work of art meticulously sculpted by the heavens.

Yun Che calmed his mind, extended his palm, and assumed a peculiar posture, hovering above the fairy's jade hand. He gently released his profound energy, letting it caress the fairy's wrist, then slowly spread from her wrist throughout her body's meridians... Of course, even if he had ten more times the courage, he wouldn't dare to act improperly with his profound energy inside the fairy, otherwise, she could kill him with a single slap.

After this examination, Yun Che was secretly shocked.

The profound ice poison she had contracted was far more severe than he had anticipated.

Such terrifying primordial poison... It seemed this "Little Fairy" had killed at least a Sky Profound Beast!

Yun Che's heart twitched slightly... To kill a Sky Profound Beast alone, how terrifying was this "Little Fairy"!

Yun Che's profound energy continued to extend, and when it reached near her profound veins, his brows suddenly furrowed, and his expression changed dramatically... Because at the center of her profound veins, there was a small, misty, continuously wriggling mass that emitted cold, eerie chill. Yun Che only touched it with his profound energy, yet he could still feel how astonishingly cold it was.

This was...

A Poison Spirit!

This primordial poison, from a powerful ice-attributed venomous beast, was terrifying enough to develop consciousness and form a Poison Spirit! Clearly, this wisp of consciousness must have been infused into the primordial poison by the ice-attributed venomous beast just before its death.

Originally, it would have been simple for Yun Che to detoxify her; he just needed to purify it with the Sky Poison Pearl. But upon discovering the existence of a Poison Spirit, it could no longer be purified simply with the Sky Poison Pearl. This was because a Poison Spirit grows by devouring the host's profound energy and resides within the profound veins, becoming partially integrated with them. If forcibly purified, removing the Poison Spirit and poison would cause permanent damage to the profound veins.

When Yun Che's profound energy touched the Poison Spirit, the fairy also sensed it, and her expression immediately changed slightly.

Yun Che withdrew his hand and said solemnly, "Little Fairy, you must have felt it just now. The severe poison in your body has actually developed a Poison Spirit! To resolve this severe poison, we must first destroy the Poison Spirit! To destroy this ice-attributed Poison Spirit, we must use sufficiently pure flame energy to sever its connection with your profound veins, then force the Poison Spirit out of the profound veins, and then forcefully extract it with flame energy... This Poison Spirit hasn't fully formed yet; my flame energy can barely manage it, but if it continues to develop, it will become completely dangerous... Don't move!"

Yun Che commanded in an almost imperative tone. His gaze sharpened, the Phoenix blood within him boiled, and crimson flames ignited on his palm.

"Phoenix flames? Are you from the Phoenix Divine Sect?"

A peerless expert at the Half-step Sovereign Profound Realm possessed vast knowledge! She had once fought against disciples of the Phoenix Divine Sect and understood the characteristics of Phoenix flames. When Yun Che's hand ignited with flames, she immediately recognized them as clearly Phoenix flames, and moreover, they were several times purer than any Phoenix flames she had witnessed before.

"These are indeed Phoenix flames, but I am certainly not from the Phoenix Divine Sect." Yun Che knew that the Azure Wind Empire held the Phoenix Divine Sect in high reverence. He casually explained, then aimed his palm a few centimeters away at the fairy's chest, allowing the Phoenix flames to extend through the air into her body.

Everything ice-attributed fears fire, especially a fragile ice-attributed Poison Spirit, not to mention these were high-level Phoenix flames. The moment the Phoenix flames ignited inside the fairy, the Poison Spirit's connection with her profound veins was forcibly severed, and the flame energy directly enveloped the Poison Spirit.

Next, it was time to force the Poison Spirit out of the profound veins... Yun Che's eyes were completely closed, as he needed absolute concentration to expel the Poison Spirit. The little fairy also closed her eyes, sensing Yun Che's Phoenix flame energy moving within her profound veins, a ripple of surprise spreading in her heart... She became even more certain that these were indeed Phoenix flames.

He said he wasn't from the Phoenix Divine Sect... But if he wasn't, how could he possess Phoenix flames?

The Poison Spirit struggled in fear, fleeing... In just a few breaths, it was forced out of the profound veins by the Phoenix flames.

Excellent... Yun Che let out a sigh of relief. The Phoenix flames suddenly accelerated, instantly enveloping the fleeing Poison Spirit.

Good, come out... Yun Che mentally exclaimed, then flicked his Phoenix flame energy and swiftly reached forward with his flaming right hand... The moment his palm touched the Poison Spirit, it also fully grasped a towering softness, his splayed fingers sinking deep into it...