"Even if it was a Prohibition laid down by a Great Power from beyond Earth, I, Lin Mo, must break it!" As Spiritual Energy and True Yuan within his body boiled and surged like a breach in a dam, finding an outlet, they burst forth violently.
Likewise, within the entire valley, the invisible Prohibition undulated fiercely like waves.
The ferocious beasts, poisonous insects, and birds hidden in the thick fog seemed to sense this inexplicable crisis and pressure, scattering in a frantic escape.
Lin Mo's forceful breakthrough of the Prohibition inside his body was undoubtedly a challenge to the Great Power who had set up the Array years ago.
Seizing the moment, Lin Mo used the Spiritual Energy in his body to extract something he desired. Just then, an arrow of energy, containing supreme might, suddenly flew into the cave entrance, striking Lin Mo's chest.
The immense impact sent Lin Mo flying, crashing against the rock wall behind him, his body embedding into it, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading around him.
A grin broke across Lin Mo's face, a trace of joy evident.
Clutching his fist, Lin Mo struggled to walk out from the rock, picking up an object that resembled an ice crystal, about the size of a baby's fist, within which lay a caterpillar-like insect.
This little insect was the Soul-devouring Worm Lin Mo had captured from the White Witch Clan. After a year of refining and taming, it had now become his pet.
"Now you can come into use," Lin Mo said, crushing the ice crystal. The Soul-devouring Worm inside awoke and quietly lay in his palm, looking very cute and nothing like the 'disaster' Elder Liao had described.
"It's all up to you now," Lin Mo said as he placed the Soul-devouring Worm on Xia Mengdie's arm.
Having been trapped within the White Witch Clan and sealed in crystal by Lin Mo, the Soul-devouring Worm had slept until now. Waking up, it seemed like an Evil Ghost starved for hundreds of years, beginning to frantically absorb the energy within Xia Mengdie's body.
This energy contained the latent poison of the Nine Yin Body as well as the Charming Poison carried by the pink snake mist.
After absorbing for a while, the white Soul-devouring Worm's body showed two distinct colors, half red and half white, as if fire and ice were meeting.
In just a few minutes, the agonized expression on Miao Xin's face slowly faded, replaced by a semblance of calm.
However, after absorbing the twin forces, the Soul-devouring Worm collapsed and began convulsing nonstop.
"It seems I underestimated the toxicity of the Nine Yin Poison. The Soul-devouring Worm is still young and naturally cannot withstand such a large amount of the Nine Yin Poison," Lin Mo murmured to himself, before safely storing the worm away.
After all, it was one of the Ten Strange Insects and wouldn't easily perish; it just needed time to digest and assimilate the absorbed energy.
By now, Lin Mo was entirely certain that Miao Xin was Xia Mengdie. If there was someone in the world who looked exactly like Xia Mengdie and also had a Nine Yin Body, the likelihood was too low to comprehend.
Although he hadn't absorbed all of the Nine Yin Poison, the Charming Poison had been completely taken in. Consequently, while Miao Xin's face was no longer pained, it carried a heavy look of exhaustion. Clearly, she suffered a lot recently, her entire being overtaken by a deep sleep.
A faint smile appeared on Lin Mo's face. He took off his jacket and gently covered her, then leaned back against the rock wall himself, cradling Miao Xin in his arms, unknowingly also drifting off to sleep.
After all, he had just injured himself and expended a large amount of spiritual power in order to break through the Prohibition in the valley.
He did not know how much time had passed; dense fog filled the valley, making it impossible to tell the time of day.
Slowly opening her heavy eyelids, Miao Xin first showed a hint of confusion, but then, recalling the events that had occurred, a few strands of clarity appeared in her eyes.
"You..." Miao Xin suddenly realized that Lin Mo was holding her while sleeping, and she immediately sat up. Then, seeing her clothes in tatters, exposing patches of her snow-white skin, her pretty face showed a mixture of anger and shock.
"Bastard, I'm going to kill you."
Miao Xin's eyes suddenly became red-rimmed, and her pretty face was covered in anger. The chastity of her body had been tainted by this man, which filled her with overwhelming anger and also a sense of shyness; her heart felt as if it had been overturned with mixed emotions.
In the Miao Xue Divine Palace, virginity was extremely important; if her Master found out, being expelled from the sisterhood would be the least of her worries—she might even be killed.
Hearing the noise, Lin Mo slowly opened his eyes, and then looked at Miao Xin with some surprise, "Oh, wife, you're awake."
"Bang!"
But just as he finished speaking, Miao Xin slapped him across the chest.
Biting her silver teeth, Miao Xin wished she could kill Lin Mo and then commit suicide, but she also knew that the cause of this incident was not intentional on Lin Mo's part.
Lin Mo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, feeling somewhat helpless. After all, Xia Mengdie now had forgotten him, and a touch of sadness flashed through his eyes, before he said, "Don't worry, I didn't touch you. I just used a different method to save you, that's all."
"You didn't touch me?"
Miao Xin showed a surprised look. She vaguely remembered that before she fainted, she had been afflicted with Charming Poison, which could only be cured by sleeping with a man. If he hadn't violated her, how could the Charming Poison have been cured?
Although Lin Mo had done that with her to save her, Miao Xin was still struggling to immediately accept this reality.
Miao Xin turned her head and quietly pulled up her sleeve to look at her pale arm, her pupils dilating slightly; the Palace Guarding Sand that had always been on her arm had "disappeared."
However, she did not know that the Spirit Worm used by Lin Mo had not only absorbed the poison in her body but also the Mana on the Palace Guarding Sand, hence it "disappeared" suddenly.
"The Palace Guarding Sand represents a woman's chastity; if it disappears, it means she's no longer a virgin. Have you done that to me, yet you refuse to admit it?" Miao Xin bit down on her silver teeth, feeling heavy-hearted as she dropped her sleeve, her heart unexpectedly filled with a profound sense of grievance.
If he were willing to frankly acknowledge it, perhaps her heart wouldn't feel so bad. After all, such an incident was not done intentionally by Lin Mo; he had done it to save her.
But now Lin Mo was unwilling to admit to having had that sort of relationship with her, and thinking back to the hotel where a bunch of women had entered Lin Mo's room, Miao Xin clenched her fist and silently cursed him as scum.
"Fine, since you say you haven't touched me, let's pretend nothing happened. But... if you dare tell anyone about what happened, I will kill you no matter where you are, and then I'll kill myself." Miao Xin clenched her white fist, bit her silver teeth again, and her pretty face was a picture of cool, stunning beauty.
(Wonderful continuation tomorrow.)