# 1492
1493: Pain
"Qingyu……"
Jiang Er looked at him with concern, as if she wanted to say something more to persuade him.
An Qingyu shook her head and smiled at him. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."
She returned to the table, her gaze fixed on the arm floating in the dark yellow liquid. She took a deep breath, and her left hand grasped at empty air, condensing a sharp frost sword in her palm. Like lightning, she slashed toward her own right arm!
Ssssh—
The sword light flashed, and An Qingyu's right arm was severed instantly. The arm hit the ground with a dull thud as gushing blood sprayed everywhere.
An Qingyu's face turned slightly pale, but her expression didn't change in the slightest. Her left hand reached directly into the liquid and fished out the contaminated arm, pressing it against the severed stump of her right arm!
This arm belonged to An Qingyu in the first place, so after being reattached to the severed end, the body didn't reject it much. Muscle tissue flowed and reconnected it to An Qingyu's torso.
That arm covered in fleshy tumors began to thrash wildly out of control. The five suction-cup tentacles whipped about like beasts breaking free, rapidly spreading in all directions. A狠色 flashed in An Qingyu's eyes. The sword light flashed again, severing these tentacles at the root!
As the arm connected to the body,诡异 fleshy tumors began to bulge on An Qingyu's body. The contamination from this arm was rapidly invading her flesh!
At the same time, frenzied whispers rang out beside her ears!
These whispers weren't loud, but there were so many of them, as if countless fingernails had surrounded An Qingyu's head, constantly scraping on a blackboard. The teeth-grinding shrill sounds overlapped like waves, battering her mind over and over!
"Roar!!!" An Qingyu's eyes turned completely blood-red. Her left hand pressed against her forehead as she bent over in agony.
"Qingyu!!" Seeing An Qingyu in this state, Jiang Er shouted anxiously.
Cao Yuan grit his teeth tightly, his eyes locked on the writhing masses of flesh on An Qingyu's body. Just as he was about to draw his blade and cut into her, An Qingyu suddenly raised that disgusting contaminated arm and roared:
"Don't come over!! I can still hold on!"
This shout directly stopped Cao Yuan in his tracks. His hand, which had been about to grip the blade's hilt, trembled for a moment before finally lowering.
An Qingyu's blood-red eyes widened. One palm pressed against the ground, her five fingers digging forcefully into the cement, clawing desperately at something. Blood flowed down her blood-soaked fingernails, quickly staining the entire ground.
Masses of fleshy tumors bulged from her body, bursting open. Countless crimson worms squirmed within them, forming disgusting clusters of insect eyes.
The veins on An Qingyu's neck bulged out, but she paid no attention to these tumors. She merely tilted her head slightly, her features contorted in agony, as if straining desperately to listen to something.
These insect eyes multiplied explosively across An Qingyu's body. Originally spreading only from her arm to her shoulder, they rapidly took over half of her body. Even her neck grew tumors, connecting into a ring like a life preserver around her neck.
Crimson shadow of insects writhed around An Qingyu's eyeballs, approaching her brain.
"An Qingyu!!" Seeing this, Cao Yuan roared, "They're going to contaminate your soul! I'm going to act!"
"Wait…… a moment……" An Qingyu stubborn shook her head. "Give me…… a few more seconds…… I'm almost…… hearing it clearly……"
"There's no time!"
Cao Yuan said urgently,恨不得现在就出刀把An Qingyu给砍了, but seeing An Qingyu's gaze, he forcibly restrained himself.
An Qingyu's chest heaved剧烈. She knelt halfway on the ground, listening for a few seconds. Those tumors had already begun bursting on her forehead. Tentacles extended from within her body. She was almost no longer human.
"An Qingyu!!!"
"Do it!! Anything that's been contaminated! Cut it all off! Everything!" An Qingyu's ears twitched. As if hearing something, a burst of brilliance erupted in her pain-filled eyes as she roared!
Clang—!!
Before An Qingyu's words even finished, jet-black killing intent flames surged toward the sky. A dozen killing intent blade lights poured forth from before Cao Yuan in an instant, first severing An Qingyu's tumor-covered head!
Dense blade lights fell on An Qingyu almost simultaneously. Right arm, left arm, both legs, back, lower abdomen…… In an instant, An Qingyu was as if dismembered by five horses. The rolling killing intent flames precisely cut away every piece of contaminated flesh, the killing intent burning them to ash!
These blade strikes were so precise that even a master of bladework couldn't achieve such accuracy. And at this moment, Cao Yuan was still in a berserk state. The fact that he could control his power so precisely was enough to leave anyone stunned.
In less than a second, An Qingyu was "killed" in the killing intent flames. Only a heart fragment the size of a palm and half a brain remained on the ground.
The black killing intent flames' embers gradually faded away. The two fragments that had fallen to the ground actually began to regenerate rapidly—organs, blood vessels, flesh, skin…… gradually outlining a human shape.
The berserk Cao Yuan sheathed his Straight Blade. The killing intent flames coiled back into the scabbard and vanished. While gasping for breath, he stared intently at the regenerating figure on the ground,忍不住喃喃自语:
"This can regenerate too…… What a monster."
The previous few strikes, while not overly draining, had been an immense challenge to Cao Yuan's consciousness and will. To accomplish this much had already pushed him to his limits.
"Reckless child!"
Just as Cao Yuan watched nervously as An Qingyu regenerated on the ground, a Daoist figure drifted in from outside like wind. A Supreme God pressure descended instantly!
Yuanshi Tianzun frowned as he looked at the gradually recovering human outline on the ground. His right hand formed a sword gesture, striking like lightning at An Qingyu's brow point. The latter's mouth, which hadn't yet grown skin, opened wide. She let out a pain-filled scream, the shriek several times more intense than when she was being contaminated!
"Celestial Venerable! What are you doing……" Seeing this, Cao Yuan asked anxiously.
"You only cut away the contamination of her flesh, but the duration was too long. A trace of contamination invaded her soul…… If that corner of her soul isn't severed, she will still be affected." Yuanshi Tianzun withdrew his sword gesture, his expression extremely serious.
Hearing these words, Cao Yuan was struck like by thunder.
"Celestial Venerable, then Qingyu now……" Jiang Er spoke with concern.
Yuanshi Tianzun looked at the gradually recovering form on the ground and let out a long breath. "It's fine……贫道 has severed that corner of her soul. She is no longer in danger. However……"
"However what?"
"The soul is extremely important to a person. After having a corner severed, it may cause trauma to the brain." Yuanshi Tianzun paused. "At best, her thinking will be impaired and she will be reduced to a simpleton. At worst, her consciousness will fall into Chaos and she will fall into a deep sleep…… In your terms, a vegetative state."
Both their hearts trembled simultaneously!
"Celestial Venerable……"
An Qingyu's blood-soaked body slightly lifted. One hand clutched the edge of Yuanshi Tianzun's Daoist robe. In a hoarse voice, she spoke, "I…… found them……"