Entrustment

*Crack!* After a tangled struggle, the living corpse was sent flying by the jade ruyi talisman treasure. Qin Sang followed up immediately, driving his flying sword straight through its skull to crush its origin soul, slaying the creature where it fell. Qingting collapsed to the ground at once. The jade ruyi talisman treasure reverted into a talisman sheet, fluttering down from midair. A faint, thin crack had appeared across the center of the paper, showing that the talisman treasure's power had been severely depleted. Qin Sang did not spare a glance at the baleful corpse. Flashing over to Qingting's side, he gently helped her up. He was more than capable of telling whether an injury was genuine or feigned. Pressing his palm against her back, he channeled an unbroken stream of spiritual power into her body to help suppress the corpse poison and inspect her condition. Qingting offered not the slightest resistance, letting his spiritual power circulate through her meridians to purge the corpse poison and fiendish qi from the surface. A moment later, Qin Sang withdrew his hand. He looked at Qingting with a conflicted expression, words rising to his lips before trailing off into a quiet sigh. It was truly as she had said earlier: not only was her spiritual power on the verge of exhaustion, but the corpse poison had already invaded her heart meridians. That she had held out this long, controlling a talisman treasure to assist him in striking down the living corpse, was already an extraordinary feat. There was no saving her now. Unless an expert profoundly versed in the art of healing pills were present—yet with Qingting hovering on the brink of death, where could they possibly find such a person? Qingting had kept her eyes fixed on Qin Sang. Seeing his expression, her gaze dimmed, but then she offered a serene smile. She parted her lips, her voice raspy and faint. "Junior Brother Qin, do not take it to heart. Death is not a frightening thing to me... *cough, cough...*" She began to cough violently, racking her body as if tearing her lungs apart. Qin Sang retrieved a healing pill and fed it to her. Her complexion improved marginally, yet it was nothing more than the final burst of light before the flame went out. She suddenly raised a trembling hand, pointing toward a pile of rubble in a corner of the grand hall, and spoke in a hurried whisper: "Junior Brother Qin, there are some shattered bones over there. Go quickly and see if there are any relics left behind." Qin Sang raised an eyebrow, quietly surprised. At death's door, Qingting still cared about relics among some old bones? Yet under her hopeful gaze, he complied, releasing a surge of spiritual power that formed a large hand to drag the entire pile of stones over. Sure enough, a few broken bones were unearthed, but there were no relics whatsoever. Qin Sang showed each piece to her one by one. The hope on Qingting's face gradually faded. In the end, she let out a bitter laugh, murmuring, "Perhaps it is better this way. I am dying anyway. Even if I found it, what difference would it make..." With that, Qingting gathered every ounce of strength remaining in her body to sit upright. Turning solemn, she looked at Qin Sang. "Junior Brother Qin, the danger is not yet resolved, and as a dying person, I dare not squander more of your time. I never anticipated so much earth fiend qi would pool inside this cavern, dragging you and our fellow Daoists into such peril. But you need not worry. Past that iron door lies the restricted grounds of the Heavenly Corpse Sect. Once you reach that place and activate the entire dwelling's restrictions, they will surely withstand the invasion of the earth fiend qi. When the fiendish qi recedes, you can leave." Qin Sang looked at her. "Senior Sister, you knew this was the Heavenly Corpse Sect?" Qingting nodded without offering further explanation, giving a self-deprecating smile. "To die in a place like this leaves me with no choice but to entrust my final wishes to you, Junior Brother. In order to refine the Fire Crow Formation, I sold off all my possessions, and now I have nothing of value left. Only this talisman treasure and the black tiger's remains in my mustard seed bag are presentable enough to offer. I give them all to you, Junior Brother, in the sole hope that you can grant me one final favor." If it were merely a matter of lifting a hand, Qin Sang naturally would not mind. Noncommittally, he replied, "Please speak, Senior Sister." Qingting reached into her inner robe and drew out a black cloth pouch. Qin Sang's gaze narrowed slightly, feeling a quiet surge of shock. It was a corpse puppet pouch! He did not know whether she had obtained it outside or just found it here, but for her to keep a corpse puppet pouch against her chest—could there actually be a corpse puppet sealed inside? Qingting opened the pouch, and a crystal coffin floated out, settling softly before them. Lying within the coffin was not a corpse puppet, but a person. He had a square face, sword-like brows, a high nose, and a burly build. Though he lay motionless within the crystal coffin, he still carried an air of resolute determination and striking charisma. Yet at this moment, the man was like a corpse, utterly devoid of breath, his skin lacking even a hint of color. Recognizing the features, Qin Sang suddenly recalled something and asked softly, "Senior Sister, is this Senior Brother Jiang?" Qingting nodded faintly, her eyes overflowing with deep attachment and love. She stared at the face without looking away, as if terrified that she would never be able to see him again. Qin Sang fell silent. Back when he was still in the Qi Refinement stage, he had overheard some fellow disciples gossiping that Senior Sister Qingting's Dao companion was surnamed Jiang, and that the two were an idyllic, deeply affectionate couple. Later, Senior Brother Jiang had met with an accident during an excursion into the outside world and was rumored to have died. Who would have thought that Senior Sister Qingting had been preserving his body in a crystal coffin all this time? *Wait, that's not right!* When Qin Sang swept his spiritual sense over the crystal coffin, he detected a faint fluctuation of an origin soul still present within Senior Brother Jiang's body. Though it was unimaginably weak, flickering like a candle in the wind... He was still alive! Qingting pressed her hand against the crystal coffin to unseal it, pulling Senior Brother Jiang's body tightly into her embrace. Gripping his hand, she whispered to Qin Sang, "Senior Brother's origin soul suffered a devastating blow. I tried everything I could, but I could never heal him; I could only slow the rate at which his soul dissipated... Death, for us as husband and wife, is perhaps a release. My only wish is that once you escape danger, Junior Brother Qin, you will bury him and me together. In life, to share a bed; in death, to share a tomb." Once removed from the crystal coffin, Senior Brother Jiang's mortal body began to wither rapidly, and the fluctuations of his origin soul scattered at an alarming speed. Right at that moment, an astonishing scene unfolded: Senior Brother Jiang's fingers gave a faint twitch, and with a feeble yet resolute grip, he clasped Qingting's hand in return. Overwhelmed with joy, Qingting threw herself into his embrace and wept aloud. It was as though the sorrow and despair suppressed for countless years had finally broken free in an agonizing wail. A single tear slid down the corner of Senior Brother Jiang's eye as well. *The Heavenly Corpse Talisman!* A flash of inspiration struck Qin Sang's mind, and he suddenly understood what Qingting had been searching for among the bones. A Heavenly Corpse Talisman would turn Senior Brother Jiang into a corpse puppet, but it would also fuse with and seal his origin soul, perhaps halting its dissipation. According to the records, once an origin soul was sealed by a Heavenly Corpse Talisman, the transformation was irreversible. Senior Brother Jiang would certainly become a corpse puppet, his origin soul undergoing a bizarre and irreversible mutation. Yet in the world of cultivation, as long as a sliver of hope remained, any miracle was possible. The total dissipation of an origin soul, on the other hand, was the true end of all things. The jade Buddha could certainly resist a Heavenly Corpse Talisman, but Qin Sang would never use himself for such an experiment. Senior Brother Jiang's origin soul dissipated completely. Having poured out her grief, Qingting bore no dread on her face at her approaching death; instead, a strange, serene radiance shone in her eyes. She summoned both her mustard seed bag and the talisman treasure back into her hands, holding them out to Qin Sang. Peering into the mustard seed bag, Qin Sang saw that aside from the black tiger's corpse, there were only a few items of modest value. The Fire Crow Tokens had indeed drained her entire fortune. Qin Sang had no use for these ordinary items, so he asked, "Senior Sister Qingting, do you have any remaining family?"