Doubts

Drifting within his meridians and sea of qi was a strange restrictive talisman rune—one completely unfamiliar to Qin Sang, which he had never seen before. The spiritual power within his body was intact, yet he could not utilize even a trace of it, sealed firmly in place. This restrictive talisman left behind by Dongyang Bo was far from simple. Over the past few days, Qin Sang had made countless attempts and exhausted every method, yet could not budge the talisman in the slightest. Originally, Qin Sang had been skeptical of the *Stone Bridge Chan* presented by Dongyang Bo. This Chan technique clearly diverged from authentic Buddhist dharma. It did not resemble Chan contemplation, bordering instead on the demonic; for a Buddhist cultivator to practice the Great Dao of Severing Emotion seemed completely incongruous. Qin Sang had suspected Dongyang Bo was most likely still duping Chenyan. Yet after experiencing the restrictive talisman firsthand, Qin Sang's thoughts changed, filling him with lingering dread. To unravel this talisman would likely require someone of formidable strength. Qin Sang even doubted whether a late Golden Core cultivator could accomplish it. If *Stone Bridge Chan* were merely a hoax, there was no need for Dongyang Bo to waste such a precious restrictive talisman on him; putting on a show would have been enough, as a mere False Core cultivator could never escape his grasp. Whether Dongyang Bo was unwilling or dared not to openly fall out with Chenyan, he had clearly planned his retreat. Convinced that Chenyan would eventually yield, he had placed the restrictive talisman first as a show of sincerity. *Stone Bridge Chan*, the Great Dao of Severing Emotion, and slaying one's husband to prove the Dao—they were likely all genuine. Had the jade Buddha not shielded his origin soul and blocked the restrictive talisman to seize a glimmer of hope, once imprisoned and stripped of all power, he would have been at their mercy, facing certain death. Qin Sang felt a deep, lingering fear. The Great Dao of Severing Emotion was not like dual cultivation; it had no reason or logic to speak of. "I would turn into a stone bridge, enduring five hundred years of wind, five hundred years of sun, and five hundred years of rain, only that she may walk across!" The Great Dao of Severing Emotion was meant to make the cultivator fall deeply in love with someone—the deeper the love, the better, enduring until the seas ran dry and the rocks crumbled, until heaven and earth grew old. What that person actually thought did not matter in the slightest. "When the mountains are flat, when the rivers run dry, When thunder roars in winter, when snow falls in summer, When heaven and earth unite, Only then shall I dare part from you." Such devotion was the best! When the time came to slay the husband and prove the Dao, taking the beloved's life amidst utter grief, suffering the most excruciating heartache, the practitioner tore their own heart to shreds. A newly widowed Wenjun, severing all emotion to comprehend the Dao! Yet this was also where the hidden danger of the Great Dao of Severing Emotion lay. Under normal circumstances, achieving such an extreme state was exceedingly difficult; if one's cultivation fell short, it could instead create flaws in their Dao heart. Yet by a twist of fate, Qin Sang and Chenyan had bonded through the *Mysterious Female Jade Cauldron Sutra*, leaving an indelible brand deep within Chenyan's heart. As long as she opened her mind and let the brand guide her, she might truly succeed. Under such circumstances, not only would the jade Buddha fail to save Qin Sang's life, it would become a death warrant, causing Chenyan to love him even more deeply. Once her cultivation reached fruition and Chenyan beheaded Qin Sang with a single stroke, even a hundred jade Buddhas could not stop it. With the restrictive talisman inside him, seeking outside help to break it was out of the question. In this unfamiliar land, he could not find a master capable of undoing the talisman anytime soon. Moreover, doing so required stripping away all defenses and opening his sea of qi and meridians, leaving him vulnerable to another's intrusion—effectively placing his life in someone else's hands, something Qin Sang would never do. The only way Qin Sang could think of was to rely on the infusion of heaven and earth's spiritual power during Core Formation, using the surge to wash away the restrictive talisman. However, during Core Formation, when heaven and earth converged and spiritual essence gathered, its primary purpose was the infusion of spiritual energy and the union of spirit and flesh; its sheer offensive force was actually limited. Whether it could shatter the restrictive talisman, Qin Sang could not say for sure. Thinking of this, Qin Sang subconsciously touched his empty left shoulder. This arm was one he had severed himself to employ the *Bodily Mutilation Avatar Puppet Secret Technique*. This secret technique was a relic obtained years ago in the ancient cultivator's abandoned abode at Xuanlu Pass after he killed Dique. It was a technique of shedding a tail like a gecko, substituting one thing for another. When Dique had plotted against Daoist Xuan Yu, he had relied on this method by severing his left arm; his previously severed leg was likely due to this secret technique as well. After obtaining the *Bodily Mutilation Avatar Puppet Secret Technique*, Qin Sang had never used it. Unless driven to desperation, he had no desire to use it; after severing a limb with this secret technique, even Dique had been unable to regenerate it, ending up crippled. Yet in Ziwei Palace, when facing Dongyang Bo, Qin Sang had already prepared himself to sever his arm to survive. Qin Sang knew that a Nascent Soul Patriarch's methods were unfathomable. When he made his sudden move, Dongyang Bo might well have had means to turn the tables, so Qin Sang had initially intended to use the avatar puppet to shake off his lock and then flee. To his surprise, Chenyan was also decisive and had successfully held Dongyang Bo back, sparing Qin Sang the agony of severing his arm. Who would have thought that after entering the teleportation formation, Qin Sang's left arm still could not be spared? His spiritual sense had been drained in an instant and his spiritual power rendered unusable. Right before falling unconscious, he felt an exceedingly terrifying power lock onto him. If struck, there would be no hope of survival. At the final moment, Qin Sang had no choice but to grasp at straws and sever his arm to save his life, hoping to escape that power, before plunging into unconsciousness. The teleportation had occurred in an instant. Even now, Qin Sang did not know whether it was good fortune—teleporting across before that power fell—or if the secret technique had truly worked. For when he woke, he found himself neither on the other side of a teleportation formation nor rescued by anyone, but drifting alone down a river! Qin Sang was thoroughly baffled by this. He had made countless guesses, but never anticipated such a scenario. Aside from the arm he had severed himself, his body bore only bruises and scrapes from drifting in the water, with no signs of injury inflicted by another person. Could it be that the other end of the teleportation formation was a cliff, and he had plummeted straight down upon arriving? While drifting down the river, with his spiritual sense depleted, his spiritual power sealed, and his physical body severely wounded, Qin Sang could not suppress the corpse transformation within him either. Corpse qi permeated his body, making him no different from an actual corpse. The most perilous moment had been when he encountered that man clad in animal skins. Fortunately, the man's cultivation was low. Seeing the thick corpse qi on Qin Sang, he let down his guard and rashly opened the spirit beast bag, only to end up devoured by the blood-winged ghosthead bees. In truth, whether that hide-clad man opened the corpse puppet pouch or the spirit beast bag, he was doomed to die. The Flying Yaksha had already completed its metamorphosis. Had the man opened the corpse puppet pouch, Qin Sang would now have the Flying Yaksha protecting him and would not be in such a wretched state. Although he had never managed to subdue those blood-winged ghosthead bees, he had nurtured them for so long that there was at least a shred of familiarity between them. Accustomed to Qin Sang's aura, the blood-winged ghosthead bees did not choose to attack him at once. However, once they devoured every living creature nearby, that might change. Qin Sang had not dared to linger. Summoning every ounce of strength, he rolled over and drifted away with the current on a broken log, eventually being rescued by Yagu. After resting and recuperating over these past few days, he had finally regained a bit of vitality. Once a sliver of his spiritual sense recovered and he could open the Qianjun Ring to retrieve the healing elixirs inside, his recovery would speed up considerably. Qin Sang glanced over at Yagu and said softly, "What the elder said earlier was right. You're too innocent. You shouldn't trust strangers so easily in the future."