Chapter 192: A Tainted Soul (Part 2)
Sylph’s eagerness surprised Qin Chu.
She had been so resistant to the second and third treatment options before. What had changed?
After being dragged back to his bedroom, Qin Chu finally had a chance to ask, “Sylph, what happened?”
Sylph’s reaction was very unusual. Qin Chu could sense her extreme mental fluctuations, her will on the verge of collapse.
Sylph was a veteran of the battlefield, having faced terrifying Demon Beasts and even challenged Abyssal Demon Generals knowing she might die. Although her personality was a bit problematic, she shouldn’t be so afraid of death.
Back in the privacy of his room, Sylph’s expression calmed slightly, but her body still trembled. She was terrified, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, as if trying to hold herself together.
Hearing Qin Chu’s question, after a brief hesitation, Sylph lowered the neckline of her dress.
Seeing the exposed skin, Qin Chu frowned, his expression darkening.
He had deceived Sylph about some things, but he had genuinely lessened the corruption, purified some of the taint.
He had simply stretched out what could have been cleansed in ten treatments to a hundred, or even two hundred.
But now, the cleansed taint had returned, even darker than before. It had actually worsened. No wonder she was so eager for the second treatment.
Sylph’s only hope now was Qin Chu. She felt that everyone else, even her former teammates, looked at her with suspicion, as if they could see the changes in her body.
Especially during the meeting earlier, every second had been agonizing for Sylph. Loseweisse and Augustus’s gazes had terrified her, as if Holy Knights would burst in at any moment and arrest her, subjecting her to a public trial and execution like Karsus.
Sylph dreaded that more than anything.
“Why… why is this happening? It had faded before…” she murmured, close to tears, but afraid to make a sound, afraid of attracting attention.
She had never felt so helpless.
“Sylph…” Qin Chu sighed, his voice heavy, “Open your soul to me completely…”
Sylph’s body trembled. She resisted this. The soul was the core of a being. Opening her soul to Qin Chu meant revealing all her secrets.
This was even more difficult for her than taking off her clothes.
“The root of the corruption lies in the soul. If we don’t address the root cause, the taint on your body will return no matter how many times I cleanse it,” Qin Chu said in a low voice.
“The decision is yours. If you’re unwilling, I won’t force you.”
He turned to leave.
He had barely taken a step when he heard Sylph’s desperate cry:
“No!”
Her reaction was more intense than he had expected. She rushed towards him, clutching his clothes, her eyes wide with fear. “No… Both my soul and my body… I give them all to you. I don’t want to become like Karsus!”
From her words, Qin Chu realized that it wasn’t death she feared, but becoming a monster like Karsus. That was more terrifying to her than death itself.
He saw a desperate resolve in her eyes. If she couldn’t be saved, she would choose to end her own life.
Qin Chu patted her head gently. “Sylph,” he said softly, “you have to trust me. Only I can help you now, and I sincerely want to save you. Otherwise, I would have handed you over to Augustus already, wouldn’t I?”
Sylph nodded repeatedly. No matter how much she had disliked, even hated, Qin Chu before, even plotting to kill him, at this moment, he was her only lifeline. She trusted him completely.
“It’s good that you can trust me completely. Then, go prepare yourself first…” Qin Chu whispered in her ear.
A blush crept up Sylph’s pale cheeks. She felt a deep sense of shame, but as long as she didn’t become like Karsus, she could endure anything.
After a long while, Sylph, now in a sheer nightgown, reappeared before Qin Chu. “Qin Chu, let’s…begin. I’m ready.”
The thin fabric barely concealed her beautiful figure, her fair skin visible beneath it.
As Qin Chu channeled the power of Holy Light into her body, Sylph cried out in pain, her body convulsing as the Holy Light clashed with the taint within her.
At this moment, a sharp voice echoed in her mind: Sylph, open your consciousness…
Sylph’s mind went blank for a moment.
Her eyes became vacant and unfocused.
Seizing the opportunity, Qin Chu’s consciousness invaded the deepest part of her mind.
…
Deep within every living being’s consciousness was a separate space, the realm of the soul.
Sylph’s soul world was clearly abnormal.
He felt his consciousness floating in a gloomy void.
Crimson lightning occasionally tore through the dark sky above. Deep, manic flames burned on the muddy ground below. A swirling black fog filled the air. His movements were restricted, each step a struggle.
The stench of decay and blood assaulted his senses. Qin Chu felt that even his own soul would be corrupted, driven mad, if trapped in this environment for too long.
It was remarkable that Sylph’s soul had endured this for so long, her mind only twisted, not completely shattered.
What surprised Qin Chu even more was that, judging from her soul world, the corruption hadn’t begun on the night of the crimson descent. It had been there for a long time, a dormant seed. The crimson light that night had merely awakened it.
This was a space filled with filth and corruption.
Qin Chu’s consciousness drifted through this endless space, searching for Sylph’s soul.
His spiritual sense extended, exploring every corner of this twisted and tainted soul world.
There was no concept of time here. It felt like eons had passed, yet also like a fleeting moment.
He saw Sylph’s shadows… but they seemed different, younger. Qin Chu realized these were her memories.
Sylph as a child, Sylph as a young girl, Sylph as a young woman…
These memories were everywhere. Qin Chu briefly experienced some of them, understanding why Sylph was so terrified of becoming like Karsus.
Because Sylph was an elf with atavistic traits, she had been different from other children since childhood, and in this world, being different meant being an outcast.
Rejection, mockery, humiliation, bullying…
This was the life of an outcast, and these experiences had made Sylph extremely sensitive.
Even after she grew up, and her elven blood granted her great strength, no one dared to mock her anymore, but the shadows still lingered. Becoming a monster like Karsus was more terrifying to Sylph than death itself.
Qin Chu couldn’t stay here too long. He had to find Sylph’s true soul, not these fragmented memories.
Suddenly, he heard a faint sound.
His consciousness drifted towards the source of the sound. He didn’t know how far he traveled, perhaps he had reached the edge of Sylph’s soul world?
In the furthest corner, he finally found her.
It was a figure identical to Sylph, only smaller and more translucent, like a phantom.
Perhaps because of the nature of the soul space, Sylph’s soul wasn’t as pure and radiant as her physical body, but filled with a dark haze. She was curled up in a ball, her arms wrapped around her knees.
Her face was vacant, unlike the usual vibrancy of a soul.
Vague, blurry shadows writhed around her.
Her lips parted slightly, as if whispering, but the sounds were unintelligible, like some indescribable murmur.
Beneath her was a large pool filled with a dark red liquid, like thick blood.
He had never imagined that a person’s soul world could be so twisted.
Qin Chu felt a chill run down his spine. He subconsciously swallowed, his consciousness approaching Sylph’s soul.
He saw thin, blood-red threads, like spider silk, wrapped around her body, intersecting and forming an X shape on either side.
Just like the mark on her collarbone.
Just like the mark on Karsus’s chest…
Looking closer, thirteen threads on the left, thirteen on the right…
Sylph was… twenty-six years old!
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