Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 274; Arrival of the Celestial Mother 4

Finally.... finally.... the last thread came free, and she pulled it away from her mother’s heart with a sharp, twisting motion. The curse materialized in the air between Shuyin’s hands, a writhing mass of black thorns and shadow, pulsing with residual malice, still trying to reach back toward its host.

"You’re done hurting her," Shuyin hissed and crushed it between her palms.

It dissolved with a sound like screaming wind, like something alive being torn apart, and then it was gone, dispersed into nothingness, unable to reform, unable to harm anyone ever again.

Shuyin’s hands were shaking. She pressed them against her thighs to still them, drawing in deep breaths. One down. Two more to go.

But there was no time to rest. No time to recover. The other afflictions wouldn’t wait patiently while she caught her breath.

The Second Affliction: Bone-Eating Poison

The Bone-Eating Poison required a different approach entirely, and Shuyin dreaded it even as she steeled herself to begin. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

This poison had been designed to bond with bone marrow, to crystallize within the skeletal structure itself, and slowly dissolve it from the inside out. Extracting it meant drawing it out of her mother’s very foundation, out of every bone in her body. It was invasive, agonizing work that made her feel like she was violating her mother’s body even as she tried to save it.

She started with the arms, placing her glowing hands on her mother’s left forearm. She could see the poison clearly with her jade eyes, crystalline deposits that had formed like frost inside the marrow, spreading through the bone like cracks in ice.

Slowly, carefully, she began to pull.

The poison resisted immediately. It had been designed to bond permanently, to become part of the structure itself. Removing it meant temporarily weakening the bones even further, making them more fragile than the poison already had. She had to be gentle, controlled, drawing it out in tiny increments to avoid shattering the bones entirely.

Her mother’s arm twitched, a small whimper escaping her unconscious lips.

"I know," Shuyin whispered, tears falling freely now. "I know it hurts. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry."

She moved to the right arm. Then the left leg. The right leg. The ribs, each one requiring individual attention. The spine, where the poison had concentrated most heavily, was eating away at vertebrae until Shuyin marveled that her mother had been able to walk at all.

Every bone. Every single one.

An hour passed. Then two.

Shuyin’s own energy was depleting rapidly. The golden light that had surrounded her hands was beginning to flicker, growing dimmer, like a candle burning through its last reserves of wax. Her breathing had become labored, her face pale as paper, dark circles forming beneath her eyes.

Lu Yuze stepped closer, worry etched deep in his features. "Shuyin, stop. Rest for a moment. Even just a few minutes....."

"No." The word came out sharp, desperate. "The Soul-Severing Poison won’t wait. If I stop now, if I let it progress even a minute longer, it will complete its work. Her soul will separate, and no power in heaven or earth will be able to anchor it back."

She could already see it happening, her mother’s soul beginning to pull away from her body like morning mist rising from water, like smoke dissipating into air. The connection was a gossamer-thin, fraying strand by strand with each passing second.

The bone poison finally came free in her hands, taking physical form, crystalline fragments that looked like broken glass, each piece sharp enough to cut. Some were tinged red with her mother’s blood. She threw them to the floor where they shattered and dispersed into nothing.

Two down. One to go.

But Shuyin could barely stand now. Her legs trembled beneath her, threatening to give out entirely. Her vision swam, dark spots blooming at the edges like ink drops in water. She could feel her own life force guttering like a candle in a storm, flickering, fading.

"Shuyin...." Lu Yuze’s hands were on her shoulders, supporting her weight, keeping her upright.

"I can do this," she said, even though her voice shook like leaves in the wind. "I have to do this."

The Third Affliction: Soul-Severing Poison

"The Soul-Severing Poison exists partially in the spiritual realm," Shuyin explained, her words coming slower now, each one requiring effort. "I’ll have to split my consciousness, work in both the physical and spiritual planes simultaneously."

She looked up at Lu Yuze, her jade eyes swimming with unshed tears and terrible, burning determination.

"If I lose focus, if I slip too far into the spiritual realm, my own soul might not find its way back." Her hand found his, gripping it tight. "If that happens, you need to call me. Use my name. Keep calling until I hear you. Don’t stop, no matter what you see, no matter how bad it looks. Promise me."

"Shuyin...."

"Promise me."

He stared at her for a long moment, jaw clenched so tight she could see muscles jumping beneath the skin. Then he nodded once, sharp and definitive. "I promise."

She released his hand and turned back to her mother, placing both palms flat against her chest, directly over her heart.

"I love you, Mother," she whispered. "I’m going to bring you back. I don’t care what it costs."

Then she closed her eyes and let her consciousness split.

The sensation was like being torn in two, half of her remained anchored in her physical body, hands pressed against her mother’s chest, while the other half slipped sideways into the spiritual plane, into that realm between life and death where souls transitioned.

Here, the world was different. Colorless and vast, an endless gray expanse where the boundaries between things grew thin and uncertain. And here, the Soul-Severing Poison was visible in its true form.

It was massive.

A serpent made of pure darkness, easily twenty feet long, its body as thick as a tree trunk. Its scales seemed to absorb light, creating a void in the shape of a creature. And its fangs, curved and dripping with venom that hissed where it touched the spiritual ground, were already buried deep in her mother’s ethereal form.