Chapter 110
Skadi huffed, “Grandpa, why is Nash here?”
Zakariah offered a knowing smile. “Did you expect anyone else to arrive?”
A sudden realization dawned on Skadi. “Nash is Dr. Calcraft, the one treating the Warden!”
As Nash made his way through the crowd, every pair of eyes followed him, including those of Fathers Cillian and Lloyd. Cillian inclined his head in acknowledgement, but Nash paid him no mind and strode into the villa.
“Rude…” Lloyd muttered under his breath.
Cillian chuckled. “If you’d mastered the Profound Reality Realm, you’d have his confidence too.”
Lloyd’s eyes widened. “Profound Reality Realm?”
Cillian nodded. “Beyond stage nine grandmaster—few reach it.”
Inside the villa, Nash knelt beside Philix’s bed and pressed the vial containing the Longhorn bug to each nostril. The tiny parasite burrowed through the airway into the lungs, then slipped into the bloodstream. Nash exhaled—only to freeze as a blood bubble burst in Philix’s lung, and a bead of blood winked at the surface before vanishing.
In that instant, Philix’s eyes snapped open. His pupils dilated, black smoke drifted from the corners, and every joint in his body cracked as more than thirty dislocations occurred in a heartbeat. Veins bulged on his temples and blood trickled from his eyes—his body convulsing under the combined assault of the poison and the bug’s revival.
Nash broke into a cold sweat and sprang into action. With a soft command, the nine golden Divine Needles flew from Philix’s skull back into Nash’s palm, joined by another fifteen from Nash’s pouch. The twenty-four needles glowed faintly like coiled serpents. Brian tore away the sheet, exposing the Warden’s marred skin.
Nash raised the needles, arranging them into a perfect circle in midair as his inner energy surged through them. The needles writhed and hissed, tails twisting as if alive. Chanting, Nash wove the ancient incantation:
“Heaven opens eight gates for the winds,
Earth replies in eight routes of trigrams,
Life and death follow yin and yang,
Divine needles reverse the cosmic flow.”