Li Xiuying barely made it back to her quarters before the system's countdown reached zero.
[SOUL TRANSFER INITIATED]
[WELCOME TO YOUR SECOND LIFE, MASTER CHEN WULONG]
The familiar sensation of consciousness being ripped away crashed over her, but this time she was prepared. The world dissolved into golden light, and when it reformed, she stood in an alchemical laboratory that reeked of sulfur and deadly herbs.
Chen Wulong. Sixty-three years old, Foundation Establishment 9th Stage. Master poison alchemist of the Golden Dawn Sect.
The memories came like a flood, but unlike Mei Lin's battlefield experiences, these felt disturbingly intimate. Chen Wulong's lifetime of knowledge settled into her mind with terrifying ease formulas for healing pills, enhancement elixirs, and enough toxins to wipe out a small city.
Li Xiuying tried to resist, to maintain her own consciousness, but Chen Wulong's methodical mind layered over her thoughts like sediment. Seventy years of alchemical expertise crashed through her awareness until she couldn't tell where his knowledge ended and her panic began.
This is worse than before, she realised with growing horror. Mei Lin felt distant, like watching someone else's memories. But Chen Wulong's knowledge is becoming mine.
Her hands—his hands—moved with practiced precision, grinding moonstone powder into crystalline dust. The movements were automatic, muscle memory guiding her through the preparation of Soul Withering Mist, a poison commissioned by Elder Shen.
[MEMORY INTEGRATION: 31% COMPLETE]
[WARNING: HOST CONSCIOUSNESS DISPLACEMENT DETECTED]
[DEATH EVENT IN: 4 HOURS, 37 MINUTES]
The system's warnings flickered at the edge of her vision, but Chen Wulong's memories demanded attention. She could feel his pride in his craft, his bitter disappointment in disciples who lacked dedication, his secret fear that his greatest creation would someday be used against innocents.
He's not evil, Li Xiuying realised with surprise. Just... pragmatic.
The laboratory door opened, interrupting her thoughts. A young man in inner disciple robes entered, his movements respectful but his eyes holding calculating intelligence.
"Master Chen," the disciple said with a bow. "Elder Shen sent me to check on your progress."
Jiang Wei, Chen Wulong's memories supplied immediately. Talented but impatient. Always pushing for stronger formulas. The boy will either become a master or destroy himself within five years.
"The Soul Withering Mist will be ready within the hour," Li Xiuying heard herself reply with Chen Wulong's gravelly voice. "Tell Elder Shen his patience will be rewarded."
Jiang Wei nodded, but his gaze lingered on the poison vials with hungry interest. "Master, I've been studying the theoretical applications of combining Heartbreak Lily with Iron-Bone Centipede venom. The interaction could potentially—"
"Could potentially kill you in the most agonising way imaginable," Chen Wulong's voice cut him off sharply. "Theoretical study is worthless without proper foundation. Master the basics before reaching for advanced combinations."
The young man's jaw tightened with barely concealed frustration. "Of course, Master. I simply thought—"
"Thinking and understanding are different things, boy. Now leave me to my work."
As Jiang Wei departed with stiff formality, Li Xiuying felt a chill that had nothing to do with the laboratory's temperature. Chen Wulong's memories whispered a disturbing truth: the young disciple had been asking increasingly dangerous questions lately, pushing boundaries that suggested reckless ambition.
Four hours and thirty-seven minutes, the system had warned. Li Xiuying glanced at the shadows through the laboratory's windows, estimating the time. If the system was accurate, Chen Wulong would die just after sunset.
Murdered by someone with access to his own perfected poisons.
The realisation hit her like a physical blow. Jiang Wei's interest in poison combinations, his barely hidden resentment, his knowledge of Chen Wulong's routines...
[DEATH EVENT APPROACH DETECTED]
[RECOMMENDED ACTION: EXPERIENCE NATURALLY FOR MAXIMUM SKILL ABSORPTION]
[WARNING: ALTERING OUTCOMES MAY RESULT IN TRIAL FAILURE]
Li Xiuying wanted to scream. The system was telling her to sit back and let herself be murdered for the sake of gaining Chen Wulong's knowledge. But what choice did she have?
She threw herself into the poison master's work with forced determination. The Soul Withering Mist required precise timing and temperature control—one degree wrong and it would become useless. But with Chen Wulong's lifetime of experience guiding her hands, the process felt natural as breathing.
Hours passed in a blur of grinding, mixing, and distilling. Li Xiuying found herself genuinely fascinated by the intricate chemistry involved. Each ingredient served multiple purposes, creating chain reactions that built upon each other in elegant complexity.
As sunset approached, she completed the commission—fifty doses of Soul Withering Mist in crystalline form. Chen Wulong's pride in his craft warred with Li Xiuying's moral horror at what she'd created.
The laboratory door opened again. Jiang Wei entered carrying a tea service, his expression appropriately respectful.
"Master Chen, you've been working all day without rest. Please, allow this disciple to serve you."
Chen Wulong's memories urged acceptance—the boy was showing proper respect, and the tea smelled of his favourite blend. But Li Xiuying's enhanced senses detected something wrong. The liquid looked normal, smelled normal, but there was the faintest trace of something else.
Iron-Bone Centipede venom. Just like he'd asked about earlier.
[DEATH EVENT IMMINENT]
[FINAL SKILL INTEGRATION BEGINNING]
Li Xiuying accepted the tea cup with trembling hands, knowing that in moments she would experience Chen Wulong's betrayal and death. The poison master's sadness overwhelmed her—not fear of dying, but profound disappointment in a student who had chosen murder over patience.
She raised the cup to her lips, catching Jiang Wei's eyes. For just an instant, his mask slipped, revealing cold ambition and carefully hidden hatred.
He's been planning this for months.
The poisoned tea touched her lips, and Li Xiuying felt the venom slide down her throat like liquid fire. Chen Wulong's body convulsed as the toxin spread through his meridians, but his mind remained horrifyingly clear. This was his own formula designed to preserve consciousness until the very end.
Clever boy, Chen Wulong's thoughts whispered with bitter admiration. Using my own creation against me.
Li Xiuying tried to scream, but the poison had already paralysed her vocal cords. She could only watch as Jiang Wei calmly rifled through the laboratory's precious ingredients, finding a jade box containing Chen Wulong's most dangerous creation—the Nascent Soul poison.
"Forgive me, Master," the young man said without looking up. "But your hoarding has become inconvenient. The sect needs progress, not cautious old men clinging to outdated traditions."
The venom spread through meridians like molten metal, systematically shutting down each spiritual pathway. Li Xiuying felt Chen Wulong's Foundation Establishment cultivation crumbling as the poison attacked the very core of his power.
This is how it ends, the poison master's despair flooded through her consciousness. Sixty-three years of research, stolen by an impatient child.
Darkness crept in from the edges of vision. Li Xiuying felt his consciousness fragmenting, memories dissolving like smoke. But even as Chen Wulong died, his lifetime of knowledge flowed into her mind with devastating completeness.
Formulas for seventeen different poisons. Techniques for purifying spiritual herbs. Methods for creating antidotes to toxins that didn't officially exist. All of it became part of Li Xiuying's consciousness as Chen Wulong drew his final breath.
The second trial is complete.
Reality shattered like glass.
Li Xiuying gasped and found herself back in the servants' quarters, her own young body trembling uncontrollably. But the taste of Iron-Bone Centipede venom still lingered in her mouth, and Chen Wulong's sense of betrayal burned in her chest like a physical wound.
Around her, other disciples slept peacefully, unaware that she had just lived and died as someone else entirely.
The deception would only get harder from here.