Mortal Dawn and Dusk, My Eternal Life - Chapter 18

After A-Mu was thrown back into the dark, damp secret chamber, he fell into a prolonged coma. The wounds on his body burned with pain, and his body was extremely weak from excessive blood loss; he didn’t even have the strength to open his eyes.

Modern Su Mingyue’s consciousness also fell into chaos with A-Mu’s coma, only vaguely feeling the persistent pain and coldness.

Outside the secret chamber, the abbot of Qingyun Temple, the gaunt old Daoist, descended into an even deeper state of anxiety and madness. From A-Mu, he had obtained no direct clues about eternal life. The boy’s blood and bodily reactions were no different from an ordinary person’s, leaving him utterly baffled and causing him to strongly doubt his lifelong pursuit of the “Great Dao of Longevity.”

“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!” The old Daoist paced back and forth in his alchemy room, his eyes bloodshot. “How can a mortal body of flesh and blood resist the erosion of time? That boy must be hiding some heaven-shattering secret!”

To confirm his suspicions and to find a new breakthrough, the old Daoist began to shift his research focus to other areas. He dispatched his disciples to search everywhere for powerful spirits and demonic creatures who had achieved cultivation in the wild mountains. For a time, demonic qi soared within Qingyun Temple. Various bizarre demons were imprisoned in specially made cages, emitting shrill wails day and night.

The old Daoist sought to uncover the mysteries of eternal life from these demons. He dissected their bodies, studied their demonic cores, and even used them for various cruel and bizarre live experiments. He wanted to know how these demons possessed lifespans far exceeding humans. What was the source of their power? And could humans, in some way, emulate or seize their power of eternal life?

However, no matter how hard he tried, all his experiments ended in failure. Although these demons possessed powerful strength and long lifespans, their life forms were fundamentally different from humans. Their demonic cores, once separated from their bodies, would quickly lose their spiritual essence; their flesh and blood also could not fuse with human bodies. The old Daoist expended countless efforts, sacrificing countless demonic lives, yet still gained nothing.

“Could it be… that humans truly cannot achieve eternal life?” He looked at the bloody, chaotic remains of experiments in the room, and for the first time, a deep despair surged within him. Was his lifelong pursuit merely an empty dream?

Just as the old Daoist’s heart turned cold and he was on the verge of giving up, an unexpected change occurred! He suddenly felt a violent cramping pain in his chest, as if an invisible hand had fiercely clutched his heart!

“Ugh—”

The old Daoist cried out in pain, clutching his chest, staggering and falling to the ground. His face instantly turned deathly pale, cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his breathing became rapid and difficult. This was his chronic ailment of many years—heart disease. In his youth, in pursuit of Daoist magic, he had forcefully cultivated some aggressive techniques, damaging his heart meridians and leaving behind a root cause of illness. In recent years, although he had been regulating it with elixirs, as he aged, the heart attacks became more frequent and more dangerous. He knew his time was probably not far off.

An intense desire for survival, like a poisonous snake, once again bit at his inner being. He was unwilling! He had spent his entire life’s effort; he was on the verge of touching the threshold of eternal life, how could he just die like this?!

In this desperate moment of near-death, a crazy thought, like lightning, flashed through his mind!

A heart!

Yes! A heart!

That ageless boy, although his blood and flesh were no different from an ordinary person’s, could his secret be hidden within his never-aging heart?!

If… if he could transplant his heart into his own body…

Once this thought arose, it grew like rampant weeds, impossible to suppress! The old Daoist’s eyes rekindled with a mad and greedy light. He struggled to crawl up from the ground, ignoring the severe pain in his chest, and stumbled towards the secret chamber where A-Mu was imprisoned. He had to seize this last straw of hope! He would use that boy’s heart to extend his own life, to fulfill his dream of eternal life!

“Quick! Go prepare the altar! Bring that boy to me!” The old Daoist burst into the secret chamber, roaring at the few disciples guarding the door. His voice, distorted by excitement and pain, became unusually shrill.

The disciples, though fearful in their hearts seeing the abbot in this state, dared not disobey. They quickly and awkwardly carried the unconscious A-Mu out and placed him on a stone platform already prepared in the center of the secret chamber. Around the stone platform, eerie blood-colored runes were carved, emitting an unsettling aura.

The old Daoist began to arrange the ritual array, heedless of anything else. He pulled out various strange and ancient magical artifacts from his embrace: candles soaked in corpse oil, bone tiles carved with skulls, and some foul-smelling powders. He placed these items one by one around the stone platform, chanting incantations, and the atmosphere of the entire secret chamber grew increasingly sinister and terrifying.

Modern Su Mingyue’s consciousness, when A-Mu was carried out, also regained some clarity from the chaos. When she saw the old Daoist’s mad eyes and the bizarre setup, a strong ominous premonition surged within her! What on earth was this old man trying to do?!

Just then, the old Daoist suddenly dragged out a wolf demon, already tortured to the brink of death, from a nearby iron cage. The wolf demon was large, but at this moment, it was covered in wounds, its aura weak, clearly not far from death.

The old Daoist grinned sinisterly, picked up a sharp short knife, and unhesitatingly cut open the wolf demon’s chest, extracting a still faintly beating heart, radiating a faint demonic qi! Blood instantly stained his hands.

“No! He’s going to swap hearts!” Su Mingyue’s mind was greatly alarmed! She finally understood the old Daoist’s sinister intention! This madman actually wanted to use A-Mu’s heart to replace his own aging and diseased heart! And, to prevent A-Mu from dying immediately after the heart transplant, he even planned to use a demon’s heart to temporarily sustain A-Mu’s life! This cruel and evil forbidden art was simply insane!

“Stop! You madman! Stop!” Su Mingyue frantically screamed within A-Mu’s consciousness, trying to stop the old Daoist’s atrocity. But her voice simply couldn’t be transmitted. She could only watch helplessly as the old Daoist raised the short knife, stained with the wolf demon’s blood, and walked step by step towards A-Mu, who lay unconscious on the stone platform. The cold blade, in the dim candlelight, shimmered with a despairing, icy glint.

The old Daoist walked to A-Mu’s side, looking at his still young and handsome face, which was unusually pale due to excessive blood loss. His eyes were filled with jealousy and greed.

“Boy, don’t blame this humble Daoist for being ruthless,” he said hoarsely. “If you must blame someone, blame yourself for possessing the secret of eternal life yet refusing to share it with this humble Daoist! Your ageless heart should rightfully contribute to this humble Daoist’s Great Dao of Longevity!”

With that, he no longer hesitated. He raised the short knife in his hand and plunged it fiercely towards A-Mu’s chest!

“No—!!!”

Su Mingyue’s consciousness, at this moment, erupted with unprecedented anger and despair! She felt as if she could experience the excruciating pain of the cold blade piercing flesh and cutting open the chest! She felt as if she could see A-Mu’s vibrant heart being mercilessly ripped out by a blood-stained demonic claw! She felt as if she could hear the sound of her own soul shattering!