Yano ultimately couldn't hold on and collapsed to the ground, completely motionless.

In the darkness, a sinister black shadow twisted and transformed, and the demon he had spoken of gradually revealed itself—a round, gelatinous body with innocent blinking eyes, exactly a slime.

Chen Yu wondered why this person was already shouting about selling his soul when they had just met.

Soul?

What would he do with that thing, could he eat it?

Chen Yu circled around the unconscious man—again with chestnut-brown hair, merchant's coat, and oh, he was even wearing expensive leather shoes.

Could this be the merchant who was attacked by the corrupted lizardfolk?

The heavy rain had poured for two full days and nights, yet he remained unharmed and managed to get here. Should he be called lucky, or did he have some method to evade magical creatures?

Chen Yu examined him more carefully and discovered his skin was ashen, cold and stiff, without a trace of blood color, not like a normal person but more like a piece of stone.

"What a strange man."

He seemed to still be alive by appearance, but not likely to continue living for long.

Chen Yu shook his gel, indicating a head shake, then turned and left.

He was just a slime without hands or feet—how could he save anyone? This guy had definitely asked the wrong person.

If he actually knew any life healing magic, he wouldn't mind casting one on the man.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any.

After returning, Chen Yu took advantage of the remaining daylight to continue exploring deeper into the swamp—moss monsters, beetles, poison frogs... he refused none, all ending up in his stomach.

【Toxin Resistance Lv.2→Toxin Resistance Lv.3】

Lv.3 Toxin Resistance was quite powerful—even the deep poison mist couldn't affect him at all. Meanwhile, the poison-stinger wasps with only Lv.1 Toxin Resistance could only linger outside; staying too long would poison them unconscious.

They were really pathetic.

It seemed the swamp exploration would have to rely on himself.

But darkness had already fallen, so he could only return to his tree base nest in the territory, peacefully having sweet dreams under the soft glow of the gray gravel crystals.

...

Early the next morning, Chen Yu woke up and prepared to continue advancing along yesterday's exploration route.

But before setting out, he hesitated slightly.

Who knew if that human had died? Probably already carried off by wild beasts.

"Should I go check on him?"

Chen Yu muttered to himself, ultimately unable to resist his curiosity and returned to the swamp where he encountered that strange human yesterday.

The man was still there, even lying in practically the same position as yesterday.

And surprisingly, no magical creatures showed interest in him—this was strange indeed. Could they really be mistaking him for stone?

Chen Yu moved closer to check his breathing—hmm... still breathing, just somewhat weak.

This guy was really durable.

Just like actual stone.

This strange illness had afflicted him terribly, but without it, he probably would have died on the first day of the heavy rain.

"It's not impossible to save him..."

He recalled there were disciples in the sect who knew medicine—perhaps someone could treat him.

Wasn't he just lacking talisman ink anyway?

The lizardfolk tribe definitely didn't have any, but this human came from the adventurer town across Reed River and should have ways to help him obtain talisman ink substitutes.

Ah, human.

You should thank Lord Slime's great mercy.

At noon, Chen Yu waited in the thatched hut for Shao Qingsong.

After handing him the detoxifying spiritual liquid, he inquired.

"That Senior Sister Gong you mentioned last time—is she very skilled in medicine?"

"Senior Sister Gong?"

Shao Qingsong chuckled, "Skilled she is, but senior sister doesn't like people owing medical fees. Last time with the scorpion poison, she didn't treat me."

"Why do you ask? Feeling unwell?"

"Somewhat, I suppose."

"Then come with me."

At South Bridge Market, in the corner clinic.

The medicinal fragrance was clear and refreshing, with several moon-white stones embedded in the ceiling emitting soft white light. The spiritual wood medicine cabinets on all four walls had labels like "Lingzhi" posted on them.

Gong Xiaoshuang withdrew her pulse-taking hand and looked at Chen Yu opposite her.

"Junior brother, your pulse is calm and balanced—your body should be healthy and illness-free."

"Actually, I came here to ask about an illness for a friend."

Chen Yu briefly described the petrification symptoms, causing the female cultivator opposite him to frequently frown.

"This illness... if Gong hasn't guessed wrong, it should be meridian freezing caused by depletion of innate primordial qi. By using acupuncture to guide spiritual energy into the atrophied meridians, it can be alleviated."

"Requires stimulating acupoints throughout the body with Guiyuan needles—not difficult for me."

"Innate primordial qi... depletion...?"

Did Zeyarila have such concepts?

Forget it, treating a dead horse as if it were live—just treat it first.

After obtaining the Guiyuan needle technique from Gong Xiaoshuang, Chen Yu returned to the thatched hut and immersed his consciousness into his slime body.

He swallowed dozens of poison stingers, then hopped back to where the man had collapsed.

"Save... me...... can't... die here..."

Yano was still unconsciously muttering, unaware of what he was about to experience.

"Good will to survive."

Meeting me, Physician Slime, counts as your bad...no, your good luck.

According to Gong Xiaoshuang, one course of Guiyuan needles required thirty-six insertions—quite a challenge for him.

And equally so for this human.

"Let me see, this first insertion needs to go at the Dazhui acupoint..."

Chen Yu used object manipulation to control a poison stinger to insert.

Successfully pierced into the flesh.

Uh... it went in, but it went in crookedly.

Lack of experience the first time was normal, he comforted himself.

"Again."

After the poison-stinger wasp pulled out the original stinger, Chen Yu inserted another one.

The bad news was, it went crooked again.

After making five or six needle holes in the man, he finally got the right spot.

Then came the second insertion, the third...

After busily working for most of the day, finally at the cost of fifty-six extra needle holes on the back, all thirty-six insertions were in their proper positions.

"Whew... not easy. Hope I didn't end up needling this guy to death."

Chen Yu carefully checked his breathing—fortunately still breathing, all that work wasn't wasted.

Then he concentrated the spiritual energy circulating within his body—the thirty-six poison stingers shimmered with barely detectable faint light, vibrating at high frequency as they guided the blocked life energy to flow again.

Under the tattered coat, Chen Yu saw the rigid dead flesh gradually soften under the spiritual energy stimulation, like thawing ice. The cold gray-white faded away, and a faint trace of blood color struggled to spread.

Had to admit, this cultivation method could really treat such difficult and complicated illnesses.

But this was only the first course—if he didn't receive follow-up treatment, the strange illness would recur.

He still maintained caution toward the humans here and hadn't planned to reveal his true form yet.

Seeing the man's complexion gradually recovering and about to wake up, Chen Yu only left a "deposit" and a few transmitted messages before departing.

After who knows how long, a cold, damp sensation awakened Yano.

His eyes snapped open, gasping for breath, heart pounding wildly. In his muddled mind, the demon's echo remained clear as a brand:

"Hehehe, I'll take your soul."

"Take my gift and return... when you come back next time, remember to bring demi-human language books, common tongue books, ink for magical writing, cream cake, chocolate, candy..."