So, after some discussion, the option of sealing was ultimately discarded.
They chose the most conservative approach: soul barriers, soul nourishment, and spell warnings. In other words, they changed the plan from the initial offensive of completely purging the Black Snake to protecting Talulah's soul from erosion and influence, while triggering an alarm to make her aware whenever the Immortal Black Snake began to pollute her soul.
Though conservative, this plan was accepted by everyone. After all, even the Banshee Logos and the Arts Master Pith could not guarantee a hundred percent success in removing the Immortal Black Snake. And once failed, the Reunion Movement could not bear the consequences. The conservative plan would at least achieve the desired effect for everyone. At most, the Immortal Black Snake would remain entangled within Talulah's body for a long time. But as long as it didn't affect Talulah's safety and consciousness, it was fine.
Once the plan was finalized, Talulah, accompanied by everyone, arrived at the special operating room.
There were no shadowless lamps or scalpels here, because this "surgery" was entirely within the realm of Originium Arts. Aside from some basic equipment for monitoring vital signs, none of the tools used in a normal surgery were present. The room had long been densely inscribed with various runes, and in the center sat an ordinary wooden bed. Both sides of the wooden board were also carved with various symbols that made one's scalp tingle just looking at them.
The entire room looked less like an "operating room" and more like a platform for a cult ritual. An uninformed person entering would definitely think a cult sacrifice was taking place inside. It couldn't be helped; Sarkaz incantations were just that unadorned.
At this moment, there weren't many people in the room. Besides the "patient" Talulah, there were Logos, Pith, Flandre, and a doctor responsible for monitoring Talulah's vital signs.
"What do I need to do?" Talulah felt a bit apprehensive looking at the scene after entering the room. It was only because she trusted Flandre; if anyone else had asked her to come in, she wouldn't have done it.
"Just lie down on it," Flandre said, pointing to the wooden board.
After Talulah lay down, the nearby doctor brought over several wires and connected them to Talulah's body to monitor her vital signs. After finishing everything, the doctor walked to the furthest corner to stand ready, then took out a video camera and silently began recording without interfering with the work of the three.
"Are you ready?" Pith adjusted her glasses. "I'm good!" Flandre nodded. Logos said nothing, simply taking out his bone pen.
"Curtain, cover the soul."
As his words fell, Talulah instantly fell into a deep sleep. Then, the surrounding runes began to light up one after another. A red light also gradually began to emanate from the wooden board.
"All incantations activated, we can proceed to the next stage!"
Pith lightly tapped her finger in the air, and Talulah appeared to have a double image. Then, Flandre raised both hands, and a transparent Talulah was stripped from her body, hovering about ten centimeters above her physical form.
"Ah!" the doctor nearby couldn't help but cry out.
Because everyone saw three clusters of pitch-black coiling within the transparent body of Talulah. The first was between the eyebrows, the second in the center of the chest, and the third in the lower abdomen below the navel.
"Hiss, this Immortal Black Snake really knows how to play around!" Flandre couldn't help but complain.
At this moment, Logos was still somewhat at a loss. After all, there was no similar situation in the knowledge he had studied.
"Do you recognize what this is?" Logos asked, looking at Flandre.
"I happen to know a little bit. I had some exchanges with the Celestial Masters back in Lungmen. The Celestial Masters of Great Yan have a type of Qi-nourishing technique that nurtures their inner Qi in three Dantians: the upper, middle, and lower. The Upper Dantian is located at the Yintang Point between the eyebrows, the residence of the Spirit; The Middle Dantian is at the Shanzhong Point in the chest, the residence of Qi; The Lower Dantian is in the lower abdomen below the navel, the residence of Essence. It just so happens to be where these three clusters of black gas are located. It seems the Black Snake has studied things from the Celestial Masters Mansion," Flandre replied.
"Is there any solution?" Logos continued to ask.
"Well, I don't have any deep research on this; I can only ask someone in Lungmen later." Flandre expressed that she was also a Western ghost; her research on this matter, aside from a tiny bit in her memories, only consisted of some superficial discussions when she exchanged Originium Arts with the Celestial Masters in Lungmen.
But this bit of knowledge was clearly not enough for the current methods to deal with the Black Snake.
"In that case, let's stick to the original plan."
Looking at the transparent phantom before him, Logos felt somewhat relieved that they hadn't chosen the first two options. They had originally thought the Immortal Black Snake was only entrenched in one place, but they didn't expect it to be in three, and it seemed the three were closely linked—touching any one point would trigger resistance from the others.
If they were to deal with it, they would need to act from three directions simultaneously, completely sealing or destroying it before the opponent could react. If the opponent chose to go down fighting, it would likely cause irreparable damage to Talulah's soul.
But now, what the three needed to do was not to provoke the Immortal Black Snake, but to reinforce Talulah's soul. So they only needed to be careful not to affect the opponent.
Flandre first had the person in charge of recording the surgery come closer to take detailed shots of the Immortal Black Snake's situation inside Talulah's body, and only then did they begin the next step of the plan. Further reinforcing Talulah's soul.
This time, Logos became the main force. His bone pen drew symbols in the air one after another, which then landed on Talulah's soul form and vanished within it. After ten minutes, fine beads of sweat began to appear on Logos's forehead. Half an hour later, the first stage finally ended.
"I need to rest for a bit." Logos indicated that he felt a bit drained and needed to lie down for a while. The doctor in charge of recording quickly handed him a bottle of glucose.
??? Logos looked at the other person.
"We often keep a bag in our mouths during surgery. After all, surgery is physical labor, and no one knows how long a procedure will take. Drinking a bit of this can ensure one's stamina."
Logos admitted he really didn't know the Medical Department had such a solution for long hours of work. After drinking half a bottle of glucose, he rested for another ten minutes before standing up.
"Let's start the second stage!"
Actually, the second stage was basically his solo performance as well. Because Flandre didn't know soul-nourishing spells—she was quite good at destruction, though. Pith's attainment in souls was also inferior to Logos's, so he remained the main force.
Another half hour passed, and Logos completed the final incantation. He went down to rest again, while Flandre and Pith began checking Talulah's state. After confirming there were no issues, Logos had also mostly recovered.
Then the three began the third stage. This stage was led by Pith, with Logos assisting, as they inscribed warning incantations onto Talulah's soul. Should her soul undergo a change, a teardrop-shaped pendant connected to it would change color.
Normally, the pendant would appear bright red; the more her soul was polluted and clouded, the dimmer the red would become. When the pendant turned black, it would mean Talulah's soul was about to undergo an irreversible transformation. At that time, the entire spell would be activated, and the pendant would forcibly freeze Talulah's soul at the cost of its own destruction.
Although it couldn't solve the fundamental problem with Talulah's soul, it would at least prevent her from getting any worse.
Then a question arose. Throughout this treatment process, Logos and Pith were the ones doing the work. Aside from her initial action to help separate the soul, Flandre had been idling the whole time. So how did she get this VIP viewing position?
The reason was simple: just as Logos was the lead surgeon for this operation, Flandre was the anesthesiologist. Her main role here was to evaluate Talulah's soul state and keep a close eye on the Immortal Black Snake, preventing Him from making any small moves during Logos and the others' surgery.
So, despite the Immortal Black Snake lying there so obediently throughout the entire magical surgery, it was because He had also discovered Flandre's presence. He understood perfectly well that if He dared to act, He would most likely be snuffed out directly by her, so He stayed honest and gave Flandre no chance to strike.
After about two hours of the magical "surgery," the three simultaneously exerted force to push the transparent soul back into Talulah's body. The surrounding runes also began to gradually dim. After a few more minutes, Talulah suddenly opened her eyes.
"Are you awake? Congratulations, you're now a Girl!" Flandre said, looking at Talulah with a smile.
Logos looked at Talulah with a pleasant expression. "Congratulations, Ms. Talulah, the surgery was a success. How do you feel now?"
Talulah shook her head and said somewhat blankly, "I don't feel anything."
After she spoke, Logos and Pith nodded simultaneously. "That's excellent. Feeling nothing is the best-case scenario. Because matters regarding the soul are extraordinary, and even we don't have much experience. Therefore, we will arrange for someone to observe you for a period of time, recording your words and deeds to confirm our spell won't cause any impact on your own will."
Although Pith was not a doctor, she had had several deep exchanges with the medical team before coming in; this set of rhetoric was taught to her by the medical team. Talulah did not refuse after hearing this; after all, this concerned whether she was still herself.
After leaving the room, Buldrokkas'tee requested a copy of the recording. Though he didn't use Arts much, the Wendigo bloodline had taught him quite a lot about Arts and incantations. Thus, he could also see from it whether the Rhodes Island people had tampered with anything during the treatment process.
On the other side, Alina had already tightly grasped Talulah's hand, before Chen Huijie even had time to react.
"Talulah, how are you feeling now?" Talulah gave a brilliant smile. "Don't worry about me, Alina, I feel very good!"