Chapter 1036: Bones Like Fine Steel, Veins Like Golden Broth
Yun Che was still unconscious, but his complexion was no longer pale, and his breath was rapidly calming. Mu Xuanyin waved her arm, and a burst of cold air brought Yun Che out of the pool, tossing him onto the cold stone floor.
At that moment, a surge of cold air rapidly approached the Holy Temple. In the entire Yin Xue Realm, only one person dared to enter the Holy Temple so directly.
A flash of snow, and Mu Bingyun appeared beside Mu Xuanyin. She, who was usually as calm as light clouds, now carried a hint of anxiety: "Sister, are you beginning your closed-door cultivation? I sensed that the seal on the Buddha Heart Lotus has been undone."
As she spoke, her gaze also fell upon the radiant snow lotus in the pool. The surrounding seal had indeed been removed, and a faint, elegant fragrance, accompanied by a strange spiritual energy, silently permeated the hall.
Eighty-one Buddha Heart Lotus petals... but one was missing.
And the aura of the missing petal came faintly from another direction... shockingly, it was from Yun Che, who lay unconscious on the ground.
"You used the Buddha Heart Lotus... on Yun Che?" Her eyes flickered, her voice filled with deep bewilderment.
Yun Che's body was completely still, but beneath his powerful Dragon God Soul, his consciousness slowly awakened at that moment. However, he was unable to control his own body's aura.
"His bones are extremely hard, and his flesh is far superior to an ordinary body. But his meridians are extremely fragile," Mu Xuanyin said. "Since that's the case, let him benefit from it."
Mu Xuanyin spoke very flatly, but Mu Bingyun deeply understood what this meant. She gently shook her head, her voice like a whisper: "This Nine Revolutions Buddha Heart Lotus—you waited for and carefully nurtured it for a full nine thousand years, finally achieving its perfect state. It would surely allow you to advance another step in the Divine Lord Realm. Not only is it a divine legacy item, with almost no possibility of a second one appearing in the world, but it also embodies most of your life's effort... Are you really going to give it all to Yun Che?"
Mu Xuanyin nodded slightly, her eyes like cold stars, without a trace of wavering. Since she had already decided, there would be no more unnecessary ripples in her heart.
"..." Mu Bingyun stared fixedly at Mu Xuanyin for a long time before finally whispering, "Sister, after you took him as your disciple, you have been exceptionally good to him. I originally thought you were grateful that he saved my life... but it turns out it's far more than that."
"Whether by accident or by Heaven's will, since he has become my disciple, I should do what a master ought to do. As a teacher, no one doesn't hope their disciple will surpass them. But Ke'er, Hanyan, and the others are destined to be unable to achieve that. However, he has the possibility... if he can live long enough."
"Yun Che possesses many extraordinary and strange aspects, along with many secrets that even I don't know or can't understand. If he doesn't die young, he will surely be extraordinary in the future. His previous master, that Tiansha Xingshen, was ultimately just a little girl who accepted an inheritance early and didn't understand anything. The potential in his body is astonishingly huge, but that little girl didn't train him at all."
"When Tiansha Xingshen accepted the inheritance, she was less than ten years old. By my calculations, she was only thirteen or fourteen when she met Yun Che. She inherited Tiansha Xingshen's power and memories, and her killing ability ranks first among the twelve Star Gods. But when it comes to teaching... given her age and temperament, it was too much to ask of her," Mu Bingyun said.
"He is the only person in the world possessing the Creation God's inheritance. No matter who gets him, they either want to seize his power or want to see with their own eyes how high this power can reach. Bingyun," Mu Xuanyin said coldly, "don't you think personally training a little monster is a very interesting thing?"
Yun Che: "..."
Mu Bingyun sighed softly and took another deep look at the Nine Revolutions Buddha Heart Lotus missing one petal: "No one can change Sister's decision. I hope Yun Che's future achievements will be as Sister wishes. However, eighty-one Buddha Heart Lotus petals can complete meridian tempering eighty-one times. As his meridians gradually transform, every time they are all shattered, the pain will far exceed the previous time. After dozens of times, it may be unbearable for any human..."
"Hmph! That's not up to him. He must endure whether he can or not!"
Yun Che's blurry consciousness gradually cleared through struggle. With a slight movement of his fingers, he finally fully awakened.
Mu Xuanyin and Mu Bingyun simultaneously turned their gazes toward him.
Yun Che stood up from the ground, then quickly knelt: "Master, Ice Cloud Palace Master... where is this?"
"No need to ask more," Mu Xuanyin said coldly. "Since you're awake, quickly return to Minghan Heavenly Lake and cultivate on your own. Do not leave without permission, and do not slack off even a bit. Tomorrow at noon, compete with me again... Go!"
"Yes." Yun Che could only obey.
Returning to Minghan Heavenly Lake, he stood by the pool, but in his mind was always the glimpse of that strange snow lotus, and the words he had heard while his consciousness was blurred.
"Nine Revolutions Buddha Heart Lotus..." Yun Che muttered softly, his expression extremely complicated.
He closed his eyes to look inward. Though he was prepared, he was still inwardly shocked.
Before fainting, he had clearly felt all his meridians shatter. But now, all his meridians were completely intact. Even with his monster-like self-healing ability, plus fully operating the Great Dao Pagoda Art, it would have been absolutely impossible to achieve such fast, complete repair.
But that wasn't the main reason for his shock. Rather, he clearly sensed that his meridians had all thickened by a circle, and faintly flowed with an strange light like ice crystals.
Opening his eyes, he extended his hand. With a slight movement of his will, a cluster of Golden Crow Flame instantly ignited... The speed of ignition was nearly ten percent faster than before.
From the words of Mu Xuanyin and Mu Bingyun, Mu Xuanyin would use the Nine Revolutions Buddha Heart Lotus to temper his meridians eighty-one times... and today was only the first time, yet it had already caused such astonishing changes in his meridians. After eighty-one, it was simply unimaginable.
Perhaps by then, he would only need a few short breaths to directly release Yellow Springs Ashes... Perhaps forcibly activating Heaven-Shattering for more than ten breaths wouldn't cause his meridians to break...
If that really happened, even if his Profound Force didn't increase at all, his combat power would skyrocket immensely. Power could be gathered, released, and withdrawn at extreme speed. Star God Remnant Shadow could teleport faster, and Phantom Lightning Extreme could reach another level of extreme speed...
The flame extinguished, but Yun Che's face showed not much surprise. Instead, he let out a light sigh, his whole body feeling heavy.
When he initially wanted to become Mu Xuanyin's disciple, his hope to rely on her power and status to see Mo Li was the only reason.
But, from initial simple reverence, to gradually discovering she was not as the outside world knew and spread—she obtained the Golden Crow World-Incinerating Record for him, sought the Qiu Dragon's Heart for him, prepared the Qiankun Five Jade Pill at no cost, and worried he would really get into trouble, quietly following him to the Bingfeng Empire...
Unknowingly, he had long lost his initial fear of Mu Xuanyin... because she truly wasn't as terrifying as outsiders knew. Or perhaps... she was only like this to those she cared about, and only ruthless and indifferent to outsiders?
And the Nine Revolutions Buddha Heart Lotus... after his consciousness awakened, he clearly heard Mu Bingyun's words. This Nine Revolutions Buddha Heart Lotus—Mu Xuanyin had waited for nine thousand years and poured nine thousand years of effort into it. It could let her break through again at the Divine Xuan Realm... yet it was used to temper his meridians.
This was naturally an enormous grace... but for Yun Che, wasn't it also an enormous burden?
Because he didn't know how to repay. He came to the God Realm not to become strong, not to see a broader world—truly only to see Mo Li again. After fulfilling that wish, he never even had the thought of staying.
"Ah, forget it. Just cultivate peacefully. Thinking about this is useless. Just listen to Master more from now on... Cultivate peacefully."
Muttering to himself, Yun Che sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and concentrated. Silently, the cold air of Minghan Heavenly Lake quietly gathered and quickly surged into Yun Che's body. His consciousness soon immersed itself in the world of the Xuan Path.
Moon-Breaking Shadow Flick takes "break" as the core. What is broken is body and aura. The body teleports far away, while the aura remains. This is the great completion realm of Moon-Breaking Shadow Flick.
When Profound Force enters the Divine Path, spiritual sense naturally follows to a new realm. Ordinary afterimage techniques can no longer affect enemies, because they can only deceive vision, but they cannot deceive spiritual sense that locks onto aura.
The reason Star God Remnant Shadow is a top-level movement Xuan Technique even in the God Realm is because it can both deceive vision and confuse spiritual sense. The great completion realm of Moon-Breaking Shadow Flick is the same... only overall inferior to Star God Remnant Shadow.
However, the great perfection realm of "Shadow Concealment" is unheard of.
Since I can cultivate Star God Remnant Shadow... there's no reason I can't cultivate Moon-Breaking Shadow Flick.
Master has such great expectations for me and spared no expense in investing such great effort. At least I cannot let her be too disappointed...
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The next day at noon, in front of the Holy Temple.
Yun Che adjusted himself to perfect condition and arrived slightly early. Thinking of yesterday, he took a deep breath.
Mu Xuanyin's Profound Force was indeed suppressed to the Divine Soul Realm. Otherwise, she could annihilate him from hundreds of miles without even touching him with profound energy. But he was still no match.
Consciousness... tactile sense...
Consciousness he understood. But tactile sense... what exactly is it?
Mu Xuanyin emphasized it but did not explain, clearly wanting him to comprehend on his own.
He waited for a long time, but the world remained quiet. After hesitating for a while, Yun Che finally tried to say, "Master, I'm here."
"Behind you."
A soft, tender voice came from behind him, as if just waking from a deep dream. Yun Che's whole body tingled and numbed. He quickly turned around and saw Mu Xuanyin standing ten steps away. Her enchanting, alluring peerless icy face made Yun Che dizzy. He stared blankly for a long while before quickly bowing: "Disciple pays respects to Master."
Today, it's... that Master... he groaned inwardly.
When she exerts authority, she makes people silent as cicadas, not daring to breathe loudly. But when she is seductive... it makes him even more frightened, not daring to look more than once.
He sometimes deeply suspected whether two souls coexisted inside her body.
Her bright eyes had no coldness, but were misty like water fog. Her cherry-colored lips were lightly pursed: "Rise. Obediently make a move against Master. Be careful."
Her voice was lazy and languid, as if her whole body had no strength. Yun Che, after all, was someone with a Dragon God Soul, yet his heart and soul were still stirred, unable to control himself.
He forcefully bit his tongue, let out a low roar, and leaped into the air. This time, he didn't grab the Heaven-Defying Sword but charged straight at Mu Xuanyin. When nearing, suddenly his figure flickered. With a light sweep of cold air, he instantly shifted to Mu Xuanyin's right side. After Moon-Breaking Shadow Flick, in an instant, he followed up with a Star God Remnant Shadow...
In an instant, several afterimages appeared around Mu Xuanyin. But his true body had already appeared behind her like a ghost.
Ding!
A light sound, like ice crystal shattering. Yun Che, who had completed two perfect teleportations in an instant, suddenly let out a miserable cry. He rolled far away in midair. After landing, he directly knelt on both knees, unable to stand for a long time.
He completely didn't see how or when Mu Xuanyin struck. But he felt extremely clearly that in the first instant after his teleportation, a surge of cold air suddenly invaded his legs, ruthlessly shattering his leg meridians.
He had a feeling—this was definitely not simply an extremely fast reaction, but more like... before he teleported, Mu Xuanyin already knew he would appear there.
The excruciating pain of meridians breaking spread from his legs to his whole body, making him tremble continuously in immense pain. His clenched teeth nearly shattered. Mu Xuanyin slowly walked over and stood in front of Yun Che. Yun Che subconsciously looked up. The high chest under her pure white clothes almost occupied his entire field of vision.
"Ah, no improvement at all." Her lips curved lightly, with a hint of sweet charm that made one's mind wander. Her words seemed disappointed, but her tone was soft and seductive, like a demoness's tempting whisper.
"Since you've made Master so disappointed, then obediently accept punishment."
Her hand, like smeared cream, gently touched Yun Che's chest... but in an instant, it ruthlessly shattered all his meridians.
"Ah————!!!"
Yun Che let out a miserable scream and curled up on the ground. Every muscle in his body convulsed wildly in extreme pain. But after that scream, he immediately bit his teeth tightly shut, refusing to let out another cry. Only cold sweat poured down like rain.
Watching Yun Che's unbearable suffering, Mu Xuanyin showed no pity. Her beautiful eyes were slightly dazed, a faint smile on her lips: "Remember Master's words. Truly, use your consciousness and your body to remember this pain. Although Master feels very distressed, aside from this, Master really doesn't know how to quickly cultivate your tactile sense."
"..." Yun Che's cold sweat fell like rain, but from his blood-seeping lips, he couldn't utter a word. Gradually, his consciousness began to blur... until he was painfully knocked unconscious.
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