Chapter 185: Between Life and Death (Part 2)
The Rock Dragon War General, heavy sword in hand, walked forward step by step, each footfall the approach of death itself.
Chu Yuechan stared blankly at Yun Che, who lay motionless, blood seeping from every orifice. In this doomed situation, her own initial desire for death had been replaced by a powerful will to live. Because her life now was one that Yun Che had fought desperately to protect with his own life and conviction. If she died, all of Yun Che's efforts and all the wounds he had suffered would turn to nothing. For her own sake, and even more for the sake of everything he had given, she no longer wanted to die... and she didn't want Yun Che to die either.
If this had been the Chu Yuechan of before today, destroying this Rock Dragon War General would have taken but an instant. But in her current state, this enemy, whom she would normally not even deign to acknowledge, had become a death god she was utterly powerless to resist. As the Rock Dragon War General drew closer step by step, her gaze grew colder and more unwilling... Then, a glimmer flashed in her eyes as she recalled something she had long forgotten.
Her right hand opened with difficulty, and from her space ring she took out a small white glass bead. With all her strength, she crushed it. Instantly, the shattered bead released a sheet of ice-blue radiance, forming a barrier around both Chu Yuechan and Yun Che—a faintly glowing blue barrier with flowing icy light.
The Rock Dragon War General had by then come within five paces. His body struck against the barrier and was forcefully repelled. He took a step back, raised his heavy sword, and smashed it heavily against the barrier.
Boom!!
The Rock Dragon War General’s power erupted, but the ice-blue barrier only trembled slightly without suffering the slightest damage. Instead, the Rock Dragon War General's body was knocked back two steps by the rebound. Unwilling to give up, he continued forward, striking the barrier again and again with his heavy sword, yet he could not create even a single crack in it.
The bead Chu Yuechan had crushed was called an “Ice Soul Pearl.” When crushed, it released an “Ice Soul Barrier.” This barrier could last up to five hours, and any Xuan practitioner below the Heavenly Xuan Realm could not damage it.
This Ice Soul Pearl had been given to her by her master when she was around twenty years old, for protection in moments of crisis. But within a few years after that, she had broken through to the Heavenly Xuan Realm, leaving the Ice Soul Pearl with no opportunity to be used. Over a decade had passed, and she had all but forgotten its existence. But when her will to live blazed up just now, she suddenly remembered it.
Although the Rock Dragon War General wielded a Heavenly Xuan heavy sword, his own Xuan power was only at the Spirit Xuan Realm. There was no way he could break through this Ice Soul Barrier. Around them, the Rock Dragon Warriors summoned by the General also surged forward, their weapons hammering against the barrier. But even if hundreds or thousands more of these Rock Dragon Warriors came, they would never manage to scratch the surface.
Beneath the Ice Soul Barrier, they were temporarily safe. Yun Che lay motionless, blood flowing from his seven orifices, his body covered in wounds. But Chu Yuechan could faintly sense his weak, barely-there life force. Sheltered briefly by the Ice Soul Barrier, she silently watched him, waiting for a miracle to appear... for Yun Che to stand up again. He had stood up so many times before; this time, he absolutely had to stand up again too.
Yun Che was not dead. In fact, his consciousness had remained awake the entire time. But he could no longer feel his body, could no longer see anything, could no longer hear any sound. His waking consciousness was also extremely blurry. If not for his willpower holding on desperately, that sliver of awareness would have already dissipated.
Three drops of Phoenix Blood had actively flowed into his heart, burning to protect his last remaining life breath.
I cannot... die yet...
How could I... die... here...
Little Aunt is waiting for me... Senior Sister is also waiting for me... Mo Li gave me a new life, yet I haven't fulfilled a single promise I made to her...
Absolutely... cannot... die!!
His remaining consciousness transformed entirely into a will to live. He knew clearly that to survive, he had to immediately suppress the bodily collapse caused by forcibly opening Heart Incineration. But in his current state, he could not circulate his inner energy. The activation of Heart Incineration had also completely paralyzed his Mysterious Veins. The only thing he could mobilize was the Great Dao Pagoda Art imprinted in his sea of consciousness.
Unable to perceive anything from the outside world, he was naturally undisturbed by any distractions. In this state, his spirit reached an extreme level of concentration. Within his mental sea, the profound art of the Great Dao Pagoda Art manifested clearly...
Heaven and earth, all things—I am their master. With the pagoda in my heart, I am worthy of the Great Dao...
The Great Dao Pagoda Art began to circulate slowly, with his spirit as the starting point, spreading gradually through his broken body, absorbing the energy of heaven and earth bit by bit.
The foundation of the Great Dao Pagoda Art was to absorb the energy of heaven and earth for one's own use, tempering the body, granting it great strength and toughness, and also rapidly healing injuries. In its early stages, the Great Dao Pagoda Art absorbed the natural breath within heaven and earth energy. In its middle stage, it absorbed the primal source of that energy. And in its later stage, according to legend, it absorbed the primordial chaos energy of divine origin.
Yun Che's injuries were now too severe, with only a thread separating him from death. The Great Dao Pagoda Art, even when activated, was like a drop in the bucket; the rate of healing could not keep up with the rate of deterioration. The absorbed heaven and earth energy was immediately lost again with the rapid depletion of his life force. But Yun Che was completely unaware of all this. Driven solely by his obsessive will to survive, he forced himself to keep his last shred of consciousness from dispersing, and desperately continued to circulate the Great Dao Pagoda Art.
The profound art of the Great Dao Pagoda Art drifted slowly within Yun Che's sea of consciousness. All of his awareness was focused on it... Suddenly, these profound words grew blurry, then scattered rapidly. A slowly rotating silver pagoda appeared there, and as it spun, it grew larger and larger, until it filled his entire sea of consciousness...
Ping...
This silver pagoda shattered with a faint tremor in his mind, turning into silver light that scattered everywhere... At the same time, a thin layer of silver light rose on the surface of Yun Che's battered body.
The circulation speed of the Great Dao Pagoda Art suddenly became rapid. The heaven and earth energy of the surrounding space, as if pulled by a tremendous force, was quickly drawn into Yun Che's body. The shocking cracks on the surface of his body now ironically became the perfect channels for the influx of heaven and earth energy.
The Great Dao Pagoda Art spun faster and faster, and the heaven and earth energy poured in ever more swiftly. Gradually, it reached the limit that the first level of the Great Dao Pagoda Art could achieve, yet it did not stop, continuing to circulate even faster than when Yun Che was in his prime.
Chu Yuechan sensed the unusual aura. She turned her head and stared blankly at Yun Che... A thick layer of silver light was now covering him, and the light seemed to be still expanding. On the surface of his body, the cracks were clearly healing at a visible speed. The smaller cracks had already disappeared entirely.
Chu Yuechan's gaze trembled as she silently witnessed this unbelievable scene. With her level of cultivation and decades of broad experience, she had absolutely no idea what was happening to Yun Che.
The silver light grew stronger and stronger. Chaotic currents of air swirled around him, as if something was frantically surging into his body.
Yun Che's consciousness gradually became clearer. He began to feel the existence of his body again—his head, chest, limbs—all sending waves of intense pain. And this pain filled him with ecstatic joy, because at least it proved that after Heart Incineration, none of these parts had been ruined.
Immediately, he calmed his mind and quietly continued to circulate the Great Dao Pagoda Art, letting it cycle through his body again and again... once, twice... ten times... a hundred times... three hundred times...
After thirty cycles of the Great Dao Pagoda Art, sensation had fully returned to every part of his body. Pain and presence came through clearly. His ears also caught the sound of continuous impacts. After a hundred cycles, his Mysterious Veins awakened from their paralysis. He felt streams of external power rapidly entering through his fifty-four acupoints, restoring his Xuan power at an astonishing speed. The feeling of total exhaustion and stiffness faded little by little.
After two hundred cycles, the pain throughout his body had all but disappeared.
After three hundred cycles, Yun Che slowly opened his eyes. His pupils radiated a sharp light like a cold blade.
The second level of the Great Dao Pagoda Art had been achieved miraculously, driven by the brink of death and the obsession to survive!
As the profound art of the Desolate God, each breakthrough in the Great Dao Pagoda Art required a very long period of spiritual and physical insight, as well as an opportunity that could not be sought. Yun Che had taken less than a month to complete the first level of the Great Dao Pagoda Art, which in Mo Li's eyes was already a miracle. And in her view, even with Yun Che's astonishing comprehension, reaching the second level would take at least a year. Neither she nor Yun Che himself had ever imagined that, driven by life-threatening danger, extreme concentration of consciousness, and an all-consuming will to survive, the Great Dao Pagoda Art would break through to the second level without Yun Che even fully realizing it.
And every breakthrough in the Great Dao Pagoda Art was accompanied by a complete transformation.
Yun Che's injuries, inside and out, healed completely, leaving not even a single scar. His hair had grown half a foot longer. His eyes became clearer, his ears sharper. His internal organs, bones, and flesh were all filled with an indestructible toughness. Even his flowing blood seemed thicker, and the beating of his heart more powerful. His entire body, which had been so weak that he couldn't even move a finger, was now brimming with an incredibly strong power—a powerful, crushing sensation of physical strength without using any Xuan power at all!
Mo Li had once told him that the second level of the Great Dao Pagoda Art granted a full eight thousand jin of physical strength!
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[Doesn't it give a feeling of instantly full HP and MP after leveling up, with increased stats?]