Chapter 124: Stainless
The black dragon did nothing, because it knew clearly that it could not save Chen Changsheng. Even if its father the king were present, he could not save this youth. The process of converting the starlight of the natural world into the true essence of the cultivator's world, and the subsequent circulation of that true essence, placed extremely high demands on the cultivator's physical strength. Chen Changsheng had not undergone marrow washing; the strength of his muscles, bones, and internal organs was far too low to withstand it. Now, the true essence was erupting from the inside out, like countless tiny yet razor-sharp blades, slicing through his body. Even his Nether Palace was instantly crippled. Who could save him?
Chen Changsheng's complexion grew increasingly ruddy, not a healthy red, but one that inspired terror. His entire body was shrouded in rising steam. His brows were tightly knit, his features twisted, revealing extreme agony. With a soft *pop*, a blood vessel protruding from the skin at the corner of his eye could no longer bear the pressure and burst open.
Blood splattered like a flower, leaving his face, meeting the cold air, raising a mist of heat, then instantly crystallizing and falling to the ground like a branch of coral. Soon after, more and more blood vessels on the surface of his body burst. Dozens of splashes of blood erupted, leaving his body with scalding heat, briefly warming the cold underground space before quickly freezing solid.
On the ground around Chen Changsheng, more and more blood-red, coral-like objects appeared. They looked beautiful, yet were so bloody.
After the blood vessels burst, his skin split next, then his muscles. Countless streams of blood flowed everywhere over his body. Occasionally, stark white bone could be seen. He closed his eyes in pain, no longer able to maintain his seated posture, and collapsed to the ground, convulsing. The entire process and scene were too horrible to behold, terrifyingly abnormal.
The black dragon raised its right foreclaw to cover its eyes, no longer watching, deeply regretting this. This rather decent human youth was dying like this, unable to help it accomplish that task. It could have stopped all this, but this was the path of death Chen Changsheng had chosen for himself. Out of respect for the roasted lamb, it had not interfered.
At this moment, the black dragon did not think about escaping its confinement, nor about the centuries of solitude and the solitude that might follow. It only silently hoped that Chen Changsheng would die faster, so he wouldn't have to endure so much pain. Only when pain ends quickly can it be called a clean end, worthy of Chen Changsheng's courage in facing death calmly.
The underground space was perpetually cold as winter, the ground covered with snow dust and ice shards. Chen Changsheng lay on the ground, flesh torn and bones broken. His scalding blood flowed into the cold ice and snow, hissing loudly, instantly producing countless trails of white steam. The starlight within him burned so fiercely that it seemed to have made his very blood boil.
Just as recorded in the medical case in the appendix to the Four Meridians Meditation Method, if it weren't for the cold underground space tonight, Chen Changsheng's final end might have been death by spontaneous combustion. Now, relying on the bitter cold brought by the black dragon, he didn't burn up, but it was merely exchanging one slightly more pleasant way of dying for another.
Time passed slowly.
After a long while, the black dragon lowered its right foreclaw, preparing to offer some condolences to Chen Changsheng. After all, this human youth was the first person it had truly come to know in the hundreds of years of its imprisonment.
Thinking these thoughts, it decided that even if Chen Changsheng's remains might turn into a disgusting pile of cooked flesh, it would later hold its nose and bury him.
Looking towards the center of the blood coral-covered ground, the black dragon's pupils suddenly contracted. Countless emotions of shock surged in its deep, dark eyes.
White steam still rose from the ground. The blood in the ice and snow was still boiling, not rapidly cooling due to Chen Changsheng's death.
Because... Chen Changsheng was not dead yet!
Why was he still not dead? How could he still not be dead?
The black dragon certainly didn't want him dead, but it was shocked by what it saw. This had surpassed the dragon race's understanding of this world. Everyone knew the dragon race had the broadest understanding of the world.
Starlight burning from the inside out, destroying everything from the heart to the skin—this was an unstoppable, irreversible process. Why was he still alive?
Suppressing the shock and inexplicable fear in its heart, the black dragon slowly drifted forward.
As its massive body moved, a cold wind swept through the underground space.
That wind blew the blood corals on the ground, tumbling them incessantly, scattering the white steam from the boiling blood, blowing away the ghastly wounds and shreds of flesh on Chen Changsheng's body, revealing the innermost scene.
The violent combustion of starlight was indeed from the inside out. Most of his internal organs were severely damaged.
But in his chest, something was still beating powerfully!
His heart was still pounding strongly!
The black dragon's pupils contracted.
Of course, it knew what a human heart looked like.
But it had never seen such a clean, beautiful heart.
With each beat, the blood stains on the heart's surface were shaken aside, revealing the heart's original form.
It was a clean, crystalline, pink heart. It didn't look disgusting at all; it looked more like a fruit that had been washed in a stream for a long time.
The black dragon's emotions were shaken, as if... it had seen a desert bone dragon.
Chen Changsheng's muscles, skin, and even bones were already destroyed. As time passed, the starlight continued to burn, and his body continued to fester. But why was the inside of his body completely unharmed? What material was this heart made of? It was completely intact!
The black dragon's gaze fell upon the blood corals scattered on the ground and the steaming blood, feeling increasingly strange. It was clearly a bloody, mangled scene, yet it couldn't evoke a feeling of disgust. Truly noble dragons never fed on intelligent life. Those flesh and blood didn't seem like flesh and blood, but something else entirely.
Yes, it was like coral, like crystal, clean and transparent.
The black dragon looked again at Chen Changsheng's heart, vaguely understanding something.
Starlight marrow washing washes away filth, leaving behind purity. Marrow washing is a process cultivators engage in throughout their lives. The highest realm they pursue is: Stainless.
Chen Changsheng's body was very special, with many inexplicable aspects, like his meridians broken into nine segments. Perhaps his flesh, blood, and bones were also different, possibly even... inherently stainless. Even if, due to food and breathing air, he had accumulated some worldly turbidity later on, it was minimal. When he drew starlight to wash his marrow, it only took an instant to complete the process.
So what else could starlight marrow washing wash?
When starlight falls on colored objects, it can reveal their color. But what color appears when it falls on something absolutely transparent?
Transparent means no color.
Starlight naturally does not linger.
From spring until now, Chen Changsheng had drawn starlight to wash his marrow every night. That starlight did not act on his hair or skin, nor did it produce any connection or change with his muscles or bones. Instead, it passed directly through his body, following the resonance between the great heaven and earth and the small heaven and earth, arriving outside his Nether Palace.
Where the winding path leads to seclusion, there is a palace.
That is the Nether Palace.
(Coughing is too uncomfortable. I'll try to write the next chapter earlier, then rest well. The next chapter should be updated before 10:30.)