Breaking through was originally a joyous occasion, but right now, Li Nanzhu only wanted to fall into a deep sleep on the spot.
However, the surging spiritual energy within her body kept her in a state of contradiction. Her divine sense was exhausted and craved immediate rest, yet her body was exceptionally hyperactive due to the fullness brought by the breakthrough, making her itch for a fight.
Li Nanzhu glanced at the sky outside the window. It was nearly dusk, and she had no idea how many days this closed-door breakthrough had taken. The pain had truly been so torturous that she had no way to keep track of time.
Since she couldn't sleep for the moment, Li Nanzhu simply remained sitting cross-legged and began to inspect her Dantian. This look made her gasp.
Her originally lush, verdant wood spiritual root was now dim and lusterless, while the water and fire spiritual roots seemed perfectly fine. After a moment's thought, Li Nanzhu remembered that during her breakthrough, the vitality stored in the wood spiritual root had likely been used up to repair her meridians.
After a careful inspection to confirm the spiritual root was not damaged, she turned her attention to her meridians.
To her surprise, after experiencing the scouring of spiritual energy, the meridians were not damaged. Instead, they had widened by nearly double.
Though she was still at the Qi Condensation Great Perfection stage, her spiritual energy reserves were now comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator. More importantly, the resilience of her meridians had significantly improved. Future cultivation would certainly yield twice the results with half the effort.
It was just that the process... wasn't very pleasant.
The vitality from the wood spiritual root must have been used to widen the meridians as well. After all, the previous scouring was equivalent to destroying them first; the best results are only achieved through destruction followed by reconstruction.
Confirming her body was in good shape, Li Nanzhu stretched again, changed her clothes, and prepared to head out to see what her senior brothers were up to.
She glanced at Seventh Senior Brother's courtyard, finding it unusually quiet. Usually at this time, Duan Xianxing would either be researching new sword moves or wandering around the sect cradling his life-bound sword, 'Wait a Moment.' He called it 'nurturing their bond' so it would develop a sword spirit sooner. Today, however, he was nowhere to be seen.
Not seeing him there, Li Nanzhu turned her steps toward Second Senior Brother’s courtyard. It turned out the missing Duan Xianxing was actually here.
"Eek! Little Junior Sister! You're out of seclusion!"
Since Duan Xianxing was facing the gate, he spotted Li Nanzhu immediately. He tossed aside the talisman in his hand and rushed toward her.
Before Li Nanzhu could even respond, a thunderous boom erupted. An explosion of light flared up right behind Duan Xianxing, followed immediately by Zhu Yinxi’s face, which had instantly turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
"Duan. Xian. Xing!"
"Seventh Senior Brother, what did you do...?" Li Nanzhu poked the culprit with her elbow after he hid behind her, using her as a shield.
"I... I just channeled half my spiritual energy into the talisman and then... well, wasn't I just too excited to see you, Little Junior Sister?! You can't blame me entirely! It wasn't on purpose!" Duan Xianxing grew louder as he spoke, as if Li Nanzhu’s presence gave him enough confidence to even sound righteous.
"..."
Li Nanzhu silently took two steps to the side, exposing Duan Xianxing from behind her. Zhu Yinxi gave her a nod of greeting, and in the next heartbeat, he had already seized Duan Xianxing’s shoulder, leaving him no chance to escape.
"Little Junior Sister, save me!"
Li Nanzhu took another two steps away, clearly intending to distance herself from him. Suddenly, Zhu Yinxi spoke.
"I must trouble Little Junior Sister to step outside the courtyard for a moment. I have a few words to say to Seventh Junior Brother."
Though a bit puzzled, Li Nanzhu obediently nodded and walked out of the gate, failing to notice Duan Xianxing’s exceptionally terrified expression.
The moment the gate closed, she saw the glow of an array light up within Second Senior Brother’s courtyard. Duan Xianxing’s howling from inside vanished instantly.
Li Nanzhu fell silent. Li Nanzhu fell into deep thought. Then, she flashed a strange smile.
After all, according to the Law of Conservation of Energy, the smile doesn't disappear; it only transfers from one person to another.
About fifteen minutes later, the gate opened again.
Duan Xianxing was sprawled on the ground in a starfish shape, foaming at the mouth. Seeing Second Senior Brother walking over looking like he was in a much better mood, Li Nanzhu silently lit a candle in her heart for Duan Xianxing.
She felt some sympathy, but not much.
After all, she had no conscience.
Suddenly, something grabbed her ankle. Li Nanzhu nearly kicked out, but fortunately, she looked down first. She realized it was Duan Xianxing, who had been foaming at the mouth just a second ago, now crawling to her feet.
"Little... Junior Sister!" Duan Xianxing raised a slightly trembling hand and pointed toward Zhu Yinxi. "Attempted murder... of a junior brother... avenge me..."
He fainted the next second.
Li Nanzhu looked at the calm Zhu Yinxi, then at the unconscious Duan Xianxing, and fell into a mental storm.
Heaven knows that as a former reporter, countless headlines were already flashing through her mind: 'Blood and Storm in the Five Elements Dao Sect', 'Second Senior Brother Publicly Murders Seventh Junior Brother: Is There a Hidden Agenda?', 'Shocking! A Bloody Case in the Five Elements Dao Sect: Is This Moral Corruption or the Distortion of Human Nature!'
Seeing that Li Nanzhu seemed stunned, Zhu Yinxi took a porcelain bottle from his storage bag and crouched beside Duan Xianxing. His voice rang out like a devil's murmur.
"Seventh Junior Brother, if you don't wake up now, I'm going to feed you this mind-refreshing pill refined by Third Junior Brother."
"I'm fine! I'm fine! No problem at all!" Duan Xianxing, who had been playing dead on the ground, did a kip-up and sprang into the air as if a ghost were chasing him. He even spun around several times to prove he was truly alright.
Li Nanzhu felt her previous worry was entirely redundant. She shouldn't have sympathized with Seventh Senior Brother. Why didn't he get fed that mind-refreshing pill? What a pity.
Seeing the disappointed looks on both their faces, Duan Xianxing immediately sat down like a good student, not daring to move an inch for fear that Second Senior Brother would forcibly shove that pill into his mouth.
"Second Senior Brother’s newly learned 'Heart-Sound Melody' has truly... improved! After hearing it, I feel incredibly refreshed!" Seeing Zhu Yinxi’s gaze shift toward him again, Duan Xianxing immediately switched to praise mode. If Li Nanzhu didn't already know how terrible Second Senior Brother’s flute playing was, she might have actually believed his nonsense.
Hearing this, Zhu Yinxi finally nodded and let him off the hook.
Once the three were seated, they began to discuss Li Nanzhu’s progress.
"So, Little Junior Sister has already reached Qi Condensation Great Perfection?"
"Yes. The jade marrow pill given by Master was very effective. It’s just that the spiritual energy scouring was a bit too intense. Luckily, I consolidated my cultivation beforehand; otherwise, even if I broke through, I would probably have to recuperate for a long time."
Recalling the scene, Li Nanzhu felt phantom pains all over her body. It was best not to experience that again.
"Master’s pills have always been like that. Otherwise, where do you think Third Senior Brother learned to make those life-threatening batches of pills?" Duan Xianxing sighed, clearly having suffered from Feng Yi’s medicinal toxicity before.
"Since Little Junior Sister is at Qi Condensation Great Perfection," Zhu Yinxi twirled his jade flute in his hand, "why don't we go out for experiential training? It would be a good opportunity to help her find the chance for Foundation Establishment."
Rate on N.U.
