CHAPTER 54

— Forming the Nascent Soul —

—Wuwuwu, my poor, unfortunate senior brother...

Overwhelmed by grief, Tong Tong ignored the stares of the crowd, wrapped her arms around Su Yan, and wept bitterly.

Su Yan, who was being tightly held by her, regained a moment of clarity before fainting once more, thus avoiding the embarrassment of facing the public gaze.

Amidst the chaos, no one had the time to pay attention to Xiang Wu or He Gu, who had abducted Ding Ding. By the time Lin Tiefeng finished listening to Liu Ya's summary of the events, the three of them had already vanished without a trace.

Lu Xianrou crouched beside Tong Tong, patted her shoulder, and comforted her, "Senior Brother Su is blessed with good fortune. He will be fine."

Tong Tong looked at her with tear-filled eyes, doubt evident in her voice. "Really? But... Senior Brother has suffered such a severe injury. Even if he barely clinging to life, he won't be happy, right... Such a proud person—what if he can't bear it and takes his own life?"

—Tong Tong, dear girl, did your elementary school Chinese teacher also teach physical education?

Can the phrase "barely clinging to life" really be used so carelessly like this...

Lu Xianrou replied in surprise, "Senior Sister Tong, why would you say that? Senior Brother Su is not a weak-willed person..."

—Even if his Golden Core is shattered, with Su Yan's cultivation and realm, he could recover within a hundred years. Why would he resort to such desperate measures?

"But what man could accept the fact that he's become a eunuch? Not everyone has the resilience of Grand Historian Sima Qian..." Tong Tong gently stroked Su Yan's pale cheek, her heart aching with sorrow.

—Big Iceberg, you must not give up! Even if you really... I won't look down on you! Platonic love is also a kind of realm—there's nothing wrong with it!

"...Senior Sister Tong, have you perhaps misunderstood something?" Lu Xianrou paused for a moment, then asked with an amused smile.

—If Su Yan were still conscious, he'd probably be so infuriated that he'd faint on the spot...

"Misunderstood? What could there be to misunderstand? That rigid old man told me himself! He said—Senior Brother's 'eggs' are shattered." Lin Tiefeng, who was in the middle of a conversation with Liu Ya, seemed to have ears as sharp as the wind. His gaze shot over like a blade, but Tong Tong glared back defiantly, completely unfazed by the anger of a Great Ascension-stage cultivator—after all, who asked him to announce Su Yan's "tragic news" personally?

T/N: [In Chinese, "Golden Core" is Jindan. Tong Tong shortened the characters Jindan to Dan, which means Egg/Ball.]

—A woman in love often loses all rationality, especially when she sees her beloved injured and feels powerless to help. At this moment, Tong Tong was like a little leopard baring its claws, ready to lash out at anyone. Any words or actions that threatened Su Yan could easily trigger her already strained nerves.

Ignoring the others who were still handling the aftermath, assessments, and other social formalities, Tong Tong summoned Cookie and urgently commanded it to set up a teleportation array. The little creature didn't fail her in this critical moment—a testament to all the treats Su Yan had provided it over the years. Fortunately, it had just advanced a stage in the Abyssal Secret Realm, allowing it to control long-distance teleportation.

Risking the side effect of exhaustion and fainting, before anyone else could react, Tong Tong vanished from the spot with Su Yan in her arms, taking Lu Xianrou, who was standing beside her, back to Chonghua's Qiuye Peak.

Qiuye Peak remained as serene and beautiful as when they had left. Ye Zhiqiu seemed to have anticipated their return, waiting in front of the Jiuhan Palace with a gentle smile on her lips, though a trace of worry lingered in her eyes.

Taking the frail Su Yan from Tong Tong's arms, she sighed softly and offered Tong Tong a reassuring smile. "Don't worry."

Two simple words, spoken with a gentle and graceful smile, instantly soothed Tong Tong's near-breaking panic, calming her down.

With a light, sweeping glance at Lu Xianrou, who stood with her head bowed, looking uneasy and restrained, Sect Leader Ye smiled softly. "Go see your master. She's been worried about you—oh, and take Little Seven with you."

A flash of the great black sword, and the woman of elegant bearing vanished into the horizon, holding Su Yan in her arms.

"My beautiful master is just too cool..." Tong Tong murmured dreamily, gazing up at the now-empty sky.

"...Mm." Lu Xianrou gripped her sword hilt tightly, her expression dark and unreadable.

......

Atop Luoxia Peak.

The great black sword came to an abrupt halt. The woman in apricot robes, holding Su Yan, stepped onto the peak and walked step by step toward the hot spring at its summit.

With a thought, the black robe draped over her automatically slipped away, revealing smooth, snow-white skin.

Without glancing aside, she placed her beloved disciple on the bluestone beside the hot spring pool. Ye Zhiqiu gently stroked Su Yan's temple, gazing at that familiar face, and couldn't help but smile softly, feeling a sense of pride as if watching her own daughter grow up. "Yan'er, she really does resemble you..."

Unconcerned that her sleeves were soaked and dampened by the water, she submerged one hand into the pool, placing it over Su Yan's flat, firm abdomen, where faint abdominal muscles were visible at the dantian. Slowly, she channeled a gentle, enduring inner energy. After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Su Yan gradually stirred awake. Seeing the slight curve of Ye Zhiqiu's lips and feeling the pain in her dantian replaced by warmth, her furrowed brow relaxed, but her face suddenly flushed crimson. Though she had been naked before her master more than once as a child, it had never happened since she grew up...

"Master," Su Yan whispered, unusually shy like a young maiden. Her long lashes fluttered lightly as she crossed her arms over her chest, turning her head away, not daring to meet Ye Zhiqiu's eyes. Knowing her master well, she was certain this mischievous woman, who loved teasing her disciples, was wearing a playful grin.

"Is Yan'er perhaps feeling shy?" Just as Su Yan had expected, Ye Zhiqiu smiled brightly, studying her flushed face, and mischievously poked her soft cheek with her other hand, as if the words "teasing my disciple is so much fun" were written all over her face.

"...No." Su Yan bit her lower lip lightly, suppressing her annoyance as she replied coldly.

"Heh." This child really has become less fun to tease as she's grown older... How adorable she was as a little girl!

Sensing that if she continued, this stubborn child might truly get angry, Ye Zhiqiu cleared her throat softly, reassuming her dignified master's demeanor, once again transforming into the ethereal, otherworldly immortal she appeared to be.

"As they say, misfortune may be a blessing in disguise, and blessings may hide misfortune... Since your Golden Core has shattered, take this opportunity to form your Nascent Soul." Though born of necessity and fraught with danger, was this not also a kind of opportunity?

Cultivation is the path of refining the heart and tempering the body, discarding falsehood to seek truth—a path that defies the heavens. And sword cultivators are the most defiant among the defiant!

Shattering the Golden Core to form the Nascent Soul is an inevitable trial for every cultivator. Failure means all previous efforts vanish like mist, and success promises boundless prospects, soaring above the clouds.

—Before forming their Nascent Soul, ordinary cultivators must refine their Golden Core to expand their meridians and solidify their dantian. Su Yan, however, had her Golden Core shattered directly. Though she lost some of her true essence, she skipped the refinement process. With the foundation she had built over the years, forming her Nascent Soul wouldn't be difficult—she was only missing an opportunity.

Now, that opportunity had finally arrived.

Ye Zhiqiu, holding the sword, Busha—a blade that shook the heavens with its murderous aura—gazed silently at the distant, rumbling, churning sea of clouds. Her smile remained unchanged, but a flicker of gravity passed through her eyes. She had long anticipated that Yan'er's Nascent Soul formation would be extraordinary, yet she had still underestimated the child's capabilities...

—The heavenly tribulation summoned during Nascent Soul formation generally fell into three categories: the Crimson Mystic Five-Lightning Tribulation of the righteous sects, the Violet Ink Seven-Lightning Tribulation of demonic and heretical paths, and the Indigo Nine-Lightning Tribulation for monstrous beasts and spirits.

Due to excessive k!lling and heavy bl0odshed, demonic cultivators always faced more lightning tribulations than human cultivators, with eight or nine out of ten meeting their end, reduced to ashes. However, if they endured the tribulation, their strength would far surpass that of human cultivators of the same level.

Yet few knew that beyond these three types of lightning tribulations, there existed a fourth, most mysterious tribulation—the Platinum Phantom Tribulation, which appeared scarcely once in hundreds of millions of years!

—It did not strike demons, ghosts, or any beings of the three realms. It arrived without a sound and departed without a trace, lingering like eternity or vanishing in an instant. Only souls outside the cycle of reincarnation, those defying the heavens, faced its merciless judgment!

This fragment of information was something Ye Zhiqiu had gleaned from a tattered page tucked away in an inconspicuous corner of the Chonghua Sword Sect's library—it was said that tens of millions of years ago, only one deity had withstood this Platinum Phantom Tribulation: the Moon Goddess, Wangshu.

She was also the sole female War Goddess in the Divine Realm.

Pointing her longsword toward the distant sky, her usually serene brow now brimmed with an arrogance she had never revealed before others. At this moment, Ye Zhiqiu shed her elegant and gentle facade, finally unveiling her true nature—a sharp, domineering aura that looked down upon the world with unmatched pride.

Those who surrender are not k!lled; those who defy are shown no mercy!

Her sword Dao had always been this resolute and overbearing!

"Yan'er, focus on forming your Nascent Soul with peace of mind," Ye Zhiqiu's smile was elegant yet carried a hint of coldness. "Your master will go and meet this lightning tribulation."

With a deafening crash, a blinding white flame arrived in an instant, carrying the force of ten thousand thunderbolts as it struck directly at Su Yan, who was meditating in the hot spring, circulating her energy.

As if unaware, Su Yan kept her beautiful eyes lowered, her lips pressed together, continuing to guide her energy through the major and minor cycles within her meridians. Her spiritual focus remained unwavering, undisturbed by the impending tribulation. Just as the fierce and sinister lightning tribulation was about to touch her, a tangible, ink-black sword energy sliced through the air, shattering the white flame and firmly shielding the unprepared Su Yan.

The second lightning tribulation gave no chance to catch a breath, following closely and descending almost instantly. It seized the moment when the first tribulation and the collision canceled each other out, amid the dazzling white light—but it did not escape Ye Zhiqiu's blockade. A dense, viscous black energy, like a colossal hand reaching for the heavens, violently dispersed the second, even thicker lightning tribulation!

No matter how the white-flame dragon roared and thrashed, it could not escape the grasp of the black giant hand, crushed to pieces in an instant. This one-sided situation persisted until after the ninth lightning tribulation.

A thick, radiant white streak illuminated the sky, dissolving into nothingness alongside the richly inked black energy. Yet, at the final moment, it coalesced once more into a ferocious dragon, more massive and terrifying than the previous nine lightning tribulations—this was the tenth level of the Platinum Phantom Tribulation!

And this level had to be endured personally by the one undergoing the tribulation—otherwise, all efforts of the previous nine levels would be in vain!

Sheathing her sword, Ye Zhiqiu casually wiped away the trace of bl0od at the corner of her mouth. Her sleeves fluttered gracefully, appearing calm and composed, yet deep crescent-shaped marks were pressed into her palm by her nails: Yan'er, this step... you must take it on your own...

Su Yan sat cross-legged in the scalding hot spring water, but her mind felt as if it had plunged into an icy abyss. The shattered Golden Core lingered in one place, stubbornly refusing to merge again—while the spiritual energy within her body visibly diminished at a discernible rate...

If this continued, not only would her attempt to form a Nascent Soul fail, but her meridians would shatter, leading to her death!

At this moment, the chaos in her sea of consciousness was a thousand times greater than in her dantian—the countless fragments of memory finally coalesced into an innocent, lively young girl—a round apple-like face, bright almond-shaped eyes, pure as the last spring of a heavenly pool. It was the image of Tong Tong.

—Why? Could it be that her inner demon was that foolish girl?

No! Impossible!

Unaware of the panic in her sea of consciousness, Su Yan's seated body began to bleed from her seven orifices, while the bl0od vessels beneath her fair skin swelled, as if on the verge of bursting through her skin, expanding and shattering at any moment!

Ye Zhiqiu watched Su Yan's increasingly grim expression with a calm gaze, her heart sinking deeper and deeper: Yan'er...

Su Yan stared coldly at Tong Tong, who smiled innocently at her in the sea of consciousness. Slowly raising her sword, Changhong, it brimmed with boundless k!lling intent—this was the third time she had felt the urge to k!ll the girl who could stir her emotions.

Yet no matter how dark and cold her expression, Tong Tong in the sea of consciousness continued to laugh joyfully, as if completely unaware of the impending danger...

Su Yan's gaze sharpened. Changhong erupted in a brilliant crimson light, slashing down toward the graceful, standing girl—

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