Blood dripped down the blade, Chu Xinxin's pupils dilated, and she finally regained her senses when her gaze fell on Xiao Linyi's pale face.
The clone also regained consciousness, released the sword hilt and retreated. Xiao Linyi lost his support, staggered forward a few steps, and fell to the ground.
"Xiao Linyi!" Chu Xinxin flew over to support him.
The spirit sword pierced through her chest and back. Chu Xinxin looked at the wound and felt as if her heart was being ripped out.
She couldn't understand why Xiao Linyi was inside the formation. Chu Fan and the others were restrained by the formation, and Xiao Linyi should have had very little spiritual power left when he arrived. They couldn't force him to go in.
Moreover, given his eyesight and cultivation level, he should have realized that he would be able to break the formation soon, so how did he still end up inside it!
"Use your spiritual power to protect your heart meridian, and I will transfer my spiritual power to you!" Chu Xinxin held Xiao Linyi's hand, trying to transfer spiritual power to him. However, when she probed Xiao Linyi's body with her spiritual sense, she found that his spiritual meridians were completely shattered.
"What happened?!" Chu Xinxin exclaimed in disbelief.
Xiao Linyi held her hand, trying to force a smile to reassure her that she was alright, but the pain was so intense that he could barely breathe.
Chu Fan chuckled to himself.
"What's going on? The person who started this is even hypocritically asking others what's going on."
Chu Xinxin raised her hand and gripped Chu Fan's neck tightly from a distance, glaring at him angrily: "Explain yourself!"
Chu Fan's face turned red, and he was about to die when Chu Xinxin finally let go of his hand.
He lay sprawled on the ground, coughing violently. Once he caught his breath, a chilling, sinister look returned to his face: "I hate being threatened, except for things that are interesting—"
"The Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams Formation is actually based on the entire Qiangze Secret Realm. Once the formation is activated, you are already in the formation from the moment you step into the secret realm. You are in the Yang formation, while he is in the Yin formation. You cannot see him, but he can see you."
"The damage you inflict on the formation will all be applied to him. His counterattack energy will be absorbed by the formation and then used to attack you again, in an endless cycle. Originally, you would have killed each other to death..."
"However, Master Zichen truly lives up to his reputation as the number one expert on the continent. The moment he stepped into the formation, he knew its intricacies and focused on defense against your attacks. If you hadn't attracted the heavenly lightning, he might have been able to break the formation quickly and lead you out of the Qiangze Secret Realm before the spiritual energy dissipated..."
"But it's not bad now, hahaha, he shielded you from the heavenly lightning and his spiritual veins were shattered, and you stabbed him in the heart with your sword to repay his kindness, hahaha, interesting, really interesting. With Master Zichen buried with you, this old man is content!"
After finishing his sentence, Chu Fan laughed heartily, looking completely satisfied.
"release."
Xiao Linyi was already numb with pain. He gathered some strength in his hands and lifted them to cup Chu Xinxin's face. His warm, dry fingertips wiped her lips, and he used a little force to free her tightly bitten lower lip.
Chu Xinxin then realized that she had bitten her lip and her mouth tasted blood.
"Don't believe him. I already used my spiritual power..." Xiao Linyi frowned. "Even without the heavenly lightning and this sword, I would have been depleted of spiritual power and wouldn't have lived for long."
"You're lying!" Chu Xinxin's eyes were red-rimmed, her voice strained: "I won't let anything happen to you—"
"System, can you help him reconnect the spiritual vein?"
Sister, yes, it's possible...
Chu Xinxin's heart skipped a beat, and before joy could even appear in her eyes, the system said again—
[But we don't have enough energy. You used a lot to improve your cultivation, and now I'm using hundreds of thousands of energy to help you fight the heavenly tribulation. We only have less than a thousand energy left. His cultivation is too high; helping him connect his spiritual veins will require at least a thousand.]
"Can't you exchange my cultivation for some energy in return?" Chu Xinxin asked anxiously.
[You can't dissipate; the heavenly lightning has already locked onto you. Even if it does dissipate, you'll be without cultivation, and resisting the heavenly lightning will only lead to your death. Xiao Linyi's favorability towards you hasn't reached its maximum; you cannot leave this world.]
Chu Xinxin: "Is there really no way at all?"
[Xiao Linyi probably thinks he's about to die, and his favorability rating is dropping again. Keep him calm for now, and I'll think of something else.]
Chu Xinxin opened her mouth but no sound came out, and tears finally welled up in her eyes and fell.
Xiao Linyi straightened up slightly and pulled her into his arms.
"Don't cry, it's my fault. I knew the Chu family had ulterior motives, yet I still left you all alone..." Xiao Linyi turned his head and kissed her hair. "Yesterday... it wasn't that I didn't want to go with you to get the marriage token. I thought about it every day. I even brewed your favorite wine in the backyard, wanting to drink it the day we got the marriage token, but..."
"Having only consumed the Spirit Dispersing Pill, I wonder whether I will ascend to the Immortal Realm or vanish into nothingness after thirty days?"
A voice suddenly interrupted him. Xiao Linyi looked in the direction of the voice and saw Tianji.
"Spirit Dispersing Pill..." Chu Fan, who was still breathing, murmured a few words after hearing this, then suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahaha, it turns out that True Person Zichen is a romantic at heart!"
"Is Master Chu smiling so happily because he saw me bring your son back?" Tianji mocked.
Chu Fan looked up abruptly and saw that Tianji was followed by a puppet.
The puppet obeyed Tianji's orders and threw the already dead young man from its shoulder in front of Chu Fan.
It was his trusted confidant who had just protected him, and also his only son.
After Chu Xinxin attracted the Heavenly Tribulation, Chu Fan told him to take the storage ring containing most of the Chu family's wealth and leave to hide and wait for the future. Unexpectedly, he encountered Tianji who was coming along.
Chu Fan's eyes were filled with malice and uncontrollable rage. With his last bit of strength, he crawled to Tianji's side and grabbed his clothes, saying, "You are truly ruthless!"
Tianji kicked him away: "Don't worry, to live up to your words, I will send all those people your Chu family moved away to join you."
Chu Fan was kicked to his last breath, and left this world with deep resentment and bitterness in his eyes.
Tianji sent his puppets to finish off Chu Tian and the others who were still barely clinging to life, and then came to Chu Xinxin's side.
Chu Xinxin looked up and stared into his eyes, asking, "What is the Spirit Dispersing Pill?"
Tianji ignored Xiao Linyi's warning and told Chu Xinxin about it.
“He took the Spirit Dispersing Pill some time ago, and his cultivation has regressed rapidly, so he couldn’t even dodge your clone’s sword just now.” Tianji added after saying that, “I’ve calculated that his chance to ascend is you. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.”
Tianji seemed certain that Chu Xinxin could save Xiao Linyi.
Chu Xinxin listened without saying anything, staring intently at Xiao Linyi's face.
Xiao Linyi felt a sudden pang of panic: "It's because my cultivation isn't high enough, it has nothing to do with you..."
Chu Xinxin suddenly moved closer, cupped his face in her hands, and pressed her forehead against his, asking, "Xiao Linyi, why do you like me so much? I have nothing, I have a lot of temper tantrums, and I like to tease you and deliberately misinterpret your meaning to embarrass you, so why do you still like me?"
Why do you like it?
A hint of warmth appeared in Xiao Linyi's eyes. He tightened his arms around her and gently brushed his nose against her. The fragrance of lily of the valley emanating from the girl was clear and pure, like a mountain spring, full of vitality, flowing through his long life of monotonous cultivation. He couldn't help but follow it with his gaze.
Xiao Linyi tucked Chu Xinxin's loose hair behind her ear: "I don't know, I just liked her at first sight."
......
"Sister, get ready, the tenth heavenly lightning strike is coming." The system suddenly spoke, interrupting Chu Xinxin and Xiao Linyi's conversation. "I need your cooperation for this heavenly lightning strike that tests spiritual awareness."
Chu Xinxin seemed not to hear her and said, "Give him my spiritual veins."
"What spiritual vein... Sister, are you crazy? Without a spiritual vein, your body, made of spiritual energy, will quickly dissipate. If Xiao Linyi's favorability isn't maxed out, you'll die even if I can't bring your soul back!"
"This shouldn't require much energy, and I'll give him all the spiritual energy I have too."
It won't use much, but...
"But if I don't switch with him now, he'll die right now. If I hadn't underestimated him, he wouldn't be like this at all!"
Xiao Linyi will not agree!
"Then knock him out!"
After Chu Xinxin finished speaking, she put her finger behind Xiao Linyi's neck and pressed on an acupoint. A look of surprise flashed in Xiao Linyi's eyes, and then he lost consciousness.
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