Chapter 48 I am the tree, and its warm embrace drew me in…
48
Dust settled, head tilted back. The festering wounds that had been swallowed by the internal organs were disappearing, leaving behind a tingling, numb sensation.
He stood still.
Quietly admire spring appearing above the abyss.
It was like a blue flower suddenly emerging from the dark well opening.
When his inner palace is damaged to a certain extent, his consciousness will be trapped there, falling into a state of chaos. He can indeed remain conscious amidst the excruciating pain, but he has indeed never found a way to break through.
But the most powerful person in the world has already come to save him.
"This...this is..."
Dongfang Qianye retreated hastily, but the speed of his retreat was completely beyond his control. The white embers under his palm were still being released at an extremely fast speed, but were quickly and mercilessly withdrawn by the power of time reversal.
This was the first time Dongfang Qianye truly realized what the power he so desperately wanted to create meant.
"The only...the only one?..."
Before the passage of time, no spiritual power or magical technique can withstand it.
Because all of this is not in the same time or phase as time.
When the white-haired sun was completely shattered, the pale light illuminating the abyss was slowly swallowed up by darkness once more.
With his hands behind his back, the ashes re-formed wings behind him, which he then proudly shook.
With a flap of its wings, the person flew away.
This is his inner palace; any attack from external forces would cause him great damage. Similarly, he can certainly sense any disturbance.
He realized it the instant the sapling peeked in.
She must be very, very worried about him.
I feel so sorry for him.
I really, really want to see him.
Dust settled as he emerged from the pitch-black abyss, his eyes sparkling with joy as he watched the inner world outside slowly transform back into a scorching inferno. His refined figure, clad in pristine white, walked across the scorched earth, hands behind his back.
After admiring it for a while, he finally turned around and faced the abyss—
It was pitch black, surrounded by skeletons on all sides.
It turns out that the so-called abyss in the inner palace was actually a huge, empty pit at the very core of his body.
This deep opening remained in his chest cavity, constantly piercing the cold winds, hiding all his evil and wicked thoughts, becoming a natural dwelling place for evil spirits, which is why even Dongfang Qianye could hardly see into the ground.
But now, he stands with his hands behind his back at the entrance of the abyss.
He smelled the icy wood essence in the air, which gently brushed against his face.
The ice robes of Beiling protected her spiritual bones, and she used the second gift very well.
Dust settled down and muttered to herself, "Alright then, I won't blame you for forgetting."
"...Anyway, we'll find it."
A smile played at the corners of his eyes as he reached out and caught a fallen leaf that had descended upon his inner chambers. He lowered his gaze and suddenly paused.
He looked up and rushed upwards.
…
Miao Jue kept her eyes tightly closed, letting her spiritual energy flow through her dust-covered limbs and bones, tracing back along the path of the spreading white ashes.
The more I looked along the way, the more shocking it became.
Having received a blow from Bai Jin after Dust Subsides, he had been forcibly suppressing his strength until he collapsed. However, after repeatedly breaking into the Fourth Ring and having to fight back with all his might, when his strength was depleted, all the Bai Jin crane feathers took advantage of the situation and began to spread rapidly.
The moment Miao Jue entered his inner palace, he almost didn't recognize him.
It was as if this body belonged to a different person.
The white, molten feathers that spread throughout this inner palace were intertwined and tangled, some of them already deeply embedded like tree roots... That must have been extremely painful.
The reason why intruding into someone else's inner world is an extremely private and cautious matter is precisely because the slightest carelessness can leave irreversible damage to the other party's spiritual bones and consciousness.
Even if an ordinary cultivator's inner palace is spied on, they will feel violent turmoil, let alone have their inner palace invaded and devoured inch by inch.
This feels no different from being struck by lightning or having your brain repeatedly cut open.
How did he manage to endure it all the way, chatting and laughing, and still bear the weight of everyone's burdens?
How can someone be so twisted and have such a high pain tolerance?
Miao Jue pressed his lips tightly together, sweat beading on his forehead.
She meticulously and fiercely pursued all the white hairs in his inner world, mercilessly eliminating every inch of them, as if she were conducting a thorough cleaning in his world.
She needs to remain extremely clear-headed and extremely careful, controlling the power of rewind within the white ashes without affecting his original appearance.
In no time, Miaojue's clothes were soaked with cold sweat.
But she dared not stop, and with one burst of energy, she dispersed the hateful white light, completely reversing the infectious catastrophe, until his inner chambers finally turned dark again.
Miao Jue finally breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, her spiritual sense was also ejected by the other party's renewed and powerful protective mechanism, and she opened her eyes.
"Wonderful!"
Several hands and claws simultaneously supported her.
“He…” Her consciousness returned to its original state, and she realized her voice was slightly hoarse when she spoke, “He should be alright now, don’t worry.”
The white-robed youth's eyes remained closed, but they could sense that the Golden Crow's aura was becoming stable.
However, once the inner palace is invaded, the sea of consciousness will become chaotic and self-sealed, and it is only a matter of time before one breaks through and emerges from it.
Miaojue's brows relaxed slightly, but she closed her eyes tightly again.
Her crisis truly began at this moment.
The Heavenly Spirit Bone was growing wildly, the tree was growing taller, and the highest bud on the tree crown finally crossed the invisible boundary.
Fuji's golden eyes looked at her with concern, "Breaking through the Heavenly Bone with a human body is inherently risky, and your spiritual bone is extremely special. None of our spiritual systems can merge and regenerate with you, Miaomiao, you—"
Before the expert could respond, he was swept away by a violent tremor and suddenly entered an indescribable realm.
Soaring prices, skyrocketing.
To outsiders, this slender girl, as delicate as a pine tree, seemed to have suddenly grown up on a majestic mountain peak.
A tremendous surge of power suddenly erupted from her body. It wasn't any kind of spiritual attribute they were familiar with, yet this spiritual current flowed slowly through her...
Even the naturally massive Netherworld Clan sensed the surging power.
It was as if a long river, reaching to the heavens, was rushing past before my eyes.
“Her spiritual bone growth was originally very steady,” Bu Er and Yang Wu exchanged a glance. He could vaguely understand the will that the only remaining one had left behind. “Accumulating step by step, Miao Miao’s meridians could originally withstand it, but in order to save Xiao Shi, she overused herself the moment she broke through to the Heavenly level—”
“Furthermore, the power she just fought against was almost equivalent to that of Xiao Shi…” Fuji said solemnly, “The person inside the Zero Ring has already replicated the Ember Bone.”
Everyone showed expressions of shock and anger.
The girl's face was pale, and her whole body was trembling, as if she was trying her best to steer the ship in this turbulent river.
Bei Ling Bingyi protected her meridians, and her body was filled with icy blue spiritual light particles that vibrated and collided.
This was clearly extremely dangerous, but the adults surrounding her could do nothing and paced anxiously in circles.
Yang Wu touched Miao Jue's spiritual platform. "Bei Ling Bing Yi is the only thing left. Miao Miao's spiritual bones can survive, but I don't know if she can stay conscious."
Xianba: "But we can't just sit here and wait, can we?"
Zhu Jiu: "But what if helping them rashly backfires?"
Ling Qi stomped her hooves, then suddenly looked up: "Oh no."
Along the high walls of the three-ring maze, one after another, more and more figures appeared in the silence, like crows hanging in the sky.
Just then, the real offensive from within the Langhuan Immortal Court began.
Fuji and the others' expressions turned serious.
Although they can suppress and manipulate those weaker than themselves with higher spiritual power of the same element, it is ultimately unlike Jin Shi's blood control power, which can directly turn people into puppets from the inside out.
Clearly, the Langhuan Immortal Court also understood the timing of this battle. With Jin Shi unconscious and the magic technique in disarray, the Netherworld Clan had already been trapped like beasts all the way to this point.
Although the protection of bloodline still exists, with eleven dead and nine no longer present, it collapses on its own.
In the blink of an eye, the three-ringed high wall, which had been circling around the wall, was filled with a dense mass of true immortals.
After a century of reproduction, longevity, and generational succession, they all possess extremely pure Xuanling bones and extraordinary immortal techniques.
At this moment, they were all watching quietly, their eyelids slightly drooping as they looked down, their gazes revealing only a sliver, appearing detached from the world and untouched by cause and effect.
These immortals knew perfectly well that without Ming Shi, with the current weakened state of the Netherworld Clan, they could kill one Netherworld Clan member with an average of three to five Xuan Bone True Immortals.
"Bai Xi is gone, and Canglong is now just a soul. Tu Jiaolu is not a powerful beast. Although the remaining lower-ranking beasts are all troublesome, they are not things that can reach the heavens."
"As long as the Golden Crow dies, the bloodline's protection will be activated..."
"What about the Fire Qilin?"
"He doesn't need to worry... Isn't the Gongyu family the expert in defeating fire unicorns?"
The voices on the wall were indifferent and leisurely, looking at the Netherworld race within the four rings as if they were looking at the pure cranes kept here.
So some people started to get restless.
The Netherworld Clan fought desperately, though they had been thoroughly exploited, they were still true divine beings...
If we can take one or two of them away from here, ensuring the family's prosperity for another hundred years will be no problem.
Seeing that the girl was trembling all over and in extremely poor condition, and that Ming Shi still had his eyes closed and had not yet woken up, the time had come.
Several members of the inner ring immortal clan exchanged glances, and dozens of them rushed down first, wanting to seize the first blood after the bloodline protection dissipated. However, just as they landed and impacted, those Netherworld Clan members were like ferocious beasts whose cubs had been approached, suddenly roaring and going berserk.
The first immortal to break the taboo was flung away by the Qilin's tail, his spiritual bones shattered, while the golden protective array above the Netherworld Clan's heads remained intact.
"Didn't they say they could break the bloodline protection?! The enlightened ruler, he..."
"How is Ming Shi still alive after what happened to him?!"
On the wall, several elder immortals from the Dongfang family narrowed their eyes slightly and made a quick and accurate judgment.
"Where's the Immortal-Trapping Stone? Quickly—"
"Set up the ten major seals."
Once the Ten Great Seals are completed, they will be shrouded in the protection of the bloodline, and the power of the Netherworld race within the seal array will still be blocked, making it as easy as catching a turtle in a jar.
This is something that Langhuan has been polishing for a hundred years, just to prepare for this day.
Although the tribulations of fate and love have been fraught with difficulties, they are finally coming to an end, and the great undertaking is about to be accomplished.
Of course, only the members of the Dongfang family knew best at this moment that their gazes were not on the Netherworld Clan, but on—the girl behind the Netherworld Clan.
The wise ruler instructed that she must be brought under control at any cost.
If not, then destroy her completely.
That force must never be fully realized!
Thus, a complex array of seals began to be built layer by layer in mid-air, imitating the Ten Great Seals of the Heavenly Realm, using countless Immortal-Binding Stones as a foundation, and rapidly taking shape like building a tall building.
"Even if Ming Shi didn't die, his divine consciousness, which had been explored by the Ming Lord, could never have awakened so quickly."
"He won't be able to leave the inner sanctum of chaos. Even if he doesn't die, he'll be unconscious for ten days."
"This time is enough."
The battle between the two sides was about to break out, but the people of the Underworld calmed down instead.
Compared to a hundred years ago, this scene is nothing.
Fuji fully transformed into his true form as a Kirin, his extended giant tail encircling the Mystic Technique and Dust Gathering within. He originally intended to protect Yang Wu, who had just thawed, in the same way, but she simply dusted off the dirt and slowly stood up.
Everyone formed a circle, completely protecting the two people at the very center, with only one clear thought remaining.
At the crucial moment of Miao Miao's spiritual bone advancement, Jin Shi was breaking free from the Chaos Inner Palace.
"Protect the children."
...
The secret was like a swaying leaf, and consciousness fell into a kind of illusory state.
In a daze, she seemed to have turned into a small insect.
She was climbing along a giant tree that reached the sky, towards the depths of its dense shade, which she could not see and which stretched straight to the heavens.
The little insect was not on its own, because the giant tree she was climbing was shaking, as if the tree trunk was welcoming a cataclysmic event.
She could only cling tightly to the tree bark, barely managing not to fall.
If only she really were a giant centipede...
That way, I should be able to hold on firmly and not be blown about by the wind...
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, her blank consciousness snapped back to reality for a moment, and she suddenly remembered what she was doing.
She is breaking through to the Heavenly Spirit Bone.
Her older siblings stayed by her side, but Chen Jinshi was still unconscious.
The system's voice could be heard from near and far, but the key points were hard to make out.
"...Your attempt to break through to the Spirit Bone Realm is more uncertain than others...but Beiling Bingyi will protect you, don't be afraid..."
The system also knew that the people of Langhuan would not let her break through to the next level so easily.
Because within that bird's consciousness, she relentlessly crushed all of Dongfang Qianye's white ashes, he would inevitably stop her.
Miaojue vaguely sensed resistance. First, a faint voice came from the wind, telling her to give up, to stop, and that continuing upwards was dangerous.
Ignoring the tip, the little insect wriggled and climbed upwards.
Soon she heard the sounds of ice blades clashing and water and fire colliding, which turned into a fierce wind that blew towards her, as if blowing her off a tree and smashing her to pieces.
He still didn't listen to the tip, nor did he stop.
She began to feel hot; it was as if a tremendous force was rising from deep within her bones, carrying with it an extremely high temperature as it flowed through them.
She felt cool because she was wearing a cool coat that gently covered her body.
But as the magic trick climbed higher, the wear and tear on this cool outer garment became increasingly noticeable.
Just as she was about to grind the first hole in it, she saw the top of the tree.
The tree's crown was an enormous, layered ring of annual growth, with verdant light shimmering along the growth marks of the rings.
The tree trunk she climbed up was like a top bud inverted on a tree ring, held in her hand by this little insect.
Upon seeing this familiar scene, Miaojue's dazed consciousness returned somewhat.
So she reached out her hand.
The towering tree, the full moon rings, and the towering buds suddenly transformed into a surging stream of spiritual energy, rushing towards her fingertips!
But she, she was really only as big as a tiny insect compared to all these things.
That instant was like a raging wave crashing onto ants, the celestial power far surpassing the mortal realm flowing like a torrent.
How can a small boat bear the weight of a single leaf?
But the ingenious technique didn't retract to the fingertips.
She must bear it—
Miao Jue fully regained consciousness the moment the torrent engulfed her, her fingertips and cheeks tensing as she heard the first cracking sound of the ice armor.
She's not some little bug.
She is the giant tree itself.
...
The surging torrent began to divide, rushing into the girl's meridians that extended in all directions like branches and leaves.
Miaojue felt an unprecedented sense of growth.
All her meridians and branches were rapidly being tempered and growing, like vines reaching for the sky. The spirit bone tree within her inner palace was growing rapidly, almost bursting out of her body.
Miaojue kept thinking amidst the violent tremors: if it were any other ordinary elemental spirit, would there be a specific manifestation when it ascended to the Heavenly Realm?
For example, they receive the resonance of all spiritual essences of the same attribute in the world, thus gaining greater power. Just as an Earth-level Fire Spirit Bone can control a sea of fire, a Heaven-level Fire Spirit Bone can control a volcano stretching for hundreds of miles.
Ordinary ice spirit bones can turn water into ice, while Xuan-grade ice spirit bones can plunge the entire continent into an ice age.
The reasons for their promotions were very straightforward.
What about the spirit bones of time?
This power seemed to have no tangible manifestation. Miaojue suppressed the turbulent power within her body and slowly stretched out her hand, trembling.
She gently grasped it in her hand, and suddenly the entire sky rippled like the wrinkles in fabric.
Raindrops turn back into dust particles, and drifting clouds turn back into gentle breezes.
She continued to exert force, and the folds in the sky broke apart inch by inch. Each broken section could be extracted, representing a point in time.
Time is now fully visualized.
However, this is not the end.
Miao Jue heard the ice armor inside her body make a second cracking sound, and to make matters worse, it made three, four, five, and six more cracking sounds in succession.
Cracks spread across the ice armor. The good news was that this meant her Heavenly Bone was nearing completion. The bad news was that after the ice armor shattered, the power of the Heavenly Bone surged several times over!
Miao Jue felt a tightness in his chest, and the spiritual energy in his hand almost instantly lost its strength.
Her vision blurred, and she faintly heard a booming sound coming from a distant place.
...
Within the four rings, the Underworld Clan, relying on the protection of their bloodline, forcefully resisted the ten major seals.
The Immortal-Binding Stone has trapped them for a hundred years. This power is specifically designed to counter the Netherworld Clan. They have been constantly breaking through the seal formation and killing the Immortal Clan, but the space for them to breathe has become less and less.
The inner ring wall in the distance was entirely constructed of Immortal-Binding Stones, right there in their former homeland, their ancestral land, where things that resisted them grew everywhere.
"Give up—"
"You will never be able to set foot in the inner ring road in your lifetime."
"Hand over that girl, and I'll guarantee you a proper burial—"
Suddenly, without warning, an invisible stream of spiritual energy erupted from the girl and surged forward!
Everyone turned around in astonishment, only to find that she had not woken up. The airflow blew the hair on the girl's forehead, and her appearance of having undergone the Heavenly Bone Transcendence technique looked fragile and delicate, but the burst of spiritual energy rushed directly towards the high wall of the Third Ring Road.
It is no exaggeration to say that this high wall, stretching for hundreds of miles, was destroyed in the blink of an eye.
It has vanished without a trace.
The inner ring boundary has disappeared.
At that moment, not only the immortals present, the immortal sects watching from the inner ring, and the carefree immortals in the core, but even Bu Er and the others were completely astonished.
But the spiritual energy emanating from the girl did not stop, like a terrifying cannonball enveloping the universe, causing distortion and collapse wherever it landed.
"What...what the hell is this?!"
An unprecedented and destructive shock has emerged.
Beside the girl, the young man in white finally twitched his fingertips.
…
The secret to how the external world was destroyed remains completely unknown.
All she knew was that the spiritual bones within her body were growing hotter and hotter, their rapid growth nearing its peak, and her ice armor was already as thin as a cicada's wing.
What exactly will impacting the Heavenly Bone bring her?
It is a tempering of the mind.
It is a force that cannot be fully controlled.
besides……
In the final moments of turmoil, memories surged toward her.
The Heavenly Spirit Bone unlocked part of her long-sealed mind, but she couldn't control the power she possessed, and seeing all the fragments was like looking at flowers through a fog.
But one thing is certain.
In most of these lost memories, there is one person involved.
Countless scenes flashed before her eyes, too fast to grasp, but she finally remembered something...
I remembered a gift.
I remember his hands covered in blood, his eyes filled with desperation.
Miaojue desperately wanted to see clearly, so she strained her eyes to see, and finally, the moment she saw what was in his hand, she heard a giant tree crash to the ground inside her body.
The ice-covered garment of Beiling shattered into pieces in an instant, fluttering down like falling snow.
The uncontrollable aftershocks swept outwards, and the surging spiritual energy of the Heavenly Bone scattered. She heard the sounds of panicked escape from the outside world, and heard her older brother and sister shouting her name.
Finally, a warm embrace enveloped her, drawing all her strength back into her.
…
Miao Jue suddenly opened his eyes.
The world before my eyes was a complete mess.
The people of the Underworld were all unharmed, but the fourth ring was covered with broken stones, the third ring of high walls had disappeared, and the ground was littered with dead and wounded immortals.
"Look what you've done."
A teasing, clear voice rang in my ears, as wicked as ever.
Miaojue blinked blankly before turning her head to meet a pair of captivating peach blossom eyes.
The aftershocks of the massive earthquake within her body were still lingering; she was still dazed, her memory seemingly frozen at the moment she saw the gift he had given her years ago.
Chen Jinshi felt a little nervous under her gaze.
From the open inner ring in the distance, a woman slowly emerged, searching for someone amidst the chaos.
Chen Jinshi was now fully awake, and thankfully, he hadn't been too late in breaking through the inner chaos.
He paid no attention to anything else, only staring intently into Miaojue's eyes. A thousand words slid down his throat, and finally, he stood up, holding the precious sapling, and coughed twice.
"Did you see me in the inner palace? I angered that old geezer to death. Oh, you probably can't find me, because I'm in a corner you've forgotten about."
"You little sapling, you're really courting death! Are you afraid I'll die?"
"I won't die, don't worry, my time will keep moving forward."
While soothing her surging spiritual energy, Chen Jinshi kept talking in her ear, as if afraid she would fall asleep.
"Oh, see that woman? That's the one your second brother was tricked back then. Tsk tsk, a woman's heart is unfathomable. Of course, an honest guy like Bu Er got hurt badly. I wouldn't..."
Miao Jue finally snapped out of his daze from the familiar voice, as if waking from a deep dream, utterly exhausted.
twitter.
It's so noisy.
The secret lies in closing your eyes and feeling the Heavenly Bone fully grow inside your body, spreading and extending, with emerald green flowing between your meridians, lush and verdant.
The dust settles, revealing a bird in its pristine state.
It's the kind that comes with the arrival of spring.
He had just escaped death, yet he seemed more energetic than ever. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pinched her shoulders, tugged at her little finger, and fidgeted with her all over.
Finally, I couldn't help but ask, "So, what have you remembered now?"
The brilliant idea remained unspoken.
She felt very tired, so she leaned against him.
Chen Jinshi lowered his eyes, the corners of his eyes curving up for some reason, and pressed down on the corners of his lips: "What are you doing?"
Miaojue's eyes were half-closed, and her voice was gentle and soft, like a small flower falling into his abyss.
“But—” she began slowly.
"Hmm?" Chen Jinshi hurriedly lowered his head.
“But even if we go back in time, the pain is still there—” Miaojue said slowly as she leaned against him, “It still hurts, doesn’t it?”
Chen Jinshi was stunned for a moment.
An indescribable glint flickered in his dark eyes. "Oh, it doesn't hurt—"
But the girl in his arms leaned against him, finally exhausted, and drooped her head, her forehead resting on his heaving chest.
After a moment of silence, Miaojue reached out and touched his empty chest. "It must hurt here too."
As the dust settled, his pupils suddenly contracted.
Suddenly he felt his blood rushing to that spot. He stood there, stunned, unable to say a word, only feeling numb all over his body.
He touched his chest and thought to himself.
How strange.
It was clearly empty.
But then he heard a heartbeat.
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