Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Besides providing a convenient hiding place, the deep forests played another role.
There were more than just the challengers of the Heavenly Knife Region and the Purple Cloud Palace in the core region of the deep forests. Therefore, entering the deep forests could confuse those people who were tracking them.
Half a day after his encounter with Qian Feng, Su Yu had returned to the depths of the jungle.
The enemies had used their Void-crossing abilities to nearly catch them several times, but Su Yu had avoided all of their attempts by sensing the space vibration in advance. It had been frightening, but they had never been in real danger.
Just as Su Yu had expected, he came across many challengers who were strangers to him along the way. They belonged to neither the Blessed and Heavenly Lands nor the Heavenly Knife Region. Their presence had indeed diverted the attention of the strong men of the Heavenly Knife Region, for the number of fighters hot on their heels had gradually dwindled.
After approximately two hours, no trace of the enemies had been seen. Su Yu’s eyes shone with a shrewd light as he descended a cliff. Halfway down the cliff was the entrance to the nests and lairs dug by demonic beasts. With cover provided by the mountains and clouds, it was a very secretive spot.
Inside the cave, Su Yu laid Lü Chuyi down. He pressed his index and middle fingers on her wrist, instilling her with some Vital Energy which circulated around her body.
After completing his examination, Su Yu’s brows were slightly furrowed. Her injuries weren’t overly severe, but they weren’t negligible either. Lü Chuyi was bathed in blood, her Vital Energy and bodily strength used up. However, these injuries were only superficial; it was the blow from traitor of the Purple Cloud Palace that was the most severe of all. It had severed several of her meridians and caused tremendous trauma to her internal organs. In addition, with the shortage of Vital Energy in her body, she had lost her self-healing ability and thus required external aid.
Su Yu’s ninth-grade fairy Vital Energy could barely reconnect her severed meridians, and treat the injuries to her internal organs. Even if she could be treated, Lü Chuyi would still be unable to engage in an intense fight for a short period of time.
She needed someone to look after her.
As Su Yu gazed at her unconscious delicate face, scenes of the times he spent with her in the Heavenly Mysterious Divine Pavilion flashed across the depths of his memory like streams of water. From the awe-inspiring admiration he had felt at the very beginning, to the embrace on the night she had an encounter with death, and finally to the unique bond they formed amidst the sea of fire. His memory was fixed at the final scene, and remorse filled his heart. Su Yu couldn’t get over the fact that he had taken a woman’s innocence, let alone a woman who already had a lover.
“I’ll save you this time so that we’re equal,” Su Yu muttered under his breath.
With the amount of perils in the Glittering Jewel Wonderland, using up all of one’s Vital Energy to heal another person was dangerous enough, not forgetting the terrifying pursuit of the Heavenly Knife Region behind them. Saving her this time would pay all of the debts he owed her.
He was decisive in taking action once he had made up his mind. Su Yu used Vital Energy to haul her up and seated her before himself in a crossed-leg manner.
Gently, he pressed his palms on her back. The soft touch was like as warm and comfortable as cotton.
Su Yu’s eyes were clear. Inside his vast Dantian, Vital Energy was roiling turbulently as it gushed into Lü Chuyi’s body. The Vital Energy reached her meridians and piercing pain shot from the severed parts to the depths of Lü Chuyi’s brain, jolting her awake from her coma.
Her bright eyes opened up gradually. After some hazy confusion, Lü Chuyi slammed the ground with both her hands and was about to spring up as she cried out softly, “Who’s there!”
She remembered being badly injured by Zhao Li and so realized that she could have already fallen into the hands of Qian Feng.
However, before she could get up, a large hand pressed onto her shoulder. Su Yu’s voice resonated from behind her. “Try to guide me while I instill Vital Energy to repair your meridians.”
Lü Chuyi’s body gradually stopped moving. Shocked, she queried, “Su Yuxian?” As she turned to look, she found that it really was him.
“It’s my honor that you remember my voice.” Su Yu was quite surprised that Lü Chuyi had done so. There hadn’t been much interaction between Su Yuxian and Lü Chuyi.
Lü Chuyi turned her head to look at Su Yu. She gazed intently at the eyes behind the silver mask, and a dullness passed through the depths of her eyes. “Master Su is a man of awesome talents. Of course I know you.”
As a matter of fact, it was all because Su Yuxian bore a shocking resemblance to the remnant figure of the silver-haired youth in her mind. Thus she had paid more attention to Su Yuxian without even realizing, and had remembered his voice too.
“It’s an over-compliment, Miss Lü.” Su Yu withdrew the palm pressed on her dainty shoulder and began instilling Vital Energy with both hands again.
Lü Chuyi turned around and lowered her head in silence.
For some unknown reason, she trusted Su Yuxian a lot, in the same way she trusted that silver-haired youth, Yinyu.
“Sorry for the trouble, Master Su,” Lü Chuyi said in a quiet voice. Slowly, she closed her eyes and guided his Vital Energy to repair her meridians and heal her internal injuries.
After circulating for a whole cycle, the severed meridians were repaired. That just left the damaged internal organs, which also required another full cycle.
The so-called cycle referred to the cycle in which the Vital Energy circulated through all of the meridians in the body once. A full cycle happened when it circulated through all nine of the main meridians and all 81 of the side meridians.
“Master Su, I’ll heal the wounds on my own now. Since my meridians are repaired, I can absorb Vital Energy by myself,” Lü Chuyi said.
The physical bodies of Almighty were far stronger than fairies. The amount of Vital Energy required for conducting a full cycle far exceeded the meridians of fairies. For late-stage eighth-grade Almighty like her, the Vital Energy needed for a full cycle was even more massive.
To her, it was surprising enough that Su Yu had managed a full cycle in her body with his ninth-grade fairy cultivation. It seemed that Su Yuxian had sturdy fundamentals as a fairy, which far surpassed the ordinary ninth-grade fairies.
The following treatment would need to circulate the Vital Energy through the 49 side meridians near her internal organs for more than ten partial cycles, it would take an amount of Vital Energy that was no less than that of a full cycle. With Su Yu’s cultivation, it was obvious that he couldn’t carry on.
Su Yu still had his eyes closed. Without even lifting his head, he said detachedly, “Be at ease and guide me. You don’t have to worry about the Vital Energy.”
Lü Chuyi was surprised. She turned back to look, and much to her awe, Su Yu’s face showed no sign of discomfort even after instilling such a vast amount of Vital Energy.
Perturbed, Lü Chuyi continued guiding the Vital Energy to treat the injuries to her internal organs. For every cycle performed, she would turn back to look at Su Yu’s appearance, and every single time, she became more stupefied.
“It’s been three partial cycles. Do you still have any Vital Energy left?” Lü Chuyi was in complete awe now.
Usually at the fairy stage, the more massive the Vital Energy in the Dantian, the easier it was when condensing the fetal crystal. Besides, the fetal crystal would be more solid and more able to unleash power far greater than his peers.
Back when Brother Taixu was a ninth-grade fairy, his Vital Energy reservoir in the Dantian was roughly equivalent to the one full cycle and five partial cycles I’m having right now. Now Su Yuxian has reached one full cycle and three partial cycles, which is quite similar to Brother Taixu! Lü Chuyi marveled inwardly.
Initially, she had thought that Su Yuxian was only proficient in the Mu words. She hadn’t realized his fairy fundamentals were this frightening.
But very quickly, her shock turned into stupefaction. Before long, Su Yu had completed the fifth partial cycle. He still didn’t look any different on the surface.
How did he actually train his Dantian? Lü Chuyi was amazed. The training of Dantian required a strong determination to suppress the cultivation and refine the Dantian with Vital Energy by force. This compelled the Dantian to become more solid in order to accommodate more Vital Energy.
Perhaps Gu Taixu’s Vital Energy reservoir wasn’t the first in the continent, but it was more than enough to be ranked among the top ten in the continent.
Lü Chuyi was truly fascinated by how Su Yu surpassed it with such ease.
Su Yu had a tranquil facial expression as he continuously circulated the Vital Energy in her body.
The sixth cycle!
The seventh cycle!
The eighth cycle!
Lü Chuyi was astonished beyond words. She regarded Su Yu in a completely different light now! He wasn’t an insignificant challenger of unknown origins. He was a superior Heaven Ruler! Insufficient attention had been paid to him. Although he couldn’t possibly keep pace with topmost Heaven Rulers like Gu Taixu, he was certainly heads and shoulders above most of his peers.
The ninth cycle!
The tenth cycle!
Just as Su Yu had expected, all of his Vital Energy had been used up, and his face turned pale for the first time.
Bright waves of brilliance sparkled in Lü Chuyi’s charming eyes. She gave Su Yuxian an appraising look from head to toe as if getting to know him all over again. “Master Su, the strength of your Dantian is the rarest I have seen in my life!”
Perhaps not even the True Man of the Purple Cloud had seen such powerful, mutated Dantian before. She certainly had not.
After all, remolding the Dantian was easier said than done. Which martial artists would willingly attempt to destroy their own Dantians and train them from the beginning again? No one would if they hadn’t been in a hopeless plight like the one in which Su Yu’s Dantian had been shattered.
Su Yu exhaled a mouthful of murky breath and weaved signs with his hands. Without even opening his eyes, he said, “Miss Lü, make the most of the time to recover your Vital Energy now. Time is running out.” The hunters could catch up with them anytime!
Sensing Su Yu’s wish to keep people away, Lü Chuyi gazed at Su Yu’s eyes and her lips moved a little, as though she wanted to say something. But then she just nodded quietly, and said, “Thanks a lot.”
She didn’t question Su Yu’s motive in helping her, because there really wasn’t much interaction between them.
Su Yu had taken the risk of facing a scarcity of Vital Energy and had insisted on saving her in a precarious situation in which the enemies were in hot pursuit. What was his intention?
She already had an answer in mind.
Half an hour had passed. They had been making the most out of every second to recover their Vital Energy. With the aid of all sorts of spiritual elixirs and wonderful remedies, Su Yu had recovered 30 percent of his Vital Energy, and Lü Chuyi almost 30 percent.
It would hardly suffice if they needed to run for their lives, and it would be quite dangerous for them to fight enemies, especially when they were outnumbered.
Just when they were about to continue, the tips of Su Yu’s ears quivered, and his eyes abruptly grew wide. Five demonic dragons penetrated from his chest, growling as they made their way out of the cave in the cliff.
A scream of misery sounded from outside the cave, and the whizzing sound of the air being pierced quickly disappeared.
With a flash of his figure, Su Yu rushed outside the cave at the speed of lightning. The vague figure of a human disappeared at the edge of the sky. Su Yu wanted to pursue the person but had lost sight of the target.
Looking at the air, pieces of black ashes floated down lightly. Su Yu recognized the clothing of the Heavenly Knife Region. One of their members had been killed, and another had run away!
“We have to leave very soon.” Su Yu’s brows were creased.
The opponent possessed the magical power of Void teleportation. It was only a matter of time before they got hold of their general location and caught up with them.
Lü Chuyi’s red lips were pursed. She looked over at Su Yu, rolled up her sleeves and bent to pay him respect. Somberly, she said, “Master Su, Chuyi will remember your kindness in saving me for the rest of my life. But the target of the Heavenly Knife Region is me, and it has nothing to do with you. You should quickly escape. I will stay here to buy you some time.”
Su Yu heaved a silent sigh. How could he leave Lü Chuyi here all by herself? If you decided to help someone, you had to help them to the very best of your ability. He hadn’t helped her to resolve the crisis at hand, so how could he leave her alone?
Moreover, with her injured body, she couldn’t buy him any time and would be tamed by powerful ninth-grade Almighty like Zhao Li after a few rounds. There was also still the unscrupulous Qian Feng.
“How are you going to meet your Brother Taixu if you’re dead? Come with me. There might be a way to deal with them,” Su Yu said with a shrewd gleam in his eyes, ideas already forming in his mind.
Lü Chuyi was startled. She lifted her gaze to look at Su Yu and her heart fluttered.
After a moment of hesitation, she looked into Su Yu’s eyes and asked, “Master Su, I’d like to ask if you know a person named Yinyu?”
Su Yu felt a tug on his heartstrings. She still remembered him.
For an instant, Su Yu had wanted to confess. Finally, he shook his head and said, “No, I don’t.”
He took a step forward with his hands on his back and strode further into the depths of the forest.
They had only been gone a short while when five seams appeared in midair in front of the cliff. Qian Feng, Zhao Li, and the other strong men of the Heavenly Knife Region strode out from the seams.
Zhao Li stared at the cave and said, “I’ll go in and search!”
Qian Feng cast a light glance at the cave. He then stared at the deeper parts of the forest and said coldly, “No need to check the cave.”
Su Yu and Lü Chuyi would only still be there if they were completely reckless. Judging from the killing hunt along the way, Su Yu was a man of outstanding intelligence so had headed straight for the core region of the jungle. There was no reason that he would still be in the cave now.
“Our target is the core region of the book yard!” Qian Feng’s severed right arm had recovered, and it was clenched into a fist. Dreadful murderous desires were being emitted from his eyes. “Leading me into the depths of the jungle, fine! I’ll play with you this time!”
Swish!
A massive group of challengers was closing in on the center of book yard like dark clouds. Such tremendous power wasn’t something a lone soldier could withstand.
Even though Su Yu had numerous abilities, he couldn’t possibly handle this many strong men. Once their opponents caught them up, they would stand no chance of survival unless they were able to escape again.
With the imminent crisis fast approaching, Su Yu and Lü Chuyi arrived at the center of the book yard. Even though it was the center of the book yard, it was deserted at the moment. The recent intense battle between the Heavenly Knife Region and the Purple Cloud Palace had scared many people, dispersing them to other areas.
Another reason for the lack of activity was that the news about the strong men of the Heavenly Knife Region closing in on this region in considerable numbers had been spread around, so the challengers had escaped.
“Why have we returned to the central region?” Lü Chuyi was baffled. If they found Gu Taixu or joined with the people of the Red Blood Palace perhaps they still stood a chance. If they solely depending on the two of them, their odds of victory were none-existant.
Su Yu glanced at their surroundings and narrowed his eyes. “This place gives us a chance to get out of our predicament.”
He caressed the ring on his fingertip with one hand. Nine round balls of similar sizes were suspended on the surface of Su Yu’s body. Eight of them were silver-white in color, and one of them was yellow-blue.
As she stared at the eight silver-white round balls, Lü Chuyi retrieved a fragment of golden yellow bamboo from her sleeve in shock. The quivered lightly on her palm, giving off a soft, continuous low buzz.
“Resonance?” Lü Chuyi was dumbfounded. Her Heavenly Orchid Silver Bamboo was resonating with the nine round balls. Like a bolt from the blue, a thought flashed across Lü Chuyi’s mind. “The Heavenly Orchid Silver Bamboo of complete maturity!” Her gaze was firmly fixed on the nine round balls. Excitement and delighted surprise formed on her pretty face as she nearly cried out in wonder.
No one knew better than her about the worth of the Heavenly Orchid Silver Bamboo, the first divine bamboo of the Jiuzhou continent! It was an ancient divine bamboo that needed to be watered day and night by All Creations Old Monsters with their own essence blood for a few hundred years before they could reach maturity. It had almost gone into extinction in this era. Even if there were still remnants of it, it was only infantile forms like the one in her hand. Seeing a mature Heavenly Orchid Silver Bamboo was like a dream to her.
How could Lü Chuyi know that the Heavenly Orchid Silver Bamboo before her right now had originated from the two seeds that she had given Su Yu back then! That was why her Heavenly Orchid Silver Bamboo could resonate with the eight silver-white round balls. They were of the same origin.
Su Yu’s heart was moved, and he took a look at the familiar Heavenly Orchid Silver Bamboo in Lü Chuyi’s hand. In the past, he had been so envious of the astounding power of this piece of Heavenly Orchid Silver Bamboo. Now, after so many years, he was no longer interested in it. He pretended not to have seen it. Su Yu weaved signs with both his hands and pointed at the nine round pearls from afar.
The eight round pearls emitted space vibration immediately, concealing themselves in the Void along with the ninth pearl.
Unless All Creations Old Monsters who were adept at space power arrived in person, there was no way the presence of those pearls could be noticed.
After completing the task, Su Yu’s eyes flickered as he scanned the trees of life around him, and said, “Miss Lü, are you interested in cutting some trees with me?”
Cutting trees? Lü Chuyi was obviously stunned for a second. The strong men of the Heavenly Knife Region were approaching. Did they still have time for cutting trees?
What on earth was Su Yu trying to do?
