“Ah…”
After drinking more than ten mouthfuls, Jiang Yi was forced to stop. The blood had entered his body and was spreading throughout. He felt as if his entire body was on fire; this pain was even more unbearable than when he refined the Destitute Dragon Grass. He felt as if all his muscles, bones, skin, and hair were burning. That sizzling pain had enveloped his entire body, and he could do nothing about it.
“Union of Heaven and Man!”
He quickly gathered his senses and entered the State of the Union of Heaven and Man to separate his soul spirit from his body. This way, his soul spirit would not be pressured by the incessant streams of pain he was feeling.
Jiang Yi entered the State of the Union of Heaven and Man and did not feel any pain anymore. Jiang Yi could even watch as the muscles on his body kept on trembling and expanding. He controlled his body to continue drinking the saint beast’s blood while using his Nameless Divine Art to circulate and refine the energy inside the blood. That way, his stomach would not feel that bad.
He continued drinking for one full hour this way; he stopped only after the saint beast’s blood had been drained. Jiang Yi laid on the ground after that, his entire body trembling and convulsing; it was as if he was having a fit.
“Tsk, tsk, Young Lord is indeed the successor to the Saint Lord. The first time I drank the saint beast blood essence back then, I ached so badly that I rolled about for three days and three nights. The previous Saint Emperor also had to force the blood essence into my mouth.”
Long Qu praised Jiang Yi as he threw the dead saint beast to a Chieftain and said, “Go and take the bones out; the meat… you guys can share it!”
“Many thanks, Saint Emperor!”
The dozen-odd Chieftains were overjoyed. The most precious part of the saint beasts was their blood essence, followed by their bones, and finally their meat. Their power would grow by much after they ate this saint beast’s meat.
Some savages had even come by and were on their fours, licking up the blood essence that had dripped onto the floor. The Saint Emperor didn’t care about them and carried Jiang Yi back into the castle.
“This is indeed great stuff!”
Jiang Yi examined his body and realized that it was trembling continually, evolving constantly. He had experienced this feeling before when he was refining the Destitute Dragon Grass. That meant that drinking this saint beast blood essence was equivalent to refining a Destitute Dragon Grass. Furthermore, the Destitute Dragon Grass could only be refined once in one’s life; refining a second one would be utterly ineffective.
“This is a hundred times stronger than that the sacred bone soup; once I completely evolve, my body would at least be stronger than Wu Que’er’s, right?”
Jiang Yi was secretly expressing his thanks to the Creator’s wonderfulness. However, after thinking that it was the Mystic Thearch that had changed this mystic realm, he laughed out loud. Probably even the Mystic Thearch would not have guessed that hundreds of thousands of years later, such a creature would be found here, right?
“It’s about time. You guys, look after the Young Lord. Do not touch him. I will go and hunt the next saint beast.”
After two hours, the Saint Emperor saw that Jiang Yi did not exhibit any strange symptoms and relaxed. The ten saint beasts were all hidden in deep mountains and ancient forests; there was even one in the sea. Even if he used his fastest speed, it would require two months to catch them all. Jiang Yi could not wait to get out; the Saint Emperor did not dare to go against his wishes.
The Saint Emperor dashed out of the Saint Emperor City, his legs swaying. He leaped forward like a huge beast, and within a few moments, he had disappeared far into the mountains. Jiang Yi continued to lie in the castle; it took him almost an entire day before his body recovered. He opened his eyes and casually moved his body. He could feel that his body had a seemingly limitless amount of energy; his body was at least twice as strong and definitely stronger than Wu Que’er’s.
“All of you, leave me!”
Jiang Yi gestured and the two Chieftains respectfully left. Jiang Yi went to take a bath and changed into a new set of robes. He then retrieved the Mystic Divine Palace to check on Jiang Xiaonu. Seeing that her injuries were recovering smoothly, he relaxed.
Creak-creak!
He hit the mechanism on the wall, and the secret room was revealed. He entered to go and see the Buddha Thearch and others. It was three days after the big battle. The Buddha Thearch and others had—more or less—recovered. Being able to use their essence force to treat their injuries—combined with the fact that their bodies were very strong, the recovery process naturally didn’t take long.
“Eh?”
Jiang Yi took a look and realized that the Xuan Thearch was actually sitting cross-legged in a room. The Xuan Thearch had also opened his eyes at Jiang Yi’s entrance. Jiang Yi nodded towards the Buddha Thearch and others and immediately entered that room and activated the restrictions.
The Xuan Thearch looked at Jiang Yi and smiled bitterly. He bent slightly and said, “Ling Yuxuan pays his respects to the Young Lord. Please pardon me for not being able to bow properly due to my injuries!”
“Young Lord?”
Jiang Yi’s eyes flashed as he said, “You are indeed Yu Wen?”
“En!”
The Xuan Thearch nodded and said, “I was known as Ling Yuwen; Yuwen was my pseudonym. When I was with Lady Piaopiao back then, I used this name and changed my appearance. You should have guessed that already, right? Due to my status, I could not have used my real name and real appearance.”
Jiang Yi became silent. To be honest, he was not very happy at Yu Wen. He hated that someone else had been controlling his life. Furthermore, Yu Wen had known that Jiang Yi was trying to find Yi Piaopiao and him but had not seemed to bother. Yu Wen had watched as Jiang Yi was almost killed by She Fei and Jian Wuying, as Jiang Yi entered Sin Island. Yu Wen had witnessed everything that had happened to Jiang Yi and had stood at one side observing, never once offering aid. Instead, he had arranged for Jiang Yi to experience so many trials and tribulations.
The Buddha Thearch had said before that they wanted to train him and that if he had died on Sin Island or in the Snow Region, that was his destiny. Although Jiang Yi knew that the few of them meant well, he was still not happy; no one in his shoes would be.
“Young Lord is now blaming me for not reconciling with you all these years, right? Young Lord is also not happy at the things that I had arranged to happen as well?”
The Xuan Thearch saw through Jiang Yi’s thoughts as he laughed agonizingly and said, “Actually, I did not have a choice. I know that in this life I would never have a chance to break through the void and ascend. I am indebted to Lady Piaopiao. When she ran into trouble, I was not able to help her.
“You are her son; your body is exceptionally strong, and you are extremely talented. If you could not walk out of the Stellarsky Continent, I was never intending for you to do anything. Since you had, that would not be considered going against my agreement with Lady Piaopiao. Hence, I always hoped that you would consistently become stronger; when you are, you would finally be able to fly up and save Lady Piaopiao.”
“Walk out of the Stellarsky Continent?”
Jiang Yi smiled bitterly and said, “Did I have a choice back then? The Martial Arts Hall wanted to kill me; I had no choice but to head out.”
“You are wrong!”
The Xuan Thearch said very strictly. “It wasn’t that you didn’t have a choice; your personality was such that sooner or later, you would have left! If you were the type to smile at your troubles, you would not have caused such a disturbance; you would not have offended the Martial Arts Hall. You and Lady Piaopiao’s character are the same. People like you two are destined to either soar to the Nine Heavens or fall into oblivion. This is your fate that had long been decided; you could not choose.”
“That’s true…”
Jiang Yi sighed deeply. If he had smiled at his troubles, he would still be the useless young master in Skyplume City, right? He remained silent for a while, not wanting to think about the past. He then asked seriously, “Can you finally tell me about my mother now?”
“No!”
The Xuan Thearch shook his head and said, “According to the agreement with Lady Piaopiao, I can only tell you some simple things; unless you can shatter the void, I am not allowed to tell you many things. I can tell you this: your mother comes from a very prestigious family. She had come down to this domain to escape a wedding. That was when she met your father and had you.
“After that, when your mother’s family found out about all this, the Stellarsky Domain back then had almost been destroyed by her family. Your mother had to agree to go back with them in order for them to spare the Stellarsky Domain. However, your mother had to pay a heavy price; she is currently being held captive and crushed. According to your mom’s clan rules, she has… to be crushed by a sacred mountain for a thousand years!”
“What?”
Jiang Yi’s body trembled as his expression changed. His mother was being crushed by some sacred mountain; she had to continue to do so for a thousand years?
She had left for more than twenty years; did that mean she had been crushed for so long already?
