After a while, Su Chan brought over a small cloth bag and handed it to Zi Yuan. Once Zi Yuan had flipped it open, she took out a three-inch-long golden needle and pricked it into Li Yundong’s Lingtai acupoint.
Feeling the stab, Li Yundong’s body trembled slightly. Following which, she pricked another needle into his Shenting acupoint.
Su Chan nervously watched Zi Yuan’s movements. Su Chan had followed Ao Wushuang for a long time, so she knew some medical skills. She knew that the two needles were being used on the vital acupoints of the human body. If they deviated even a little, he would be in danger.
Following that, Su Chan saw Zi Yuan poke another needle into Li Yundong’s Baihui acupoint on the top of his head. She was so shocked that she let out a dismayed yelp.
The Baihui acupuncture point was one of the fatal points on the human body. The needle Zi Yuan was using frightened Su Chan so much that she felt the life drain from her.
Su Chan’s face was ashen as she looked at the shining golden needle sticking out of Li Yundong’s Baihui acupoint on the top of his head. She couldn’t help but wonder in fear, “Why has Sister Zi Yuan pricked the Baihui acupoint? If she’s not careful, Yundong will die!”
Zi Yuan turned to look at Su Chan and explained in a low voice, “Su Chan, don’t worry. Li Yundong’s consciousness is now trapped in the burning thumb pot, and the pot is now connected to his Zhenqi.
“If you want him to wake up, you must use your own Yin Spirit to sneak into his body, then enter the burning thumb pot along with his Aura. However, Li Yundong’s body is now in a closed state, and his Zhenqi is like a self-reincarnation universe that has connected with the burning thumb pot. It is very difficult for external things to enter it. If you want to forcibly break in, it will cause Li Yundong’s Spirit Space to collapse, and from then on, he will become a soulless invalid.
“The reason why I used a needle on his Shenting, Lingtai and Baihui acupoints is to break his perfect and unpunctured body and create a gap in it so I can supply my own Yin Spirit into his body.”
When Su Chan heard her explanation, realization dawned on her. She glanced at Zi Yuan and asked in a low voice, “May I try entering?”
Zi Yuan shook her head and shot Su Chan a helpless look. “Su Chan, you’re not a Yang Spirit body, you can’t go in.”
Su Chan’s face was written with disappointment. She suddenly thought in her heart, “Years ago, I was the most powerful person around Li Yundong, but now the cultivation Quotient of Zi Yuan is far higher than mine. Zhou Qin, who didn’t have any cultivation Quotient in the past, has already reached the Zhuji phase. The vigorous Zhenqi she has is far from my own. Even Ruan Hongling’s Cultivation Quotient is higher than mine!”
Su Chan looked at Zi Yuan, Zhou Qin, and Ruan Hongling, a hint of sadness flashing in her eyes. She couldn’t help but regret that she had been too busy playing with Li Yundong in the past to practice hard. Now her Cultivation Quotient was the lowest out of everyone’s.
Thinking of this, Su Chan came to a conclusion. She thought to herself, “Even if I can’t beat Sister Zi Yuan, I can’t let Zhou Qin surpass me. I’m not an idiot. If I really put in a lot of effort, can’t I be better than the others?”
At this time, Zhou Qin and the others looked at Zi Yuan and Li Yundong with concern. No one was paying any attention to Su Chan’s thoughts. After watching the three golden needles be pricked into Li Yundong’s body, three extremely pale white lines appeared slowly from the Baihui Acupoint on top of his head, the Shenting Acupoint on his forehead, and the Lingtai Acupoint on his back. These three fine lines rose up and did not disperse, floating straight to the ceiling and then spreading.
Zi Yuan sat cross-legged in front of Li Yundong. After a while, she entered a meditative state and the Yang Spirit came out of her body.
After the Yang Spirit came out of Zi Yuan’s body, she said to Zhou Qin and the others with a serious expression, “If I haven’t come back within fifteen minutes, you can prepare a funeral for me and Li Yundong. Don’t try to save him, and don’t even think about saving me!”
Zhou Qin and the others were shocked to hear that, and goosebumps popped up all over their bodies at the same time, but before they could dissuade Zi Yuan, she had already flashed and her Yang Spirit had begun quickly rushing toward Li Yundong.
Just as her Yang Spirit was about to touch his body, it instantly turned into a Yin Spirit and became countless blue spots of light, rushing into his Baihui, Lingtai, and Shenting acupoints.
The Yang Spirit in Li Yundong’s body had been absorbed into the spirit space of the burning thumb pot. As such, his body was like an ownerless house, and Zi Yuan was able to go in without any resistance.
Zi Yuan felt that there seemed to be a great dragging force in Li Yundong’s body that was constantly pulling at her, as if a vortex was constantly devouring all the life around it with its consciousness.
She didn’t resist. Following the Aura in Li Yundong’s body, she quickly rushed toward the burning thumb pot. Before long, she could feel that the dark, boundless world around her was shining brightly. In an instant, she arrived in a vast and empty world.
There was a strangely shaped mountain in this world. Zi Yuan, who was proficient in Buddhist Sutras, knew that this was the Xumi Mountain.
Without hesitation, Zi Yuan flew to the mountainside of the Xumi Mountain. Upon closer look, she could see Li Yundong and Su Chan everywhere in the worlds of the trichiliocosm around the mountain. However, she didn’t know which world contained Li Yundong’s real body.
She took a deep breath. She knew that ten years in this Spirit Space was equivalent to a minute in the outside world. Thus, she patiently started going through the worlds one by one.
However, there were tens of billions of people in the worlds of trichiliocosm. How could it be so easy to find Li Yundong’s real body?
Zi Yuan busily jumped from one Spirit Space to another. She kept moving ceaselessly, ignorant to how much time had passed. Even Zi Yuan didn’t know how many Spirit Spaces she had passed through, much less how many years had passed. The only clue she had was that each time she reached a Spirit Space, she would use her fingernails to make a seal on her sleeves.
This was repeated over and over again for many years. By the time Zi Yuan finally felt a trace of exhaustion and despair creep over her, she found that her sleeves were covered with dense marks made by her nails. Some parts of her clothes were torn due to the repeated force.
“Will he really be impossible to find?” Zi Yuan stood in the midst of this boundless mortal societies, trying to resist despair.
But if she couldn’t find the whereabouts of Li Yundong, everything she had done before would be in vain, and what her master had said would be…
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but feel lost. This woman who normally had her own strong opinions couldn’t help but become a bit absent-minded as well. She slipped away from the Spirit Space naturally, then entered another one in a daze.
She had looked through more than 2,000 Spirit Spaces but found nothing. By this point, she was already discouraged. Just as she was thinking about the words left by her master, she suddenly found herself in a Spirit Space in a vast sea of clouds.
This Spirit Space was filled with a sea of clouds that stretched as far as the eye could see. On top of this sea of clouds was only a mountain, standing tall within. The mountain peak itself was covered with lush green pine trees, and a white-haired old man was sitting below the tallest tree, which was as large as a huge umbrella.
The vast sea of clouds before Zi Yuan was simply too magnificent and beautiful. When she looked at it, she could feel her heart opening and the depression from before began to fade.
Zi Yuan cheered up and flew over to the old man under the pine tree. Just as she was about to speak, she saw the man silently watching two people who were bending over and seemed busy in a green ladder field not far from the top of the mountain.
Zi Yuan followed his gaze curiously and saw that the figures were Li Yundong and Su Chan, who were dressed as a farmer and a farmer‘s wife, and that they were busy sowing.
Although the two of them were working hard, they were laughing and playing from time to time, getting thoroughly dirty. The sound of their laughter was one of authentic joy. Even from a distance, Zi Yuan could hear Su Chan’s tinkling bell-like giggles and Li Yundong’s hearty laughter. A warm atmosphere came over her.
Zi Yuan was shuttling back and forth through the worlds of trichiliocosm. No matter which world she went into, Li Yundong and Su Chan would be in it living happily together. Zi Yuan had already seen such a scene numerous times, so she turned her face away and asked the old man in a clear voice, “Sir, have you seen…”
Before she could finish her words, she saw the old man start shaking all over. He suddenly raised his head and exclaimed, “Zi Yuan?”
Although the man was old, it was the first time that Zi Yuan had met someone who could recognize her in this Spirit Space. Her eyes suddenly widened as she carefully observed the grey-haired old man in front of her.
She saw that although his long hair was almost trailing over the ground, and his beard was so thick that it almost concealed his face, she could still faintly sense something familiar from the eyebrows of the old man in front of her. She asked tentatively, “Li Yundong?”
Li Yundong suddenly stood up and dusted himself off. He opened his eyes wide and looked at Zi Yuan, asking, “Why are you here?”
Zi Yuan had journeyed through more than 2,000 Spirit Spaces and spent decades toiling, but now she had finally found Li Yundong. Even though she was relatively calm, she couldn’t help but be overjoyed. She grabbed Li Yundong’s hands and shouted, “Thank God, I’ve finally found you!”
Li Yundong was stunned. “Are you here specifically to find me?”
Zi Yuan nodded with a smile on her face. “That’s right. Your apparition has been trapped in the burning thumb pot’s Spirit Space for 18 days. I came here just to look for you!”
Li Yundong let out a cry. With the look in his eyes shifting, he sighed and said, “I remember… I seem to have been here for so many years!”
After expending so much effort, Zi Yuan couldn’t help but laugh and say, “Ten years in the Spirit Space is equivalent to a minute outside. You have been in here for tens of thousands of years, haven’t you? No matter which Spirit Space you are in, you must be tired of it. Now, it’s time to go back, okay?”
Li Yundong shot a penetrative glance at Zi Yuan. He smiled and shook his head. Then, he slowly sank back down, flicked his sleeves and said lightly, “Zi Yuan, you can go back, but I won’t come with you.”
Zi Yuan was stunned. “Why on earth not?”
