“I’m near! I’m near, I can feel it!” Lian’er spoke through a smile as she wiped the blood on the corner of her mouth before continuing on with her cultivation.
With a twisted smile marrying her lips and with eyes who had lost some of the luster which were present more than 3 months ago, becoming somewhat…
lifeless
, Lian’er’s breathing changed from the previous slow and steady one to taking rapid, rough and ragged breaths.
At that moment the white mist surrounding her began to change, its gentle flow twisting into chaotic spirals as it began to spiral around Lian’er before entering her body through every single one of her pores, the Qi then moved through her body before ultimately reaching its target… her Core!!!
This rapid influx of Qi into Lian’er
obviously wasn’t
easy for her to manage and it showed as, despite herself, hints of tiredness appeared on her usually beautiful visage.
At the same time, and far more worrying, blood began to seep from her body in moderate amounts as micro-tears opened across her flesh under the overwhelming influx of Qi.
“YES THIS IT!” A joyful, almost ecstatic expression twisted Lian’er’s visage as she felt her body break down while a massive amount of Qi entered her Core, which soon enough was filled to the brim and beyond!
Cracks.
Spiderweb cracks appeared across her Core as the overwhelming amount of Qi began to surpass the limit of what her 1st layer Core Formation Realm Core could endure but…
she didn’t care!
“Hahaha, yes,” laughed Lian’er through the pain as she continued to cultivate and ‘ingest’ more and more Qi, causing her Core to grow more and more overwhelmed as the spiderweb cracks multiplied, bringing with them immense pain.
“Perfect! This is what I deserve!” Lian’er wasn’t deterred by the pain—if anything, she was
drawn to it
, seeking it out, laughing as her Core was pushed closer and closer to its limit while she suffered
for her unforgivable crime.
Cracks, cracks, cracks.
At that moment her Core truly seemed an instant away from irreversibly shattering, ready to cripple her in a manner any cultivator dreaded, and… and a dark part of her even
welcomed the idea
, believing that such an end would make her suffer exactly as
she deserved
, but—
‘I can’t be punished as I deserve, at least…’ her lifeless eyes suddenly flickered, gaining hints of life, but it wasn’t the playful spark she used to carry before the dreadful event three months ago, the spark filled with mischief and warmth…
No!
At that moment her eyes were full of a terrifying mix of darkness, anger, and a seemingly boundless hatred, ‘...Not before killing
them
and bringing
him back!’
The instant she finished her train of thought the flow of Qi around her suddenly changed as the beauty stopped ‘mindlessly’ absorbing it, and this was the same for the Qi that had already entered her Core.
The Qi began to flow in a specific pattern which caused the surplus of Qi to stop destroying her cracked Core any further; it was even the opposite, as the energy began to help her Core repair, expand, and become denser, a pattern that her Qi also followed, causing its quality to sharply rise.
Thum…Thum…Thum…
Lian’er repeatedly tried to enhance her Core, continuously hitting a certain bottleneck, the one separating the 1st layer of the Core Formation Realm from the 2nd layer.
With the high quantity and quality of Qi gathered in the Cultivation Abode and her unstoppable determination, the bottleneck grew fainter and fainter, until—
CRACK–!
After an nth attempt finally the bottleneck shattered, which caused a powerful Qi vortex to form with her as its center, and—
“Hmm.”
Lian’er let out a comfortable moan as she felt her entire existence be elevated in conjunction with her rapidly rising cultivation, her Core which had previously reached its limit was now rapidly growing larger and denser while becoming of a higher quality!
This transformation continued on for a relatively long period of time, it could have been five hours as it could have been multiple days, nobody knew, but one thing was certain, by the end she was qualitatively—in all aspects imaginable—stronger than before!
She opened her eyes before instinctively clenching her fist, and as she did so she felt the power coursing through her body, and for the briefest of moments a hint of satisfaction even appeared on her visage, but—
It didn’t last long as the next instant two images flashed through her mind, instantly making the momentary joy from her successful breakthrough disappear.
One of these two images was that of a burly Varnari while the second was of an
extremely handsome
human male…
“The 2nd layer of the Core Formation Realm isn’t enough, it isn’t even close to being enough!” venomously spat Lian’er, and as she did so, a violent, heavy, and extremely dark aura swept outward, pressing onto the entire Cultivation Abode with suffocating weight.
The next instant Lian’er—uncaring of the blood covering the entirety of her body following her breakthrough, something
which wasn’t
normal, as minor breakthroughs weren’t supposed to tear one’s flesh until one was drenched in blood…
Uncaring of all that, Lian’er closed her eyes and immediately began to cultivate once more, doing so without taking even the slightest moment of rest!
‘I don’t have time to rest! I need POWER!’
As this thought flashed through her mind, in her heart and in her not-so-stable mind there was an unimaginable longing for strength and power!
One that affected her cultivation process; she once more began to voraciously absorb the surrounding Qi, all with the goal of reaching the 3rd layer of the Core Formation Realm in the shortest time possible.
Her current dedication was a far cry from the previous Lian’er who, while extremely talented—as could be seen by how she successfully grasped Sword Intent at the Spiritual Foundation Realm—never gave a ‘great focus’ to cultivation.
She of course cultivated to grow stronger as she understood the truth of the world, but her approach toward cultivation was rather casual, even somewhat… lazy, but now—
“Cough”
Lian’er coughed another mouthful of blood as she made an error in her cultivation, an error which was almost entirely caused by the fact that the ‘mischievous beauty’ was absorbing Qi
far, far
too fast and far beyond her limits.
Something which allowed her to cultivate faster normal but… at the same time it also caused her to be in continuous pain and suffer extremely painful injuries each time she made even the slightest mistakes…
Whooosh.
In this fashion, the high-quality Qi of the Cultivation Abode continued to be absorbed by Lian’er amidst her painful cultivation, and this continued on until finally something broke the monotony—
Clink.
An extremely faint sound resounded, one that Lian’er didn’t notice at all, being too focused on her cultivation.
When this
Clink
resounded, the stone ‘door’ of the Cultivation Abode slowly opened!
Something that by all logic
shouldn’t happen
, after all if the Abode was in use this ‘door’ was always ‘locked’ and only openable from the inside of the Cultivation Abode; if this wasn’t the case, anybody could interrupt one’s cultivation session, something that could have grievous consequences as being interrupted mid-cultivation was the
perfect situation
to suffer a backlash!
Uncaring of this logic, the Abode door still opened with a faint, nearly imperceptible sound while a figure soon made itself visible.
Step.
The figure took a step forward, entering the Abode before, with a wave of its hand and the use of another mysterious means, the Abode door—which shouldn’t have been under its control—once again closed with an extremely faint sound, as if it didn’t want to disturb Lian’er…
Step.
The figure took another step forward, allowing this unknown figure to be illuminated and its identity revealed.
It was actually a he, an old man with a long white beard, dressed in the Taoist robe of the Wandering Sword Sect and… to be more precise the one belonging to a Grand Elder, but he didn’t look ‘ordinary,’ no, he looked
eccentric
…
These factors coming together made it easy to guess the figure’s identity, he was—
Jianhai!
The Master of Lian’er, Renjiro, Mikael and the girls!
At that moment Jianhai’s gaze was on the bloodied figure of Lian’er who even now hadn’t noticed him and was still diligently cultivating.
“Sigh.” He didn’t speak, only letting out a sorrowful sigh that spoke louder than a thousand words as his usually eccentric expression was now marred with a complex mix of sorrow, regret and guilt.
His sorrowful gaze lingered on Lian’er for a couple of seconds as he was lost in his thoughts, but then—
He saw Lian’er once more cough out blood before continuing with her cultivation as if…
nothing happened!
Instantly his expression changed for the worse, and then he snapped his fingers, the faint sound carried by a strange force that caused it to spread throughout the room as it echoed and rebounded across the walls, ultimately reaching Lian’er’s ears, whose expression grew slightly more peaceful as she, despite herself, emerged from her cultivation state.
The instant her consciousness surfaced, Lian’er’s eyes snapped open, and what should have been confusion was instead a violent storm of fury.
Her gaze locked onto Jianhai with a murderous sharpness, her pupils trembling as if barely restraining the urge to tear him apart for interrupting her cultivation.
For a brief moment the entire room seemed to darken under the weight of her hostility, her breath coming out cold and unsteady, as if the killing intent in her heart had been forcefully dragged to the surface.
“What… Do… You… Want?” Lian’er’s sharp and anger-filled voice resounded as she coldly eyed Jianhai without a trace of her usual mischievousness or even the admiration she had for her Master…
“Sigh.” Jianhai didn’t immediately answer, only letting out another sorrowful sigh, ‘I can’t recognize her, how much she has changed…’ he thought sorrowfully.
The next instant, just as Jianhai saw Lian’er’s already dark expression darkening further as he was wasting her currently
extremely precious time
, he spoke, “I just wanted to check up on you and…” he took a brief pause before continuing, “…do you think Mikael would want to see you like that?”
“What?” An instinctive exclamation escaped Lian’er, but quickly enough both she and her tone shifted, becoming more…
defensive
, “This… he wouldn’t mind! He would understand!”
With his hand Jianhai signalled the bloodied Cultivation Abode, “Do you
truly think
Mikael wouldn’t suffer to see you hurting yourself for him?”
“...”
Following his words Lian’er fell silent for some seconds as, despite herself, she knew… that he
was right.
The next instant Lian’er forcefully snapped out of it, the darkness and negative emotions dwelling in her heart surging back to life, causing her to let out a cold snort before her dark gaze landed onto Jianhai, “It doesn’t matter, I do what
needs to be done!
”
“What needs to be done?” Jianhai raised an inquisitive eyebrow, “Is it truly the case or…” his gaze became sharper, “Are you punishing yourself?!”
Flinch.
Hua Lianyu flinched at her Master’s words, but then… she realized what she had just done, and instantly her expression grew colder while her killing intent exploded outward, making Jianhai feel as if he had fallen into a sea of blood.
Author Note:
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What exactly is happening? More specifically what happened with Mikael's situation, and what happened during these three months?
Mystery, all that is mystery but some hints were dropped in this chapter.
In the following chapter further answer should be given and normally this is where Volume 4 would end
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