Chapter 37 - 34: Birth of the Heavenly Repair Pill
Lu Changyuan held the elixir and examined it from all angles.
Su Wuxiang said, "Hurry up and eat it. Stop dawdling. I’m almost out of time."
The elixir, which countless people would have fought desperately to obtain, now rested quietly in Lu Changyuan’s hand.
Every inch of Lu Changyuan’s skin seemed to greedily breathe in the elixir’s fragrance. It was a craving that emanated from the very core of his being.
’Eat it.’
’Eating it will repair my body and allow me to cultivate the Immortal Dao once more.’
"Why aren’t you eating it?"
Lu Changyuan sighed. "Thank you."
Su Wuxiang gave a warm smile. "There’s no need for thanks between us."
"I really should thank you. We are creatures who live in our memories, and you’ve reminded me of so, so much... of the good times."
And so, Lu Changyuan raised Broken Thought and plunged it into Su Wuxiang’s heart.
"It’s been a long time since I’ve had a drink with Wuxiang."
Lu Changyuan released his suppression of the Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique. As the Heart Method began to circulate on its own, the form of the impaled Su Wuxiang changed before his very eyes.
It was a demon—half human, half Demon Body—with a cavernous, blood-red maw that feasted on human hearts.
This was the same form he’d seen upon first entering this space. He had deliberately suppressed his Heart Method, all to trick himself into having one more drink with Su Wuxiang.
The demon roared, "You don’t care about your memories at all?"
Su Wuxiang’s body slowly dissipated. The demon tried to lash out with its long, sharp claws to injure Lu Changyuan, but in the end, it merely crumbled into a pile of dust.
The crane has left the broken jetty; an old friend is here no more.
Lu Changyuan watched all this in silence.
Chang’an Daoist was the name he took upon entering the Yao Guang realm. Before that, he was merely the Right Guardian of the Sun and Moon Palace.
So, what was his Seventh Realm Yao Guang Technique?
It was the Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique.
On that rainy night, Lu Changyuan had personally suppressed Su Wuxiang with his own sword. From that day on, he sought an Exorcism Method, finally creating the Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique at the moment he achieved his Dao.
Ever since, he had been impervious to all demons.
’To think it even conjured up a Heavenly Repair Pill to fool me.’
Lu Changyuan gave a wry smile.
But the medicinal fragrance was still there. Lu Changyuan looked down at the pill in his hand. The Heavenly Repair Pill hadn’t vanished. A rich, vital energy wafted into his nostrils.
The Heavenly Repair Pill has appeared in the world.
’This Heavenly Repair Pill is real!?’
The demon was dead. If the pill had been a mere illusion, it should have vanished along with it. But it hadn’t. Combined with the words that had appeared before his eyes, this was actually a genuine Heavenly Repair Pill.
"Hm?"
Lu Changyuan hadn’t noticed it earlier because he was suppressing his Heart Method. Now that he’d released the restriction, his Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique was actually trembling.
The aura of Karma.
This pill had been forged by a Great Demon from the flesh and resentment of a thousand years of living creatures. Although it could perform a "heavenly repair," who knew what consequences would come from consuming it? You’d undoubtedly be tainted by some terrible Karma.
That had been the Great Demon’s plan all along: to make Lu Changyuan consume the pill. It had even disguised itself as Su Wuxiang to deceive him. Unfortunately for the demon, Lu Changyuan never believed the pill was real to begin with, so he hadn’t fallen for the trap.
Lu Changyuan lifted his hand, and with a flick of his sword, Broken Thought, he slashed at the Heavenly Repair Pill. The fragrant outer shell peeled away, layer by layer, revealing a black core within.
That fragrant outer layer was made from the flesh and blood of countless people. A ’heavenly repair’ indeed—made by harvesting human lives to create a Heavenly Repair Pill.
With Broken Thought, Lu Changyuan cleansed the thousand years of human resentment from it. What remained was the pill’s true foundation: a medicinal embryo concocted by the Great Demon from a Spiritual Object at the bottom of Liuqing Lake, combined with treasures from the Glazed Dynasty’s National Treasury.
It was still an incredibly precious medicine, but it was incapable of repairing his Five Deficiencies Body.
"Sir!"
Xia Lianxue hurried over, a worried expression on her face as she looked at Lu Changyuan.
The illusion shattered, and the scene before Lu Changyuan’s eyes was the devastated landscape of Liuqing Lake. The once-beautiful vista was now a ruin, painful to behold.
Lu Changyuan was silent for a long moment before he suddenly smiled. He turned to Xia Lianxue. "I’m fine. Come here."
Xia Lianxue obediently stood before him. Her brow was slightly furrowed, clearly worried about his condition as she asked softly, "Sir?"
"Open your mouth."
"Sir?"
"Open your mouth."
Though she didn’t understand his intention, the Fairy obediently opened her delicate mouth. Her thin, upturned lips held a cherry-pink sheen, and within, her neat teeth were like pristine white shells.
Lu Changyuan could clearly see the tender pink flesh and small tongue within her mouth. He paused for a beat, then pushed the pill’s core inside.
’This medicinal embryo is perfect for Xia Lianxue.’
A slight bob of Xia Lianxue’s graceful throat, and the elixir went down. The Fairy frowned. "Sir, what did you just make me eat?"
"Poison. If you disobey me in the future, your body will explode."
"Sir, please don’t tease me. What was that really...?" Before Xia Lianxue could finish, the words caught in her throat. Her cheeks flushed, and her breath came out in fragrant puffs.
"S...Sir... what did you... feed me?"
She nearly collapsed, the blush on her cheeks as radiant as a sunset’s afterglow.
Lu Changyuan stepped forward to catch her, and she leaned limply against him. "Focus your mind," he said. "Don’t waste the pill’s energy. And stop squirming."
The Fairy, flushed and fluttering like a butterfly, squirmed in his arms, a tantalizing sight. But at his words, she finally regulated her breathing, guiding the pure medicinal energy through her body.
Soon, Xia Lianxue sat down cross-legged on the spot. Bit by bit, her Cultivation began to return.
The mystical Circulation of Five Qi flowed around her, making the Fairy appear breathtakingly beautiful as the deep blush on her face slowly faded.
「About the time it takes an incense stick to burn」
"What are you two doing here?"
Li Qingcao had also rushed over.
Lu Changyuan didn’t turn around. "She is Entering the Dao, about to break through to the Fifth Realm."
To ascend from the Lower Four Realms to the Upper Three Realms was a feat many failed to achieve in their entire lives. There was no room for error.
Xia Lianxue had already overcome her heart’s barrier, so she could have reached the Fifth Realm through steady cultivation.
However, taking opportunistic shortcuts for rapid advancement was also an unavoidable part of the journey of cultivation.
Xia Lianxue was seizing this opportunity, using the medicinal embryo’s power to repair her body and ascend into the Dao in one fell swoop.
At some point, Su Youwan had appeared beside Lu Changyuan, also watching Xia Lianxue’s attempt at Breaking Realm. Since Su Youwan had yet to reach the Fifth Realm herself, observing another’s experience was beneficial.
She glanced at Lu Changyuan. "You should keep the sword, Sir. It seems I am not fated to wield it."
After seeing the sword strike Lu Changyuan had unleashed, she knew that whether she brought the sword back or not was no longer important. Her true duty was to return and inform her master that someone had used this sword to perform "A Sword from the West."
Li Qingcao spoke up. "Do you guys feel that? Something’s strange."
Lu Changyuan turned his head to look toward the shore of Liuqing Lake, and the two women followed his gaze.
Due to all the destruction, the grass along the shore of Liuqing Lake was in a sorry state, with patches of brown earth overturned everywhere.
But now, fresh green shoots were sprouting from the ravaged soil. A few small blades of grass had pushed through.
Li Qingcao seemed dazed. "Is this...?"
Su Youwan said, "It must be the Dao that Miss Xia has comprehended. I just don’t know which one."
Lu Changyuan couldn’t tell what Dao Xia Lianxue had comprehended, either. There were many Daos that could make grass sprout, making it difficult to distinguish.
Li Qingcao murmured, "The poplars are blooming?! What month is it?"
The last intact poplar tree by the lake had indeed begun to bloom again. Its catkins drifted away on the wind, bound for unknown destinations.
Lu Changyuan said, "Late August."
The sweltering heat of August was about to pass, giving way to the bleakness of autumn. And yet, the poplar catkins, which should have bloomed in spring, were now blooming again.
Li Qingcao crouched down and gently touched a new sprout. She whispered a "thank you" before turning back. "Brother Lu, it’s real grass."
Lu Changyuan grunted in acknowledgment, but his gaze never left the meditating Fairy.
A wind blew in from afar, carrying the breath of spring. In that moment, Xia Lianxue’s eyes snapped open. For an instant, she seemed like the Profound Lady from above the Nine Heavens, as if she had gracefully become an immortal, but the aura vanished as quickly as it came.
Lu Changyuan asked, "The Fifth Realm?"
Xia Lianxue had never felt so wonderful. Even her voice became light and warm. "Yes! The Fifth Realm."
Xia Lianxue, disciple of the Yuyue Immortal Palace, had cultivated for over twenty years in this life. She had been disciplined, devoted to the Dao, and always true to her heart.
Today.
She re-entered the Dao Realm.