Chapter 75: The Daughter of Destiny, Yu Suzhen!

"Hiss!"

Accompanied by a violent spasm, Yu Suzhen sighed, then stood up from the youth who had been drained dry by her and had already lost his breath.

"Hehe... finally done!"

Feeling the True Qi flowing within her body, Yu Suzhen almost cried out; after enduring countless tribulations in the Harmony of Joy Hall, she had finally broken through to the First Layer of Qi Refining today.

After a brief loss of emotional control, Yu Suzhen reined in her expression once more; her brows and eyes relaxed, and her originally charming face suddenly turned cold, while determination shone from her beautiful eyes. Everyone says youth passes easily and beauty fades with age, yet she did not want to one day see herself grow old.

"I will cultivate the Immortal Path! I will seek immortality!"

At this moment, Yu Suzhen's desire to cultivate the Immortal Path was stronger than ever before; she was determined to climb step by step, step by step, to the very top within the Sheng Sect!

What she failed to notice was that there was a second person inside the cave dwelling.

Right beside the youth she had just drained dry, a phantom figure invisible to mortal eyes stood with hands clasped behind his back, watching her with keen interest.

"Stealing the Heavenly Mechanism, the first step is accomplished."

"Senior Sister Yu is quite good; she already possessed the will to cultivate within her heart, so there was no need for me to deliberately provoke it; everything sprang from her own heart."

This was the best outcome.

After all, Lu Yang was not yet at the Foundation Establishment stage, far from being able to act as naturally as a Foundation Establishment True Person; deliberately influencing another's mind would be too easy to expose as a flaw.

Immediately after, Lu Yang examined himself; now that his physical body was dead, he had entered the 'Death Followed by Transformation' state of the Great Yin Body-Transforming Corpse-Release True Art, while his soul had been preserved using the Yin Spirit Ghost Immortal Art deduced in his past life, transforming into a Yin Spirit to sustain his vitality.

"Death Followed by Transformation... so that is what it means..."

Lu Yang pondered within his heart.

At this very moment, his physical body had become like a pill furnace, while the three supreme divine arts he mastered during his lifetime had become the medicinal ingredients inside the furnace.

The body as the furnace, the divine arts as the medicine, and creation as the craftsman.

The result would be the smelting of the three supreme divine arts into the status of a 【Corpse-Release Immortal】; only then would the Great Yin Body-Transforming Corpse-Release True Art be considered fully mastered.

"This process will likely be very long."

"Moreover, it cannot be achieved merely by wasting time; the body serves as the furnace, yet the fire used to refine the pills is fueled by my merit and fortune."

Burning one's merit and fortune to become the pill-refining fire and pouring it into the physical body is an act of seeking life through death; if one fails to forge the status of a 【Corpse-Release Immortal】 even after burning it all out, then one is truly dead, and because one's fortune and merit are exhausted, one cannot even be reborn as a human in the next life, but must fall into the animal realm.

"No wonder I have never heard of anyone else in the Holy Sect refining this great divine art."

The gain and the cost were completely unbalanced.

One can imagine what kind of resolve the cultivator who originally created this great divine art possessed; it was nothing short of staking everything on a single lifetime, leaving oneself no retreat whatsoever.

This is the path of cultivation.

The Great Dao is walked alone; there is only forward, no retreat; one risks everything just to gamble on an opportunity; if one wins, so be it, but if one loses, what kind of despair would that be?

Thinking of this, Lu Yang could not help but feel something in his heart, and tears streamed down his face.

Only upon seeing the panel of the Hundred Lives Book beside him did he come to his senses; he slapped his forehead: "I almost forgot; I can actually restart, so there is no problem."

"With the soul lacking the protection of a physical body, the mind is hard to guard; emotions got the better of me."

Lu Yang quickly reined in his thoughts and turned his gaze to Yu Suzhen.

Although Yu Suzhen appeared unchanged at this moment, her inner self was no longer herself; she had been dyed with Lu Yang's color.

The Art of Stealing the Heavenly Mechanism had directly transformed her into a human cauldron.

From now on, no matter how far Yu Suzhen cultivated, Lu Yang could, with a single thought, instantly drain all her cultivation and fortune and then feed it back into himself.

"However, there is no rush."

"Next, I will think of a way to reasonably pass the Art of Stealing the Heavenly Mechanism to her, then let her prey on others, fatten her up, and only then slaughter her."

Thinking of this, Lu Yang shifted his gaze and looked at Liu Xin, who was waiting outside the cave dwelling.

Holy Sect, Harmony of Joy Hall.

Yu Suzhen followed behind Liu Xin, her lotus steps graceful, her figure enchanting, utterly charming, yet her face bore a coldness that kept others at a thousand li distance.

This intense contrast, combined with Yu Suzhen's already exquisite features, immediately drew the gazes of many disciples; even Liu Xin could not help but glance at her, a hint of wicked fire visible deep in his eyes, though he quickly suppressed that wicked fire.

Serious matters come first.

"Junior Sister Yu, this is the technique of a formal disciple of our Holy Sect, the Book of the Primordial Dao; take it back and study it diligently; do not neglect your cultivation."

"Thank you, Senior Brother."

Yu Suzhen bowed slightly; from Liu Xin's perspective, he could look down and see a vast expanse of snow-white skin, while a faint, lingering fragrance reached his nose.

Liu Xin swallowed hard; suddenly, he swept his arm, and in an instant the beauty was in his arms; on that cold face appeared a touch of perfectly timed panic, and her cry was clear and pleasant: "Ah~! Senior Brother, what are you doing? Quickly, quickly let go; I have already, already decided not to practice dual cultivation with anyone anymore."

As she spoke, Yu Suzhen began to push against Liu Xin.

However, those Bai Xi hands, white as jade, pressed against Liu Xin's chest; far from exerting force, they were so soft and weak they felt as though they were giving him a massage.

Seeing this, Liu Xin's wicked fire grew even stronger; he could not help but let out a cackling laugh:

"Junior Sister misunderstands; we are not practicing dual cultivation, merely discussing the Dao."

Thinking of this, Liu Xin disregarded Yu Suzhen's 'resistance', directly picked her up, and walked into the cave dwelling, intending to have some fun before attending to serious matters.

One day later.

The laziness that had just ended completely numbed Liu Xin's mind and caused him to drop all his defenses.

By the time he came to his senses, he discovered his body had collapsed weakly onto the bed, and not a single drop of True Qi could be drawn from his entire body!

Immediately after, Yu Suzhen rose leisurely.

Only then did Liu Xin discover that his long spear had turned black, even emitting a smell of rot; instantly, his expression turned pale, and he looked at Yu Suzhen with shock and rage:

"You poisoned me!?"

"What else?" Yu Suzhen said expressionlessly, as if her earlier allure had been a sham: "You intended to harm me; does that not allow me to fight back?"

"How is that possible, you wretch! How did you find out!?"

Liu Xin gritted his steel teeth, desperately trying to circulate his True Qi to suppress the poison, but found no way; he could only watch helplessly as his body grew weaker and weaker.

Seeing this, Yu Suzhen sneered: "At first, of course, I did not know; I merely found it suspicious; after all, I was promoted from the Harmony of Joy Hall, so logically a dual cultivation technique should have been passed to me, yet you gave me a nonsensical Book of the Primordial Dao, obviously with ill intentions."

Liu Xin's face was filled with disbelief: "On this basis, you want to kill me?"

"Why not?" Yu Suzhen smiled, baring her teeth: "A woman's intuition is very sharp. Besides, even if I'm wrong, I lose nothing."

Hearing this, Liu Xin immediately flew into a rage: "You—"

"Rest assured, I won't kill you that quickly," Yu Suzhen continued. "You are at the mid-stage of Qi Condensation; you must know many powerful divine arts and techniques."

"These are precious resources that cannot be wasted."

"Once I return having learned the true technique, I will drain you dry. That way, even if you die, your life's work won't go to waste."

"Pfft!"

Before the words had fully left her mouth, Liu Xin, already overwhelmed by raging anger, could no longer hold back. He spat a mouthful of hot blood right there, then his vision went black and he fainted.

(End of this chapter)