Chapter 62: Yin-Yang Extreme Intent

Anuo fainted.

In fact, the Flame Demon was also on the verge of fainting; to be frank, it was merely a newborn demon, its spiritual awareness likely less than a year old, its strength unremarkable—facing Anuo's utterly irrational suicide-style attack, it had been worn down to its last breath.

Lu Xingzhou angrily grabbed a pile of talismans and slapped them on with rapid, snapping sounds; inside the crystal, a scream echoed: "You humans are the demons! All of you are insane!"

Demon qi drifted aimlessly as a dark shadow desperately tried to escape.

Lu Xingzhou pulled out the half-destroyed Ten Thousand Souls Banner and swiftly sucked the Flame Demon's soul inside: "I'll deal with you later."

The air fell silent, leaving only a crimson crystal clutched tightly in Anuo's hand.

"Flame Essence." Miss Qingli's gaze was strange: "A primordial fire crystal, on par with Spirit Water Crystallization."

Lu Xingzhou understood why Anuo had fought so desperately—her medical knowledge was equally vast; she must have instantly sensed this item had a high probability of refining bones, and it suited his fire-affinity cultivation perfectly.

This child was so afraid of fire… so afraid of fire.

Lu Xingzhou silently felt Anuo's pulse, his expression turning peculiar; he quickly pulled out a pill and fed it to her.

Anuo's Daoist robe was burned to tatters, yet the skin beneath remained as crystalline and snow-white as ever, not a single burn mark. This unconsciousness was merely exhaustion and sheer terror of fire pushing her beyond her limits…

She probably even saw her life flash before her eyes…

"This little thing…" Lu Xingzhou felt both moved and amused; he pulled Anuo into his arms and whispered: "Let's go home."

All three looked upward; though they had fallen from here, they could no longer see how to exit. At this moment, there was no time for careful inspection—following the pool water was best; Lu Xingzhou's wheelchair still had its water-repelling barrier…

…………

The first snow finally began to drift down.

Lu Xingzhou sat by the pool water behind the house, quietly watching snowflakes fall, dissolve, and vanish into the pool.

It was already the next day since their return; Lu Xingzhou's own soul wounds had healed after a single night's sleep, but Anuo remained asleep from her exhaustion.

Shen Tang emerged from this place, found a new wheelchair, and returned to Danxia Mountain in a shattered state.

Jin Mingxiu had joined the expedition and "tragically perished"; she needed a plausible explanation for her disciples, since Jin Mingxiu had no visible faults and still held some prestige among the Tianxing Sword Sect's students.

But Shen Tang and Miss Qingli had both sustained serious injuries, making the intensity of the battle easier to explain.

Miss Qingli naturally went to protect the injured Shen Tang—that was Bai Mao's first directive—so the lively expedition team was now left with only Lu Xingzhou alone.

He had no interest in managing those affairs; he was pondering the gains from this expedition.

The gains were enormous.

Both the water and fire crystallizations could indeed be used to refine bones; the Spirit Water Crystallization even closely matched the size and shape, requiring only minor refinement and carving; the Flame Essence was a prismatic crystal, needing further refinement to alter its form.

Both treasures were of equal rank, seemingly solving both leg problems at once—but water and fire are incompatible.

Theoretically, such opposing attributes are extremely difficult to coexist within one person, causing severe conflict; cautiously, one must choose only one.

But Lu Xingzhou believed there was still a chance.

Because this secret realm fundamentally embodied the concept of water and fire complementing each other—the terrain, the realm itself, the alchemical arrangements… then why should the essences extracted from it be in conflict?

Why couldn't they be refined together to achieve water-fire harmony?

Normally impossible, but since the original owner of this cave could use this principle to brew pills, studying his materials would likely yield results.

Lu Xingzhou pulled out a jade slip.

Most of the jade slips on that shelf were alchemical records and insights, along with many high-grade pill formulas—these would need to be thoroughly digested over time. Only one was related to cultivation techniques: "The Yin-Yang Extreme Intent Art."

The original owner's dragon-tiger embrace, yin-yang balance, and water-fire harmony—all could be referenced from this art; this was its core philosophy.

But this art was incomplete—it contained only the general outline and the Martial Scripture.

Yes, the original owner was a quintessential Dao cultivator, a quintessential alchemist, yet his reference material was a Martial Scripture.

This was certainly not his own legacy; he had no intention of leaving behind anything in his cave, and it made no sense for him to deliberately preserve a lineage. It must have been acquired elsewhere, studied day and night, placed on the shelf alongside his frequent alchemical notes—all items he constantly revisited and contemplated.

And he likely began his subsequent operations only after acquiring this art.

Theoretically, an art so focused on yin-yang should be a Daoist treasure, or rather, Dao-Martial dual cultivation itself embodies yin-yang—but here only the Martial Scripture portion remained, clearly missing.

Even with most of its essentials lost, it was still undeniably a supreme-grade art, no inferior to the Supreme Shocking World Scripture.

Thus, to simultaneously use both water and fire treasures for bone refinement, the prerequisite was to first cultivate this "Yin-Yang Extreme Intent Art," to harmonize water and fire without conflict; conversely, once the two treasures successfully refined the bones, they would further accelerate the cultivation of the "Yin-Yang Extreme Intent Art," mutually reinforcing each other.

Lu Xingzhou's martial cultivation had long since abandoned his family's ancestral art—it came from the Hall of Yama, heavily oriented toward assassination and ambush, techniques like the Root-Clamping Nails… Now he hesitated no longer; he directly scattered his cultivation, without a trace of regret.

Scattering cultivation damaged the meridians and dantian somewhat; if done at a higher level, it could cripple a cultivator. But Lu Xingzhou's seventh-grade cultivation hadn't reached that point; he felt only slight damage to his meridians and dantian, and quickly swallowed a pill to fully restore himself.

Without pause, he immediately followed the art's instructions, drawing the yin and yang energies of heaven and earth to form the ultimate of his own cosmic system.

In this dragon-tiger mountain, where yin and yang embraced each other, the advantage was unparalleled.

Soon, he felt yin and yang energies sprouting from his dantian, rapidly growing and strengthening; circulating along the art's pathways for several great heavenly cycles, his qi surged powerfully, reaching the edge of ninth grade.

Though scattering cultivation had drawbacks, the benefits were equally clear: it granted abundant experience in cultivation and breakthroughs.

Lu Xingzhou didn't even hesitate; he clasped his hands in a circle, forming a Taiji, and the two energies in his dantian suddenly spun—gradually transforming from invisible vapor into observable mist.

Visible qi—the hallmark of a Wu Xiu entering the foundational stage—was ninth grade.

Lu Xingzhou opened his eyes; even this newly acquired ninth-grade qi felt no weaker than his previous seventh-grade qi…

He swung a punch toward the rocks by the pool; the wind from his fist shook the rock, carving a shallow dent.

This was only just entering ninth grade… and merely the fist wind had achieved this! Before, he hadn't dared dream of it. A supreme-grade art was truly supreme-grade—no wonder Shen Tang could crush peers as easily as swatting children.

Internally observing the yin and yang energies within his body, the previously blended, indistinguishable qi could now be clearly separated—yet they intertwined in spiral patterns, like DNA strands, spreading throughout his entire body.

If the water and fire crystals were refined into legs, their energies entering accordingly, they too could be similarly distinguished yet unified.

"Master." Anuo's voice came from behind.

Lu Xingzhou turned and saw Anuo rubbing her sleepy eyes, stumbling toward the door: "Master, I feel like your qi has changed…"

"Tch, sensitive little brat." Lu Xingzhou spun his wheelchair and opened his arms with a smile: "Come give Master a hug."

Anuo grinned and ran over, leaping straight into Lu Xingzhou's lap with a heavy "thump."

"Hey, easy! You're so heavy—you'll knock my wheelchair into the pool…"

"Master, did you feed me fairy pills again…? I felt like I was dying, yet when I woke up, I was perfectly fine—shouldn't I be a charred sweet potato by now…?"

"..." Lu Xingzhou kept a straight face: "It was originally a roasted sweet potato, but Master took a brush and scrubbed it white again."

A'Nuo scratched her head.

"Don't do that again in the future." Lu Xingzhou earnestly pinched her cheeks: "Master doesn't need you to be amazing or helpful, I just want you to be safe and sound."

"I'm not scared!" A'Nuo clenched her small fists: "If it weren't because I'm afraid of fire, with a different attribute I'd beat it to death, a measly little demon lord..."

Lu Xingzhou said: "Have you ever thought that you actually aren't afraid of fire at all? Although you're wood-attribute and indeed restrained by fire, among the wood-attribute cultivators we've seen, none has ever been this afraid of fire."

"Huh?"

"Facts have proven that this Flame Demon couldn't burn you at all, not even a singe on your skin."

A'Nuo's eyes went cross-eyed, she couldn't figure it out herself.

Clearly born with fear, how could it not burn her?

Unable to figure it out, she stopped thinking. A'Nuo's eyes sparkled: "That Essence of Flame Fire, is it useful?"

"It is." Lu Xingzhou rubbed her cheeks: "Bone refinement and pill refinement share certain similarities... these two condensed crystals are the main materials, I still need to add some other supplementary materials, it's relatively simple, I've already asked Shen Tang to go find them. Once the materials are ready, we'll start refining."

A'Nuo hesitated: "Is your seventh-grade flame enough?"

"I'm not enough, but that place where you jumped down and got burned is enough. Even Dragon-Tiger Immortal Pills could be refined there, let alone these little things."

A'Nuo mumbled: "That fire couldn't even kill me, is it really useful?"

Lu Xingzhou looked her over once more, a hint of contemplation in his eyes.

Of course there was the factor of the Fire-Avoiding Talismans—those talismans weren't made by him, they were ones A'Nuo had pilfered from the Hall of Yama in the past, very high grade. After the Fire-Avoiding Talismans were destroyed, A'Nuo had jumped out, and what she faced was only the little Flame Demon's fire, which couldn't be compared.

But even so, being able to stay down there that long was still absurd. Those heat waves weren't something a normal cultivator could endure; if it were him, Lu Xingzhou, he probably couldn't last even a second.

A'Nuo said again: "Also, that Essence of Flame Fire has been in there for a long time and hasn't melted. If you take it to burn now, can you really change its shape?"

Lu Xingzhou knocked her on the head in exasperation: "What do you think the supplementary materials I asked Shen Tang to collect are? Things used to assist in melting down various high-grade minerals when they refine flying swords! This is the Sword Sect!"

A'Nuo hugged her head, her eyes still sparkling, full of joy.

How could she truly not have thought of these things—it was only because her master's lifelong aspiration was about to be fulfilled, she felt it as if it were her own, tossed between hope and fear.

After all, the ten years Master had sought were also A'Nuo's ten years.

————

PS: The wheelchair-bound person is about to take off, begging for monthly tickets~

(End of chapter)