Chapter 55: Reborn

There was no day or night in the secret realm; it was unknown how long this refining lasted.

Lu Xingzhou’s Dao cultivation was only at the seventh rank. Although he didn't need to generate his own alchemy fire, this mental exhaustion was extremely hard to endure.

But he dared not ask anyone else for help with this matter. Besides wiping sweat, Shen Tang couldn't help with anything else. Lu Xingzhou had prepared a ring full of medicine to restore his spirit, eating them continuously like candy.

Finally, the furnace lid opened automatically, and the red leg bone floated out of the furnace mouth, complete with fibula, kneecap, ankle, and foot, treated entirely as a prosthetic after amputation.

Shen Tang sighed, thinking to herself that Lu Xingzhou had said he hadn't thought about the "prosthetic" issue, but in reality, it must have haunted countless midnight dreams; the shape of this leg bone was like it was carved into his heart.

"I have no strength left; I need to rest for a while before refining the second one." Lu Xingzhou reached out to summon the leg bone, looking forward to it: "How about I replace it with this one now? You help me."

Looking at his bright, expectant eyes, Shen Tang couldn't help but laugh: "You... you only look like a youth now."

The two simultaneously remembered the "you don't look like a youth" from their first meeting, and simultaneously laughed.

"You're clearly only nineteen. You act so much in your daily life that those who don't know would think you're ninety-nine." Shen Tang laughed and scolded: "Fine, tell me how you want your sister to help you?"

When the word "sister" came out, Lu Xingzhou paused, staring blankly at her smiling face, somewhat lost in thought.

"What's wrong?" Shen Tang waved her slender hand in front of his eyes: "Why are you suddenly dazed?"

"Nothing." Lu Xingzhou lowered his eyes slightly: "My sister... is not easy to be."

Shen Tang was stunned, then laughed: "Is it because you want your legs touched?" Her eyes wandered, falling on Lu Xingzhou’s legs: "Aren't you begging me to touch your legs right now?"

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

"Alright." With serious business at hand, Shen Tang didn't tease him much: "How do I do it?"

Lu Xingzhou looked down at his left leg. It had been shattered by vines when he was protecting Dugu Qingli. Since he intended to change the bone anyway, it didn't matter if it was shattered or not. The muscles were still connected; the tendon-repairing medicine refined from that "fruit" had been quite effective, so the bone was shattered but the tendons weren't broken.

In this situation, amputation wasn't necessary. After all, making flesh and meridians grow out of thin air on the bone was an extremely troublesome matter. Although his own flesh had atrophied, it was still there. Keeping it was called flesh recovery, while cutting it off was called flesh regeneration. It was better to keep it.

"I need to pick out all the bone fragments in my lower leg. It's not very convenient for me to lower my head and look for them myself; I'm afraid of missing some..."

Shen Tang didn't say much, sitting on the dragon bone nearby, lifting his left leg and placing it on her knees. After thinking for a moment, she first hung a night-luminescent pearl in front of her, then took a sword to cut his leg straight open, lowering her head to pick out the bones by the light.

Theoretically, once the tendons were repaired, there should be sensation, but Lu Xingzhou’s condition was still dull; he didn't feel much pain even when his bones were shattered. It was the same now; there was very little blood, and he didn't feel much pain as Shen Tang clamped out the bones piece by piece.

He just stared blankly at Shen Tang’s serious profile, his lips tightly pursed. The light of the night-luminescent pearl cast a soft halo on her, and she looked especially beautiful at this moment.

The soft light in her eyes when she wiped his sweat just now—he hadn't dared to be distracted and had deliberately tried not to think about it. Looking at it now, he felt his heart melting.

Her legs were treated by him; was his being treated by her now... so gentle, so focused.

Sister?

Once, this was a word exclusive to Yuan Muyu. Now...

Looking back at their intersection, Lu Xingzhou preferred to call it mutual redemption.

Whether it was their legs, or what was born from the past, her avoidance and his darkness were gradually dissolving through their contact these days.

Anuo said that when Master arrived in Xiazhou, he harbored soaring resentment in his heart. Although the resentment was still there these days, it had visibly lessened.

At least in front of her, there wasn't even a trace of it.

"Does it look good?" Shen Tang suddenly asked.

"It looks good."

"Does it look as good as your Bai Mao?"

"..." Lu Xingzhou held back for a moment, then said: "I've said it before, my feelings for Qingli are not the kind you think..."

"Maybe they weren't before, but now you two are all tangled up together."

"That was an accident."

Shen Tang finally looked up at him: "Why are you willing to explain now?"

Lu Xingzhou didn't speak.

Shen Tang’s hand paused, and she said in a low voice: "Will you leave after your legs are healed?"

Lu Xingzhou said: "If you need me to stay, I will stay. When one day Her Highness the Princess feels that Lu Xingzhou is of no use, then I will leave."

Shen Tang clamped out the last bone fragment: "Then it will be quite difficult for you to wait for that day."

Lu Xingzhou didn't answer.

After checking repeatedly several times to ensure there were no bone fragments left, Lu Xingzhou carefully took the kneecap and thigh bone to piece them together, then took the lower leg bone to connect the knee, and then connected the ankle...

Shen Tang found it quite interesting. It clearly looked like piecing together a doll, very much like playing house, but after each bone was pieced together, a soft light flashed at the joint, and then the bone really "grew" together, the meridians connected, and the flesh adhered.

It was very magical.

This wasn't piecing together; it was bone refining.

Others had their spines extracted and replaced with immortal bones, or dug out supreme bones to replace them... Shen Tang didn't know how it was done before, but seeing it now, it wasn't so rare, because immortal objects themselves possessed such immortal significance. After being endowed with the attributes of "bone" with various auxiliary materials during refining, it could adhere and grow on its own, acting as a bone.

Otherwise, how could it be called "immortal"?

Lu Xingzhou also found his legs quite fun to look at. Originally, the lower leg was deformed and the muscles were atrophied. Supported by the now-normal-shaped bone, the little bit of flesh couldn't cover it completely, revealing the fiery red inside everywhere, looking exactly like a Terminator.

He had long been prepared to take out ointment and bandages, wrapping them tightly layer by layer: "This is the most appropriate way to use the fruit you gave me before. Using it to repair tendons is quite a waste; its main value is flesh recovery. Wrapping it like this for a period of time, the flesh will recover completely. The new flesh will be very tender then; I will be the one with jade feet."

Shen Tang couldn't help but laugh: "You? I think you're more like a ham."

Lu Xingzhou was stunned for a moment; it really was a ham...

"Hiss..." He suddenly clutched his foot, his expression becoming painful.

Shen Tang was startled: "What's wrong?"

"The feeling of the flesh recovering rapidly is numb and itchy... and the surging fire power in this damn ham is running wild. I'm hot..."

After saying this, he suddenly froze.

Shen Tang blinked at him and suddenly smiled.

"I have sensation... I have sensation! Ha, hahaha..." Lu Xingzhou excitedly grabbed his lower leg, bent his knee, and straightened it, laughing loudly: "I can move!"

It was the first time Shen Tang saw Lu Xingzhou laugh like a child, and her heart felt soft, feeling the same way.

On the day she was cured, wasn't it the same feeling? And Lu Xingzhou had been holding it in for a full ten years!

She leisurely took the spirit water crystal and tapped Lu Xingzhou’s shoulder: "Don't be happy too early. Rest enough and continue; you still have one more leg."

Lu Xingzhou took the crystal and grinned: "As you command, my princess."

The refining of the water bone was different from the fire bone. It was simple to melt it soft, but he was afraid that water and fire would repel each other and explode the furnace.

But after just practicing the Yin-Yang Ultimate Art, he had gained some insights into this aspect. Lu Xingzhou refined it carefully and eventually found it faster and simpler than refining the fire bone.

Looking at the water bone floating out of the alchemy furnace, Lu Xingzhou touched his chin, lost in thought.

The refining process itself was a rehearsal of water and fire harmonization. From the experience just now, when the Yin-Yang Ultimate Art was in his body, this water bone could indeed coexist with the fire bone; with the technique in his body, they wouldn't conflict.

This meant that the path for the future was set; it was impossible to change to anything else.

Then the direction of Dao cultivation was also set; he must find the Dao cultivation part of the Yin-Yang Ultimate Art, which was the main goal for the next step.

Shen Tang was helping to shave off his right lower leg bone. It wasn't shattered here, so it was simpler to remove.

Lu Xingzhou carefully brought the water bone to his leg.

The moment they adhered, the power of water and fire simultaneously traveled from the lower leg to the thigh, then to the lower abdomen, meeting at the dantian, and began to run wild.

One side was scorching and violent, burning everything; the other was gentle and inclusive, but hidden with murderous intent.

Lu Xingzhou endured the numbness and itchiness on his legs and the strange feeling of water and fire in his lower abdomen, fully operating the Yin-Yang Ultimate Art.

The true qi, which originally looked like a DNA chain, expanded rapidly, rotating crazily, and after a while, it turned into a red and blue yin-yang fish, floating gently in the dantian.

Virtual qi is visible—its form is established.

This was not from the ninth rank to the eighth rank.

It was a direct breakthrough from the lower three ranks to the middle three ranks.

Under the terrifying energy of the two heavenly materials and the harmonizing operation of the corresponding technique, Lu Xingzhou was stunned to find... he was at the sixth rank...

Truly... reborn!

It can be seen that in front of true heavenly spiritual objects, the lower three ranks are not worth dividing into three levels at all; they are just a small, insignificant level... but the threshold of the middle three ranks is still worth a look.

There was still a trace of black qi in the corner, which was the foundation of his evil cultivation method, shivering under the extremely prosperous yin-yang power, and was completely suppressed.

Lu Xingzhou blinked and carefully stood up, supporting himself with the wheelchair.

His feet touched the ground, and the power of the earth veins went straight into the Yongquan point, while the spiritual energy above went straight through the crown of his head.

If Wu Xiu is about cultivating oneself, then Dao cultivation is about cultivating the connection with heaven and earth, and manipulating external objects.

Previously, Lu Xingzhou’s Dao cultivation level had always been stuck at the seventh rank and couldn't go up, because his legs were broken, leading to the inability to reach the Yongquan point, failing to achieve the connection between heaven and earth, and unable to break through the big threshold of the middle three ranks.

But at this moment, once it was formed, under the influx of spiritual energy in this secret realm, it was easily broken through in one go.

That shivering black qi suddenly became mighty, like a little devil standing with hands on hips in front of the red and blue yin-yang fish, wanting to provoke.

Then it found that the rank had gone up, but the quality couldn't keep up.

This evil cultivation technique practiced for ten years couldn't beat the Yin-Yang Ultimate Art practiced for only one day. The black qi was beaten by the red and blue yin-yang fish and kicked into the corner, making no sound.

Lu Xingzhou opened his eyes and exited the internal vision.

He couldn't see it himself, but his eyes flashed with red light on the left and blue light on the right, creating electricity in the empty room in this dark secret realm.

Lu Xingzhou practiced both Wu and Dao, both breaking through to the sixth rank.

The next moment, his legs went soft; the newly adhered leg bones couldn't withstand such long standing, and he stumbled, almost falling.

Soft jade leaned on him, and warmth struck. Shen Tang gently reached out and supported him in her arms.