Hearing this, Su Ye tightly clenched the hem of his sleeve.
The Nameless Sword Venerable passing down the One Thought of Ignorance Sword Art and gifting him the Budu Sword was already an immense blessing. To think there was yet another opportunity being offered to him.
“Since Master is willing to bestow this opportunity upon me, even if it means crossing a mountain of blades or a sea of fire, as long as it benefits my cultivation, this disciple will brave it!”
Hearing this, a trace of approval appeared in the Nameless Sword Venerable's eyes. “Your master knows of an ancient secret technique that can draw down the heavenly tribulation lightning of the nine heavens into this world, using the power of heavenly lightning to cleanse and refine the essence of your spiritual root. A mid-grade spiritual root can be tempered into a high-grade one. If your Dao Heart is pure and your luck is profound, it is not impossible to even temper it into a supreme-grade spiritual root.”
Su Ye's pupils contracted sharply, and his breath hitched for half a beat.
A supreme-grade spiritual root—that was something he had never dared to dream of in his entire life.
His throat tightened, and he blurted out without a single shred of hesitation, “This disciple is willing!”
The Nameless Sword Venerable's voice grew heavy, each word echoing forcefully within the stone chamber. “This method defies the heavens. The process is like ten thousand blades scraping your bones and heavenly fire burning your meridians. If you cannot endure it, at best, your cultivation will be completely ruined, reducing you to a mortal; at worst, you will die on the spot. You... must think this through carefully.”
Su Ye's fingers unconsciously tightened around the Budu Sword in his hand. His heart churned with conflict, leaving him temporarily unable to answer.
Xue Mingzhao stood to the side, remaining silent and not rushing him.
She knew the weight of this decision. This was a gamble that belonged to Su Ye alone, and only he could make the choice.
Images of the day he was kicked out of his family home flashed through Su Ye's mind: his father, mother, his father's concubines, his younger half-brother, and all the family elders.
They had watched him get sent away, yet not a single one of them had pleaded on his behalf! Not even his own mother!
He had been shoved into the teleportation formation before he could even change his clothes.
After struggling to survive on the Tianyan Continent for a month, he had even been beaten up several times just for speaking out of turn.
He had sworn that he would reach the Soul Transformation realm and return to give them all a slap in the face.
He wanted to let his father know that he was not a useless waste!
But his talent was right there. With a mid-grade spiritual root, who knew if it would take hundreds or thousands of years to cultivate to the Soul Transformation or Mahayana realms? He might not even reach it in his entire lifetime.
He did not want to wait hundreds of years, nor did he want to gamble on an illusory lifetime.
Su Ye slowly raised his head. The grievance and resentment churning in his eyes settled completely, and his voice was calm but resolute. “This disciple is willing. Please assist me, Master.”
The Nameless Sword Venerable looked at him and suddenly smiled. The critical and disdainful look from earlier was finally gone, replaced only by appreciation and relief. “Good. Cultivation is a path of facing difficulties head-on. Shrinking back when encountering obstacles will ultimately prevent one from achieving greatness. This temperament of yours has not disappointed this old man.”
He raised a blurry finger, and the final few wisps of spiritual light escaped from his phantom, weaving into an ancient formation in the stone chamber.
The four walls buzzed and vibrated as a blinding flash of lightning erupted from the center of the formation. It did not strike down from the heavens, but exploded outward from the formation itself, bolt after bolt, enveloping Su Ye entirely within the violent electrical glare.
Xue Mingzhao watched from the side, her previous composure completely gone. Her lips pressed into a tight line, and her eyes were filled with an irrepressible worry.
The original book had only written: “Shen Chaoyue relied on her unyielding will to withstand the tempering of the heavenly lightning, ultimately succeeding.”
But the book had never mentioned that this lightning would be so terrifying. Su Ye was charred black all over, blood seeping from his clenched teeth. Every strike of lightning felt as though it were shattering his bones only to piece them back together.
The meridians throughout his body felt as if they were being broken and reshaped inch by inch, every single breath stretching out as long as a year.
She clenched her sleeves, her nails digging into her palms, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
After an unknown amount of time, the lightning finally subsided. Completely drained of strength, Su Ye collapsed heavily to his knees. The charred, cracked skin that had been scorched by the lightning shed its burnt layers at a speed visible to the naked eye, restoring his fair and smooth complexion.
Every burn and crack on the surface of his body healed completely, leaving behind not even a single scar. He looked as though he had undergone a complete rebirth.
He lowered his eyes slightly, clearly sensing the earth-shattering changes within his body.
Rooted deep within his dantian at this moment was a wisp of bone and root origin that was crystal clear, pure, and filled with an incredibly dense spiritual energy.
It was a supreme-grade spiritual root, one in ten thousand in this world!
The corners of his mouth slowly curled up until he could no longer hold it in. He threw his head back and laughed uproariously, “Hahaha! Su Zhengyang, I bet you didn't expect this! Your son's mid-grade spiritual root has become a supreme-grade one! Just wait until I go back—I'll definitely show off in front of that brat Su Sheng and let him know who's the real boss!”
As he laughed, he suddenly met the gaze of the Nameless Sword Venerable.
The old man was looking at him with a gentle smile, his gaze passing through him as if looking at his own younger self.
Su Ye stopped laughing, held the Budu Sword tightly in his arms, and bowed deeply to the Nameless Sword Venerable.
The Nameless Sword Venerable's phantom had already faded to the point of near-invisibility, leaving behind only a very faint outline.
He gazed at Su Ye, his voice as soft as a wisp of wind. “If one day... you can reach the Upper Realm... take the Budu Sword and take a look on your master's behalf...”
As his voice faded, the phantom dispersed into a sky full of shimmering light, speckles falling onto the skeletal remains on the jade platform before fading into silence together.
Su Ye knelt before the jade platform, kowtowing three times toward the pile of skeletal remains that had already turned to dust. Then, strapping the Budu Sword to his back, he turned to walk toward Xue Mingzhao. His eyes were slightly red, but his expression was firm. “Junior Sister, let's go.”
Xue Mingzhao nodded. After taking a couple of steps, she turned back and walked around to the cloud soul jade platform. First, she respectfully performed a salutation, and then, with a wave of her hand, she swept both the jade platform and the ashes on top of it into her storage ring.
Su Ye froze. “Junior Sister, what are you...”
Xue Mingzhao patted her storage ring, her tone perfectly natural. “This jade platform is a good item. And burying his ashes back at the Grand Primordium Sect is much better than leaving them in this forgotten place. Besides, since you've taken him as your master, he counts as one of our Grand Primordium Sect's people from now on.”
Su Ye was startled upon hearing this, and then a wave of warmth filled his heart. He had only thought of kowtowing to thank his master and show gratitude for the inheritance, but he had not thought things through so thoroughly.
Su Ye's throat bobbed. Just as he was about to speak, a series of footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the passage, growing clearer as they approached.
The two exchanged a glance, and Xue Mingzhao swiftly activated the Kongming Formation, a silver-gray light barrier completely enveloping them.
Before the newcomers could turn into the stone chamber, the two quietly slipped out of the passage, hugging the base of the wall.
Just as they exited the passage mouth, they ran right into Shen Chaoyue and Yun Yanchen, who were rushing over.
The two parties brushed past each other, and Xue Mingzhao could even smell the faint scent of blood on Shen Chaoyue.
The barrier of the Kongming Formation firmly concealed their aura and figures, allowing the other party to continue deeper into the stone chamber completely unaware.
Xue Mingzhao silently let out a breath. This was too thrilling—stealing an opportunity right under the female lead's nose.
Suddenly, Shen Chaoyue's footsteps paused, and she cast a backward glance toward the corner where the two were hiding.
Xue Mingzhao instantly froze on the spot. Wait, does the female lead have X-ray vision?
Shen Chaoyue frowned slightly. Her gaze lingered on that empty corner for two breaths before she looked away.
Sensing her movement, Yun Yanchen asked in a low voice, “What's wrong?”
“It's nothing,” Shen Chaoyue said, withdrawing her gaze with a trace of uncertainty in her voice. “I just keep feeling like someone is watching us.”
She scanned the blasted opening and the rubble-strewn ground. Frowning deeply, she bent down and slipped into the passage.
The stone chamber was completely empty, the light from the moonlit stones on the walls so faint that it could barely illuminate anything.
Shen Chaoyue stood at the entrance, remaining silent for a long time. The suffocating sense of loss from knowing that "something that should have belonged to her had been snatched away first" made her chest feel tight.
“...Senior Brother, we're too late,” she said, her voice pitched very low.
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