Outside the cave abode, Qin Feng slowly withdrew his gaze from the direction of Kunlun, the amused smile at the corner of his lips vanishing in an instant.
The explosive growth in his strength had brought about a complete change in his mindset.
Now, the Chan Sect's chief disciple who was about to arrive was nothing more than a punching bag delivering itself to his doorstep to test his strength.
A faint, elusive fragrance drifted over along with soft footsteps.
Qin Feng turned around and met Shi Ji's beautiful eyes, too slow to evade him and filled with complicated emotions.
Gratitude, admiration, curiosity, and a trace of shyness and attachment that even she herself had not noticed.
After lingering outside the cave abode for a long time, this fairy maiden of the Interception Sect and mistress of White Bone Cave finally gathered her courage and walked up to Qin Feng.
"Senior..."
Shi Ji parted her red lips, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz. Her peerlessly beautiful face, usually cool and jade-like, was now flushed with a captivating crimson, and even her fair neck was tinged with pale pink.
She took a deep breath, as though making some momentous decision. When she raised her head again, her gaze had become firm.
"Senior has shown Shi Ji such great kindness that Shi Ji has no way to repay it."
Shi Ji bowed deeply to Qin Feng, her posture reverent to the extreme.
"Shi Ji has cultivated for ten thousand years and possesses nothing of value. I only have a few shallow insights into the path of the Great Dao."
As she spoke, her voice lowered again. She bowed her head, not daring to meet Qin Feng's eyes.
Her hands clenched tightly within her sleeves, her knuckles turning slightly white and revealing the turmoil in her heart.
"If... if Senior does not mind, could you... remain in the cave abode and allow Shi Ji to... discuss the Dao with you?"
The last four words were almost squeezed through her teeth.
The instant the words left her mouth, Shi Ji felt as though her heart were about to leap out of her throat, while her entire face burned scorching hot.
In the Primordial World, an invitation between male and female immortals to discuss the Dao alone—especially within one party's private cave abode—was itself an intimate gesture laden with implication.
It was practically equivalent to opening up one's most fundamental Dao and arts to the other without reservation, an act founded upon immense trust and affection.
Once the discussion of the Dao began, their souls would resonate and their Dao auras intertwine. It would be a profound exchange far beyond physical contact.
After speaking, Shi Ji lowered her head tightly and waited nervously for the verdict.
She had even prepared herself to be rejected.
After all, the person before her was a terrifying existence who did not even regard a Saint's Orthodox Lineage with any importance. Her little understanding of the Dao was likely no different from a firefly beside the bright moon in his eyes.
Yet the silence or rejection she had expected did not come.
A gentle voice carrying a faint smile sounded above her head.
"Yes."
One word, crisp and decisive.
Shi Ji abruptly raised her head and met Qin Feng's eyes, deep as a starry sky. There was a teasing smile in them, as though he had already seen through all her little thoughts.
Boom!
Shi Ji's mind went blank. Immense delight and embarrassment instantly engulfed her, leaving her unable to react.
He... he agreed?
He had actually agreed!
"Why are you still standing there? Lead the way."
Qin Feng rose to his feet and spoke casually.
"Ah... yes! Yes! Senior, please follow me!"
Shi Ji snapped out of her daze and hurriedly led the way. She was so excited that her steps were unsteady, and she nearly missed her footing.
Seeing that peerlessly beautiful figure's slightly flustered back, Qin Feng's smile deepened.
This Shi Ji was rather interesting.
The two entered the depths of the cave abode one after the other.
This was the meditation chamber Shi Ji used specifically for secluded cultivation. Other than a meditation cushion, it contained almost nothing, yet the surrounding stone walls were naturally inscribed with countless profound Dao patterns that gathered the purest spiritual energy of all Skeleton Mountain.
Qin Feng and Shi Ji sat facing each other.
Without any unnecessary words, they closed their eyes at the same time, and an indescribably profound aura began to fill the meditation chamber.
Shi Ji was the first to open up her soul.
In an instant, the Dao aura condensed from her ten thousand years of cultivation transformed into streams of azure air that swirled around her, filled with an intent of heaviness, steadfastness, and eternal immutability.
This was her Dao, derived from her true form and firm as a boulder.
Even after doing all this, Shi Ji remained uneasy, cautiously waiting for Qin Feng's response.
The next moment, a tyrannical and desolate Dao aura, terrifying enough to crush the heavens of all ages, surged explosively from Qin Feng!
This Dao aura was not deliberately directed at anyone. It merely radiated naturally, yet it instantly scattered Shi Ji's proud boulder Dao aura into disarray!
Shi Ji's heart and mind trembled violently. Before Qin Feng's Dao aura, the fruits of her ten thousand years of cultivation felt as fragile as a sandcastle on the shore, collapsing at a single impact!
What a terrifying Dao!
Just as Shi Ji was horrified, Qin Feng's incomparably tyrannical Dao aura suddenly softened. Like a gentle stream, it took the initiative to wrap around her scattered azure Dao aura, gently guiding and smoothing it.
At the same time, a gentle voice sounded directly in the depths of her soul.
"Your Dao originates from mountains and stone. It emphasizes the word 'defend'—using stillness to overcome motion, using constancy to respond to all changes. Your foundation is solid enough, but unfortunately, you have taken the lesser path."
Shi Ji's heart tightened, and she quickly focused to listen.
This was personal guidance from a supreme Great Power. She could not afford to miss a single word!
"What is stone? Stone is the condensation of force. The gravity of heaven and earth, the suppressive force of the Earth Vein, the bearing force of all things... Only when countless kinds of 'force' converge can they become mountain and stone. You know only its hardness, yet not its weight. You know only its stillness, yet not its movement."
Qin Feng's every word was like a heavy hammer striking Shi Ji's heart.
"Defense is not blind defense. True defense is the accumulation of power, containing the force of thunder within stillness. When it erupts, mountains collapse and the earth splits, while stones shatter and heaven is shaken!"
Rumble!
These words were like Chaos Divine Thunder, exploding within Shi Ji's sea of consciousness!
Every obstacle she had been unable to comprehend or see through during ten thousand years of cultivation was, at this moment, crushed and broken through by a grander, more fundamental truth of the Great Dao!
So... that was it!
So I had been walking the wrong path all along!
Shi Ji's soul trembled, not from fear, but from overwhelming excitement and exhilaration.
A sudden awakening!
No, this was no mere sudden awakening. It was like an initiation that remolded the very foundation of her Dao!
The way she looked at Qin Feng changed completely.
If there had previously been admiration and affection, now there was also a fervor and obsession nearly akin to a believer gazing upon a god!
With only a few words, he had exposed the confusion clouding her ten thousand years of cultivation.
What kind of realm was this? What kind of insight?
As their Dao auras continued to merge and their souls drew ever closer, the atmosphere in the meditation chamber became increasingly intimate and enchanting.
Shi Ji had long since become completely immersed in the mysterious sensation of their souls melding and her cultivation advancing rapidly. Her heart had already become wholly tied to the man before her.
A discussion of the Dao knew no passage of time.
When the two opened their eyes again, it was already deep into the night.
Feeling an unprecedented clarity in the Dao and arts within her, Shi Ji looked at Qin Feng once more. Her beautiful eyes rippled like water, brimming with tenderness.
After this discussion of the Dao, she felt that an intimacy beyond words had formed between herself and Qin Feng.
No longer as restrained as before, she gathered her courage and softly voiced the worry buried deep in her heart.
"Senior... Taiyi Zhenren suffered such a great loss. The Chan Sect probably will not let this go. I... I am worried..."
She did not finish, but her meaning was already clear.
That was a Saint's Orthodox Lineage, the lofty Chan Sect, a colossal force she had once not even dared to look up at.
Qin Feng merely smiled faintly.
He slowly raised his hand.
Shi Ji's heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively wanted to dodge, but her body froze in place, unable to move.
A warm, dry hand gently brushed over her cheek and tenderly tucked a slightly disheveled lock of blue hair behind her ear.
The sensation from his fingertips made Shi Ji's delicate body shudder. A tingling numbness like an electric current instantly spread through her entire body, causing her to go weak all over.
Then, that gentle voice, as though imbued with boundless magic, slowly sounded beside her ear.
"With me here, no one in the Three Realms can harm you in the slightest."
Boom!
That single sentence, like the gentlest yet most domineering vow, completely shattered the final line of defense in Shi Ji's heart.
She stared at Qin Feng's flawlessly handsome face in a daze, feeling the natural confidence and dominance in his words. Her Dao Heart, guarded for ten thousand years, completely fell at this moment.
For those words alone, even if she were asked to die at once, she would do so willingly.
Just as the tender, ambiguous atmosphere in the meditation chamber reached its peak,
Qin Feng's gaze narrowed almost imperceptibly.
The smile on his lips did not change in the slightest, and the fingers brushing Shi Ji's cheek remained gentle.
But his Spiritual Sense, comparable to that of a Saint, had already sensed a terrifying Killing Intent—sharp, tyrannical, and filled with boundless slaughter—tearing through the sky at an inconceivable speed from the distant eastern horizon, flying directly toward Skeleton Mountain!
That Killing Intent had firmly locked onto all of Skeleton Mountain.
It seemed the Chan Sect's response had arrived.
Before you continue