Qin Feng's overwhelmingly domineering promise was like a calming incantation, instantly shattering all the fear and unease in Shi Ji's heart.
She nestled completely in Qin Feng's arms, feeling an unprecedented sense of security. Her mind went blank, and she nearly let herself sink into it.
Yet Qin Feng's brow faintly furrowed at that moment.
He released her from his embrace, held Shi Ji by the shoulders, and looked straight into her eyes with his deep gaze.
Shi Ji grew a little embarrassed under his stare. Her face, which had only just recovered from the overwhelming emotion, flushed crimson once more, and she instinctively tried to avoid his gaze.
"Dao Brother..."
She had just wanted to say something when she felt a gentle yet irresistible force enter her body through Qin Feng's palm and swiftly circulate through her.
Immediately afterward, Shi Ji felt a piercing pain in her Primordial Spirit, as though an invisible needle had viciously stabbed her. Her vision went dark, her delicate body went limp, and she nearly collapsed.
"How could this be?!"
Shi Ji was horrified and hurriedly examined herself internally.
The moment she did, the color that had just returned to her face vanished again, leaving it deathly pale.
Her Primordial Spirit was covered in countless fine cracks, like a piece of porcelain on the verge of shattering. The Magic Power within her was even more like wild horses that had broken free of their reins, crashing recklessly through her meridians completely out of control.
Her Dao foundation was unstable!
And it was already showing signs of nearing collapse!
A chill shot from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head.
Shi Ji was completely stunned.
She could not understand it at all. She had clearly felt fine, so how had such severe injuries suddenly appeared?
This was no simple backlash of Magic Power. It had shaken the very foundation of her being a Grand Unity Golden Immortal. If handled poorly, her cultivation could regress at best; at worst, she could fall in realm altogether or even face the danger of death and dissolution.
"That's right... before..."
Shi Ji suddenly recalled that when facing the coercion of Taiyi Zhenren and the immortals of the Chan Sect, she had repeatedly forced herself to circulate her Magic Power, leaving behind hidden injuries long ago. Later, she had witnessed Qin Feng directly withstand a saint's decree, and her mind had suffered a tremendous shock.
Then, because of the Investiture of the Gods, her emotions had swung violently between despair and joy, causing her Dao Heart to churn fiercely.
With all these factors layered together, the hidden danger finally erupted completely at this moment!
Qin Feng looked at her panicked face, his expression calm and unruffled, as if everything was under his control.
"After repeated shocks, turmoil of the mind, and the hidden dangers left from before, your Dao foundation has already been shaken."
His voice was not loud, but it struck Shi Ji's heart like a heavy hammer, sending it sinking to the bottom.
"Dao Brother, I..." Shi Ji opened her mouth, her voice taking on a sobbing tone, full of helplessness.
She had only just escaped the terror of the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, yet in the blink of an eye, she was facing the desperate situation of her Dao foundation collapsing.
The feeling of falling from heaven into hell nearly drove her to the brink of collapse.
However, Qin Feng gave her no chance to continue wallowing in self-pity.
Without another word, he directly grabbed Shi Ji's cool, soft wrist and strode toward the quiet chamber beside them.
"Dao Brother? You..."
Shi Ji was stunned by his sudden action. She stumbled after him, her heart in utter turmoil.
Qin Feng did not explain. He pulled her into the quiet chamber and casually waved his hand. The heavy stone door slammed shut, cutting them off from the outside world.
The quiet chamber was not large. Aside from a meditation cushion in the center, there was nothing else, making it seem somewhat empty.
"Sit down. Cross your legs."
Qin Feng released her hand and commanded in an unquestionable tone.
Shi Ji was utterly lost at the moment. Hearing his words, she almost instinctively obeyed, sitting cross-legged on the meditation cushion like an obedient child. Her beautiful eyes looked at him with doubt and unease.
What was Dao Brother going to do?
Was he going to personally help regulate her Magic Power?
But an injury such as damage to one's Dao foundation required either cultivation techniques of the same origin, or Great Powers whose cultivation far surpassed one's own, and even then they would have to expend their origin merely to stabilize it.
Though Dao Brother's strength was unfathomable, after all...
Just as Shi Ji's thoughts ran wild, Qin Feng had already moved behind her.
She could feel a crisp, masculine aura unique to Qin Feng coming from behind her. For no reason at all, it threw her heart into disarray, and even the tips of her ears grew hot.
She nervously straightened her back, her body tense as a startled deer.
The next moment.
A warm, dry hand gently pressed against her smooth, flawless back through the thin fabric of her immortal robes.
Boom!
Shi Ji's mind buzzed as though fireworks had exploded within it.
Her body trembled sharply, and an indescribable numbness spread from the point of contact through all four limbs and every bone in her body.
The warmth from that palm was terrifyingly clear, as if it carried some strange magic that made her already anxious heart skip a beat.
This... what was he doing?
Healing her?
Was... was there such a way to heal injuries?
This intimate contact, far beyond anything ordinary, made Shi Ji—a female immortal who had cultivated for countless years and remained untouched by mortal affairs—feel both ashamed and flustered. Her cheeks instantly turned red enough to drip blood.
She instinctively wanted to dodge away, but Qin Feng's calm yet imposing voice sounded beside her ear.
"Focus your mind and calm your breath. Don't move around."
That voice seemed to possess some kind of magic, instantly halting Shi Ji's attempt to struggle.
She bit her lips tightly, closed her eyes, and forced herself not to think about such messy things.
It was also at that moment.
An unimaginably pure aura, as though it had originated before the heavens and earth had even opened, before the primordial chaos of the universe, slowly entered her body from Qin Feng's palm.
It was not Magic Power, not immortal essence, nor was it any kind of energy Shi Ji knew.
It was a stream of... chaos!
A supreme stream of Chaos Qi, as though it could create the world and bring all things into being!
The instant that Chaos Qi entered her body, Shi Ji's pupils contracted sharply, and enormous waves rose in her heart.
Chaos Qi!
It was actually Chaos Qi!
This was a source power that, according to legend, only saints could come into contact with! Dao Brother... he could actually wield it at will?!
However, before she could recover from this immense shock, something even more unbelievable happened.
After entering her body, that stream of Chaos Qi did not violently scour through her meridians. Instead, it was like the gentlest spring rain, nourishing all things without a sound.
In an instant, it completely enveloped her crack-covered Primordial Spirit.
Shi Ji felt as though her Primordial Spirit had been immersed in the warmest, most comfortable amniotic fluid in all creation.
Those terrifying cracks that had been enough to collapse her Dao foundation began to heal and close at a visible speed beneath the soothing touch of that aura. In the end, they disappeared without a trace, and her Primordial Spirit became several times tougher and more solid than before!
As for the Magic Power within her, which had been rampaging like wild horses free of their reins, before this Chaos Qi it became like mice encountering a king. It instantly turned incomparably docile, obediently returning to its proper place and flowing through her body in perfect order.
There was not the slightest pain throughout the entire process.
There was only a warmth and comfort beyond description.
That feeling was ten thousand times more pleasant than soaking in the most precious Nine Heavens Immortal Spring of the primordial world!
The Nine Heavens Immortal Spring could only cleanse a mortal body.
But this Chaos Qi cleansed her Primordial Spirit, her Dao foundation, the very root of her existence!
Shi Ji could clearly feel that every breath and every heartbeat of hers seemed to resonate with some supreme rhythm.
Her bottleneck was loosening!
Her comprehension of the Great Dao was rapidly increasing!
How was this healing injuries?
This was clearly an unparalleled fortuitous opportunity that would drive any Grand Unity Golden Immortal mad with envy!
In no more than the time it took to burn an incense stick.
When Qin Feng slowly withdrew his palm, every hidden injury within Shi Ji's body had long since vanished without a trace.
Not only was her Dao foundation as stable as before, it was even more powerful than it had been by more than a single level. Her Magic Power had become purer and more condensed than ever, as if it had been tempered a thousand times.
She had no doubt that as long as she returned and entered seclusion for several days, she would naturally break through and enter the middle stage of the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm!
The quiet chamber was so silent that one could hear a needle drop.
Qin Feng had already withdrawn his hand, but Shi Ji remained seated cross-legged, motionless as though she had become a jade statue.
She was still immersed in that profound lingering sensation and could not pull herself free.
The warm touch of Qin Feng's palm upon her back seemed not to have faded yet. It was branded upon her skin, and even more deeply upon her heart.
She could clearly recall how, while he had healed her, her entire mind had been immersed in that Chaos Dao rhythm, nearly merging with Qin Feng's aura as one.
She could feel the warmth of his palm.
She could feel that reassuring aura around him.
She could even feel the faint lines on his palm through the thin layer of clothing...
At that thought, an unfamiliar feeling spread without warning from the deepest depths of her heart.
Like a seed buried for countless years, it finally broke through the soil at this moment, taking root and sprouting.
Shi Ji's flawless jade-like face suddenly flushed completely red, the color spreading all the way to her snowy-white neck and delicate ears.
She abruptly opened her eyes. Her beautiful phoenix eyes shimmered with moisture, filled with shyness, panic, and a trace of... sweetness that even she had not noticed.
Her heart began pounding uncontrollably, even more violently than when her Dao foundation had been shaken.
It was over.
Only those two words remained in her mind.
Her heart seemed to have become unstable along with her Dao foundation...
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