In the haze, Yi Yun clearly saw the woman who was only inches away from him.
Her skin was pale, and her eyes were like autumn waters. She exuded a fresh, delicate scholarly air, as though she were the daughter of a great lineage.
Yet her clothes were not expensive silk, but white hemp garments, washed spotlessly clean and without a trace of dust.
In the Great Wilderness, hemp garments were worn by the impoverished.
Children of wealthy families wore hemp only when mourning their elders, to show their austerity. This was what was called wearing hemp and mourning clothes.
The girl before him, whether in bearing or appearance, looked nothing like a child from a poor family, yet she was dressed in hemp.
Moreover, with her slender figure and jade-like skin, the hemp garments somehow made her seem like a fairy who had fallen into the mortal world and hidden herself in the wilderness.
"You... you are..."
Yi Yun felt puzzled. This woman clearly was not from the Lian Clan. Was she an outsider?
Yi Yun glanced at the sky. The sun was already high, yet it had been the middle of the night when he entered the water. Could he really have stayed underwater for an entire night?
Suddenly, Yi Yun realized something, and his heart jolted violently!
If he had truly stayed underwater all night, that would have far exceeded the limits of an ordinary person.
Although Yi Yun had been unconscious the entire time, he knew that it had been the Purple Crystal's cool stream of energy that had sustained his vital functions and kept his body from dying of oxygen deprivation.
The Purple Crystal was his greatest secret.
When had this woman arrived at the edge of the pool? Did she know how long he had been underwater?
Fortunately, the girl's next words dispelled Yi Yun's worries.
"Why were you floating in the water? Did you drown?"
Floating in the water?
It seemed that he had already risen to the surface when the girl appeared.
Yi Yun let out a sigh of relief and cupped his fists. "Thank you for saving me, Miss, uh..."
Only then did Yi Yun notice that behind the girl stood a plump old man. His hair was completely silver, and he appeared to be quite old, yet the skin on his face was extremely smooth. Not only did he have no wrinkles, it was also rosy.
For some inexplicable reason, this reminded Yi Yun of an advertising slogan—"Red within white, distinctive from the rest."
Yi Yun felt a wave of revulsion. That phrase was meant to describe a beauty. Using it to describe an old man was strange no matter how he looked at it.
Yi Yun noticed that the old man was looking at him with a beaming smile, as if he were extremely interested in him.
The old man's eyes were already small, and with all the flesh on his face, they nearly vanished when he smiled. Yet those very eyes seemed to see right through Yi Yun.
Yi Yun instantly felt as if he had nowhere to hide before the old man. The feeling made him extremely uncomfortable.
Could he... see the Purple Crystal in my heart?
But in the next moment, Yi Yun realized his worry was unnecessary. The Fat Old Man's gaze did not linger on his chest at all. He merely said meaningfully, "Young man, you're so young, yet you seem to have quite a few thoughts on your mind!"
"Hm?" Yi Yun's heart tightened. What did the old man mean?
"You clearly didn't drown, yet you still thanked us. We didn't save you at all, but you went along with it and took the credit. Are you hiding something? Your eyes seemed a little flustered just now."
As the Fat Old Man said this, he gave an ill-intentioned smile, a teasing glint in his eyes.
Yi Yun's heart lurched!
Just then, the Fat Old Man's hand had already landed on Yi Yun's shoulder, instantly making him tense. Damn it, the thing I hate most is people putting their hands on my shoulder! Lian Chengyu did this to me last time, and it nearly cost me my life!
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not interested in the little secret you're carrying."
The Fat Old Man chuckled. With my status, how could I possibly covet the secret of a teenager from some small Great Wilderness tribe? To put it harshly, that would be like an emperor trying to snatch something from a little beggar.
How could that happen?
Of course, those were merely the Fat Old Man's inner thoughts. But in Yi Yun's eyes, the old man's smile looked... extremely lecherous.
"I'm just curious... you seem to... hmm..." The Fat Old Man suddenly looked moved. "You've actually reached this level?"
The Fat Old Man's words left Yi Yun slightly stunned.
Everything had happened so suddenly. Yi Yun had encountered the old man and girl the moment he surfaced, so he had not had time to examine his own condition. Now that he did, he felt that his cultivation... Hm? Why was he still at the Mortal Blood Fourth Layer, Meridian Realm?
His cultivation had not improved, but vaguely, something else seemed different.
What's going on? I absorbed a huge amount of Medicinal Power from the herbs before, along with part of the Desolate Bone's energy, and went from a powerless boy to the level of opening the Ren and Du Meridians. Last night, I absorbed all the remaining Medicinal Power of the Desolate Bone in one breath and completely digested it. I thought I might have a chance to break into the legendary Purple Blood Realm. Even if I couldn't, I should at least have reached the peak of the Qi Induction Realm. Why am I still in the Meridian Realm?
He had eaten an entire Desolate Bone, yet he was still at the Mortal Blood Fourth Layer. Wasn't that too pathetic? That had been enough energy for Lian Chengyu to break into the Purple Blood Realm.
Could my talent really be that poor? But... what did the Fat Old Man mean just now by saying I had "actually" reached this level?
Could it be that a warrior from a small tribe breaking through to the Meridian Realm was already unimaginable to him?
The Fat Old Man looked at Yi Yun in confusion and murmured, "Your meridians are completely open, your pulse is like a dragon, your Body Refinement is perfected, and your bones and blood resonate as one. That shouldn't be possible. You were born in Yunhuang, and you should even be from the Lian Clan. How could you have perfected your Body Refinement and developed a pulse like a dragon?"
Seeing Yi Yun's clothes, washed until their original color was impossible to discern, as well as his pair of tattered old straw sandals, the Fat Old Man had already guessed his identity. Even if a disciple of a great lineage came to Yunhuang for training and wore rough hemp clothing, it would still be brand-new. It was impossible for it to look like Yi Yun's, which had clearly been worn for several years.
"Meridians completely open, pulse like a dragon, Body Refinement perfected, bones and blood resonating as one?"
Yi Yun did not understand what the Fat Old Man meant, but he could still tell that it was definitely a good thing!
It seemed that he had unwittingly obtained an enormous benefit?
"Teacher, you said this young man has perfected his Body Refinement?" Hearing the Fat Old Man's words, the girl was also startled and extremely surprised.
It seemed this evaluation was no ordinary one!
"Hmm... If this were among those ancient lineages, it would be normal for their prodigies to accomplish this. But in the Great Wilderness, it's truly rare for a child from a poor family to perfect his Body Refinement!"
Seeing that Yi Yun did not understand what this realm meant, the Fat Old Man deliberately explained, "Although the Mortal Blood Realm has five layers, only the first four are related to Body Refinement. The fifth layer, the Qi Induction Realm, is a transition from the Mortal Blood Realm to the Purple Blood Realm."
"Cultivating the four layers of Body Refinement isn't difficult, but reaching the extreme, refining every inch of flesh and blood, and attaining perfected Body Refinement is not easy. Such a person's meridians are not only completely open, but also thicker and more vigorous than those of ordinary warriors, as if a swimming dragon were dancing within their body! After Body Refinement is completely perfected, the bones, flesh, and blood fuse flawlessly. With every strike, the bones and blood resonate together!"
The Fat Old Man's explanation suddenly enlightened Yi Yun. No wonder my realm didn't advance at all after I swallowed most of the remaining energy of the Desolate Bone. It turns out all that energy had been used to perfect my Body Refinement!
Although his realm had advanced quickly before, Yi Yun understood the principle that haste made waste. Advancing too quickly was not necessarily a good thing!
Yet this accidental slumber at the bottom of the water had eliminated that hidden danger!
"Eh, your bone structure is rather ordinary, though." The Fat Old Man's small eyes were far too sharp, apparently many times keener than Zhang Yuxian's gaze.
Back then, Zhang Yuxian had used a method of absorbing energy to test Yi Yun's talent, but the result had actually been the Purple Crystal's "talent."
This old man, however, had directly seen Yi Yun's true natural aptitude with his eyes. Yi Yun's heart tightened. This old man had clearly reached the legendary realm of opening the Heavenly Eye!
Before you continue