Secrets

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Whoosh!

An ice-blue sword gleam, carrying endless chill, slashed down at Ye Zhen's head. That frigid sword intent instantly coated his entire body in a layer of white frost.

Yet this time, Ye Zhen did not even blink. He even rolled his eyes upward to carefully inspect that ice-blue sword gleam.

"Instructor Liao, isn't this method of training my courage a little too unoriginal?" Ye Zhen said rather boredly as he stared at the ice-blue sword gleam.

Dressed in a pale blue gown, with long sword-willow brows slanting upward and a heroic bearing that yielded nothing to any man, Instructor Liao Feibai appeared before Ye Zhen without warning.

"I thought you had forgotten our one-month appointment. I was just about to go split you apart with one sword stroke, you faithless fellow. I didn't expect you to come instead."

Cold sweat instantly drenched Ye Zhen's head. The way Liao Feibai looked him up and down seemed to be assessing where best to put the blade, as though she truly intended to cleave him in two with a single sword strike. It sent chills through his body.

For a mere look to make Ye Zhen like this, all he could say was that this woman, Liao Feibai, was terrifying.

"Relax. Mainly because your cultivation is still too shallow; you cannot withstand too much tossing about. Once your cultivation advances another step, I will definitely give you a surprise."

After saying that, Liao Feibai pointed at the stone stele behind her, inscribed with "To seek the Way, first forge courage," and made a welcoming gesture toward Ye Zhen. "Sever this stone stele with one palm. I'll give you three chances. If you cannot sever it after all three, then prepare yourself..."

Ssh!

Ye Zhen casually slashed diagonally with his palm. Qi Gang abruptly appeared, and before his palm even arrived, one corner of the stone stele had already been sliced away by Ye Zhen, as easily as cutting tofu.

Liao Feibai, who had been about to frighten Ye Zhen, abruptly froze. An extraordinary light flared in her eyes as she looked at him. "Only one month, and you've progressed this much?"

"Your potential is even greater than I imagined."

As Ye Zhen was about to grow smug from Instructor Liao Feibai's praise, a sharp gleam flashed through Liao Feibai's eyes. With a light brush of her jade finger, she caught Ye Zhen's wrist pulse.

Instinctively, Ye Zhen's wrist trembled violently like a slippery snake, trying to escape Liao Feibai's grasp. But her pair of jade fingers seemed to be the natural nemesis of serpents. With a light peck, she rendered him utterly unable to move.

Ye Zhen only felt his wrist tremble as an icy force burrowed into his body.

The fingers resting on Ye Zhen's wrist pulse were cool as jade, but the force flooding into his body was cold as frost.

That icy force rushed into Ye Zhen's body and gave a strange tremor. The blood qi in Ye Zhen's dantian and his few drops of True Essence instantly began boiling wildly like water brought to a rolling boil.

The few drops of True Essence Ye Zhen had not used shot out on their own with a swish, spreading densely across the surface of his arm.

"Three drops of True Essence? Very well. You dared hide your cultivation from me. Do you really think these eyes of mine, Liao Feibai's, are blind?"

Before her words had even faded, Ye Zhen inwardly cried that things were bad. The next instant, he suddenly flew into the air, tumbling up, down, left, and right like a lone boat plunging into the sea.

In Liao Feibai's hand, Ye Zhen was directly swung like a wheel. His head and feet became a blur in an instant. At that point, where did Ye Zhen look like a person? He was clearly a toy in Liao Feibai's hand.

When Ye Zhen's stomach began churning like rivers and seas overturned, and dizziness clouded his vision, Liao Feibai threw him out. Leaving behind one sentence, she turned and strode gracefully into the inner courtyard.

"Come in after you're done vomiting!"

When Ye Zhen stepped into Liao Feibai's inner courtyard, he still felt top-heavy and light-footed. Heaven knew how fast Liao Feibai had spun him. In that instant, Ye Zhen had felt as if his limbs were about to fly out of his body. He absolutely did not want to experience that feeling a second time.

"Your cultivation has progressed faster than I expected, so naturally, the reward I give you will be a little better."

At those words, Ye Zhen's eyes suddenly lit up. A reward! He had never expected that not only could he obtain cultivation arts from Instructor Liao, but there would even be rewards. As for the fact that this seemed to exceed the scope of an instructor's guidance, Ye Zhen simply ignored it.

"Three months. If you can transform all the blood qi in your body into True Essence and break through to the True Essence Realm within three months, I will reward you with a Human-tier High Grade cultivation art."

"A Human-tier High Grade cultivation art? Really?" Ye Zhen's expression immediately became incomparably astonished.

Do not be fooled by the fact that menial disciples could immediately obtain Mortal-tier Mid Grade or High Grade Cultivation Manuals upon becoming Outer Disciples, which was quite a leap. The higher the grade of a cultivation manual, the more precious and scarce it became.

If an Outer Disciple advanced to become an Inner Disciple, he could be bestowed a new cultivation manual, but its grade would only be Human-tier Low Grade.

Only if an Inner Disciple could break into the Heaven Ranking, or achieve relatively good results in the Sect Grand Competition, would he have a chance of receiving a Human-tier Mid Grade cultivation art as a reward.

As for Human-tier High Grade cultivation arts, ordinary Inner Disciples had almost no chance of obtaining one.

It was said that the sect-protecting cultivation art which only the Qi Yun Sect Master could cultivate was merely Mid-grade Earth-tier.

From this, one could see just how precious a Human-tier High Grade cultivation art was.

At the same time, higher-grade cultivation arts possessed unique advantages in cultivation speed and the power of their techniques. If Ye Zhen could obtain a Human-tier High Grade cultivation art one step earlier, the advantage it would create simply could not be measured in reason.

"Of course! As long as you can break through to the True Essence Realm within three months."

"Three months..."

Only then did Ye Zhen realize the condition Liao Feibai had set, and he instantly stood dumbfounded.

It was not that the condition was difficult. It was simply impossible.

Under normal circumstances, after an Outer Disciple condensed their first drop of True Essence, even the fastest would need a year to transform all their blood qi into True Essence and truly step into the True Essence Realm. That was with Blood Origin Pills every day.

Even if Ye Zhen had that secret Marrow Spirit Liquid, he could not accomplish it within three months. At the fastest, he would likely still need more than half a year.

"Instructor Liao, stop playing with me. Three months is simply impossible." Ye Zhen gave a bitter smile.

"What if I add this?"

A pill bottle appeared before Ye Zhen. Written on it were the words "Condensing True Pill."

"One bottle?" Ye Zhen asked.

"One bottle!"

"One bottle isn't enough. Four or five bottles would be more like it." Seeing Instructor Liao being so generous, Ye Zhen simply opened his mouth like a lion.

The moment Ye Zhen said that, Liao Feibai instantly became like an enraged lioness and roared madly at him. "Four or five bottles of Condensing True Pills? Why don't you ask for ten or eight bottles instead?"

"With that many Condensing True Pills fed into it, even a pig could be stuffed into the True Essence Realm by this old lady! Would I still need to offer you a reward to motivate you?"

"One bottle of Condensing True Pills. Take it or get lost! From now on, I'll split you apart every time I see you."

The roaring Liao Feibai directly began cursing.

In the end, Ye Zhen still somewhat awkwardly took the bottle of Condensing True Pills into his hand. "I'll try..."

"I'm not asking you to try. You must do it. If you cannot, this old lady will split you apart every time I see you."

Ye Zhen was instantly embarrassed. She would split him apart whether he accepted it or not—Instructor Liao was far too violent, wasn't she?

After pondering for a moment, Ye Zhen took a deep breath and raised the Condensing True Pills in his hand. With a rather solemn expression, he asked, "Instructor Liao, can you tell me why?

"Why are you treating me so specially? You're rewarding me with cultivation arts and giving me pills. As far as I remember, not a single Outer Disciple before me has ever received your guidance."

When Ye Zhen asked this, Liao Feibai was not surprised in the slightest. Instead, she sneered. "What, scared? This old lady dug a huge pit and is waiting for you to jump into it. If you're scared, leave the pills behind and get lost. From now on, I'll split you apart every time I see you!"

"Scared of a bird! Three months it is." Liao Feibai's mockery stirred Ye Zhen's fighting spirit. Clutching the Condensing True Pills, he turned and left.

Just as a smug smile appeared on Liao Feibai's pretty face, Ye Zhen suddenly turned around and came back, causing her expression to stiffen.

"Instructor Liao, there's another cultivation problem I cannot figure out. I still need to ask for your guidance," Ye Zhen said.

When she heard that Ye Zhen wanted to ask about cultivation, Liao Feibai finally let out a breath of relief. Just now, she had thought Ye Zhen was going to go back on his word.

"Ask."

"Instructor Liao, I don't know why, but when I cultivated the Essence Blood Origin Body Art, I directly broke through from Blood Refining Fourth Level to Blood Refining Fifth Level. I never went through the process of Marrow Cleansing and Body Tempering at all."

After a pause, Ye Zhen smiled bitterly again. "To be honest, I have never even taken a single Marrow Cleansing Pill!"

The next instant, Liao Feibai roared at Ye Zhen once more. "Are you stupid? You have an Innate Pure Body. Your body is already as pure as jade, so why would you need Marrow Cleansing and Body Tempering? If you were my disciple, this old lady would slap you to death, so you would not disgrace me!"

Before Instructor Liao had even finished speaking, Ye Zhen had already been so frightened by the force of her roar that he sprinted out without looking back. Behind him, Liao Feibai's roar continued.

"Do you think this old lady has something wrong with her brain? If you didn't have an Innate Pure Body, forget one bottle of Condensing True Pills—even ten bottles would not let you break through to the True Essence Realm within three months!"

But Ye Zhen, who had rushed out the door, secretly grumbled to himself. Hadn't she just said that with that many Condensing True Pills, even a pig could be stuffed into the True Essence Realm?

Ye Zhen had not expected the effect of an Innate Pure Body to be so enormous. In that case, the Marrow Spirit Liquid was even more important than he had imagined.

Inside Liao Feibai's Instruction Hall, after Ye Zhen fled like a rat clutching its head, Fairy Caiyi appeared behind Liao Feibai, dressed in a colorful gown and holding Flower Civet in her arms.

"All right, Sister Liao, he's gone. Look at you—you scared him half to death!" Fairy Caiyi said.

"What, that fellow saved your precious darling, and now your heart aches for him already?"

Teased by Liao Feibai, Fairy Caiyi recalled the cause of Flower Civet's illness, and her pretty face inexplicably reddened. "Not at all."

"You're still denying it? I only said one thing, and your face has already turned red."

As they spoke, the two women began laughing and frolicking. After playing around for a while, Fairy Caiyi's expression turned serious. "Sister Liao, have you noticed that Ye Zhen has quite a few secrets?

"He became an Outer Disciple for only one month, yet his cultivation exploded from Blood Refining Triple Layer to Blood Refining Fifth Level. At this rate, he is nearly catching up to Ren Xihua's cultivation speed.

"Also, this afternoon, a Phantom Snake King inexplicably became an empty shell. Though he said demons had appeared, I always feel something is not right."

Listening to Fairy Caiyi's questions, Liao Feibai lowered her sword-willow brows, and her gaze suddenly grew somewhat profound. "Little sister, who in this world does not have a few secrets? Isn't that right?

"Speaking of which, are the secrets on you and me few?"

After a pause, Liao Feibai added, "Besides, if we are talking about people with secrets, Caiyi, you are the greatest secret of our Qi Yun Sect..."