The Moon That Stays for You

As evening fell, the steam from the medicinal bath filled the entire quiet room.

The herbs that Ya Li had mixed together had a slightly bitter, herbal scent. Yun Jingheng was completely submerged in the dark brown medicinal broth, with only his head showing.

The medicine seeped into the skin, feeling warm and cozy, like countless tiny needles traveling through the meridians.

"How are you feeling?" Ya Li's voice came from behind the screen.

"It feels like a hundred ants are walking through my veins."

"That's right. The medicine is clearing the minor blockages in your meridians. Tonight at midnight, all eight streams of Soul Power will enter simultaneously. Even if it's gentle, problems will arise if your meridians aren't clear enough."

Yun Jingheng submerged his chin in the water and gurgled out a string of bubbles.

"Mother."

"Um?"

"Did Dad do this before? I mean, eight people working together to infuse Soul Core into one person?"

There was a moment of silence behind the screen.

"No. There's a precedent for eight people working together, but that was forced core condensation, with a success rate of only 30%. The one who survived had half of his meridians destroyed, and his life is stuck at the Soul Douluo."

Ya Li's voice was very soft, "The plan your father proposed... has no precedent."

"So I'm the first one."

You're the first one.

Yun Jingheng blinked in the water.

"If I succeed, will Shrek's curriculum have to add a chapter on ' Yun Ming-style Soul Core Self-Condensation Method '?"

Ya Li chuckled, "You'll talk about it after you succeed."

Midnight (11 PM - 1 AM)

Sea God Lake Heart Pavilion.

Moonlight poured down from directly above, and the lake surface, like a polished silver mirror, reflected the Moonlight back perfectly, making the entire pavilion appear suspended in the gap between the light.

Yun Jingheng sat cross-legged in the center of the pavilion, with eight people surrounding him in a circle.

Long Yeyue is due north, Feng Wuyu south, Cai Yue'er is due east, Zhuo Shi is due west, Lan Muzi is due southeast, Tang Yinmeng is due southwest, Ya Li is due northeast, and Yun Ming is due northwest.

"Jing Heng."

Yun Ming spoke, "Close your eyes, sink into your sea of consciousness, and find that God Trial Mark. Don't activate it, just look at it."

Yun Jingheng closed his eyes as instructed.

Deep within the sea of consciousness, a moon-white mark floated silently, its surface shimmering with fine silver patterns, like a living seed.

"And then?" he asked.

"Then feel it. Tonight's moonlight will be filled with the aura of the Yue Shen, and your Divine Power will resonate with it spontaneously. Do nothing; let the resonance happen on its own."

Yun Jingheng emptied his mind.

In the first few breaths, there was nothing.

Then a very subtle tremor came from the depths of his consciousness. The surface patterns of the God Trial Mark began to flow, and silvery-white light peeled off the mark, drifting into his consciousness like dandelion seeds.

At the same time, he sensed it.

The eight streams of Soul Power simultaneously seeped into his meridians from eight directions.

Completely different from the overwhelming impact he had anticipated, Long Yeyue's Soul Power was like a warm stream, Feng Wuyu's Soul Power carried a subtle burning sensation, Cai Yue'er's Soul Power was as cool as spring water, Zhuo Shi's Soul Power was thick and hot, Lan Muzi's Soul Power was light and ethereal, Tang Yinmeng's Soul Power was dense and slender, and Ya Li's Soul Power merged into the meridians that had already been unblocked as soon as it entered.

The eight strands of Soul Power converged in his meridians, constantly guiding his own Soul Power towards his dantian.

"Follow me, spin, compress, and then... communicate with the Godhood."

Yun Jingheng took a deep breath.

At the same time, deep within his dantian, a silvery-white dot the size of a grain of rice emerged, slowly and steadily rotating.

The gaseous Soul Power around it began to be attracted to it, drawn towards it, and absorbed by it. When it was expelled from the other end, it was already covered with a very faint silver-white light.

Soul Power passing through it is like river water passing through a crystal that can be purified.

Time lost its mark on the Sea God Lake.

An hour has passed.

Two hours.

The tiny speck of light, the size of a grain of rice, in Yun Jingheng's dantian was still slowly rotating, absorbing the energy drawn from the eight strands of Soul Power in his meridians. Its size hardly increased at all, but with each rotation, the surrounding Moonlight became a little denser.

At first, there was only a thin layer of silvery-white mist near the center of the pavilion.

By the third hour, the thin mist had spread from the pavilion in the middle of the lake to the entire Sea God Lake.

The lake water no longer reflected the moonlight, but began to glow on its own, as if someone had lit a silver lamp from below.

Yun Ming looked up at the sky.

The moon is still directly overhead.

It didn't move.

"... Elder Long."

His voice was very low, "Has the moon never moved from its position?"

Long Yeyue squinted and stared for a long time.

The old woman's pupils contracted to pinpoints in the Moonlight. After a long while, she gently tapped the stone brick in the center of the pavilion with her cane. "The moon hasn't moved since we entered."

"Normally, it should travel 45 degrees in three hours."

Feng Wuyu's voice carried a seriousness he rarely displayed, "It's frozen in place by something. Or rather..."

He looked at Yun Jingheng, who was sitting cross-legged in the center.

"... He froze me in place."

Cai Yue'er frowned and took half a step forward, hovering her palm three inches above Yun Jingheng's head to sense for a moment. Her expression changed slightly. "His body is actively drawing out the Moonlight; every pore of his body is pulling the moonlight in."

"Then why hasn't the Soul Core condensed after three hours? Normally, with this level of energy intake, an ordinary Soul Saint should have exploded by now." Zhuo Shi's voice came from the west.

The fourth hour has passed.

It was before dawn.

For the first time, Long Yeyue's cane developed a crack from gripping it so tightly.

The old woman looked up at the eastern horizon. Below that line, where the sky should have been turning a pale white, was now pitch black. Only the silvery moonlight poured down from directly above, as if someone had pressed the sunrise of the entire world back down with their palm.

"Elder Long," Feng Wuyu called out to her.

"I know."

"This--"

"I know."

Long Yeyue took a deep breath and turned to look at Yun Ming: "Ming boy, do you even know what your son is doing?"

Yun Ming's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"Could he be conversing with the Yue Shen?"

[Does condensing the Golden Core still require my assistance?]

"I didn't expect condensing Soul Core to be so troublesome... Is Soul Core the same as Golden Core?"

[No, your three tests are for condensing the Golden Core; the Soul Core is merely a prerequisite.]

What should I do?

You will know.

"Hello? Are you still there?"

The depths of his consciousness were empty, with only the moon-white God Trial Mark still floating quietly. The surface patterns were flowing more than twice as fast as before, like an activated seed that was eager to sprout outwards.

"Hello--?!!!"

No one answered him.

But the tiny speck of light, the size of a grain of rice, in his dantian suddenly trembled violently. Silvery-white patterns exploded from the surface of his Soul Core, spreading in all directions. It felt like a seed that had been buried underground for too long, finally saturated with water, and was about to break through the soil.

Yun Jingheng didn't have time to call out a second time; all his consciousness was pulled back to the depths of his dantian.

The light spot is rotating.

It's getting faster and faster.

It moved so fast that he could barely see its outline; only a silvery-white phantom remained, burning in the center of his dantian.

All the remaining Moonlight in his meridians rushed back to the center point at the same time, including the lingering Soul Power left in his body by the eight leaders of the Sea God Pavilion, and the misty Moonlight drifting on the Sea God Lake, all of which were absorbed in an instant.

boom.

A muffled thud came from Yun Jingheng's body. The sound wasn't loud, but it was extremely penetrating, causing the eardrums of the eight people around the pavilion to vibrate simultaneously.

Yun Ming's pupils suddenly contracted.

Then Yun Jingheng opened his eyes.

For a fleeting moment, there was nothing in those eyes.

It was pitch black, like two doors had opened at the same time, but there was nothing behind them.

It lasted for less than half a breath before a silvery-white light surged from the depths of the pupil, flooding the entire eye like a tide. Then the light dissipated, returning to normal black.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.