The Fruit of the Extreme Path

Yun Jingheng lay in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

His body was still weak, but it was a little better than yesterday. At least he could move his fingers now, and turn his neck.

He tried to raise an arm. It dropped halfway up, like a broken branch.

He sighed.

He had not moved for a year, and his muscles had atrophied a little. He had to take it slow.

Footsteps sounded outside the door.

They were hurried and fast, and then the door was pushed open.

Ye Xinglan stood in the doorway, wearing the Genius Class training uniform. Her golden hair was tied into a ponytail, and sweat beaded on her forehead.

She had clearly run all the way here. Her chest was still rising and falling, but her blue eyes were frighteningly bright.

She looked at Yun Jingheng on the bed, and Yun Jingheng looked back at her.

The two stared at each other for three seconds.

Ye Xinglan walked in, stopped beside the bed, and looked down at him.

"You've gotten thinner," she said.

Yun Jingheng opened his mouth. His voice was still hoarse. "Why are you here?"

Ye Xinglan sat down beside him. "I took leave from training."

"Leave?"

"Mm."

Ye Xinglan nodded. "I said my stomach hurt."

Yun Jingheng fell silent for a moment. "Your stomach hurt, so you came to see me?"

Ye Xinglan answered righteously, "My stomach hurt, and the school doctor told me to rest. While I was resting, I happened to stop by and see you."

Yun Jingheng looked out the window.

Sea God Island, the Inner Court—getting here from the Genius Class training grounds meant crossing the entire Outer Court, a lake, and half the Inner Court.

Happened to stop by?

He said nothing.

Neither did Ye Xinglan.

She sat by the bed, looking at Yun Jingheng's pale face, his hands so thin that every joint stood out, and the slender tube on the back of his hand.

After watching for a while, she suddenly spoke.

"You slept for a year."

Yun Jingheng nodded.

"I came thirty-seven times."

Yun Jingheng froze.

Ye Xinglan's tone was flat, as though she were talking about something entirely ordinary.

"Every time, they stopped me outside. Your mother said you were sleeping and wouldn't let me in."

Yun Jingheng looked at her, not knowing what to say.

Ye Xinglan lowered her head and looked at her hands.

"The first time I came, the moon in the sky was still round. Then it slowly began to wane. Later, there was only a thin line left. Every time I came, I looked at it, and that line kept getting thinner."

She raised her head and looked at Yun Jingheng.

"A while ago, one night, the line disappeared. I thought maybe you had woken up."

Yun Jingheng was silent for a moment. "And then?"

Ye Xinglan thought about it. "Then I went to train. Teacher Lan said my Sword God Star didn't have enough piercing power and told me to train more. I trained until midnight, trained for another half day this morning, and then my stomach started hurting."

Yun Jingheng looked at her and suddenly wanted to laugh.

Her stomach hurt? The tsundere act really was over, huh.

The corners of his mouth curled up.

Ye Xinglan glared at him. "What are you laughing at?"

Yun Jingheng shook his head. "Nothing."

Ye Xinglan looked at him, suddenly seeming a little uncomfortable. She stood up.

"All right, I'm leaving. My stomach doesn't hurt anymore, so I need to keep training."

She walked to the door, then turned back.

"Yun Jingheng."

"Mm?"

"I heard you have three rings now? What is your third soul ring?"

Yun Jingheng froze.

He had not even checked his third soul skill yet.

He sank into his Sea of Spirit and sensed the faint black soul ring.

A stream of information flowed into his mind.

"..."

He was silent for a while, then looked up at Ye Xinglan.

"I don't know yet."

Ye Xinglan frowned. "You don't know your own soul skill?"

Yun Jingheng nodded. "I just woke up. I haven't had time to try it."

Ye Xinglan stared at him for two seconds. "Then get better quickly. Tell me after you're better and have tested it."

She turned and left.

Outside the door, Ye Xinglan leaned against the wall and stood there without leaving.

She lowered her head and looked at the tips of her shoes.

After standing there for a while, she turned around and left.

This time, she really left.

As she walked out of Sea God Island, she looked back at that window.

The curtains were drawn. She could see nothing.

She withdrew her gaze and strode away.

The training grounds were still waiting for her.

After Ye Xinglan left, the room became quiet.

Yun Jingheng lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Her earlier question was still circling in his mind—"What is your third soul ring?"

He recalled the information he had sensed just now.

Third soul skill: New Moon Assault.

Charge in a designated direction. Enemies along the path would be struck by Moonlight.

If the endpoint of the charge or its path contained a target carrying a Moonlight Mark, the skill's cooldown would immediately reset.

During the charge, his body entered an intangible state and could not be locked onto by any means.

Yun Jingheng read it once, then read it again.

Then he opened his eyes, stared at the ceiling, and remained silent for a long time.

Good thing Xiao Jiu in his Sea of Spirit was asleep.

But once it woke up, it would definitely have something to say.

Because this soul skill was utterly ridiculous.

He organized his thoughts.

First soul skill, Crescent Slash: applying marks from range.

Second soul skill, Moonlight Protection: pull, shield, invincibility, and it could apply marks too.

Third soul skill, New Moon Assault: charge, reset, intangibility.

Apply a mark, reset his movement skill, become invincible while moving, then apply another mark after landing.

Then reset again, move again, become invincible again.

An infinite combo.

As long as he had enough Soul Power, and as long as the marks did not break, he could keep weaving across the battlefield, remain intangible the entire time, impossible to lock onto and impossible to hit.

"So it really is an Infinite Moonlight Combo..." he muttered, his voice as rough as sandpaper scraping wood.

After saying it, even he froze for a moment.

Then he smiled softly, the corners of his mouth lifting.

Lying in bed, he began considering ways to use this soul skill.

The core of its reset mechanic lay in mark coverage and timing.

The marks could not break, and his movement could not miss. Every step had to be calculated.

Pulling off an infinite combo would still be difficult. Soul Power was constantly changing, opponents could move, and battlefields shifted in an instant.

Every charge had to be precise.

Intangibility, being impossible to lock onto—this was no longer something mere speed or movement techniques could achieve.

At the instant he charged, he did not belong to this space. Any attack, any lock-on, any perception would pass through him like it passed through a beam of Moonlight.

Moonlight.

He suddenly remembered that day in the Spirit Ascension Platform, when he had forcibly charged from Crescent Moon into Full Moon, then from Full Moon into Blood Moon.

Back then, he understood nothing. He only knew how to slash and charge.

Now, things were different.

He had tools now—power he could use repeatedly, power that would not spiral out of control.

New Moon Assault.

This was his first true movement soul skill.

Mark Pursuit was teleportation. It was the result, not the process.

But New Moon Assault was the process. It was something he actively chose, something he could control, something that let him move freely across the battlefield.

"Tomorrow should be a little better..."

Eastsea City, Eastsea Academy.

A day of training had ended.

Gu Yue sat by the dormitory window, watching the last streak of sunset sink below the horizon.

They would leave for Skysea City tomorrow. With this opportunity, perhaps she would have a chance to come into contact with Shrek.

So... show the value of her martial soul, enter Shrek, and approach the moon.

Simply perfect~

She did not turn on the lights. The room was very dark, with only the faint light from outside the window illuminating the side of her face.

Footsteps sounded from the corner. They were very soft, but her ears twitched.

"Come out."

Di Tian stepped out from the shadows and knelt on one knee behind her.

He did not speak. He merely took something from his robes and held it above his head with both hands.

It was a Soul Bone, silver-white throughout, with a faint sheen flowing over its surface like congealed Moonlight.

Its quality was extremely high. It was at least a hundred-thousand-year Soul Bone, enough to drive any soul master mad if it appeared outside.

Gu Yue did not turn around. She only glanced at the moon outside the window.

"Has he woken up?"

Di Tian nodded.

"He woke up three days ago. His body is very weak, but his Soul Power is stable. He has three rings, and his third ring is ten thousand years."

Gu Yue said nothing.

The corners of her lips curled slightly, so faintly that it was almost imperceptible.

Di Tian knelt behind her, holding the Soul Bone in his hands, silent for a long time.

Finally, he spoke in a low voice. "Lord, I do not understand."

Gu Yue turned to look at him.

Di Tian's expression was complicated. There was confusion, incomprehension, and a trace of unwillingness that even he himself had not noticed.

"The Extreme Path Nirvana Fruit was the only one you brought down from the God Realm. It is something even gods can use."

He paused. "You gave it to a human."

Gu Yue looked at him without speaking.

Di Tian continued, "This Soul Bone, the core remains of a six-hundred-and-sixty-thousand-year Jade Rabbit—you intend to give this to him as well?"

Gu Yue withdrew her gaze and looked at the moon outside.

The moonlight was bright, falling on her face and casting a faint silver glow over it.

"Di Tian," she said softly, "do you know what the Extreme Path Nirvana Fruit does?"

Di Tian froze for a moment. "Nirvana rebirth, remaking one's body."

Gu Yue nodded. "That's right. Nirvana rebirth, remaking one's body."

"But there is a prerequisite. The one who consumes it must have a sufficient foundation to bear that power."

"The deeper the foundation, the greater the achievement after nirvana. Without enough foundation, one will only explode and die."

She paused. "Do you think his foundation is enough?"

Di Tian was silent for a moment. "That moon..."

"That's right."

Gu Yue cut him off. "That was the Plane Master's final creation, the purest martial soul this world could produce. Its foundation runs terrifyingly deep."

She rose to her feet and walked to the window. Moonlight enveloped her entire body in a silvery-white glow.

Her hair began to change, slowly fading from black to silver-white, strand by strand, as though it had been dyed by moonlight.

She turned back to look at Di Tian. Her eyes had already turned purple—a deep, profound purple.

"To me now, the Extreme Path Nirvana Fruit is merely a painkiller."

"My injury is in my divine core, not my body. Even if I ate it, at most I'd feel better for a few days. And then? It would still be the same."

Her voice was calm, so calm that it was as though she were speaking of something that had nothing to do with her.

"Rather than waste it on me, it would be better to give it to someone who can use it."

Di Tian remained kneeling, his grip on the Soul Bone tightening slightly.

"Then what about this Soul Bone? Lady Jade Rabbit died in battle protecting you back then. Her remains..."

"Di Tian."

Gu Yue turned to look at him, her gaze as still as a pool of stagnant water.

Di Tian's words caught in his throat, and he did not continue.

"Jade Rabbit died for me back then. I remember."

Gu Yue's voice was soft. "Her remains have been in my possession all these years, yet I've never used them. Do you know why?"

Di Tian shook his head.

Gu Yue withdrew her gaze and looked at the moon outside the window.

"Because I have no use for them. My body doesn't need a Soul Bone to grow stronger, nor does my power need a Soul Bone to replenish it. In my hands, it is merely a piece of bone."

She paused. "But in his hands, it can become a shield, a sword, something that can save his life."

Di Tian remained kneeling in silence.

Gu Yue returned to the window, her back to him. "When Jade Rabbit died, she asked me to take good care of her remains. She said not to waste them."

Her voice was faint. "Find someone who can use them. After tens of thousands of years, I have found that person."

Di Tian lowered his head. "This subordinate understands."

Gu Yue nodded. "After his body recovers, find a way to let him obtain that Soul Bone reasonably."

Di Tian remained kneeling there in silence for a long time.

Then he put away the Soul Bone and rose to his feet. "This subordinate understands."

Gu Yue nodded. "There is one more thing."

Di Tian waited for her to continue.

Gu Yue looked at the moon outside the window, moonlight falling across her face.

"Go investigate whether there is something called Nether Jade Dew Grass."

Di Tian froze for a moment. "Nether Jade Dew Grass?"

"A legendary immortal herb capable of repairing damage to the divine soul."

Gu Yue's voice was faint. "It exists only in places where moonlight is always abundant. No one has ever seen it."

Di Tian frowned. "Lord, if no one has ever seen it—"

"That is precisely why I'm sending you to investigate."

Gu Yue cut him off. "It doesn't matter if you find nothing. It was only ever a legend."

Di Tian lowered his head. "Yes."

Gu Yue waved her hand. Di Tian's figure vanished into the shadows.

"We... are all lonely."