"Big brother, what is the Golden Dragon Breathing Technique?"
"It's a cultivation method that's stronger than the Civil Meditation Method you're learning now. I created it myself. Remember, don't tell anyone else."
"Oh, oh. Is it hard to learn?" Tang Wuyue looked up, her little face full of anxiety.
Lu Chuan smiled. "A cultivation method I created myself? Of course it's hard!"
At his words, the little girl's face immediately fell.
"But it won't be hard for you!"
Lu Chuan added.
In an instant,
the little girl's eyes brightened again.
She was practically a doll controlled by voice commands.
Eastsea Academy
Lu Chuan's private training grounds
The morning light was faint,
stretching the young man's shadow long across the ground.
Lu Chuan stood in the middle of the training grounds with his hands behind his back,
gazing at the bright sunlight,
and silently praised it,
"This is the best kind of weather for cultivation."
For a moment, Tang Wuyue felt dazed.
The figure of her brother before her gradually overlapped with that of the big sister in her dream,
sharing an indescribable resemblance.
Both were like this, as if standing above the clouds, smiling down at all living things.
"What are you thinking about? You're so lost in thought."
"Stand properly first!"
Seeing Tang Wuyue daydreaming, Lu Chuan circled behind the little girl and gave her little bottom an annoyed smack.
He had to admit, it felt pretty good—springy and bouncy.
"No wonder Teacher Wu likes using a Willow Switch to smack people on the butt. This feels great!"
Lu Chuan looked at his hand with lingering satisfaction,
completely oblivious to the fact that the little girl's face had gone bright red.
After enjoying himself,
he began correcting the little girl's posture.
"The breathing technique begins with the right state of mind. Close your eyes."
Tang Wuyue hurriedly did as she was told, closing her eyes and focusing her mind.
Seeing this, Lu Chuan continued:
"Imagine your body is a furnace, and Soul Power is the flame burning inside it. Ordinary Soul Masters cultivate by adding more fuel to make the fire burn brighter. But the Golden Dragon Breathing Technique..."
"Is forging. With every breath in and out, it's like a hammer coming down, constantly compressing and refining your scattered Soul Power."
As he spoke,
Lu Chuan gently placed both palms against Tang Wuyue's upper back,
and sent Soul Power into her body,
guiding the Soul Power within her along a prescribed path.
"Follow my rhythm. Breathe in, and gather it in your dantian. Breathe out, and send it through your limbs. Slowly. Even slower..."
As the lesson progressed,
Tang Wuyue's breathing gradually fell into rhythm.
And so, they practiced day after day without stopping.
Half a month later,
when night fell,
Tang Wuyue opened her eyes again,
and the results were already remarkable!
She looked inward,
and was delighted to discover
that her Soul Power, which had once flowed like a stream,
now surged without end like the waters of the Yellow River!
Although her cultivation level hadn't increased,
the total amount of her Soul Power had doubled.
She was just about to share her joy with Lu Chuan,
when a wave of drowsiness suddenly swept over her!
Not only that,
her chest began to grow hot,
as if a little sun were burning beneath her skin!
"Big brother?"
She instinctively called out to Lu Chuan.
At her voice, Lu Chuan immediately rushed into the room from the living room.
For the past few days,
he and Bi Ji had been keeping watch around the clock,
waiting for the seal to break on its own!
Now that the time had come,
they immediately began protecting her.
"Wuyue, I'm here! Don't fall asleep, no matter what. This is the critical moment for breaking the seal. If you fall asleep, your Soul Power will go out of control and run rampant through your body."
"Big brother, but I'm... really sleepy!" Tang Wuyue tried hard to keep her eyes open, but her eyelids felt as heavy as lead and wouldn't lift.
At her words,
Lu Chuan couldn't help frowning,
because Tang Wulin in the original story hadn't experienced anything like this.
He had only passed out from the pain after enduring the first seal.
During the process of breaking the seal, he had remained conscious.
What was going on?
Lu Chuan instinctively looked at Bi Ji.
Bi Ji shook her head. She had investigated with her life energy, but couldn't figure out the reason either.
Only when Lu Chuan happened to notice a faint trace of purple flash across Tang Wuyue's pupils
did he suddenly understand.
It wasn't that Xiao Wuyue was sleepy—
someone was trying to pull her into a dream!
"Wuyue, if you're sleepy, go ahead and rest. Big brother will help you through this!"
Lu Chuan said softly.
As soon as he finished speaking,
Tang Wuyue fell asleep, sinking into a dream.
The dream
was still set in that boundless Silver Lake,
where starlight spilled down and the water lay calm.
The Silver Dragon King stood quietly in the middle of the lake,
her silver-white dress trailing to the ground,
its hem blending into the water.
She looked back over her shoulder,
her violet eyes brimming with amusement,
clearer than they had been a month ago, and more... imposing.
"A month has passed, little girl. Are you ready?"
Tang Wuyue nodded instinctively,
though fear still lingered in her heart.
But when she thought of her brother protecting her in the real world,
her courage swelled at once.
The Silver Dragon King smiled faintly,
then pointed into the air.
The water beneath Tang Wuyue's feet suddenly collapsed.
She plunged downward,
but instead of falling into the water,
she found herself in a vast, boundless sea of silver light.
Before she could react,
the Silver Dragon King's majestic voice rang out by her ear,
"First seal, open."
At the sound of those words,
Tang Wuyue felt as if something had seized her soul,
then... torn it apart!
A wave of agony followed!
It wasn't physical pain,
but the pain of her very life being torn apart and remade.
She saw, inside her body,
a silver gate covered in countless ancient runes
crack open with a thunderous rumble,
just a hairline fissure appearing.
Then the gate swung wide!
Unlike the violent Bloodline Power contained in the Golden Dragon King Bloodline,
the Silver Dragon King Bloodline held elemental power!
Each time that silver gate trembled,
a different torrent of elemental energy poured into the little girl's body.
Flames scorched her meridians,
ice froze her marrow,
gales tore at her soul,
and the earth crushed her spiritual platform...
Seven kinds of extreme power clashed wildly inside her,
as if trying to burst their "vessel" from within.
"Ugh—! It hurts!"
In the dream, Tang Wuyue couldn't help crying out in pain.
In the real world,
the sleeping Tang Wuyue suddenly arched her body and cried out as well.
Lu Chuan immediately realized
that his younger sister's seal had broken!
But there was a problem now.
Tang Wuyue was asleep.
How could she take the Ice Crystal Fruit and Red Flame Fruit?
Should they crush them and feed them to her?
"My lord, let me do it."
Just as Lu Chuan hesitated,
Bi Ji volunteered,
and before Lu Chuan could refuse,
she leaned down without hesitation and gently pinched an Ice Crystal Fruit between her fingers,
ready to bite it,
then pass the juice into Tang Wuyue's mouth.
However,
even in her sleep, Tang Wuyue seemed to resist instinctively. Her teeth were clenched tight,
and her lips were pressed into a stubborn line.
"Miss, forgive me."
Bi Ji furrowed her brows and murmured,
Emerald-green light gathered in her palm,
as she prepared to force open Tang Wuyue's lips.
However,
just as Bi Ji's fingertips were about to touch Tang Wuyue's skin—
A sudden change erupted!
The air in the entire room abruptly froze,
the temperature plunging to the freezing point,
only to boil moments later with the force of a wildfire!
Amid the crossing shadows and light,
an indescribable, terrifying pressure, seemingly born of the primordial past, crashed down,
like a mountain made solid, bearing down from thin air!
Bi Ji let out a muffled groan,
and the green light protecting her shattered on the spot.
She was sent flying as if struck in the chest by an invisible giant hammer,
slamming hard into the specially reinforced wall.
Her throat turned sweet,
and she spat out a mouthful of blood,
staining the front of her clothes red.
She looked up in horror,
only to see, above the sleeping Tang Wuyue,
the enormous phantom of a Silver Vertical Pupil looming in the void, so vast it blotted out the sky!
That vertical pupil was cold and merciless,
imbued with the supreme will to command all beasts and pass judgment on all living things.
A single glance
made even Bi Ji's soul tremble.
Fear spread through her heart in an instant.
She instinctively looked toward Lu Chuan,
but the vertical pupil gave her no chance at all,
completely obscuring her vision.
Her elements were stripped away,
her five senses stripped away.
In a single instant,
she seemed to have fallen into boundless darkness!
Then,
an ancient, imposing voice, utterly devoid of emotion,
boomed from the depths of the Silver Vertical Pupil in the void,
"Get out!"
"If you dare defy your superior again, you'll die!"
Before you continue