The Princess's Residence, a quiet chamber.
The night was still, the room bathed in clear moonlight.
Dressed in plain white inner robes, Li Lingyue sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, her waterfall of dark hair loosely pinned up. Gone was the regal bearing that commanded awe throughout the realm at court; only a woman's gentle, tranquil beauty remained.
Behind her, Lu Changfeng sat upright with both palms resting lightly against her back. A pure, vast stream of true qi, containing limitless mysteries, flowed steadily from his palms into her body.
"Focus your mind. Still your qi."
Lu Changfeng's voice was low and calm, as though it held a magic that put the heart at ease. "Sink your divine soul into the deepest reaches of your sea of consciousness."
Li Lingyue obeyed, slowly closing her eyes.
The Purple Tenuity Heavenly Heart Formula she practiced had been adapted from the Imperial Pole World-Reordering Art. It was one of the world's finest imperial cultivation methods, domineering and exalted.
With Lu Changfeng's careful guidance during this time, and the nourishment of the various heavenly materials and earthly treasures he had brought back from Hongfang, her cultivation, stagnant for years, had flourished like withered wood greeting spring, advancing a thousand miles a day.
She had already begun to approach the threshold of the sixth realm.
And now-
Guided by Lu Changfeng's formidable true qi, she felt the invisible barrier that had stood before her and trapped her for years begin to loosen and crack, inch by inch.
"Now."
Lu Changfeng's eyes were half-closed. The true qi in his palms suddenly surged downward, smashing through that final pass like a raging river.
Boom-
Li Lingyue's delicate body shuddered violently. She felt as though a great sun had suddenly risen within her sea of consciousness, illuminating every