At that moment, gazing at the lovely face mere inches away, she felt soft, warm breaths brush her little face, carrying a delicate fragrance.
Qing Shuang's cheeks flushed scarlet in an instant, and her heart began pounding wildly despite herself.
She admitted that her heart really had stirred a little. This girl was far too captivating, as though she possessed some spellbinding power that drew people in.
"Miss, is what you said... true?" she asked timidly, a barely perceptible hint of joy in her voice.
Seeing her like this, her eyes almost dreamy, Xi Yue thought, This is bad. Her body stiffened slightly. "No."
She lowered her hand, and the intimate atmosphere immediately vanished without a trace.
Teasing was teasing; it could not be taken seriously.
Qing Shuang gradually came back to her senses as well. She hurriedly shook her head, silently reciting the Clear Heart Mantra.
She truly could not imagine why she had said such a thing just now. How shameless of her.
"Could it be that what I actually like is..." She sank into thought, then shook her head and stopped dwelling on it.
Xi Yue knew nothing of her thoughts. At that moment, she uprooted an entire stone stele and held it aloft in her hand.
With a thunderous crash, she hurled the stele into several distant rocky hills. In an instant, dust billowed, shattered rocks pierced the air, and a thick haze engulfed the area.
"Hmm, not bad. A single swing of my arm delivers a hundred and twenty thousand jin of force," she murmured, clapping her hands and brushing away the surrounding dust.
Had those young prodigies heard this, their jaws would probably have dropped all over the ground.
After all, humans were not known for their physical strength. By a careful reckoning, Xi Yue was only six and a half years old, yet she already possessed strength beyond the ultimate limit.
This was terrifying. Even the young of primordial savage beasts could scarcely achieve such a feat. Even in the Immortal Ancient Era, she would have been an unparalleled prodigy. Probably only the legendary true dragons and Heavenly Horned Ants could have matched her.
Beside her, Qing Shuang had nearly turned to stone. That stele weighed more than a hundred thousand jin, yet her young mistress had lifted it effortlessly.
This meant that her young mistress had already shattered the limits of the Blood Moving Realm!
At this thought, a strange light flickered in her eyes again. Her gaze grew even more reverent, though she also felt a trace of defeat.
She herself was a first-generation prodigy. While she would not claim to rival a young supreme, she had believed she was not far behind. Yet she had only barely reached the ultimate limit. Compared with her young mistress, she was a firefly beside the radiant moon.
Nor could she blame it on resources. In truth, she had no shortage of them.
Besides, even the finest resources required the ability to use them. Without the aptitude and talent to support them, one could never turn them into personal strength. The two were worlds apart.
"I still need to let things settle before breaking through."
If she wished, she could open a cave heaven and enter the next realm at any time. However, doing so would cost her many insights and could easily leave flaws behind.
At dawn, morning mist drifted like gauze. Golden rays pierced the clouds and spilled through the woods, falling upon plants and blue-gray stones, reflecting tiny glimmers of divine light.
There stood a girl, blood streaming down her body and her clothes disheveled. One delicate, crystalline fist had pierced straight through a Fire-Leaving Reckless Bull.
Blood dripped down, translucent as beads of water. When it struck the ground, it spread at once, like a bewitchingly vivid flower.
"Whew." The girl let out a long breath. Producing a gleaming long saber from somewhere, she stripped away its hair, removed its bones, and cut out its sinews in a few swift motions, her movements astonishingly practiced.
Soon, waves of meat fragrance wafted through the air, fresh and succulent, seeping into the heart.
Smack!
Xi Yue reached out and slapped away Qing Shuang's hand as it crept toward the roast meat. Exasperated at her hopelessness, she said, "I haven't seasoned it yet. What's the rush?"
Qing Shuang wiped the glistening drool from the corner of her mouth and chuckled, entirely unbothered.
At some point, several bottles and jars had appeared in Xi Yue's hands. Their intoxicating fragrances spread as she sprinkled their contents over the roast meat.
"There. Eat." Xi Yue gestured with her lips, then picked up a few pieces herself and put them in her mouth.
"Mmm, that's the flavor. Your cooking is pretty good, Miss," Yun Shuang said indistinctly, still chewing the tender meat.
A few dark lines appeared on Xi Yue's forehead. She immediately curled a finger and tapped her on the head. "All you know is eating. Are you the young mistress, or am I? You're going to learn too, and cook for me from now on!"
Despite her words, there was no real reproach in her tone.
Before long, the entire batch of roast meat had been swept clean. Most of it ended up in Yun Shuang's stomach, while Xi Yue only sampled a little.
It could not be helped. In the past, she and Yao Yue had often secretly caught the Eight Treasures raised by several of the great-grandfathers. Those were divine delicacies said to make even gods drool.
As a result, her palate had become rather discerning. Ordinary savage-beast meat like this could only offer a little taste; it scarcely caught her fancy.
"It's about time. I can start breaking through to the Cave Heaven Realm," she murmured.
Over the past two months, she had constantly roamed among packs of savage beasts, using them to temper herself and repeatedly honing her foundation in the Blood Moving Realm. Now she had reached perfection, and her accumulated strength was sufficient. It was time to break through.
Opening a cave heaven was not difficult. But surpassing the limits of the Cave Heaven Realm and forging her own path within it was immensely difficult. Those capable of doing so were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns, almost never seen.
"This is a major problem that needs more thought. For now, though, I'll open a cave heaven first." She sat cross-legged, emptied her mind, and brought her essence, vital energy, and spirit to their peak.
The Cave Heaven Realm was deeply mysterious. Rather than a realm, it was more a method of cultivation.
It involved drawing upon the essence of heaven and earth, evolving the true meaning of the rune Dao, and touching this world's laws and order, as though reenacting the creation of heaven and earth and forging the cosmos anew.
This was the Cave Heaven Realm: opening an undying passage, a pure land, or even a world within or outside one's body.
Brilliant auspicious radiance rose around her, precious light blazing. Sheets of symbols flowed from her pores alongside Divine Radiance, refining the creative power of heaven and earth in preparation for the final breakthrough.
Rumble!
Suddenly, a deafening roar shattered the silence between heaven and earth. It sounded like thunder, accompanied by threads of lightning. The surrounding vegetation flew about, and leaves shook loose in rustling showers.
Then a mass of runes erupted, inundating the area, blotting out the sky and sun with dazzling brilliance.
Blood-red light surged into the heavens, shattering the void as though shooting into boundless chaos.
Yet at that very moment, an unforeseen change occurred. Deep within Xi Yue's sea of consciousness, the dormant Bronze Ancient Pagoda began trembling violently. It then emerged from her body, spilling endless chaos energy that completely submerged the area.
Beside her, Qing Shuang's expression changed drastically. She did not understand why such a change had occurred and could not tell whether it was good or bad.
"Miss!" she cried, terror written across her face. However, Xi Yue had already entered a state of Dao enlightenment and was isolated by the chaos energy
, leaving her unable to hear the cry at all.
The tremendous disturbance was eventually detected by some of the Xu Family's old monsters. They sent their divine senses over, and some even arrived in person to investigate.
At that moment, the Reincarnation Seal, which had lain dormant for so long, surfaced once more. Golden light surged as it began revolving on its own, accompanied by the sound of scripture recitation, as though enacting a cycle of reincarnation.
Chaos energy poured into her body, washing through every inch of her flesh and making it increasingly crystalline and flawless, more translucent than jade.
At the same time, a point deep within her primordial spirit suddenly burst with dazzling divine light. Though it was only a single point, it illuminated her entire sea of consciousness.
With the appearance of this divine light, her spiritual power was surging at an unbelievable speed. Her primordial spirit seemed to be undergoing a transformation.
Moreover, an identical point could be seen shining within her physical body, even more brilliant than the one in her primordial spirit. Were it not concealed by the chaos energy, its light would have all but engulfed this entire stretch of heaven and earth.