Those Two Bastards

Night.

The blazing campfire lit up the entire cave.

Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang sat cross-legged at the entrance, divine power flickering around them as they steadily healed the injuries they had suffered that day.

Inside the cave, Li Qingyue also sat cross-legged atop a slab of bluestone.

She held a Source Stone the size of a baby's fist in both hands, but her consciousness sank into her mind, turning toward the system she had nearly forgotten.

Survival System: Li Qingyue.

Constitution: Waste Body

Strength: Ten-thousand-jin strength (29999).

Technique: Kunpeng Swallowing Technique.

Evolution: Survival Points can be consumed to simulate any scene.

Survival Points: 2800. (Automatically increase upon surviving calamities.)

Just as I thought... my strength has reached its first limit. It can't increase any further!

Looking at the system panel, Li Qingyue sighed inwardly.

Twenty-nine thousand jin of strength might seem considerable, but in this terrifying world, it put her at the very bottom.

Even ordinary cultivators in the Divine Bridge Realm or Other Shore Realm possessed more physical strength than that.

In the Dao Palace Realm, their physical strength would definitely exceed a hundred thousand jin.

Combined with divine power, Mystic Arts, and spirit or treasure artifacts tempered with divine power, a single strike could easily shatter a small hill.

With their special constitutions, Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng were probably in the Dao Palace Realm, yet when they fought, they could blast apart a mountain seven or eight hundred meters tall with one blow.

Leaving a valley in its place.

Such power rivaled the missiles of her previous life, if not surpassed them.

Simulate the Five Elements Dao Patterns!

Li Qingyue focused her intent on the system.

Yet after she waited a while, nothing happened before her eyes. Even the system remained completely still.

Can it only simulate scenes of the natural world?

Reading the words on the system panel, Li Qingyue felt a little downcast.

The system seemed to be tied to her strength.

As a mortal, she could only simulate scenes visible to the naked eye, or scenes she remembered seeing.

It could not simulate these elusive, intangible Dao patterns.

They embodied the Dao of heaven and earth. Without reaching a certain level, she truly could not simulate them.

That left her somewhat disappointed.

If she could simulate Dao patterns and quickly comprehend the transformations of the five elements, Yin-Yang...

And fully grasp the mysteries of the Dao patterns...

She could imprint the Heaven and Earth Essence within the Source Stone into her dantian.

Then she could use it to evolve a world, turn it into a Bitter Sea, and use true qi as her Fate Wheel to slowly undergo transformation.

Scenes of the natural world! Scenes containing the transformations of the five elements?

Li Qingyue pondered for a long while, but could not think of any natural scene that contained the transformations of all five elements.

After some thought, resolve hardened her expression, and she directed her consciousness into her dantian.

Her dantian was an expanse of nothingness, like a world yet to be opened.

At its center, a massive True Qi Vortex formed from countless tiny vortices spun without pause.

It occupied nearly half her dantian.

That true qi vortex had been condensed through the Kunpeng Swallowing Technique and the perception and guidance sections of the Dao Scripture.

It allowed the Kunpeng Swallowing Technique to connect her inner and outer worlds, absorbing the essence of food as well as devouring the essence of heaven and earth.

At first glance, an enormous Kunpeng beast seemed to lie within the vortex, devouring heaven and earth as it constantly strengthened itself.

This was the profound essence of the Kunpeng Swallowing Technique.

Hum!

Suddenly, a surge of Heaven and Earth Essence burst from Li Qingyue's hands, pouring into her body and straight into her dantian.

It was the concentrated essence contained within the Source Stone, countless times denser than the Heaven and Earth Essence of this Age of Declining Dharma.

Five Elements Dao Patterns... condense!

Using her consciousness as a brush and the Source Stone's essence as ink, Li Qingyue drew patterns at the center of the vortex in her dantian.

With every stroke, a stream of heavenly and earthly essence merged into it, imprinting itself at the center of the Dantian vortex.

Gradually, a pattern resembling burning flames appeared, radiating red light that illuminated the entire vortex like a blazing sun.

The Fire-Element Dao Pattern!

Li Qingyue felt a flicker of joy, but did not stop.

Following the cycle of the five elements in her memory, she drew the others one by one in the remaining directions around the vortex's center.

The heavenly and earthly essence within the Source Stone was not divine power, so she could not control it. She could only guide it little by little using the Dao Scripture's guidance section.

Though the process was slow, and more than half the essence was absorbed by her Bitter Sea somewhere beyond her awareness...

The five Dao patterns representing the five elements still manifested one after another within her dantian's vortex.

Metal, wood, water, and fire occupied the four cardinal directions, with earth at the center.

It worked!

The instant the Source Stone in her palms was exhausted and shattered, Li Qingyue finally completed all five of the Five Elements Dao Patterns.

But at the very instant the Five Elements Dao Patterns were completed...

All five Dao patterns trembled together, seeming to repel and pull at one another. The force of the true qi vortex swept them up, sending them plunging into its center like meteors.

Boom!

With a thunderous roar, the five Dao patterns collided, exploding like a nuclear bomb.

The massive true qi vortex in her dantian was blasted apart outright, shattered into fragments.

It broke into countless tiny vortices scattered throughout her dantian.

The five Five Elements Dao Patterns also shattered and vanished.

Pfft!

Li Qingyue's entire body jolted. She spat out a mouthful of blood, her face deathly pale.

She felt her internal organs violently shaken, as though her body were being torn apart.

How could this happen?

Was it because the Dao patterns were incomplete?

Each of the five elements had nine basic Dao patterns, making forty-five in total.

The more profound ones probably had even more.

Yet she had exhausted an entire Source Stone after drawing only five.

Li Qingyue stared blankly, nearly forgetting the pain in her body.

Not only had the Dao patterns she painstakingly condensed shattered and vanished, but the true qi vortex in her dantian had also exploded.

She had no idea how long it would take to recover.

Her strength had not increased in the slightest, and she had injured herself instead.

Tap, tap, tap...

Footsteps rapidly approached.

"Miss Qingyue, what's wrong?"

Seeing the blood on the ground, Yan Wushuang's expression shifted slightly. He hurriedly grasped Li Qingyue's wrist and released his divine power to examine her injuries.

A step behind him, Yang Wuzheng frowned slightly and glanced at Yan Wushuang, but said nothing.

His gaze turned to the Source Stone, which had already crumbled to dust.

Though that Source Stone was small, weighing only a little over one jin, it was still far more than a mortal could fully absorb.

Without a powerful physique and divine power, one simply could not withstand the impact of so much concentrated heavenly and earthly essence.

Yet Li Qingyue had actually absorbed it all.

"I'm fine!"

Li Qingyue answered weakly, her face pale and her expression somewhat dejected.

Creating a cultivation technique truly was not that easy.

Without understanding Yin-Yang and Five Elements and the transformations of heaven and earth, trying to draw Dao patterns by luck and reproduce those transformations was far too difficult.

"I'm really fine!"

Feeling the heat around her wrist, Li Qingyue spoke again.

She tried to pull free of Yan Wushuang's hand, only to discover that his broad palm held her with tremendous strength.

His expression was filled with concern, and he gave her no room to resist.

"You wanted to use the power of Dao patterns to forcibly open your Bitter Sea?"

Though Yang Wuzheng phrased it as a question, his tone held a measure of certainty. He sighed. "People have tried this method before. It cannot possibly succeed."

"It only injures you instead."

The young woman before him possessed an obsession with growing stronger that surpassed everything else.

Yan Wushuang's brow relaxed slightly. He slowly released Li Qingyue's wrist and said, "Your internal organs have been badly shaken. Your injuries aren't minor."

As he spoke, he turned his palm over, and a brocade box appeared in his hand.

Amid rippling light, the box revealed a lustrous white object about half the length of an index finger.

At the sight of it, Li Qingyue shuddered, looking utterly uncomfortable. She immediately got up and ran behind Yang Wuzheng.

Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang both froze at the sight.

After spending these past days with her, they had come to understand the young woman somewhat.

At the very least, when Li Qingyue killed those forty-three mounted bandits today, she had been utterly ferocious, with an air of fearing neither heaven nor earth.

They had never expected that the sight of this Silkworm Grass would make her dodge away, or even seem a little afraid.

"You're afraid of this!"

Astonished, Yan Wushuang took the object out of the brocade box.

It was a lustrous white, silkworm-like object, which Yan Wushuang now held before Li Qingyue's eyes.

Li Qingyue's expression changed slightly, and she instinctively backed away.

"Hahaha... you're actually afraid of this!"

Yan Wushuang burst out laughing. Even Yang Wuzheng smiled, disbelief written across his face.

She seemed nothing like the young woman who had so fiercely slaughtered mounted bandits that day.

Hearing Yan Wushuang's laughter and seeing the smile on Yang Wuzheng's face, Li Qingyue gritted her teeth.

She widened her eyes and glared resentfully at the object in Yan Wushuang's hand, saying coldly, "I'm... not afraid at all!"

As the illustrious future Ruthless Great Emperor, how could she possibly fear silkworm-like creatures?

Yet when she thought of those silkworm-like creatures, their tiny, soft, fleshy bodies covered in little legs...

And the sight of them wriggling in dense masses across the ground, a trace of unease still flashed through her eyes.

It was not fear. She simply felt uncomfortable all over.

"Hahaha... this is Silkworm Grass, a Treasure Medicine. It works wonders on internal injuries. There's nothing to be afraid of!"

Yan Wushuang kept laughing, staring straight at the young woman before him as though he had never seen this side of Li Qingyue.

Especially with her teeth clenched, eyes wide, and expression fierce, she looked extraordinarily adorable. He simply could not help laughing.

Even Yang Wuzheng turned his head slightly, struggling to suppress his amusement.

Such a fierce young woman was afraid of a piece of Silkworm Grass the size of a finger segment. It was rather hard to believe.

A Treasure Medicine? For internal injuries? I have to eat it?

Several thoughts popped into Li Qingyue's mind, and her expression changed drastically.

She dared to eat anything. To grow stronger, she was willing to swallow even the most disgusting food.

But she would never eat that silkworm-like Silkworm Grass. Just imagining putting that worm-like thing into her mouth...

As though countless legs were fighting inside her mouth...

Made goosebumps rise all over her.

Not even if they beat her to death.

Without the slightest hesitation, she turned and ran in long strides toward the cave entrance, leaving behind only a slightly trembling voice.

"I'm really fine... you don't need to worry about me!"

The two men in the cave exchanged a glance, then both broke into broad grins, their bodies shaking. "Hahaha..."

Their laughter was so loud it was almost outrageous.

Outside the cave, Li Qingyue gritted her teeth resentfully as she listened to their unrestrained laughter.

Those two bastards!

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