Crackle, patter...
Before they knew it, it was deep into the night. The sudden thunderstorm had not let up; instead, it grew heavier, until even the beacon fires burning on the distant peaks flickered in and out of sight behind the curtain of rain.
Xue Baijin carried Ye Jingtang through the rugged mountain forests. At first, she sped along using her Lightness Skill, but after running for an hour, her already internally injured body finally approached its limits. Her pace slowed to a jog through the woods. She had long since removed her mask, and beads of sweat rolled down her chin, dripping onto the backs of the hands resting before her chest.
When Ye Jingtang fought Zhongsun Jin, his Qi Meridians had already begun to feel strained. Then, when he forcibly met Xiang Hanshi's palm strike, the force that surged into him like a raging sea had directly injured his internal organs. Branches and leaves had also scored numerous bloody scratches across his body.
But for Ye Jingtang, who possessed the Flame-Rebirth Diagram, these injuries were not serious. Ten days or so of rest would restore him completely. His most serious problem now was clearly that he had touched upon a forbidden realm by attempting to deduce the Dragon-Mingling Diagram himself.
It was like how muscles tempered by the Dragon-Mingling Diagram could become too powerful for the skeleton to support, potentially snapping the bones under their pull.
Ye Jingtang's current cultivation and physique were nowhere near sufficient to command the great laws of heaven and earth hidden within the upper three diagrams. Forcibly making them his own was like shouldering mountains and the sky with mortal flesh. His bodily functions had nearly collapsed.
At that moment, Ye Jingtang's entire body burned so hot that white vapor rose from his