Chapter 44: An Unintentional Act

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Mu Wanqing’s delicate body suddenly trembled. Her tightly shut, beautiful eyes flew open, filled with disbelief!

She clearly felt it: the stubborn alchemical poison that even her master had been powerless to deal with was being ripped out by the roots from the deepest reaches of her meridians by a force so savage it defied all reason!

This was not healing.

This was devouring!

At the same time, Chu Xing’s body shook violently.

The force was icy, scorching, tenacious... Countless medicinal properties were mixed together, yet to him, they tasted like the most exquisite delicacy in the world!

The moment that jumbled alchemical poison entered his meridians, the stone bead swallowed it without the slightest courtesy.

The stone bead trembled faintly.

In the next instant, an incomparably pure and immense stream of gentle energy erupted in return, surging fiercely through Chu Xing’s meridians!

Mu Wanqing stared blankly at the young man before her.

He was absorbing her alchemical poison? How could he dare? Was he not afraid of death?

Even the slightest trace of alchemical poison was enough to shatter the meridians of a Body Tempering cultivator and kill them on the spot! Yet he... not only showed no sign of distress, there was even a hint of enjoyment on his face?

What kind of secret was this man hiding?

An uncanny silence descended over the cave.

Only their faint breathing and the occasional tinkling of the spirit spring disturbed the stillness.

No one knew how much time had passed. When the last trace of stubborn alchemical poison had finally been drawn out, Chu Xing slowly withdrew his hand.

He looked at Mu Wanqing, whose eyes remained closed and whose long lashes trembled ceaselessly. A flush had spread across her stunning face and down her snow-white neck, making her breathtakingly alluring.

Mu Wanqing seemed to sense that the suction had vanished. She slowly opened her eyes, only to find Chu Xing’s focused face close enough to touch.

Their eyes met.

The air seemed to freeze.

Her eyes still held the lingering terror of one who had narrowly escaped disaster, along with the embarrassment and irritation of having her secret exposed. Chu Xing’s gaze, however, had already returned to its usual clarity. Only deep within his eyes remained the faintest trace of aftertaste.

The first to lose her composure beneath the ambiguous atmosphere was Mu Wanqing.

Heat rushed into her cheeks. She abruptly shoved Chu Xing away, then rose somewhat hastily and turned her back to him, not daring to look at him again.

“Ahem...” Chu Xing rubbed his nose and rose as well, breaking the silence. “Senior Sister, how do you feel?”

“...”

Mu Wanqing did not answer at once. She drew a deep breath and examined herself inwardly.

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Her meridians had never felt so clean and clear. The heavy sensation that had followed her like a shadow had vanished completely. She could even sense that her control over primal energy had become several degrees more fluid.

After a long while, she turned around and looked at Chu Xing, her expression impossibly complicated.

“Thank you.”

This time, she said it wholeheartedly.

“It was nothing.” Chu Xing shook the jade bottle in his hand and smiled. “Besides, I received something from you in return.”

At those words, Mu Wanqing’s cheeks grew hot once more, and the shameful scene from earlier flashed through her mind again. She avoided Chu Xing’s gaze and did not respond. Instead, she silently turned and walked toward the mouth of the cave.

Watching her aloof back, Chu Xing’s thoughts stirred, and he asked, “Senior Sister, has your Sacred Alchemical Heart Physique always been like this?”

Mu Wanqing’s footsteps halted, but she did not turn around.

Only the tinkling of the spirit spring remained in the cave. After a long silence, she spoke again, her voice carrying a trace of bewilderment and helplessness that even she herself had failed to notice.

“My body is like an alchemical furnace that has run out of control. It can only take in; it cannot release.”

She slowly turned around and looked at her palm, where the lingering warmth of violet alchemical flame still remained.

“All power pours into me. Whether it is the primal energy gained through cultivation or the medicinal power absorbed during alchemy, none of it can find the proper means of release. In the end, it can only settle into poison.”

Her voice was soft, as though she were speaking to herself.

“Perhaps... if there were a way for all that power to circulate perfectly within me instead of rampaging through my body, then this curse might truly become a blessing.”

At this point, she suddenly fell silent. She glanced at Chu Xing, and a strange gleam flickered through her cool eyes.

“Still, my master once found a record in an ancient text. There may actually be a way to eliminate the flaws of the Sacred Alchemical Heart Physique completely... It is just that the method is somewhat... unusual.”

After saying this, she seemed to realize that she had revealed far too much emotion in front of a junior fellow disciple.

“Keep the pills!”

As though she had suddenly remembered something, she hurriedly threw out those words. Then, with a flash of her figure, she disappeared somewhat awkwardly behind the vines at the cave entrance.

The cave fell silent once more.

Chu Xing stood where he was, but Mu Wanqing’s final words echoed repeatedly through his mind.

“An alchemical furnace out of control...”

“The proper means of release...”

“Perfect circulation...”

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Chu Xing’s brows drew tightly together.

Mu Wanqing had said that her body was like an alchemical furnace out of control.

But what about him? Was his body not the same?

Aside from the small portion of energy from the stone bead that was used to temper his physical body, the vast majority was employed crudely to break through the bottlenecks of his cultivation. The rest was stored within the stone bead, where it served no further purpose.

How was that any different from the energy rampaging through Mu Wanqing’s body?

His use of the stone bead’s power was far too crude and wasteful!

Chu Xing sat down cross-legged and sank his mind into his dantian.

The black stone bead floated quietly after absorbing an immense quantity of alchemical poison. Its surface seemed deeper and darker than before. The pure energy stored within it was like a vast ocean, boundless and surging.

He tried drawing out a thread of energy as he usually did.

The energy was gentle and pure. Under his control, it flowed along his meridians. Yet for the first time, Chu Xing realized how awkwardly this power moved as it traveled.

It was like a stream flowing freely through a riverbed. It appeared smooth on the surface, yet countless minute strands of power were wasted and scattered as they struck against the banks.

But how could he prevent that waste?

Chu Xing thought of the piece of green jade Old Bai had given him, engraved with countless intricate pathways. But those pathways were fixed and lifeless, whereas the primal energy within the stone bead was alive.

Could it be possible...

A daring thought flashed through his mind like lightning.

The stone bead could devour all things, analyze all things, and transform them into their most fundamental energy.

Then could it... analyze the most perfect method of circulating energy itself?

Or perhaps, within the stone bead, there already existed a set of the most fundamental and perfect laws of circulation?

Once the thought emerged, it could no longer be restrained. Even Chu Xing’s heart began to pound violently beyond his control.

If it truly were possible... then what he lacked was not a cultivation technique at all.

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