143 Chapter 142: Nascent Soul Hear (2/2)

However, the beautiful girl didn't seem concerned over the destruction of the Nasent Soul Heart. Rather, it was as she intended – judging from the way she infused her lotus flower with more of the fiery qi and focused the inferno onto the poor Nascent Soul Heart.

The moment she did that, the Nascent Soul Heart began to melt faster. Within a few minutes, the Nascent Soul Heart had completely melted into a ball of ruby red liquid.

The liquid slowly flowed in the air, emanating an extremely potent aura of spiritual qi that caused the atmosphere to thicken. I almost felt as if I was suffocating under the tremendous pressure, as if an ocean had just flooded the chamber.

”Ugh…”

I struggled to catch my breath, closing my eyes as I withstood what felt like several tons of pressure crushing down on me. It really felt as if I had just been plunged into the bottom of the ocean, and even breathing had become more difficult. My movements gradually began sluggish, and I heaved as I tried to widen the distance.

However, Ling Qing Zhu didn't seem like she even noticed the pressure at all. Her glacial eyes focused entirely on the ball of ruby red liquid, and she stretched out her hand and gathered the liquid toward her. In a single, graceful movement, she swept the crimson ball of liquid into her mouth, drinking all of it at one go.

”Whoa…are you kidding me?! She actually dared to swallow the Nascent Soul Heart just like that!?”

My jaw dropped when I saw the unbelievable scene.

”Why wouldn't she dare to ingest the Nascent Soul Heart?” Qi Lin snapped, irritated. I stared at him, bewildered.

”I dunno…wouldn't there be…like, side effects or something? I mean, she just ate it raw and whole. Isn't it safer to…process and refine it first?”

Qi Lin burst out laughing. ”What, do you think the Nascent Soul Heart is some sort of ore or something? Of course not! Why waste time over such methods when you can just absorb the Nascent Soul Heart directly? In fact, in its current raw form, it's much purer than if you attempt to process and refine it!”

”…oh.”

I nodded, feeling a little stupid. I should have read about this, but then again, it wasn't as if I had read every book in this world and gained every single bit of knowledge. Things like these were bound to fall through the cracks. Good thing Qi Lin was here to explain things for me, but such a convenient arrangement wouldn't last for long. I would have to return him to Zhu Jiao eventually.

Speaking of which, where was Zhu Jiao? If there was anyone who would have gotten the Nascent Soul Heart, it would have been him. Yet there was no sign of him at all, and Ling Qing Zhu had beaten him to it.

”Oh well, I guess not everything will go Zhu Jiao's way.”

Scratching my head, I decided to go explore the burial chamber in hopes of salvaging something that might be useful. Maybe there were other treasures located within that coffin, but I wasn't very keen on the idea of opening it and staring inside. As much as I was used to seeing corpses and dead people, I still wasn't eager to stare at one and search through its body for treasures on my own volition.

But if the alternative was to return home emptyhanded…

”He he…”

”??”

I turned around when I heard Ling Qing Zhu's cold laughter. Having already swallowed the liquid formed from the Nascent Soul Heart, she returned her attention to me. Her glacial eyes swept over me, causing me to feel chills once again.

”Sir Fei Wu indeed keeps his promises. Next, I will be refining and assimilating the qi of the Nascent Soul Heart, and I hope that you will not disturb me.”

”Why the hell would I disturb you?” I retorted. ”Do you think I'm some kind of bitter guy who believes that if I can't have something, nobody can? Not everyone is a greedy bastard who selfishly thinks only of himself, you know. You've earned the right to the Nascent Soul Heart. I'm just going to help myself to the leftovers. That's fair, right?”

Ling Qing Zhu nodded. ”Fair enough.”

She then gracefully sat down in the corner of the chamber and began to meditate. A crimson inferno of fiery qi began to blaze around her entire body, forming an aggressive and powerful barrier that would scorch anyone stupid enough to approach her.

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. ”You really don't have to be on your guard around me. I seriously don't plan on doing anything.”

”You can't blame her. How does she know she can trust you? You're a total stranger to her. She doesn't know who you are.”

For once, Qi Lin actually offered a sound argument. I scratched my head and sighed.

”You're right.”

Glancing at Ling Qing Zhu one last time and marveling over the potency of her inferno barrier, I then turned my attention toward the chamber. There was no longer anything to spectate. Ling Qing Zhu had swallowed the Nascent Soul Heart, and would most likely spend the next few hours cultivating in that position

If I continued watching her, I might as well be watching paint dry. Since there would most likely no longer be any interesting developments, I glanced away from her direction and examined the chamber we currently occupied.

”Where do I start…?”

Then my gaze rested on the stone coffin. Other than the coffin, the burial hall was bare, almost empty, devoid of any treasures or spirit artifacts that the other vaults were filled with. It was almost anticlimactic, to get so far and reach the last zone, the core of the ancient tomb, and find that there was so little stuff.

Funny, now that I thought about it, I had braved both an icy hell and a river of fire…

Well, there's nothing to it. Since I'm already here, I might as well check the coffin.

It wasn't a pleasant prospect, but neither was the thought that I would leave this chamber emptyhanded after crossing the sea of fire with so much difficulty. There had to be something inside the coffin that would reward my efforts for getting this far.

Or so I hoped.

When I reached the coffin and pried the lid off, to my disappointment, all I saw was a skeleton sleeping peacefully within it, its bony arms crossed over its ribcage. For a skeleton, it was dressed in pretty extravagant robes, but I guess it was to be expected. This was most likely the corpse of the long dead Nascent Soul Stage practitioner.

A quick examination turned up nothing. Other than the skeleton, there was nothing else in the coffin, which was a massive disappointment.

Well, it isn't as if I'm returning home emptyhanded. I did grab a few stuff from the other places in the tomb, after all…

Now that I thought about it, there were a lot of things I should be grateful for. So I bowed my head politely.

”Elder, I have taken quite a few of your things…well, I'll be honest. I took quite a lot of your things. An entire army's worth, to be honest. So…uh, I want to express my gratitude. Thank you very much! All I can do now is pray that you rest in peace and ascend to Heaven…or wherever it is that you guys ascend to.”

My Christian background was coloring my thoughts here. Well…it's the thought that counts, and the dead guy probably knew what I meant, wherever his soul was right now. As if in agreement, something stirred inside the skeletal, a faint wisp of qi. I might be deluding myself, but I could imagine that slight reaction as gratitude, the deceased Nascent Soul Stage practitioner expressing his appreciation for my respect in his way.

”…hmm?”

Just before I could step away, I caught sight of something. There was something tucked inside the robes. Judging from the shape, it looked like a book. A manual, perhaps?

”Heh…jackpot.”

Even if I didn't get the Nascent Soul Heart, obtaining the martial arts manual that this ancient Nascent Soul Stage practitioner would be awesome and almost as good. Feeling excitement spark in my chest, I reached out and grabbed the book, tugging it from the poor corpse's robes and freeing it from its pocket.

”Whoops…sorry. I don't mean to disturb you. I hope you don't mind. Well…it's not as if you'll need this book anymore, so I hope you don't mind if I take it.”

Before I could look at the cover of the book, something else caught my eye. Subconsciously putting the book away in my spatial device, I leaned over and stared at what I first thought were Spirit Engravings on the side of the coffin walls.

”Huh? What's that?”

Pushing my glasses up, I stared closely at the inscriptions, only to realize they were not Spirit Engravings but normal Chinese words. Scanning through them, I murmured under my breath as I read them out loud.

”During my life, I've advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage through the power of yin and yang. What I've left behind requires one to understand yin and yang. Therefore, if yin and yang do not unite, then one will definitely be destroyed.”

The fuck? Did this Nascent Soul Stage practitioner read Wu Dong Qian Kun or something? Why did he completely rip off the lines from that book?

On the other hand, the moment I understood what I had just read, and putting it together with my memories of what I had read from Wu Dong Qian Kun, the color began to drain from my face. Yeah, this had to be the forced thing that so many xianxia stories resorted to.

Immediately, I began backing away from the meditating Ling Qing Zhu as quickly as possible, intending to get out of there before she realized what was happening.