144 Chapter 143: Matters of Yin and Yang (1/2)

Ling Qing Zhu clearly hadn't realized what was going on, and to be honest, I wouldn't have either until I read the text inscribed into the side of the coffin.

The so-called yin and yang energy obviously wasn't referring to the natural yin and yang qi that circulated around heaven and earth. Nope, they were referring to the male yang and female yin energy. This was essentially the infamous Double Cultivation or Shuang Xiu if you understood Chinese, where a male practitioner and a female practitioner…well, had sex in order to cultivate.

Yeah, why not be blunt and say it as it is? There was no point in beating the bush or hiding it, since everyone should know what I'm talking about. It was sex between a heterosexual couple, and by sharing the male yang energy with the female practitioner and sharing the female yin energy with the male practitioner, both partners could deepen not just their relationship but their cultivation, reaching heights previously unimaginable. Yes, both heights of pleasure and power. A win-win situation for both parties, no matter how you looked at it.

Unfortunately, I wasn't the type to think with the lower half of my body. Just because it turned into this situation didn't mean I would just surrender to lust and fuck whatever beautiful girl throws herself at me. I had my principles, and I wasn't like those horny bastards who were probably yelling in the comments about me being a beta male or being homosexual (which I most certainly was not, but even if I was, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it and it really was none of their businesses). Let's be honest, you don't go around sleeping with every beautiful woman who approaches you just becase you can. Being mentally thirty, I was a lot more responsible and moralistic than that. I could consider the emotional consequences and how morally wrong it was.

Those readers advocating **** or sleeping around indiscriminately as long as the woman wasbeautiful (or as long as the other party was a woman) really ought to consider seriously what they were saying, or at least take a good, long look in the mirror.

Besides, there was also my relationship with Tang Qi Hong to consider. Even if we weren't officially dating, I still had feelings for her, and I wasn't going to ignore my conscience and sleep around with other girls. Cheating was still cheating, infidelity was still infidelity, whether you were officially going out or not. I couldn't, in my right mind, claim that I was in love with Tang Qi Hong, then go have sex with another girl.

It was hypocritical, immoral and a clear betrayal of everything I stood for.

Even so, I couldn't help sneaking a peek at Ling Qing Zhu. Not because she was gorgeous to the extreme, but because I was concerned about her wellbeing. No, I am not making excuses to ogle her shapely body. I really am telling the truth…

…okay…I wasn't a saint after all. I was still a straight guy with a healthy mind and body. But just looking wasn't cheating. Right?

She looked fine, so for a moment I doubted what I had just read. Glancing at the text, I affirmed that the owner of the ancient tomb had really relied on Double Cultivation to advance to the Nascent Soul Stage. I frowned when I studied the small script, and suddenly realized that the owner of the ancient tomb had hidden them away, almost out of plain sight, on purpose. Normally, nobody would think to study the coffin and look for these ancient texts, not unless they were an archeologist. Or a historian like me – good thing I was a literature and history major in my previous life. I would have been interested in reading whatever I caught sight of, anyway.

But isn't this a big problem?

Ling Qing Zhu had went and absorbed the Nascent Soul Heart without even reading the text and realizing that she needed to…uh, do it to cultivate…because if she didn't and completely skipped the Double Cultivation step, she would end up being destroyed by the very energy she consumed.

This guy…he's doing this on purpose, isn't he? Even after he died, he still wants to play such pranks on people…

Shaking my head at the tomb owner's mischief, I couldn't help but smile wryly. Whatever happened to Ling Qing Zhu was none of my business. In fact, I had best get the hell out of here before she realized what happened.

On the other hand, Ling Qing Zhu was still maintaining a serene and calm posture as she sat down in her corner and meditated, clearly cultivating without any trace of danger. Perhaps I was mistaken and there was no risk that her body would be destroyed by the energy she had absorbed. After all, I had done something similar and absorbed over a hundred people's qi at once. Despite the risk of the immense avalanche of qi would kill me by rupturing me from the inside out, I had survived. And I even succeeded in assimilating all that qi, though it took me two whole years to do so. That was two years well spent.

Even if I went around hunting for magical beasts or demonic creatures to consume as the readers suggested, they would not have helped me advance my strength by much. The amount of qi they offered was pititful. While it was true that I might gain some of their attributes, it was very much a lottery. For one thing, there weren't any attributes from magical beasts that would have helped me make up for the difference in amounts of qi between me and my peers. And for another, I couldn't choose what attribute I absorbed. I only gained a single characteristic per species – and that was when I was lucky. Most of the times, I didn't even gain any attribute from the magical beasts I consumed. For example, I didn't gain any attributes from the Lunar Rabbit or Ghost Bear, or even the Cobra that I ate during my time in the abyss of Sen Lin Forest.

This was obviously to prevent abuse of such a potentially overpowered ability where I ended up gaining thousands of abilities, only for most of them to be forgotten and never mentioned again as the story went on. You know, like how the author of Eternal Reverence often bragged about Li Fu Chen mastering hundreds, if not thousands of sword techniques, but in the end nobody even remembered one percent of them. For every meteor sword or black iron sword he constantly relied on, there were dozens of other sword techniques left forgotten and never mentioned again.

I didn't want this to be the same situation, hence the restriction on my so-called consumption ability. That was also why I couldn't go around absorbing every Tom, Dick and Harry's qi with my Heaven and Earth Absorption either. The drawbacks were there to ensure I didn't become some overpowered godlike bastard who could kill someone with a single touch. Where was the fun, or even realism in that sort of stories?

”Don't you think you're going off track here?” Qi Lin growled, irritated by my excessive monologue. I realized I had been off in my world for too long, and nodded my head apologetically.

”Sorry.”

”Don't apologize to me!” Qi Lin snapped. ”So what are you going to do? You managed to get a martial arts manual from the coffin. Aren't you going to check it out?”

”Yeah, I will…”

I was about to retrieve the martial arts manual I had just acquired from my spatial device when I was interrupted by a huge explosion.

Bang!

”What…?!”

I blinked and spun around when the thunderous roar of a qi shockwave rippled through the air. Trying to maintain my footing as I was buffeted by the shockwaves, I peered through my glasses and saw that the violent shockwave of qi was emanating from none other than Ling Qing Zhu. To be more precise, it was being emitted from her gorgeous body.

”Oh boy…I knew it…”

I groaned and shook my head as I studied her, while at the same time I was making my way toward the exit as quickly as I could.

Inside the crimson aura of flaming qi, Ling Qing Zhu's exposed skin, which was formerly as white as snow, had reddened. Within seconds, torrents of extremely pure yin qi erupted from her body, almost like a volcano that had just awaken. The flames grew stronger, blazing into a hellish inferno that froze the ground around her.

Ling Qing Zhu, being a natural prodigy, immediately realized that something was amiss. Her eyes flickered open and then narrowed coldly in intense concentration. She raised her hands and unleashed an incredibly strong stream of qi that forcibly suppressed the rampaging pure yin qi that continued to ravage both her and her surroundings.

The crimson aura flickered and raged, even as torrents of wild, berserk azure yin qi broke free from Ling Qing Zhu's body. She struggled to suppress them, her body wracked in pain as she desperately fought to rein them in.

Wow, impressive.

Nodding in approval, I continued to tiptoe toward the exit while still being enamored by the view. The girl's strength was truly amazing. If it had been anyone else, she (or he) would have been incinerated by the pure yin qi within seconds. Yet this girl not only survived, but even managed to suppress the incredible amount of frosty pure yin qi.

I had to admire her tenacity and talent.

Unfortunately, Ling Qing Zhu only succeeded in buying herself more time. Even though she was currently at a stalemate with the rampaging pure yin qi, she wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer, especially since the Nascent Soul Heart was the essence of a Nascent Soul Stage practitioner. As much as I didn't believe in all these bullshit stages, it was evident that a Nascent Soul Stage practitioner had more qi than whatever stage Ling Qing Zhu was (I think it was the Pure Spirit Stage, if I remember correctly), so it would win through sheer quantity alone no matter how much of a genius she was. Apparently there was a sheer gap in terms of quantity. Even a Space Marine in Terminator armor could be brought down by hundreds of screaming Cultists armed only with brutal assault weapons and autopistols.

In other words, it was only a matter of time.

As I thought, it was only a few minutes before Ling Qing Zhu finally succumbed to the berserk pure yin qi, which brutally ripped apart her defensive crimson aura and blazed around her in an azure glow. She cried out as her body was enveloped by a layer of extremely pure yin qi.

Normally, this would be very beneficial to Ling Qing Zhu, but as they always said, too much of a good thing would be bad. Just like oxygen, you know? Did you know you could get oxygen poisoning if you inhaled too much pure oxygen? Or water toxicity if you consume too much water? The fact of the matter is that Ling Qing Zhu basically overdosed on the pure yin qi. If she was unable to dispel this pure yin qi, it would continue to accumulate in her body and eventually transform into a pure yin qi that would incinerate her body from inside out.

”Did you know this would happen?!” Ling Qing Zhu shouted at me. Why the fuck are you blaming me? You were the one who demanded that I not contest you for the Nascent Soul heart in the first place! You reap what you sow!

However, I didn't shout that. I merely shook my head and plastered the best expression of innocence as I could while continuing my journey toward the door. Where the hell was the door anyway? I had been moving for so long and I still couldn't find the exit. Did it disappear?

”Ugh! What's going on?”

Ling Qing Zhu seemed to have a clue as to what was happening, but she rose to her feet and gracefully dashed over to the coffin to confirm anyway. When she finally saw the text, she snarled furiously in an icy voice.

”How shameless!”

Raising her snow-white hand, she unleashed a potent blast of qi, which took the shape of a gigantic palm that crushed the stone coffin of the Nascent Soul Stage practitioner to dust and rubble.

Boom!

My jaw dropped as I watched the stone coffin and the skeleton within get obliterated by Ling Qing Zhu's technique. Throwing my hands up into the air, I couldn't help but yell.

”Oi! You were the one who selfishly took his Nascent Soul Heart for yourself, and after absorbing it, you ungratefully destroyed his coffin and body! Don't you think you're going too far?!”

Ling Qing Zhu turned to me icily, and I was reminded from her murderous gaze that she was actually from a demonic sect. of course she would be ruthless and domineering, taking whatever she wanted as long as she possessed the strength to claim it.

Raising both my hands in feigned surrender, I cautiously backed off. Where the fuck was that exit? I sure as hell didn't want to remain in the same room as this crazy girl. There was a high chance she would crush me to death if I so much as annoyed her.

Which I already did, apparently, but I wasn't very keen on finding out the limits of her tolerance. Best to play nice for now…

Hmm?

While I did so, I couldn't help but notice a faint spark of qi igniting within the debris of the stone coffin. It was very faint, but it certainly was there. I glanced at it curiously, wondering what it was. Was it the remains of the poor Nascent Soul Stage practitioner's body?

Unfortunately, I wasn't given much time to examine the remains of the coffin. A sudden change in Ling Qing Zhu's body drew my attention back to her. After she destroyed the stone coffin with a palm strike, her gorgeous figure began to tremble intensely. I could sense what seemed like a ball of fire gradually expanding in the core of her body, consuming her qi. For some reason, even from this distance, I could feel the chilly waves of qi emanating from that fireball, almost like a star just about to go supernova. Her own qi was beginning to freeze as well.

Once that ball went supernova, Ling Qing Zhu would die, being burned from the inside out.

A real pity, but as talented as she was, it was clear that she was still no match for the remnants of a Nascent Soul Stage practitioner. It was funny…the guy was dead, and yet he was still somehow stronger than her.

Well, I couldn't blame her. Even though the owner of the ancient tomb was dead, the essence left behind by him was still the culmination of his cultivation, left behind and preserved by arcane forces before his own lifeforce expired. It was bound to be this powerful. And poor Ling Qing Zhu didn't have the benefit of artificial qi like the orthodox martial artists who enrolled in Wu Ling Academy, so she couldn't overpower the essence of the Nascent Soul Heart with brute force either. I wondered if the people from Wu Ling Academy could.

Artificial qi was so convenient.

Ling Qing Zhu's eyes gleamed desperately. A few seconds later, she gritted her teeth (come on, man, how the fuck would she have silver-like teeth? You do realize how odd that would look, right? And it would seem as if she had lost all her teeth and needed them replaced by metal ones, which would actually make her uglier) and turned toward the only person around.

Namely, me.

I was still looking for the exit, and was dismayed to find that the door I had entered through had completely disappeared. No wonder I couldn't find it even after searching for so long. What the hell was with this space?

”Where do you think you're going?” she demanded. I turned and shrugged.

”I'm done with my exploration. I'm looking for the exit.”

Ling Qing Zhu narrowed her eyes, but despite the flames of the pure yang qi ravaging her body, she maintained her composure.

”Why are you in such a hurry to leave?”

”Lady, I've spent like thirty minutes in this room, and it's practically empty.” I gestured around the chamber to emphasize my point. ”Since there's nothing for me to take, I might as well leave and look for treasure elsewhere in the ancient tomb.”

”You know what's going on, don't you?” Ling Qing Zhu didn't believe anything I said, and asked in an icy cold voice. I shrugged.

”Whatever do you mean?”

Ling Qing Zhu gritted her teeth, but she couldn't know for sure that I was pretending to be ignorant.

”Do you know what's wrong with the Nascent Soul Heart?”

”Why?” I asked innocently. ”Is there anything wrong with it? You're the one who consumed it, you tell me.” I tilted my head for more effect. ”Actually, what are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be cultivating and assimilating all that qi? Why did you suddenly stop and destroy the coffin? Like I said, you're being ungrateful! Grabbing his Nascent Soul Heart, and then destroying his coffin and body! Even if you're a demonic sect disciple, that's going too far!”