"I am shameless, and shameless people are invincible," Yun Wuji said with a nod, then closed his eyes.
Now that he had finally upgraded his Unfettered Profound Veins, which granted him the same abilities as the Sacred Body of Nothingness, Yun Wuji turned his focus back to cultivation.
With an unlimited supply of resources, Yun Wuji's cultivation should have been rising explosively. In fact, he possessed so many Abyssal Crystals that the thought of running out never even crossed his mind. The only thing that slightly vexed him was the time it took to devour the energy within the crystals.
Normally, it took him around ten minutes to absorb a single Abyssal Crystal, and to reach the 2nd Level Divine Master Realm, he would need around eighty thousand of them. This meant that even if he absorbed Abyssal Crystals nonstop, it would still take him roughly a year and a half.
In cultivation, each breakthrough was harder than the last, so the time needed to advance from the 2nd to the 3rd level would be several times longer. This was even after accounting for the fact that his comprehension of the Law of Nothingness had reached a new height.
Still, Yun Wuji was very satisfied with this speed.
Since the beginning of his cultivation journey, every breakthrough had required hundreds, if not thousands, of times more effort than normal people. Back then, even after working tirelessly for seventeen years, he had only managed to reach the 1st Level of the Sky Profound Realm.
However, unlike Yun Che in the novel, Yun Wuji was already extremely powerful. No one in the Abyss could harm him, and he had plenty of time ahead to continue his progress. He also possessed the Eternal Heaven Pearl, which still retained most of its power and was even recovering further in this environment, far superior to the Primal Chaos.
While he stayed there, three weeks passed in the blink of an eye. When he opened his eyes, the three thousand Abyssal Crystals surrounding him had already turned to dust.
"She came back faster than I thought," Yun Wuji said as he stood up and walked out of his cultivation room. The moment he stepped outside, he was greeted by the sight of Helian Lingzhu and Shenwu Youluan sitting together and chatting.
'It seems their relationship has gotten closer,' he thought as he watched them.
"Wuji!"
"Yun Wuji."
The two of them spoke at the same time. Helian Lingzhu ran to him and threw her arms around him in a hug, while Shenwu Youluan stared at him with eyes full of complexity, emotions layered one over another. Longing, desire, hope, and even...
She was feeling so many emotions that it left her confused.
After he cleansed her curse, Shenwu Youluan's happiness did not last long, because for some strange reason she found herself missing that brief but intoxicating moment when he had cleansed her curse.
With Helian Lingzhu hugging him tightly, Yun Wuji sensed something and smiled lightly. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Oh, my Lingzhu, why do I feel that your body has become more mature." He hugged her, pulling her closer so that her chest pressed against him, then roughly cupped her large ass and added, "Hmm, this has grown bigger too."
"Hmm~!" Helian Lingzhu blushed and let out a soft whimper. She felt a bit embarrassed being this intimate in front of someone else.
"I'll have to thoroughly examine all the changes in your body tonight," Yun Wuji said with a grin as he lightly pushed her, then turned and walked out of the house. "I'll be back in a short while."
"Where are you going?" Helian Lingzhu asked.
"To see someone," Yun Wuji replied as he stepped outside.
...
Flying for a few hundred kilometers, Yun Wuji saw her again. She was still wearing a blue robe, holding her purple sword, and staring at him with cold eyes.
"Hua Qingying, are you here to take a beating again?" Yun Wuji said, finding her actions strangely cute this time. The first time she came seeking him, she had immediately rushed to his place, releasing her aura and calling out his name. But this time, she had only subtly released her aura and waited for him from a distance.
"...I want to fight you again," Hua Qingying said. Strangely, this time she did not feel offended by his words. It seemed that the impact she had suffered last time had made her accustomed to his attitude.
In her last fight with him, she had not suffered any serious injuries. The only wound she had was a small cut on her arm, so she did not need to heal. At first, she had intended to return to the Kingdom of God, tell her brother about him, and never see this Sword Demon again.
However, while she sat to regulate her breathing and recover her profound energy, she was shocked to find that the small wound contained wisps of sword intent. It was the Heaven Breaker Sword intent she was extremely familiar with, but what shocked her most was that it was far more refined than her own.
The more she observed and examined it, the more she felt her own understanding of the sword deepen. The improvement was slight, but it was undeniably real.
This turn of events completely changed her plans. After two weeks, Hua Qingying finished comprehending the sword intent and faced a new dilemma: should she go back or return to face Yun Wuji? In the end, after days of mental struggle, her curiosity and thirst for higher sword mastery won.
"Fight? Are you asking to be abused again?" Yun Wuji raised an eyebrow, acting as if he could not understand her intention.
Hua Qingying's face twitched slightly. This guy's mouth had no filter at all. Why was he being so freaking blunt? Could he not show even a little consideration for other people's feelings?
"If you ask politely, I wouldn't mind defeating you again," Yun Wuji continued, ignoring the slight twitch of her face and deliberately saying 'defeating' instead of 'fighting'.
Honestly, he was having fun teasing her. Cold beauties could be infuriating with their self-righteousness, but it was still enjoyable to push them to the point where their cold facade cracked.
"...Please... fight me," Hua Qingying said through clenched teeth. He might be annoying, but what he said was true. In the end, it was her who was asking for something. She swallowed her annoyance and spoke politely.
'She actually did it? I thought she would attack me directly instead,' Yun Wuji said, surprised by her response, and his attitude softened a little. "Alright, make your move."
Swoosh!
Hua Qingying did not hesitate. Countless sword lights shot forward through space toward him.
From a distance, it looked as if the original grey sky had turned a deep, pure purple, only for that purple sky to be shattered and crumbled by an invisible force.
Many people saw the scene and were terrified. Others, confident in their own strength, rushed over to see what was happening. However, by the time they arrived, they found nothing. There was not even a trace of destruction.
...
"Again, that sword intent! This time it is much stronger than last time," Hua Qingying said. In a remote, uninhabitable place, she sat cross-legged, staring at the bloody hole on her shoulder. She paid no attention to the injury, her focus entirely on the faint wisp of silver light within her wound.
Earlier, their fight had unfolded just like last time. That man had crushed all her attacks before releasing a single sword light that pierced through her shoulder and exited from her back.
Being defeated for the third time, Hua Qingying no longer felt depressed or angry. Instead, she strangely longed for the defeat, because each time she fought him, she gained something. Closing her eyes, she focused entirely on the tiny sword intent.
...
Bang!
"Roaar!!"
A crimson red lightning bolt streaked across the foggy world like a trail of blood, striking the gigantic beast and leaving a charred, bloody hole.
The beast resembled a demonic bull with eighteen eyes and three horns, radiating the thick aura of a 1st Level Divine Extinction Realm. Now, however, all its horns were cut off and twelve of its eyes destroyed. Countless deep, bloody holes covered its body, healing very slowly. The beast roared and charged toward the woman in the black dress.
Shenwu Qing quickly moved back, trying to keep her distance. Crimson arcs of lightning danced along her legs. She was only at the Half-step Divine Extinction Realm, but her movements were actually faster than the beast, and her attacks were even deadlier, inflicting numerous wounds on its tough body.
"Ha!" She let out a sharp cry as four streaks of thick lightning bolts descended from the sky, striking the beast's body.
Roaar!
Ignoring its injuries, the beast let out a furious roar and opened its mouth, firing a dark beam at her.
BOOM!
Shenwu Qing gritted her teeth and twisted her body to the side to dodge the beam, but it was far too fast. She was still struck in the waist, leaving a bloody hole.
The Half-step Divine Extinction Realm was, in the end, still part of the Divine Master Realm. The gap between a Divine Master and a Divine Extinction Realm cultivator was a gap between a mortal and a Half-God. The difference was so vast that extremely few had ever managed to put up a fight against them. Even Hua Caili, hailed as a miracle, could not bridge that gap.
Before facing this beast, Yun Wuji had already weakened it by inflicting severe injuries. Most of the wounds on the beast were caused by him. Even so, Shenwu Qing struggled against it, using everything she had to fight, and the wounds accumulating on her body were no less severe than those on the beast.
BOOM!!
Rumble! Rumble!
The fight continued for another half hour before the beast fell heavily to the ground with one last roar. Seeing this, Shenwu Qing immediately collapsed, her sword slipping from her palm. She looked up and spoke in an exhausted but joyful voice, "I did it! Big brother Wuji, I did it!"
"Yeah, I watched everything. Good job, I am proud of you," Yun Wuji said as he landed from the sky in front of her and reached out to pat her head.
However, his movements came to a sudden, violent halt.
Profound energy vortexes suddenly appeared around Shenwu Qing, causing her hair to flutter without wind.
...
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