Mu Chen swallowed hard. He was still trapped under the crushing force of gravity pressing down on his body, leaving him completely helpless.
Su Qingyue continued to look at him with arrogance. "How?"
"I… agree!"
The woman in front of him broke into a wide smile and waved her hand to the side, instantly dispersing the gravitational pressure.
Slowly, Mu Chen was finally able to breathe again, though he still coughed up blood, the aftereffect of that overwhelming force.
He pushed himself to his feet, wiping the blood from the corner of his lips as he looked ahead. He and Su Qingyue were almost the same height, though he was still slightly taller.
But when it came to strength, she was clearly far above him. With just a flick of her hand, she had suppressed all those cultivators earlier using gravity alone.
"All of you, leave my palace," Su Qingyue ordered.
The other cultivators cupped their fists, bowed their heads, and without a word, immediately flew away from her silver palace.
After everyone left, Su Qingyue snapped her fingers, creating a white-silver barrier that sealed the entire palace. The cultivators of the Tianyin Sect were stunned.
"What is the Grand Sect Master planning?"
"I don't know… but judging from her usual personality, this is definitely strange."
Inside the floating palace, Mu Chen could clearly see the spherical barrier surrounding the silver structure.
He stepped toward the edge and looked down, noticing that even the underside of the palace was completely enclosed by the barrier.
He was still confused, unable to understand any of this.
He was just an ordinary archaeologist who had accidentally been trapped in a mysterious chamber. He never expected it would open a completely new path for him.
"I don't understand."
"What don't you understand, Mu Chen?" Su Qingyue asked, sitting back on her grand throne.
"All of this. This power, these sects, this world."
Su Qingyue narrowed her eyes, resting her head against her hand on the armrest, never taking her gaze off him.
"Everyone knows about sects, cultivation, and power."
"Unless you're not one of them," she replied.
Mu Chen turned his head, meeting her gaze again. Su Qingyue let out a soft sigh. She had already suspected that something about him was off.
"I've cultivated for thousands of years. I've seen countless spiritual roots and observed every corner of this world. I know this world far better than you ever could."
She raised her hand, gathering white qi into a small orb. With a graceful flick, she sent it shooting straight toward Mu Chen, far too fast for him to dodge.
He flinched, but soon realized his body was adapting to the white qi.
There was no pain, no suffocating pressure. Even his fear began to fade, replaced by a strange sense of calm.
"The core of power in this world is tranquility. Calm in your mind, your heart, and your emotions," Su Qingyue said.
"With true control over that calm, you can become anything you want."
"What was that just now?" Mu Chen asked, noticing a faint white glow beginning to emanate from his body.
"Sit. Calm your mind. Do not fear anything," she instructed.
He didn't fully understand, but he obeyed. Sitting cross-legged on the palace floor, he closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.
He let go of his fear and anxiety, suppressed his worries about his companions, and tried to align his heart and mind with the situation.
Su Qingyue was impressed. Through the qi orb, she could clearly see that Mu Chen's spiritual root was different from ordinary people.
Small, fragile, and weak.
"You have the worst possible spiritual root. Yet I'm curious about the Primordial of your pure golden qi."
She floated down from her throne and sat cross-legged directly in front of him, silent and still, careful not to disturb his concentration.
"I'll help you activate and nurture your spiritual root. You're lucky. It's weak, not dead."
Forming hand seals, she directed her qi into his forehead. Mu Chen immediately felt changes within his body.
"This will hurt a little. Endure it."
He nodded. He didn't know what she was doing, but he could feel qi entering his body, just like what was described in ancient texts.
She was right. Pain surged through him, as if his joints were breaking apart and his veins were burning.
He coughed up blood, and Su Qingyue reacted instantly.
She formed another seal, creating a healing formation while continuing to activate his spiritual root. With the formation in place, the pain gradually subsided.
They continued for ten minutes. Then Su Qingyue noticed a glow of qi emerging from his body.
Moments later, a burst of energy erupted, and Mu Chen felt an overwhelming sense of relief. The soreness vanished, and the pain faded away.
Through her perception, she saw that his spiritual root was now healthy, active, enlarged, and ready to absorb qi for future cultivation.
"Congratulations, Mu Chen!"
"You've activated your spiritual root."
He opened his eyes and examined his hands. A faint white-gold aura radiated from his body, not strong, but clearly present.
"Next, we open your meridians, stabilize them, and guide qi into your dantian."
"Wait, Fellow Daoist Su Qingyue," Mu Chen said, stopping her.
"The people from the red-robed sect wanted to kill me, but you protected me. What exactly are you planning?"
Su Qingyue fell silent for a moment, the qi light fading from her fingertips as she looked at him.
At first, she thought he was just a naive man who would obediently follow her without question, especially since she was confident her beauty could easily charm him.
But now she saw another side of him, one that questioned her motives.
"The qi flowing within you is golden, something no ordinary cultivator possesses," she said.
She stood and walked gracefully to the edge of the palace. "Thousands of years ago, golden qi was the strongest, most stable, and most dominant form of energy. Extremely versatile."
"Ancient records say it came from a single, supreme lineage. Its power was feared even by the heavens."
"That… was the Ancient God Clan."
Mu Chen was startled and stepped beside her. "The Ancient God Clan?"
"Yes."
"In the beginning, all energy belonged to them. But after their fall, qi split into five, forming the five elemental affinities."
"Since then, every cultivator has at least one elemental affinity. None possess the original primordial qi anymore."
She turned to him and gently touched his cheek. He wasn't used to her soft, intimate gestures, but refusing her could have consequences.
"Your golden qi is what we call Primordial Origin Qi."
"So you're protecting me because I'm valuable, and you don't want other sects to have me?" he asked.
She smiled faintly and looked away again. "More than that."
"When you came from those ruins, I felt a resonance. No one else could sense it. Only me."
"Why?"
"Because I am the last descendant of the Ancient God Clan."
Mu Chen was shocked. If that was true, he couldn't even begin to imagine what she had experienced over the years.
"At a certain realm, I cannot break through due to the lack of Primordial Origin Qi. I've searched the entire world for it, but found nothing."
She let out a soft laugh. "Who would have thought… the energy I sought would belong to someone who hadn't even activated his spiritual root."
"Is the heavens mocking me? Or showing me that I can never surpass it?" she murmured, glancing at the sky.
Now everything made sense to Mu Chen. In short, she had taken him as a disciple because she needed his energy to break through to the next realm.
Something she had been unable to achieve for thousands of years.
"Do you understand now, Mu Chen?" she asked.
He let out a slow breath, staring ahead in silence. Every word she said was clear to him.
Simply put, she intended to use him for her own goals.
In a situation like this, refusing someone as powerful as her would be the same as knocking on death's door.
But he had not come here to be used.
He would make use of her knowledge of cultivation until he became strong enough to resist her.
There was no way he would remain nothing more than a Primordial of energy for her.
"I understand. But I'm nothing in the cultivation world. I don't even know how to transfer Primordial Origin Qi to you."
She turned and smiled, stepping closer to him.
Her demeanor suddenly became more aggressive. Her arms wrapped around his neck.
Mu Chen was startled, but he knew he couldn't resist. Her face was so close that he felt awkward, even catching the faint fragrance of her body.
"There's another way…"
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Dual cultivation!"