Chapter 70

Chapter 70: Great Perfection of Enlightenment

After Lin Yu vanished completely, spiritual energy from the Jade Pendant unfurled around Lin Zhao, sealing her in like a clear dome.

Her body had been softened by scorching heat, and that pure, cooling spiritual energy washed through her like rain after a long drought. She absorbed it greedily, as if afraid it would slip away.

With every breath she drew, the Jade Pendant’s luster dimmed—emerald shifting toward a clean, pearly white—until its glow turned translucent and empty. The spiritual energy inside it had been completely consumed.

When the last trace poured into her meridians, the remaining threads of energy coiling around her seemed to sense something. They slipped away on their own, drifting toward the Qing Luan egg beside her.

Lin Zhao knew none of it. Her only task was to stabilize what she had taken in and forge it into her own cultivation. If she was disturbed now—if she pushed too fast—she could leave behind lasting damage: shaken foundations, an unstable Dao Heart, scars that never healed.

As she settled into cultivation, wisps of spiritual energy overflowed from her body in slow, steady streams. That excess seeped into the Qing Luan egg.

The faint patterns on the shell sharpened at once. Hairline cracks spidered outward, widening with each passing moment.

Then a small, delicate red beak punched through.

A pair of green eyes blinked into the world, darted around, and fixed on Lin Zhao.

Its down was still wet from hatching. The little creature pecked at the hole with stubborn determination, widening it bit by bit, and ate every scrap it knocked loose. By the time it finished, most of the shell still remained—too large, too thick—but it had carved out a gap just big enough.

With a soft pop, it wriggled free at last.

It stared at Lin Zhao, then glanced back at the shell. With wings that were more flesh than feather, it brushed its face as if annoyed by the mess, then seized a chunk of shell in its beak. Paddling through the warm water on tender claws, it scurried over and dropped the shell beside Lin Zhao like an offering.

Sensing the surging spiritual energy rolling off her, the little creature heaved itself back into the half-shell with all its might, snuggled against Lin Zhao, and chirped in satisfied delight.

From then on, every stray thread of spiritual energy that leaked from Lin Zhao during her cultivation was swallowed up by the hatchling without wasting a drop.

Time had no meaning in the mountains. More than a month slipped by in a blink.

When Lin Zhao opened her eyes again, power surged through her limbs—dense, wild, obedient. She could gather it at will, shape it, send it coursing through her body like a tide.

She couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face.

Great Perfection of Enlightenment.

Only after reaching it herself did she truly understand the gulf between late-stage Enlightenment and Great Perfection. It wasn’t a step. It was a cliff.

“Zhao Ji Xing. Jia Lan.” Lin Zhao stretched, joints cracking softly. Her eyes cooled. “It’s time to settle our old debts.”

Now that her cultivation had broken through, Zhao Ji Xing—once a shadow she couldn’t face head-on—no longer felt untouchable. For the first time, she was certain she could win.

She started to stand—

Something fluffy slammed into her arms.

“Chirp!”

A round little ball of green fluff burrowed against her chest and looked up at her with bright eyes. It flapped its tiny wings furiously, as if offended that gravity existed, and failed to lift off by even an inch.

Lin Zhao blinked at the ridiculous tuft of down standing up on its head, then at the familiar green fluff.

“Little Qing Luan?” she said, half disbelieving. “You hatched?”

It chirped twice, proud as could be.

Lin Zhao lifted it into her palm and stared. She could not connect this puffball—nearly round from greed—to the huge, graceful Qing Luan Spirit Beast she had seen before.

“It absorbed too much spiritual energy while you were cultivating,” Granny floated beside her, looking both helpless and amused. “At its age, it can’t digest all of it. Let it metabolize slowly. Don’t feed it spiritual power for a while.”

Lin Zhao nodded, then lowered her voice. “Little one, I have things to do. Where are you planning to stay?”

The hatchling tilted its head, chirping as if the question was strange.

“It’s still young,” Granny said. “Better not to keep it in Spirit Beast space. Let it stay by your side. Don’t be fooled by its size—someone at Golden Core wouldn’t be able to harm its body.”

Only then did Lin Zhao remember.

This little thing had been born at Golden Core.

[Comparing people could drive you mad.]

Lin Zhao formed a hand seal and settled the hatchling on her shoulder. “Then you’d better hold tight.”

She paused and glanced at Granny. “Master, give it a name.”

Granny circled the little Qing Luan once, eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “You hatched it. Zhao carries the meaning of sun and moon… so let the little one be called Qing Yao.”

Lin Zhao nodded. “Qing Yao. All right.”

Then her gaze sharpened. “Master, how long has it been?”

“There are about seven or eight days left until the tournament ends,” Granny said. “You’ll make it back in time.”

Lin Zhao let out a breath, relief loosening her shoulders. She was just about to leave when the entire Spirit Sparrow Pond suddenly roiled.

The ground trembled.

Lin Zhao spread her Phoenix Wings and rose into the air to observe. A heartbeat later, she felt it—a familiar aura, cold and sharp, sliding across the pond like a blade.

Granny didn’t hesitate. A powerful Divine Sense wrapped around Lin Zhao like a cloak. “Little girl. Hide at the bottom of Spirit Sparrow Pond!”

Lin Zhao withdrew her Phoenix Wings and sank straight down.

At the bottom, she swallowed a Breath Holding Pill and looked up through the wavering water.

Two figures faced each other in the air.

One wore a purple-black robe, impossibly handsome, violet eyes wicked and deep, rosy lips curved in a faint, lazy smile. His presence was wrong—too heavy, too hungry.

Lin Zhao recognized those sharp, refined features.

Wasn’t this what the child Chen Luo Luo had brought back would look like as an adult?

A Demonic Fiend above the Spirit Transformation stage.

Tong Que.

Tong Que studied the young man blocking him with a sword, thoughtful. “Your swordplay is somewhat similar to that guy from Yun Ding Peak.”

The person he meant was Immortal Venerable Yun Ding.

The man in white held Snow Sword, gaze cold as winter. “So you’re the leader of the Demon Domain on the Heavenly Phoenix Continent?”

Tong Que frowned. “Who are you?”

“You don’t need to know.” Frosty lotus shapes began to bloom at the tip of Snow Sword. “Leave this place. Now.”

Tong Que’s eyes flicked toward Spirit Sparrow Pond, regret flashing across his face.

He had clearly sensed the little girl’s aura earlier—then it vanished without a trace. Cautious little thing.

His tongue slid over sharp fangs. If he lingered, the old monster of the South Sea would surface. He had already missed his best chance.

So he gathered demonic power and sent his voice into every corner of Spirit Sparrow Pond.

“Phoenix Maiden of Destiny. Sooner or later, you’ll be mine.”

A stream of purple-black fire shot from his brow and slammed toward Yun Che.

“Interfere with me, and you can suffer the royal blood of the Demon Clan!”

Space tore like cloth.

Tong Que vanished.

Yun Che reached out and caught the stream of fire. The instant he tried to crush it, a thin thread of flame slipped through a gap in his spiritual energy and drilled into his palm.

His eyes narrowed.

“Demon Clan essence blood,” he murmured.

He hadn’t expected Tong Que to pay that price so quickly—royal clan essence blood, used without hesitation. A move that hurt the enemy for eight hundred, and crippled the user for a thousand.