Chapter 024

Chapter 24: Body Breathing

At the base of Black Ice Cliff.

Eyes bloodshot, Ji Chang Huai was dragged out and sat at the mouth of the valley for two days, still refusing to leave: “I don’t believe she’s dead. As long as we don’t find a body, I won’t believe it.”

Another disciple said calmly: “Eldest senior brother, the bottom of Black Ice Cliff is the eye of a storm. Once someone falls, even their bones won’t remain.”

Ji Chang Huai’s eyes burned red as he snapped: “What do you mean? Are we giving up on saving her?”

“It’s not that we won’t save her, it’s that we can’t.”

Everyone pressed their lips together and looked at Ji Chang Huai. It had already been two months, and he still insisted on keeping them here. At first there were dozens of people. Now only seven or eight remained.

But it had been two months. The ones who stayed no longer wanted to waste effort. The winds below the cliff were vicious and knife cold. Any disciple below Foundation Establishment who went down would be risking their life.

For Ye Wan Wan, who had defied the sect, they did not think it was worth sacrificing their lives.

With red eyes, Ji Chang Huai murmured: “But Little Seven, my junior sister, she…” [Junior sister…] [But Little Seven took such a desperate step because of her.]

“Eldest senior brother, I’ll search with you. If we don’t find senior sister in one day, then we won’t go back,” said a stubborn girl beside him.

He turned and saw Ye Qian’s face, white as paper. Ji Chang Huai’s lips moved but no words came. Junior sister… yet Little Seven had been driven to the edge because of her. For a moment he did not know how to face Ye Qian.

With red eyes, Ye Qian said: “I will find Little Seven senior sister and explain everything. I truly never meant to take her Golden Core.” She finished speaking and stepped toward the cliff’s edge to jump.

Startled awake, Ji Chang Huai lunged and pulled her back.

Ye Qian looked over her shoulder with tears streaming down: “I really didn’t mean to hurt senior sister.”

“I believe you. I do.”

Grief crushed Ji Chang Huai’s chest until he could hardly breathe. Feeling the heavy mood around them, he said in a shaking voice: “Let’s go. Everyone, leave this place.”

“But senior sister…” Ye Qian faltered.

“We’re not searching anymore.”

After Ji Chang Huai brought Ye Qian back from Black Ice Cliff to recover, a month passed. Dou Ming came out of the Spirit Market. He had let go sooner than Ji Chang Huai. Seeing that his eldest senior brother now seemed ready to move on too, he said: “I think that girl pulled a shed-skin trick to escape. Maybe she’s somewhere right now, gloating as she watches the show. Eldest senior brother, you really fell for it.”

Ji Chang Huai’s expression was ashen: “If we really wronged Little Seven…”

Remembering how firm Ye Wan Wan looked when she jumped, Dou Ming’s heart also clenched, but he soon brushed it off and smiled: “Don’t joke, eldest senior brother. She smashed junior sister’s Golden Core. So many people saw it. How could we have wronged her?”

Ji Chang Huai suddenly raised his head: “Who saw it with their own eyes?”

“Of course it was…” Dou Ming opened his mouth but couldn’t say a single name. The two of them stared at each other and realized the same thing. Everyone had been repeating the story, but when it came to who actually saw it, no one had stepped forward.

Dou Ming gave a weak laugh: “You’re not suspecting junior sister, are you? She’s so pure.”

Avoiding his gaze, Ji Chang Huai said: “No. I’m thinking maybe someone is trying to stir up trouble between us brothers and sisters.”

Dou Ming lowered his eyes. When had he started to hate Ye Wan Wan? He could hardly remember. In the past, he had liked this junior sister too.

He looked at the Array Stone in his hands and, for once, didn’t hurry to give it away.

At the door, Ye Qian held a bowl of medicine. It grew cold in her hands, yet she didn’t dare push the door open. Only after she steadied herself did she knock gently and speak softly: “Eldest senior brother, I brought your medicine.”

…

Ye Wan Wan ended her seclusion in the spirit house ahead of time. She looked at the Array Spirit Stones, now dim after use, and counted what she had left on her. Only a little over one thousand pieces remained.

She opened her stall page. The second set of Talisman Arts had sold too. The buyer’s name looked familiar. “Let me check.”

Pulling up her previous sales, she found it was the same person. “What a coincidence.”

She put her last Defensive Array Stone and several stalks of Mystic Spirit Grass on the shelf, then bought some seeds in the Spirit Market and logged out.

After leaving the Spirit Market, she closed her eyes to sleep. Yes, cultivators didn’t need sleep to recover. Even so, Ye Wan Wan felt that even immortals should rest. So she pulled up a blanket, shut her eyes, and slept.

Before dawn the next day, Ye Wan Wan scattered the seeds in the yard, then rushed straight to Snow Mountain to keep pushing her limits.

Half a month later, she stood in front of Pei Xuan and held up two fingers: “Two shichen, short by a quarter hour.”

“To be exact, one shichen and seven quarters,” he said.

Ye Wan Wan tilted her head and grinned: “That puts me in second place on the Ranking Board.”

Pei Xuan, white as fresh snow like a snow sprite, said mildly: “Sounds worth being proud of.”

She brushed her sleeves: “Not really. I’m not first yet.” Looking at Pei Xuan, she added: “When I break through and finish within one and a half shichen, I’ll come find you.”

“But you’ve already met my requirement,” Pei Xuan said as he shifted, snow sliding from his robes. “So I will teach you a heart method.”

Ye Wan Wan frowned. She didn’t really want to learn it right now.

Pei Xuan drawled: “Just remember it and don’t use it.”

“Good point.”

She sat cross-legged and listened. Pei Xuan lifted a finger. A wisp of spiritual light formed from memory and fell onto her brow. A new breathing technique appeared in her mind.

It was different from the Supreme Sect’s method, and also not the same as what Bai Jian and the others practiced. “Is this the Breath Holding Method? Or the Tortoise Breath Technique?”

“Not exactly,” Pei Xuan said, seeing her curiosity. “You still breathe, but through Body Breathing.”

“Body Breathing?” Ye Wan Wan studied the formula carefully and still didn’t understand.

“When your body merges with all things in nature, you will understand what it means,” he said. “It is also one of the heart methods for Multiple Spiritual Roots.”

Ye Wan Wan froze and looked up, confused. So he did know about her Multiple Spiritual Roots. Was this method found especially for her?

“This is a heart method I created,” Pei Xuan said lightly, then added something startling: “I also have Multiple Spiritual Roots.”

Ye Wan Wan’s heart jumped hard. Pei Xuan was a master at the Divine Transformation Stage. So the Golden Core nightmare for Multiple Spiritual Roots could be broken after all?

Her breathing quickened.

“It’s too early to say,” he said coldly. “Breaking through depends on luck and talent. Otherwise you may stay like this for life. I am an exception.”

“…”

[Fine. You are an exception. Someday there will be another exception: me.]

“Should I start memorizing it now?” Ye Wan Wan asked.

Pei Xuan smiled without smiling: “The formula is already in your head. How could you forget it?”

Ye Wan Wan understood. He understood too. They were both pretending. One didn’t want to formally bow as a disciple. The other wasn’t in a hurry to accept one. So they kept it unspoken.

Ye Wan Wan was satisfied with that boundary.

That day, she didn’t hurry down the mountain. She stayed on the peak to master the heart method Pei Xuan had given her. The first step was learning to hold her breath. Only then came Body Breathing.

Holding her breath almost cost her half her life.

It turned out switching inner breath to outer breath wasn’t easy. But what in cultivation was easy?

And what Ye Wan Wan loved most was a challenge.