The taste of iron filled Li Xuan's mouth as trails of blood ran down his chin like serpents.
This was the first time he had ever felt as if his entire body was being twisted and pulled apart.
"My blood will help you not feel pain," Wusheng Xuebai said softly, "but you will still have to endure."
She raised a finger and pointed it toward Li Xuan's forehead. A rusty-pink light shot from her fingertip and burrowed into his skin. His body jerked upward, but he felt nothing—no pain, no warmth, only emptiness where agony should have been.
The process continued for several minutes before she finally withdrew her finger. Blood began to seep from nearly every part of his body. his nose, ears, mouth, even the corners of his eyes but still, he felt no pain. That alone was nothing short of a miracle.
Xuebai brushed two fingers under her chin as if stroking an invisible beard. "Interesting," she murmured. "Even after repairing the disjointed meridians, as I expected, his spiritual energy doesn't circulate through them but…" She trailed off, eyes narrowing. "All this is a waste of time."
"Young man," she said at last, her tone calm but carrying weight, "this will hurt."
She pressed her fingertips together, forming a small cluster before her chest. Countless flaming needles materialized between them,each burning faintly with a soul flame's light. She flicked her wrist, and they flew forward, guided by some unseen force. Two drove into his shoulders, one into his forehead, two into his thighs, two into his palms, and the remaining four along the outline of his spine.
Li Xuan flinched as though bitten a thousand times at once.
He bit his lower lip hard, trying to suppress the pain until his teeth tore through his own flesh.
"Continue to absorb spiritual energy," Xuebai's voice echoed through his ringing ears, resonating directly in his mind.
He raised his palms into the air, though they felt as heavy as mountains, each weighing a thousand kilograms. When he finally set them back on his thighs, he inhaled deeply. Spiritual energy began to flow into his body not through his meridians, but straight through his flesh, piercing the skin and sinking deeper .
"As I expected," Wusheng Xuebai thought, eyes gleaming. "His spiritual energy gathers directly within his spiritual space. Haha… young man, indeed you are blessed."
"Now," she said aloud, "I am going to destroy all your meridians completely."
Li Xuan didn't even bother to respond. The pain flooding through his body was already unbearable, growing worse with each heartbeat. His chest rose and fell rapidly, breath shallow but determined.
Wusheng Xuebai clenched her fist before her, and the needles inside Li Xuan's body began to tremble. They shifted, twisting along invisible threads. His body jerked violently upward, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"What I am about to do will hurt," she said evenly. "Do you still wish to continue?"
"Just do it," he rasped.
She opened her palm. All ten of her fingers glowed as she aimed them at Li Xuan's trembling body.
The needles responded at once—piercing deeper, crushing the meridians along his spine and shattering those branching through his bones.
Li Xuan screamed. The sound tore through the sealed space like a storm breaking against stone. It was a raw, hoarse cry—the kind that could only come from a body pushed to its absolute limit.
The pain was beyond measure. He could no longer tell where his flesh ended and the agony began.
Then, abruptly, the needles stilled.
He coughed another mouthful of blood, darker this time, metallic and heavy. In desperation, he bit down on his own tongue to endure—but it was useless. The pain only grew sharper, brighter, until his whole body trembled uncontrollably.
Wusheng Xuebai turned her gaze toward the floating ingredients. With a flick of her wrist, a lightning-blue spirit flame erupted from her palm and swallowed them whole.
Li Xuan's breath came in ragged gasps. His head hung low without moving like a dying bird whose wings had been torn away.
The spirit flame coiled around the ingredients, burning and refining them in silent precision. First, the Graveyard Lily melted, its pale petals dissolving into a pink bubbling liquid. Then the Thousand-Eye Fungus followed, releasing a faint hissing sound as its many eyes collapsed into shimmering dots of light.
The process might have sounded simple, but it consumed nearly half a day.
When it came to the Yaochi Snow Ginseng, however, the spirit flame met its match. Every time the flame tried to touch it, a chilling cold burst forth, freezing the air and forcing the blue fire to retreat
Wusheng Xuebai frowned, she simply pointed her finger towards it , then moved it aside . Separating the ginseng from the flame
The two bubbling liquids began to merge, swirling around one another until they formed a single glowing droplet that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Wusheng Xuebai exhaled slowly, perhaps out of exhaustion. She tilted her head upward and noticed the space's dimming light. Though her sealed realm had no sun, it seemed to resonate with the world outside,darkening as night fell beyond the barrier.
Outside, Li Xuan's aunt would be returning soon. Xuebai raised a finger and pointed toward his still, blood-streaked body. A faint shimmer rose from his chest, it was a translucent outline that quickly took human shape.
An Illusory double of Li Xuan stood before her, its eyes the same calm, sharp shade of his.
"Go," she commanded. "Make sure Li Xuan's aunt doesn't become worried."
The doppelganger bowed deeply, then vanished from sight like smoke on the wind.
The fusion continued for another half-day. When the light within the space began to brighten again, the two liquids had not solidified but had changed color,deep violet streaked with silver, still bubbling quietly in the air.
Wusheng Xuebai gazed at it in silence, her eyes reflecting the faint glow. Her expression was unreadable, neither disappoinment nor satisfaction .
Li Xuan remained unmoving, his body soaked in blood, but the faint pulse of life within him refused to fade.
" explode ", xuebai said, clenching her fist .
The bubbling liquid exploded into a hundred floating trails of purple liquid that swirled in the air .
The trails rushed forward into li Xuan's body, through his mouth ,nose , ears and every other opening . They entered and traced every point where li Xuan's meridians were, straightening until they covered every inch .
She waved her hand and the yaochi snow ginseng followed,it moved and settled on top of li Xuan's head as if commanded, trails of frost began sipping into li Xuan's body , slowly as if coming from endless snow peak.
The process took place slowly that xuebai closed her eyes , letting the process to take place on its own . The trails of frost spread across the bubbling liquid now tracing li Xuan's meridians and condensed it into a solid, making a narrow path in between the liquid,now gleaming like molten gold .
Li Xuan's body didn't react . He had collapsed what seemed like days ago . His skin had grown pale and parts of his hair had turned gray maybe due to the yaochi snow ginseng.
The process continued for like two days before li Xuan's eyes slowly began opening .
The moment Li Xuan opened his eyes, he felt his body was light but aching all over.
"My strength has skyrocketed to 5 turns Spirit Lord."
He looked up at Xuebai floating in the air. In her translucent form, she looked exhausted.
"Finally achieved," she said, opening her eyes.
Li Xuan could never have been happier in his life. Achieving such a feat—eleven turns of spiritual energy refinement at once was unheard of. Even a genius would take at least a month to gain one turn in energy refinement, but he had surpassed that by miles.
He got up and knelt down, bowing his head in respect to the ghostly female.
"I am grateful," he said.
Xuebai laughed. "Oh, you think I actually needed those items for myself?"
Li Xuan smirked.
"Thought so, but now I clearly know you're ready to help me," he said.
Xuebai yawned, covering her mouth in the process. It was strange how someone without a body could do such a thing.
"I have exhausted all my spiritual energy in the past three days."
"Three days?" Li Xuan nearly jumped forward. "What about my aunt?"
"Don't worry, I handled that," she said, waving her hand.
Li Xuan's body relaxed a bit. It had taken him three days to fully achieve such a feat. The last traces of the Yaochi Snow Ginseng still lingered in his body. The ginseng's essence was indeed something to be feared.
Inside, his blood was cold as ice, but around his skin, he was warm, as if wielding the essences of both fire and ice.
"Young man, I won't be able to come out for another seven days. Everything is left to you," Xuebai said, turning into a trail of light that rushed into the feather tracing.