205: How can you still be my apprentice?

"Endure it."

His palm pressed tightly against Cold Moon's lower abdomen, separated only by thin silk undergarments.

As the Myriad Heavens Star Chart circulated, a brilliant silver light illuminated Su Lin's palm.

That was no ordinary spiritual power; it was the power of Law, containing the essence of spatial cutting and Star Power gravity.

It possessed no gentleness whatsoever; like a red-hot scalpel, it pierced directly through Cold Moon's skin and flesh defenses, forcefully drilling into the depths of her Qi Sea.

"Ngh!"

Her hands gripped the rock beneath her tightly, carving ten bloody marks into the hard stone surface.

Pain—it was too painful.

"Don't move!"

Su Lin's other hand pressed down on her violently trembling shoulder, his gaze cold and sharp.

"This black substance has already entangled itself with your Origin."

"It is consuming your Dragon Qi."

"What I must do now is pull out its teeth, one by one, from your bones."

Su Lin closed his eyes, and his Divine Sense surged into Cold Moon's body like a tidal wave.

In his perception, Cold Moon's body was already in a state of utter ruin.

The Imperial Dao Dragon Qi, which should have been golden and vast, was now tightly coiled by countless black, viscous substances resembling asphalt.

Those black substances grew countless tiny mouths, greedily gnawing at the last remaining shreds of golden light.

How could this be the Qi Sea of a cultivator?

This was clearly a rotting swamp crawling with maggots!

"Damnable things."

Killing intent welled up in Su Lin's heart.

He controlled that wisp of Star Power, transforming it into countless tiny light blades, precisely cutting into the connection points between the black slime and the golden Dragon Qi.

"Sever!"

"Sss!"

The sound of a Soul being torn apart echoed even through her flesh, reverberating at the bottom of the empty cave.

"Ahhh!!!"

Cold Moon could no longer hold back.

She let out a shrill scream, tears mixed with cold sweat instantly soaking her temples.

That pain transcended the limits of the flesh; it was a torture acting directly upon the Soul Origin.

Her vision began to blur, and her consciousness began to drift.

But in that boundless darkness and intense pain, the only thing she could feel was the scalding hot palm pressed against her lower abdomen.

That was Revered Master's hand.

It was Revered Master saving her.

"Mas... Revered Master..."

She murmured intermittently in the gaps between the intense pain.

"It's okay... it doesn't matter if you break me..."

"As long as it is you... even if you cut open my belly... I will..."

"Shut up, save your strength."

Beads of sweat also seeped from Su Lin's forehead.

This delicate work was more exhausting than fighting someone at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage.

He had to be fully focused; he needed to excise the tumor while ensuring he did not damage Cold Moon's already fragile Foundation.

"It is not over yet."

Su Lin said in a deep voice.

"That was just detachment; now... I am going to suck it out."

"It will be even more painful."

"If you cannot bear it, bite me."

He extended his arm to Cold Moon's lips.

Cold Moon looked at the arm right by her lips, her eyes dazed for a moment.

She did not bite.

She could not bear to.

She turned her head to the side, opened her mouth, and bit down hard on a protruding rock nearby.

"Crack!"

A corner of the hard rock was forcibly bitten off by her.

At the same time, the suction in Su Lin's palm suddenly erupted!

"Get out... now!!!"

Boom!

Cold Moon's body convulsed violently, as if she had been electrocuted.

At her lower abdomen, the white silk undergarment was instantly stained pitch black.

Wisps of viscous, foul-smelling black liquid, still crazily twisting and struggling, were forcibly sucked out of her body by Su Lin!

Once those liquids left her body, they let out sharp squeaks, like countless rats screaming.

They tried to crawl up Su Lin's arm, attempting to infect this new host.

"You seek death."

Su Lin snorted coldly.

Golden light flashed on his body.

Immovable Wisdom King Body activated.

The extremely rigid and Yang-aligned blood energy instantly erupted, scalding the black liquid that tried to approach until blue smoke rose.

"Burn!"

A ball of black and white interwoven flames ignited in his palm.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

That nauseating black substance twisted and wailed crazily in the flames, eventually turning into wisps of black smoke and dissipating completely into the air.

But this was only the first wave.

The toxins in Cold Moon's body had accumulated too deeply.

"Continue."

Su Lin did not stop and once again probed in with his spiritual power.

...

And above them.

Above the ice sheet.

The battle had entered a white-hot stage.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Su Hongling was like an untiring killing machine.

She had completely "compressed" that space.

In this high-gravity environment, those black soft-bodied monsters were like clay thrown into a hydraulic press, each one crushed into a thin pancake and then bursting apart.

But their numbers were simply too many.

Moreover, as the "squeaking" screams came from the bottom of the cave below, these monsters seemed to be stimulated by something and became even more frenzied.

They began to devour each other, fusing into giant, massive lumps of flesh with countless mouths, pushing against the gravity field and launching a suicide charge toward Su Hongling.

"Damn it! These disgusting things can even perform Fusion?!"

Su Hongling slashed a flesh lump in half with her sword, but the two halves did not die after hitting the ground; instead, they turned into two new monsters and bit her leg as soon as they opened their mouths.

"Get off!!"

Su Hongling kicked it until it exploded, but that slimy sensation made her feel sick and want to vomit.

"Third sister! Where is your poison?! Hurry up and kill them!"

"Don't rush me! I'm mixing it!"

In the distance, Chu Weiwei held over a dozen bottles in her hands, frantically mixing them on the spot.

Listening to the screams of Cold Moon coming from below, her hand trembled so much she almost dropped the bottles.

"That sound..."

Chu Weiwei bit her lip, her eyes complex.

"It sounds so miserable..."

"Is Revered Master scraping the bones to treat the poison for her?"

"Or is it..."

In her mind, some inappropriate images surfaced involuntarily; although her reason told her this was medical treatment, that jealousy still grew wildly like weeds.

"Damn it... screaming so loudly, is she doing it on purpose for us to hear?!"

"Go to hell! All of you, go to hell!"

She vented all this resentment on the monsters in front of her.

"Taste my newly invented Nine Nether Gut-Severing Powder!"

She splashed a large vat of prepared poison directly out.

The purple poison fell like rain.

The flesh lumps that were fusing stopped moving instantly upon contact with the poison.

Immediately after, their bodies began to swell and change color like foam, and finally, with a pop, they exploded into puddles of green pus.

This wave of damage cleared a large area instantly.

"Well done!"

Su Hongling laughed aloud, and the pressure decreased sharply.

And on the other side.

Luo Ximei's situation was much more elegant, and much more cruel.

She hovered in mid-air, the myriad soul banner behind her fully unfurled to the extreme, blocking the sky and sun.

Although those black monsters were aggregates of curses and lacked complete Souls, they contained extremely rich negative emotions within them: greed, hunger, anger.

For the myriad soul banner, this was a great tonic.

"Come, all of you, come inside."

A strange light flickered in Luo Ximei's heterochromatic eye.

Countless black tentacles extended from the banner, like fishing, precisely piercing into the bodies of those monsters and forcibly extracting those masses of black energy.

The monsters that lost their energy instantly shriveled up and turned to ash.

But half of her attention was always on the ice sheet beneath her feet.

Through the thick ice layer, she could vaguely feel the intense spiritual power fluctuations coming from below.

"Revered Master's aura... is a bit chaotic."

Luo Ximei furrowed her brows tightly.

"Is the poison in that woman's body actually so stubborn? Even Revered Master has to expend so much mental effort?"

"If Revered Master is exhausted, I won't forgive her!"

Her offensive became increasingly fierce, as if she wanted to vent all this resentment on the monsters before her.

Just then.

"Roar—!!!"

A dull roar suddenly came from behind the group of monsters.

The originally dense swarm of monsters suddenly parted like a tidal wave.

Ten huge black shadows, dozens of zhang tall, slowly walked out, carrying the suffocating pressure of the half-step Mahayana Stage.

Those were not ordinary lumps of flesh.

They were the corpses of Immortal soldiers who had fallen into the Void Realm when the Upper Realm collapsed, eroded for thousands of years by the curse energy here, and had long ago turned into Puppets that only knew how to kill.

"Trouble has arrived."

Mu Qingxue, who had been maintaining the ice sheet above, opened her eyes.

She held her Ice Sword horizontally, and the surrounding air instantly condensed into countless ice blades.

"These ten guys... are a bit tough."

"Tough?"

Su Hongling grinned, hoisted her great sword onto her shoulder, and the Battle Intent in her eyes burned once again.

"I specialize in treating all kinds of tough bones!"

"I didn't get to have enough fun fighting the Qilin earlier; this time, it's perfect to make up the numbers!"

"Sisters! Grab your weapons! Don't let them disturb Revered Master's leisure!"

...

At the bottom of the cave.

On Su Lin's forehead, sweat had gathered into streams, dripping down his cheeks.

Cold Moon, beneath him, no longer had the strength to scream.

Her whole body was soaked in sweat; that bright yellow dragon robe looked as if it had been fished out of water, clinging tightly to her body, outlining her perfect curves as they spasmed from the pain.

"There is still... a little bit left."

Su Lin's voice was a bit hoarse.

He could feel that in the deepest part of Cold Moon's Qi Sea, on the Origin Golden Core that represented her Imperial Dao Foundation, the last and largest parasite was still coiled.

That thing had already fused with the Golden Core, like a tumor growing on a heart.

If he did not excise it, everything done before would be in vain.

But if he forcibly excised it...

Cold Moon might shatter her Golden Core and die on the spot.

"Cold Moon."

Su Lin stopped his movements and called out softly.

"Mm..."

Cold Moon opened her eyes with difficulty; those eyes that were once incomparably majestic were now unfocused, only gathering a little light when she looked at Su Lin.

"Revered Master... am I... not going to make it..."

"Nonsense."

Su Lin wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.

"Now we have reached the most critical step."

"If it shatters, your cultivation will be ruined, and you might even... become a Mortal again."

Su Lin looked at her, his gaze serious.

"Are you afraid?"

Cold Moon looked at Su Lin and suddenly smiled.

That smile was weak, yet very beautiful, carrying a sense of relief as if she had laid down all burdens.

"A Mortal...?"

She murmured to herself.

"If I become a Mortal... I won't have to be the Empress anymore, I won't have to guard this crumbling empire..."

She reached out and grabbed Su Lin's fingers.

"Revered Master."

"If I become a Mortal... will you still want me?"

"Will you still... like this, hold me, and treat my illness?"

Su Lin held her hand in return, fingers interlaced.

"Regardless of whether you are an Empress or a Mortal."

"You will always be my, Su Lin's, Eldest Disciple."

"This point will never change."

"That is enough."

Cold Moon closed her eyes, a satisfied smile on her face.

"Do it, Revered Master."

"Even if it means death... I want to hand over this body to you, clean and pure."

"Good."

Su Lin did not hesitate anymore.

His other hand pressed down fiercely.

This time it was not extraction, but.

"Shatter!"

"Crack!"

That huge black parasite lost its host's warm bed and was finally exposed.

It let out a shrill scream, wanting to flee.

"Where do you think you are running to!"

Su Lin had been prepared.

The parasite did not even have a chance to struggle before it was sucked into the vortex and twisted into nothingness.

The tumor had been removed.

But the price was that Cold Moon's cultivation was ruined.

She lay there, her face ashen, the Dragon Qi on her body rapidly dissipating, and that originally shining dragon robe also became dull and lusterless.

"It is over..."

She looked at Su Lin, a hint of relieved smile at the corner of her mouth, her eyelids becoming heavier and heavier.

"Revered Master... I am so sleepy..."

"Do not sleep."

Su Lin's voice suddenly became stern.

"Who said it is over?"

"I said, I want to turn you into a key."

"Since the old lock is already broken, then let's replace it with a new one!"

Su Lin stood up.

He took out the crystalline key formed by the Fusion of three world cores from his bosom.

Then.

He made a crazy move.

He did not insert the key into the array eye of the scar of heaven.

Instead...

He directly pressed that key, which contained the Laws of the Immortal Realm and represented the gateway to the Upper Realm, fiercely into Cold Moon's just-shattered Dantian!

"Using the body as the array!"

"Using the Soul as the key!"

"Cold Moon! Wake up for me!!!"

An indescribable, terrifying suction force instantly erupted from within Cold Moon's body.

The moment that crystalline key entered her body, it melted.

It transformed into countless rays of brilliant Immortal light; it did not dissipate but actively connected to the broken Meridians and the exhausted Sea of Consciousness.

Reshaping!

This was a true rebirth!

"Ahhh!!!"

Cold Moon, who was already on the verge of losing consciousness, was jolted awake by this sudden, intense pain.

She felt as if a sun had been stuffed into her body.

That power was too vast, too Advanced, and not something a Mortal body could bear at all.

"Hold on!"

Su Lin shouted loudly.

He pressed his hands against Cold Moon's temples, pouring his own Divine Soul power in without reservation, helping her stabilize her Sea of Consciousness and guiding that violent Immortal power.

"Use your will! To Revered Master it!"

"You are the Empress! You are the Revered Master of this continent!"

"If you cannot even subdue this bit of power, how then can you be my disciple?!"