The Nascent Soul is formed, and the heavens and earth tremble! Mei Niang sacrifices herself!

Xuan Yin's wild laughter gradually ceased. His craggy old face flushed with ecstasy, muscles twitching slightly. His cloudy eyes were fixed on the Jade Box in Gu Zheng's hands like a starving wolf, burning with a heat that could melt cold jade.

"Zheng'er, return to your courtyard!" His voice was hoarse with excitement. "Take the Medicinal Pill and break through! I will personally serve as your Protector!"

Gu Zheng's coldness faded, replaced by an indomitable determination. She bowed gracefully to Lin Yuan, her voice sounding like gold striking stone: "This favor, I shall repay once I step into the Nascent Soul stage!"

Before the words had even faded, her form transformed into a Sword Light, shooting straight into her small courtyard.

Lin Yuan and the others exchanged a glance, rising into the air simultaneously to hover above the courtyard. An invisible aura wove into a net, firmly protecting the area.

Inside the courtyard, Gu Zheng did not hesitate in the slightest, swallowing the golden Divine Pill wreathed in nine pill patterns in one gulp.

"Boom—!"

The Medicinal Pill entered her stomach, not as a gentle nourishment, but as an overwhelmingly tyrannical infusion! A vast ocean of medicinal power exploded within her body!

Gu Zheng's delicate body trembled violently, her pretty face turning blood-red instantly. Her bones emitted a teeth-grinding "crackle" as if they were about to be burst apart by this savage force! Wisps of blood slowly seeped from her seven orifices.

Just at the moment she reached her limit—

"Clang!"

A clear, resonant sword chime did not come from the outside, but exploded fiercely from the depths of her Divine Soul and the Origin of her Dao Heart!

A condensed phantom of Sword Intent surged from her crown, instantly transforming into a giant sword that pierced the heavens! Upon the giant sword, Sword Qi loomed, sharp and peerless, stirring the clouds as if it wanted to poke a hole in the sky above Black Stone City!

Using Sword Intent to suppress oneself!

Under the command of this arrogant Sword Intent, the violent medicinal power within Gu Zheng's body was forcibly tamed and combed, transforming into a rolling torrent that crazily scoured her Meridians and Dantian with a destructive force!

Her Dantian Qi Sea was torn apart again and again by the golden torrent of medicinal power, only to be reformed each time! With every reformation, it became tougher and more vast than before!

And in the center of the Qi Sea, the Golden Core symbolizing her Core Formation Cultivation began to show cracks on its surface at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Crack... crack..."

The cracks grew as dense as a spiderweb, and finally, at one moment, with a crisp explosion, the Golden Core shattered with a "bang"!

The shattered Golden Core did not dissipate; instead, wrapped in the endless medicinal power, it crazily collapsed and condensed inward. Finally, a miniature figure with the same appearance as Gu Zheng, an inch tall and glowing all over, slowly opened its eyes.

The Nascent Soul was formed!

"Rumble!"

A terrifying pressure, far exceeding the Core Formation Stage, swept across the surroundings like a tsunami with Gu Zheng at its center! The ground of the building she was in instantly sank three feet, and countless bricks and tiles were ground into powder by this airwave!

In the sky, the clouds changed color, and Spiritual Qi gathered once again into a huge vortex. Only this time, what surged within the vortex was not auspicious pill clouds, but billions of invisible, screaming, terrifying Sword Qi!

"This pressure... it's the Nascent Soul!"

"Heavens! Our Yin Corpse Sect has two Nascent Soul Old Ancestors from this day on!"

After a brief silence, the entire Black Stone City erupted into thunderous cheers!

Xuan Yin roared at the sky, tears streaming down his face. He watched the beautiful figure enveloped in Sword Qi and spiritual light, smiling like a three-hundred-year-old child.

Beside him, Su Meiniang's delicate body shook violently. She stared fixedly at Gu Zheng, who now possessed world-dominating pressure. In those seductive peach-blossom eyes, envy, jealousy, longing... all sorts of emotions churned, and in the end, they all turned into an unprecedented determination.

She knew she couldn't wait any longer. If she waited any longer, she would just be a handful of dust.

Lin Yuan looked at the anomaly in the sky, a smile curling the corners of his mouth: "Only after the Heart Demon Tribulation can this Nascent Soul be considered truly stable."

Hearing this, the ecstasy on Xuan Yin's face faded slightly, turning to a hint of solemnity. Having experienced it himself, he naturally knew the dangers of the Heart Demon Tribulation.

"I am a bit tired, I will head back first." Lin Yuan cupped his hands to Xuan Yin, and his figure flickered, disappearing from the spot.

...

The night was as deep as ink.

Lin Yuan soaked in the warm Spirit Spring, only his head exposed, exhaling a turbid breath comfortably.

"Gu Zheng has the silver thunder bamboo leaf to protect her, the Heart Demon Tribulation will be fine. One thousand attribute points each time... This deal is a massive profit."

He was calculating his future Cultivation plan when a faint fragrance, accompanied by nearly inaudible footsteps, quietly drifted into the courtyard.

Lin Yuan opened his eyes.

By the pool, Su Meiniang was already standing there quietly.

She had shed her Sect robes and changed into a pink gauze dress as thin as a cicada's wing. Beneath the hem, a pair of snow-white, slender jade legs gleamed with an alluring luster under the moonlight. Her stunning face was lightly powdered, and those watery, peach-blossom eyes stared straight at Lin Yuan in the water, even carrying a hint of desperate madness.

She stood there, and Lin Yuan soaked there. Neither spoke, and the only sounds in the air were the trickling of the spring water and her increasingly rapid breathing.

Finally, Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes, leaning against the edge of the pool, and spoke with an amused expression: "Elder Su visiting late at night, could it be that you also want to soak in this Fire Spirit Spring? The pool isn't big, but if we squeeze in, it should be enough."

"Lin... Fellow Daoist." Su Meiniang bit her red lips gently, two moving blushes appearing on her beautiful face. She slowly squatted down, looking at Lin Yuan levelly, her voice trembling with suppressed emotion: "Meiniang... wants to make a deal with you, Fellow Daoist."

"A deal?" Lin Yuan laughed. He reached out, his fingers, stained with spring water, lightly hooked Su Meiniang's smooth chin, feeling its astonishing smoothness and elasticity, "Let me guess, is it for the breaking nascent soul returning origin pill?"

Su Meiniang's delicate body trembled, and she did not deny it. The moisture in her peach-blossom eyes grew thicker, a look mixed with endless longing and humble pleading.

"Fellow Daoist... Meiniang has been stuck at the Late Core Formation Stage for five hundred years." Her voice carried a sob, the sorrow soaked in five hundred years of despair: "Seeing that my Lifespan is coming to an end, I am not willing to turn into a handful of dust just like this!"

"So?" Lin Yuan's fingers gently rubbed her chin, as if admiring a beautiful piece of art about to shatter, but his tone was nonchalant: "What does Elder Su intend to trade with?"

"So, Meiniang... is willing to give everything!"

As the words fell, she actually slowly removed the gauze dress from her shoulders and lifted her snow-white legs, stepping into the warm Spirit Spring step by step.

...

The wind stopped and the rain ceased, the peach blossoms were covered in dew.

Su Meiniang leaned lazily in Lin Yuan's arms, breathing slightly panting, her voice hoarse: "The Materials for the Alchemy, I have already prepared them. When... when will you be free?"

"When did I agree to help you with Alchemy?" Lin Yuan's voice was lazy.

Su Meiniang looked up abruptly, her eyes full of astonishment and shame: "You... you ate and wiped your mouth, and now you want to go back on your word?"

"It was you who delivered yourself to my door. I didn't nod to this deal." Lin Yuan laughed lightly.

"You..." Su Meiniang was choked with anger, her chest heaving.

"Hahaha, I'm teasing you." Lin Yuan sat up straight, his expression becoming serious: "However, refining this pill consumes a great deal of me. Your sincerity alone is far from enough."

Hearing this, Su Meiniang was not angry, but instead felt relieved. She didn't fear him asking for a price; she only feared he wouldn't ask for anything.

She blinked, pondered for a moment, and then exhaled like an orchid: "From now on... this servant will follow your lead. I also have a disciple named Xue Linglong, who is stunningly beautiful and is still a virgin..."

"In your heart, is Lin Yuan such a person who covets beauty?" Lin Yuan interrupted her, while internally complaining: Your precious disciple, a virgin? How come I don't know that?

"Then... what exactly does Fellow Daoist want?" Su Meiniang's voice carried a hint of eager fawning.

An hour later, Su Meiniang left, muttering childishly, having agreed with Lin Yuan to help her with the Alchemy in three days.