554: Chapter 554 Breaking Free and Rebuilding

"Chirp!"

Ying, in the corner, let out an anxious screech. Its golden pupils flickered with an uneasy light, and it spread its wings, about to fly toward Su Ming.

"Don't go over there!"

An invisible barrier of Soul Power formed instantly in mid-air, stopping Ying in its tracks.

Lin Yu's soul body floated behind the barrier, his eyes fixed on the blood-soaked young man on the prayer mat.

"If you go over now, you'll only trigger a backlash from the violent medicinal power within him. Both of you will die!" Lin Yu's voice was extremely low, carrying a rare severity.

Ying circled twice in the air and eventually landed back on the stone pillar in frustration, but its eyes remained fixed on Su Ming, letting out suppressed whimpers from its throat.

"This kid..." Lin Yu watched Su Ming's wretched state, his soul body floating back and forth rapidly in the air, unable to help but curse under his breath, "Usually he's more calculating than a monkey, so how can he be so reckless when it comes to himself? This isn't fucking mending the heavens; it's practically skinning and de-boning!"

Although he grumbled, his tightly clenched illusory hands betrayed his extreme inner tension.

The second day.

The long refinement entered its most critical stage.

The Kintsugi patterns within Su Ming's body had mostly melted. Those metallic residues that originally belonged to the Power of Stars were actually forced into the emerald-green torrent of medicinal power under the tempering of the heaven-mending Law.

As the dao foundation was completely torn open, the true effect of the heaven-mending pill began to manifest.

Within those torn gaps of the dao foundation, wisps of new tissue emitting an emerald-green light began to grow. These new tissues were constantly broken and reborn under the washing and hammering of the medicinal torrent.

Each Rebirth was denser and tougher than the last.

Su Ming felt like a piece of stubborn iron thrown into a furnace, enduring the forging of an invisible, ten-thousand-pound hammer hundreds and thousands of times.

Inside the Immortal Cave, the Ever-burning Lamp used for timing had already developed a thick layer of wick-bloom. On the ground, the sweat and blood dripping from Su Ming had gathered into a small, dark-red puddle.

"Don't fall asleep!"

Just as Su Ming's consciousness was about to sink completely into darkness at that critical point, a thunderous roar exploded deep within his Sea of Consciousness.

Lin Yu used a tiny vibration of Soul Power, striking directly at Su Ming's Spiritual Terrace.

"If you let your Spiritual Qi dissipate now, your torn dao foundation will become a sieve! All the suffering you've endured before will be fucking wasted!"

Su Ming's body trembled violently.

Those eyes, gummed shut with blood, suddenly opened a crack.

"Disciple... is not... asleep..."

A faint, extremely raspy whisper squeezed out of his parched throat.

Even if only a sliver of clarity remained, he would never allow himself to give up control over his spiritual energy. He gritted his teeth again, once more forcibly weaving the threads of the Ruoshui Art, which were on the verge of snapping, into a net to cover the surface of the new dao foundation.

"I've never seen a weed as stubborn as you."

Lin Yu stopped in mid-air, watching Su Ming's stabilized aura. The luster of his soul body dimmed slightly—the fatigue after forcibly suppressing his heart palpitations.

He lowered his head, his gaze sweeping over the faint emerald-green halo emanating from Su Ming's Dantian.

"This kind of life-force luster from the inside out..." Lin Yu murmured to himself, his eyes terrifyingly deep, "I've only seen it on the core Dao Seeds of those ancient Sects with unfathomable foundations, who were raised on countless Heaven And Earth Treasures from childhood. The heaven-mending pill is truly a creation of heaven and earth."

The third day.

The most difficult Fusion point had passed.

The Spiritual Qi turbulence within the Immortal Cave, which had been violent enough to almost tear the air apart, began to slowly subside.

The blood and sweat on Su Ming's body had dried, forming a dark-red hard shell that tightly encased his body. His breathing was faint but long, and each breath carried a strange rhythm, as if in subtle resonance with the surrounding five-layered Formation.

Inside that battered body, a miracle-like transformation was silently reaching its end.

The third day, dusk.

Outside the Immortal Cave, a mountain wind had picked up at some point, whistling through the pine forest of Star Gazing Cliff with a low wail.

Inside the Immortal Cave, the dead silence that had lasted for three whole days was finally broken.

Su Ming, sitting cross-legged in the pool of blood, suddenly twitched slightly. Immediately after, the layer of dark-red blood scabs covering his body emitted a series of faint "crackling" sounds.

Cracks began to spread across the surface of the blood scabs.

"Buzz—"

A crisp chime, like the striking of hard jade, rang out from deep within Su Ming's Dantian.

Although the sound wasn't loud, it carried a thick and pure quality that pierced the Soul.

Su Ming's eyes, which had been closed for three days, snapped open at this moment.

Deep within those dark and profound pupils, a flash of pure golden light streaked across like lightning, gone in an instant, illuminating the dim stone room for a second.

He did not get up immediately but impatiently sank his Divine Sense into his Dantian.

In the vision of "Penetrating Darkness and Illuminating Minutiae," a scene that made his Soul tremble slowly unfolded.

That dao foundation, which was originally covered in dark-gold Kintsugi cracks and looked like a candle in the wind, had now undergone an earth-shattering change.

All the cracks were gone.

Those Power of Starss that had served as "joint filler" had completely fused into the material of the dao foundation under the terrifying tempering of the heaven-mending Law. The entire dao foundation took on a translucent hue like top-grade green jade, and deep within that green jade color, golden specks of light were faintly and slowly circulating.

Not only was it restored to completeness, but its density and toughness were several times stronger than when he had first entered Foundation Establishment!

This was breaking through to establish anew; this was the merit of mending the heavens.

Su Ming slowly stood up from the prayer mat.

With his movement, the shattered blood scabs on his body fell away like autumn leaves in the wind, revealing brand-new skin underneath.

He lowered his head, examining his hands.

His skin, which had been slightly rough due to years of labor and fighting, now had a thin, pearl-like luster. This wasn't some light effect from a Spell, but the external manifestation of the Physical Body being naturally nourished after the dao foundation reached Perfection and the blood Qi became full to the extreme.

He gently clenched his fist.

Without using any spiritual energy, the mere friction of bone and muscle produced a dull explosion in the air. He had an illusion that even without using Formations or spiritual energy, he could crush a mid-grade defensive Magical Artifact with just this Physical Body.

A faint blue glow floated over.

Lin Yu's soul body circled Su Ming, looking him up and down. He did not deliberately hide the luster on his soul body, which was clearly a few shades brighter.

"Not bad."