495: Chapter 495 Penetrating Insight, Reshaping the Meridians

Saintess Yan Xueyuan wanted to flee. To escape from here, to flee from Ling Hao, to flee from everyone.

However, the moment her spiritual power erupted, a sharp pain shot through her chest. Another completely different force surged from the depths of her heart.

Dark red, icy, and destructive, like a long-dormant venomous snake finally baring its fangs.

Saintess Yan Xueyuan let out a muffled groan as the spiritual power all over her body instantly dispersed. She collapsed weakly to the ground, curling into a ball and trembling violently.

Two completely different forces clashed wildly inside her. The golden warm current of the Mahayana Heart and the dark red cold wave of the Ancient Demon Heart almost tore her body in half.

Ling Hao leaned forward to support her, sending his Chaos Spiritual Power into her body, his expression suddenly turning solemn.

The backlash of the Ancient Demon Heart was even swifter than he had imagined. Saintess Yan Xueyuan's body temperature dropped rapidly, her lips turned blue-purple, and her consciousness began to blur.

She twitched slightly in Ling Hao's arms, cold sweat soaking the hair on her forehead. Those eyes, usually cold, beautiful, and sharp, now held nothing but a chaotic blankness.

Making a prompt decision, Ling Hao raised his hand to set up a soundproofing and isolating Formation. Chaos power locked down the entire wing room like threads of silk.

No movement could be detected from the outside, and not even a trace of spiritual power fluctuation would escape.

When Saintess Yan Xueyuan regained a bit of consciousness, her first reaction was panic.

Ling Hao's hands were untying the sash of her robe. Pushing back with both hands, her voice was weak and sharp.

"What... what are you doing!"

Ling Hao's hands did not stop.

"Don't move. You have two hearts in your body. One is the Mahayana Heart, and the other is the Ancient Demon Heart. You used too much of the Mahayana Heart's power just now, and now it can't suppress the Ancient Demon Heart."

Saintess Yan Xueyuan froze, murmuring, "...Another heart?"

Ling Hao paused. "You didn't know?"

Saintess Yan Xueyuan shook her head blankly, then shook it violently again. Now was not the time to think about this!

She squirmed and struggled.

"Even so, I don't want it! Let go! I don't need you to save me. If I die, so be it. Anyway, I've never been happy, and nobody cares about me—"

Ling Hao grabbed her wrists, pinning them to the couch, and looked down directly into her tear-filled eyes. "Who says nobody cares about you?"

Saintess Yan Xueyuan's voice choked.

Ling Hao did not give her another chance to argue, his movements swift and decisive. The sash of her outer robe was untied, and the fiery-red lapels slid to both sides, revealing the form-fitting white inner garment underneath.

Underneath the inner garment, something was padded in front of her chest, propping up an exaggerated curve. With a gentle hook of Ling Hao's fingertip, that thin layer of fabric was peeled off along with the padding inside—two clumps of Illusion Spirit Gel.

Full and elastic, Ling Hao couldn't help but squeeze them.

Hmm, very soft. The feel was not much different from the touch of an Immortal Master.

"You..."

Saintess Yan Xueyuan stopped crying as well, staring fixedly at Ling Hao.

"Cough..."

Ling Hao coughed, ignoring her death glare, and threw the two fake breast pads aside.

Without the padding, Saintess Yan Xueyuan's chest was left completely flat.

Saintess Yan Xueyuan closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling violently as tears slid from the corners of her eyes.

The secret she wanted to hide the most had been uncovered twice before this man. The first time was through the shadow of the candlelight, and this time it was laid bare directly under the candlelight.

Ling Hao's gaze only lingered on her chest for an instant before shifting away.

"Did you use the power of the Mahayana Heart frequently before? Now, the two forces are extremely unbalanced."

"The Ancient Demon Heart belongs to extreme Yin, and the Mahayana Heart was excessively consumed in the clash just now. To suppress the Ancient Demon Heart again, it must be balanced with pure Yang energy. The Yang Qi transformed from my Chaos Dao principles is the most direct way."

"Contact through clothing will greatly reduce efficiency. There is only one way—"

Saintess Yan Xueyuan suddenly opened her eyes, her tears sliding down and soaking her hair at the temples.

"No!"

"Why won't it work? It has to work whether you like it or not."

"No... I... I am not..."

Saintess Yan Xueyuan's body was already as cold as ice, even her lips had lost their color, and her consciousness began to scatter once more.

The hand held by Ling Hao curled slightly at the fingertips, as if trying to grasp onto something.

Ling Hao said no more. Using his Chaos Spiritual Power as a guide, he slowly channeled Yang Qi into her body.

At first, it was relatively smooth; the Yang Qi seeped into her cold Meridians like a warm current. However, when it reached the depths, it encountered unexpected resistance.

A kind of... wood-like obstruction, rough and rigid, as if something was blocked deep within her Meridians, hard and stubbornly rejecting the intrusion of external force.

Ling Hao's expression changed slightly. He immediately changed the way he circulated his spiritual power, probing deep into her body with the power of Chaos.

Upon probing, he suddenly came to a realization.

Inside Saintess Yan Xueyuan's body, the Meridians were incomplete.

Unlike ordinary people, her Meridians had never been fully constructed. They were ruined, intermittent, and fractured everywhere, like an unfinished piece of art.

And most importantly—

She was a Spiritual Puppet!!!

What was seen on the outside was a human, but the inside was Spiritual Wood.

Ling Hao was dumbfounded. He had actually never noticed this entire time?

The System hadn't prompted him either? What kind of hidden attribute was this?

Then what in the world was he doing right now???

The Chaos Spiritual Power continued to explore. Deeper inside Saintess Yan Xueyuan, a sleeping Origin lay silent like a withered seed; that was the Spiritual Puppet's Origin.

With incomplete Meridians and a sleeping Origin, she could not even be considered a true "living being."

That was why she couldn't practice Cultivation Techniques, and why she couldn't cast any Spells. Her body simply lacked the pathways to carry Spiritual Qi, relying solely on the tiny bit of Spiritual Qi left behind when the Mahayana Heart beat.

At this moment, the golden warm current and the dark red cold wave were clashing wildly in Saintess Yan Xueyuan's Meridians. The two forces slaughtered each other within the broken Meridians, and the Chaos Spiritual Power could only barely suppress them for a brief moment.

If her Meridians were not cleared quickly to awaken her Origin and let it circulate on its own, the Ancient Demon Heart would completely devour her body sooner or later.

The continuous input of Chaos Spiritual Power made Saintess Yan Xueyuan's consciousness slightly clearer.

She trembled slightly beneath Ling Hao. Sensing his changing movements and expression, she squeezed out a bleak smile.

"You found out? Yes, I am not human. Now you know. Do you still want to continue?"

She thought Ling Hao would stop and pull away in disgust.

Ling Hao fell silent for a moment. Then he leaned down and whispered a sentence in her ear.

"Once wood gains intelligence, it is no longer wood. If I say you are alive, you are alive."

The arrow was on the string and had to be shot; the backlash of the Ancient Demon Heart was intensifying, and interrupting it would only cause her body to completely collapse.

Then he would use the "Yin-Yang Aperture Drilling Method"! This method not only harmonized Yin and Yang, but could also clear the apertures, breaking through the barrier between the Origin and intelligence.

Since she had the body of a Spiritual Puppet, he would clear her Meridians and activate her Origin, turning her into a true living being!

Ling Hao composed himself, discarded distracting thoughts, and immersed his mind into the circulation of the "Yin-Yang Aperture Drilling Method."

Using his Chaos Spiritual Power as a guide, Ling Hao reconcentrated the Yang Qi of the "Yin-Yang Aperture Drilling Method" and slowly channeled it into Saintess Yan Xueyuan's body.

This time, he was no longer reckless, but instead probed in inch by inch along the path of the ruined Meridians.

The deeper he went, the narrower the Meridians became. Fine, ring-like textures appeared on the walls of the meridian cavities, causing the Yang Qi to halt and stutter as it passed through.

Ling Hao had to control the Yang Qi to move back and forth. It flowed smoothly inward, but was somewhat sluggish when moving outward, as if reluctant to leave. The wooden inner walls of the Meridians, sensing that the Yang Qi was beneficial to them, wrapped tightly around it, refusing to let it recede.

The Chaos Spiritual Power continuously swept the Yang Qi forward inch by inch along Saintess Yan Xueyuan's fractured Meridians. Every time it reached a break, the Yang Qi would bypass the rupture like a spiritual snake, pulling the Meridians on both sides to reconnect.

Under the continuous nourishment of the Yang Qi, the wooden inner walls gradually softened, and the originally stiff textures became supple, like a dried-up riverbed finally welcoming sweet rain.

The golden warm current and the dark red cold wave were still fighting within the Meridians. The Chaos Spiritual Power intervened at the right moment, using the Yang Qi as a bridge to guide the two clashing forces into different circulation paths.

The warm current was slowly guided into the newly cleared ascending Meridians, while the cold wave was pressed into the descending Meridians. One Yin and one Yang, one rising and one falling, actually formed an Elementary cosmic orbit circulation inside her body.

Saintess Yan Xueyuan's bodily instinctual reactions were also completely controlled by Ling Hao.

Saintess Yan Xueyuan could feel that the moment the Yang Qi entered her body, a warmth she had never experienced before surged into her dried-up Meridians like spring water. One by one, the Meridians that an ordinary person should have began to clear inch by inch under the impact of this man's Yang Qi.

Obstructions were forcibly pushed open, and ruptures were reconnected. The wooden inner walls emitted a warm, gentle luster under the washing of the Yang Qi; the tighter they squeezed, the smoother the passage became.

The smooth walls of the meridian cavities were filled to the brim by the continuous stream of Yang Qi, and the Meridians were constantly being reborn!

Saintess Yan Xueyuan involuntarily hugged Ling Hao tightly, as if wanting to keep this warmth forever.

Spiritual Qi!

For the first time, Saintess Yan Xueyuan perceived the autonomous flow of Spiritual Qi. Unlike her past passive absorption, it was her own body absorbing the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

Her tears flowed again, but not from sadness—they were from joy.

She could Cultivate now!!!

Before she could celebrate, Ling Hao's voice rang out.

"Don't celebrate too early. Now, you need to control the Spiritual Qi to begin self-circulation and construct a cosmic orbit!"

"Come, follow me!"

"Mm."

Saintess Yan Xueyuan no longer resisted either.

Ling Hao precisely controlled the rhythm of the Yang Qi's advance and retreat.

The Yang Qi would clear the next meridian, withdraw, wait for her spiritual power to complete its cycle, then enter again, and clear another. Circulating without greed, advancing without occupying, every step was calibrated to the absolute limit of what her body could bear, neither leaving room for the Ancient Demon Heart to counterattack, nor allowing her Meridians to be forcibly burst.

Every time a spiritual power cycle was completed, Ling Hao would use his Chaos Spiritual Power to gently soothe her newly cleared Meridians, confirming there were no more obstructions before proceeding to the next step.

The entire process was precise to the point of being almost cold, yet gentle and just right.

The inner walls of the wooden Meridians became increasingly soft through repeated nourishment, and the textures were completely stretched open, actually showing a gradual trend of transforming into flesh and blood texture.

Was this a transformation from a Spiritual Puppet into a real human?!

Ling Hao had no time to think further.

Because during the transformation of the wooden inner walls into flesh and blood texture, the Meridians suddenly tightened and squeezed violently, with countless textures pressing close. In that instant, the Yang Qi almost dispersed.

Ling Hao hastily calmed his mind and stabilized it.

As the final meridian was cleared, Yang Qi was continuously injected into the deep Origin, and Saintess Yan Xueyuan's Origin was finally activated!

Under the nourishment of the Chaos Spiritual Power and Yang Qi, that withered seed-like Origin trembled slightly and began to radiate a faint vitality, like a parched seed finally waiting for its first drop of spring rain.

The two forces, golden and dark red, had also completely integrated into the cosmic orbit circulation, each returning to its proper place, leaving only a warm tranquility slowly flowing within Saintess Yan Xueyuan's body.

This ultimate feeling of comfort made Saintess Yan Xueyuan involuntarily raise her head, her body completely relaxing, the confusion in her eyes dispersing as a clear light re-emerged.

Ling Hao, on the other hand, grimaced, raising his hand to gently wipe away the tears sliding from the corners of her eyes—

The tears were warm.

She was satisfied, but he wasn't!

This was the first time saving someone had been so exhausting and painful!