Chapter 32: The Birth of Inner Demons

No way, buddy.

Are we not even pretending anymore?

Not even trying to hide it!?

"I know you can hear me! From now on, stop controlling my phone and stop invading my privacy, or I'll sue you!"

Chen Huai'an's tone was serious, his anger palpable.

[Since the Meridian Opening Needle is very dangerous, applying it to a suitable target will greatly increase its proficiency]

[This application can grant 20% proficiency and reduce the chance of disability caused by the Meridian Opening Needle by 20%]

[The Meridian Opening Needle is powerful, it can assist your electronic girlfriend in accelerating her cultivation and stabilize the cultivator's foundation]

Chen Huai'an frowned as he read the three game prompts.

Chen Huai'an calmed down, his eyes unconsciously falling on his right leg.

Well, it seems... it might work~

After all, his right leg is already crippled, so what difference does it make if it becomes more disabled?

Besides, it's just a game prop! Does it really cause disability? Probably just scare tactics!

[What is this guy up to now?]

The black cat crawled out of the box, jumped onto the sofa, and stared at Chen Huai'an, who was constantly poking at his phone next door. It needed to be close to Chen Huai'an to absorb the spiritual energy emitted by the spirit stone, but it didn't dare get too close, fearing the ancestral dragon's punishment on Chen Huai's body.

[Staring at that black box all day... Wait, is it possible that all the good things this guy has come from that black box?]

The black cat cautiously moved closer, but could only see a dark screen on the phone, growing more suspicious.

[If my theory is correct, then as long as I get my hands on that black box, all his opportunities will be mine!]

Perhaps the reason this human has the ancestral dragon's protection is closely related to this black box.

Because it couldn't see anything special about Chen Huai'an.

The black cat moved closer again, one eye on the phone, the other on Chen Huai'an's back.

Suddenly, Chen Huai'an picked up the set of silver needles from the side.

The black cat was stunned, thinking Chen Huai'an had finally come to his senses and was going to give it an acupuncture treatment.

The next second, it saw Chen Huai'an fiercely stab the needles into his own right leg.

Black cat: "???"

"OWWWWWWW————!" A piercing scream almost echoed through the entire hotel.

Luckily, it was already noon; if it had been in the morning, other guests would definitely have come knocking.

"Good grief, it hurts that much?" Chen Huai'an glanced at the spot he had stabbed, the skin there already turning purple.

But soon he felt something was off.

The place he had stabbed had been completely numb before!

Now he could feel such intense pain, which clearly showed that the silver needles were having an effect.

But it's just a bit of pain, and Chen Huai'an isn't afraid of pain, is he?

He proceeded to stab himself a dozen more times, while the black cat, seeing Chen Huai'an engrossed in self-harm, crouched and prepared to snatch the phone.

At the moment the last needle went in, the black cat also let out a 'meow' and pounced toward the phone by Chen Huai'an's thigh.

However, Chen Huai'an's previously fractured leg suddenly sprang up at the moment the needle went in, as fast as lightning, delivering a violent knee strike to the black cat.

"Meow?!"

BANG————!

The black cat flew through the air in a parabola, landing back in the shoebox, the lid closing on it.

"Hey! It hurts, but I can feel it!" Chen Huai'an touched his right leg, his face filled with surprise.

The effect of the Meridian Opening Needle is to regulate the meridians and unblock the blood and energy.

His leg had been numb mainly due to the fracture and tumor pressure, so the Meridian Opening Needle treatment was just the right remedy, or perhaps it was a case of fighting poison with poison, and luckily it worked.

"Wait, did my knee just hit something?"

Chen Huai'an scratched his head and looked around.

His attention had been entirely on the acupuncture points, so he hadn't noticed what was happening around him.

"Never mind, maybe it was just my imagination."

...

Cangyun Realm.

Since acquiring the supreme-grade dantian, Li Qingran's cultivation speed could be described as advancing by leaps and bounds. Last night she broke through to the eighth level of Qi Refining, and by this afternoon she was already heading towards the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. This was partly due to the supreme-grade dantian and partly because she had no spiritual roots. At this moment, the five elements' spiritual energy quietly resided in her dantian, and the amount was quite intimidating.

Cultivators with spiritual roots can convert all the spiritual energy they absorb from the heavens and earth into spiritual energy corresponding to their spiritual roots.

For example, a cultivator with a fire spiritual root can convert all five elements' spiritual energy into pure fire spiritual energy.

And the spiritual energy's properties must match the spiritual roots to produce the greatest power. If the spiritual roots and the used spiritual energy's five elements conflict, it will lead to spiritual energy disorder and danger; some techniques and internal cultivation methods also have requirements on the cultivator's spiritual root attributes; when cultivators transfer energy between each other, they must also choose those with similar spiritual roots, meaning both must have at least one same type of spiritual root to achieve spiritual energy fusion.

Therefore, in the cultivation world, a single spiritual root is considered excellent talent, a mutated spiritual root is even better, while the five elements' spiritual roots and no spiritual roots are the worst talents.

Those with five elements' spiritual roots have extremely slow cultivation speeds, almost impossible to break through the Qi Refining stage in a lifetime. Those without spiritual roots, although they have fast cultivation speeds, because of the poor quality of spiritual energy, it's also difficult to break through bottlenecks, and the power of their spells is much weaker than other cultivators.

Li Qingran originally thought that without spiritual roots, she couldn't break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

That bottleneck was like a dam, to break through the dam not only required sufficient quantity but also strong impact force.

The mixed spiritual energy obviously lacked sufficient impact force.

But as she approached the Foundation Establishment stage, she realized that the supreme-grade dantian brought her purer spiritual energy and a larger amount than before!

"The supreme-grade dantian bestowed by my senior is truly amazing."

Li Qingran looked inward at her dantian, her heart filled with shock.

Before her cultivation was crippled, she was at the small success stage of Foundation Establishment, but now the amount of spiritual energy in her dantian was two to three times that of her peak moment! If she still had spiritual roots and successfully broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage, wouldn't she be equivalent to the total spiritual energy of five or more ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators?!

"Without spiritual roots, so what? With the help of my senior, I can still continue on this path..."

The five elements' spiritual energy within her gradually boiled under Li Qingran's operation, gathering towards the 'dam' of the Foundation Establishment stage.

She was preparing to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage!

But at this moment, a sharp pain came from her mind.

Boundless darkness completely engulfed Li Qingran.

In her daze, she saw a green-robed old man standing in front of her—it was Qingxuan Daoren, her former master.

"Li Qingran! You harmed your fellow sect sister, you are unjust!"

"You practice our sect's martial arts, yet you are lazy and trample on your master's teachings, you are unfilial!"

"Sent to the outer sect, you bullied the outer sect disciples, you are unkind!"

"You possess the internal cultivation method of the Red Cloud Art, yet you have thoughts of taking another master and changing sects, you are disloyal!"

The dust of the Dao heart, the birth of inner demons.

The smiling mask could not hide the hideous scars.

The bitter past was not something that could be easily covered up.

Qingxuan Daoren's words were like a bell vibrating in Li Qingran's mind, also dispersing the wave of spiritual energy that was about to break through the bottleneck.

The figure of her senior brother Lu Changtian appeared beside Qingxuan Daoren, a cold smile on his lips:

"Li Qingran, someone like you, disloyal and unfilial, unkind and unjust, still dreams of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage? Pitiful and laughable!"

"Li Qingran, you actually harmed our junior sister, I was wrong about you," third senior brother Yun Zimo said with disgust.

"Li Qingran, spit out all the pills and spiritual herbs I gave you, you don't deserve them," second senior brother Xiao Yifeng said with a fierce expression.

Fourth senior brother Zhang Hanxiao stepped forward with a sword, his gaze fierce: "If you break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, I will clean up the sect and completely erase you from this world!"

"No, it's not like that, I didn't intentionally harm junior sister, I didn't slack off in my cultivation, I didn't bully the outer sect disciples, I didn't..." Li Qingran held her head, shrinking in the cold darkness. She wanted to defend herself, but countless black hands reached out from the darkness to cover her mouth.

No one believed her words, no one listened to her seriously.

Just like that day during the sect competition when junior sister was injured, she was struck off the stage by an enraged Lu Changtian. Her defense was weak, her tears were seen as pretense and cunning. But she was clearly coughing up blood, lying in the dust, while Mu Baishuang only had a cut on her shoulder.

Wasn't Li Qingran also Lu Changtian's junior sister?

Wasn't she also the junior sister of Chixiao Peak?

Wasn't she also Qingxuan Daoren's disciple?!

The onlooking sect members appeared again, emerging from the darkness, crowding around the people of Chixiao Peak. She could only watch their disgust and hostility, their pointing fingers; she could only hear their curses and mockery.

"It was her who intentionally harmed junior sister? What a piece of work!"

"How could Chixiao Peak have such a malicious disciple?"

"Probably jealous of how pretty Mu Baishuang is, hahaha..."

"Senior brother Lu was so good to her before..."

"People like her should die, should be thrown out of the sect to feed the beasts of Wanshan!"

"Get out of Qingyun Sect! Get out of Qingyun Sect!!"

...

Sixth junior sister Mu Baishuang hid behind everyone, nestled next to Lu Changtian.

She stood in the light, shielded by everyone, like a protected little flower.

She smiled at the tearful Li Qingran, her lips moving slightly.

But only Li Qingran, deep in the darkness, could hear her voice:

"Qingran senior sister... disappear."

"Someone like you doesn't deserve to live."

...

...