Chapter Two: Breaking Off the Engagement Is No Easy Task
Su Yizhao’s gaze swept over, only to see that the other two women were just as stunning.
The woman in the center wore an immaculate white dress, her figure shapely and alluring. The woman to the left was clad in yellow, her beautiful eyes calm and emotionless, as if he were nothing but air to her.
Su Yizhao sighed inwardly once more, drew out a document, and handed it over. “Miss Xiu Yue, I have lost all my cultivation. I am here today to withdraw from our engagement.”
“No cultivation?”
“Xiu Yue, this man may be ordinary, but at least he knows his own limits.”
Li Xiuyue paid no heed to either woman, nor did she take the document. Instead, she gazed into Su Yizhao’s clear, bright eyes, and after two heartbeats, she spoke, “What kind of elixir do you need?”
A look of surprise and confusion appeared on the delicate faces of the two women.
Su Yizhao was about to reply when Li Xiuyue suddenly produced a box and handed it to him.
He was instantly bewildered.
Without regard for her companions’ astonishment, Li Xiuyue said, “Inside is a supreme Essence-Gathering Pill. I don’t know if you’re injured or suffering from some other ailment, but a supreme elixir might be of help to you.”
“Xiu Yue, are you out of your mind?” the woman in white exclaimed in utter disbelief.
The woman in yellow parted her cherry lips in confusion, her eyes full of doubt.
Su Yizhao stared at the box before his eyes, lost in a daze.
A supreme elixir?
Elixirs were divided into lower, middle, upper, and supreme grades. Regardless of the rank, supreme-grade elixirs had an exceedingly low success rate in their refinement—so low that even an elder of the Essence Hall would scarcely dare to dream of it.
Such a pill was worth at least ten thousand Essence Stones!
As a Gold Emblem Enforcement disciple, his monthly salary was only three hundred Essence Stones.
Such a supreme elixir was simply too precious!
As he stood there, the document still in his right hand, he felt a cool, delicate touch on his left—Li Xiuyue had pressed the box into his palm.
He was about to speak when Li Xiuyue, ignoring the women’s astonished expressions, took them both by the arm and headed toward the inner hall.
Just before entering, she suddenly turned and said, “My Dao companion could never be ordinary. I await good news from you.”
With that, she pulled the two women with her and disappeared into the hall.
Su Yizhao stared blankly at the box in his hand, the voices of confused inquiry drifting from within.
He sighed again.
Setting the box gently on the wooden table, he turned and left.
Inside the inner hall—
The woman in white, displeased, spoke: “Xiu Yue, that supreme elixir was a gift from my father, meant for you to break through to the Fourfold Essence Realm in one go. How could you give it to that useless man?”
The woman in yellow said urgently, “Xiu Yue, the elixir should be used to help you reach the Fourfold Essence Realm, so you can attempt to refine Fourfold elixirs and become a master alchemist. Giving it to him is pointless. I’ll go and take it back!”
She had barely finished when she darted toward the exit.
Li Xiuyue’s face turned cold as she reached out to stop her, displeasure in her voice. “Since it’s mine, it’s for me to give as I please. For the sake of past friendship, I’ll overlook your insults to him today. If there’s a next time, our friendship ends.”
With that, Li Xiuyue soared away into her rooms, leaving the two women staring at each other in bewilderment.
Left with no choice, the two women departed.
As they passed through the main hall, they caught sight of the box on the table and exclaimed in surprise.
The woman in white picked up the box and sneered, “What a scoundrel—he took the elixir but left the box behind. That says all we need to know about his character.”
The woman in yellow was about to agree when the other suddenly gasped.
Inside the box, the lustrously white, fragrant elixir lay untouched.
The two women exchanged a baffled glance, then smiled in mutual understanding. One slipped the box into her storage pouch, and together they left.
Su Yizhao returned to his room and sat cross-legged on the floor.
After a moment’s thought, he suddenly tore open his Daoist robe.
On his chest, a palm-sized mark appeared before his eyes.
Shaped like a bagua, it glimmered with violet light.
He’d had this mark since childhood, but for the past eighteen years, it had been no larger than a fingernail.
Five days ago, the Essence Energy he absorbed would no longer flow into his dantian, but instead surged into his chest, swallowed by the mark.
Without replenishment, the Essence Energy in his dantian dwindled day by day, until it was nearly dry.
As the mark absorbed the energy, it rapidly grew, expanding until it was now palm-sized.
This was the cause of his lost cultivation.
He stared at the mark, pondering for a moment, then resolutely took out two Essence Stones from his storage pouch.
He activated his cultivation technique, and strands of Essence Energy seeped into his body from the stones.
A bitter smile crossed his face.
The energy entered his body but all surged toward his chest, swallowed by the mark. His dantian remained as barren as before.
With a low growl, he dumped out all the Essence Stones from his pouch.
In a clatter, three to four hundred stones piled up around him.
At this point, his dantian was completely empty.
If even all of these stones could not sate the mark, he truly would become an ordinary man.
He closed his eyes and activated his technique.
Instantly, the room filled with a dense mist of Essence Energy.
After the time it took to finish a cup of tea, he opened his eyes slightly and looked down, a trace of joy in his gaze.
The mark on his chest had grown even larger.
Night deepened.
The sound of shattering stones reached his ears.
Suddenly, the mark on his chest began to tremble violently.
Looking down, he was shocked.
The bagua-shaped mark quivered rapidly, as though trying to burst from his body.
A wild joy spread across his face as he frantically drew in Essence Energy.
The mark’s trembling grew more intense until his whole body shook with it.
As the first rays of sunlight pierced his room, he saw a flash of violet light—the mark tore free from his chest.
It hovered before him, spinning rapidly.
And then, astonishingly, it split into eight pieces!
But in the blink of an eye, the pieces slowly rejoined.
After four or five breaths, he stared dumbfounded at a scroll floating before him.
Five large characters flashed repeatedly before his eyes.
Essence Creation Technique?
He couldn’t help murmuring the words aloud.
The scroll contained a cultivation method, each word shining with violet light, mysterious beyond compare.
After a while, he noticed that the purple glow of the characters was fading.
He quickly focused, memorizing every word.
“Understanding the bagua, observing heaven for fortune. Balancing firmness and gentleness, harmonizing the five elements with ease. Let the dantian nurture Essence Energy, earth palace meeting water and fire…”
The time it takes for an incense stick to burn passed, and Su Yizhao finally committed the entire technique to memory.
The writing on the scroll gradually blurred and vanished.
At the same time, the scroll split again into eight pieces, which reformed into a bagua, shrinking rapidly.
With a whoosh, he watched as the fingernail-sized bagua shot back into his chest.
Looking down, he couldn’t help but groan inwardly.
The mark on his chest was now, once again, no larger than a fingernail, as vivid as ever, as if nothing had changed.
“Could this happen again in the future?” he wondered.
But then he caught himself.
No matter what happens, at least for now, he could restore his cultivation.
He immediately activated the technique. Strands of Essence Energy flooded into his body, and this time, they flowed smoothly through his meridians into his dantian, where they slowly accumulated.
An hour later—
Su Yizhao stood up, refreshed in spirit.
His cultivation at the mid-stage of the Threefold Essence Realm was fully restored, without the slightest discrepancy.