At the same moment, the stone door slid open. You Li walked in, her gaze immediately falling upon the glaring crimson at the corner of Su Yu’s lips and her sweat-drenched face.
Her blood-red eyes narrowed slightly. She did not speak at once, instead slowly sweeping her gaze over Su Yu’s entire body. Su Yu’s pale cyan dress, damp with cold sweat, clung tightly to her form, outlining her trembling silhouette—shaken by tension and backlash. Her breathing was rapid and unsteady, her fingertips unconsciously curling, betraying the tempest raging within her.
You Li sensed an extremely faint yet exceptionally pure fluctuation of spiritual power emanating from Su Yu, like a wisp of cold air escaping from a crack in ice—utterly different from the familiar, chilling Yin energy of the Gu poison and the obscure nature of the Blood Mark Pact within her.
She had indeed harbored intentions of testing and observing when she gave Su Yu that basic manual. She wanted to see whether this former Sheng Nu of Xuan Yu Zong, with her Dao Foundation suppressed by “Love’s Entanglement,” her meridians monitored by the Blood Mark Pact, and her body and mind both severely wounded, still possessed the possibility of reigniting her spiritual power. She wondered what method Su Yu would attempt and what kind of backlash it would provoke.
She had anticipated failure, anticipated deviation, even anticipated that Su Yu might be too terrified to try at all.
But what she had never expected was that Su Yu not only attempted it but, in such a short time and under such dire conditions, actually succeeded in stirring a trace of spiritual power! Moreover, this trace of spiritual power was not the familiar Profound Jade True Essence, nor was it the tainted, impure energy corrupted by the Gu poison. Instead, it was a kind of nearly primordial Innate Qi!
This meant that Su Yu’s talent for cultivation was far more terrifying than she had imagined! It meant that even with her Dao Foundation nearly destroyed and her body and mind constrained, the deepest, most fundamental spirituality within her had not been extinguished. Instead, in the midst of desperation, it had begun to sprout anew in an even more arduous manner!
You Li approached slowly, each step seeming to tread upon Su Yu’s taut heartstrings. She stopped before Su Yu, looking down at her from above. Her blood-red eyes were unfathomable, swirling with extremely complex emotions—shock, scrutiny, admiration, and deeper still, a sudden flare of desire for control and… wariness.
Yes, wariness. With such talent and such temperament, given time to break free from her restraints… You Li could almost imagine the consequences.
She did not immediately question or punish. Instead, she reached out, her cold fingers gripping Su Yu’s chin, forcing her to look up. Her fingertips brushed against the un-wiped bloodstain at the corner of Su Yu’s mouth. You Li rubbed the crimson smear between her fingers, but her gaze remained locked on Su Yu’s eyes—eyes clouded with the haze of backlash and fear, yet with a faint flicker of light dancing in their deepest depths.
“Guiding Qi into the Body? Who taught you?”
Su Yu’s body stiffened at her touch. The taste of blood still lingered in her throat, and with her chin held firmly, she could only manage a broken, breathy sound: “The… manual…”
“That manual only contains the most rudimentary breathing techniques,” You Li interrupted her, her fingers tightening slightly. “The path for guiding Qi, the circulation of spiritual power, avoiding detection by the Gu poison and the Blood Mark Pact… were these also written in the manual?”
Her gaze was sharp as a blade, as if she wanted to pry open Su Yu’s skull and examine every thought inside. She had inspected that manual—it truly contained only the most basic knowledge. There was absolutely no way it could allow someone whose spiritual power was sealed and meridians were blocked to successfully channel such pure Innate Qi on the first attempt, let alone cleverly bypass the core restrictions!
Su Yu’s heart pounded wildly, fear nearly drowning her. How should she explain? Say she had relied on instinct to figure it out in a desperate situation? Would You Li believe her? Or would she think she was lying, harboring ulterior motives?
“I… I don’t know…” she struggled to speak, tears slipping from her eyes from pain and fear. “I just… tried… following it… the energy… moved on its own…”
She was telling the truth, but even she felt this truth sounded like a fantasy.
You Li stared at her for a long time, so long that Su Yu almost thought she would be torn apart by the Blood Mark Pact in the next moment, or subjected to even crueler methods of torture.
Then, You Li released her grip.
She did not fly into a rage, nor did she punish her. Instead, she slowly wiped the blood from her fingertips and the corner of Su Yu’s mouth with that silk handkerchief carrying a cold fragrance.
“How much did you channel?”
Su Yu was stunned for a moment before realizing she was asking about spiritual power. She focused on the faint stream of energy within her body and hesitated. “…Very little… almost imperceptible…”
“Which meridians did it circulate through?” You Li continued, like a teacher examining homework.
Su Yu dared not hide anything and carefully described the most peripheral, minor branch meridians her thread of consciousness had cautiously navigated. She spoke slowly and disjointedly, as the process itself had been filled with pain and uncertainty.
You Li listened quietly, her crimson eyes lowered, her emotions unreadable. Only after Su Yu finished speaking did she slowly raise her gaze.
“Extend your hand,” she commanded.
Su Yu trembled as she extended her hand. You Li’s icy fingers rested on her wrist, and an extremely fine yet concentrated thread of spiritual power, sharp as a needle, probed into her body. That spiritual power was cold and domineering, but it did not recklessly surge through. Instead, it precisely followed the path Su Yu had just described, circulating through it once.
Wherever it passed, the Gu poison stirred slightly, and the Blood Mark Pact glimmered faintly. But that newly born stream of energy, like a frightened small animal, shrank and hid, yet was still clearly detected by You Li.
You Li’s fingertip trembled slightly. She withdrew her hand and looked at Su Yu, her expression complex and inscrutable.
“Very good,” she suddenly said. “With only an introductory manual and a single attempt, you were able to channel such pure Innate Qi under the dual restrictions of Love’s Entanglement and the Blood Mark Pact, and even find the most peripheral, safest branch meridians to circulate it through…”
“Su Yu, I truly did not misjudge you.” For the first time, You Li’s tone carried a sense of near admiration, though that admiration was cold and sharp. “Your talent and temperament are… even more astonishing than I imagined.”
Su Yu stared at her blankly, unsure of what she meant.
But You Li offered no further explanation. She turned and walked to the desk, picked up the leather-bound manual, casually flipped through it, then moved her fingertip slightly, injecting a wisp of dark red demonic energy into the blank space at the end of the manual.
“Starting today, in addition to basic breathing exercises, you may attempt to circulate three minor celestial cycles daily along this route.” You Li tossed the manual back to Su Yu. “Only circulate within these outermost, most insignificant branch meridians. You must never attempt to impact the main meridians, nor approach the core of the dantian. If I discover even the slightest transgression…”
She left the sentence unfinished, but the unspoken implication was clearer than any threat.
Su Yu caught the manual and saw several lines of tiny handwriting added in the blank space at the end, marking out circulation routes through extremely remote meridians that offered almost no benefit to cultivation. This route was less about cultivation and more about stricter surveillance and restriction—allowing you to possess a sliver of power, but only within an absolutely safe range where you could pose no threat.
“Why… why?” Su Yu couldn’t help but ask. Allowing her to recover a trace of spiritual power, even if strictly limited, was completely beyond her comprehension.
You Li looked at her, a faint curve lifting the corner of her mouth.
“Because a completely withered flower, while easy to control, loses its value for appreciation. I prefer… watching it struggle in my palm, blooming into the shape I desire.”
She took a step closer, her icy fingers brushing through Su Yu’s sweat-dampened bangs, the gesture carrying an intimate touch.
“Keep struggling, Sister Su Yu. Let me see just how far your terrifying talent and temperament can take you within this cage I’ve personally crafted.”
“Will you ultimately be tamed, blooming into a ‘flower’ that belongs entirely to me? Or… will you bring me some unexpected ‘surprises’?”
She withdrew her hand, no longer looking at Su Yu’s instantly pale face, and turned to leave the room.
The stone door closed, leaving Su Yu alone, clutching the manual now marked with both permission and restriction, standing dazed in place.
Within her body, that faint yet pure strand of Innate Qi continued to flow, extremely slowly and cautiously, through those designated, outermost meridians.