"Help me." After a month of intense thought and burning through piles of paper, Qingyue was finally ready to talk.
"How exactly?"
"Remove this filth."
"You mean the heart?"
"Yes."
Well, it was obvious the girl was determined. Not a trace of doubt in her eyes.
"Won't you regret it? It did give you a lot, after all."
"The price isn't worth it. I don't want to doubt every step I take. It's horrible. I... I'm afraid." She almost whispered the last words.
I stood up and hugged the girl, who was on the verge of tears and had actually begun trembling from fear and tension.
"Found a lot?"
"A lot. You can't imagine how many of my decisions were dictated by this filth. I even grew distant from my brother because 'it was right.' It really does make me shake with fear, Lun. Please help me. I'm willing to pay the price for your help. Remove it and I'll... Ow!"
That last exclamation came from a very hard flick to the forehead. That was definitely going to leave a bump. Maybe I'd even given her a slight concussion.
"Who do you think I am? The same kind of trash as everyone around you?"
"What? But you were the one talking about bargaining."
"This isn't bargaining anymore, it's blackmail, because you're desperate. Do you really think that's what I would do?"
"What about the information about Mother?"
"Was it vital to you? Would you have died without it? It's just information. Important information, but not something you literally couldn't survive without. A completely different matter. Go get rid of all the profound energy in your body. I need you completely empty. Even your Little World has to be empty."
The girl immediately pulled herself together, rubbed the bump on her forehead, and marched to the edge of the platform to unleash icy hell on the beasts below.
"I'm empty."
"Good. Sit in front of me and bare your back. I need my hand as close to your heart as possible."
"What do you want to do?"
"What do you think this inheritance actually is? Is it in your genes? Your blood, your flesh? Your soul?"
"No. Most likely it's profound energy of a higher order. You want to do the same thing with it that you did with cold energy: absorb it."
"It's not absorption in the literal sense, but yes. First I'll simply try to feel it, then we'll decide what to do."
And I put my hand on the girl's bare skin, making her flush all the way to her ears.
"Now think about how you would never agree to marry that Trash, or about any other violation of its commands."
"Understood."
And—nothing. Nobody expected me to feel the energy of the Ancestral Goddess right off the bat. That would've been stupid. Really stupid.
We sat like that for eight hours.
"You didn't think this could be done in a couple of hours, did you? I need to feel that energy so I can point my technique in the right direction. Don't worry. Patience and hard work..."
"...won't save idiots. I know."
"Excellent. We'll continue tomorrow after the hunt."
And yes, we started hunting again, because one failure wasn't supposed to break us that easily. Quite the opposite—it only made us stronger. My Great Way of the Buddha had advanced a great deal and made it halfway through its current stage. The girl reached the fifth stage of the Frozen Cloud technique. Now she could create not just lotuses, but swords, spears, ribbons, and so on.
Qingyue understood that I was right, but she still grew visibly downcast.
"Come on, little one. You know I won't let you down. And even if this method doesn't work, we'll just find a better one. Or do you doubt me?"
"No. I know we'll succeed, it's just..."
"It's just horrible. I know. Soon you'll be rid of this slave collar. Don't doubt it."
Even I had started doubting the method after more than four months passed with no progress at all, until one day...
I felt it. An energy so heavy that simply being near it was difficult. It was something terrible and profound. Words couldn't convey its mystery and depth.
To explain even one percent of the feeling: it was like the sea. When you look at the sea, you understand just how insignificant a human being is before the elements. Except this was on a much, much larger scale.
It was frightening even to approach it. But... I'd promised the cutie. And let's not forget that the Rage God had once lived by Grandpa Nietzsche's precepts, so if this didn't kill me... But only if it didn't kill me. Doubtful. And scary.
I'd never felt fear like that in my life. But the eyes are afraid and the hands keep working, as one drunken surgeon used to say. So the pagoda began spinning faster, and a drop—not even a drop, an atom of that heavy energy—was pulled toward it, and then...
Have you seen the movie Saw? Or maybe some other horror film with lots of blood and dismemberment? If so, you would've enjoyed the sight, because I was torn apart.
My arms and legs simply exploded, along with my abdomen. My chest deformed, and countless wounds opened across my head. I think my skull cracked.
Why was I alive, and why hadn't I lost consciousness? That was what interested me while I tried by force of will to distance myself from the horrific pain. But honestly, the Phoenix had hurt more. Burn pain is on a completely different level.
This just looked worse.
Qingyue screamed and passed out, which, as far as I was concerned, was probably for the best. I panicked for about half a second, then activated the Great Way of the Buddha so I wouldn't die in the next five minutes.
It was slow. It was painful. It made me want to scratch myself. But it worked. My body recovered very slowly, though definitely not quickly.
All that time Qingyue, my cold beauty who normally behaved with perfect restraint, ran around like a chicken, alternately crying and cursing me. I didn't answer her, because all my attention was focused on the technique and staying alive.
The technique had reached the fourth stage back on the second day, and now it was actively moving toward the fifth. That was pretty powerful. I could already fight Emperor Profound practitioners using only the strength of my body. And the fifth rank was already the Tyrant Profound level, if I'd understood everything correctly.
The price was high, of course. But the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. No question.
My body was being tempered by the energy of the Ancestral Goddess. This wasn't ordinary tempering. Maybe I couldn't feel the benefits yet, but there would definitely be benefits. Very serious ones.
The only problem was that I hadn't even started helping Qingyue yet. So far, I'd merely scratched her Glass Heart a little. Complete removal was still a long way off, but as I said, it was worth it.
I only recovered completely after twenty days. Not the best twenty days of my life. On the plus side, I got very good at ignoring pain and itching like a true cultivator. Isn't that happiness?
Seriously, though, I couldn't even say what was worse: drawn-out pain while your arms and legs grew back millimeter by millimeter and your chest gradually stopped hurting from even the slightest breath because lungs shredded into rags were slowly sticking themselves back together into something functional—or several hours of true agony in the Phoenix's fire with pain switched to "max."
I was almost grateful I had something to do, because the Great Way of the Buddha didn't work by flipping a switch or pressing a button. You had to actively start the technique and work with it, otherwise the damn thing shut off. The real world doesn't work like a game. Unfortunately.
Yes, in critical moments it can activate on its own, but that's simply our soul starting it with its own reserves, and that isn't actually healthy if I understand anything about this world's philosophy.
Qingyue didn't speak to me after the first shock. Because I shouldn't have frightened her like that. That would've been normal enough, but I was a little worried about her mental state. It wasn't only concern for me. It was also the realization that she couldn't escape the leash.
"Little Yue." No reaction.
And I could see she was cultivating the Ice Heart again. Shitty. Though right now, that would actually help me. She'd set herself up.
"You do realize how much I gained from this, right?"
"...?"
A surprised look, then emotionlessness again.
"My body-tempering technique advanced to the next stage. My body got a little tougher, my regeneration improved, and I got a little more accustomed to that energy."
"No."
"What exactly do you mean by 'no'?"
"You won't..."
"Be quiet and listen. You're being irrational. It looked worse than it really was. Burning in the Phoenix's fire was far more dangerous and painful. I'm not lying to you or even wriggling around the truth, am I?"
"No. You're telling the truth, but I don't want... I don't want you taking risks like that for me."
"But I do."
"Why?" There were too many emotions. Her Ice Heart technique couldn't cope. She'd spent too little time on it.
"You're worth it. Come here."
I stepped toward her and hugged her, and the ice around her heart shattered to pieces as the girl began trembling and crying.
"Don't be afraid, little one. Everything will be fine. This time it won't be as frightening."
"But I don't want to see anything like that again."
"Then close your eyes. Besides, what's so horrible about my beautiful inner world?"
"That's a disgusting joke even for you."
"I don't know. I thought it was witty. This time it'll be easier."
After a lot of persuasion, two days later I was once again sitting behind Qingyue and activating the Great Way of the Buddha.
I found the energy I needed quickly and didn't even explode, but that didn't make things much better. My whole body looked like cracked glass. Blood flowed from every pore, and my insides had probably turned into minced meat again, but I kept my pagoda spinning and calmly regenerated.
Qingyue had another fit and cried because it looked even worse this time. But I managed to convince her that the process would become easier and easier each time. A couple of drops from the entire inheritance hadn't affected her in any noticeable way yet.
But the dynamics of our relationship were no longer the same. Before, it had definitely been friendship or something close to it. Now the girl often blushed and stared at me for long stretches while I cultivated.
Now, if I were some grim cultivator defying Heaven, I never would've figured out what was happening. Fortunately, I'm not an idiot, so I was only pleased and continued being a "sweetheart" just like always.
After the fifth session, Qingyue said the pressure had weakened. Now when she thought about marrying Yun Che, her heart didn't press down on her as strongly, and that icy certainty that she absolutely had to do it no longer came.
On the other hand, I finally broke through to the fifth stage of the Great Way of the Buddha, and that was simply incredible. Even Yun Che couldn't boast of progress like this. I'd found a gold mine, and I intended to strip it dry.
Though, to be honest, with my strength alone this might have taken years, if not decades. And only if I worked on it almost every day.
But I wouldn't be myself if I didn't have a plan.
We weren't stuck in the hypocritical lizard's domain for three years for nothing, were we? The lizard itself was going to help me, because its inheritance granted physical toughness. Once I gained the Azure Dragon's durability, I'd be able to grab larger chunks of energy, which would seriously accelerate the destruction of the Glass Heart.
Plus, there was a cyclic principle at work here, with the strengthening climbing upward in a spiral. Yun Che had all of this in canon, but just like with every other treasure, he never used it to the fullest and ran off after a new toy like a spoiled child.
Here's how it works. The Dragon God's bone marrow produces dragon blood. But it does so slowly. The Great Way of the Buddha can speed up that process if the injuries are serious enough. And the more drops of dragon blood I have inside me, the more dragon-like my physiology becomes—stronger and tougher. The tougher I am, the more energy I can steal from the Glass Heart. The more energy I steal, the more damage I take... and around we go.
Downsides? It hurts, and I'm not a masochist at all.
Upsides? One single word: I'll become OP. At least physically. And I won't have to run around all of Primal Chaos looking for treasures to strengthen myself. All the tools are right here. Just calmly endure the pain and become cooler than Chuck Norris. Maybe if I work hard enough and bring my body to the level of a Creator God, I'll even grow chest hair like Chuck. But those are only distant dreams. How could I ever reach such heights?