C155 Woman's Heart

"Soul Transformation Pool."

Yu Yuan followed the direction indicated by the White Ghost at the bronze monument, making his way toward the heart of the Heaven Sealing Soul Transformation Formation.

Despite the rampant spiritual energy, he remained unscathed.

The soul of the sword's intent and its power within his arm bone had vanished, leaving behind only a pure mark.

His connection to the Forbidden Area was erased completely, casting Yu Yuan back to the realm of mortals, stripping him of the means to counter forces like Qin Yun and Lee Yuchan through the Forbidden Area.

Abruptly, Yu Yuan halted.

The approaching figure behind him triggered an instinctual sense of danger. With little contemplation, he grasped the situation.

He chuckled before turning around.

Lim Zhuyun stood there, her attire immaculate, her demeanor cool. Her complexion was porcelain, her features striking. With every gesture, she seemed to reclaim her past grace.

Her eyes were cool and detached, seemingly void of any pronounced emotion.

"You've changed a great deal."

Yu Yuan squinted, initiating the conversation, "You weren't supposed to become this. When you first joined the Yu family, you were a great help. How did it come to this?"

The Lim Zhuyun before him felt increasingly alien, as though she had transformed into someone else entirely.

"Do you know? When the White Ghost held me, my life in her grasp, using you to shame me without restraint, I truly desired death." Lim Zhuyun paused, her gaze on him intense, a bitter smile on her lips, "Do you know? Standing before you now, I feel an overwhelming sense of inferiority."

Yu Yuan kept his silence.

"If I could start over, if I could return to the time I arrived at the Yu family, if I knew you would awaken..."

Lim Zhuyun bowed her head, letting out a soft sigh, unable to meet Yu Yuan's gaze, "Perhaps I would have made different choices. I shouldn't have involved myself with you. Yu Yuan, I must confess, I am indeed quite cowardly."

"You seem quite bold now," Yu Yuan said with a smile.

"I've simply grown accustomed to going with the flow," Lim Zhuyun replied, a note of resignation in her voice. For the first time, she opened up to him, "Yinn Jue doesn't act on my command. Had I known everything, I wouldn't have stopped him from striking a second time in the courtyard. The Cold Yin Sect stands behind me; they wish for your death."

"It doesn't matter if it's for my family or the sect, I have no choice but to depend on the Cold Yin Sect from now on."

"If the Cold Yin Sect decides to send Yinn Jue after me, what can I do? Without their support, the title of New Moon of the Empire will forever be out of my reach."

"You might not believe it, but I never wanted you dead to begin with. I just... never imagined you'd shine so brightly."

"The brighter you shine, the more it shames me and the family. I've come to realize that ever since you awoke, I've been living in your shadow."

"You've become the source of my pressure, suffocating me."

"And so..."

She lifted her head, her eyes meeting Yu Yuan's with a look of unwavering resolve.

"Chi! Chi!"

Icicles, one after another, burst forth from her slender fingertips, crystallizing in the air into sharp, cold spikes, their Yin energy refined to an extreme.

Yu Yuan smiled and said, "You're mistaken about something."

"What?" Lim Zhuyun asked, taken aback.

"From the moment I awoke, you, Lim Zhuyun, lost any chance of killing me." Yu Yuan shook his head gently. "Beings like the Sky Shocking Emperor, the Green Incubus, and the Earth Demon's White Ghost could perhaps outwit me, suppress me with their formidable realms. I'm only at the Spirit Accumulating Stage, lacking their ancient longevity. Losing to them is something I can accept."

"But if I were to be outsmarted or outmaneuvered by you, that I could not accept."

Yu Yuan remained composed as he addressed Lim Zhuyun, who harbored murderous intent, "But rest assured, I won't kill you. I'll let you live a good life."

"Such arrogance," Lim Zhuyun scoffed. "Do you really think you can defeat me with your mere Spirit Accumulating Stage cultivation?"

"Let's find out."

Yu Yuan suddenly invoked the Evil Body Refining Skill, seizing the wild Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth.

In a flash, the Spiritual Qi surged towards him, creating a massive, spinning vortex centered around him.

The outer edges of the vortex swirled with impurities, mixed with the 'Sha Qi'—the malevolent energy of resentment, destruction, despair, and slaughter.

The spiritual energy within was of the utmost purity, coursing through his pores and suffusing his flesh and blood.

Yu Yuan's body, at the vortex's heart, would intermittently swell and contract.

His skin and flesh, seemingly engorged with rich spiritual energy, were rapidly absorbed and refined.

Yu Yuan felt a profound sense of relaxation throughout his body, brimming with inexhaustible strength. His keenly attuned Heavenly Soul also detected the sinister aura on the whirlpool's periphery.

With a thought from the Heavenly Soul, action followed!

"Whoosh!"

A multitude of gray, dark brown, and green specks, swirling with ruthless, murderous, and resentful thoughts, surged toward Lim Zhuyun.

With a snort, Lim Zhuyun's left hand shimmered with icy power, forging an ice spear into a blade.

She struck with her sword!

A radiant, multicolored white light cleaved through the eerie mist.

"Chi! Chi! Chi!"

The spiritual energy's impurities and toxins were scattered by the blade's brilliance.

Yet, the malevolent aura within resisted division, detonating abruptly before Lim Zhuyun.

Eerie tendrils of smoke, persistent as shadows, spread toward her regardless of her evasion.

Lim Zhuyun perceived the subtle mist, laden with violence, hatred, and murderous thoughts, as a force that could warp her mind and taint her soul, threatening to make her succumb to this forbidden realm and transform into what is known as an Alien Soul Evil Spirit.

"Having ascended to the Profound Break Stage, your confidence is palpable, truly the empire's pride," Yu Yuan remarked cheerfully. "With the middle dantian newly awakened, the eight extraordinary meridians nourish Qi and blood. The fusion of Qi, blood, and spiritual energy dramatically amplifies your lethality, shattering the bounds of lifespan, enabling you to endure greater energy purification and adapt to the Heavenly Source Continent's milieu."

"However, you've yet to undergo a true cleansing at the Profound Break Stage, so your enhancements remain somewhat constrained."

"Thus, the notion that you could decisively overpower me with your Profound Break Stage prowess seems a bit presumptuous."

While speaking, Yu Yuan's consciousness stirred, and he abruptly cast his gaze behind Lim Zhuyun.

In the star-studded night, a shadow akin to a night owl swooped closer.

This shadow was linked to four curious artifacts, resonating with his thoughts.

Yu Yuan's smile broadened, his composure deepening as he observed, "Your luck is truly unfortunate."

Qin Yun of the Seven Divine Sect had arrived, wielding his four Azure Yang Arrows, each imprinted with a strand of his consciousness, capable of causing instant detonation.

Stripped of his sword soul and with the Heaven Sealing Soul Transformation Formation rendered ineffective, Qin Yun was compelled to comply obediently.

Despite his weakened state, Qin Yun remained a formidable practitioner at the Peak of Yin God Stage, the master of his own sect.

His presence alone could assert control, not just over Lim Zhuyun, but potentially over the entire forbidden area that had succumbed to the failure of the Heaven Sealing Soul Transformation Formation.

He harbored a suspicion that when the bronze coffin ascended, it had claimed the mightiest entities of the forbidden area—the Sky Shocking Emperor, Green Incubus, and White Ghost—leaving behind only those of lesser power.

The Fallen Moon Forbidden Area seemed secure now, unlikely to undergo any further earth-shattering upheavals.

If he played his cards right with Qin Yun, he could make a clean break from the forbidden area. There was even a chance he could bolster Qin Yun's strength with the modest power of an Alien Soul Evil Spirit, enough to advance her to the Soul Wandering Stage before her return to the Rainier Empire.

"I need to strategize with him properly."

The minor menace posed by Lim Zhuyun was nothing more than a fleeting thought, a trivial matter that he swiftly dismissed from his mind.

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