"Talk?" Lin Yue raised an eyebrow. "Talk about what?"

"Are we really doing this?" Xiao Ruolan's voice was still as emotionless as ever. But the meaning behind her words couldn't have been clearer.

"I..." Lin Yue shook her head, "I don't understand what you mean."

"Really?" Xiao Ruolan snorted in displeasure before taking out a small red ruby-like gem from her robe and placing it in her palm in front of Lin Yue.

"Still don't want to talk?"

"YOU." Lin Yue's expression finally changed from initial confusion to panic and then to anger. She raised her finger, pointing towards Xiao Ruolan in anger as she stammered, "Where... where did you find it?"

"Hmph!" Xiao Ruolan replied with a cold snort before clenching her fist, shattering the red gem into powder. Lin Yue's eyes flashed with pain upon looking at her destroying it without a second thought, but there was nothing she could do.

"Still don't wanna talk?" Xiao Ruolan's voice was much more chilling than before. It was as if she were going to take action in case Lin Yue failed to give her a satisfactory answer.

"Sigh." Since the cat was already out of the bag, there was no use hiding it anymore. Taking a deep breath, Lin Yue closed her eyes and controlled her surging emotions before opening them again.

Her previously panic-stricken eyes were now filled with desperation and rage.

"What is there to talk about it?" Her voice had a tinge of madness in it. "I need to get strong as fast as possible, and for that, I need this thing. I want to personally stab that bitch in the heart."

"That doesn't mean you should resort to using the Blood Gem." Xiao Ruolan almost screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Did you forget what this thing is? Should I remind you why this is a bad idea?" The more she spoke, the angrier she got. For the first time in god knows how many years, there was a genuine anger on Xiao Ruolan's face. She couldn't believe Lin Yue would be this stupid.

"I know." Lin Yue just turned around with her back facing Xiao Ruolan. "I know the risks, but this is the only thing that can help me."

She didn't want to explain herself to anyone. She was willing to risk everything, even her own life, to get her revenge.

"You have lost your goddamn mind." Xiao Ruolan almost flew into a rage. "In case you have forgotten, let me remind you once again that every single Blood Gem is created from the blood of nine human infants. For nine days, they are kept alive and tortured till they can't scream or cry. And then, and only then, their resentment is used with their blood to create this unholy thing."

"This thing is a damn poison. It will increase your strength at a rapid pace, but you will gradually lose your sanity."

"HOW DO YOU THINK DEMONIC CULTIVATORS ARE BORN?"

Xiao Ruolan's every word was like a sword stab to Lin Yue's heart.

"I KNOW." Lin Yue protested weakly. How could she not understand that using the Blood Gem was akin to using poison to quench thirst? If she didn't die after using it, she would definitely lose her mind.

"Then?" Xiao Ruolan raised an eyebrow.

"What choice do I have?" Lin Yue turned around to look at her with a face full of sorrow. "Lin Wan was the only person in this world who cared about me. Since childhood, she had taken care of me and I... What do I do?"

Speaking till here, her voice grew hoarse. "I even fought with her for some stupid reason. I refused to even see her face. And for what?"

With a bitter laugh, she shook her head.

"I am going to get revenge. I am going to tear that bitch into millions of pieces. Even if it costs me my life."

"...." Xiao Ruolan didn't speak for a long time. She just stood there and looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar Lin Yue. She had known this woman since childhood, and the only time she saw her this serious was when the two of them had a fight and she swore to never speak to her again.

And for twenty years, she honoured that promise. If not for the fact that Lin Wan was kidnapped by the people from the Duality Sect and her family wasn't helping her, she wouldn't have come to her for help.

Twenty years ago, she was just a child and even then, she kept her word. Xiao Ruolan couldn't imagine what she was going to do now that she was an adult.

"There are other ways, you know." In the end, she could only speak in a soft tone. She still didn't want her to use the Blood Gem to cultivate.

"I know." Lin Yue just replied with a bitter smile.

"Then..." Xiao Ruolan's eyes lit up, but the next moment, Xiao Ruolan shook her head in response.

"It will take too long." Her words were simple but brutal. "Besides, do you think the two of us could step into the Heaven Realm in our lives?"

Xiao Ruolan didn't have an answer to her question. But deep down, she too was well aware of their own situation.

The two of them were mere Young Ladies of the most prominent families of Yuyang city.

Their identity might seem impressive at first glance, but if one thought about it, they weren't anything special. They managed to reach their current heights only because of the countless resources their families poured into them. Yes, they had immense talent, but cultivation beyond the realm of Vein expansion doesn't merely rely on resources and talent, but on comprehension and luck too.

Even if they were to try their best and, with the help of their family resources, they would at most be able to step into the fifth vein expansion realm, just like their family's leaders and ancestors.

Even reaching Core condensation was a pipe dream, much less Soul Tempering. As for Heaven Realm... Other than Yun Ning, no one had been able to step into this realm in the history of the Azure Dragon Continent.

"We can not." Her reply was short but direct. She didn't think that the two of them would ever be able to step into the Soul Tempering Realm, much less the Heaven Realm.

"Then, do you have any other way to fight that bitch?" Lin Yue asked again.

"Even with the Blood Gem, it would be impossible to go against any elder of the Duality Sect, much less Grand Elders and that bitch." Xiao Ruolan didn't sugarcoat the words but chose to speak the truth.

"Heh! Do you think our families would give us the resources after the trouble we have caused?" Thinking about her mother, Lin Meilin, Lin Yue couldn't help but shake her head. "They will directly cut ties with us if they haven't already. And without the resources, how are we going to progress further? How will we get our revenge?"

"....." Xiao Ruolan just kept quiet. It wasn't until a few minutes had passed that she spoke with some hesitation.

"Then why not join the Heavenly Sword Sect?" Since their family was going to disown them and they would have to become loose cultivators to get resources, wouldn't it be better to join the Heavenly Sword Sect?

No one knows when this rule was made, but no member of the Major family can join the sects. Even if they wanted to, the sects won't accept them. According to the Sect leaders and grand elders, it was due to their loyalties.

A person coming from an ordinary family or even an orphan would only think about their sect first, unlike those from the Major families and Royal families, who would always put the interest of their families first.

It had happened countless times in the past when someone from the major family would use their position to suppress others and give unfair advantage to their own family members.

Over the years, this has led to the Sects directly rejecting the family members of the major families, even if they are extremely talented.

"We should talk to the elders and try to join the Heavenly Sword Sect." Xiao Ruolan spoke once again, hoping for Lin Yue to agree, but to her surprise, Lin Yue just let out a hollow laugh.

"Haah. Do you think I haven't tried it?" With a helpless sigh, she sat on the bed beside her before muttering further. "Where do you think I have been for the past few days?"

"They just won't accept us."

This time, Xiao Ruolan didn't speak but just stood there in silence. After escaping from the Duality Sect, she too realises their helplessness. It made her aware of just how insignificant they were. In front of Core Condensation and above the experts, they were like ants.

So, from the day she was rescued by the Heavenly Sword Sect, she had been thinking about ways to join the sect. But who would have thought that the sect wouldn't accept her?

For a moment, the two of them didn't know what to do. So, they just sat there in silence, unable to come up with an idea.

-------------

Yang Ze, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to the conversation that was happening in the next room.

At the moment, he was sitting with his eyes closed as a new object began to form in his sea of consciousness.

Even though the first mortal object he chose to visualise wasn't helpful to him in a traditional sense, it held quite a sentimental value. For his second mortal object, he was going to condense something that could actually help him out. The incident in the Duality Sect had left a deep impression on him, too.

He first thought about visualising a weapon for himself, but then realised that he didn't know how to use one. Even if he were to visualise a sword or knife, he could only use them to stab or cut awkwardly. Without any techniques, they would be useless. Besides, he didn't want a weapon that was purely meant for killing.

"I do have the Black Tiger Technique." Even if it was in the First grade, where his fists would turn black every time he used the technique, it was nevertheless a true martial skill. And to accompany that set of techniques, there was only one thing that was suitable for visualising.

"A set of gloves." As he muttered those words softly, the outline of thin gloves in front of him finally materialised. They didn't look any different from warm cloth gloves that people wear in winter, except for the material.

When he first read the Mystic Nether Art, it was clearly written that to visualise, one needed to gradually understand an object's shape and size as well as its properties. If one needed to visualise a stone, they would pick it up, remember it by heart, study everything about it, and gradually put their understanding into the visualised stone.

But for Yang Ze, this wasn't the case. Under the effect of the Enlightenment, he only needed to think about the objects, the materials, and the rest of the visualisation process would be completed automatically. He didn't need to know every single detail about the thing he was trying to visualise, just a simple rough guess was more than enough.

Once the enlightenment was over, Yang Ze opened his eyes back in the real world.

"My mental energy has increased again."

Without any hesitation, he raised his hand to manifest a pair of simple-looking, ordinary gloves.

Holding them, he let out a gentle smile.

Even though these gloves might look simple, they were made out of the strongest fabric on Earth. Something that he used while working on construction jobs. Something that has saved his hands countless times from being crushed or cut.

"Dyneema Gloves."

Without wasting another moment, he put on the grey gloves before moving his hands around. Contrary to the gloves from Earth, these were relatively light and felt more like another layer of skin.

He just stood in his position while using his Black Tiger Technique.

"Haah."

Throwing a punch, he didn't feel any obstructions. On the contrary, he felt like the strength behind his punch had increased a lot.

"Now then." After practising for a few more minutes, he sat down, thinking about his next course of action. He was already at the peak of Foundation Forging, and to step into the Vein Expansion realm, he needed to use his Enlightenment talent.

He didn't know how long it was going to take, and with the Mystic Nether Art, it was tough to reach a conclusion. Both Internal energy as well as mental energy were important to him. He just couldn't figure out which one he should prioritise.

In a daze, he didn't even realise when he drifted into sleep.

By the time he opened his eyes again, the outside was already dark.

"Eh? Is it evening?" Looking at the horizon, he stretched his body with a yawn. As a Foundation forging peak expert, he didn't need to sleep, but the draining of mental power was too taxing. First, he used his mental power on the newly gained golden talent and then to visualise and manifest the set of gloves.

And just when he was lost in his train of thought, a heated discussion outside his house caught his attention.

"What the?" Rushing out of his room, he put his ear to the wall in the backyard, hoping to listen to them.

Even though he couldn't hear everything clearly, there was one sentence that he clearly heard.

"The Saintess of the Duality Sect, Cang Yue, will join the Heavenly Sword Sect as a Grand Elder."

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