Chapter 1289: Dao Wound

Meanwhile, Zu An and Yan Xuehen both appeared a thousand miles away. Unfortunately, however, they were still surrounded by a snowy expanse. They hadn’t broken free from the Great Snowy Mountain.

For an earth immortal, or even for a grandmaster, a few dozen or even a hundred li wouldn’t be a great distance at all. The short chase that had just occurred had already covered nearly a thousand li. That was why Zu An had needed to move a thousand li away.

For earth immortals, a thousand li was nothing. If the woman knew which direction to chase in, there was no way the two of them could have escaped from her. Zu An had only been able to gamble on the fact that the woman didn’t know where he was. With such a large area to search, she likely wouldn’t be able to find them for quite some time.

It was clear that Zu An’s bet had paid off. The white-clad woman seemed to be apprehensive towards something, or perhaps was merely unwilling to leave her own territory, as she hadn’t chased after them.

However, the price Zu An had paid was equally great. He could handle moving a dozen li away with Keyboard Come, but just then, he had used it to instantly travel a thousand li. He had absolutely been gambling with his life!

He did know that, though. Even though he had already condensed a soul, which offset many of the negative effects of Keyboard Come, leaping a thousand li definitely wasn’t something his soul could handle. That was why, at that instant, he had first used the Star Shattering Imprint to raise his strength tenfold.

He and Yun Jianyue had discussed the details of the Star Shattering Imprint extensively during the trip. A beginner could naturally only increase their offensive power tenfold; however, someone who had mastered the skill could raise not only their attack power, but also their overall strength tenfold for a moment. However, Yun Jianyue had strictly warned him that the burden on his body would be great too, and that not even she could use such a skill at will. Afterward, the user’s body would be left in extremely poor condition even if they didn’t die. That was why it wasn’t supposed to be used outside of a truly desperate situation.

Still, Zu An was different from ordinary people. His body had been refined by the Primordial Origin Sutra several times. In some ways, his body was already even tougher than that of a giant dragon. He had been severely injured after using the skill, but the damage was still barely within acceptable limits.

Comparatively speaking, his soul was much more brittle, and using Keyboard Come placed the greatest burden on it. When he was weaker, he hadn’t had a condensed soul to offset the rebound, so the effects had been applied directly to his body. Now that he had done so, the skill had to go through his soul first. However, if his soul broke down, his body would also be reduced to nothingness.

Those were the conclusions he had reached after talking to Mi Li about the subject in the past. Calling her his master hadn’t been in vain at all.

With that knowledge, he had decided to pay the price with his body instead, using the Star Shattering Imprint to forcibly raise his soul’s strength tenfold. Then, he could use his soul to face the rebound of Keyboard Come. Of course, he had also known that even if his soul was strengthened tenfold, it probably wouldn’t be able to withstand the rebound of traveling a thousand li regardless. As such, he had used all of his trump cards.

During the crown prince’s test in the academy’s secret dungeon, the Last Breath Talisman that Xie Daoyun had given him had enabled him to survive against the emperor’s soul fragment. When he left the capital, Xie Daoyun had been worried about his safety in Cloudcenter Commandery, so she had given him another Last Breath Talisman. It was something she had requested from her master, so it was likely even more effective than the previous one. Surprisingly, however, Zu An hadn’t needed to use it yet even though he had encountered all sorts of dangers, due to the rapid pace at which his strength grew.

The Last Breath Talisman was normally used to defend against an enemy attack, so Zu An hadn’t known it would be useful for Keyboard Come’s rebound; at this point, however, he was already committed to trying everything he could. He also tossed all of the remaining Soul Return Pills he had gotten from Divine Physician Ji into his mouth, as well as the Lesser Return Pill Murong Qinghe had given him, Sang Qian’s Millennium Blood Moon Essence, and all sorts of other medicines into his mouth. He knew that once the rebound hit, he definitely wouldn’t have time to eat them.

After completing that process, he could only submit to the will of heaven.

Even though she was injured, Yan Xuehen was a grandmaster, and she was also the sect master of the White Jade Sect. She had quite a few hidden trump cards of her own. After breaking free from the terrifying snow lady’s range of influence, her mind had gradually recovered. All sorts of treasures shone across her body, and the ice and snow covering her began to melt. Only then did she find out that her clothes weren’t in order at all. It seemed she had begun taking them off when she wasn’t in her right mind due to the extreme cold.

However, she couldn’t be bothered to deal with that. Instead, she looked at Zu An with worry, saying, “Ah Zu, you…”

She had seen Zu An use Keyboard Come when they were in Cloudcenter Commandery’s mines, and she also knew that the skill had a powerful backlash. The previous time, he had used it to move a mere dozen li away. And yet, this time, they had traveled a thousand li in an instant? She didn’t even dare to think of the consequences.

Zu An gave her a smile. Before he could even say anything, however, he screamed miserably. He clutched his head and howled in pain. The surface of his skin even began to crack apart, trails of blood seeping out. The sight of it was extremely terrifying.

At that instant, the Last Breath Talisman in his hands instantly shattered. Apart from that, the peacock feather he had gotten from Kong Nanwu also burned up into ashes. He hadn’t known that the feather actually had such a use, but he didn’t have the time to think about it. At that moment, he only felt as if his entire head might explode.

“Ah Zu!” Yan Xuehen exclaimed.

She didn’t even have time to sort out her messy clothes and rushed over to check Zu An’s condition. As soon as she touched his body, her mood immediately sank. The energies within Zu An’s body were beyond a mess; she had never seen such serious injuries before in her entire life. If it had been anyone else, such injuries would already have ended their life.

Even so, Zu An’s condition wasn’t much better. His skin continuously cracked apart, leaking blood. Perhaps due to his Primordial Origin Sutra, the wounds gradually healed, but they kept bursting open once more just as quickly as they recovered. Eventually, his recovery speed started being unable to keep up with the rate of collapse.

Yan Xuehen knew that the cracks weren’t normal external or internal injuries, but rather a dao wound. They represented a breakdown of laws and natural order. If they remained untreated, Zu An’s body would completely break apart and scatter. Thus, she immediately took out some pills. Her greatest medicines, the Ice Heart Pills, had already been used up; however, White Jade Sect was still immensely powerful. She had many other excellent medicines that would make countless smaller sects go crazy.

Unfortunately, for Zu An’s injuries, those kinds of medicines were insufficient.

Yan Xuehen once thought that she had already fully achieved the unshakable daoist state. And yet, as she saw Zu An clutch his head while screaming in pain, as well as the way his body was continuously breaking down, she felt as if her heart were being twisted.

She was a grandmaster, someone who flaunted her status as someone widely-read and knowledgeable. In this situation, however, she discovered that she actually couldn't help him at all. In despair, tears began to pour down her cheeks, sparkling brightly as they splashed on Zu An’s face.

Suddenly, she thought of something when she saw her own tears falling. She took out a jade bottle, the Prime Souldew they had obtained from the tomb. It could seal someone in stasis for thousands of years, preventing their body from perishing while keeping them in a dormant state. Just that trace of Prime Souldew clearly wasn’t enough to seal up Zu An’s entire body, but it could help him stabilize his fracturing soul and body.

Thus, Yan Xuehen raised his head and fed him the Prime Souldew. It was something Zu An had given her and Yun Jianyue, and had been temporarily left in her care. Still, she believed that Yun Jianyue would be willing to use it to save Zu An.

By that point, Zu An had already lost consciousness from the pain. He could only struggle instinctively, and definitely couldn't drink the Prime Souldew on his own. However, there hadn’t been much to begin with, and the thought of wasting even a single drop was unbearable. Yan Xuehen didn’t know just how much of the Prime Souldew was needed to stop Zu An’s body from breaking down, so she obviously didn’t dare to waste any at all.

She bit her lip, but after a moment of hesitation, she poured the Prime Souldew into her own mouth, then lowered her head to kiss Zu An’s lips. Then, she gently parted his teeth with her tongue to push the medicine in.

Perhaps the Prime Souldew really was effective, as it seemed to ease Zu An’s pain a bit. His body instinctively sucked in the life-saving liquid.

Yan Xuehen had been entirely focused on saving him at first and hadn’t had any other thoughts, but just then, her cheeks became bright red.

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