Chapter 276: They Surpass Countless Joys In The Mortal World

Chapter 276: Better Than Countless Mortal Joys

In the darkness, Yue Hongling leaned languidly and softly against Zhao Changhe’s broad shoulder, comfortably tracing circles.

The female knight loved and hated boldly; once she had set her heart on him, she gave herself to him without the coyness or reserve of a timid bride. Yet some of her past experiences in the jianghu—such as those with the Maitreya Sect—had always made her think such matters were painful for women, endured solely to please the man they loved. But unexpectedly, aside from the initial pain, there was no more discomfort afterward, and in the end, she only wanted to reward him with a kiss.

Instead, watching his exertions, she felt he derived no pleasure from it at all—it was simply hard work…

Though in the end, she too had surrendered, shamefully begging for mercy…

But begging for mercy aside, when it was over, she leaned lazily against his shoulder, while he, exhausted, gasped for breath, a sight that made her want to laugh.

“Are you very tired?” she finally asked, amused.

“Uh… not tired, exactly, but my wound hurts a bit. I’ve been at it too long… The injury is under my ribs; moving my abdominal muscles really stings…”

“So why are you men so impatient for this sort of thing?” Yue Hongling gently touched his wound, utterly baffled. “Hurt and exhausted, yet you still insisted on it. Even when I begged you to stop, you wouldn’t let go. What exactly are you after…”

“Uh…” It was a philosophical question, hard to answer.

“Speaking of which, your wound isn’t bleeding anymore.” Yue Hongling looked at her fingertips that had brushed his wound; there was no blood. “The energy here seeps in on its own—does it heal this well?”

Zhao Changhe suddenly wondered: would her broken hymen heal too? Would it be like the first time every time?

But in terms of natural effects alone, it certainly wasn’t this miraculous. Just now, he had unconsciously used the dual cultivation technique again, drawing on the surrounding energy to combine.

This was not only the first time in his life he had done such a thing, but also the first time he had engaged in true dual cultivation—and with primordial yin and yang at that.

Whether dual cultivation involved primordial yin and yang seemed to be a completely different matter from ordinary dual cultivation. The effect was astonishingly good: not only did the external wound heal, but the internal injuries ravaged by the blade energy had also mostly recovered.

That wasn’t all. His once withered and dried-up true qi was now flourishing again, restored to half its peak strength, completely shedding his previous weakness. In this state, even if the army came looking for him, Zhao Changhe would dare to grab the Dragon Sparrow and charge in and out seven times.

Bathing in the energy of this heavenly treasure while dual cultivating—no amount of medicine could match the effect of this single night of bliss.

If not for the severity of his previous injuries, which had consumed most of the dual cultivation energy for healing, under normal cultivation conditions, this could have greatly boosted his strength. As it was, his strength hadn’t changed much—a pity.

It seemed he shouldn’t rush to leave; better to stay inside and train a bit more. And he should teach Yue Hongling the true dual cultivation technique, so they could both improve.

Yue Hongling had no idea what he was thinking. Seeing him lost in thought, she asked, “What are you thinking about?”

Zhao Changhe made up a story: “I was thinking, just now, did I count as stabbing you and making you beg for mercy? Would the Chaos Chronicle count it as me defeating a Human Roll master across levels and publish a new chapter? What would we do then?”

Yue Hongling’s eyes widened.

Zhao Changhe looked up at the sky.

“The Chaos Chronicle counts battles. If even this counts as a battle, the one who writes that wretched book must be utterly perverse!” Yue Hongling said irritably. “Besides, this is at most a spar!”

Zhao Changhe laughed out loud: “You’re actually analyzing it seriously.”

“Hmph…” Yue Hongling sat up straight, lazily smoothing her hair. “People say that once a man gets what he wants, he changes completely. And sure enough, I see you’ve changed now—getting worse and worse. Before, you were so respectful, but now…”

Zhao Changhe stared fixedly at her as she smoothed her hair, her curves trembling gently, a sight too beautiful to take in.

He proved her assessment with his actions—indeed, he was getting worse and worse.

Yue Hongling ignored him, pulled on her clothes, and finally looked at the treasure.

The treasure was right in front of them, yet they had barely glanced at it. Pouring out their emotions was infinitely more important than any treasure. Their thoughts had never been on such things, and there was certainly none of the squabbling over treasure that other groups might have.

If she wanted to take the treasure for herself, Zhao Changhe would surely wave his hand and say, “Take it if you want; use it if it’s useful.”

Zhao Changhe also dressed, and said with a smile, “You mentioned the healing effect of this energy earlier—I’ve experienced it before. It repaired some hidden injuries and lingering issues from long-term combat, and slightly expanded my meridians.”

Yue Hongling asked in surprise, “What is this thing? It has such miraculous healing power.”

Zhao Changhe said, “I don’t know what it is, but I know its essence isn’t for healing—it’s for transformation. The final evolutionary result is a physique called the ‘Innate Dao Body.’”

He paused, then added curiously, “Do you have this kind of physique in your cultivation? I feel your physical body is quite ordinary—just a little bit and you were already moaning…”

Yue Hongling glared at him fiercely. Zhao Changhe coughed and looked away.

Yue Hongling said angrily, “Never had it! Our small sect has no such thing! I’ve heard of it while wandering the jianghu, but I never knew how to train it!”

Zhao Changhe leaned lazily against the side: “What a coincidence. The Innate Dao Body doesn’t seem like my type. Using the jelly it gives off to slightly improve the body is enough. The core itself seems more suited to you—it’s yours.”

Sure enough, he didn’t care about the treasure at all. Even though it could benefit his meridians, he was still considering who it suited better. Yue Hongling’s lips curved slightly. At that moment, she couldn’t help thinking that there might never be another man so perfectly matched in temperament.

She didn’t stand on ceremony either. She walked over to the floating, glowing gem and examined it closely.

It emanated an extremely profound and vast aura, clearly a top-tier heavenly treasure. She wondered why someone had come before but hadn’t taken it.

Upon closer inspection, she noticed the stone had a small chip—it wasn’t complete.

Zhao Changhe stroked his chin and analyzed, “Perhaps… someone from the previous era came here when the treasure was still maturing, so they didn’t take it. When the era collapsed, this space shifted north, leaving only a few fragments that broke off and ended up in the East Sea, creating the thinner sea mud, while the main body remained here.”

Yue Hongling sighed softly: “The one who left the treasure died with the collapse of the era, but the treasure itself took shape over the long years.”

This was a reasonable inference.

And both of them had a sense of who the owner of this treasure might be: the Black Tortoise of the previous era.

It could only be him.

Zhao Changhe also felt a strange emotion… The one Chi Chi had was left by the Azure Dragon, and this one for Hongling was from the Black Tortoise.

Both were found with his help.

His connection with the Four Symbols Sect was truly odd. Could the Night Emperor really have something to do with him?

Yue Hongling hesitated. If it belonged to the Black Tortoise, then it should be property of the Four Symbols Sect. Would it be somewhat… improper to take it?

But heavenly treasures were first come, first served. Who said it was reserved for the Black Tortoise?

Her cultivation had indeed reached a bottleneck. The ninth level of the Profound Gate was the limit of conventional martial arts. Especially in terms of physical strength and true qi quality, even someone like Hu Lie, who had already opened the secret treasury, wasn’t much stronger than her—this was the peak. It was said that the so-called secret treasury mainly involved more esoteric aspects like spirit and communication with heaven and earth. To advance further in strength, one needed to acquire such special physiques.

So she really needed this thing… The Innate Dao Body sounded good, but she didn’t know if it would suit her. And wasn’t Zhao Changhe’s meridian problem more urgent?

After hesitating for a moment, Yue Hongling reached out and touched the gem.

An extremely vast yet gentle and steady energy slowly seeped into her body.

Just as Zhao Changhe had said, this thing was transforming the physique toward a perfect state as defined by the gem. It focused more on the physical body, belonging to the external cultivation system. It didn’t do much to improve Zhao Changhe’s meridians, only slightly improving them due to the change in physique.

It couldn’t solve the meridian problem… but it could improve it a little more.

Yue Hongling had no time to ponder further. She quickly turned her head and called out, “You come too. It’s useful for your meridians.”

As she turned, she saw Zhao Changhe crouching in a corner, digging at the jelly with a grunt.

Yue Hongling was dumbfounded: “What are you doing?”

“Digging out a piece. I’ll lie down in it and cover myself… This is enough for my meridian transformation. The whole core isn’t suitable for me, so I won’t touch it, to avoid any conflict.”

Yue Hongling: “…”

Zhao Changhe continued digging with a grunt: “And I have a feeling that since this place is filled with this jelly, and it was hollow before, there might be something else inside—like the Black Tortoise’s legacy, cultivation techniques, or his personal sword. If we dig out all this jelly, we might find something!”