171. Medical Genius
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"How are you still alive?!" Zhurong Fen demanded, forcing herself upright as she resisted the crushing pressure, her expression full of fury and confusion.
"How are you an immortal again...??!!"
With an angry sweep of her hand, her snowflakes manifested again and zoomed at Luoyin, but he lazily waved a hand and the snowflakes simply melted away.
"Oh? After the Yue City incident, did you think I would simply sit back and await my fate...?"
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After the Yue City incident, Luoyin had swallowed the hard fact that his being mortal night not be able to protect Weiyan and his friends.
So he had thrown himself into studies, searching for the fastest way to regain his Immortality.
It began with 'Luoyin's' body itself.
'Zhang Luoyin' was the result of a faux body created with 'Bailong's' immortal aura, and passed down through generations....
And he had already been fortifying this body, so he would simply use the same Faux Body technique to refine it into the perfect vessel!
Next came the Starlight Furnace.
It was a high-level relic which elevated one's chances of successful refinement, and with his experiences, mortal or immortal, it wouldn't be too difficult moving his essence into the Furnace when the time was right.
Then came the blood and qi of 'Bailong's' family member... Yin Xing had only been too willing to offer it up, eager to contribute to his brother's 'research'!
Then came the qi and essence of a fellow dragon, which Old man Bao had also readily given.
"Hmmm... This old man can guess what it is you're trying to do..." Old man Bao calmly stated. "Be careful. 'Haste makes waste'... You must ensure your steps land with caution..."
After that Kai Zhen opened his secret treasury, which left Luoyin's and Yin Xing's mouths hanging wide open!
There were vast and endless fields in a supremely beautiful space, and these fields were piled high with unending treasure for as far as the eyes could see!
'Wah!! He's indeed the Deity of Wealth!!!' They both privately concluded.
There was even a massive Golden Gingko tree which flourished through all seasons! Its gold leaves were so sharp that they could split the wind around them with the slightest breeze, and each leaf could be infused with one's aura.
Luoyin's eyes rounded. 'What an endless source of hidden blades!'
"Xiaobai, just take whatever you want!" Kai Zhen had said with an uncharacteristic pompous air. "I can't give you blood and qi, but I won't be outshone by that *Disciple Thief!"
(*Old man Bao!)
Luoyin had gathered almost everything he needed, including some of Kai Zhen's cultivation treasures...
...though both Kai Zhen and Yin Xing had had to pull him away from the Gingko tree!!
"Xiaobai! That tree was my father's treasure! I can't use it to it's full potential, but leave it alone!!"
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A little later, all hell broke loose when Kai Zhen and Yin Xing discovered what Luoyin had been researching...!
"A Forced Ascent?!" Kai Zhen's eyebrows nearly entered his hairline. "And only a fifty percent chance of success?!"
"Elder brother, you said yourself that the technique is extremely dangerous and your soul might cease to exist if you fail!" An irate Yin Xing protested. The memories of loosing this brother of his were still too fresh! "Hmph! If I had known, I wouldn't have given you my blood and qi!"
"Xiaobai, your cultivation is steadily growing and you've come a long way with Xu Weiyan. You heard the old man... 'Haste makes waste'. Why must you risk your happiness like this?" Kai Zhen asked with some worry.
"Exactly! What if you indeed cease to exist?!" Yin Xing jumped in again. "What will happen to Sister-in-law (Weiyan!)?! And let's say you succeed, what if something prevents Sister-in-law from ascending as an immortal... Wouldn't you outlive her and watch her die...?!"
He turned to Old man Bao. "Old man! Won't you say something?! Dissuade him!!"
"Ummmm..." Was all Old man Bao had said, before resuming drinking his tea.
But he hadn't needed to say anything.
Yin Xing indeed knew his brother well, and mentioning Weiyan, was more than enough to draw a wide-eyed Luoyin to a complete halt!
Back then, they hadn't known what was at stake, so it had been easy for Luoyin to dismiss the thought and settle for his usual cultivation, and he thought,
'Even if we never ascend, I will live out this lifetime with Yanyan!'
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But now...?
With the Demon King in the picture, the stakes were much too high!
And this was why Old man Bao had reminded him, "...if you are to face it, then it's time to take 'that' step, or you might lose those you're trying to protect...."
A reminder that though Luoyin longed to remain Mortal, the entire world now hung in the balance.
If not for Old man Bao's timely appearance at the arena, Zhurong Fen might have easily killed him and Weiyan- the biggest reason he longed to remain a Mortal!
And then their deaths would only bring endless catastrophe...
"Hmph, since you believe I'm somehow responsible for the Demon Seal's failure, then I could no longer remain a mortal you could easily kill, right?" Luoyin presently told Zhurong Fen.
She glared, but he grinned.
"Ah, but I must also thank you!" He continued as he glided down to the frosty floor. "Before today there was only a fifty percent chance of success- immensely risky and slated for more than a month of cultivation...
"But after finding my pearl and confirming your identity, my chances rose to the skies!"
To speed up the process, Luoyin needed his dragon pearl and a ridiculously large amount of qi.
This was where Weiyan and the rest came in.
His dragon pearl was within Weiyan but the two had exchanged qi so many time before now, making her the perfect channel.
Luoyin fed a considerable part of his essence into the pearl, using the Starlight furnace as an in-between vessel. Then both of them swallowed two of his qi enhancing pills.
After that, Weiyan stabilized the Pearl, transferring large amounts of qi to it, and Luoyin could then draw qi from the pearl through the Starlight furnace.
Meanwhile, the Swallows who possessed the same flame-based core as Weiyan would share a small but steady stream of their own qi to her.
This was channeled through Yan Lutian who was her blood cousin, and he was tasked with stabilizing her own qi flow, using the inflow of qi from the other Swallows to offset whatever she spent on the Pearl!
And then Yinying locked them all safely within his golden bell, ensuring the littlest bit of their aura couldn't be sensed.
But perhaps the most outrageous step...
The biggest insult to Zhurong Fen...
She had unknowingly contributed something Luoyin needed!
The final step had been to absorb qi from an Immortal core similar to his original core, so right from the start Luoyin had sat meditating within the Starlight Furnace, while he sent a clone to the clearing with the aim of provoking Zhurong Fen.
This wasn't a regular water clone, but practically a mirror of himself, with one hand held constantly in the seal to share every single sense.
Through the clone, Luoyin deliberately mentioned being the unmatched 'Ice' core, knowing this would trigger her into 'teaching him a lesson', or 'putting him in his place' with exactly that element!
Then he had attacked Zhurong Fen when his first water dragon struck, so she wouldn't notice that the exploded ice shards of the frozen dragon vanished before ever touching the floor, taking her pure ice qi with them!
While pretending to deflect or evade her other attacks, Luoyin absorbed bits of her qi, especially when he used his qi needles and the illusory swords.
At these times, he would deliberately send a storm of the projectiles towards Zhurong Fen so she wouldn't notice the others were actually absorbing snowflakes whole.
They would then vanish back to the Arena and phase into the large Starlight Furnace.
At the same time, Zhurong Fen's attacks on the clone was a form of harsh tempering which made the process almost ten times more painful than Luoyin's original plan, but it was exactly what he needed!
Turning the mortal body immortal was pain equivalent to having one's skin slowly ripped off, and one's entire bones ground to dust... A bone-deep, soul-wrenching pain which ripped away all mortal impurities.
Within the Starlight Furnace, Luoyin felt every single attack on the clone, magnified a hundred to speed up the process! He found himself almost losing consciousness a few times, and a nearly endless river of blood constantly flowed from his lips...
But Luoyin pushed through!
This magnitude of tempering was necessary, and the experience of emptying his qi and 'dying' would only elevate the results!
By the time Zhurong Fen became serious, Luoyin initiated the last phase of the technique- the Soul Phase, and it involved pulling out his full essence from Luoyin's body once again, while it underwent the final bit of tempering.
Zhurong Fen's Lotus poison was an unforeseen problem which made Luoyin lose consciousness within the Furnace, nearly destroying the technique...
But then he heard- or rather, felt Weiyan's desperate plea. She had latched onto the dragon pearl and ruthlessly poured in qi as if she was summoning someone from the afterlife!
And this had been enough to yank Luoyin back to consciousness, just in time to sever the link as the clone finally died...
At present, Luoyin offered Zhurong Fen a cold mocking bow. "I sincerely thank you... You selflessly donated so much!"
"It's impossible!" Zhurong Fen staggered back a step, still somewhere between anger and incredible disbelief.
Yet before her was undoubtedly an immortal, and not just any immortal... This irritating fellow had strived for excellence beyond rationality and shot right for the Universal Tier!
Zhang Luoyin had somehow jumped from a mere Mortal, all the way to a mid-level Grand Immortal!
A fact which made Zhurong Fen remember...
Despite the shadows and hatred following his name through the years, Yin Xiaolong still held the title of the Greatest Lord Medicine Sky Realm had ever seen...
A true Medical Genius!
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