Chapter 241: Breach
‘Bang’, ‘bang’, ‘bang’……
One after another, loud noises of metal and stone clashing echoed endlessly in the control room, shaking Su Yingxiu’s ears with a buzzing sound, forcing her to cover her ears with both hands.
Su Yingxiu, as a mere bystander, was already like this, let alone Lu Yun, the operator. His hair was soaked with sweat, blood burst from the tiger’s mouths of both hands, his arms trembled uncontrollably, yet he still gritted his teeth and persisted in swinging the iron rod, chiseling at the ground one strike after another.
More than ten crooked iron rods were scattered on the ground, all of which he had forcibly worn out.
Lu Yun had been chiseling nonstop for a full half day, finally drilling holes in all the positions specified by Su Yingxiu.
After drilling through the last hole, he finally couldn’t hold on, dropped the iron rod stained with his own blood, sat cross-legged upright on the ground, and began to circulate qi and regulate his breath. Lu Yun used the Five Virtues Five Elements Technique to continuously transform his own vital energy, nourishing his meridians, muscles, and slightly damaged five viscera.
After regulating his breath for a full hour, he finally felt himself recovered.
When Lu Yun opened his eyes, he saw Su Yingxiu sitting right across from him, the two only a foot apart, close enough to clearly hear each other’s breathing.
Su Yingxiu propped her cheek with one hand, staring unblinkingly at Lu Yun’s somewhat haggard yet heart-meltingly soft face, lost in thought. Even when Lu Yun opened his eyes, she showed no reaction, still gazing fixedly at him.
At this moment, the eccentric, cunning, and decisive Taiping Dao Saintess seemed like a completely different person, making Lu Yun’s senses much more comfortable.
Lu Yun coughed lightly, and Su Yingxiu snapped back to reality, her pretty face flushing slightly as she subconsciously turned her head away in embarrassment. When she turned back, a puzzling smile hung on her face again as she said: “Young Master Lu, you’ve worked hard.” With that, she magically produced a porcelain bottle and a roll of gauze, reaching to grab Lu Yun’s hand.
Lu Yun quickly pulled back his hand, alertly saying: “What are you doing?”
“Bandaging you.” Su Yingxiu gave him a charmingly coquettish eye roll. “Look at what your hands have become.”
“No need.” Lu Yun shook his head, tore two strips of cloth from his own robe, and roughly wrapped the tiger’s mouths of both hands, showing no intention of troubling Su Yingxiu.
“Could it be that Young Master Lu thinks I would take the chance to poison you?” Su Yingxiu said with a somewhat resentful tone.
“You have a criminal record……” Lu Yun said flatly, then stood up to grab another iron rod. Looking at the circle of holes on the ground, he asked: “Where should I continue drilling next?”
“No need to drill anymore.” Su Yingxiu pursed her lips, seemingly dissatisfied with Lu Yun’s distrust, but she still pointed to the center of that circle of holes and said to Lu Yun: “Strike here with all your power.”
“I don’t have a Grandmaster’s ability.” Lu Yun shook his head. The rock on the ground was a full foot thick; with his cultivation, he was utterly powerless.
“Just hit it as I say,” Su Yingxiu said with great certainty. “How will you know the result without trying?”
Lu Yun had no choice but to give it a try. He assumed a horse stance, opened the acupoint in the center of his forehead, and continuously infused the vital energy stored in that acupoint into his entire body’s meridians.
Su Yingxiu stood by and watched. In the darkness, the light at Lu Yun’s glabella was particularly striking. Su Yingxiu knew that was the legendary acupoint in the center of the forehead; as recorded in the Taiping Sutra, those who did not open it would forever be without Xiantian. From Lu Yun’s condition, it was clear he had already opened the mysterious acupoint in the center of the forehead!
‘The Supreme Profound Insight Scripture truly lives up to being our sect’s supreme classic!’ Thirst shone in Su Yingxiu’s eyes as she thought to herself: ‘It’s a pity women can’t cultivate it; I still need to obtain the Supreme Forgetfulness Dao to be on the right path.’
While the Saintess was lost in wild thoughts, Lu Yun over there had briefly elevated his cultivation to ninety percent. His hair floated without wind, veins bulged on his highly raised arms, and the freshly healed wounds split open again, strings of blood beads shredded by the sharp forceful energy around his body.
‘Ha!’ Lu Yun roared, interlocking his ten fingers with his fists, and fiercely smashed toward the ground.
A dazzling white light burst from Lu Yun’s fists, illuminating the entire control room as bright as day. A thunderous boom followed, then the cracking sound of rock breaking. When the dust settled, a two-foot-wide cave entrance appeared before them.
“Success!” Su Yingxiu cheered, but saw Lu Yun’s hands gushing blood, his arms involuntarily spasming nonstop.
Ninety percent cultivation had caused far too much damage to Lu Yun; even for just an instant, it was still more than he could bear.
“You’re injured.” Concern appeared on Su Yingxiu’s face as she reached again for Lu Yun’s arm. Lu Yun wanted to dodge, but for the moment, his arm wouldn’t obey, and it was caught firmly by the Saintess.
Su Yingxiu extended her slender, cool fingers to press Lu Yun’s arm, trying to stop the bleeding first, but found his arm hard as ironstone. Not only did she fail to hit Lu Yun’s acupoint, the shock made her fingers ache. Annoyed, she gave Lu Yun a glare and said: “Relax, we’re in the same boat now. Harming you would be harming myself, right?”
“……” Lu Yun was silent for a moment, then slowly withdrew his defense.
The Saintess then tapped her fingers rapidly to stop Lu Yun’s bleeding, opened a bottle of medicinal wine, cradled one of his hands, and said softly: “I’ll clean your wound for you. It might hurt a bit; don’t make a fuss.”
With his hand held by the Saintess, Lu Yun felt a cool, soft touch, as if the wound didn’t hurt so much anymore, so he nodded expressionlessly.
Su Yingxiu poured the medicinal wine over the countless tiny wounds on Lu Yun’s palm and back of the hand. A piercing, bone-chilling pain instantly made Lu Yun’s eyes widen, cursing inwardly: ‘This is just “a bit”? It’s downright deadly!’ But for the sake of face, he gritted his teeth and endured, though sweat beads had already beaded on his forehead.
Su Yingxiu looked at Lu Yun in some surprise. The medicinal wine she mentioned was the Taiping Dao secretly made ‘Blazing Sun Fierce Fire Wine’; after use, wounds had no risk of festering or inflammation—it was extremely precious. The only drawback was its extremely potent nature; even comatose wounded would wake screaming in pain.
It was the first time Su Yingxiu had seen someone endure it without crying out. She couldn’t help sincerely praising: “Your endurance is truly extraordinary.”
“Hmph……” Lu Yun was in too much pain to speak, could only glare angrily at the Saintess. But compared to the agony of the Imperial Extreme Profound Cave Skill backlash, this medicinal wine was small potatoes.
After cleaning Lu Yun’s wounds, Su Yingxiu opened another porcelain bottle, scooped out a lump of jade-colored ointment with a cotton swab, and smiled at Lu Yun: “It’ll still hurt a bit; keep enduring.”
With that, she applied the ointment to Lu Yun’s wounds.
“Hiss……” Lu Yun’s wounds had been burning like fire; once the ointment was applied, it turned bone-chillingly cold, making him involuntarily suck in a breath.
Now Lu Yun felt even more tormented: the wounded area alternated between heat and cold, cold within heat, heat within cold—truly ice and fire two heavens, with the pain more than doubled!
Lu Yun’s handsome face twisted terribly as he glared fiercely at Su Yingxiu: “And you said you wouldn’t harm me!”
“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” Su Yingxiu said with a wronged expression. “Blazing Sun Fierce Fire Wine and Mysterious Ice Cold Jade Ointment are both miracle healing medicines that can bring the dead back to life and knit flesh and bone. Even the seven sects can’t beg for them, and I’m giving them to you for free, yet you suspect me.”
“Isn’t there any non-pervert medicine?” Lu Yun grimaced.
“There is, but the effect isn’t as good.” Su Yingxiu said softly.
“For my minor injuries, do I need miracle healing medicines?!” Lu Yun was nearly fainting from anger.
“If not like this, how can I show how much I care about you, Young Master?” Su Yingxiu fiddled with her skirt ties, her eyes brimming with barely concealed amusement.
