Chapter 2: Merging with the Supreme Bone, Eighth Level of the Golden Core Realm

Purple Bamboo Peak, Revered Master's bedchamber.

I do not know how much time has passed.

Perhaps it was an hour, or perhaps just an instant.

Su Ye's consciousness was slowly awakened from the endless dark abyss by a faint, cool touch.

He struggled to open his eyelids, which felt as heavy as lead.

What came into view was not the cold and damp dungeon he had expected, nor the cold stone slab of a quiet room.

Instead, it was a hazy, pale purple curtain.

Embroidered on the curtain were a few lifelike, ink-colored bamboo stalks, elegant and aloof.

The tip of his nose was filled with a familiar scent of orchid, thousands of times stronger than in the quiet room.

This fragrance was cool, holy, and carried a faint sense of detachment, yet it was maddeningly intoxicating.

Su Ye's pupils constricted in an instant.

This scent...

It is Revered Master, Leng Yueli!

He turned his head abruptly, the sharp pain in the depths of his Divine Soul and the burning sensation on his cheek making him gasp.

Memories before he lost consciousness surged back like a tide.

That shocking, forceful kiss.

That earth-shattering slap.

And the pair of Phoenix eyes of his Revered Master, filled with endless shame, anger, and killing intent, as if she wanted to grind him to dust.

"Rebellious Disciple! You... deserve to die!!!"

Her final words still echoed in his ears, cold and bone-chilling.

Su Ye shivered, instantly waking up, struggling to sit up.

However, the moment he moved his body, he froze.

Beneath him was an incredibly soft, cool, and silky touch.

It was a quilt woven from Heavenly Silkworm silk.

In the entire Eastern Wasteland, only a handful of people could afford to use it.

And his Revered Master, Leng Yueli, was one of them.

Here...

This is Revered Master's bed!

Su Ye's brain went "boom" and completely shut down, his mind becoming a blank slate.

What happened?

The development of the plot was completely beyond his comprehension.

According to the logic of a normal person, after committing such an act of treason against his Revered Master, shouldn't he have had his cultivation crippled and been thrown into the eighteenth level of Hell to never be reborn?

Even if Revered Master remembered their old relationship, she should have thrown him out of Purple Bamboo Peak and left him to fend for himself.

But now, not only was he not dead, not crippled, but... he was sleeping in her bed?

Su Ye carefully looked around.

This was an extremely elegant room.

There were no luxurious decorations; every object seemed to be naturally formed, blending perfectly with the surrounding environment.

White jade for the table, cold crystal for the chairs.

In a celadon vase in the corner, a branch of purple bamboo with morning dew was inserted.

Outside the window, the moonlight remained, spilling its clear radiance through the thin clouds, shrouding the entire room in a tranquil and cold atmosphere.

In the air, apart from that unique fragrance belonging to Leng Yueli, there was no one else's aura.

Revered Master was no longer here.

But the lingering warmth on the quilt, and the increasingly clear fragrance, all proved that she hadn't been gone for long.

Perhaps...

Su Ye's fingertips gently brushed the pillow beside him, which seemed to still hold a shallow indentation belonging to a woman's head.

Did she sleep next to him last night?

As soon as this absurd thought emerged, Su Ye's heart began to beat uncontrollably.

Impossible!

Absolutely impossible!

With Revered Master's cold-as-ice personality, who valued chastity more than life, how could she tolerate this "Rebellious Disciple" defiling her bed, let alone sharing it?

Su Ye forced himself to calm down.

He carefully checked his body.

The left cheek was still swollen, burning with pain; the force of that slap was not fake at all.

The Spiritual Qi in his body was circulating smoothly, the Golden Core in his Dantian was intact, and even his Meridians were not damaged in the slightest.

This was too unreasonable.

What kind of cultivation did Leng Yueli have?

Rumor had it that she was already a powerhouse in the Dongxu Realm, only one step away from the Dao Integration Realm.

If she really wanted to kill him, that slap would have been enough to turn him and his Divine Soul into dust.

But she held back.

Not only did she hold back, but she also carried his heavily injured and unconscious self to her bed?

Countless possibilities flashed through Su Ye's mind.

Could it be... Revered Master, cold on the outside but warm on the inside, actually still had feelings for him as a Disciple?

No, that's not right.

Su Ye immediately denied this thought.

From the description in the original novel, Leng Yueli was a woman who was decisive in killing and had a Dao Heart as firm as a rock. She would never have any softness toward betrayal.

Then why?

Could it be that when he kissed her forcibly, it made her... Dao Heart waver?

So she was in a state of chaos, not knowing how to deal with him, and could only temporarily place him here?

This guess seemed more plausible than the former.

After all, the condition for him to complete the System task at that time was to "make her Dao Heart fluctuate."

And judging by the "perfect" rating of the System, that kiss must have had an impact on her far beyond his imagination.

A cold Fairy who had practiced for hundreds of years and was untainted by the mundane world had her first kiss taken by her most valued Disciple in such a rough way...

That shame, anger, and the unprecedented ripple deep in her heart were enough to cause cracks in any solid Dao Heart.

Su Ye took a deep breath, forcing himself to stop thinking about these things.

In any case, he was still alive.

That was the greatest luck.

The urgent matter was not to guess Revered Master's thoughts, but to improve his own strength!

In this world where martial arts were Supreme, only absolute strength was the foundation for survival!

Without strength, he could only be slaughtered, repeating the mistake of dying in the original novel!

Thinking of this, Su Ye's eyes became extremely firm.

"System."

He muttered in his heart.

[Ding! host, I am always here.]

The cold mechanical voice sounded on time.

"Where is the reward for completing the task, the Supreme Dao Bone?"

[The reward has been issued to the System space. Does the host want to start the Fusion now?]

[Friendly reminder: The Supreme Dao Bone is a treasure of heaven and earth, containing the Supreme Dao's true meaning. The Fusion process will completely reshape the Physical Body and will be accompanied by unimaginable pain. Please be prepared, host.]

Pain?

A self-deprecating arc appeared on the corner of Su Ye's mouth.

Compared to being slapped to death by Revered Master, or being trampled underfoot by the protagonist Ye Fan and dying in humiliation, what was mere physical pain?

"Fusion!"

He didn't hesitate at all, spitting out the word firmly.

[Instruction received! Supreme Dao Bone Fusion starting!]

The moment the System's voice fell!

An indescribable, terrifying pain suddenly erupted from Su Ye's spine!

"Ugh—!"

Su Ye's eyes widened, his teeth clenched, but he still couldn't help but let out a painful groan.

It felt as if a red-hot soldering iron had been pierced into his tailbone, and then, along the spine, branded inch by inch!

No!

It was ten thousand times more painful than that!

It felt more like an invisible pair of hands was forcibly extracting his entire skeleton from his flesh and blood, refining it with the Nine Heavens Divine Fire, and then hammering it back into his body one hammer at a time!

"Crack! Crack!"

Su Ye could even clearly hear the terrifying sound of bones breaking and reforming inside his body.

His body trembled and convulsed uncontrollably.

Sweat as big as beans instantly oozed from his forehead, and in the blink of an eye, it soaked the Heavenly Silkworm silk quilt beneath him.

His Meridians, flesh, and internal organs were all torn and reshaped by this overbearing power!

Pain!

Pain that pierced the heart!

Pain that went deep into the bone marrow!

Pain that made even his Divine Soul tremble!

Su Ye's consciousness swayed wildly between life and death, nearly collapsing several times.

But he relied on that strong obsession not to be a stepping stone again, holding on to the last shred of clarity!

He knew this was the test of breaking the cocoon and becoming a butterfly!

If he survived, it would be a vast sky!

If he didn't, he would just be a handful of dirt!

Just as he felt he was about to be completely swallowed by this boundless pain, a gentle and majestic golden energy burst forth from his reshaped spine!

This energy was like the rising sun, carrying the Supreme majesty of heaven, and also like the spring of life, containing endless vitality.

The golden divine light instantly flowed through his limbs and bones!

Wherever it passed, those torn Meridians and broken flesh were repaired and strengthened at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The originally white bones were now covered by a layer of bright golden light, gradually becoming crystal clear, like cast divine gold glaze, with countless profound and mysterious Dao runes appearing on them.

An ancient, noble aura, as if it were above all the heavens and the Dao, permeated from Su Ye's body.

Supreme Dao Bone, Fusion successful!

"Huu..."

Su Ye let out a long breath of turbid air.

This turbid air was actually gray-black, with a fishy smell, and after landing, it even corroded a shallow pit into the hard cold crystal floor.

That was all the Impurities expelled from his body.

At this moment, he felt unprecedentedly relaxed and powerful.

It was as if he had broken free from some invisible shackles, and the whole world felt different in his perception.

He could clearly "see" every speck of dust floating in the room.

He could clearly "hear" the sound of morning dew dripping from the bamboo leaves outside the window.

He could even clearly "sense" the Spiritual Qi everywhere between heaven and earth, turning into streams, rushing into his body, not even needing him to actively operate the Cultivation Technique.

This is the Supreme Dao Bone!

Born close to the Dao, sharing an affinity with the Dao!

And this was just the beginning!

[Ding! Supreme Dao Bone Fusion complete, feedback starting!]

The System's prompt sounded again.

The next moment, the originally round Golden Core in Su Ye's Dantian began to vibrate wildly!

A massive amount of Spiritual Qi, as if finding a vent, turned into a huge Spiritual Qi vortex, centered on Su Ye's body, and poured in wildly!

The Spiritual Qi of the entire Purple Bamboo Peak was in an uproar at this moment!

"Boom!"

Inside Su Ye's body, it was as if some barrier was instantly broken!

Golden Core Realm Third Stage... Peak!

However, this momentum did not stop at all!

"Boom!"

Another dull sound!

Golden Core Realm Fourth Stage!

Immediately after!

Golden Core Realm Fifth Stage!

Golden Core Realm Sixth Stage!

Golden Core Realm Seventh Stage!

Under the infusion of massive Spiritual Qi, the Golden Core expanded several times in volume, and its color changed from the original pale gold to a brilliant purple-gold, and even mysterious Dao patterns began to appear on the surface!

Spiritual power surged like a great river, setting off stormy waves in his Divine Soul!

Until—

"Boom!!!"

The last loud noise, as if heaven and earth were being created!

Su Ye's whole body shook, and a powerful aura far exceeding the previous one erupted from his body, shaking the tables and chairs in the room slightly!

Golden Core Realm Eighth Stage!

Only then did the majestic energy slowly subside.

Su Ye slowly opened his eyes.

A brilliant golden light flashed in the depths of his eyes.

He slowly raised his hand and clenched his fist.

"Crackle!"

A series of crisp explosions sounded in the air.

He could clearly feel that every inch of his flesh and blood contained explosive power.

Now, he was more than ten times stronger than before the Fusion!

If he were to face his previous self now, he was confident that he could kill him with one punch!

This is... the feeling of power!

A smile of genuine joy appeared on Su Ye's face for the first time since his Transmigration.

However, this smile hadn't fully bloomed before it froze on his face.

Because he heard a slight sound of footsteps ringing outside the door.

Immediately after, a crisp and pleasant female voice, with a hint of concern and anxiety, came from outside the door.

"Senior Brother? Senior Brother, are you inside?"

"Revered Master summoned us early in the morning, saying there was an important matter to announce, why haven't we seen you?"

"Senior Brother, if you don't come out, we're going to come in!"

It was the voice of Third Junior Sister, Lin Qingzhu!

Su Ye's heart instantly jumped to his throat.

Oh no!

He was currently in Revered Master's bedchamber, in her bed!

If the Junior Sisters broke in and saw this...

Then his name as a "Rebellious Disciple" would really be solidified!

He looked at the door almost subconsciously, his heart pounding wildly.

And just at this moment, a cold, indifferent, yet familiar voice with a hint of complex emotion rang out from outside the door, clearly entering his ears and the ears of all the Disciples outside.

"No need to look for him."

"Your Senior Brother, Su Ye..."

"Revered Master has other plans for him."