Chapter 87
**Reward One: Three bottles of Di Liu Jiang.**
**Reward Two: One True Phoenix Feather.**
**Reward Three: One Han Sui Jade Bed.**
The rewards from the system were all extremely rare treasures, perfectly suited for her use, making them undeniably precious.
Take Di Liu Jiang, for example.
This is the essence of heaven and earth, born from the sky, scattering upon landing. Plants and trees absorb it to become spirits, extraordinary beasts consume it to gain wisdom, and humans use it to cleanse their bodies, advancing their martial arts at an astonishing pace.
Every sixty years, in certain places across the nine heavens and ten earths, Di Liu Jiang falls.
As for the specific locations, only the Yan Tian Sect knows.
Thus, apart from the Yan Tian Sect, very few possess this substance.
Then there’s the True Phoenix Feather.
The True Phoenix, the True Dragon, and the True Phoenix are among the rulers of the nine heavens and ten earths, and they remain exceedingly rare. Whenever they appear, they carry immense heavenly destiny.
In the grand scheme of things, there are rules governing the universe.
Whether it’s a phoenix or a true dragon, no more than nine of them can coexist at the same time.
Of course, often, the total number of these auspicious beasts doesn’t even reach a handful.
The Phoenix Feather is its life essence; once integrated into oneself, it grants numerous extraordinary abilities, akin to the reverse scale of a true dragon.
Compared to true dragons, the existence of the phoenix clan is even rarer, having long vanished from the nine heavens and ten earths.
As for the last reward, the Han Sui Jade Bed, she had possessed one in her previous life at the Gui Palace.
Lying on it, one could practice with double the results for half the effort.
Without a doubt, these rewards were not trivial even in her past life.
But...
**[Detected that the host has activated the Punishment of the Defeated.]**
**[The system will temporarily hold all rewards until the host fulfills the punishment conditions before releasing them.]**
**[If the challenge fails, the system will automatically unbind, and all rewards will be destroyed.]**
**[Current punishment condition: Share a bed with someone who surpasses you for one month.]**
**[The challenge begins tomorrow.]**
A whirlwind of complex emotions surged within her.
Ying Bing stared blankly at the rewards and the punishment conditions.
She had chosen to increase the rewards and initiate the challenge.
Never had she imagined that a day would come when she would truly face punishment.
Due to her intense emotional turmoil, the repressed Taiyin power within her suddenly spiraled out of control.
The room grew increasingly cold.
So cold that her thoughts froze, her mind stilled.
Her eyelashes, adorned with ice crystals, fluttered lightly before her eyelids finally drooped shut.
Ying Bing's consciousness sank into darkness, plunging into a dream.
........
In the dream.
Above the vast ocean, there were no sun, moon, or stars.
Only the wild dance of thunder, painting the world in stark black and white.
Torrential waves surged, forming an endless vortex that swallowed everything, leaving no trace behind.
In the haze, Ying Bing remembered she had been here before.
Gui Xu.
In her previous life, she had searched tirelessly for this place, the last refuge of those who sought immortality, and the final hiding place of many legendary figures, including the founding emperor of the Yu Dynasty, Wu Di.
**[Those who wish to attain immortality must enter this trial.]**
This was the only thing that existed on the surface of the sea.
A towering stone tablet, reaching into the clouds.
She had been here.
And she had come with the other eight from the nine heavens.
Together, they had slain the guardian of Gui Xu and entered the path to immortality within.
But.
She had failed.
At this moment, Ying Bing finally recalled the reason for her failure in the trial.
“A heart with a void.”
.........
Morning.
Sitting on the now frozen mat, Li Mo slowly exhaled, a smile unconsciously curling at the corners of his mouth.
He was sinking his mind into his dantian.
The inner energy, once as fine as a hair, had now grown tenfold. If dispersed, it could fill the entire dantian.
With a thought, the inner energy swirled according to his will, shifting into various shapes.
Li Mo pushed the door open and walked to the frozen lake, delivering a punch.
The inner energy, penetrating and all-encompassing, burrowed into the thick ice layer.
Moments later, he tossed a stone lightly onto the ice.
Crack, crack—
The frozen stream instantly shattered, flowing freely once more.
“Not bad.”
Li Mo felt quite satisfied.
In the past, accomplishing this would have taken considerable effort, wouldn’t it?
“Is Bing still not up?”
Li Mo glanced curiously at the room upstairs.
Usually, Ying Bing would be at the stone table drinking tea by this time.
But after seeing the scene at Qiu Shui Pavilion, he understood.
With all the commotion last night, she probably needed some time to rest.
“Hmm?”
Shang Wu, squinting her apricot eyes, scratched her flawless shoulder and sleepily walked out.
Seeing the scene in the courtyard, she looked utterly bewildered.
“It’s Bing.”
Li Mo casually remarked.
“Oh, I see.”
Shang Wu lazily nodded, stamping her foot on the ground.
A furnace-like warmth enveloped the area.
The beautiful master, like a little sun, was incredibly effective.
She then turned her gaze to her precious disciple.
“Uh? Master, what’s up?”
Li Mo asked, puzzled.
“Ahem! From today onward, I’m going to teach you seriously.”
Yesterday, the elders had held a criticism meeting against her, with several elders emotionally accusing her of being unworthy to be a teacher.
Shang Wu thought about it too.
She had let her disciple run wild for nearly a month.
As a master, she really should teach her disciple something. If she had taught Li Mo earlier, perhaps he wouldn’t have lost to Ying Bing.
And that would have saved her a lot of money.
So, starting today, she decided to impart her knowledge to her precious disciple, helping him step into the realm of inner energy.
For this, she even went to the library to review the texts on how to break through to the Qi realm, since she had broken through while tipsy and couldn’t let her precious disciple follow her example.
Shang Wu was rarely this serious.
“Today, I’m going to teach you how to condense inner energy.”
“But Master, I’m already in the inner energy realm.”
“Damn it.”
“??”
——————
P.S.: Sorry, sorry, my grandparents came to visit, and I had to take them out for a meal, so the update is late.
**Chapter 84: Why Does She Seem So Strange Today?**
The master rushed off to the library, skipping breakfast entirely.
She claimed she was going to review knowledge related to the inner energy realm.
At noon.
Smoke began to rise from the kitchen of Qiu Shui Pavilion.
“It’s been quiet all morning.”
“Bing isn’t in any real trouble, is she?”
“Or is it because of what happened during the match yesterday...”
Li Mo’s mind flashed back to the moment he had knocked Bing down in front of everyone.
After all, she was a girl, and it had happened in front of so many witnesses.
Could it be that she was too embarrassed to see him?
“Unlikely... right?”
Li Mo didn’t think Ying Bing had that kind of personality.
After pondering for a while, he decided to go upstairs to check.
Carrying the prepared dishes, he ascended the stairs and knocked on the wooden door, which echoed loudly.
No response.
Li Mo blinked, using some force to finally push the door open with a creak.
As soon as he entered, Li Mo froze.
The room was akin to a freezer.
On the bed, which was covered in cracks, instead of a sleeping figure, there was a large block of ice.
Inside the ice was a girl curled up, hugging her knees, seemingly unaware of the world.
It was Ying Bing.
The true ice block.
Li Mo: “!”
Wait, how did you manage to encase yourself in ice?
There wasn’t even that much water in the room!
It was just unscientific.
Knock, knock, knock—
“Bing.”
“Bing?”
Li Mo knocked on the ice block, calling out twice without a response. He didn’t care whether it was reasonable or not; he was ready to smash the ice block open.
Whoosh—
But halfway through his punch, he abruptly halted.
This ice, shimmering with a bluish hue, was clearly not ordinary water vapor condensed; it was incredibly solid.
Who knows if breaking the ice would cause Bing to shatter along with it?
“Right, inner energy!”
Li Mo suddenly remembered that he was now a martial artist in the inner energy realm.
He reached out and channeled a few strands of inner energy into the ice block.
Swish, swish—
Under his control, the inner energy acted like a precise sculptor’s chisel, gradually wearing down the solid ice.
The speed was not fast.
.......
Half an hour later.
Bing was finally ‘rescued’ from the ice.
Her eyes were tightly shut, her delicate brows furrowed, as if she were having a nightmare, but thankfully her breathing was steady.
Li Mo grasped her wrist, checking her pulse, and let out a slight sigh of relief.
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