At that moment, Zhu Yao felt like crying, you know? However, she could not stop her feet. The moment she were to stop, it would mean she was giving up on her chance at survival. She managed to kill that demonic beast by struggling to her death, before obtaining the Wood Spirit, she definitely could not die now.
However, her physical strength had already begun to sing the exact opposite tune, and the speed of her flying sword was becoming slower as well. She could no longer squeeze out any spiritual energy, and instantly fell from the sky, slamming hardly onto the ground. Yet, she did not have the strength to even crawl up, and even her consciousness had begun to blur.
That humongous demonic beast had already rushed out of the forest, sprinting toward her with its bloody mouth wide open. Suddenly, the jade pendant on Zhu Yao's chest emitted out a blinding white light, and at the moment when the demonic beast was about to swallow her whole, she could faintly see a white figure blocking in front of her. With just a simple raise of his hand, he grabbed onto that crazed demonic beast. Crackling bolts of lightning resounded in every direction, and then, he swung his hand away. The demonic beast landed heavily on the ground, with completely no signs of life.
Zhu Yao strived to see clearly the person in front of her, yet, her eyelids began to become heavier, and could only hear that person sighing deeply before she sunk into darkness.
Looking at the disciple who had already fainted, Yu Yan's deep frown instantly became a little deeper. Holding up his stupid disciple who had already turned into a bloody woman, he could not help but sigh again. He reached out his hand to check on her pulse, and then, internally visualized her cinnabar, his frown was unable to relax at all. All of her meridians were torn apart, her spiritual energy was depleted, and even her Azoth Core was already at the verge of collapse.
He really could not let this stupid disciple of his off of his sight for a single moment.
Standing back up while carrying onto the person on the ground, he turned and walked towards a nearby cave. When the demonic beast in the cave sensed a foreign presence, it leapt out while wailing~~┗|｀o′|┛ loudly, exerting a majestic presence. A certain master did not even look at it, and released his pressure from his body. It frightened that demonic beast to the point where it cried 'myaaa' and crawled on the ground. It obediently let the cave to him, turned tail, and hid away.
A certain master who had forcefully taken a territory, placed his stupid disciple on a stack of dried grass in the cave. Then, he sat in a lotus position behind her. Like a hardworking little bee, he began to fix his disciple's torn meridians with great effort. By common sense, if the meridians were torn to such extent like Zhu Yao's, even if her life could be saved, she would no longer be able to cultivate into a deity. However, her master was Yu Yan, after all! As the number one in the cultivation world, if he could not even save his disciple, his so many years of cultivation would have been for naught.
Yu Yan closed his eyes, and summoned his own Sword Intent. Instantly, a white dragon coiled around his body, swam about a couple of rounds, before slowly wrapping Zhu Yao in front of him. The white light emitting it became even brighter, and under the white dragon's coiling, the wounds on Zhu Yao's body were disappearing at a speed that could be seen with the naked eyes.
Hence, ten days passed.
When Zhu Yao woke up, she realized the wounds on her body had already disappeared, and even her spiritual energy had recovered. She was currently sitting in an extremely large cave, and she was the only person in the vicinity. While not far away from the entrance of the cave, a demonic beast which looked like a tiger yet had a pair of wings, was currently making sorrowful cries.
That actually was an eighth rank demonic beast!
Zhu Yao almost let out her voice out of fright. And, when the demonic beast saw her sitting up, it looked as though it had received an even bigger fright.
With a 'puchi' sound, it dove into the bushes beside it, as though it was trying to hide itself the best it could. It struggled hard to stuff its humongous body into the bushes, revealing only a smooth, round head. It blinked its large eyes, and looked at her with a fearful expression.
What kind of situation was this?
Zhu Yao's expression darkened. Earlier, she felt like she was fleeing from the entire world when she was chased by a seventh rank demonic beast, yet, why was a mighty eighth rank demonic beast frightened to such an extent for? Could it be that, the higher the rank of demonic beasts, the lower their intelligence?
She shook her head, recalling the white figure she saw at the moment before she fainted. Why did she feel as though her master had come here?
Sensing attentively for a moment, the cave seemed to carry lightning spiritual energy that had yet to disperse, and it felt very familiar.
"Master?" She probed.
"..." There wasn't a reply for a long time.
She slapped onto her chest, and smiled naively to herself. "I knew it!" How could it be possible for her master to silently follow her? "As expected, I'm thinking too…"
"What is it?"
"..." Her smile instantly stiffened on her face. Master, you're the devil, right!?
She looked at her surroundings for a moment, yet, she could not see that figure of his. "Master, where are you?" This ends of the cave could be seen with just a single glance, and his figure was basically nowhere to be seen at all.
Seeing that she had already begun to flip over the demonic beast's old lair, his cold voice once again sounded. "Lower your head."
Zhu Yao lowered her head, only to see the white jade that her master had given her before she left, was currently emitting out a blinding light. A white mini-sized master popped out of that pendant, and he floated to about three feet away from her.
He was Yu Yan.
"Master!" Zhu Yao instantly widened her eyes, and looked at the mini-sized master. "How did you turn out like this?"
"What you're currently seeing is just a part of my soul." Yu Yan explained. "Practitioners with cultivation above that of Azoth cannot enter 'Tasyoluk'. So, I could only have my divine sense dwell inside this jade pendant, before I could enter this Secret Realm."
"Then why?" Was there a need to turn into such mini-sized?
"Although it's only a part of my divine sense, I'm, after all, a Demigod. If I were to appear often with my original body, it will definitely be sensed by the formation in place. I will not be discovered only if I'm in this form."
"Master, the reason you're here is?"
Hearing her bringing up this topic, Yu Yan coldly glared at her, and instantly begun to enter his teaching mode. "Your Azoth Core was shattered, and your meridians were torn apart. This master has never taught you to risk your life to fight with a demonic beast."
"….." Zhu Yao obediently lowered her head.
"If not for my appearance, I'm afraid your life would have ended right there."
"Was it master who healed my wounds?"
Yu Yan did not answer, and simply looked at her even more sternly.
Zhu Yao revealed a smile, and instantly, she felt her heart was warm, as though she began to feel that it was not really that bad to have a master who liked to stalk his disciple.
"Thank you, master."
"….." Yu Yan was startled for a moment, yet, he still gave a straight face. "Stupid!"
"Yes, my liege!"
"Next time, think thrice before doing anything."
"Alright, my liege!"
"Live within your means, that's the way of cultivation."
"That's right, my liege!"
"And…"
"Are there any other instructions, my liege?"
"Your Azoth Core has yet to recover completely, do not easily act for the next few days."
"Understood, my liege!"
"Shut your mouth."
"Yes, my liege. No problem, my liege!"
"..."
Through the few days of rest, Zhu Yao's injuries were finally all healed. Yu Yan found the determination to train her, and had especially picked out places with demonic beasts for her to go to. In the beginning, when Zhu Yao saw demonic beasts, she would have the thought of running away. Now, she would numbly pull out her sword, charge out, and slash about while getting herself beaten.
Zhu Yao never had much battle experience in the first place, hence, she was basically the one who would always get beaten up. However, with Yu Yan by her side, other than taking a few light injuries, there were no threats to her life. After a long time, her sword techniques had already been sharpened to the point where she was extremely familiar with them, and she could even unleash her sword intent at will.
Her sword intent was a lightning phoenix. Usually, when she summoned it, it would simply be tiny, and its size was not that much different compared to a pigeon's. It no longer revealed itself as the gigantic figure it had when she first used it.
Master said that her sword intent was the manifestation of her cultivation. When one comprehended sword intent, the sword intent would form into the most similar shape to one's thoughts at that time. Back then, she simply wanted to claw out a single chance at survival from that demonic beast. Hence, her sword intent, was a phoenix which could rise from the ashes.
Master's sword intent, which she had seen before as well, was a white dragon. Zhu Yao silently thought to herself. Could it be that back then, her master wanted to become an emperor? Hence, his sword intent had a shape of a dragon? She silently imagined him seated on a dragon throne. Forget it. Clearly, the style is completely wrong.
However, the two of them, one was a dragon, while the other was a phoenix. As expected of a master and his disciple, they were rather compatible. When she thought of this, she was still a little excited.
With sword intent, Zhu Yao's sword techniques had improved greatly. In the beginning, she could barely defeat fourth rank and fifth rank demonic beasts. However, after that, with just her alone, she was able to defeat a sixth rank demonic beast as well.
Zhu Yao raised her longsword. She had successfully dealt with a sixth rank demonic beast, yet, her body was already dog-tired, her spiritual energy was even more so depleted to the point where not even a single drop was left.
Sitting right down on her butt, she heavily gasped for air, completely unable to move.
A certain master popped out half of his body from the pendant in front of her chest, a hint of satisfaction surfaced on his ice-cold face. "This time, you're faster than the previous record by fifteen minutes. However, you could have been much faster with that sword strike earlier."
"Master…" A certain amount of awkwardness flashed out of Zhu Yao's expression, as though she wanted to say something.
However, Yu Yan continued on. "Demonic beasts which are incapable of transforming, usually have much large body figures, hence, their movements will always be much slower. You have to obtain victory speedily and decisively."
"Not that…"
"Your control of spiritual energy is insufficient, and your grasp towards sword intent is still not enough."
"Umm…"
"You did well with your offense, but, your defense is insufficient."
"I'm trying to say…"
"You have to train more. You're not allowed to slack off."
"Master!"
"What is it?" A certain master finally realized the tone his stupid disciple used was off.
Zhu Yao's expression darkened, pointed to his position, and her own chest. "Can you talk after releasing my chest?"
It's true that you're hiding in the jade pendant, but what's with the meaning of designing it as a necklace!? And master, if you want to come out, then do so. Why did only half of your body show itself? It felt like he had suddenly squeezed out of her chest. That's too immoral, was it not?
ps, Where do you think your hand is currently being placed on!? Hey!
"Chest?" Yu Yan tilted his head, and subconsciously looked at his surroundings.
Zhu Yao instantly felt terrible. The hell, even though she was flat-chested, it was not to the point where it could not be found at all, right? It really feels terrible if you're looking around like this for it, you know?
Don't think that I don't dare to smack you because you're my master!
Yu Yan looked towards the person in front of him who had suddenly been enveloped by a depressing aura. Just what happened to his disciple this time? Why could he faintly feel killing intent? Yu Yan felt even more odd, and finally, he once again concluded that his disciple was being stupid again.
Fortunately, he was able to hear that his disciple did not seem to be very happy to see him in his current location. Although he did not understand the reason, he still completely floated out, and slowly turned into his regular size.
Waving his hand and forming a few hand-seals, he set up a presence concealment formation beside his disciple, before sitting next to her, and cast his Mystic Arts on her.
Seeing that she had recovered to a certain degree, he was finally at ease. Sizing her up for a moment, his brows deeply creased again.
"Strip your clothes."
"Kuh… Kuh kuh kuh?" Zhu Yao could not stabilize herself for a moment, and choked. She stared at him, unwilling to believe what she just heard. "What did you say?"