Chapter 148: Awakening
Chapter 148: Awakening
“What?”
“Tang Yilin, hurry, leave!”
“Junior Martial Sister Tang, don’t!”
But right at that moment, the cultivators who had been scattering in all directions seemed to have realised someone hadn’t left yet. Their complexions changed drastically, one after another, and they roared out in alarm.
Roar!
The Flame Python also seemed to have realised Tang Yilin hadn’t fled. A very human-like look of malice shone in its eyes as it charged towards her. While spewing flames, it opened its massive, fire-filled maw, about to swallow Tang Yilin.
Tang Yilin’s face was covered in countless streaks of blood, making her features indistinct. Yet, her graceful and slender figure was still strikingly evident. Her long hair was coiled up like a dark cloud resting atop her head.
“Hah, five years, it’s been a full five years. I’m tired, Mother. Yilin is tired.”
Tang Yilin held a modest, ordinary jade Tiny Sword in her left hand, its hilt just slightly visible. A sorrowful look filled her eyes as she murmured.
“Lizhi.”
Two characters were inscribed on the Tiny Sword’s hilt.
“Junior Martial Sister Tang, don’t be foolish!”
“Junior Martial Sister Tang!”
The cultivators who had initially scattered all experienced drastic changes in their expressions. They swiftly summoned their magical treasures, attacking the Flame Python’s body, hoping to prevent the inevitable.
Whoosh!
Tang Yilin remained suspended in the air. Waves of intense heat surged towards her, whipping up her Palace Attire, already stained with blood. Yet, she felt no fear. Instead, a look of serenity appeared on her face, even as tears streamed endlessly from her eyes.
Crunch!
Tang Yilin clenched the jade Tiny Sword in her hand with a death grip, biting her lips tightly shut. “If there is a next life,” she whispered softly, “please, let us not be parted.”
Hmmmm!
Simultaneously, an aura of death began to slowly emanate from Tang Yilin’s body. She was preparing to self-detonate her Nascent Soul, intending to perish together with the Flame Python.
“What?”
“Junior Martial Sister Tang, don’t act rashly!”
“Aaagh, everyone, go save Junior Martial Sister Tang!”
Feeling the aura of death radiating through the air, the cultivators’ faces altered dramatically. They ceased fleeing and instead desperately summoned their own magical treasures, hurling them at the Flame Python while trying frantically to rush to Tang Yilin’s aid.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
One formidable magical treasure after another pounded mercilessly onto the Flame Python’s body. Though its hide was rough and thick, numerous bloody holes were immediately torn open on its body.
Roar!
Now, however, the Flame Python flew into a complete frenzy. It was dead set on extinguishing Tang Yilin. Disregarding its painful wounds, it recklessly surged forward with all its strength.
“Aaagh!”
“Perish!”
The fellow cultivators also fought desperately, pouring out the maximum power of their magical treasures.
They were members of the Divine Wind Academy, dispatched together on the mission, and these individuals also held another identity—members of the Tang Family.
Suzhou’s four great families—Feng, Tang, Chu, and Wei—they were indeed the Tang family of Suzhou.
Though Tang Yilin wasn’t part of their clan, she bore the surname Tang. Perhaps they were one family five thousand years ago!
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
Two or three cultivators, their eyes filled with madness, directly triggered their magical weapons to self-destruct, aiming to annihilate the Flame Python before it could swallow Tang Yilin.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Aooo!
The powerful detonation blasted numerous large craters onto the Flame Python’s body again, revealing stark white bone beneath. The Flame Python howled in agony.
Yet, none of them knew Tang Yilin was merely fatigued, no longer wishing to struggle. She had recognized her enemy but clearly understood her own inability to defy such fate. She chose resignation; she had decided to give up.
“Heh… I’m sorry. I failed to care for little brother Tang Song properly.”
The countless explosions and shockwaves around her couldn’t affect Tang Yilin in the slightest. Simply clutching her Tiny Sword tightly, she calmly awaited death’s embrace.
Buzz… Buzz… Buzz…
With her resolve to die set, her Cultivation Level began to contract rapidly, all converging back toward her Nascent Soul. Simultaneously, a searing, extreme heat slowly rose within her mind, clouding her vision as everything before her blurred.
“Agh!”
“Beast!”
“You deserve death!”
Feeling Tang Yilin’s deathly aura intensify, the Tang Family cultivators fought with renewed desperation. Earlier, they had attempted a flanking maneuver to kill the Flame Python. Retreat once had caused this catastrophe. Now, each one erupted in frantic fury.
Of course, only the male cultivators were overcome by frenzy. They were Tang Yilin’s admirers. Though she was cold as ice, never offering anyone a kind expression, this very aloofness had drawn them in, bewitching them utterly. And now, in this moment, they witnessed a rare expression on her face—a trace of tenderness. That single glimpse of tenderness was enough to drive them mad.
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
Like moths to a flame, the frenzied male cultivators charged recklessly toward the Flame Python.
“You all…?”
“Hmph!”
A few female cultivators had arrived with them, but upon seeing the men’s suicidal frenzy, bitter envy and jealousy twisted their expressions.
Naturally, they envied Tang Yilin—a woman so adored that men would die for her.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Just then, however, a streak of yellow light shot forth abruptly from the void, hurtling straight toward Tang Yilin.
Crack!
When the yellow glow reached within ten feet of Tang Yilin, it exploded with a sharp crack. Transforming into a stream of Spiritual Energy, it drilled directly into her ears.
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
Roar!
Those cultivators were locked in a desperate struggle against the Flame Python.
Boom!
“What?”
Suddenly, Tang Yilin, who had been preparing to self-detonate her Nascent Soul, snapped her eyes wide open. All tranquility and resignation vanished from her gaze, replaced by a radiant excitement that instantly brightened her expression.
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
Naturally, those cultivators were no match for the Flame Python. One by one, they were sent flying from the force of the blows.
“What?”
Before she could fully process the message delivered by the Message Talisman, she saw several cultivators injured before her eyes. They scattered in panic, fleeing wildly in every direction.
“Heh!”
Brightness shone in Tang Yilin’s eyes. Though she was smiling, tears welled up uncontrollably.
“Everyone, hold off this vile creature! I’ll activate the Spiritual Treasure!”
Tang Yilin knew this was no time for celebration. She immediately calmed her mind. With a swift flip of her hand, a Bronze Mirror materialized in her grasp.
Hummm hummm hummm!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
She threw the Bronze Mirror into the air, then channeled the Spiritual Energy within her body. Waves of energy surged towards the mirror, striking it and producing a series of crisp, metallic clangs.
…
Far away, tens of thousands of miles distant at the Divine Wind Academy, a seemingly ordinary courtyard lay hidden behind a formidable Restriction.
Within a room inside this courtyard…
“This boy is full of secrets! Not only is his body peculiar, but even his memories are bizarre!”
Zhang Tianyi wore a troubled expression as he gazed at Tang Jinbiao, still unconscious on the bed, muttering under his breath.
“Cough, could it be my own knowledge is lacking? This boy’s memories are utterly chaotic—one moment he’s in this world, the next he’s in another; one instant he sees souls, the next the cosmos itself. What on earth is wrong with him? He hasn’t undergone any modification or tempering, yet he managed to reach Body Refining Third Tier. Something’s very off, very off indeed!”
Over the past three days, Zhang Tianyi had secretly probed Tang Jinbiao’s memories. The results had thoroughly bewildered him.
Tang Jinbiao’s memories were extreme chaos—not necessarily fragmented, but deeply illogical and irrational.
“Could this boy truly be merging reality and dreams?”
This was the only coherent theory Zhang Tianyi could formulate after three days of pondering: Tang Jinbiao had somehow confused his dreams with reality.
Yet Zhang Tianyi remained puzzled. Generally, what one thought about by day, one dreamed of at night. A person’s dreams usually held some link to reality, but Tang Jinbiao’s memories were an unstructured muddle, a senseless jumble.
“Enough, why should I trouble myself so much? I’ll simply wait for this boy to wake up and ask him directly!”
After agonizing over it for days without reaching any conclusion, Zhang Tianyi decided to stop pondering. He rose slowly and made his way out of the room.
…
Another three days passed by in the blink of an eye.
Break!
Tens of thousands of miles away in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, an escape beam suddenly burst forth from a lake about a hundred feet across.
Swoosh!
After bursting out, that escape beam immediately shot eastward at incredible speed.
…
In Zhang Tianyi’s courtyard, Tang Jinbiao had awakened.
Thanks to his excellent physical fitness and Zhang Tianyi’s miraculous healing skills, Tang Jinbiao was now awake and back to being a lively young man.
“Hey, Old Man Zhang! When the hell are you gonna let me out? I’m locked up in your tiny place day after day, damn near bored sick!” Tang Jinbiao sat on a stone stool in the yard, one leg crossed over the other. Crunching sunflower seeds in his hand, he yelled at Old Man Zhang, who was dozing off against the willow tree nearby.
“Your Grandpa has spoken,” declared Zhang Tianyi with inexplicable firmness. “Starting now, you must learn skills from me. The day I’m dissatisfied is the day you’ll never finish your apprenticeship!”
“Learn my ass!” Tang Jinbiao spat out a shell and jumped to his feet. “Are you fucking serious? You’re not making me learn that Way of Deception bullshit again, are you?”
“I…” Zhang Tianyi froze momentarily, lost for words.
“Oh, fuck your ancestors! You’re serious, aren’t you!?” Seeing Zhang Tianyi’s hesitation, Tang Jinbiao panicked. He sensed himself falling into a pit again.
“Well, no,” Zhang Tianyi shook his head after a pause. “This old master intends to teach you the Way of Observation. It’d be criminal to waste such fine eyes without learning my Way!”
He continued thoughtfully a moment later, “I see great talent in you. Learn skills from me!”
“Whoosh… thank goodness,” Tang Jinbiao felt a wave of relief. “I thought it was goddamn Way of Deception again. Anything’s better than that!”
“Huh? Wait!” Barely a moment passed before Tang Jinbiao caught on. His face twisted incredulously as he stared at Zhang Tianyi, asking uncertainly, “Old Man Zhang… You’re not actually asking me to follow you… learning how to peek at women bathing, are you?”