Chapter 41: He’s Here

Chen Ping walked over to the bed and reached out to ruffle her hair.

“How do you feel?”

Lin Xiaoyu closed her eyes and carefully examined her inner state.

The purple-gold energy flowed slowly through her meridians, gentle yet powerful.

She could feel that she was far, far stronger than before.

But she also felt an empty space of eighteen layers still waiting within her.

Those were the latter eighteen layers of the Thirty-Six Layers of Qi Refining.

“Master…” She opened her eyes and looked at Chen Ping.

“I feel… like I can keep going.”

Chen Ping nodded.

“Of course you can. But not today.”

He paused, his expression turning serious.

“You’ve broken through far too much today. You need time to consolidate. If you push further, your foundation will grow unstable. It will do more harm than good.”

Lin Xiaoyu nodded earnestly.

“I understand, Master.”

She paused, suddenly remembering something, and looked up at Chen Ping.

“Master, you mentioned… Heavenly Dao Primordial?”

Chen Ping smiled.

“Primordial Violet Qi already existed within your body. That was the energy of creation I transferred into you earlier. When the Heavenly Dao Power flooded your body just now, the two forces merged.”

He looked at her, his eyes filled with gratification.

“Now, you possess a true Heavenly Dao Primordial Physique. It is even stronger than a pure Heavenly Dao Divine Physique.”

Lin Xiaoyu froze.

She looked down at her hands.

The Primordial Violet Qi…

Her master had given it to her.

From the very beginning, her master had been paving the way for her.

“Master…”

Her eyes grew slightly red, and she wanted to say something.

Chen Ping waved his hand.

“Alright, no need to get emotional.” He turned and walked out.

“Get some rest. Starting tomorrow, you will consolidate your realm.”

Lin Xiaoyu stared at his retreating back and nodded vigorously.

“Yes!”

*

Chen Ping walked out of the room and gently closed the door behind him.

Standing in the courtyard, he looked up at the night sky.

The sky was filled with stars, and the moonlight fell like water.

He took a deep breath. In his mind, the system notifications began to chime frantically:

【Ding! Detected disciple Lin Xiaoyu breaking through to the eighteenth layer of Heavenly Dao Primordial Qi Refining!】

【Host receives 100,000-fold feedback: Cultivation level rising…】

【Grand Dao Divine Eyes advanced: Minor Mastery】

【Obtained new Divine Ability: Grand Dao Evasion Technique: Void Chapter!】

【Obtained new ability: Primordial Chaos Creation – Can channel Primordial Power to nourish all things and repair all damage!】

【Obtained Grand Dao Blessing feedback: 10,000 strands of Primordial Violet Qi, massive amounts of Grand Dao power flooding the body, automatically integrated into host’s origin!】

【《Grand Dao Divine Scripture》 Qi Refining Layer Nine → Qi Refining Layer Eighteen!】

…

The barrage of notifications left Chen Ping momentarily overwhelmed.

But as he felt the surging power within his body, the corner of his mouth lifted.

This girl…

She really was his lucky star.

He looked toward Lin Xiaoyu’s room, his gaze softening.

“Sleep well,” he murmured.

“Tomorrow, everything will be different.”

*

Inside the room.

Lin Xiaoyu lay in bed, staring at the moonlight outside the window.

She held up her hand and looked at her palm.

With a thought, a wisp of purple-gold light emerged from her palm.

The light was warm and powerful, carrying a sacred aura.

The corner of her mouth curved up.

“Mother…” she whispered.

“Your daughter did it.”

“I will keep working hard.”

She closed her eyes and fell fast asleep with a smile on her face.

The moonlight filtered through the paper window, casting a soft glow over her face.

Peace reigned over Luoxia Peak.

The night was deep and quiet.

The moonlight fell like water over Luoxia Peak, coating the entire mountain in a cold silver glow.

Lu Ya had been lurking in the shadows halfway up the mountain for six full hours.

His eyes were locked onto the simple courtyard at the summit.

The black mark on his chest burned slightly, as if urging him on, yet also warning him.

Calm down… I must stay calm…

Lu Ya took a deep breath, forcing down the restlessness in his heart.

He had been studying Luoxia Peak’s grand array for seven whole days.

This mountain-protecting grand array had been personally set up by Saint Qingxuan in the past.

Although it had fallen into disrepair and its power was greatly diminished, it was still not to be underestimated.

Lu Ya had spent all his savings over the years to bribe a deacon of the Scripture Pavilion, allowing him to look up every record concerning the Luoxia Peak array.

He had found three array cores.

As long as he destroyed these three array cores simultaneously, the grand array would temporarily fail, giving him enough time to slip in, get what he wanted, and escape.

“Tonight… is the best opportunity.”

Lu Ya looked up toward the summit.

Lin Xiaoyu’s feat in the Cultivation Tower today had already spread throughout the entire Qingyun Sect.

At the ninth layer of Qi Refining, she had crossed two major realms to slay eighty-one Golden Core ninth-layer puppets.

In the end, she had triggered a Heavenly Dao Blessing, flooding her body with golden light and causing a phenomenon of heaven and earth.

Such talent, such potential…

“I must strike tonight.”

A ruthless gleam flashed in Lu Ya’s eyes.

If he waited any longer, until Lin Xiaoyu fully consolidated her realm and advanced her cultivation further, he would never get another chance.

Besides, she had been heavily injured and knocked unconscious today. This was when she was at her weakest.

No matter how strong Chen Ping seemed, he was just a Qi Refining waste who relied on magic treasures to show off.

As long as he moved fast enough and didn’t give him time to react…

“It’s now or never.”

Lu Ya took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadows.

His figure cast a long shadow in the moonlight as he silently crept toward the summit.

*

The summit.

The courtyard was dead silent.

The leaves of the old locust tree rustled in the night breeze, and the surface of the pond rippled with shattered moonlight.

The lights in Chen Ping’s room had long been extinguished.

Lin Xiaoyu’s room was also pitch black.

Standing outside the courtyard wall, Lu Ya held his breath and carefully sensed his surroundings.

No anomalies.

Everything was normal.

He slowly raised his hand, and a blood-colored rune emerged in his palm.

This was an array-breaking talisman he had spent an entire month preparing, specifically refined to target the weaknesses of the Luoxia Peak grand array.

“Go!”

Lu Ya growled softly, and the blood-colored rune split into three streaks of bloody light, shooting off in three different directions!

Boom!

A faint tremor vibrated up from the ground.

The protective barrier of the Luoxia Peak grand array vanished for a brief moment as the three array cores were shattered.

Now!

Lu Ya blurred, charging straight into the courtyard!

*

Yet, the moment he landed…

He froze.

Under the old locust tree in the courtyard, a man was lying on a rocking chair.

He held a fishing rod in his hand, looking completely relaxed, as if he were fishing.

The moonlight illuminated his face. It was Chen Ping.

“You’re here?”

Chen Ping spoke casually, his tone as relaxed as if he were greeting an old friend.

Lu Ya’s pupils shrank.

“You… how are you…”

“How am I not asleep yet?” Chen Ping finished the sentence for him and smiled.

“I was waiting for you.”

Lu Ya’s face twisted in shock!

He spun around, trying to retreat…

But it was already too late.

Behind him, a slender figure stood quietly at the courtyard entrance.

Under the moonlight, Lin Xiaoyu wore simple clothes. Her face was calm, and her eyes were as clear as water.

She looked at Lu Ya without a hint of surprise, as if she had known all along that he would come.

“You… how could you…”

Lu Ya’s voice trembled, and he could barely form a coherent sentence.

He had prepared for seven whole days.

He had studied every weakness of the Luoxia Peak grand array, spent all his savings on the array-breaking talisman, and chosen the moment when Lin Xiaoyu was at her weakest.

Every single step had been calculated with absolute precision.

Yet right now, Chen Ping and Lin Xiaoyu looked as though they had been waiting for him all night.

“Surprised?” Chen Ping sat up from the rocking chair and set down his fishing rod.

He looked at Lu Ya, a hint of amusement in his eyes.

“From the very first day you lurked outside Luoxia Peak, I’ve been watching you.”

Lu Ya shuddered.

“The first day?”

“Yes,” Chen Ping nodded.

“You hid behind the rocks to the east. On the first day, you changed positions three times. On the second day, you began recording the fluctuations of the grand array. On the third day, you tried to probe the array cores with your divine sense. Later, you used Song Tou to provoke us…”

He paused and smiled.

“Do I need to go on?”

Lu Ya’s face turned deathly pale.

He had thought he was stealthy enough, that he had been careful with every step…

Only to realize that from the very beginning, he had been under Chen Ping’s watchful gaze.

“Impossible…” he muttered.

“You’re only in the Qi Refining Stage… How could you possibly detect me…”