Chapter 443: Verbal Clash

Piercing screams echoed through the forest. Fortunately, this area was sealed off, preventing anyone from entering. Otherwise, these horrific wails alone would have attracted countless onlookers.

Sizzling sounds filled the air!

On the stone platform, Zhou Yuan sat cross-legged. Two torrents, one of water and one of fire, gushed from the mouths of two stone dragons on either side, fiercely washing over his body.

Steam rose from his body.

In the rising steam, Zhou Yuan's face was contorted and incredibly grim, clearly indicating he was enduring an agonizing pain.

His body was a stark contrast: one half was icy blue, covered in frost, while the other was fiery red, radiating intense heat as if his very blood was boiling.

The extreme heat and cold permeated his flesh. Every inch of his body seemed to tremble as the opposing energies alternately tempered his skin and muscles.

Clearly, this external refining technique was unimaginably difficult.

By the cliff edge, Elder Xuan watched Zhou Yuan, who was being tempered by the torrents of water and fire. His cloudy eyes narrowed slightly as he said, "Aren't you going to activate the 'Lesser Mystical Sacred Body' cultivation method to absorb the water and fire energies for body tempering?"

His voice reached Zhou Yuan's ears. The latter gritted his teeth, regaining a sliver of clarity, then clasped his hands and began to activate the unique cultivation method of the 'Lesser Mystical Sacred Body' within his body.

As he activated it, the previously chaotic and boiling water and fire energies within him were guided, beginning to circulate on the surface of his skin and continuously permeate inward.

Zhou Yuan could feel that most of the water and fire energies that had surged into his body began to rise, their power flowing into his entire skin.

Zhou Yuan was not surprised by this. The Lesser Mystical Sacred Body was divided into three layers: Jade Skin, Silver Bone, and Golden Blood. Jade Skin was the first step, gradually transforming the body from the outside inward.

However, cultivating Jade Skin was no simple feat. The immense pain one had to endure during this process made Zhou Yuan shiver just thinking about it.

But the training had begun, and Zhou Yuan naturally couldn't back down. He immediately steadied his mind, gritted his teeth, and endured the pain of the water-fire tempering. The veins beneath his skin pulsed continuously.

Zhou Yuan endured the onslaught of the water and fire energies for about half an incense stick's time before finally reaching his limit. He shot up into the air and then stumbled awkwardly, collapsing by the cliff edge.

He felt that if he had pushed on any longer, half his body would have been incinerated, and the other half would have turned into ice.

Zhou Yuan knelt on the ground, drenched in sweat, his body trembling continuously.

"Enduring it for half an incense stick's time on your first try is not bad," Elder Xuan said with a chuckle, looking at the disheveled Zhou Yuan.

"If it were an ordinary person cultivating to this stage, they would need to rest for the day. But you are different. You have cultivated the 'Taiyi Cyanwood Mark,' making your vital energy as vigorous as a boiling furnace. With just a brief rest, your body will gradually recover, and you can continue your training."

Hearing this, Zhou Yuan's mouth twitched involuntarily.

However, in the end, he said nothing more, just gritted his teeth, nodded, and sat cross-legged on the ground, closing his eyes.

Faint jade-green light patterns flickered on the surface of his body, and a cool aura spread from within, rapidly soothing the lingering sharp pain in Zhou Yuan's body.

His vibrant vital energy began to surge, causing Zhou Yuan's skin to return to normal.

In just over ten minutes, Zhou Yuan opened his eyes, which were now filled with renewed vigor. The fatigue and intense pain from earlier had completely vanished.

"What an incredible Taiyi Cyanwood Mark!" Zhou Yuan couldn't help but be moved by the changes in his body. With the amazing restorative effects of the Taiyi Cyanwood Mark, he could practice external refining techniques almost without restraint, no longer worrying about physical damage from over-training.

This efficiency was many times greater than that of ordinary people!

No wonder Elder Xuan had recommended the 'Lesser Mystical Sacred Body' to him.

With his body recovered, Zhou Yuan stood up again. He smiled at Yaoyao, who had been quietly observing, then turned his gaze toward the stone platform.

Though the previous pain still left lingering trepidation, there was no hesitation in Zhou Yuan's eyes. He moved swiftly, landing on the stone platform and sitting cross-legged.

The two stone dragons' mouths opened again, and the torrents of water and fire roared forth.

By the cliff edge, Elder Xuan gazed at Zhou Yuan, whose face was contorted and teeth clenched tightly under the onslaught of the water and fire torrents. He nodded almost imperceptibly.

This young man's perseverance was quite surprising.

In the dilapidated stone pavilion by the cliff, Yaoyao sat elegantly. Her bright eyes looked at Elder Xuan's hunched back as she said, "Elder, would you like to sit for a while?"

Elder Xuan turned, smiled at Yaoyao, then walked over with his bamboo broom and sat in the pavilion, sighing, "I've lived for so many years and seen many prodigies in the Cangxuan Sect, but never once have I encountered anyone who could make me feel such a profound sense of awe, even trepidation, as you do."

"A person like you, even appearing in our Cangxuan Sect, gives me a feeling of a phoenix dwelling in a broken wooden shack."

Yaoyao took out a wine pot and a cup. Hearing his words, she chuckled lightly and said, "Elder, you jest. The Cangxuan Sect was once the foremost sect in Cangxuan Heaven; how could it be a broken shack?"

Elder Xuan sighed, "I am not jesting. Having lived this long, such feelings cannot be feigned."

Yaoyao's eyes turned to Zhou Yuan on the stone platform. She suddenly asked, "I've heard that you, Elder, never involve yourself in anything within the Cangxuan Sect. Why are you helping Zhou Yuan so much now?"

When Yaoyao and Zhou Yuan had encountered a remnant soul of Ancestor Cangxuan in the Saint Remains Realm, they learned that his demise might have been due to internal factors within the Cangxuan Sect. Therefore, after arriving at the sect, Yaoyao harbored a degree of caution towards all figures from that era, including Elder Xuan, who usually kept such a low profile within the Cangxuan Sect that he went unnoticed.

Thus, when Yaoyao noticed Elder Xuan's unusual attentiveness to Zhou Yuan, she naturally intended to inquire about it.

Elder Xuan lifted his wrinkled eyelids, remained silent for a moment, then slowly said, "I have waited for many years."

"Waited for what?" Yaoyao asked.

"For someone who can break the deadlock..." Elder Xuan looked up at the sealed main peak and said, "The Cangxuan Sect is too quiet, like stagnant water. It needs some turmoil to stir up the fish."

"And for many matters, I also seek an answer."

Yaoyao held the pot with her delicate hand, and clear wine cascaded into the cup. She softly said, "Whatever your intentions, Elder, I only hope they do not harm Zhou Yuan. Otherwise, any guidance you have given him would no longer count."

As she spoke, she pushed the full wine cup towards Elder Xuan.

Elder Xuan gave Yaoyao a deep look. He could sense the warning in her words. Normally, facing a disciple's warning, he would likely just shake his head and laugh.

But looking at the impossibly beautiful girl before him, he couldn't laugh. Instead, he felt a subtle, indefinable pressure.

Nevertheless, he eventually took the cup and said with a wry smile, "Little girl, this cup of wine you offer is truly hard to swallow."

Yaoyao nodded slightly and smiled, "Indeed, not many can drink this cup of mine."

Her words were incredibly arrogant, yet Elder Xuan chose to believe them. For some reason, his perception within the Cangxuan Sect was likely unmatched, even surpassing that of Sect Master Qingyang and others.

Perhaps even Sect Master Qingyang and the others couldn't sense the profound, unsettling aura hidden deep within the girl, an aura she herself might not even be aware of, but he had a slight inkling of it.

The girl before him was terrifyingly mysterious.

He truly wondered whether such a person's appearance in their Cangxuan Sect would bring fortune or disaster.

His thoughts churned, but finally, Elder Xuan raised the cup and drained it in one gulp.

Yaoyao, too, held her jade cup with her fair hand, bringing it to her red lips. Just as she was about to drink, a shrill scream suddenly echoed from beyond the cliff. Her hand instantly twitched, spilling wine onto the hem of her dress.

Yaoyao's slender eyebrows furrowed slightly. She lifted her exquisite face and looked at Zhou Yuan, who was wailing like a ghost on the stone platform, a hint of annoyance surfacing in her ethereal, clear eyes.

Elder Xuan, witnessing her expression, finally burst out laughing. Compared to the profound indifference emanating from her soul earlier, the girl before him now seemed truly alive.

Like a real person.

He turned his head and looked at Zhou Yuan, marveling.

Perhaps, in this world, there truly is a saying that one thing conquers another.