Chapter 1515: 采补 Techniques

"This girl!"

Zhang Xuan shook his head, flew over, and looked down. He saw that the book in front of Zhao Ya was precisely the secret manual he had specially written for her.

It was from back in Tianxuan Kingdom, shortly after she became his student. It was a simplified cultivation technique specifically tailored to her unique physique, but for her current level of cultivation, it was long since useless.

The entire book was clean and tidy, without a single crease, indicating it had been preserved with great care.

When he had given her the book, he had asked her to memorize it and then destroy it. He hadn't expected her to still keep it.

After more than half a year apart, the girl's figure was taller and her demeanor more refined. With her Pure Yin Physique activated, her appearance had undergone a dramatic transformation, making her even more beautiful.

In terms of beauty alone, among all the women he had met, perhaps only Luo Ruoxi could surpass her.

A girl changes a lot as she grows; given this transformation, it seemed that the Glacier Palace had indeed dedicated itself to her development. Otherwise, her physique wouldn't have activated so quickly!

His eyes glinted as he looked towards the girl.

He then frowned.

Although there were no physical restraints on her, her cultivation seemed to be suppressed by some force. At this moment, she was like an ordinary person, without a trace of Zhenqi.

"Teacher, are you... alright?"

Just as he was about to observe more closely what was going on, he heard the girl's voice again.

"I'm fine!"

Too lazy to look any further, he replied directly.

"Who's there?"

Hearing the voice, Zhao Ya was startled. She quickly stood up from where she was, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.

"Who else? It's your teacher!"

His soul form shifted, and Zhang Xuan slowly revealed himself.

Having been tempered by lightning, his Vicious Soul could be revealed if he wished to be seen. However, its immense height of twenty meters made it appear like a giant.

"Teacher..."

Recognizing his appearance and the aura emanating from him, Zhao Ya's eyes immediately reddened.

She had yearned for him day and night, with countless words she wanted to say in her heart, but when they finally met, she couldn't utter a single one.

"Alright, tell me, what exactly happened? Aren't you the Young Palace Mistress? How did you end up imprisoned?" Knowing there was no time for pleasantries, Zhang Xuan frowned and asked.

He needed to understand the situation first before he could figure out how to rescue her.

"Teacher... what I just said, did you... did you... hear it all?" Not answering his question, Zhao Ya's face flushed, looking a bit embarrassed.

"What words?" Zhang Xuan looked over.

"It's just... nothing!"

She quickly waved her hand, then secretly glanced at her teacher. Seeing that he genuinely hadn't paid it any mind, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Her knees buckled, and she knelt on the ground: "I know that bringing danger to Teacher is unfilial, but right now, I have no better option. I can only hope Teacher will help!"

"Since I'm already here, of course, I'll help. What exactly happened?" Zhang Xuan said.

He had rushed here desperately, even risking offending the Zhang Clan and the Sage Temple, all to save her. But even to save her, he needed to know what specifically had happened.

"It's like this. I... accidentally discovered a secret of the Glacier Palace!"

Zhao Ya gritted her teeth: "My mother, she was actually the previous... Palace Mistress of the Glacier Palace!"

"Your mother?"

Zhang Xuan was stunned.

How did her mother get involved again?

He knew that Zhao Ya was the daughter of Lord Zhao Feng of White Jade City and had a butler named Yao Han, but he had indeed never heard anything about her mother.

He hadn't expected her to be the Palace Mistress of the Glacier Palace... This was a super-powerful force comparable to a first-tier clan. How could a Palace Mistress of such an organization marry a minor city lord from a remote region like Tianxuan Kingdom and have a daughter?

"All successive Palace Mistresses of the Glacier Palace need to possess the Pure Yin Physique, and my mother... she has it!"

Zhao Ya stood up, and facing her benefactor, she had nothing to hide, revealing everything she knew: "Back then, something happened. My mother, in order to escape the Glacier Palace, sealed her cultivation and fled to an ancient land without master teachers, Tianxuan Kingdom... Later, she met my father, and they connected due to shared interests, eventually marrying! However, after giving birth to me, her power could no longer be sealed. The power of her Pure Yin Physique leaked, and to prevent my father and me from being harmed, she willingly allowed herself to be captured and brought back..."

"Your mother was captured and brought back?"

Zhang Xuan frowned.

"Yes. She's currently imprisoned somewhere in the Glacier Palace, just like me, but unfortunately... I haven't been able to find her yet!" Zhao Ya shook her head, a look of unwillingness on her face.

As a child, she naturally didn't want her parents to suffer. Yet, knowing her mother was imprisoned but unable to even locate her, her sorrow was immense.

"You were imprisoned because you found this out?"

Zhang Xuan was puzzled.

Even if she knew her mother was the previous Palace Mistress of the Glacier Palace and was imprisoned, it wouldn't necessarily lead to her own imprisonment!

After all, the Glacier Palace had already lost one Palace Mistress. Having finally found another Pure Yin Physique holder, and with her having committed no apparent wrongdoing, it didn't seem logical for them to be so muddled as to destroy their own foundation!

"No, it's because I found out... the method for activating the final step of the Pure Yin Physique!"

Zhao Ya clenched her fists, her face turning ashen.

"What method?"

Zhang Xuan grew even more curious.

The Pure Yin Physique, activated step by step. Knowing the method for the final step should be a cause for joy, so why did it lead to her being trapped?

"The Pure Yin Physique gathers the ultimate beauty of women in heaven and earth, integrating it into one's being. It's rare across the entire continent; perhaps only my mother and I possess it in this era! Once activated, this physique causes cultivation to surge dramatically. Any martial technique or cultivation art can be learned with ease, without any effort..."

Zhao Ya slowly explained: "But... the world has its constants. No single ability can be allowed to develop to its absolute limit. This is what's known as 'solitary yin cannot grow, isolated yang cannot last!'"

Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes.

"It means that yin and yang are not isolated and static; instead, they have a relationship of relativity, interdependence, waxing and waning, and transformation... Although yin and yang are opposing, they cannot exist without each other..."

Recalling what she had previously seen, Zhao Ya's delicate body trembled: "Therefore, the final step to activating the Pure Yin Physique is... the blending of yin and yang, their mutual harmonization!"

"Blending of yin and yang?"

"Yes. The Glacier Palace not only has female disciples who cultivate yin attributes but also male disciples who cultivate yang attributes. To break through to the final step, one must gather the yang qi from their bodies, treating them as human cauldrons!"

Zhao Ya gritted her teeth.

"Human cauldrons? The Glacier Palace actually uses such a cruel secret technique?"

Zhang Xuan's body stiffened.

So-called human cauldrons are merely objects providing qi for extraction. Once the extraction is complete, they die directly... Such a cruel method has always been deeply abhorred by the Master Teacher Pavilion. The reason the Soul Oracles were eradicated back then was due to their methods of soul possession and forging soulless golden puppets... And the final step for the Pure Yin Physique in the Glacier Palace is actually this method...

That's terrifying!

"Yes. I directly refused, and that's why... I was imprisoned. The Grand Elder intends for me to change my mind!" Zhao Ya said.