“Boom!”
Right now, Ruo Ximeng desperately wanted to stop cultivating, but to her despair, she realized she couldn’t.
Her cultivation technique had already begun, and it was now unstoppable.
As it turned out, the powerful cultivator who created the Hunyuan Starfall Art possessed a unique physique known as the Shattered Body.
This special body constitution was strikingly similar to Ruo Ximeng’s current state.
Because of this, the Hunyuan Starfall Art fit Ruo Ximeng with an almost unnatural degree of perfection.
Even compared to the former peerless cultivators who had once practiced the Hunyuan Starfall Art and shook the heavens, none of them had achieved such a high level of compatibility as Ruo Ximeng did now.
Ruo Ximeng felt dizzy and disoriented.
Her entire body was in intense pain.
She wanted to cry out, but not a single sound escaped her lips.
The pain was beyond what any ordinary person could endure.
It felt as if her body was being torn apart inch by inch, only to be reforged just as painfully.
In the process, all the injuries on her body disappeared, and her physique began to transform—becoming increasingly perfect.
Even her already full and graceful figure grew even more alluring and proud.
“Crack!”
“Crack! Crack! Crack!”
Ruo Ximeng had no idea what was happening to her at that moment.
In her mind’s eye, she saw a vast golden network coursing through the endless starry sky, stretching across galaxies and celestial rivers.
That golden web was now merging with her.
An esoteric and complex technique imprinted itself into her sea of consciousness at that moment—the true imperial art: Hunyuan Star Constellation Technique.
If Su Chen or the Emperor’s System had seen the vision in Ruo Ximeng’s eyes, they would have been struck speechless in awe.
Because that golden vein running through the cosmos, suppressing countless stars, was no ordinary power.
It was a miraculous, peerless bloodline—the Human Emperor’s Bloodline.
As descendants of the Human Emperor, all humans theoretically had the potential to awaken this bloodline under certain extraordinary circumstances.
But throughout history, the number of people who had truly awakened the Human Emperor’s Bloodline could be counted on one hand.
Having her sacred bones extracted and her bloodline nearly destroyed, Ruo Ximeng had truly experienced the worst fate imaginable.
And yet now, by awakening and fusing with the Human Emperor’s Bloodline, she had gained a heaven-defying opportunity.
In a hazy, semi-conscious state, Ruo Ximeng drifted off into sleep.
***
When she opened her eyes again, it was already the next morning.
Her long eyelashes fluttered slightly before her beautiful eyes slowly opened.
The first thing she did was try to sense the spiritual energy within her body.
In cultivation, the process begins by absorbing the essence of the heavens and earth into one’s body—refining that essence into spiritual energy, which is then stored within the dantian, granting power.
But after carefully sensing her internal state, Ruo Ximeng immediately felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment.
Last night, she had endured so much pain and cultivated for so long, yet now… there wasn’t even the slightest trace of spiritual energy increase in her body!
She felt terribly discouraged.
Not because her cultivation hadn’t improved—
But because she thought she had failed Su Chen’s expectations.
What she didn’t realize, however, was that after last night’s transformation, she had been completely reborn.
All her injuries had vanished without a trace.
Even more astonishingly, her sensitivity to the world’s spiritual energy and the laws of the Great Dao had become incredibly sharp and precise.
***
At that moment, Su Chen arrived at her door, carrying a food box in one hand.
“Ximeng, wake up. Time for breakfast.”
Su Chen didn’t ask Ruo Ximeng about her cultivation progress.
Instead, he told her to come eat.
Even if Ruo Ximeng made no progress at all, even if she remained a weakling her entire life—so what?
With Su Chen around, no matter what tribulations came their way, he would face them all with a single fist.
“Master, I…”
When Ruo Ximeng opened the door, there were still faint traces of tears on her face.
She had endured the pain of training all night, yet made no progress.
She felt utterly wronged.
“It’s fine.”
Before she could finish her sentence, Su Chen cut her off with those familiar two words: “It’s fine.”
“Master…”
Ruo Ximeng was deeply moved and threw herself into Su Chen’s arms.
It felt like—as long as Su Chen was by her side, no storm or cold wind could harm her.
Everything could be reduced to just two words: it’s fine.
“Huh? You’re really different every day, huh?”
Although it wasn’t exactly the right time to say it, Su Chen couldn’t help but speak in surprise.
Just yesterday, he had helped his little disciple change into her undergarments, so he was quite familiar with her size.
But now, with Ruo Ximeng hugging him so tightly, Su Chen immediately noticed something quite serious—her size was clearly off!
“Master? What do you mean by ‘different every day’?”
Ruo Ximeng blinked up at him with a confused, innocent expression.
She honestly didn’t understand what he meant.
“Ahem, nothing. Let’s eat first…”
Su Chen gave a few awkward coughs to cover up his slip of the tongue.
“Go on, try it. I made all of this myself. Tell me what you think of your master’s cooking.”
Su Chen shamelessly declared, even though in truth, he had only sampled the food at an old, well-known restaurant while strolling outside—and simply asked the chef to prepare the same dishes.
[Host, do you even have a sense of shame? Touch your heart and say that again—did you really make this yourself?]
[Touch your heart and say it with a straight face!]
As the system’s mini avatar raged in indignation, Su Chen remained calm and unrepentant.
“This is my cooking,” he repeated with zero guilt.
***
After a few bites of the delicious food, Ruo Ximeng’s mood began to lighten considerably.
“Master, I’m sorry. I trained really hard last night, but I didn’t make any progress at all…”
Her voice was soft and guilty.
She wasn’t afraid of being scolded—she just didn’t want to disappoint Su Chen.
“Hahaha… That’s no big deal. This particular cultivation method suits you well, but it’s also notoriously difficult to master. Just take your time and let things happen naturally.”
While those were the words Su Chen spoke, his thoughts were quite different.
‘The cultivation manual and star chart I gave her are both fake. If she did manage to cultivate anything, now that would be strange.’
But even so, Su Chen felt something was off.
With his level of cultivation, he could clearly tell that Ruo Ximeng’s injuries had started to heal—miraculously so.
And yet, her spiritual energy had barely increased at all.
After thinking for a moment, Su Chen decided to consult with the Imperial Mentor System about her current condition.
When it came to guiding others in cultivation, the system was supposed to be the expert.
‘What’s going on with this girl? Her injuries have fully healed, but her spiritual energy hasn’t improved in the slightest.’
After Su Chen posed the question, the system avatar fell into complete silence.
Despite its usual bragging—‘I’ve seen it all, there’s nothing I don’t know’—it had to admit one thing now.
[This… is a situation even I haven’t seen before.]