Chapter 17: The Great Bet  

As things would seem, Qin Xiruo appeared to be someone who cared about Ling Chunxi. But things were never as they seemed. She disregarded this train of thought, there would be time to unravel this matter in the future. What mattered now was to increase her own abilities.

A sense of familiarity washed over Ling Chunxi as she arrived at the waterfall. She fished out a small umbrella, deployed it open over herself and leapt into the air towards the waterfall. It wasn’t difficult for someone with her capabilities to cross from one end of the lake to beyond the waterfall in a single jump. Once she burst through the veil of water, Ling Chunxi found herself alone in a cave hidden away from the rest of the world. The mouth of the cave was damp but the deeper into the cave she went, the more airy it was. Ling Chunxi took her time setting up the instruments she brought along with her before she settled into a cross-legged position and pulled out a long, gleaming silver needle. In order to open up her meridians, she had to succumb herself to a dangerous technique.

This was unsurprising as Ling Chunxi had always been cruel. She was cruel to others and even more so towards herself!

No effort was spared when it came to achieving any goal she set her mind to. Even if it meant sacrificing everything.

All was quiet but for the rush of water from the entrance of the cave. Ling Chunxi removed her outer clothing, stripping herself down to only her innerwear and a short pair of pants. There was little choice, one could not perform acupuncture through clothes.

In the still of the cave, Ling Chunxi emptied her mind as she swiftly maneuvered her right hand to stick a long silver needle into her left arm. A fine thread of Battle Qi coagulated at her fingertips and travelled through the needle and into her body, colliding with her meridians.

Even as a soul-piercing pain rushed up her left arm and large beads of sweat dripped off her skin to the ground, Ling Chunxi made not a move. Her face was a portrait of determination.

To destroy one’s own meridians... If anyone had laid eyes on such a scene, they would be astonished. The method Ling Chunxi was inflicting upon herself wasn’t advanced martial arts, it was a procedure main sects and clans used to punish unfilial disciples by annihilating their meridians. There was no chance at cultivating meridians ravaged to ruins by this procedure to life again.

Ling Chunxi’s mind became one with her body. Each of her meridians was being mercilessly torn apart. Every one of them was frayed with holes, joined together by only the thinnest of threads. This delicate connection was the root of any forthcoming restoration efforts for her meridians. If her meridians were to sever from one another through this procedure, Ling Chunxi would have thoroughly laid herself to waste.

As she persisted stubbornly on, Ling Chunxi kept sweating profusely. This was partly because of the immense pain surging through her body, and partly due to the nervousness of having to perform such an extreme method upon herself.

What superb skill this wonderfully challenging technique required. It took great courage for Ling Chunxi to come to such a decision. This was the only solution she could think of to solve the problem of her meridian suppression. She would restructure her own meridians by destroying them and allowing them to start anew!

By now, the meridians in her left arm were already in tatters. The state of these meridians would have shocked anyone who could perceive them!

Though she was in great agony, Ling Chunxi resolutely reached for yet another long silver needle and pierced its tip through her own skin without hesitation upon identifying an acupoint.

After an excruciating amount of time had passed, so it was that most of Ling Chunxi’s body was spiked with countless silver needles. The glimmer of inhuman light reflected off the army of needles made for a ghastly sight. Ling Chunxi’s face was pale and she had bitten her lips till blood was drawn.

‘A successful meridian reconstruction! But something isn’t right. What is it?’

Her eyes darkened as she endured the pain of pulling out each of the silver needles puncturing her skin one by one. Once she was done with this feat, she struggled to dress herself before finally passing out.

...

‘Where am I? There is only darkness. It’s so cold, there is nothing here at all! Has the world abandoned me so?’

Like a lonely boat adrift at sea, hauled up and down by the waves, Ling Chunxi felt alone and directionless.

‘If I were to sink, would there be no need for me to wake anymore?’

Suddenly, a tinge of warmth began to slowly spread throughout her body. There was a glow of light as something soft and moist pressed against her face. ‘What is this?’