“No, I’m nothing like you.”
Li Shen immediately denied Xian's claim in a deadpan tone of voice.
“Don’t deny it brother Shen, I can see it in your eyes. Especially when you snatched my rune, for a split second you thought of how to keep it while saving Goddess Lihua. You almost seem desperate to keep it, to conduct your own research to understand it.”
Xian then wag his finger in front of Li Shen before he continued.
“But brother Shen, that’s 'my' product from 'my' research. You can’t just steal it and learn my secrets without having to go through the struggles I did. That’s a code we don’t break as researchers, shame on you brother Shen.”
Li Shen's expression was neutral neither denying nor confirming Xian’s claim.
“However…”
Xian suddenly paused and smiled at Li Shen.
“I don’t mind telling you brother Shen, what my runes are. You’re curious, right?~”
Xian asked in his drawled tone of voice once again.
Li Shen’s face remained neutral, but Xian chuckled and said.
“I’ll take that as a yes brother Shen.”
After saying that, Xian took a step back and his heart was filled with joy, pride, and numerous emotions as he said with arms spread open.
“I’m the first person able to cultivate without a dantian!”
“That’s not possible.”
Li Shen instantly denounced without a second delay. Even Lihua and Li Wen who was some distance away thought they misheard him.
‘Cultivating without a dantian? That's not possible.’
“Oh?”
Xian smiled and he used his thumb to jab at his heart.
“But you’ve seen it brother Shen, you’ve seen it for yourself! So what do you think, pretty revolutionary right, right? Hahaha!”
Xian began to laugh, but it was nasal so he ended up sounding like a pig grunting.
However, he paused as he saw Li Shen’s expression.
“You still don’t believe me brother Shen? It might be incomplete but it's because of that disciple of yours.”
Li Shen’s expression hardened.
Xian smiled in response before he looked around to find a sword dropped by an infected demonic disciple nearby. He took it up and then in front of them both, he slashed it multiple times rather expertly.
When he finished, an equation was left on the rocky ground of the cavern.
“That’s the base formula I used to make it happen, believe me now?”
Li Shen looked down at it and frowned, but after a moment later his Divine Will extended and carried over another sword.
The sword flashed quickly over the formula and after it stopped, it was Xian’s time to frown.
Li Shen had just posed a question in his formula.
Xian suddenly squatted down to take a closer look at it, all while biting his nail with a contemplating expression.
After a while, he said.
“I did this...”
He cast away the sword and used a finger that had a purple glow around it to write.
“I used my meridians as the channels to-”
Li Shen was focused on Xian’s words but turned to look at him when he suddenly placed his hand over the formula.
Xian pointed at both Lihua and Li Wen.
Li Shen motioned to Lihua and Li Wen while saying.
“Both of you check for mortal survivors in the pavilions.”
Lihua and Li Wen gave each other an unsure glance but Li Shen said again.
“It’s fine.”
With that, they both nodded before heading to check the pavilions. Lihua couldn’t help but give a final glance towards Li Shen. She felt like something was wrong with this situation. An underlying problem that she wasn't aware of.
With both Lihua and Li Wen gone, Li Shen and Xian were left alone.
“Continue.”
Li Shen simply said with an expressionless face, while avoiding Xian’s gaze by looking down at the formula.
Xian smiled and said.
“You must understand brother Shen, I only trust you. I don’t trust anyone else with this information.”
Li Shen didn’t reply to that and only remain quiet.
Xian didn’t mind though and went back to answering the question Li Shen posed.
“As I was saying, I used my meridian as channels to move the Demonic Qi through my body while using my heart as the core. But I’m planning on cutting my meridians out of the picture completely like I did with my dantian and used my veins as the channels.”
Xian wrote as he spoke.
“You destroyed you’re own dantian?”
“A Heaven grade Foundation, but anything in the pursuit of my research. However, even though I say that, it was a huge gamble on my part.”
Xian didn’t stop writing or look up as he spoke.
After he finished he waited for Li Shen to speak.
Li Shen soon asked while the sword moved over the now lengthy formula.
“We use our meridians as channels because it has the ability to adapt to Qi usage. Veins aren’t the same.”
Li Shen finished writing and Xian immediately pick up where he left off.
“I can rely on my body’s natural healing to forcefully make them adapt. My method doesn’t only stop here, I’m planning on creating a connection between my core, soul, and body. And make it so I become a sturdy tower that reaches the heavens, but I have to start at it's foundation first.”
Li Shen looked at what Xian wrote and frowned.
‘Why does this seem familiar? I think I’ve seen this concept before in one of my past life memories. But this Xian’s methods is a completely skewed version.’
Li Shen thought as he made the sword move. He pointed out another flaw.
'What if the healing can’t keep up with the damage? Then everything’s over.'
Xian’s finger moved.
'My regeneration can keep up.'
Li Shen didn’t write, instead turned to Xian and said.
“You're going into hypothetical theory, there’s no guarantee.”
Xian lifted his head and met Li Shen’s gaze before he said with his usual relaxed smile.
“That’s not hypothetical theory, that's me having confidence in my physique rune.”
Li Shen didn’t respond to that, and instead turn back and have his sword move.
Like this, the two took turns adding to the formula with only exchanging a few words in between. Mostly they let what they wrote ask and answer for them.
Time lapsed and Li Shen was seen sitting cross-legged in a different place, with Xian still in his squatted positioned.
The formula on the cavern ground was already long enough to fill more than a few manuals.
The interval between Li Shen asking and Xian answering got longer and longer as time went on as well.
Li Shen had posed a question several minutes ago but Xian was biting his nails.
Clench.
Xian clenched his fists, no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t find a way around it.
The question Li Shen posed was how he was going to form the connection between his Soul, Body, and Core runes. They were too incompatible that if forced to integrate, their inscriptions could clash and cause a deformity. Meaning Xian could go boom boom from the inside.
After a few more seconds, Xian’s eyes spout fire as he said.
“It’s because I was interrupted at a critical juncture! If I hadn’t been interrupted by that Kun Peng boy I wouldn’t have needed to use such vile methods to strengthen my runes and cause a change in my Soul and Core runes!”
Li Shen shot him a cold look with a hint of killing intent inside his eyes as he said.
“Don’t talk about my disciple. You left him crippled and he almost died. If it wasn’t under these circumstances I would have killed you already.”
Xian hearing that snapped.
“WELL WHAT DID YOU EXPECT WOULD HAPPEN?!!”
Xian stood up and stared down at Li Shen angrily.
“I didn’t ask him to come looking for trouble. He almost ruined everything, preventing me from achieving my goal. You of all people should know how important that is to me!!”
Li Shen looked at Xian with an expressionless face.
“He came looking for you after you crucified his subdivision and my Faction members.”
Xian hearing his words and seeing his stoned expression, calmed down somewhat before he squatted back down.
“I didn’t know those were brother Shen’s Faction members. They saw my research and if a behemoth like the Celestial Academy had taken action at this time, I would be forced to delay my plans. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Li Shen's eyes flickered and his hand shot out to latch onto Xian’s throat.
Xian didn’t react and only stared at Li Shen calmly.
In the outside world, everyone in the city suddenly froze. With a simple thought from Xian, the same fate that happened to the boy would occur to them.
A rune was inside of their Soul that would combust their bodies before absorbing their cultivation, life essence, and soul energy.
Veins appeared in Li Shen's hand as he resist the urge to rip out Xian’s throat.
**
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