Chapter 268: Seizing the Body
While Yu Nianzhen and his group were hiding in a cave in the Fair Plum inn, the Ice Palace region was not calm.
Initially, the nascent soul realm cultivators who wanted to capture Bing Lan weren’t discouraged when they couldn’t trace the teleportation residue when they escaped.
After all, Yu Nianzhen and Bing Lan were only in the origin tempering realm.
No matter what, their qi was only enough to teleport within the Ice Palace region.
However, things were beyond their expectations.
After seven days of searching, their efforts didn’t yield any results.
They had even posted wanted notices, but no information had come out.
At the moment, everyone was at a loss, but no one wanted to give up.
"Shall we buy news from the border guard faction?" An elder of the Ghost Valley asked.
He was worried that others would find Bing Lan first.
If that happened, their Ghost Valley would have to fight or give up.
Although they weren’t afraid of others, it was best to avoid fights if they could.
At least, they needed to have Bing Lan in hand before they got embroiled in fights.
"Let’s buy." The Ghost Valley nascent soul realm cultivator comprised.
With a helpless sigh, the elder rushed toward the border guard arena, planning to buy all the news he could.
Unfortunately, the Ghost Valley was not the only one that thought of the border guard arena.
When the Ghost Valley elder arrived at the border guard arena, there were already several people who were waiting to buy the same news.
’This is not good.’ The elder thought and sighed again.
However, there was nothing he could do.
There was no way to interfere with the business of the border guard faction so he could only hate and sigh.
.....
Despite the unease in the Ice Palace region, the Taoist ceremony between Xuan Dong and Bing Mei happened as planned.
The Ice Palace sect and the Thunder God Temple formed an alliance but all these were superficial.
Because Bing Mei was only thirteen, there was no bridal chamber and Xuan Dong would have to wait for eight years.
However, eight years was an instant for cultivators.
He didn’t really care about the bridal chamber and both went into seclusion after the ceremony.
However, things took a turn for Bing Mei.
As soon as she changed out of her ceremonial robes, she was summoned to the palace master’s cave.
When she arrived, Shui Qingqing was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room.
Her eyes were closed and her presence perfectly meshed into heaven and earth.
Looking at her, Bing Mei was a little unsure if she was a live person or a part of heaven and earth.
However, she soon came to her senses and shook her head.
"Bing Mei has received the palace master’s summon." She said and bowed to Shui Qingqing.
Without raising her body, she waited for the palace master to speak but Shui Qingqing remained silent for a long time.
When she finally opened her eyes, Bing Mei’s body was a little uncomfortable and annoyance filled her heart.
’This damned woman.’ Bing Mei cursed but nothing showed on her face.
"Mei’er, you are young but you should understand why I married you to Xuan Dong."
"Bing Mei is naturally grateful. Without brother Dong, Bing Mei will have a hard time overcoming her physique’s outbreak."
"Mmmm." Shui Qingqing nodded and looked at Bing Mei appreciatively.
"Mei’er, come here. Master will pass to you a better cultivation technique."
"Thank you, master." The young girl said and eagerly rushed toward the palace master.
When she was less than a metre from Shui Qingqing, she sat cross-legged and closed her eyes.
Shui Qingqing looked at her and sighed.
If possible, she didn’t want to use Bing Mei.
However, Bing Lan had escaped and the divine sense mark she left on her had been erased.
More importantly, there was no guarantee that Bing Lan was still chaste.
In that case, it was better for Shui Qingqing to grasp what she already had.
After she seized Bing Mei, she would have several thousand years to find Bing Lan and take revenge on her.
"Regulate your breath and open your sea of consciousness." Shi Qingqing said and Bing Mei didn’t hesitate.
She obediently adjusted her condition and opened her sea of consciousness.
Soon after, she felt something enter her sea of consciousness and a complex technique entered her mind.
Without her urging, her qi began to circulate according to the technique and a smile curled her lips.
However, she didn’t break her concentration.
She actively aided the technique and familiarised herself with the circulation route.
"That’s good." Shui Qingqing said excitedly and a trace of malice flashed in her eyes.
After nine dozen cycles, a stream of icy qi entered Bing Mei’s body and her body began to change drastically.
Her meridians expanded, her dantian widened, and the rest of her body began to strengthen.
Before she could adjust to the changes, a flood of qi entered her body but her dantian was a bottomless pit.
It swallowed all the qi and her cultivation skyrocketed.
Within a few moments, her cultivation rose from the origin forging realm and broke through to the qi transformation realm.
Soon after, it rose from the first level of the qi transformation realm to the first level of the origin tempering realm.
However, the rush didn’t end there.
When she broke through to the origin tempering realm, her origin began to shake violently.
Although she had the same physique as Bing Lan, their origins were different.
Bing Lan’s origin was an orchid but Bing Mei’s was a staff.
The staff wasn’t like Xuan Ke’s martial arts staff but like a magic staff for conducting ice qi.
At this time, the staff shook vigorously and bursts of pain spread from her dantian to every inch of her body.
However, Bing Mei didn’t give in to the pain.
Instead, she gritted her teeth and endured.
When she saw this, Shui Qingqing was impressed.
She thought she would have to use some means to keep Bing Mei awake but didn’t expect the girl to have such immense willpower.
’It may not be bad to seize her.’ Shui Qingqing thought and doubled her efforts.
She continued to transfer her qi into Bing Mei’s body and the young girl continue to endure.
After enduring for three days, nine holes appeared around her origin.
The holes floated in the void and each seemed to hold a small world.
’It succeeded.’ Shui Qingqing was elated and she heaved a sigh of relief.
One of the reasons she wanted to seize Bing Lan’s body was because Bing Lan had already cultivated to the origin tempering realm.
This meant Bing Lan had already opened her treasure worlds and Shui Qingqing could easily transfer her origin treasures.
Fortunately, Bing Mei did not let her down.
Although she hadn’t cultivated her treasure worlds, she didn’t resist Shui Qingqing and cultivating the treasure worlds turned out well.
’I can now transfer my origin treasures.’ Shui Qingqing thought and then frowned.
Cultivating the treasure worlds in Bing Mei’s body took a lot of qi of Shui Qingqing’s qi.
Originally, she could have retained her nascent soul realm if she seized Bing Lan’s body.
Unfortunately, Bing Mei’s cultivation was too low.
At the moment, the qi could only push Bing Mei’s cultivation to the peak of the origin tempering realm.
However, Shui Qingqing wasn’t too worried.
Since she had already cultivated to the nascent soul realm, her mental state was there and recultivating was only a matter of accumulating qi.
In less than ten years, she would definitely return to the nascent soul realm.
’First things first.’ Shui Qingqing thought and drove out all her distracting thoughts.
A moment later, she carefully extracted her first origin treasure and transferred it to the first treasure world in Bing Mei’s dantian.
The treasure sunk into the small world and the previously dark hole shone with an icy light.
At the same time, Bing Mei’s qi ocean began to churn and the qi collapsed on itself.
After the collapse, the quantity of qi decreased by half but its quality improved by more than half.
’The quality of qi should be even better after her ice marrow physique awakens.’ Shui Qingqing thought gleefully and her mood became a little urgent.
In the next short while, she transferred the remaining treasures and the rest of her qi.
When that was done, she adjusted her condition and took a deep breath.
Without nostalgia, her soul abandoned her body and entered between Bing Mei’s eyebrows.
Shui Qingqing had prepared for a long time and didn’t make any mistakes as she flew into Bing Mei’s sea of consciousness.
Her plan was to quickly devour Bing Mei’s soul and seize her body.
Although Bing Mei’s cultivation was forcibly raised, her soul was only that of an origin-forging realm cultivator.
As a nascent soul realm cultivator, Shui Qingqing didn’t pay attention to it but she quickly regretted her arrogance.
