Volume 14, Chapter 912 – Cheng Hongling Fuses with the Heart Fragments (Part 2)

“Darling, take it piece by piece. If at any moment you feel you can’t suppress it, stop immediately. Do you understand?”

Qi Huang gave her repeated, serious reminders.

“Don’t worry, I know my limits.”

Cheng Hongling smiled gently. She was cold on the outside, but not ungrateful.

“So you can smile! I thought you didn’t know how to.”

An Xuan exclaimed in surprise.

“She does smile, but only for me. Jealous, aren’t you?”

Qi Huang boasted smugly.

“You two are the same person. Her smiling at you is like you smiling at yourself in a mirror. What’s there to be smug about?”

An Xuan, still confused, muttered under her breath.

“Don’t listen to her nonsense. I smile at my parents too.”

Cheng Hongling shot her lover a coquettish glance, then said, “Alright, enough chit-chat. Neither the Heavenly Dao nor the Immortal Alliance is going to give us much time.”

“Then let’s begin. Just focus on the integration. We’ll guard you.”

Qi Huang’s expression turned solemn.

Cheng Hongling nodded in acknowledgment. She stretched out a jade-like finger and made a light slash across her snowy-white wrist. Her fingernail, as thin as a cicada’s wing, immediately opened a shallow wound.

At her command, a fragment of heart tissue flew toward her wrist. The moment it touched her blood, it burrowed into the wound, then followed the artery, squirming toward her heart like a starving infant desperate to feed.

In the blink of an eye, the fragment had affixed itself to her heart. As it absorbed her blood, it began to glisten with a wet, slick sheen. Veins surfaced along its membrane, gradually bulging, and inside them pulsed thick, black blood visible to the naked eye. a substance tainted with concentrated corpse Yin energy.

Cheng Hongling’s brows furrowed ever so slightly. Even with her formidable endurance, this was her heart they were dealing with. No ordinary pain could compare.

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At that moment, the heart fragment, now full and satiated, began to reverse its flow, spewing out corpse blood that seeped into and contaminated Cheng Hongling’s heart.

Cheng Hongling’s delicate body shuddered. She nearly passed out from the searing pain but bit down hard on her lip to stay conscious. She summoned her Profound Ice True Qi with all her might, attempting to seal the fragment in ice.

Thus began a fierce internal struggle between the two forces. Fortunately, Cheng Hongling’s current cultivation had reached the level of a Monarch-grade Immortal. Her Profound Ice True Qi was intensely domineering. Before long, she managed to fully suppress the heart fragment.

She took a deep breath, only then realizing her entire body was icy cold and her clothes drenched in sweat.

Qi Huang saw how pale Cheng Hongling’s face had become and immediately took out a handkerchief to gently wipe the fragrant sweat from her face.

“How are you feeling? If this doesn’t work, forget it. As they say, when one door closes, another opens. We’ll find another way.”

Qi Huang urged with concern.

“I’m alright. It hurt, yes, but that’s all. With the amount of True Qi I have now, I should be able to seal at least five heart fragments.”

Cheng Hongling forced a tired smile.

“Sigh, it’s all my fault for being useless. If I were stronger, you wouldn’t have to suffer like this.”

Qi Huang was visibly frustrated.

“Don’t say that. You’ve done more than enough. If you hadn’t descended like a lucky star into my life, I—and the entire Honghua Sect—would’ve perished like countless weak cultivation sects, disappearing in the long river of time without so much as a ripple.”

Cheng Hongling patted her lover’s hand and said gently, “You’ve carried the weight for so long. It’s my turn now.”

Qi Huang managed a faint smile. She knew she couldn’t change Cheng Hongling’s mind, so she wisely kept quiet. Once this ordeal passed, she would help her lover strengthen her power as quickly as possible… only then could the pain be reduced.

Cheng Hongling proceeded to absorb the second heart fragment. Then the third…

As the number of fragments increased, Cheng Hongling’s complexion grew increasingly pale, and her body trembled more violently. Unable to endure the pain, she took out a nerve-numbing pill from her spatial ring and swallowed it before moving on to the fourth.

Qi Huang stood helplessly nearby. If not for her Divine Sense monitoring Cheng Hongling’s internal condition, she would’ve stopped her by force.

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After the fourth fragment, Cheng Hongling looked utterly drained. Her sleek hair was soaked with sweat, hanging limply over her chest. Her pretty face was as white as a sheet, eyelids drooping as if she were gravely ill. The cold aloofness she usually exuded had completely vanished.

“Darling, let’s just stop, alright?”

Qi Huang gently touched her lover’s shoulder.

“I’ve… already absorbed four… You want me to fail now?”

Cheng Hongling forced out another tragic smile and stubbornly straightened her body.

“But there’s no need to rush it. Once you’ve rested and recovered, we can absorb the fifth fragment. Okay?”

Qi Huang tried to reason with her.

“I agree with Young Mistress’s plan,” An Xuan chimed in. “Your True Qi may be enough to seal five fragments, but your body is at its limit. If you faint, you won’t be able to control your True Qi. Then the heart fragments will turn on you.”

She added dryly, “Of course, if you don’t mind becoming a ghost clan member, then forget I said anything.”

“So you two… you look down on me, huh? Today… I’ll show you what it means to be the number one genius of the Honghua Sect…”

Cheng Hongling slurred, then popped two more numbing pills into her mouth, and fell silent.

Qi Huang tried to stop her, but before she could act, she realized Cheng Hongling wasn’t responding at all. Looking closely, she saw that her lover had passed out.

“Sigh…”

Qi Huang gently pulled her into her arms, her emotions a swirl of sorrow and helplessness. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Maybe it’s for the best. Any further and something terrible might’ve happened,”

An Xuan comforted her.

Qi Huang composed herself with difficulty, then carefully examined Cheng Hongling’s condition. She found that the Profound Ice True Qi was indeed extraordinarily powerful, firmly sealing the four heart fragments. Adding the first one, that made five in total—none of them showed any signs of movement.

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“Young Mistress, thank goodness your main body’s True Qi is so dominant. If she’d fainted with a weaker foundation, the fragments would’ve counterattacked. Not even immortals could’ve saved her then.”

An Xuan said, deeply moved.

Qi Huang shuddered at the thought. She was silently grateful she had connected with the people from Shuiyu Valley. Without cultivating the Water Exquisite Art, this would’ve ended in disaster.

She quickly brought Cheng Hongling home to rest. The fifth fragment would have to wait.

Days passed, yet Cheng Hongling remained unconscious. The Profound Ice True Qi encasing the five fragments had begun to thin, and traces of Yin energy were starting to seep out.

Qi Huang grew increasingly anxious, running around in search of a solution.

“Young Mistress, the Fengming Empress also cultivates Water True Qi, and she’s at the Heavenly Immortal Realm. She might be able to help.”

An Xuan reminded her.

“How did I forget her?”

Qi Huang slapped her forehead and hurried to find Feng Jiu’an.

Upon hearing what had happened, Feng Jiu’an grew worried and immediately followed Qi Huang home.

“No problem, leave it to me. I’ll channel some Profound Ice True Qi into her body every day to keep the fragments sealed until she wakes up.”

After examining Cheng Hongling’s condition, Feng Jiu’an gave a confident assurance.

“Thank you so much!”

Qi Huang finally relaxed, feeling fortunate she’d had the foresight to bring the Fengming Empress back. If not, this could’ve been the end.

“Why thank me? You gave us such a good place to stay and shared your assimilation power. I’ve been looking for a way to repay you.”

Feng Jiu’an replied while transmitting True Qi. Clearly, she was someone who remembered favors.

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Half a month later, Cheng Hongling finally stirred awake. When she learned she had lost consciousness midway, she was filled with regret and blamed herself for being weak.

“That’s why they say haste makes waste. For the next fragment, don’t rush it. Wait until your body has fully recovered.”

Qi Huang took the opportunity to gently reason with her.

This time, unexpectedly, Cheng Hongling didn’t insist. She had a strong sense of pride and didn’t want to trouble others again.

So she rested for two more months before finally integrating the last heart fragment. With that, Cheng Hongling now carried six of Lu Yao’s heart fragments in her body.

“They’re all integrated now, but how do we remove them in the future? These things don’t just torment you, they’re like ticking time bombs.”

Qi Huang asked An Xuan with concern.

“There’s no way to remove them. But once your main body ascends to become a Celestial and sheds its mortal form, you’ll be free.”

An Xuan explained, then added, “Of course, that’s assuming you gain the Heavenly Dao’s approval.”

“You think we’ll ever get that approval?”

Qi Huang asked with her eyelids lowered.

“Heh…”

An Xuan chuckled awkwardly, then said, “Well… if not, you can always become part of the ghost clan. That’s the only other way to escape the pain completely.”

Qi Huang was left speechless, her brow tightly furrowed.

“Enough. Let’s not dwell on that. The Heavenly Dao will awaken soon. We must head to the Immortal Realm immediately. I need to see if all this suffering has been worth it.”

Cheng Hongling said, unable to contain her urgency.