After listening to Yu Yi’s words, the hidden power within Blue Ling’er and Ye Qingluan was unleashed.
What followed was very simple.
The Yunyin Forest restored itself at a visible rate, and the Rot Qi lingering in the air was completely purified.
Blue Ling’er retracted her biting cold aura, and the golden-crowned cranes hovering in the sky were enveloped by a cyan glow. Their shrill, piercing cries subsided, and they gradually returned to normal.
The Yunyin Forest, restored to its former state, was indescribably beautiful, making one feel as if they had stepped into a fairyland.
The ten golden-crowned cranes descended gracefully and gathered around Yu Yi and the other two, pressing close to them in affectionate contact.
Their postures were elegant, their bearing transcendent, and their intelligent eyes were filled with gratitude.
“Ling’er, Qingluan, congratulations.” At that moment, Yu Yi sensed a pleasant surprise in both of them as well, and spoke with a smile.
Hearing Yu Yi’s reminder, the two realized that each of them had grown in their own way.
First was Blue Ling’er.
Under the near-depletion of her energy earlier, she had displayed an explosive burst of power, which allowed her to instantly break through her bottleneck, advancing from the Martial King Fifth Realm to the Martial King Sixth Realm!
When a cultivator’s cultivation reaches the Martial King Realm, every small realm improvement requires a massive investment of resources and effort.
Blue Ling’er’s breakthrough this time was undeniably a pleasant surprise.
Ye Qingluan, on the other hand, brought a different kind of surprise.
Although her cultivation level did not break through, she clearly felt that her affinity with the “Azure Wood Jade” had increased by several points.
If before Ye Qingluan could at most unleash 40% of the Azure Wood Jade’s power, now she could unleash 60% of its power!
The Azure Wood Jade contained a life force comparable to eternity, and its latent power was even more incalculable!
Just then, the leading golden-crowned crane flapped its wings and let out a long cry. Yu Yi looked at it and noticed a pure breath slowly drifting out from its beak.
It condensed into a crystal, which the crane then held in its beak. Lowering its noble head, it presented the crystal to Yu Yi.
“You really know how to be thoughtful, don’t you?” Yu Yi said with a smile as she gently stroked the head of this golden-crowned crane.
From start to finish, the ones who had exerted the effort were Blue Ling’er and Ye Qingluan, yet this golden-crowned crane had offered the “final spoils” to Yu Yi.
Talk about playing it smart.
Yu Yi took the crystal and examined it carefully in her hand.
“Master, is this its soul essence?”
Blue Ling’er seized the opportunity to sidle up to Yu Yi and, after a serious look, said:
“Although it’s a bit smaller than the ones I’ve seen before, I can feel that the lingqi contained within it is extremely pure.”
As the saying goes, concentration is essence.
Though small and exquisite, this soul essence was a crystallization of centuries of absorbed heavenly spiritual energy—nothing to be underestimated.
“The legends say that golden-crowned cranes can spit out soul essences—it’s true after all,” Yu Yi murmured in admiration.
Just as Yu Yi was pondering how much this small soul essence could improve Blue Ling’er’s cultivation, a spectacular scene unfolded.
The other nine golden-crowned cranes flapped their wings in succession and raised their voices to the sky, their cries interweaving into a heavenly melody that echoed through the Yunyin Forest.
Yu Yi clearly saw that from the beaks of these nine golden-crowned cranes, pure spiritual energy breath was also slowly drifting out, condensing into small, exquisite soul essences.
Under the direction of the leading crane, the nine golden-crowned cranes lined up in front of Yu Yi and, one by one, offered their soul essences to her.
This was something Yu Yi had not anticipated.
She had thought that after saving these ten golden-crowned cranes, getting one of them to offer a soul essence in gratitude was already quite a feat.
But now—good heavens—they were planning to give all of their soul essences to Yu Yi?
If the Yan Emperor found out about this, what would he think?
While Yu Yi was thinking this, her hands were moving to accept the soul essences without any hesitation.
Blue Ling’er and Ye Qingluan were dumbfounded by the sight.
“S-So many? All given to us!?”
“I’ve long heard that animals understand gratitude better than humans—now I see it’s true…”
In the blink of an eye, Yu Yi’s fair palm was neatly filled with ten small, delicate soul essences.
According to Ji Hongye, each of these soul essences could instantly elevate a “newbie” at the Martial Artist First Realm to a “big shot” at the Martial King Realm.
If she let Blue Ling’er absorb all ten of them, could she directly break through to Grandmaster?
If so, wouldn’t that mean she wouldn’t need to perform Dual Cultivation with her?
But since she had already promised Blue Ling’er, Yu Yi had no intention of going back on her word.
Thus, after a moment of thought, Yu Yi said:
“Of these ten soul essences, four go to Ling’er, and the rest of you get one each.”
“Master, I don’t actually need one very much.”
Ye Qingluan then said:
“Since Master has decided to focus on cultivating Second Senior Sister, why not give my share to Second Senior Sister as well? That way, she can reach the Grandmaster realm even faster.”
“No, no, no, Master—I only need one!”
Blue Ling’er quickly shook her head and said:
“You should give more to our hardworking Fourth Junior Sister and Little Junior Sister, and to well-behaved Little Ganxue!”
Blue Ling’er was also worried: if she absorbed too many soul essences and directly reached Grandmaster, then she would lose her excuse to perform Dual Cultivation with Yu Yi.
Yu Yi naturally saw through her little scheme.
So Yu Yi cleared her throat twice and said:
“This master has made a decision. We will distribute them as I just said. There’s no need for the two of you to keep yielding to each other.”
“Yes, Master. Thank you for your gift!”
The two could only step back two paces and kneel on one knee before Yu Yi to offer their thanks.
Although they obeyed their master’s orders on the surface, Blue Ling’er was still very worried.
Four soul essences—neither too many nor too few.
But Blue Ling’er had just achieved a breakthrough. If she absorbed these four soul essences and really did reach the Grandmaster realm, what would happen then?
She couldn’t help but scheme secretly in her heart:
‘Knowing Master’s personality, once she returns to Among the Colorful Clouds, she will definitely distribute those ten soul essences to everyone. At that time, I can secretly give a few of them to Little Ganxue, right?’
‘Yes, that’s the plan!’
However, just as Blue Ling’er made up her mind, Yu Yi’s voice rang out:
“Ling’er.”
“Disciple is here.” Blue Ling’er quickly responded. “Master, what are your instructions?”
“Come here.” Yu Yi beckoned.
Blue Ling’er obediently came before Yu Yi.
Then she heard something astonishing.
“Come on, open your mouth.”
As she spoke, Yu Yi picked up a soul essence, as if she intended to personally feed them to Blue Ling’er one by one.
Blue Ling’er immediately panicked.
She had originally planned to secretly give two of them to Yun Ganxue later, ensuring that she wouldn’t advance to Grandmaster, thereby achieving her goal of Dual Cultivation with Yu Yi.
But now Yu Yi wanted to feed her by hand and personally watch her absorb these four soul essences. Blue Ling’er’s plan had only just been formulated, and it was about to fall apart?
Seeing Blue Ling’er fidgeting, as if somewhat unwilling, Yu Yi smiled slightly.
Yu Yi knew that Blue Ling’er wasn’t shy.
She was worried about that matter.
So Yu Yi leaned close to Blue Ling’er’s ear and whispered softly:
“Don’t worry. This master will never break the promise I made to you.”
Her voice was as gentle as water, yet it stirred the heart.
Blue Ling’er was stunned for a moment upon hearing this. Then her heartbeat began to accelerate, and her icy jade-like cheeks flushed as if a scorching warm current had passed through them, red and hot.
‘As expected… nothing can be hidden from Master.’
She thought to herself, a faint smile curling at the corners of her mouth.