Lin Yi raised his hand, and a simple, gray qiankun bag materialized in his palm, containing the twenty thousand Nirvana Pills and three thousand Xuan Yuan Pills he had just gained from his brother's unlimited return. He was about to release the contents for a quick internal examination when the ancient, invisible array he had just traversed shook with a subtle, resonant frequency.
A graceful, familiar figure stepped through the shimmering light barrier and into the circular hall, her every movement radiating an ethereal purity. It was Ling Qingzhu.
She was exactly as he had last seen her: clad in glacial blue robes, her face partially obscured by the translucent veil, her crystal eyes unnervingly calm. Her footsteps halted instantly upon seeing Lin Yi sitting cross-legged directly beneath the floating Nirvana Heart. A flicker of profound surprise crossed her eyes, quickly masked by her customary cold composure.
Her gaze then swept upward to the fist-sized Nirvana Heart, suspended in its golden orb above Lin Yi's head. The subtle shock in her eyes deepened; she clearly hadn't anticipated a treasure of this magnitude existing within a tomb in the Great Yan Empire's periphery.
Lin Yi, in turn, fixed his blazing red pupils on her. His brow raised in genuine surprise. 'Why is she here? The timeline has probably shifted,' he thought to himself. In the original flow of destiny, Ling Qingzhu appeared in this hall only after Lin Dong, who was currently delayed.
Then, a subtle realization hit him. Lin Dong must have been held up by the very treasure Lin Yi had planted… the refining process of the Yang Petal of Creation Qinglian requires considerable time.
Just as Lin Yi mentally weighed his options… to observe only or to intervene.
Ling Qingzhu's cold, melodious voice sounded, carrying a hint of a rare request.
"Your Excellency," she addressed him, her tone formal and respectful, acknowledging the immense power he had displayed earlier. "If you would allow me to take this Nirvana Heart, the Nine Heaven Supreme Purity Palace will be eternally grateful, and I will compensate you handsomely in the future. For me, this treasure is of extreme, immediate importance."
Lin Yi raised an eyebrow, a clear amusement in his red eyes at the unexpected revelation of her force name, 'Probably she is threatening me indirectly using her sect name. Anyway, I wasn't planning to absorb this treasure myself.'
"Are you certain you want this treasure?" he asked, his voice flat but subtly resonant.
Qingzhu met his gaze, her head nodding solemnly. "I am."
Lin Yi sighed internally, a profound sense of speechlessness washing over him. Despite the timeline changing, her focus still remained singularly on the treasure, not the inherent danger.
'The precaution line,' he thought, 'the massive, glowing inscription on the Nirvana Expert's coffin clearly states that absorbing the Nirvana Heart requires Yin-Yang reconciliation. In other words, a partner and proper intercourse. Yet, she only sees the prize, not the fatal prerequisite.'
He nodded slowly, a slight wave of his hand dismissing the matter. "Take it away. I have no interest in it." He offered a faint, almost cryptic warning. "Just be careful when absorbing it."
Ling Qingzhu was visibly taken aback by his immediate compliance. Her surprise quickly melted into gratitude. "Thank you, your excellency." She offered a hurried, graceful look before walking directly toward the Nirvana Heart, completely ignoring his enigmatic advice.
She unleashed a wave of Yuan Power, an azure blade of pure energy that cleanly sliced through the golden light orb, shattering it. The Nirvana Heart, a fist-sized orb of pure Yin and Yang energy and Nirvana Qi, floated down, and she swiftly grasped it.
She turned, glancing at Lin Yi with a moment of hesitation, her face betraying a mixture of respect and deep caution. Then, she nodded and walked to the far side of the circular hall, sat cross-legged, and began to prepare for absorption.
Lin Yi sat in cold stillness, his red pupils fixed on Ling Qingzhu. He watched as she closed her eyes, preparing to absorb the Nirvana Heart, utterly oblivious to the subtle, final shift in her destiny.
Even before Ling Qingzhu had finished calming her breath, a flurry of luminous notifications erupted silently within the confines of Lin Yi's spiritual consciousness. The timing was absolute, confirming that the moment she walked inside this hall, Lin Yi chose and bound her as the third candidate for Unlimited Return Talent.
[Target Character, Ling Qingzhu has been bound successfully.]
[It is detected that the target character, Ling Qingzhu, possesses the Tai Qing Art of the Supreme Purity Palace.]
[1000,000,000x achievement return Initiated.]
[You have gained the Tai Sheng Art: A Limitless Three-Path Cultivation Scripture.]
[It is detected that the target character, Ling Qingzhu, possesses the Jade Lotus High-Level Soul Treasure in the target character's possession.]
[100,000,000x achievement return Initiated.]
[You have gained the Chaos Spirit Lotus Platform: An Ultimate Soul Artifact.]
[Target Character, Ling Qingzhu has gained the Yin and Yang Nirvana Heart.]
[10,000,000x achievement return Initiated.]
[You have gained the Reincarnation Core: The Heart of Reincarnation.]
Lin Yi's entire spiritual sea, the star-filled landscape anchored by the eight worlds of the Ancestral Symbols, trembled violently as the colossal returns flooded in. The sheer magnitude of the returns… millions for the treasure and nirvana heart and a staggering billion for the core technique… was unprecedented. It was the absolute zenith of his unlimited return talent.
He took a slow, deep breath, his blazing red eyes momentarily closing as his consciousness processed the three newly acquired, universe-shattering concepts.
...