It made Jingming think for a moment that Xu Yunfan was innocent—that someone else must have been the true culprit.

’A madman!’

’A demon in human skin!’

A chill crept deeper into Jingming’s heart as she stared at the broad smile on Xu Yunfan’s face.

"Talk."

Xu Yunfan’s gaze was lowered, his eyes calmly fixed on Jingming.

Jingming hesitated no longer and slowly began to recite the Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill.

Four hours later, after questioning her about all the points he found suspicious, Xu Yunfan glanced at his Attribute Panel.

There was nothing. Not a single notification. When Pei Yan had taught him the Empty Clarity Sword Washing Technique, learning prompts had appeared on the Attribute Panel from time to time. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

He met Jingming’s gaze and suddenly burst out laughing.

"Recite what you just said again, but backward."

Jingming’s expression faltered. Most of what she had said was indeed the Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill, but it was ninety percent truth and ten percent lies.

In certain parts, saying too much or too little would have a drastic effect on the technique.

Practicing a Buddhist True Skill generates Evil Qi, which naturally requires deep cultivation of the Buddhist Dharma to dissolve the resulting malevolence in one’s heart.

Seeing the nun’s stiff expression, Xu Yunfan sneered. ’She can’t even lie properly.’

His fingers suddenly clamped down on the crown of Jingming’s head. Red Flood Dragon Evil Qi seeped from the gaps between the Dragon Scale Armor Leaves, grinding away her protective Buddha Light inch by inch.

"You’ve got a sharp tongue for a little nun."

He circulated his Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength, using it to drive a strand of Three Jiao Sword Force into her meridians through the Fengchi Acupoint behind her ear.

"The medicine valley of my Celestial Craft Cave may not be famous, but we have our own insights into the human body. It’s said there are eight hundred points of agony in a person. I wonder... can you endure them all?"

Veins bulged on Jingming’s neck. She bit her lip until it bled, but still refused to make a sound.

With a cold laugh, Xu Yunfan activated his Red Flood Dragon Coiling Mountain Strength. The Dragon Scale Armor Leaves flexed, and the single thread of Sword Force suddenly exploded into a thousand Floating Threads that burrowed into her organs and meridians.

This Jingming was merely in the Flesh Refining Realm. Though she cultivated a Buddhist Spiritual Secret Method, she was still of a Mortal Body. She was no Buddha.

The nun finally let out a piercing scream. Her Eight-Treasure Bodhi Bead erupted with golden light, trying to protect her. The Golden Silk Armor on her body hummed and trembled, but both were utterly suppressed by the overwhelming might of the Dragon Scale Armor, a Tier Eight Divine Weapon.

Her two Divine Weapons were merely Tier Seven. With Jingming having completely lost her ability to resist, how could their innate Spiritual nature possibly stand against the oppressive power of the Dragon Scale Armor?

Xu Yunfan ripped the Prayer Beads from her wrist. "You deliberately reversed the sequence of the Bone Marrow Washing Circulation," he said coldly. "You wanted me to suffer a cultivation deviation and be consumed by the Evil Qi backlash, didn’t you?"

He yanked Jingming up and slammed her against the cavern wall. The immense force, amplified by the Dragon Scale Armor, was so great that stalactites shook loose from the ceiling and came crashing down.

"Aren’t monastics supposed to refrain from lying? Why are you so quick to break your vows?"

The nun coughed up a mouthful of blood, a faint smile playing on her lips.

"Benefactor, the path I walk isn’t one of this world. This humble nun quite enjoys telling harmless little lies... Even if you get the true version..."

Gasping for breath, she formed a Lotus Seal, and a peculiar Buddha Nature began to radiate from her.

"Without the Selfless Buddha Compassion Heart Method to harmonize it, you’ll never be able to cultivate it..."

’So she’s using me as a whetstone!’

Xu Yunfan’s eyebrow twitched. He hesitated no more. One fingertip touched the center of Jingming’s brow while his other hand formed the Linn Character Technique before his chest.

In that instant, the Self God emerged from his Sea of Consciousness. At the behest of Xu Yunfan’s will, the mists before it roiled and parted, revealing a rugged path that snaked toward the horizon.

This technique had been taught to him by the woman in white from his dreams—or rather, it was a skill he’d been forced to learn through torment.

The ability to project his consciousness into a dream was based on his own Sea of Consciousness. In the world of the mind, thought becomes reality.

The moment Xu Yunfan’s finger touched Jingming’s brow and he began chanting the Supreme Kindness Heart Spell, ancient Runes on his Dragon Scale Armor Leaves flared to life. The Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace on his back let out a low thrum.

The Self God, spurred by the Linn Character Technique, flowed from his own mind, down his arm, and through his fingertip. It pierced the nun’s defenses and plunged into her Sea of Consciousness.

"AHH!"

Jingming convulsed, her Lotus Seal shattering instantly.

Inside her Sea of Consciousness, the phantom of a seated Golden Buddha was seized by the massive hand of his Self God. It ripped open the Buddha’s Skull, and the celestial Brahma Sound dissolved into a piercing shriek.

Xu Yunfan’s Self God, standing atop a Flood Dragon that rode waves of blood, looked down upon the crumbling Buddha Country Pure Land—the culmination of her years of cultivation. "If you dare use me to sharpen your blade," it boomed, "then you must be prepared to be shattered by it!"

The nun barely managed to form another Dharma Seal. Deep within her Sea of Consciousness, a Vajra Sutra Scroll manifested, and from it emerged the phantoms of three hundred Arhats, forming an Arhat Array to protect her core memories.

Xu Yunfan sneered. His Self God formed the opening stance of the Nine Profound Dragon Whip. In the physical world, the Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace on his back pierced through the void and materialized within her Sea of Consciousness. The Profound Nether True Water coiling around the mace transformed into a black dragon, which intertwined with the Red Flood Dragon to form a massive Yin Yang Grinding Disc.

The next moment, the massive Yin Yang Grinding Disc ground forward with the force of a Celestial Fall. The Arhat Array shattered like glass, and the true characters and runes of the Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill were forcibly ripped from the scripture scroll.

In the outside world, blood streamed from Jingming’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. The veins on her neck bulged, her face a mask of terror. She had never imagined that his Spiritual Secret Method would allow him to physically invade another’s Sea of Consciousness.

Such a Wonderful Technique was simply unheard of!

"You... you can actually devour Buddhist..."

Before she could finish, Xu Yunfan’s Self God discovered a Ten Thousand Character Seal hidden within the scripture.

A final, desperate pulse emanated from Jingming’s residual consciousness. "Mahaprajna Paramita!"

’Trying to take me down with her?’

At a thought from Xu Yunfan, his Self God glanced at the collapsing Sea of Consciousness around it and immediately retreated.

In the physical world, only a single instant had passed. Xu Yunfan’s finger had just touched Jingming. His left hand had just finished forming the Linn Character Technique’s Mantra Seal, and he had only managed to utter the first few words of the Supreme Kindness Heart Spell.

Seeing Jingming’s dazed expression and unfocused gaze, Xu Yunfan’s breath caught in his throat.

’Did I actually kill her?’

"Master, how are you feeling?"

Hearing his voice, Jingming slowly turned her head to look at Xu Yunfan.

"Very well. And you, Benefactor?"

Looking into Jingming’s pure, untainted eyes, Xu Yunfan felt a flicker of unease.

’Is she an imbecile now?’

"Recite the Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill."

Jingming’s eyes were vacant, but a bizarre smile touched her lips. Her voice was hollow, yet she spoke with the fluency of a chanted scripture:

"Listen, Benefactor. Bone Strengthening like a coiling dragon, Marrow Washing like flowing quicksilver. The hundred meridians welcome the dawn, a Golden Body immortal and unborn..."

She recited the verses mechanically, her fingertip unconsciously tracing the circulation path for the Marrow Cleansing Skill in the dust.

’You are learning the Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill. You seem to be on the verge of an epiphany.’

Seeing this message pop up in his field of vision, Xu Yunfan’s spirits lifted, and he listened intently.

An hour later, another notification flashed in Xu Yunfan’s vision.

’You have learned the Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill.’

Seeing the words ’Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill (Uninitiated)’ appear in the Skill Bar on his Attribute Panel, Xu Yunfan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The Cultivation Technique was his at last.

He had only just met this Jingming, but he knew that if he had allowed things to get drawn out, she would have most likely duped him without him ever realizing it.

Rather than let that happen, it was better to strike first.

Her strength was no match for his, and they were isolated from the outside world in this Little Heaven and Earth Secret Realm. It was a heaven-sent opportunity, and it would have been a true pity to waste it.

In his eyes, when it came to the Six Great Sects of Da Zhou, every last one of them was guilty.