The afternoon sun was still high, casting long, golden shadows across the Purple Bamboo Peak as Tianmo landed softly on the pavilion's terrace. The air here was crisp and clean. Simply breathtaking.
He slid open the door to the main hall.
Liu Ruyan was there, kneeling on the floor, meticulously arranging a set of tea cups on a low table. She had recovered well from their session three days ago; her complexion was rosy, and her movements held a newfound grace, from practicing the 'Jade Heart Sutra' and the purification of her body.
The moment the door slid open, she froze.
Her hands, hovering over a porcelain cup, trembled violently. The cup clattered against the saucer, a sharp, jarring noise in the quiet room.
She didn't look up immediately. Her head remained bowed, but her entire body went rigid, like a deer sensing a predator in the wind. Then, her nose twitched.
The scent hit her.
It was faint, masked by Tianmo's own cold aura and the outdoor breeze, but to Ruyan's newly sensitized senses further heightened by the Nine Yin Absolute Body, it was as pungent as a thunderclap.
It was the smell of another woman.
Not just any woman. A woman who had been touched, kissed, and filled by the man who owned her soul. She could sense the intimate Yin essence on him.
Ruyan's breath hitched in her throat, a sharp, jagged intake of air. Her heart, which had been calm a moment ago, began to hammer against her ribs like a trapped bird.
'He... he went to another?'
The thought pierced through her mind like a jagged blade. She had thought... she had foolishly hoped that after that night, after the intensity of their dual cultivation and the breakthrough he gave her, she might be special. That she might be the only one.
But reality was cruel.
She slowly raised her head. Her eyes, usually downcast and submissive, were now wide and shimmering with unshed tears. They were red-rimmed, filled with a turbulent storm of emotions: betrayal, jealousy, inadequacy, and a crushing, possessive longing.
"Master..." she whispered, her voice barely audible, cracking under the weight of her feelings.
Tianmo walked into the room, ignoring the tension radiating off her. He sat down on the main chair, crossing one leg over the other. "Tea," he commanded simply.
Ruyan scrambled to obey, her movements clumsy and frantic. She poured the tea with shaking hands, the hot liquid splashing slightly onto the table. She didn't even feel the burn.
She walked over to him on her knees, the tea tray held high. As she leaned forward to place the cup on the table beside him, the scent grew stronger.
It was overwhelming.
Ruyan's stomach churned. She felt a wave of nausea mixed with a hot, burning anger that she dared not express. Her hands balled into fists in her lap, her nails digging into her palms until they drew blood.
'Why her?'
her mind screamed.
'Was I not enough? Did I not please him? Is my body not tight enough? Not warm enough?'
She recalled and it indeed seemed so. She passed out both times.
She looked at Tianmo's profile, he was cold, indifferent, god-like. He didn't look guilty. He didn't look like a man who had just betrayed a lover. He looked like a man who had just finished a meal and was ready for tea.
"Is something wrong with your hands?" Tianmo asked, his eyes narrowing as he watched the tea ripple in the cup. "You are shaking."
"N-No, Master," Ruyan stammered, quickly lowering her head to hide her tears. "This servant... this servant is just weak. I apologize for my clumsiness."
She set the tray down and retreated to her kneeling position, but she couldn't stop her body from trembling. The jealousy was a physical weight, pressing down on her chest, making it hard to breathe.
She felt a desperate urge to scrub his robes clean, to wash away the scent of that other woman and replace it with her own.
She wanted to mark him. She wanted to cover him in her scent so that everyone would know he belonged to her.
But she was a slave. She had no right to claim ownership. The Soul Binding Brand on her wrist pulsed with a dull heat, reminding her of her place.
'Endure,' she told herself.
Endure, or be discarded. That's the life of servants.
Tianmo picked up the teacup and took a sip, his eyes studying her trembling form. He could sense the turmoil radiating from her. The Nine Yin Absolute Body made her emotions volatile, her possessiveness intense. He found it amusing.
"You smell it," he stated flatly. It wasn't a question.
Ruyan flinched as if struck. She bit her lower lip, her face turning a shade of pale white. "I... I..."
He set the cup down. "Does it bother you?"
Ruyan didn't answer. She couldn't. If she said yes, she was being disobedient and jealous. If she said no, she was lying.
"Answer me," Tianmo commanded, his voice dropping an octave, the spiritual pressure in the room spiking.
"Yes..." The word slipped out before she could stop it, a tear finally escaping and rolling down her cheek. "It... it hurts, Master."
Tianmo leaned forward, his face inches from hers. He reached out and wiped the tear away with his thumb. "Why?"
"Because..." Ruyan choked out, her voice trembling with suppressed sobs. "Because I am yours. You... you marked me. You took my innocence. I thought... I thought that meant I was the only one."
She looked up at him, her eyes swimming in misery. "I want to be the one who pleases you. I want to be the one who bears your scent. Knowing that another... another has touched you, tasted you... It feels like my heart is being ripped out."
She bowed her head low, pressing her forehead against the cold floor. "This servant is greedy. This servant is ungrateful. Please punish me."
The room was silent.
Tianmo looked at her prostrate form. He could feel the fluctuation of her Yin energy. It was chaotic, turbulent, reacting to her emotional state.
Tianmo looked down at the trembling girl, a cold, analytical glint in his eyes. He didn't feel guilt; guilt was a burden for those with weak hearts. He felt only a calculating interest. Her jealousy was a sign of her attachment, and attachment was a leash.
Everything is but pawns. Merely chess pieces used as seems fit.
"Punish you?" Tianmo repeated, his voice smooth like polished jade. He reached out and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him. Her face was streaked with tears, her eyes red and puffy. "Why would I punish a loyal dog for barking at a stranger?"
Ruyan blinked, the tears pausing in their tracks. "Loyal...?"
"Yes. Your jealousy proves that you acknowledge my ownership of you," Tianmo said, his thumb tracing her lower lip. "You are possessive because you view me as your world. That is correct. However..."
His grip tightened, just enough to cause a flicker of pain. "You must remember your place. You are a cauldron. A tool. I do not ask the hammer if it minds when I use a different chisel. I use what is needed for the task."
Ruyan's breath hitched at mid point, but the turmoil in her eyes began to settle. The logic was harsh, dehumanizing even, but it provided a structure for her chaotic emotions. If she were a tool, then her worth lay in her utility, not her exclusivity.
"Do not compare yourself to her," Tianmo continued, releasing her chin and leaning back. "She is a mud brick, useful for patching a wall. You are a vessel of jade, meant to hold the finest wines. Do not let the scent of mud cheapen the jade."
He stood up, his robes rustling. "Now, compose yourself. I can smell your sour jealousy from here. It ruins the taste of the tea."
Ruyan remained kneeling on the floor, her heart pounding. The sting of his words was sharp, but beneath it, she felt a strange sense of relief. He hadn't discarded her. He had acknowledged her value.
She wiped her face with her sleeve, taking a deep, shuddering breath to calm her racing heart. She would cultivate harder. She would become the finest jade he had ever possessed. She would make sure he never needed another chisel.
"M-Master... How about... How about doing it?" She said gathering her courage.
"No... I have things to do," he replied coldly.
***
Tianmo left the main hall, leaving Ruyan to her turmoil and the tea. He had no time to coddle a jealous woman. The second round of the tournament was approaching, and he intended to enter it at the peak of his power.
He returned to the cultivation room, sealing the heavy stone doors behind him. The silence here was absolute, a vacuum where only the sound of his own breathing existed.
He sat cross-legged on the floor, stripping off his upper robes to reveal his torso. The afternoon light filtered through the high window, illuminating his pale skin and the faint, pulsing veins that carried the blood of the Primordial Dragon.
"System," he thought. "Buy me a marrow cleansing pill and a blood cleansing pill of the best quality."
[Immortal Marrow cleansing pill - 10,000 High-grade Stones]
[Immortal Blood cleansing pill - 25,000 High-grade Stones ]
The cost was negligible to Tianmo. He purchased them instantly.
Two small, glowing orbs appeared in his palm, one a deep crimson, the other a pearly white. Both possessed Pill intent and Pill clouds.
He swallowed them without hesitation.
The effects were immediate and violent.
The Crimson Blood Cleansing Pill dissolved first, turning into a river of molten heat that surged through his veins.
It felt like liquid magma was pumping through his heart. The impurities in his blood, causing toxins accumulated from the air, food, and past mortal frailties to incinerated instantly.
Grrr...
His heart beat faster and harder, a drum of war pounding against his ribs. The blood grew denser, heavier, turning from a bright red to a deep, dark gold.
Next came the White Marrow Cleansing Pill. A chill, opposite to the heat, pierced his bones. It was a sharp, scraping sensation, like a wire brush scrubbing the inside of his skeleton.
Sweat was pouring down his face. The marrow in his bones was being liquefied, refined, and then reconstructed. The spongy tissue turned into a golden gel, dense with spiritual energy.
The air in the cultivation room grew thick and putrid as the black sludge coated Tianmo's skin. It smelled of sulfur and rotting meat, the scent of a thousand impurities leaving his body.
Tianmo ignored the filth. He focused entirely on the sensation within his spine.
"Haaah..." He felt refreshed. He has removed all the impurities.
His blood is currently in the Blood purification stage.
It was now time to cultivate the supreme Dao bone located in the lumber region.
He purchased the best quality bone refining pill from the system and began to cultivate earnestly.
Woosh!
The aura of the supreme gathered around him, thick and suffocating, pressing against the stone walls of the cultivation room like a physical weight.
Tianmo sat in the center of the storm, his spine arched, his head thrown back in a silent scream. The pain was no longer localized; it was systemic. Like every supreme bone is the same.
It felt as though a pair of divine hands had reached into his back, grabbed his vertebrae, and were trying to pull them apart, one by one, to replace them with pillars of starlight.
The Lumbar Supreme Dao Bone was the foundation of the body's stability. To forge it was to rebuild the very axis of his existence.
Crack. Snap. Grind.
The sounds were wet and sickening, originating from deep within his flesh. The mortal bone was being devoured, calcified by the overwhelming energy of the supreme.
Tianmo's skin turned translucent, revealing the dark reddish glow of his blood and the blinding white light of his restructuring spine. The black impurities were pushed out violently, mixing with his sweat to form a thick, tar-like sludge that coated the floor.
Finally, with a sound like a thunderclap trapped inside a jar, the transformation settled.
Tianmo slumped forward, gasping for air. The pain vanished, replaced by a sensation of immense, heavy power. He felt... anchored. As if he could no longer be moved by the wind or the waves of the world.
He straightened his back experimentally.
Creak.
The sound was crisp, like a bowstring being drawn. He felt a surge of vitality rush from his lower back, spreading through his nerves and limbs. His reaction time, his balance, his explosive power... they had all skyrocketed.
It took him nearly one and a half days to unseal the Supreme Dao Bone in the lumber region.
His next target was the supreme bone in the cervical region.
Tianmo sat in the lotus position, his breathing steady and rhythmic. The excruciating pain of unsealing the Lumbar Supreme Dao Bone had faded into a dull, throbbing ache.
[Supreme Dao bones: 2/8— 2 unsealed, 6 sealed. (Left Arm, Lumbar one, )]
[Assets: infinite-money pouch, Direct disciple identity token, Seven Shadow Void needles.]
[Technique: Void Step (Small Success), Heavenly Finger (Small Success).]
"By the way system... How can I gather more supreme Dao bones? There are 268 bones in my body, and I only have 8 supreme Dao bones," he asked.
Back on Earth, humans used to have 206 bones but here they have 268 bones. Based on novels he used to read, you can simply steal the bone from others and refine it.
[Host. You can indeed steal the bones of others, but it is not as simple as digging them out like a grave robber. The Supreme Dao Bone is not merely physical matter; it is a vessel of the Heavenly Law, a condensed fragment of destiny. To take it, you must first destroy the owner's Dao Foundation, shattering their will and their connection to the heavens. Only then can you extract the bone intact.]
[Furthermore, the bone must be compatible. If you try to fuse a Fire-attributed Supreme Bone into a body that cultivates the Water Dao, your meridians will explode and you will die a gruesome death. To safely integrate a stolen bone, you must either possess the same branch spirit roots. ]
[Supreme Dao bones are the ultimate Dao bones, anyone can use them. However, Supreme Element Bones and Sword Bone are specialized. Supreme Dao bones are formless and adapt to any cultivation method.]
[As a Formless Spirit root, you can steal Supreme Dao Bones or Sword Bones from anyone. However, stealing from children who have yet to cultivate makes it easier to refine compared to someone who has already cultivated the bone.]
"Steal from a child? Doesn't that mean I have to kill and steal?" Tianmo said. He wasn't a merciful person. An innocent is guilty of possessing the treasure. It's only natural for the strong to feast upon the weak, it's the very first order of nature.
"Good! One day I will roam the world and hunt all supreme comes and claim it for myself." He smiled. It's a long-term plan. Not yet. He is still too weak. But one day, he will be the one to control the order of the world.
With that, he began to cultivate the Supreme Dao Bone located in the cervical region.