Chapter 457: Survived Again

Lu Sangjiu felt like she was about to be torn apart. Spiritual Energy and Demonic Qi were constantly scouring her body, neither willing to yield to the other.

’I can’t hold on...’ If she couldn’t find something new to suppress the two energies, she would definitely die!

’Damn it, I went through countless hardships to achieve Ascension! I didn’t do it just to die such a pathetic death!’

In truth, she had considered this possibility before her Ascension, but she’d had no other choice.

In the Spirit Void Realm, at least, she couldn’t find any power more tyrannical than the Heavenly Punishment Qi.

And if she hadn’t brought it with her from the Spirit Void Realm, she would have run into problems the moment she arrived here, with no time to search for any treasures.

It was, in effect, an unsolvable checkmate if things went wrong. She could only cling to a sliver of hope, praying that no problems would arise.

Unfortunately... her luck wasn’t very good. The worst-case scenario had come to pass.

Right now, she had no time to find something new to suppress the two energies. So what was she supposed to do? Just wait quietly for death?

’No, I can’t. It’s not time to despair yet!’

Lu Sangjiu forced herself to calm down and think of other possibilities.

’Besides suppression, perhaps there’s another way?’

Suddenly, amid the searing pain, Lu Sangjiu remembered the Immortal Demon Attraction technique she had created herself.

Forcibly compressing the two energies together would generate a berserk power, causing immense damage in an instant.

But... having used the Immortal Demon Attraction several times, she had slowly come to feel that Spiritual Energy and Demonic Qi might not be entirely incompatible!

It was more like there was a precise point between them. If she could control them with enough precision, the two could fuse stably instead of exploding.

But the range for that precision had to be extremely narrow. A little too little or a little too much, and they would detonate instantly!

At this thought, Lu Sangjiu suddenly became completely calm.

Using her own body as a vessel to forcibly fuse the two energies might be her only sliver of a chance at survival!

Of course, if she failed, not even a speck of dust would remain of her.

But she had no other choice... ’Let’s do this!’

Bracing against the agony wracking her body, Lu Sangjiu began to use her willpower to forcibly guide the Spiritual Energy and Demonic Qi to fuse.

The process was excruciating, even more painful than being flayed alive. It was more like having her entire body pulverized into pulp and then forcibly reassembled.

Lu Sangjiu swore that this was the greatest pain she had ever experienced in her life.

Even with her willpower, she had nearly given up at one point.

But at every critical moment, she would remember Xie Ningyuan lying in the Moon Spirit Coffin, and the night of her final parting with Luo Linlang, when she had promised her she would fight to survive.

’For myself,’ she thought, ’and for the one I love, I have to keep fighting!’

Just like that, the agony continued for an unknown length of time, so long that Lu Sangjiu began to grow numb and dazed, to the point where she could barely feel the pain anymore.

All the Spiritual Energy and Demonic Qi within her body were finally, bit by bit, brought under her control and fused into a stable whole!

The moment she succeeded, before her exhausted mind even had a chance to feel happy, she felt a great RUMBLE from within her body as it seemed to undergo some kind of qualitative transformation!

The sensation was profound. In fact, this was probably what she was supposed to have felt the moment she appeared on the Ascension Platform, when she truly advanced to the Earth Immortal realm.

For others, the Spiritual Energy in their bodies would completely transform into Immortal Qi. But for Lu Sangjiu, it was only now, with the complete fusion of Spiritual and Demonic Qi, that it transformed—not into Immortal Qi, but into another kind of power she herself had never known!

But without a doubt, this power was immense—stronger than anything she had ever experienced before!

Lu Sangjiu felt the two meridians that her Cultivation Technique had forcibly created in her body now spontaneously merging into one.

The energy born from the fusion of Spiritual and Demonic Qi flowed through the meridian, surging powerfully and widening the already broad channel even further!

This process was also painful, but compared to the agony from before, this was utterly insignificant.

Especially since, as her meridian widened, she could also feel an indescribable sense of relief, making the pain even more trivial.

Another noteworthy point during this process was that Lu Sangjiu discovered her body was still automatically absorbing the surrounding Immortal Qi.

In other words, although the Spiritual and Demonic Qi in her body had fused into an unknown form of energy, this didn’t mean she could only cultivate by absorbing this new energy. Just like before, she could still directly absorb Immortal Qi!

Furthermore, Lu Sangjiu took out a few Spirit Stones and Demon Essence Stones to test it and found she could absorb both of them directly as well.

Then again, Spiritual Energy was essentially just Immortal Qi diluted about a hundredfold, so being able to absorb it wasn’t strange.

But what delighted Lu Sangjiu was that it seemed she no longer needed to cultivate her Demonic Qi separately. As long as she supplemented it appropriately, it wouldn’t hinder her cultivation.

This was far more convenient than before.

As time passed, the aura around Lu Sangjiu gradually stabilized completely. She finally opened her eyes and let out a long sigh of relief.

’...I survived again!’

Her condition was much better now, but she was still a bit exhausted.

She spread her Divine Sense to scan her surroundings and, detecting no danger, allowed herself to relax a little.

After a moment’s thought, she decided to simply dig out a cave right there and set up a simple Array. She planned to rest here properly before making any other plans.

Entering the cave, she took a bed out from her storage ring and set it up. Then, she opened her Spirit Beast Bag and released Duoduo.

Because of its master-servant contract with her, it had been brought along with her during the Ascension.

It had no idea what had been happening outside. The moment it was released, it felt the dense Immortal Qi in the air and the entire beast froze in a stupor!

Previously, under Cangming’s deliberate care, it had received many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, allowing it to raise its cultivation to Late-stage Divinity Transformation.

Later, when Lu Sangjiu was severely injured and fell into a coma, Duoduo’s cultivation had not stopped.

But in the end, its innate aptitude was limited, and without the blessing of some inexplicable luck, its cultivation had remained stuck at the Late Stage of Divinity Transformation, unable to advance further.

It had been very frustrated about this, but it never expected to suddenly find itself in the "Immortal Realm"!

’Oh heavens, such dense "Spiritual Energy"! This has to be the Immortal Realm, right? I feel like I don’t even have to actively cultivate; the Spiritual Energy is just drilling into my body on its own!’

Seeing its dazed look, Lu Sangjiu took the initiative to explain the current situation. Only then did Duoduo understand that it had basically been carried along for the ride.

For a moment, it was filled with emotion... ’See? This is why having a good master is so important!’

’I haven’t really contributed all that much along the way,’ it thought, ’but now, when one person achieves the Dao, their chickens and dogs... ah, no, their Duoduo ascends!’

’I’m so moved! From now on, I have to hold on tight to my master’s leg and never let go!’