As if Yan Yao had already anticipated his question, she calmly glanced at Yun Wuji and said, "Many years ago, I fought someone over a treasure and suffered an injury to my profound veins. If I use my profound energy excessively, the injury relapses and worsens."
"To avoid worsening my injuries, I had no choice but to limit my cultivation realm."
"Profound vein injury?!" Yun Wuji played along with her clumsy lie and exclaimed in surprise.
"I originally approached you because I heard rumors about your strength despite your young age," Yan Yao said as she slowly walked past Yun Wuji. She gazed at the dark sky and continued, "I wanted to get close to you and, in the future, borrow your help to take revenge on the person who did this to me."
She turned and looked deeply at Yun Wuji with her beautiful eyes, saying, "Naturally, I would repay you for that. However, if you believe my presence will bring you trouble, I can leave."
Her expression was indifferent and detached, but her eyes concealed faint rays of hope and fear, as if she hoped Yun Wuji would ask her to stay but feared he might coldly send her away.
'Hmm, her expression and emotions are indeed spot on. When I build my cosmic theater and cinema, I'll hire her as a leading actress,' Yun Wuji thought as he observed her expression and tone, appraising her acting skills. But he couldn't help but feel the script was too cliché.
Although he complained about the script, Yun Wuji still had to play along. He didn't want to expose her, doing so would force her to leave, which wasn't to his benefit. After all, he had many plans for her.
Having a Divine Master, even the weakest one, would benefit him greatly. After all, this body was the only one among the three that didn't have the backing of a Divine Master.
"Nonsense! Who do you take me for?" Yun Wuji's face turned serious. "Without your help, DongFang Hanwei and Zixuan would've died long before I returned. I owe you a great debt! How could I drive you away after everything you've done?!"
"Lord Jiao!" DongFang Hanwei and Fairy Zixuan looked at Yun Wuji's back with admiration. They hadn't expected him to place such importance on people as insignificant as them.
'Although Lord Jiao is both cruel and shameless toward his enemies, he is very caring toward his people! Fairy Zixuan thought to herself, her eyes overflowing with admiration.
"As for helping with revenge," Yun Wuji continued, "the person who is capable of injuring you to this extent must be very strong. I don't think my current strength is enough to face them, so this matter will have to wait for the time being."
His expression was solemn, but his eyes were sincere as if he genuinely wanted to help her.
"Thank you," Yan Yao said, her eyes slightly reddened, her voice soft. Internally, she thought, 'Success! Although there were some unexpected changes, the plan still succeeded. With his trust in me now, I can start uncovering more of his secrets.'
"Actually, I have some medical skills. Would you like me to take a look at your injury?" Yun Wuji suddenly asked.
"Oh? You're a doctor?" Yan Yao's face showed surprise. 'How many skills does this man have?' After witnessing his repeated feats, Yan Yao didn't dare to take any of his abilities lightly. She immediately wanted to test him and gauge the extent of his skills, after all, her job was to gather information about him and report it to her master. But on the outside, she showed hesitation, which then turned into resignation, as if she had already expected his failure before he even began. "You can try, but don't get your hopes up. I've already seen many doctors, and they all failed."
The profound veins are the most sensitive and vital organs for any profound practitioner. They are even more delicate and private than their sexual organs.
A normal woman might allow you to grab her by the pussy, but she would never let you touch her profound veins. After all, if someone with malicious intent wanted to cripple her, there would be nothing she could do to stop them.
"It doesn't hurt to try," Yun Wuji said with a smile. He stepped forward until he was less than a meter away from her, then extended his hand. A tiny bit of profound energy slowly moved from his palm toward her profound veins.
The profound energy was very weak and harmless. Even if it entered her profound veins, she could disperse it with a single thought.
'Oh?' As Yun Wuji sent his profound energy to inspect her, he discovered that she was indeed injured in her profound veins.
The injury seemed old, with a dark mark on the outer part of her profound veins. Within it, a small dark ball of profound energy was lodged, restricting her flow. Every time she mobilized her profound energy, it was blocked by this, causing strain on her veins and worsening her injury.
'Damn! This woman is really dedicated to her role! Unfortunately for her, she met me, a doctor. Otherwise, I might have believed her.' At first glance, this 'injury' looked very realistic, but with Yun Wuji's medical skills and experience, he quickly saw through her deception. This was entirely a fake injury she had fabricated.
After a while, Yun Wuji retracted his hand and said helplessly, "This is beyond my abilities. I'm sorry I can't help you."
"Don't apologize," Yan Yao replied, showing no disappointment. Instead, she comforted him. "I'm already used to it."
After all, it was something she had fabricated with great effort. Even the best doctors in the Soul Stealing Realm wouldn't be able to heal it, even if they spent 10,000 years trying. So how could this man succeed?
"Although I can't help you, I have a way to make you feel better," Yun Wuji suddenly said. "Do you want to try?"
Since she wanted to uncover some of his secrets, he might as well give her a good surprise. 'I wonder how wonderful her expression will be, hehe.'
Yan Yao blinked her eyes and agreed without hesitation, showing complete trust in him. "Sure, you can try."
Of course, she didn't trust him completely, but she naturally trusted her own strength. Even if this man harbored malicious intent, she was confident she could easily crush his plans with her absolute power.
"Don't use your profound energy, please," Yun Wuji said calmly as he extended his hand again. A tiny black ball of profound energy flew from his palm toward her profound veins. When Yan Yao saw this, she instinctively wanted to defend herself, but Yun Wuji stopped her.
Yan Yao resisted the urge to mobilize her profound energy. To her surprise, the black ball of profound energy was incredibly weak. It was so weak that it couldn't even harm a mortal.
That wasn't all. It was both weak and low-level to an extreme degree. It was like the creation of a child who had just been introduced to profound cultivation. It was so terrible that even calling it "weak" was too generous.
With this level of power, even if she allowed the ball to wreak havoc in her profound veins, nothing would happen to her. It could stay there for 100,000 years, and she would still be unaffected.
Although she was confused by this, she allowed the black ball to enter her body. She closed her eyes and focused on her profound veins and body, observing the black ball closely.
The faint black energy swam through her body, and soon every inch of her body was enveloped by a dark, blurry profound light.
Yan Yao opened her eyes and checked her profound veins immediately. However, her brows furrowed in confusion as she found no change in herself whatsoever.
She was about to ask him what he had done when suddenly, she froze in shock. Her eyes widened, and her red lips parted, but no words came out. She stared at Yun Wuji in disbelief.
This time, she wasn't acting. It was her genuine feeling. Never in her entire life had she ever felt so shocked!
"How is it? Did you like it?" Yun Wuji's lips curled into a smile as he admired her shocked expression.
The two women stared at both of them with confusion and bewilderment. What had happened to make Yan Yao so stunned?
After a long time, Yan Yao regained her composure but didn't answer him. Instead, she raised her arm very slowly and spread open her palm.
A ball of darkness suddenly appeared in her hand. In an instant, it transformed into a small black butterfly, which then morphed into a black peony, and soon after, a black lotus. The transformations continued, each one fast and incredibly smooth.
Yan Yao gazed at the dark lotus in her hand, her heart in turmoil. She closed her palm slowly, and the lotus of darkness vanished completely without a trace.
Darkness profound energy was a symbol of negativity, violence, and destruction, and every time it was used, it was like unleashing a violent and berserk devil god that wanted to devour everything in the world. This didn't change even when the profound practitioners controlling it had reached the Divine Master Realm, the supposedly highest realm in this world.
Darkness profound energy had never had anything to do with the word "tame".
It was the common sense of common sense in today's Northern Divine Region and world.
But Yan Yao's darkness profound energy was so stable that it defied common sense. It was almost as if it was a sentient being that had submitted entirely to her will.
In other words, she had... perfect control over her darkness profound energy!
"What did you do to me? How did this happen?" Yan Yao suppressed the shock raging in her heart and looked at Yun Wuji with trembling eyes.
Yun Wuji didn't directly answer her question. Instead, he spoke, "The devils were an independent race, and darkness profound energy was a power they wielded alone."
His gentle voice continued, "Today, all the so-called devil people in the Northern Divine Region are those who actively or passively corrupted themselves with darkness profound energy. Although they gained the ability to control dark profound energy and cultivate dark profound arts as a result, some were even forced to pass it down to the next generation forever, they ultimately aren't true devils. At most, they're half-devils."
"This applies to all the devil beasts and devil spirits in the Northern Divine Region as well."
"That's why no one in the Northern Divine Region can ever truly be fully compatible with darkness profound energy."
"However, from now on, you are more or less a true devil."
"I'm sure you've already noticed. From today onward, you have complete mastery over your darkness profound energy. Your ability to gather, circulate, and recover darkness profound energy will be many times faster than what you're used to."
"Your cultivation speed will increase several times over."
"Darkness profound energy will no longer consume your life force, nor will it spiral out of your control."
"Its natural effects on your mind will be suppressed to a minimum."
As he spoke, every word he said sent a shockwave through not only Yan Yao's soul but also the other two women listening. It was as if his words were coming straight from a fairy tale.
All three of them stared at Yun Wuji, their expressions filled with extreme shock.
After Yun Wuji studied the Darkness Seed and managed to mimic the Heretic God's immunity to darkness, he also easily created a profound art that could help darkness profound practitioners gain perfect control over their darkness energy, much like the effect of the Eternal Calamity of Darkness.
He was someone who could create something as perverted as 'Invictus', so mimicking one of the lesser abilities of the Eternal Calamity of Darkness was child's play for him.
Listening to his words, Yan Yao quietly stared at her hands, her understanding of dark profound energy forever changed.
Before, dark profound energy had been a powerful blade to her that could devour anything, including herself, if she didn't suppress it periodically. The risk of it spiraling out of her control had always been very real.
But now, it had turned from a double-edged sword into something that was hers and hers alone. It was like a third arm that she could use to do whatever she wanted with perfect control.
She raised her head, then bowed deeply. "This is no different from being reborn. I doubt I'll ever be able to repay this favor." Her words came straight from the heart, without a trace of acting or pretense. This favor was like someone giving her a new life, something she had never dared to dream of, let alone desire.
It was a favor on par with what her master had once done for her.
"You don't need to be so formal. We're friends now, and friends help each other in times of need," Yun Wuji said, shaking his head with a gentle smile. He then asked with concern, "Have you checked? Can you use your strength without aggravating your injuries now?"
"Ah?" Yun Wuji's question caught Yan Yao off guard, making her remember the lie she had told. A flush of shame crept up her cheeks, and she felt bad for deceiving him. She cleared her throat awkwardly and answered, "I think I can now use about 80% of my strength without any issues."
"That's good!" Yun Wuji clapped happily, then said, "Since we're already done here, let's go visit the East Ruins Sect. I'm sure they wouldn't mind letting us 'borrow' some of their treasures."
Just then, he noticed two pairs of eyes staring at him intently. With a chuckle, Yun Wuji added, "Don't be impatient, I'll help both of you as well."
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A long chapter. 2360 words.
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