Chapter 45: Breaking Through to the Nineteenth Level, I Heard Everything

Midnight.
Fourth quarter of the Zi hour.

The little bun felt as though her body was ablaze, as if she were being roasted in magma, filled with an overwhelming surge of fiery heat that faintly scorched her heart-source.

"Little..." She let her head drop limply, wanting to call out to him, but unable to summon the slightest scrap of strength.

Lu Qing seemed to have anticipated this long ago. He swiftly shifted his form from his spot, teleported right in front of her, stepped across the barrier, and walked straight up to her bed.

"L-Little Uncle..." The little bun opened her eyelids to look at him. Her fair little face was currently beet red, her forehead dotted with fine beads of sweat, looking utterly pitiful.

"Tsk, time to beg me now, aren't you?"

The little bun gnashed her teeth, knowing when to bend and when to flex, "Little Uncle, I am already this pitiful. Surely you wouldn't stand by and watch me die?"

Lu Qing nodded, a smile curving the corners of his lips, "Rest assured, just for the sake of that 'Little Uncle' you called, I have to save you."

The little bun grumbled inwardly. If adults were all this annoying, then she'd rather never become an adult at all.

After just a moment.

Lu Qing reached out and channeled a mysterious force directly into her body.

Intermingled with the healing capacity of Lu Qing's own heart-source, the moment this power reached her body, it dispersed entirely into every scorching area, quietly smoothing out the potent spiritual energy left behind by the pill she had absorbed.

Lu Qing lowered his hand, closely observing the expression on the little bun's face, and asked, "Well? How does it feel now? Any better?"

The little bun twitched her little shoulders and nodded in pleasant surprise, "Yes, much better. Thank you, Little Uncle."

"Tsk, we're family. Why stand on ceremony?"

The little bun: "..."

Outside the dungeon.

General Hei's expression as he watched all this was somewhat obscure and unreadable. He turned and left the dungeon, vanishing into the eighteenth level.

The moment he departed, as if sensing it, Lu Qing slowly turned his head, gazed at the dissipating ring of dark, heavy mist, and gave a soft chuckle.

Hah, he really couldn't bring himself to trust him, could he?

"What are you laughing at?" The little bun curiously followed his gaze, but saw nothing at all.

He turned his head back to look at her, "Little imp, now that you've absorbed the pill's spiritual energy and your heart-source injury is gradually healing, shouldn't you hurry up and make your breakthrough to the hundred and ninety thousandth level?"

"I know, I don't need you to tell me." The little bun gave a tiny huff, closed her eyes, and prepared to channel her spiritual arts to break through to the hundred and ninety thousandth level. Yet, suddenly remembering something, she opened her eyes once again.

With a startled look, she blurted out, "Wait, how did you get past the barrier Sister Meng Hui set up for me?"

Lu Qing laughed. Unable to help himself, he folded his arms and looked down at her from on high, "Little imp, aren't you reacting a bit too late?"

"If I truly wanted to harm you, do you think you'd still be alive right now?"

The little bun curled her lip, "You wouldn't dare harm me anyway. If you hurt me, my Father Lord wouldn't let you off."

"Yes, yes, yes. His Lordship the Yama would certainly not let me off."

Hadn't someone just been sent to keep an eye on him earlier? Though he wondered if General Hei had come to genuinely monitor him, or simply for the little bun right before him.

Could it be that His Lordship the Yama intended to meddle in this little imp's cultivation and healing as well?

If that truly was the case, tsk, then he truly treasured this little imp like a precious jewel.

The little bun closed her eyes once more, concentrated her spiritual arts toward her heart, and channeled the power of her heart-source, utterly devoted and focused on shattering the bottleneck of the hundred and eighty thousandth level.

For a full thirty thousand years, her cultivation and spiritual arts had stagnated, forever unable to break past the restriction of the hundred and ninety thousandth level.

Over these past tens of thousands of years, she had grown older in vain while neglecting her arts, to the point where she could no longer wield her heart-source power as smoothly as she once could.

Now that her heart-source injury was gradually improving under the stimulation of the pill's spiritual energy, she could not let this opportunity for a breakthrough slip away.

However...

The little bun spoke softly, "Thank you, Little Uncle. Once I break through the restriction tonight, I will definitely go out and tell my Father Lord how you helped me absorb the spiritual energy of the pill tonight."

Lu Qing slowly seated himself on the floor at the foot of her bed, his back to her, curling the corners of his mouth. "Then I suppose I haven't helped the wrong person. Little imp, I knew you were a good sort."

"When that time comes, you can also live unrestrained in the outside world, carefree and boundlessly free."

"Carefree and boundlessly free?" He turned his head, casting a glance at the meditating little bun, and asked, "Is that really good?"

"I think it's good."

"Then I suppose I think it's good too."

The little bun smiled.

Lu Qing smiled softly along with her, though the amusement failed to reach his eyes.

Little imp, you only think the outside world is good because you've never been there. Once you truly understand the outside world, you'll realize it is far from being as joyful and sincere as being protected within the confines of this hell.

Freedom is always exchanged for what they call growth and experience.

Yet, without pain and tribulation, where would such growth and experience ever come from?

...

The sky was faintly growing light.

The eerie radiance of hell pierced through the iron bars into every corner of the nineteenth-level dungeon, blindingly bright and dazzling.

Even though the Hour of the Dragon had not yet arrived, it was already this luminous and full of vitality. Once the Hour of the Dragon passed, wouldn't it be even more resplendent and dazzling by several folds?

Bai Yan glanced at the sunlight filtering through the cracks in the iron bars, narrowed his eyes, sat up, and looked across the way.

Over there, Bai Chang was lying on his side against the wall, the bed curtains drawn so that only a vague silhouette was visible. He couldn't see very clearly, but the other man presumably hadn't woken yet.

Bai Yan slipped into his personal spatial pouch, retrieved the sound-transmitting bell, placed it near his hand, and shook it gently as he called out, "Little Highness..."

"Little Highness, wake up."

"Little Highness, can you hear my voice?"

"Mmph~" The little bun sleepily fumbled beneath her brocade quilt, fished out her utterly squashed cosmos sack, pulled out the sound-transmitting bell that was glowing with endless light, furrowed her little brows, and replied.

"White Radish—"

Bai Yan hurriedly said, "Little Highness, you're awake?"

The little bun rubbed her eyes, her consciousness still groggy and hazy, "Mn, speak... I'm... I'm listening."

"You—you aren't going to go back to sleep, are you?" Hearing her just-woken, dazed demeanor, Bai Yan grew somewhat anxious.

"Oh, hurry up and tell me!" The little bun closed her eyes again.

She had fallen asleep with such difficulty! She had been practicing her spiritual arts until the Hour of the Tiger last night, and had only slept for a little over an hour by now. She was sleepy, alright?

How could she possibly get up?

Bai Yan gripped the sound-transmitting bell tightly, "Oh, my ancestors, stop sleeping! If you get up right now, there are precisely three hours left before their next patrol."

Those three hours would be just enough for them to escape hell and for him to make a trip to the demon realm to check on that kid Han Mo.

Even if they delayed by a mere quarter of an hour, he feared they would be discovered.

From morning to night, and from night to midnight, only this particular shift-change period offered the longest window—a full three hours without a single patrol.

"Ah!" The little bun abruptly sat bolt upright, finally regaining her complete clarity.

That's right! She was the one planning to escape hell today, and she had already made arrangements with White Radish!

Yet when she sensed something, slowly turned her head, and saw clearly who was sitting at the head of her bed, she gave a tremendous start, her eyes rounding in shock. Dropping the sound-transmitting bell in her hand, she scrambled backward in panic.

"Aahhhhh—!!"

"Y-Y-Y-You, why are you here?!"

"D-D-D-Did you hear anything?!"

Lu Qing was clearly just jolted awake by her movements as well. It had been too late last night, so he hadn't bothered with formalities and had simply lain down to sleep on the floor. Who could have known that the moment he opened his eyes this morning, he'd be hit with such an explosive piece of news.

He was still feeling rather groggy, but seeing the terror in the little bun's eyes, he slowly smiled, raised a fair, slender index finger, and pointed at himself, "Me? I heard it all."

"Ahhh!! You, you..." The little bun was so flustered she didn't know what to do with her hands and feet. She wanted to get off the bed, but realized getting down wouldn't accomplish anything either, and she came close to pulling out her hair in frenzy.

"What's going on?" Bai Yan on the other end heard things all muddled and indistinct, unable to make out the details.

"You heard everything?"

"Little Highness, are you alright?"

Only then did the little bun remember the sound-transmitting bell. She hurriedly leaned over and reached out to grab it.

However, the person before her moved a step faster. "She's fine, but everything you two just said, I heard it all."

Bai Yan froze, clutching the sound-transmitting bell.

This is...