The gloom that had loomed over her and her family since birth was completely shattered with the blossoming of the third Nine Hearted Hibiscus.
In Ye Lingling's eyes, the pink-gold color of the flower was a symbol of hope.
Teary-eyed, she locked eyes with Quan Yi, who had regained consciousness.
Enveloped in divine light, Quan Yi's eyes contained divine intent, lacking any sense of approachability. At this moment, he was like a god descending upon the world, and Ye Lingling couldn't help but feel a sense of reverence in her heart.
This scene was deeply etched into Ye Lingling's heart, and she felt that she might never forget this image.
She involuntarily clasped her hands together, closed her eyes tightly, and bowed her head to Quan Yi in sincere gratitude.
"On behalf of the entire Nine Hearted Hibiscus family, I express our most sincere gratitude to you.
From this moment on, you will be the greatest benefactor of our family."
The divine intent that Quan Yi had generated while comprehending the Great Dao was rapidly receding, and his eyes regained their original human quality.
Seeing Ye Lingling bowing to him, he immediately raised his hand and lifted her bent body from afar.
"There's no need to be so formal. This is just a mutually beneficial exchange.
I'm resolving the curse on your martial soul for you, and you're choosing to join our forces.
Since it's an exchange of conditions, there's no question of any favor or anything."
Quan Yi lightly raised the index finger of his right hand, and the Nine Hearted Hibiscus, which was Ye Lingling's flower, trembled slightly. The vines that had been wrapped around her body began to quickly retract, returning to their source.
When the vines receded to her forearm, the brand-new pink-gold hibiscus quickly closed up, shrinking into a bud, and then disappeared into the vines, returning together.
In the end, the original Nine Hearted Hibiscus also restrained its golden light, returning to its initial state. Then, Quan Yi flicked his finger, and the Nine Hearted Hibiscus transformed into a pink-white light, shooting into the back of Ye Lingling's right hand.
The vanished martial soul imprint reappeared on the back of her hand.
Reunited with her martial soul, Ye Lingling's aura surged violently. She could feel a scorching, yet vibrant, energy gushing out from her right hand.
At this moment, Quan Yi's voice entered her soul directly.
The pink-white energy was constantly washing over Ye Lingling's body. Although this energy was exceptionally vast, it surprisingly did not break through her relatively slender meridians.
This was because this energy was filled with powerful restorative power. Even if her meridians were stretched and torn, they would be completely repaired in an instant.
Destruction and restoration were constantly pulling at Ye Lingling's body.
During this process, her overall physical fitness and meridian strength were constantly rising, but pain, however, was unavoidable.
The piercing pain coming from her entire body made Ye Lingling's beautiful face turn red and contorted, and even dirty blood seeped out of her pores.
However, no matter how painful it was, Ye Lingling knew that this was a very important opportunity for her. Even if her body was on the verge of exploding, she had to grit her teeth and persevere.
Looking at Ye Lingling, who had quite a bit of perseverance, Quan Yi looked up at Huo Wu and asked, "Wife, give her a hand."
Huo Wu nodded in satisfaction, and then, she patted the power of light element, which released a soft white light, into Ye Lingling's back.
After entering Ye Lingling's body, this soft white energy formed a guiding effect, driving the energy within Ye Lingling's body to circulate.
Moreover, these energies were precisely divided into eight strands, simultaneously impacting the eight corners of the meridians.
Ye Lingling vaguely sensed Huo Wu's actions amidst the pain, but she no longer had the strength to control anything.
All she could do was trust Huo Wu and insist on not losing consciousness.
Seeing this, it should soon be clear what Huo Wu's intentions were.
What she was doing now was opening up the hidden meridians within Ye Lingling's body.
The energy released by the martial soul was too vast. Even with meridian repair abilities that were no less than that of a phoenix's protection, Ye Lingling, who had not adapted to this intensity of destruction, would find it difficult to persevere to the end.
Therefore, Huo Wu could only take action, guiding the vast energy and using it to open up Ye Lingling's hidden meridians.
Under Huo Wu's perfect control, the sound of cracking came from eight acupoints within Ye Lingling's body simultaneously.
In an instant, her body erupted with a strong suction force, sucking the energy filling her body into those eight acupoints.
As the energy flowed into the unfamiliar channels, the pain in Ye Lingling's body decreased sharply. The feeling of comfort at that moment almost made her moan.
From the initial points to the current lines.
Ye Lingling noticed that with the infusion of energy, eight new channels had been opened up from the eight acupoints, forming a perfect connection with her original meridians.
The hidden meridians had been successfully opened.
Huo Wu removed her palm. The situation that followed no longer required her intervention. Ye Lingling alone was enough to handle it.
Quan Yi walked to Huo Wu's side, gently took her hand, and caressed it lightly, saying, "Thank you for your hard work, wife."
Touched by Quan Yi's affectionate gesture, the dissatisfaction in Huo Wu's heart completely dissipated. She seemed to melt completely, leaning close to Quan Yi and softly saying, "What does this count for me? You're the one who's working harder."
The two of them leaned on each other like this, quietly waiting for Ye Lingling to awaken.
Energy fluctuations came from Ye Lingling's body several times. With each fluctuation, her aura would surge a notch.
This was a sign of her soul power level breaking through.
Time flowed quietly, and the sun outside the window had completely set.
After opening up her hidden meridians, Ye Lingling's speed of digesting energy directly increased by several levels. This speed even surpassed Yu Tianheng, who was a genius soul master in the common sense.
When the energy fluctuations that had been revealed on the surface of her body completely subsided, and the pink-white hibiscus imprint on the back of her hand completely disappeared, Ye Lingling finally opened her eyes.
At this moment, her eyes were filled with surprise and joy.
Feeling the surging energy and powerful physical fitness within her body, as well as the vibrant martial soul power hidden in her right hand, a sincere smile appeared on her face.
With her movements, the solidified blood scabs on the surface of her body quickly shattered, revealing her fair and radiant skin.
Her skin had become more delicate than before, of course, this was just the appearance, the more important point was the improvement of her strength.
"I've broken through level forty!"
Ye Lingling looked at Quan Yi and Huo Wu, who were sitting quietly in front of her, and incredulously spoke of the changes in level that she felt.
She stretched out her right hand and summoned the Nine Hearted Hibiscus.
From the outside, it seemed to have returned to its original state, but the energy contained within it was not the same.
Ye Lingling looked at the martial soul that had returned to its original state, and a puzzled expression appeared on her face.
Quan Yi explained, "Don't worry, the changes in the martial soul are real. What you saw before was just hidden inside the martial soul and didn't disappear.
It's just that, with your current strength, you can't fully unleash the potential of the Nine Hearted Hibiscus, so you just need to patiently improve your strength."
