It was night.
The Lan family residence was brightly lit, and almost no one slept. Led by the patriarch, Lan Tianxiong, Lan Junjie, Li Huimei, Li Shan, and other members of the Lan family celebrated wildly until dawn.
This stood in stark contrast to the silence of the City Lord's mansion and the desolation of the other prominent families.
Lan Tianxiong and the others had wanted to invite Ling Fan to celebrate with them, as he was the greatest contributor.
Without Ling Fan, not only would they not have achieved the honor of winning first place in the Jiangnan City Martial Arts Competition, but they would have also been forced to watch the fire crystal vein fall into the hands of others.
However, Ling Fan politely declined.
His most urgent task now was to thoroughly investigate Lan Xueyi's condition and heal her injuries.
As for a mere Jiangnan City Martial Arts Competition champion and a fire crystal vein, they held no cause for celebration for him.
It would only be meaningful to celebrate when he returned to the Ten Great Heavenly Realms and stood at the pinnacle of the universe once more.
In Lan Xueyi's boudoir.
Ling Fan laid Lan Xueyi on the bed. Her slender legs were revealed beneath her well-fitting clothes, her beautiful figure displayed perfectly before Ling Fan.
Lan Xueyi's stunningly beautiful face blushed so deeply that it seemed water could drip from it.
Even her earlobes, as clear and lustrous as jade pendants, were completely red.
With a hint of panic, she pulled the quilt over herself.
However, this movement aggravated the injuries to her shoulders and body, causing her to let out a muffled groan of pain.
Although Ling Fan had used his wood-elemental true qi to help her initially heal some of the severe external wounds, the injuries to her internal meridians and the internal injuries to her five viscera and six organs were not so easily recovered.
"Don't move around. Do you want to recover or not!"
Ling Fan's tone carried a hint of sternness. Hearing this, Lan Xueyi immediately became as still as a kitten, daring not to move.
Ling Fan pulled back the quilt and looked at her alluring body, which invited all sorts of fantasies. Even with his cultivation from two lifetimes, he couldn't help but feel a stir of desire.
He coughed and said, "I need to examine you thoroughly now. It might be a little painful, so bear with it, understand?"
Lan Xueyi's face turned as red as a ripe apple. She turned her head and nodded gently.
Ling Fan placed his palm on her flat abdomen.
His powerful spiritual sense and true qi extended outwards simultaneously, entering Lan Xueyi's body.
Lan Xueyi's body tensed involuntarily.
Her meridians were already severely damaged. Now, under the stimulation of Ling Fan's true qi, her body transmitted waves of pain, as if being cut by a knife.
Her forehead immediately broke out in a sweat, but she bit her red lips tightly, not wanting to cry out and disturb Ling Fan.
"Lower your defenses!"
After a while, Ling Fan suddenly commanded in a low voice.
The human body is a great secret treasure, and there are many places that cannot be clearly investigated with true qi alone, especially the head and certain secret areas of the body.
Therefore, Ling Fan needed to use his powerful spiritual sense to ascertain Lan Xueyi's condition.
However, this required Lan Xueyi's cooperation.
After all, his spiritual sense had not yet fully formed into divine intent. It was still relatively difficult to forcefully probe the body of a Qi Refining realm martial artist.
Lan Xueyi hesitated for a moment before lowering her defenses.
She immediately felt a vast will sweep over her entire body.
This gave her a very strange sensation, as if everything about her was exposed to Ling Fan, leaving no secrets.
Moreover, the contact at the spiritual level between the two was even more intimate and thorough than the physical contact, as if they were merging like water and milk.
This made her feel extremely ashamed, yet also a hint of excitement and anticipation.
Although she was married to Ling Fan, she was still a maiden who had never experienced intimacy, so her heart was restless for a long time.
She couldn't help but close her eyes tightly, her eyelashes trembling, and her hands clenched into fists against her chest.
...
When Ling Fan's spiritual sense withdrew from Lan Xueyi's body like a receding tide, Lan Xueyi was already drenched in sweat from nervousness. Her silken robe was soaked, clinging to her graceful, undulating figure, adding a touch of allure and temptation.
However, Ling Fan had no leisure to appreciate this delectable scene at the moment.
Even though he had lived two lives and was once a Great Celestial Venerable who stood at the peak of the universe, he was still greatly astonished.
Lan Xueyi's body held too many secrets!
Ling Fan never imagined that Lan Xueyi possessed such a legendary constitution.
"It seems this was the consequence of Jin Wudao's attack..."
"Originally, that attack would have directly taken Xueyi's life, but by chance, it stimulated her hidden constitution..."
The Nine Deaths Spirit Phoenix Body!
This was one of the most powerful constitutions in the entire Heavenly Realm.
Moreover, it was extremely rare and difficult to cultivate.
It could be compared to Ling Fan's previous life's Heavenly Heart Dao Body.
Individuals with this constitution would experience nine life-and-death tribulations. If they could overcome each one, they would ascend to the Celestial Venerable realm after nine transformations.
There were even legends that the Nine Deaths Spirit Phoenix Body possessed a final, tenth tribulation.
Once the tenth tribulation was passed, one could achieve divine transformation and ascend to immortality, becoming a true immortal divine phoenix, transcending this universe.
However, this claim had never been verified. Even with Ling Fan's high status and extensive knowledge in his previous life, he had never heard of a Nine Deaths Spirit Phoenix Body that had passed the tenth tribulation.
This was because the Nine Deaths Spirit Phoenix Body was incredibly difficult to cultivate.
Nine deaths and nine tribulations, each tribulation was enough to make the most outstanding individuals lament their fate and die.
For example, the first tribulation, the [Burning Tribulation], would ignite a terrifying spiritual fire within the constitution's possessor that burned their bloodline. This fire would not extinguish until the possessor's original mortal blood was completely burned away.
Only when the mortal blood was shed and their blood truly transformed into spirit phoenix bloodline would the first tribulation be considered overcome.
With the slightest carelessness, one could perish in that terrifying spiritual fire that burned from within.
This was merely the simplest first tribulation; the difficulty of each subsequent tribulation increased exponentially.
This was also why truly accomplished Nine Deaths Spirit Phoenix Bodies were so rare.
In his previous life, Ling Fan had traversed the Ten Great Heavenly Realms and only encountered a handful of Nine Deaths Spirit Phoenix Bodies.
The highest cultivation among them was only at the Great Emperor realm, still a considerable distance from taking a step into the Celestial Venerable realm.
He never expected Lan Xueyi to possess such a rare constitution.
This was both an opportunity and a disaster.
However, for Lan Xueyi, it was more like a disaster.
Because she was in the lower realm, without anyone to protect her path, she could easily perish in the tribulations. It was likely that even the first tribulation would be difficult to survive.
If this constitution had not awakened, it would have been fine.
Lan Xueyi could have lived an ordinary yet peaceful life.
But once the Nine Deaths Spirit Phoenix Body awakened, there was no turning back. She could only walk this path to the end, either achieving Nirvana and greatness or perishing into ashes.
Fortunately for Lan Xueyi, she had met Ling Fan!
The tribulations of the Nine Deaths Spirit Phoenix Body were troublesome even for the Sacred Sects and Imperial Dynasties in the Heavenly Realm.
However, for Ling Fan, it was not an insurmountable problem.
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