Long Jingyue shook her head, "You..."

She sighed inwardly. What kind of monster was this disciple of hers, to be able to withstand such an impact? The experience from the Heritage Flower was the accumulation of hundreds of years, vast as a flood; no one could endure the shock all at once, yet he managed to hold on.

This Heritage Flower, the result of millennia of fusion, probably for the first time, someone had persevered through it. She wondered what immense gain he had achieved.

"Rest well for a bit, don't rush," Long Jingyue instructed.

Li Muzhan nodded, then closed his eyes again, his breathing slowly calming, gradually fading into nothingness, his entire being seeming to merge with the void.

Long Jingyue felt it most keenly. Li Muzhan before her seemed to have dissolved into the air, ethereal and unpredictable; closing his eyes, he appeared nonexistent.

She understood this feeling meant his comprehension of the cosmos had reached a certain level, at least deeper than her own. If he intended to lie in wait or launch a sneak attack, she would certainly be at a disadvantage.

Time slipped away rapidly amidst her astonishment. Li Muzhan awoke leisurely, opening his eyes. She could perceive a profound sense of age within them.

"Wuji, how is it?" Long Jingyue asked urgently.

Li Muzhan nodded, "I have a thread of understanding."

"Do you know which senior this is?" Long Jingyue inquired.

Li Muzhan thought for a moment and shook his head. Long Jingyue said, "Never mind, it's better if you don't know. Very few manage to condense the Heritage Flower, but sadly, none of them were willing to leave their names."

Li Muzhan said, "Master, our understanding of the Twelve Forms of the Heavenly Abyss is too superficial."

"Indeed," Long Jingyue sighed. "The Twelve Forms of the Heavenly Abyss hold immense power, yet we descendants cannot master them. It's truly shameful!"

Li Muzhan stated, "The Twelve Forms of the Heavenly Abyss require tempering in life and death, breaking through at the brink of annihilation to stimulate potential. Without experiencing this, it is difficult to truly comprehend them."

"Are the disciples too comfortable?" Long Jingyue frowned.

Li Muzhan nodded, "Weren't we like that before?"

The experiences in his mind were from another life, as if he had lived an entire existence. Though some parts were hazy, the sensations were vividly clear. His insights on life were also sharp.

Long Jingyue shook her head, "The predecessors did not shy away from sacrifice, but in recent eras, disciples have become fewer, so we are reluctant to push them that hard."

Li Muzhan sighed, shaking his head without speaking. The current disciples of the Heavenly Abyss Pavilion were like the offspring of the nobility—able to rest on their laurels and enjoy privilege, without needing such great sacrifice. But with this attitude, mastering even the Twelve Forms of the Heavenly Abyss was out of the question; generation by generation, they declined. The Pavilion relied entirely on the Pavilion Master, who possessed the Heritage Flower, but if the Heritage Flower were ever lost, the Heavenly Abyss Pavilion would inevitably wane.

Yet, tides rise and fall, peaks and troughs exist; birth necessitates decay. This was unavoidable, even for the mighty Heavenly Abyss Pavilion.

Long Jingyue didn't wish to dwell on the heavy topic. "Wuji, do you wish to continue the fusion?"

Li Muzhan looked up at the Heritage Flower suspended in the air and nodded slowly, "Let's complete it in one go!"

Having acquired vast experience, he knew how to integrate the inner power of the Heritage Flower and felt confident. He smiled, "Master, give me a boost at the critical moment."

"Yes, I understand," Long Jingyue assented.

Li Muzhan reached out, and the Heritage Flower floated into his palm. Enduring the searing pain, he slowly placed it near his Dantian, then closed his eyes and circulated his energy.

Moments later, the brilliance of the Heritage Flower intensified, growing brighter and brighter until, finally, it was like a small sun settled in his Dantian. His entire body vanished, as if melted into the light.

Long Jingyue watched him without blinking, unaffected by the radiance. She dared not close her eyes, for doing so meant losing the sense of his presence.

Following a unique mental technique, Li Muzhan slowly channeled the inner power. In a short time, the external burning pain transformed into a torrent, surging downward, seemingly on the verge of bursting his Dantian apart.

Wherever the inner power flowed, the pain felt like burning fire, and his meridians seemed to be tearing apart. This power was too refined, too condensed, too heavy to be contained.

Li Muzhan remained calm. Ordinary people could only use their Dantian to house such incomparably pure inner power. Having practiced a special technique, every part of his body was a Dantian.

One acupoint after another burst open, and the inner power poured in like a river reversing course into a dry well, filling it instantly. Li Muzhan forcibly suppressed the pain, guiding the infusion into each successive acupoint. His robes fluttered without wind.

Long Jingyue was concentrating intently when she suddenly felt an invisible force surge towards her, trying to push her away. She swiftly exerted her power to stabilize herself, but this force grew stronger and stronger, eventually becoming like a surging, overwhelming tide that she could not possibly resist. Her figure was pushed off the jade bed.

She stared at Li Muzhan in astonishment, finding it incredible that in such a short time, his cultivation had surpassed her own.

This was the power overflowing because he could not contain the internal energy he was receiving. The power imbued by the Heritage Flower was immeasurable, often representing centuries of cultivation.

Could it be that he could fully absorb it all? She laughed inwardly; that was unrealistic. Inner power inheritance forcibly expanded the original meridians and enlarged the Dantian.

The expansion of the Dantian and meridians required a long period of slow, gradual accumulation, subtly transforming over time. Expanding all at once had limits; it could not be too much, or it would instantly destroy the meridians and the Dantian.

Everyone's tolerance differed, but no matter how much one could endure, it could not exceed twice their own cultivation level. Pushing further would lead to disaster.

She stared intently at Li Muzhan's palms. If he truly reached his limit, his ten fingers would tremble ceaselessly; the fingers connected to the meridians, and any strain on the meridians would manifest in the fingers.

A look of confusion crossed her face. Li Muzhan showed no sign of reaching his limit, yet logically, he should have hit it by now. She frowned, wanting to move closer but finding herself unable to, as the invisible force kept pushing her outward.

With a muffled thump, the Heritage Flower shattered into dust, and the room plunged into darkness.

"Wuji?"

The surging power grew even more violent, ceaselessly pushing her back. Anxious, she called out softly.

Li Muzhan slightly lowered his eyelids, motionless, though his robes whipped around him fiercely, as if he stood in a great gale. Then, he slowly floated upwards, suspended mid-air in a cross-legged posture, as if a meditation cushion existed in the void.

Long Jingyue let out a breath of relief. It seemed he was fine; his ten fingers were steady as ever—truly unimaginable!

After about fifteen minutes, Li Muzhan leisurely exhaled, "Hsuu," opened his eyes while still seated in the void, and the room instantly brightened.

"Wuji?" Long Jingyue stared intently at him.

Li Muzhan smiled, "Master, the great task is complete."

He drifted down slowly, like a feather landing on the jade bed. Long Jingyue felt the overwhelming power abruptly vanish, filled with both shock and joy, knowing he had fully mastered it.

She hurried to the jade bed and took hold of his wrist, only for her fingers to slip; she couldn't locate his pulse point. An invisible force repelled her, and her inner power could not penetrate.

She did not force it, withdrawing her hand and looking at him with wonder. "Wuji, you absorbed all the cultivation?"

Li Muzhan laughed, "By luck."

If he hadn't cultivated the countless acupoints—over three hundred and sixty Dantians throughout his body—he truly couldn't have withstood this much inner power. Now, all this power was stored within these great somatic points.

This inner power was strange; he couldn't command it fluidly immediately. It seemed to possess a will of its own, reacting autonomously.

To completely master this power would require a process of refinement.

Long Jingyue sighed, "I truly never imagined..."

She could never have conceived that Li Muzhan could achieve this level. Originally, she only intended to forge a top expert who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her, enough to support the Heavenly Abyss Pavilion and fend off the Divine Fist Sect.

Unexpectedly, his achievement far exceeded her wildest thoughts. If he could truly refine this inner power, his cultivation would far surpass hers, perhaps even exceeding that of his Master and senior uncles, making him the foremost master of the Heavenly Abyss Pavilion.

Li Muzhan said, "Master, I wish to refine the inner power immediately and enter seclusion for a while."

"Yes, begin!" Long Jingyue nodded.

Li Muzhan wasted no time, closing his eyes and commencing the refinement of this immense power.

Refining this power relied on his original inner energy, but compared to the influx, his original power was weak and impure.

Li Muzhan pondered, finally recalling the method from the Sword Canon: transforming inner power into Sword Qi, using Sword Qi to break down the newly acquired power, and slowly subjugating it.

Fortunately, his physical body was formidable, his body refinement at its peak—impervious and indestructible. No matter how he tormented himself, time flew by swiftly. It felt like an instant to him, yet a full month had passed.

When he awoke leisurely, his stomach rumbled first, like thunder. Even though he could practice abstinence from food, refining inner power was an incredibly draining process, taxing both strength and spirit. Without sustenance, he had lost a significant amount of weight.

"Wuji?" A pleasant voice sounded. Without turning, he knew his Master, Long Jingyue, was sitting behind him, gazing at him quietly.

"Master," he turned and smiled.

"You've worked hard. Was it successful?" Long Jingyue asked.

She could no longer gauge the depth of Li Muzhan; he felt like an abyss, a vast sea, unfathomable and profound. Standing before him gave her the sensation of standing at the edge of the Heavenly Abyss.

Li Muzhan nodded, "Yes."

Long Jingyue smiled radiantly, her face shining, "Good! Excellent!"

"Master, shall we go up? I'm starving," Li Muzhan said.

"Let's go up and have Mingqiu make a bowl of porridge," Long Jingyue nodded, floated down from the jade bed, left the stone grotto, and Li Muzhan followed closely behind.

The two climbed the rope. After quite some time, they reached the Heavenly Abyss. Li Muzhan narrowed his eyes; the world before him was now different.

Having gained the life experience and knowledge of another person, his perspective on the current world was completely altered—one in heaven, one on earth.

He sighed profoundly. The same world appears vastly different in everyone's eyes, separated only by a single thought.

Bai Mingqiu, clad in a moon-white silk robe, stood quietly by the edge of the Heavenly Abyss, gazing closely at Li Muzhan.

"Senior Sister, you're here!" Li Muzhan clasped his fists and smiled.

Bai Mingqiu inclined her head, "Was it successful?"

Li Muzhan nodded, and Bai Mingqiu let out a breath of relief, "That's good. Hurry and drive away those four fellows outside! They are haunting us, sticking to us!"

Li Muzhan felt only a moment had passed, and Bai Mingqiu hadn't felt too long had elapsed either. She only felt Li Muzhan seemed even more ethereal, his temperament somewhat refined, with little significant change.

Being one level below Long Jingyue, she couldn't sense Li Muzhan's true power. He had completely refined the inner power; his cultivation was astonishing, far surpassing hers.

Li Muzhan secretly calculated: the current cultivation required perhaps over a hundred years of his own effort. The several centuries' worth of cultivation had been refined: part used to strengthen his body, another part purified, and a small portion consumed—hardly any wasted.

Li Muzhan smiled, "Senior Sister, help me make porridge. I'll be right back!"

"Go ahead," Bai Mingqiu nodded.