Chapter 1496: The Art of Caibu

"This girl!"

Zhang Xuan shook his head, flew over, and looked down. He saw that the book in front of Zhao Ya was precisely the secret manual he had written for her.

It was still in Tianxuan Kingdom, shortly after she had become his disciple—a simplified cultivation technique tailored to her physique, now utterly useless for her current level of cultivation.

The entire book was clean and tidy, without a single crease, preserved with great care.

Back then, when he had given her the book, he had instructed her to memorize it and then destroy it. He hadn't expected her to still keep it.

After more than half a year apart, the girl had grown taller and more elegant. With her Pure Yin Physique awakened, her appearance had undergone earth-shattering changes, becoming even more beautiful.

In terms of looks alone, among all the women he had seen, perhaps only Luo Ruoxin could surpass her.

"A girl changes eighteen times before reaching womanhood." Such a transformation showed that the Ice Palace had indeed done its utmost for her; otherwise, her physique could not have awakened so quickly!

His eyes flickered as he looked at the girl.

Then he frowned.

Although she wore no shackles, her cultivation seemed to be sealed by some force. At this moment, she was like an ordinary person, without a trace of true qi.

"Teacher, are you... all right?"

Just as he was about to observe more closely, the girl's voice sounded again.

"I'm fine!"

Too lazy to look further, he answered directly.

"Who?"

Hearing the voice, Zhao Ya was startled. She quickly stood up from where she was, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Who else? It's me, your teacher!"

His soul body stirred, and Zhang Xuan slowly revealed his form.

Having been tempered by lightning, his soul could now manifest visibly if he wished, though it was twenty meters tall, like a giant.

"Teacher..."

Seeing his face and sensing the aura emanating from him, Zhao Ya's eyes immediately reddened.

She had missed him day and night, with countless words to say, but now that they finally met, she couldn't utter a single one.

"Mm, tell me, what exactly happened? Aren't you the Young Palace Master? Why are you imprisoned?" Knowing there was no time for reminiscing, Zhang Xuan frowned and asked.

First, he needed to understand what was going on before he could figure out how to rescue her.

"Teacher... what I said just now... did you... did you hear it all?" Instead of answering his question, Zhao Ya blushed, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"What words?" Zhang Xuan looked at her.

"It's nothing..."

She quickly waved her hand and glanced at her teacher, finding that he indeed hadn't taken it to heart. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief. Her knees went weak, and she knelt down: "I know that putting Teacher in danger is unfilial, but right now, I have no better option. I can only hope that Teacher will act!"

"Since I've come, I will naturally act. What exactly is going on?" Zhang Xuan said.

He had rushed here desperately, even risking offending the Zhang Clan and the Saint Hall, precisely to rescue her. But even if he wanted to save her, he needed to know the specifics.

"It's like this... I accidentally discovered a secret of the Ice Palace!"

Zhao Ya gritted her teeth: "My mother is actually the previous... Palace Master of the Ice Palace!"

"Your mother?"

Zhang Xuan was stunned.

How did her mother come into this?

Zhao Ya was the daughter of Zhao Feng, the city lord of White Jade City, and had a steward named Yao Han. He knew all that, but he had never heard of her mother.

Unexpectedly, she turned out to be the Palace Master of the Ice Palace—a superpower comparable to a first-rate clan. How could someone in that position marry a minor city lord in a remote place like Tianxuan Kingdom and bear a daughter?

"Every generation of Ice Palace Masters requires a Pure Yin Physique, and my mother... is one!"

Zhao Ya stood up. Facing her benefactor teacher, she had nothing to hide and laid out everything she knew: "A crisis occurred back then. To break away from the Ice Palace, my mother sealed her cultivation and fled to an ancient land without famous masters, Tianxuan Kingdom... Later, she met my father. They shared common interests and got married! But after giving birth to me, she could no longer suppress her power. The power of the Pure Yin Physique leaked out. To prevent my father and me from being harmed, she willingly let herself be captured..."

"Your mother was captured?"

Zhang Xuan frowned.

"Yes. She is now imprisoned somewhere in the Ice Palace, just like me. Unfortunately... I haven't found her yet!" Zhao Ya shook her head, showing unwillingness.

As a child, she naturally didn't want her parents to suffer. Knowing her mother was imprisoned but unable to find her location—the pain was imaginable.

"Is that why you were imprisoned?"

Zhang Xuan was puzzled.

Even if she knew her mother was the previous Ice Palace Master and was imprisoned, why would she herself be locked up?

After all, the Ice Palace had already lost one Palace Master. Having finally found another Pure Yin Physique, and since she hadn't committed any offense, they wouldn't be so foolish as to destroy their own foundation!

"No, it's because I discovered... the final step to activate the Pure Yin Physique!"

Clenching her fists, Zhao Ya's face turned pale.

"What method?"

Zhang Xuan grew even more curious.

The Pure Yin Physique was awakened step by step. Knowing the final step should be a cause for joy, so why had it led to her imprisonment?

"The Pure Yin Physique gathers the ultimate beauty of women in the world, fused into one body. It is rare across the entire continent. In this era, perhaps only my mother and I possess it! Once this physique is activated, cultivation will skyrocket, and martial techniques and cultivation methods can be learned effortlessly..."

Zhao Ya spoke slowly: "But heaven and earth have constants; they cannot allow a single power to develop to its limit. This is what is meant by 'solitary yin does not give birth, solitary yang does not grow.'"

Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes.

"That is to say, yin and yang are not isolated and static; they involve opposition, interdependence, waxing and waning, and transformation... Although yin and yang are opposites, neither can exist without the other..."

Recalling what she had read, Zhao Ya's delicate body trembled: "Therefore, the final step to activate the Pure Yin Physique is... the blending of yin and yang, mutual harmonization!"

"Blending of yin and yang?"

"Mm. The Ice Palace not only has female disciples who cultivate yin attributes but also male disciples who cultivate yang attributes. To break through the final step, one must harvest the yang qi from their bodies, using them as cauldrons!"

Zhao Ya gritted her teeth.

"As cauldrons? The Ice Palace actually uses such a cruel secret technique?"

Zhang Xuan's body trembled.

So-called cauldrons were merely objects for caibu (dual cultivation harvesting). Once the harvesting was complete, they would die directly... Such a cruel method had always been abhorred by the Master Teacher Pavilion. Back then, the soul shamans were exterminated because of possession and refining soulless golden figures... The final step of the Ice Palace's Pure Yin Physique turned out to be this method...

This was too horrifying!

"Yes. I directly refused, so... I was imprisoned. The Great Elder plans to make me change my mind."

Zhao Ya said.