The third stage was true heart-to-heart communion. By then, even if the two of them were separated by dozens or even hundreds of meters, the true yuan within their bodies would resonate across the distance, flowing in an endless, self-sustaining cycle.
When the two joined forces in harmony, their combat power would surge dramatically, allowing them to employ many of the dual cultivation technique's secret offensive skills.
True yuan flowed from Yang Kai's body into Su Yan's, then cycled back from Su Yan into Yang Kai. The two streams of true yuan merged and refined each other, growing ever more pure and torrential with the passage of time. Not only were their true yuan beginning to intertwine, but their very consciousnesses seemed to converge into one.
Formless and intangible, their awareness intertwined, each longing for that wondrous contact. Without a single word spoken, they could clearly sense what the other was thinking. Every touch sent a faint tremor through both of them.
The faint sound of a dragon's roar drifted from within Yang Kai's body. From within Su Yan's body came the answering cry of a phoenix.
The room where the two cultivated was bathed in a shimmering radiance of dragon and phoenix. Had their clothes been removed, one would have seen a dragon and a phoenix gliding rapidly across Yang Kai's back and Su Yan's backs respectively, and with their dance, this dual cultivation session proved far more efficient than any before.
This breakthrough session of dual cultivation lasted a full five days. The merging and refinement of their true yuan washed away all the impurities that had accumulated in their bodies during this period.
It not only stabilized and boosted Yang Kai's strength considerably, but Su Yan reaped tremendous gains as well.
There was no physical intimacy, no bone-melting ecstasy, yet both of them instinctively felt that this kind of dual cultivation was what they had truly been yearning for all along — a joining that touched each other's souls.
Even as he departed, Yang Kai did nothing beyond that.
For Su Yan had been using the longing and desire in her heart to temper herself this whole time. If Yang Kai had given in to passion now, it would likely shatter the state of mind she had maintained for over a year, reducing all her perseverance to nothing.
For her sake, Yang Kai had to endure.
Before leaving, Yang Kai gave Su Yan Ling Taixu's Cosmos Bag. Inside it were several dozen catties of Myriad Medicine Spirit Liquid, over a dozen catties of Myriad Medicine Spirit Milk, and two vials of Myriad Medicine Spirit Paste.
Long-term consumption of the Myriad Medicine Spirit Liquid could improve one's constitution, and such a precious treasure naturally had to be shared with his woman. It wouldn't take long — just one or two months of consistent use and Su Yan would likely undergo a complete transformation.
Her aptitude was already at the pinnacle. To undergo such a transformation once more — her future achievements would be boundless.
On top of that, he had left behind a single drop each of Soul-Washing Dew and Luminous Flame Liquid. Su Yan could refine the Luminous Flame Liquid right now to aid in tempering her true yuan, while the Soul-Washing Dew would prove useful when she broke through to the Shenyou Realm.
These were all things she would need in the near future.
After leaving Su Yan's small pavilion, Yang Kai flew all the way to Kunlong Gorge.
Before he even drew close, he could see wave after wave of sinister black energy rising from the depths of Kunlong Gorge, converging upward.
In the sky some ten-odd li above the gorge, a massive mass of black mist blotted out the sky, and a terrifying aura of malevolent qi surged toward him head-on.
Ever since the Sect Leader's second disciple had broken out of seclusion, the once-peaceful Kunlong Gorge had turned into this.
The evil energy here was incredibly dense. In the short term, the impact wouldn't be too severe, but if it continued like this, this entire region spanning several hundred li would become uninhabitable.
The disciples of the three nearby sects would all be affected.
During this period, both the Blood Battle Gang and the Wind and Rain Tower had come to Lingxiao Pavilion to demand answers. But with the Sect Leader gravely wounded and unconscious, and one of the five Grand Elders already dead in battle, they had seen the sect in its current state of decay and could only let the matter drop.
Earth Demon's emotions were abnormally excited. Without waiting for Yang Kai to summon him, he burst out on his own, drawing in wisps of the malevolent black energy around them into the Soul-Splitting Spike. Earth Demon opened his belly and devoured it all like a sponge, swallowing every last trace of that baleful qi.
What ordinary people could never endure was a great tonic for Earth Demon.
Not only did his spiritual soul require this kind of energy, but the Soul-Splitting Spike also urgently needed baleful demonic qi for its repair.
The current state of Lingxiao Pavilion was precisely the kind of paradise he favored.
Yang Kai walked to the edge of Kunlong Gorge and peered downward. Far below, where the bottom was invisible to the naked eye, it seemed as though black flood dragons were tumbling and boiling in a frenzy. These were all formed from extremely dense baleful and vicious qi. The very bottom of Kunlong Gorge had become a breeding ground for evil energy.
"When you were absorbing demonic qi beneath the gorge before, did you notice anything unusual?" Yang Kai asked with a frown.
"Nothing in particular. The deeper you went, the more concentrated the demonic qi became — that much is true. But the evil demonic energy here now feels different from what it was before," Earth Demon murmured.
"Different how?" Yang Kai pressed.
"It seems purer and denser than before. Originally, there was an energy suppressing the evil demonic qi from below — the yang-attribute energy you once absorbed here was what held the evil demonic qi in check. But now that suppression has loosened considerably."
Yang Kai nodded slightly and said nothing more.
He had noticed it too — the yang-attribute energy here was far thinner than before.
A moment later, he leaped downward. While still in midair, he circulated his true yuan to steady his body, then angled himself and shot into his own cave dwelling.
The cave dwelling was exactly as he had left it, not the slightest bit damaged. Every piece of decoration and furnishing inside had been painstakingly set up by Su Yan and Xia Ningshang bit by bit.
Two potted flowers at the cave entrance had withered and died — these were the same two pots Meng Wuya had placed on the Contribution Hall's front desk. Now, affected by the evil demonic qi, they had completely perished.
Beside the two pots, there was a small pit in the ground where the Yin-Yang Demon Ginseng had once taken root. But now it was nowhere to be found.