“Yes, hunting me down!” Mu Yunjin nodded solemnly, confirming this fact.
Hearing this, Master Huaiyuan and Master An exchanged dubious glances, then Master An spoke up, “Has something happened?”
“I’ll explain everything later. Let’s extract this crocodile pearl first.” Mu Yunjin held the pearl before them.
“Alright.” The two looked at Mu Yunjin’s expression and realized something serious must have happened. Now that Mu Yunjin urgently needed to use the crocodile pearl to draw out the Divine Decree, they guessed the matter was once again related to the Divine Decree.
This token truly brought nothing but trouble.
“By the way, set up a formation outside first. I expect Chu Li will catch up soon. Before the Divine Decree is extracted from my body, we can’t let him in.” Mu Yunjin looked toward Master An, recalling his exquisite formations that no one could break.
Master An grunted and nodded in agreement.
…
In a spacious secret chamber of the Zen monastery, Mu Yunjin sat cross-legged on a cushion. Before her, Master An and Master Huaiyuan sat facing each other, each with a pearl in their palm.
…
…
Shortly after, Master An and Master Huaiyuan simultaneously activated their inner force. A deep green light and a dark red light appeared in their palms respectively, and the two pearls slowly levitated into the air.
Mu Yunjin pursed her lips, watching them from the side, hardly daring to breathe. She noticed Master An and Master Huaiyuan continuously injecting inner force into the pearls, their expressions grave.
“Crack—”
Two breaking sounds suddenly echoed in the quiet chamber.
Mu Yunjin focused her eyes and saw that the outer shells of the two pearls had shattered, just like when the two spirit crocodiles had suddenly shed their shells that day.
Soon after the shells fell away, two pill-sized pearls appeared before Mu Yunjin’s eyes. Then she heard Master An’s voice—
“Mu’er, concentrate your true energy and merge with the crocodile pearls!”
As he finished speaking, Master An had already injected his inner force and true energy into the two small round pearls floating in mid-air.
Mu Yunjin immediately followed Master An’s instructions, activating her inner force, gathering true energy in her palm, and directing it toward the two pearls before her.
Three powerful streams of true energy targeted the same direction. Mu Yunjin watched the pearls without blinking, fearing they might show no reaction.
At this moment, footsteps sounded outside the chamber, “Abbot, Prince Ning has arrived…”
Upon hearing it was Chu Li, Mu Yunjin frowned, shook her head at Master Huaiyuan, and whispered, “Cannot see him.”
Master Huaiyuan nodded, knowing Master An had already set a formation outside, so he simply ignored the young monk’s announcement.
“It’s almost successfully merged.” Master An suddenly spoke.
Mu Yunjin looked up and saw the two previously separate pearls slowly moving together, their original individual colors gradually trending toward a gray-black hue.
Seeing this, Mu Yunjin raised her hand, intensifying the force, eager to fully form the crocodile pearl.
…
Half an hour later, when Mu Yunjin was almost too exhausted to continue, a joyful voice came from beside her, “Success!”
Immediately, the two streams of true energy withdrew simultaneously.
Mu Yunjin also withdrew her energy and looked up to see a gray pearl floating in mid-air in the chamber. The pearl was quite small and ordinary-looking, but the deep glow around it appeared mysterious and eerie.
Is this the crocodile pearl?
Master An reached out and drew the crocodile pearl to his palm, examining it.
“Now that we have the crocodile pearl, let’s extract the Divine Decree from my body,” Mu Yunjin said urgently, thinking of Chu Li waiting outside and wanting to resolve this time bomb inside her first.
Master An looked at Mu Yunjin, “Although this object counters evil items, it may not necessarily extract the Divine Decree from your body. If it fails, don’t be too disheartened.”
“Yes, I understand.” Mu Yunjin had known from the beginning that the crocodile pearl might not extract the Divine Decree, but since they had it, they had to try.
“Very well, sit still and don’t move. When the Divine Decree is being extracted, your body may experience some discomfort. Remember to endure it,” Master An reminded.
Mu Yunjin nodded.
…
In the process that followed, Mu Yunjin sat in the center with the crocodile pearl hovering above her head, emitting a gray-black light that enveloped her entire body.
Then, the gray-black light surrounding her suddenly condensed, transforming into a sharp beam that shot into Mu Yunjin’s chest.
“Puff…”
Mu Yunjin spat out a mouthful of blood. At this moment, she felt as if invisible hands were violently pulling at her heart, threatening to crush it.
“The Divine Decree has fused with your heart meridian. To extract it means forcibly tearing one of your heart meridians—a very painful and difficult process. You must endure,” Master An advised, noticing Mu Yunjin’s discomfort.
Mu Yunjin wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, biting her lower lip, silently cursing why the Divine Decree had chosen her, truly life-threatening.
“Puff…” After spitting out several more mouthfuls of blood, Mu Yunjin felt dizzy, her vision gradually darkening, feeling like she might collapse at any moment.
“Mu’er, control yourself. You cannot faint, or all will be wasted! Based on the current situation, this crocodile pearl can indeed extract the Divine Decree from your body!” Master An said.
Hearing this, Mu Yunjin instantly became a bit more alert, though still unable to stop her vision from darkening.
Another wave of heart-piercing pain surged up, accompanied by a sense of suffocation. Mu Yunjin felt dazed, her body light as a feather. Just as she was about to faint, a golden light flickered faintly at her chest…
Gradually, the golden light grew brighter, and Mu Yunjin felt the discomfort in her chest suddenly disappear completely, returning to her initial comfortable state.
At this moment, a small circular pattern appeared on her chest.
Mu Yunjin lowered her eyes to look and saw that the circular pattern was becoming more and more distinct, continuously emerging from her body.
Suddenly, with a “whoosh,” Mu Yunjin’s body jerked, and she felt something penetrate out from inside her.
“The Divine Decree is out!” Master An slapped his thigh excitedly.
Master Huaiyuan was equally excited.
Hearing this, Mu Yunjin fixed her gaze forward. Before her eyes, a small, exquisite circular token was shining. The token was entirely golden, with a phoenix pattern carved on its surface.
“So this is the Divine Decree?” Mu Yunjin tentatively reached out, grasped the Divine Decree in her hand, and examined it carefully.
The token was not large, occupying only half the size of her palm. No matter how Mu Yunjin looked at it, she couldn’t see how such a thing could summon dead spirits and soldiers. Instead, the more she looked at it, the more she felt—
“Hey, Master An, doesn’t this thing look like those chocolate gold coins?”
Master An’s mouth twitched suddenly.
…
“Now, how should we handle this?” Mu Yunjin held the Divine Decree, feeling significantly more at ease and relieved knowing it was finally out of her body.
She had been worried the crocodile pearl wouldn’t work, but now realized her concerns were unnecessary.
“You are its master. You decide,” Master An shifted his gaze, glancing at the Divine Decree.
Mu Yunjin pouted, looking disdainfully at the Divine Decree, “When did I become the master of the Divine Decree? It was merely stored in my body before. I don’t want to be the master of this hot potato.”
“Whether you want it or not, you are. If you don’t believe me, try throwing it away!” Master An said.
Hearing this, Mu Yunjin tossed the Divine Decree out of her hand with a flick.
The moment the Divine Decree left her palm, it halted in mid-air, then flew back to Mu Yunjin, landing back in her palm.
“See, it has recognized you as its master,” Master An said again.
“So, how can this thing summon dead spirits and soldiers? And since it has recognized me as its master, does it only obey my commands now?” Mu Yunjin raised an eyebrow.
Master An nodded, “That’s right. Because it was attached to your heart for a long time, it originally meant to fuse with your heart meridian and control your mind. Now that you’ve extracted it, it acknowledges its shameful failure and has directly recognized you as its master. I’ve said before, this thing has its own life within it, so it’s quite crafty!”
“As for summoning dead spirits and soldiers, I don’t know. You, as its master, will have to figure it out slowly. But there’s no guarantee others don’t know the method of summoning and might do so before you, so you’d better keep it well hidden for now.”
Mu Yunjin made an affirmative sound and clutched the Divine Decree in her palm. After thinking for a moment, she tucked it into her bosom.
“By the way, Princess Ning, you mentioned earlier that Prince Ning was hunting you down. What happened?” Master Huaiyuan looked at Mu Yunjin.
Hearing this, Mu Yunjin sighed heavily, “It’s all because of that dead woman, Consort Rong. To get her hands on the Divine Decree, she gave Chu Li an amnesia drug. Now Chu Li doesn’t remember who I am and is chasing me to get the Divine Decree. If I hadn’t run fast enough earlier, my heart would probably have been cut open by now.”
Hearing it was Consort Rong’s doing, Master An’s expression turned cold, and he sighed lightly, “She finally resorted to such extreme methods. For the Divine Decree, she has likely gone mad.”
“Without suffering some consequences, she won’t stop! This time, if she insists on destroying herself, there’s nothing we can do. But I just hope you won’t help her again.” Mu Yunjin glanced at Master An, thinking of his past behaviors with Consort Rong, which gave her a headache.
Master An nodded.
“So what do we do now? Since there’s an amnesia drug, is there a medicine to restore memory?” Mu Yunjin changed the subject.
She knew Chu Li’s temperament. Now that he didn’t remember her, plus the Divine Decree he had been tracking was on her, Chu Li wouldn’t rest until he killed her.
“How about this—you rest here first, and Huaiyuan and I will go out to investigate the situation and see Chu Li’s condition,” Master An stood up, looking at Mu Yunjin.
Mu Yunjin nodded.
After Master An and Master Huaiyuan left, Mu Yunjin rested her head on her hand. The Divine Decree had been successfully extracted, and she had thought life would get a bit smoother, but now Chu Li had lost his memory…
Ah, her heart was so tired.