"Jiang Lang, what is wrong with you? Are you done for already?"
"Get up! Continue dual cultivating with this Emperor..."
The speaker was a woman of peerless beauty.
Her eyes were seductive and alluring, and her bare jade feet were flawless and crystal-clear. She wore a red dress that traced the breathtaking, exquisite curves of her body. A single glance was enough to drive any man wild and obsessed with her.
At this moment, her face was flushed like a delicate, vibrant begonia flower, exuding endless charm. A burst of vital energy swept Jiang Lang directly to her side, leaving him no room for the slightest resistance.
"Mph..."
The woman was named Empress Yaochi, the female Emperor who had swept across all the realms of the heavens and dominated the nine heavens and ten earths. In order to ascend to the supreme realm of Immortal Emperor, she needed to harvest the Fire Yang True Physique to break through her shackles, and Jiang Lang was the owner of this one-of-a-kind physique.
She had torn through the void to abduct Jiang Lang and forcibly brought him into this Purgatory of Imprisonment.
A full ten days later.
Jiang Lang had passed out cold.
Not knowing how much time had passed, he finally woke up and immediately saw Empress Yaochi sitting cross-legged to one side, forming hand seals with her fingers. A boundless, terrifying Emperor's aura emanated from her body, causing the surrounding space to twist and distort.
At this moment, she was only a single step away from the Immortal Emperor realm.
Seeing this, an utterly exhausted Jiang Lang spoke up, "What kind of sins have I committed in my past lives? Just give me a quick death, I really can't take this anymore..."
Empress Yaochi opened her eyes, the brilliant divine light within her phoenix eyes rivaling the sun and the moon.
She smiled faintly, "This Emperor loves you far too much, how could I ever bear to kill you?"
"You have helped this Emperor ascend to the Immortal Emperor realm, so naturally I will not treat you unfairly. Your damaged dantian has completely recovered, and your physique has returned to its primal simplicity, achieving the Innate Dao Physique with an invincible physical body. Once you go out, your path in martial arts will be smooth sailing all the way."
"The Innate Dao Physique?!"
Jiang Lang was stunned.
This was a physique that countless martial artists dreamed of!
Among the hundreds of millions of living beings in a universe, those who could achieve the Innate Dao Physique were probably fewer than the fingers on one hand.
And now, he had actually become an Innate Dao Physique?
"My lower back hurts, my legs are weak, and I am hollowed out to the extreme, yet you tell me I am an Innate Dao Physique with an invincible physical body? Only a ghost would believe that!"
Empress Yaochi said, "Once you go outside and circulate your bloodline once, you will know."
Jiang Lang looked at Empress Yaochi, looking somewhat incredulous, "Y-you are really going to let me leave?"
Empress Yaochi nodded, "That's right. This Emperor knows you have unfulfilled wishes, so I am letting you go out to fulfill them."
Hearing this, the figure of a pure and ethereal woman instantly surfaced in Jiang Lang's mind.
Lin Yayin, his fiancée.
In order to find medicinal herbs to cure his fiancée Lin Yayin, he had recklessly ventured into the perilous Taicang Mountains, only to end up in a fierce battle with young disciples from several major aristocratic clans, resulting in his dantian being shattered.
Just as he was on the verge of life and death, Empress Yaochi had forcibly brought him to the Purgatory of Imprisonment; otherwise, he would have perished long ago.
He had thought that for the rest of his life, he would only be Empress Yaochi's dual cultivation vessel, yet nobody expected that Empress Yaochi would actually let him go.
However, after a brief surge of excitement, Jiang Lang calmed down and let out a long sigh, "Even if you let me go, what of it? I was captured by you for three hundred years; by the time I go out, things will have changed and people will be gone."
Empress Yaochi said, "Rest assured, though three hundred years have passed in the Purgatory of Imprisonment, only ten days have passed in the outside world."
"Ten days?!" Jiang Lang froze.
Empress Yaochi nodded, "That's right, merely ten days. When you go back out, nothing at all has changed."
Nothing at all has changed!
Hearing this, Jiang Lang could no longer suppress his excitement as hope was reignited within him.
Yayin, wait for me!
I have found the medicinal herb to cure you!
Empress Yaochi continued, "Take this."
With those words, a dark jade thumb ring floated into the air.
"This is the Dragon Power Emperor Ring. Inside it is a gift this Emperor has prepared for you, and this Emperor will also stay inside it to make my breakthrough to the Immortal Emperor realm."
"Furthermore, three years from now, you will need to assist this Emperor in one final session of dual cultivation. If you cannot break through to the Divine Ability Realm by then, you probably won't be able to withstand the power of the yin and yang union."
Three years?
Jiang Lang was stunned, "Three years inside, or in the outside world?"
Empress Yaochi said, "In the outside world, naturally."
Jiang Lang was completely dumbfounded, "Reach the Divine Ability Realm in three years?!"
This was simply an Arabian Night!
One had to know that the realms of this world were divided into five major stages: the Martial Artist Realm, Spirit Sea Realm, Divine Ability Realm, Nirvana Realm, and Immortal Realm.
Furthermore, each major stage was subdivided further.
For instance, the Martial Artist Realm was divided into nine minor stages.
Yet Jiang Lang was only at the Fifth Stage of Martial Arts, a distance of one hundred and eight thousand miles away from the Divine Ability Realm. Reaching the Divine Ability Realm in three years was something no one could possibly achieve.
Jiang Lang wore a bitter expression, "Can't you pick someone else to torment? I truly cannot take this anymore... Even though I am now an Innate Dao Physique, I still can't withstand this kind of abuse from you!"
Empress Yaochi gently hooked Jiang Lang's chin with her index finger and parted her red lips, "Don't worry, this Emperor doesn't want you to die; this Emperor will help you."
"We still have a little time left, so don't waste it. Let's go again, but this time you take the initiative..."
***
Three days later.
Qianyuan Dynasty.
Lieyong City.
Jiang Lang stood on the street, taking a deep breath of free air.
Finally, he was back.
Three hundred years!
A full three hundred years!
For those three hundred years, he hadn't even worn a single piece of clothing!
He was harvested four or five times a day by Empress Yaochi. If he hadn't been dried up into a mummy, it was only a testament to Jiang Lang's extraordinary innate talent in that department.
At this moment, many people on the street were casting curious glances his way.
"Is that... Jiang Lang?"
"Didn't they say he died in the Taicang Mountains?"
"He actually didn't die, what great luck."
"I heard his cultivation was crippled. Sure enough, I can't sense a shred of spiritual qi fluctuation from him; he's already been reduced to good-for-nothing trash."
"What a pity, he used to be such a prodigy..."
***
Listening to the chatter of the people around him, Jiang Lang recalled what Empress Yaochi had told him upon their parting.
"Now that you are an Innate Dao Physique, the spiritual qi of the mortal realm will only contaminate your body. Do not absorb any spiritual qi whatsoever. Only refine your body, only refine your body, only refine your body—important things must be said three times."
At this moment, Jiang Lang was anxious to return home, and he was still tightly clutching the Wind-Thunder Profound Grass in his hand.
This was the medicinal herb he had risked his life to seize, because this herb was the vital ingredient needed to cure his fiancée, Lin Yayin.
Without hesitation, he covered ground three steps at a time as he hurried toward the Lin Family estate.
However, when he arrived at the Lin Family with eager anticipation, he was caught completely off guard by the scene before him.
He saw the very fiancée he had been yearning for riding the same fine steed as a lavishly dressed young man, slowly emerging from the Lin estate.
Lin Yayin was leaning against the chest of the wealthy youth, wearing a happy and sweet smile, with not a trace of illness about her.
The moment she saw Jiang Lang, Lin Yayin's expression froze instantly.
Immediately after, an intense look of disgust surfaced between her brows as her gaze locked onto him, "Jiang Lang, why aren't you dead?"
Jiang Lang, why aren't you dead.
A short sentence consisting of just a few words instantly extinguished all the eager warmth in Jiang Lang's chest.
His expression turned exceptionally ugly as he stood frozen in place, dumbstruck.
It had only been ten days!
Just ten days!
Even if he had truly died, Lin Yayin shouldn't have found a new lover so quickly, should she?
Viewed in this light, there was only one possible explanation.
And that was that she had never cared about him in her heart at all.
At this thought, boundless sorrow surged within Jiang Lang's chest.
Years of deep affection shattered in a single waking moment; the clown all along had been himself!
His gaze locked onto the young man behind Lin Yayin, "Who is he?"
The look of disgust between Lin Yayin's brows grew even more intense, "It's none of your business. Since you've seen it, I might as well lay my cards on the table. Jiang Lang, you aren't worthy of me. Our engagement is hereby canceled!"