Jian Ruyan swallowed the Soul Shaping Pills, and when she tried to cultivate again, she discovered her cultivation speed had skyrocketed to more than ten times faster than before.
Although it was still nowhere near her speed before the accident, it was almost half the pace.
The speed of cultivation was simply a bit slower than Mei Yinxue and Gu Xiyan's, but still slightly faster than Yu Linglong's.
"How can this be?"
After briefly cultivating for a Minor Circulation, Jian Ruyan stopped her cultivation practice and opened her eyes in surprise, somewhat unable to understand.
She was aware of Nameless's situation; even after taking the Soul Shaping Pills refined by Mu Jinyu, he was barely able to cultivate, and his cultivation speed was still much worse than Yu Linglong's, putting him in the "trash" category.
Yet, after she took the Soul Shaping Pills, this cultivation speed, just slightly faster than Yu Linglong's, turned her from a genius into an ordinary person, not at all comparable to Nameless.
"Go ask him."
Baffled, Jian Ruyan decided to seek answers from Mu Jinyu since he was a doctor and might understand the situation clearly.
Upon opening the bamboo door, Jian Ruyan saw Wen Rou coming out of her room, too. They looked at each other, and Wen Rou said with amazement and a hint of excitement, "Sister Ruyan, my cultivation speed is now a third of what it used to be, not like I can't cultivate at all..."
"A third..." Hearing Wen Rou's words, Jian Ruyan's expression stiffened, and she forced a smile, feeling a strange taste in her heart and a bit discouraged.
She knew Wen Rou's cultivation speed was much faster than her own. Now that Wen Rou had retained a third of her former cultivation speed, it almost equaled her current half-speed.
Indeed, comparing oneself to others is a sure way to get frustrated!
'I remember Wen Rou's mother once said they came from the Chen Family from Kunlun Ruins... Could it be that Chen Family?' Jian Ruyan silently mused.
Then, she shook off these distracting thoughts, collected her emotions, and said indifferently to Wen Rou, "Hmm, I'm about the same. Let's go ask together."
"Mhm." Wen Rou replied cheerfully and walked along with Jian Ruyan to the bamboo hut where Mu Jinyu stayed.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
After Jian Ruyan gently knocked on the door three times, she didn't wait for Mu Jinyu to invite them in but pushed the door open and entered.
"Please... What's the matter?"
Mu Jinyu was busy concocting a new batch of Soul Condensing Pills, less effective than Soul Shaping Pills but still somewhat useful; it was something, after all. Seeing Jian Ruyan and Wen Rou enter, he asked curiously.
Jian Ruyan wasn't in the mood to explain much to him and stepped aside to let Wen Rou in.
Wen Rou's mood was already clean, having cast aside or deeply buried negative emotions like grievance, reluctance, and despair. As she entered, she immediately started chattering excitedly to Mu Jinyu about her situation.
"Is that so?" After listening to Wen Rou, Mu Jinyu's eyes flickered with astonishment, then he pondered for a moment, looked up at Jian Ruyan, and asked, "Is it the same for you?"
Jian Ruyan nodded lightly and replied, "Yes."
Mu Jinyu said, "Give me your hand."
Without hesitation, Wen Rou extended her wrist and presented it to Mu Jinyu.
Mu Jinyu reached out, took Wen Rou's pulse by touching her wrist, and after a few seconds, he let go, then turned to look at the hesitant Jian Ruyan and couldn't help but laugh, "It's not like I'm going to do anything to you, just taking your pulse. Besides, haven't we held hands before? And this is my wife's hand we're talking about."
Hearing what Mu Jinyu said, Jian Ruyan's face couldn't help but flush with a hint of crimson.
Had she ever held hands with Mu Jinyu? She had, before the end of the dark turmoil, when they arrived at the eerie Mirror World to eradicate the epidemic and the Tide of Chaos. Fearing that everyone would get scattered and lost, they held hands just in case.
At that time, she held Xiang Mantang with one hand, and Mu Jinyu with the other.
That was the first time since she'd grown up that she had held the hand of a strange man. She had felt awkward and uncomfortable, and there was also a strange feeling that she couldn't articulate.
However, in the end, for the greater good and considering that holding Mu Jinyu's hand was always better than holding the hands of men like Brilliant Divine Authority or Buddha's Light Shines Everywhere, she endured it.
Shaking her head slightly, Jian Ruyan stopped thinking about it and deliberately reached out her hand to Mu Jinyu with an expressionless face.
Mu Jinyu didn't intend to tease her or anything, not being in the mood for it. He placed his hand on her wrist and began to take her pulse.
As Mu Jinyu's hand rested on Jian Ruyan's wrist, her heart skipped a beat, and she almost instinctively flung his fingers away. But she still forced herself to refrain from doing so, keeping her composure.
But in her heart, there was always the sensation of ants crawling, which was quite unpleasant.
Back when Mu Jinyu had held her hand, she was too preoccupied with the dangers around her to pay much attention to the sensation. But now, the situation was different. Plus, she had swapped bodies with Wen Rou, and she didn't know if it was Wen Rou's skin that had no resistance to Mu Jinyu or what, but it made her feel gradually weaker, as if she were about to collapse.
Fortunately, Mu Jinyu only felt her pulse for a short while before letting go, then frowned and fell into deep thought.
Jian Ruyan and Wen Rou didn't speak either, waiting for him to figure out the answer.
After a while, Mu Jinyu's brows relaxed, and he replied uncertainly, "I'm not quite sure if this is the reason, but there's a high probability that the reason why the Soul Shaping Pill made your souls and physical bodies more compatible, with effects far stronger than Nameless, is because you both inherently have good Cultivation aptitude. Additionally, since you both have Water Physique, this compatibility is achieved."
Mu Jinyu had known for a long time that Wen Rou had a Water Physique, with True Yuan that contained a trace of the Water attribute. He had suspected that she might also contain some kind of Bloodline.
But because she didn't have a specific mental method like his "True Dragon Art", Xiang Mantang's "Blood Phoenix Slaughter Art", or Jian Ruyan's "Ice Phoenix Sky Technique" to activate her Bloodline, she couldn't unleash her most powerful Physique.
However her potential was great, and the Kunlun Ruins' Chen Family had a formidable reputation, even a terrifying one.
Therefore, Mu Jinyu had always believed that if Wen Rou could activate her Bloodline, her Cultivation speed might be even more terrifying than his. It was a pity that now, because she had swapped bodies with Jian Ruyan, her natural talent and potential had become unpredictable.
Thinking of this, Mu Jinyu suddenly felt fortunate.
He had originally thought it would have been better if Jian Ruyan had undergone Soul Seizing with Mu Hongchen—there would have been fewer complications.
But now he realized Mu Hongchen didn't have any Attribute Physique. If Jian Ruyan had swapped with Mu Hongchen, her current Cultivation speed would likely have been less than half of what it once was, turning from a genius into an ordinary person—or more likely, a useless individual barely capable of Cultivation.
She was indeed fortunate to have swapped with Wen Rou; otherwise, their current state would almost have been hopeless.
Having merely the Advanced Divine Realm Third and Fourth Levels of Cultivation might still be considered formidable in today's world, above tens of thousands of people.
But with the Spiritual Energy Revival, many people were rising, and in a world of great strife, even among ferocious beasts there were those capable of fighting Ye Wushuang in the later stages of the God Realm. How much more so within the Kunlun Ruins?
That place harbored realms even beyond the God Realm, like the Fanxu Realm and the Unity Realm Stage. To put it bluntly, upon arriving there, they would be almost as insignificant as ants.
If they were to remain stuck at the Third and Fourth Levels of the God Realm and could not keep pace with others, lacking the ability to protect themselves, that would be truly dire.
In this case, Jian Ruyan surviving this desperate situation with only half of her original Cultivation speed is already a relatively perfect outcome.