Chapter 178: The Yin-Yang Complementary Twin Soul Core Method
At the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well.
Within the calm milky-white and vermilion pool, the Snow Empress sat cross-legged in the very center, less than an inch above the water's surface, eyes closed. Milky-white and vermilion energies coiled around her body, nearly enveloping her entirely. With each breath, a small portion of those energies entered her.
She had maintained this posture for three months. During that time, Qian Xunji had remained in Yue Xuan, condensing his first soul core. Occasionally, he would come to the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well to see how things were. From the outside, besides the milky-white and vermilion energies around her growing denser, nothing appeared to change.
However, Qian Xunji could sense that the Snow Empress seemed to have entered an extraordinarily mysterious state, that something unimaginable was about to happen to her.
After who knew how long, the spiritual energy at the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well abruptly soared. The still waters, like a pot coming to a boil, began to bubble. Not only that, milky-white and vermilion colors rose slowly, swallowing up the Snow Empress's figure.
Under the extreme cold and extreme heat of the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well, her white dress disintegrated into ash, revealing her form—so perfect it resembled nature's most exquisite masterpiece. Her snow-white hair, flawless face, full chest, slender waist, rounded hips, and long legs were in the most harmonious proportions, her skin smooth and pink, without so much as a single hair.
Of course, with the waters of the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well as cover, Qian Xunji could not see any of it.
Immersed in the spring for three months, breathing in and out the milky-white and vermilion air through her nostrils, the Snow Empress finally understood why these two utterly opposite energies could coexist without interfering, always distinct from each other.
The milky-white spring's ice-attribute energy was pure to the utmost, surpassing even her Imperial Sword. That level of ice-attribute power, arguably, could be considered a type of flame—frozen to the extreme yet also feeling fiercely hot. This was the ultimate realm of absolute ice.
She, the purest ice-attribute entity born of the Extreme North, was still somewhat inferior to the essence of those waters—like the difference between an Eight Petal Immortal Ice Grass grown from the surrounding soil, which only absorbed an offshoot of the spring's energy, versus the spring's true power itself.
Qian Xunji's expression changed upon sensing the Snow Empress's aura gradually dissipating, while a terrifying force gathered within the rising waters, as though nurturing something dreadful.
It was as if the Snow Empress, once a lifeform fostered by the Extreme North, was now being reborn through the milky-white water of the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well. The ice-attribute energy in her body kept transforming into the spring's ice-attribute energy.
The rising waters foamed nonstop, thick fog drifting across the entire Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well. The spiritual energy here multiplied many times over, and that mist fell upon the surrounding precious herbs rooted in the soil, which now grew at tens of times their usual pace.
Because the Snow Empress was not as pure as the milky-white spring, some impurities blended in during her transformation. To maintain balance at the Well, since the ice spring had taken in impurities, it released them—and along with them some energy from the fire pool as well, all becoming that dense mist.
As a result, the surrounding herbs were nourished, as though they were receiving fertilizer from two Snow Empresses of six-hundred-thousand-year cultivation, spurring their fevered growth.
Another half-day passed before the roiling springwaters settled once more. The medical herbs around the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well had grown so densely that there was scarcely room to set one's foot. Some of the immortal-level herbs, which would normally have required decades to mature again, had effectively cut that time by ten years thanks to the Snow Empress.
The waters receded, revealing the Snow Empress's flawless body. Before Qian Xunji could get a clear look, a white radiance burst forth around her, transforming into a white gown that hid every bit of her skin.
Slowly opening her eyes, the Snow Empress showed no outward change after cultivating in that pool, yet her ice-blue pupils now gleamed a deeper shade—like a sapphire, dazzling and arresting. Moreover, her aura grew even colder; even a typical Title Douluo could be frostbitten by just one touch. Yet if one ventured inside her body, they would sense an indescribable scorching heat—likely more than even a Super Douluo could endure.
Cold on the outside, hot within—ice and fire coexisting. No description could better capture her state now.
"You've grown stronger."
Qian Xunji approached the pool's edge. The waters, having lost what was effectively two Snow Empresses' worth of energy at once, had sunk a full foot.
The Snow Empress glanced at him. Floating up from the center of the white pool to hover over the vermilion side, she stretched out her hand, and strong columns of milky-white water shot toward Qian Xunji, all under her control.
He made no move to dodge, letting the water engulf him.
Having consumed the Fiery Apricot Poison and Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass for body-tempering, these waters no longer harmed him. Apart from a layer of frost over his clothes, he was unscathed.
"What now—intending to kill the donkey after it grinds the wheat, or thinking that since you've grown stronger, you can kill me?"
A trace of unrivaled beauty rose at the corner of the Snow Empress's lips. Around her, the blossoming herbs even seemed to sway in her thrall.
"And do you think I can't kill you now? Thanks to you, my power's now beyond even what I once had when borrowing the Extreme North's strength. The second soul core that's long plagued me has finally been successfully formed. Sure, these waters can't hurt you, but they've given me an enormous boost. If I kill you now and return to the Extreme North, even if your father shows up with a divine weapon, he still won't be able to touch me."
Still calm, Qian Xunji said, "Let's say you can kill me. Then what? In the Extreme North, you're invincible. So what? My daughter can become a god. Limit Douluo might not hurt you, but what about a deity? The Extreme North could face utter destruction."
"Your daughter can become a god."
Recalling that woman who'd nearly destroyed her before, the Snow Empress indeed recognized her potential for godhood. She felt a twinge of jealousy. Why were humans so blessed, needing just a few centuries to reach godhood, while she had struggled countless millennia under the threat of heavenly tribulations?
"And you still want to kill me?"
"Don't be complacent, Qian Xunji. Not killing you doesn't mean I'll stoop to your kind's vile ways."
She responded icily, unsure how else to phrase it. Her feelings toward him were extremely complicated. Early on she did want to kill him, but once she truly tried, that twisted swirl of emotions kept her from focusing, even made her want to stop.
After living so many years in monotony, she'd met Qian Xunji—the only one who dared humiliate her, whose words repeatedly enraged her, who forced her to beg him for help, and who once tore apart her clothes in midair. He repeatedly drove her to madness, making her want to self-destruct with him. And yet now, aided by him, she had soared to new heights of power, condensing her yin-yang complementary twin soul cores. She felt certain that once her cultivation advanced further, she'd have no fear of even the Beast God Di Tian.
Unaware of the Snow Empress's conflicted state of mind, Qian Xunji, guarded by Angel God power, far surpassed his old strength.
"We had an agreement: I'd lend you the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well, and you'd give me your second soul core cultivation method."
She fell silent a moment before explaining in detail the cultivation of yin-yang complementary twin soul cores.
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