With a machete across his knees, Chu Xuan sat cross-legged at the end of a fallen tree, chewing a half-dry pancake. The moonlight was like a layer of frost, spreading over the tips of every leaf in the forbidden area, so silver that it dazzled. In his dantian, the "silver dragon" that had swallowed the ice core was dozing, its scales opening and closing, each time sending out wisps of cold air that flowed along the meridians, making his fingertips tingle slightly from the cold, yet comfortable to the point of wanting to sigh.
"If I keep freezing, I'll be able to chill the plum wine myself." He mumbled, swallowed the last bite, clapped his hands, and was about to get up and dig deeper when suddenly the mountain wind tightened and brought a very faint, very faint strange sound --
"Thump..."
Like a drop of water hitting a jade plate, crisp but with a chilling coldness.
Chu Xuan's ears twitched, and the silver dragon opened its eyes at the same time, its scales all exploding, looking excited, "There's something to eat." He turned his hand back into his waist and looked in the direction of the sound. The strange noise came from the northwest and was blocked by layers of ancient trees. The fog was so thick that it couldn't disperse, and the moonlight went in and was scattered as if it had fallen into an ink pool.
"The sound is cold enough, I hope it won't disappoint me." He grinned, tiptoe a little, like a cat, and silently crept down the fallen tree towards the source of the sound.
Along the way, the silver dragon led the way, and wherever it passed, the cold mist automatically split into a slit, like a subject making way for a king. The closer it got, the clearer the sound became, changing from "dong" to "ding dong", with a cheerful rhythm as if summoning souls. Chu Xuan, however, slowed down his pace and held his breath to the lowest - in the depths of the forbidden ground, who knew what was waiting for him.
Half an hour later, the forest suddenly cleared up and a natural cave appeared before him. The entrance was about ten feet high, and a deep blue, cold air gushed out like a giant beast yawning. The moonlight shone through the cave and cracked into tiny ice crystals that fell to the ground with a rustling sound. Chu Xuan gasped, but his eyes shone terrifyingly: This coldness was only stronger than last night's ice core!
Silver Dragon did a somersault in his dantian and almost rushed out. Chu Xuan held it down and moved close to the wall like a hunter approaching his prey, landing in the darkest shade with each step. On the left side of the hole, behind a protruding rock, he found a narrow slit that was only wide enough for one person to turn sideways. The coldness oozed out of the crack, colder and purer than the entrance, like an invisible knife, cutting the skin painfully.
He listened close to his ear. Inside the cave, there was a constant "ding-dong" sound, occasionally interspersed with a crisp "crack", like ice breaking. Silver Dragon was so anxious that he spun around, slapping his tail against his dantian wall as if to say, "If you don't let me eat it, I'll go for it myself." Chu Xuan took a deep breath, pushed sideways into the crevice, and the silver thread emerged first, weaving a fine net in front, filtering and devouring all the cold air coming towards him.
In the crevices, the passage was tortuous and the rock walls were covered with ice crystals. After a few steps, one had to use a hand knife to break the ice ridges blocking the way. The silver dragon feasted, and with each piece of ice it swallowed, it grew a little bigger, with faint silver scales emerging on its body as if it were about to transform into a dragon. Chu Xuan, however, grew more and more frightened as he went: This cold was so pure that it did not seem to be naturally formed, but rather like some kind of man-made "cold source".
After about a hundred steps, a faint blue light appeared ahead. Chu Xuan slowed down, pressed against the wall, turned a corner, and suddenly saw a natural ice chamber with a dome hanging high and a forest of icicles in the center of an ice platform on which lay a fan-sized ice core, all dark blue and with natural patterns on its surface, like a blooming ice lotus.
The "ding-dong" sound was made when the inner energy of the ice core was surging and hitting the ice wall. With each surge, it spewed out dark blue filaments that interwove into tiny ice flowers in the air, slowly falling, a beauty that was enchanting.
Chu Xuan's pupils suddenly constricted, and his heart was pounding unpredictably: Secondary spirit vein! And it was cold, just to the silver dragon's taste! The silver dragon was crazy, almost out of its body. Chu Xuan held it down tightly, but his eyes were burning with heat: Swallow it, at least one level of cultivation!
He took a deep breath, suppressed his excitement, and carefully observed the ice chamber - the arrangement of the icicles around it was in accordance with a certain pattern, like a natural array, and once stepped on wrongly, it might trigger a cold storm. He did not dare to be careless. He sat cross-legged, guided by the silver thread, and probed the way bit by bit like a hunter setting a trap, slowly and carefully.
After a stick of incense, he finally found a safe path, rose, and walked step by step towards the ice platform. Each step landed precisely on the "safe spot" where the silver thread poked out, like dancing on the ice, elegant yet dangerous.
Ten steps, nine steps, eight steps... The closer to the ice core, the more bone-chilling the cold, and the eyebrows and hair tips frost again. Chu Xuan gritted his teeth, and the silver dragon worked with all its might, weaving a thin layer of silver film on its body to resist the cold.
Finally, he stood before the ice platform, reached out and touched the core of the ice with his fingertips --
In an instant, the ice core shone brightly, and dark blue threads rushed in through his fingertips like a burst of water, rushing into the meridians. Chu Xuan's vision went black and he almost knelt down, but the silver dragon let out a cheerful hissing and lunged forward, entangling, devouring and fusing with the light filaments!
With a crack, a fine line cracked on the surface of the ice core, and a vast amount of cold air gushed out through the crack, instantly filling the entire ice chamber. Chu Xuan bit the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood on the ice core. As soon as the blood drop, it was frozen into a ruby. He used this to wake up and forcibly cut off the connection between the ice core and himself. The silver dragon rolled the ice core and dragged it back to his dantian with force!
Boom - The ice nucleus enters the body, the coldness loses its source and stops abruptly. The ice chamber began to shake, the icicles snapped, and the dome cracked!
Chu Xuan turned and ran, with Silver Dragon leading the way, smashing the icicles all the way through the narrow crevice. Behind him, the ice chamber collapsed with a crash, and the deep blue light was buried by the rocks, like a dream.
He slumped into the rock outside the cave, gasping for breath, his eyebrows and hair covered with ice chips, but his teeth turned white with laughter: "I got it!"
In his dantian, the silver dragon rolled its ice core, like a cat in its mouth of a big fish, smug. The ice nucleus spins slowly, and with each spin it spurts out a wisp of pure coldness, which is quickly refined by the silver dragon and turned into its own nourishment. Chu Xuan could clearly sense that the silver dragon was transforming - the silver scales on its body were becoming more and more distinct, and even fine barbs were growing, like a young silver dragon!
He looked up, the moonlight was just right, and the silver glow was falling, gilding him with a pale silver light. The mountain wind was howling, but it couldn't blow away the burning heat in the young man's eyes.
"A few more times, I can tear the skin of this forbidden land." He said softly, his voice scattered in the wind, like a vow, like a provocation.
In the distance, in the darker depths of the forest, a gaze seemed to light up, faint and cold, like some kind of being, awakened by the sounds just now, slowly opening its eyes.
Chu Xuan did not move forward. He patted the firewood knife at his waist and turned to come back - tonight was enough, the silver dragon needed to digest, and he needed to prepare a larger pot to serve the next feast.
Chu Xuan walked back in the moonlight, his steps as light as a raccoon cat, his knife swinging on his shoulder, cutting the moonlight into pieces. The silver dragon coiled in a circle in his dantian, dozing off with ice cores rolled up. With each wisp of cold air he exhaled, his meridians lit up a little, and the barrier of the three layers of qi refining made a "click" sound, showing signs of loosening.
"Save a few more mouthfuls and you'll be able to pass the level." " He muttered to himself, counting the days on his fingers. "It's only been three days since I cut firewood in January. At this rate, I'll jump to the fifth floor by the end of the month?"
Thinking of this, he grinned, revealing eight white teeth, a smile brighter than the moonlight. But no more than ten steps, the silver dragon suddenly raised its scales, and a colder, more veiled chill crept up from the side and back, like a venomous snake's letter, silently sticking to his back.
Chu Xuan paused his feet, pulled the firewood knife upside down, the back of the knife pressed against his arm, and instantly entered the state of a hunter - his breath was suppressed very low, and his heart was as slow as an old turtle. He turned his ear, and there was a very faint "click" sound in the wind, like the ice being cracked little by little, or like... Chains drag on the ground.
"And a big meal?" He squinted and turned slowly.
The moonlight was half swallowed by the dark clouds, and the woods were as dark as ink. The chill came from where the ice chamber had collapsed. At this moment, a fine wisp of white mist rose there, congealing and not dispersing, twisting in mid-air in a snake-like shape and peeping towards him.
Chu Xuan held his breath, and the silver dragon quietly poked its head out. With a breath of the snake's breath, it caught a wisp of the white mist and "whoosh" into its nostril. The next second, his pupils constricted - there was a faint "human breath" in the mist, cold and sharp, like a lone swordsman traveling thousands of miles on the snowfield, with only loneliness and coldness.
"Is there someone inside?" The thought made his scalp tingle and the hairs on his back stand up. But then he got excited again - a great man in seclusion? If so, could he get some soup? If not, that would be even better. Maybe there's a second spiritual vein!
He licked his lips, tiptoe a little, like a cat, and crept silently towards the source of the white mist.
...
Ruins of the ice chamber, piles of rocks. In the moonlight, the crevices of the stones were giving off a chill like countless tiny springs. Chu Xuan crouched behind the ancient tree ten feet away, and the silver dragon poked out half an inch, pulling the chill in bit by bit, but not too much, taking three puffs before stopping to avoid alerting the snake.
Gradually, the wisp of "human spirit" in the cold became more and more distinct - cold, sharp, but weak, like a sword that once cut through the heavens, now frozen in its sheath, leaving only mournful cries. Chu Xuan felt a slight stir in his heart: not a living person, but a remnant of sword intent? Or... Sealed primordial spirit?
He took a deep breath, suppressed the wild jump, and drew closer step by step by the shadow of the rocks. The silver dragon was ahead, weaving a fine web that devoured all the coldness on his face and opened up a silent path for him. Five steps, three steps, one step... He reached the edge of the ruins, his fingertip lightly touching an ice stone --
In an instant, the cold rolled back and the scene before his eyes changed!
Darkness has faded away, replaced by a deep blue world - an endless ice field, grey snow in the sky, an ice lotus platform suspended in mid-air, on which sat a blurry figure, dressed as white as snow, with long hair as black, all chained by ice chains, the links full of barbs, with every slight shake sending up fine ice shavings.
The figure slowly raised its head, revealing half of its pale face, with a face as beautiful as a painting, yet exuding eternal solitude. She looked at Chu Xuan, her lips moving slightly, and her voice, as if crossing the river of time, echoed directly in his mind:
"Xian Tian... Spirit? Wish... Lend me... A wisp of warmth?"
Chu Xuan's mind trembled violently, but the silver dragon in his dantian let out a cheerful hissing, as if hearing an old friend's call, it was about to fly out of its body! He held it down forcefully, the veins on his forehead twitched, and his voice was lowered very low: "Who is the senior? Why was he sealed here?"
Qianying didn't answer. She just gently raised her hand and pointed at it from afar
"Ding!"
Chu Xuan felt a warm sensation between his eyebrows, as if being pricked by an ice needle. In the next moment, a wisp of cold air a hundred times purer than the ice core crept silently through his meridians along his fingers, and wherever it passed, his blood nearly froze. The silver dragon, overjoyed, opened its mouth and swallowed, its body expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye, and its scales shining with a deep blue luster.
"Four layers of qi refinement, break!"
A faint "puff" sound came from within the body, the barrier shattered instantly, a massive amount of spiritual energy poured in, and the meridians shone with a pale silver glow. Chu Xuan's vision went black and he almost knelt down, but he gritted his teeth and stood firm, bowing to Qian Ying from a distance: "Thank you, senior, for your gift!"
Qianying nodded slightly, but her figure began to become transparent, like a remnant of a mission about to dissipate. At the last moment, she flicked her fingertip, and a wisp of ice-blue light vanished into Chu Xuan's palm, turning into a tiny lotus seal, cold but no more chill.
The dark blue world crumbled with a crash, and Chu Xuan saw a flower before his eyes, returning to reality. Ruins remain the same, piles of rocks, but the coldness recedes like a tide, no longer surging as before. Only the lotus seal in his palm reminded him that it was not a dream just now.
He lowered his head, and the lotus seal flickered gently, as if responding, as if saying goodbye.
"Ling... Clearing snow?" Chu Xuan murmured a ridiculous but reasonable conjecture in his heart - the sealed Qianying was seven parts alike to that Supreme Elder of the Qingyun Sect! Only the latter is as cold as a sword, the former as lonely as snow, one stands tall in the clouds, the other locked in the ice field.
He shook his head, suppressed his thoughts, and bowed solemnly to the ruins: "Senior, rest assured. I will lend you warmth and I will return you spring breeze."
With that, he turned and strode towards the way back. Under the moonlight, the young man's back was drawn long, like a sword just drawn from its scabbard, whose sharpness could not be concealed but whose coldness was restrained. The silver dragon swirled in his dantian, rolling the newly acquired ice-blue lotus seal, and with each breath he exhaled, it added an indescribable connection to this forbidden land.
The wind blows, the leaves rustle, as if responding to his vow, as if whispering --
"Borrow a wisp of warmth, and return a lifetime of spring. The cold cave has opened, and the ice will break."