The door closed softly behind him, shutting out everything beyond it.
Su Yanting and Su Lie withdrew, their figures vanishing into the last sliver of light in the doorway. Only Lin Chen remained in the room, along with the life frozen upon the cold jade bed.
Absolute silence descended. Only the faint crackling of crystals burning in the bronze furnace, and Su Ling'er's nearly imperceptible, shallow breaths, could be heard. The frigid aura seemed to carry weight, pressing heavily upon the heart.
Lin Chen walked to the cold jade bed, his gaze falling once more upon Su Ling'er's bloodless face. He did not act immediately. Instead, he stood quietly for a moment, his entire presence seeming to merge with the surrounding stillness, as tranquil as an ancient well without a ripple.
Then, he slowly raised a hand, palm upward. With a flash of light, the jade box containing the Purple Cloud Mushrooms appeared in his hand.
The lid opened, revealing three strangely shaped purple mushrooms lying quietly inside. They were a deep violet all over, their surfaces seemingly covered in natural frost-crystal patterns, radiating a secluded chill and pure frigid energy. Yet within that coldness lay a faint, peculiar pulse of life. That was the Purple Cloud Mushroom's most unique and precious quality. Ordinary objects of extreme cold contained only dead silence, but it nurtured life amid the bitter frost.
Lin Chen did not pick up the Purple Cloud Mushroom directly.
He drew a deep breath, lowered his eyelids slightly, and sank his consciousness into his body.
In that instant, his bearing seemed to undergo a subtle change. Though his outward appearance remained calm, an invisible, vast yet restrained power began to awaken and circulate within him. It was not the violent fluctuation of true qi, but a sensation of