"Roar..." The Fire Jiao curled into a ball in pain. It had never expected someone in the Qi Gathering Realm to be able to hurt it.
Seeing that the strike had succeeded, Lu Chen finally could no longer hold on and slowly collapsed to the ground.
"We have to stop the Fire Jiao... otherwise..."
Lu Chen stared fixedly at the Fire Jiao. He no longer had the strength to fight, and if they could not stop it, what followed would be a one-sided slaughter.
"Roar..."
The Fire Jiao soared into the air and charged at Nantian Xiu with an enraged roar.
"Humans, you will pay the price for this."
"No... don't."
Lu Chen struggled to rise and stop it, but after exhausting every ounce of his strength, he could not even perform the simple act of lifting a hand.
The Fire Jiao whipped up endless flames, burning the surrounding trees, then spewed boundless violet fire at Nantian Wan'er.
Boom... A thunderous crash rang out. Towering clouds of dust surged up where Nantian Wan'er had been. When the dust settled, raging flames burned across the ground, and Nantian Wan'er and Nantian Xiu were nowhere to be seen.
"No..." Watching the scene before him, sorrow rose from Lu Chen's heart. He did not dare accept this reality.
"Why? Am I truly a lone star of calamity? Why do all those who treat me well end up dead or wounded?"
Seeing that Nantian Xiu and the other had vanished, the Fire Jiao turned and charged toward Lu Chen.
Watching the Fire Jiao rush at him, Lu Chen slowly closed his eyes. He could no longer move and could only wait for death to arrive.
"Vile beast, die!"
At that moment, a thunderous shout came from the sky.
Lu Chen opened his eyes and saw a Golden Giant Dragon flying down from the heavens. Its tail swept out and sent the Fire Jiao flying.
The giant dragon landed and slowly revealed the figures of Nantian Xiu and Nantian Wan'er.
"It's wonderful that you're all right. How is Wan'er?" Lu Chen said happily upon seeing Nantian Xiu and Nantian Wan'er appear.
"Alas..." Nantian Xiu sighed, laid Nantian Wan'er beside Lu Chen, and turned to look at the Fire Jiao.
Lu Chen struggled to look at Nantian Wan'er. She was still unconscious, her body wrapped in ice, cold vapor continuously rising from the strands of hair atop her head.
"Grandpa Xiu, Wan'er's body..." Lu Chen looked at Nantian Xiu.
At this moment, Nantian Xiu was consumed by rage. He drew a sword with his right hand and did not answer Lu Chen.
"Vile beast, die."
Nantian Xiu threw the sword into the air and formed hand seals with both hands. The flying sword flashed with golden light and transformed into thousands of flying swords behind him.
"Nantian Dragon Slaying Sword, go!"
Nantian Xiu radiated an immense aura as he controlled the flying swords and sent them slashing toward the Fire Jiao.
Thousands of flying swords formed a Golden Giant Dragon in the sky. Carrying the majesty of pure spiritual energy, the Golden Giant Dragon suppressed the Fire Jiao so completely that it could not move.
Boom...
As the Golden Giant Dragon's head crashed into the Fire Jiao, it transformed back into a thousand flying swords, which streaked down in beams of light and stabbed into the Fire Jiao one after another.
Clang, clang, clang...
As the sound fell, the thousand flying swords directly tore the Fire Jiao's skin and flesh open.
"Kill!"
Nantian Xiu formed hand seals again. The thousand flying swords merged layer by layer, then nailed themselves into the Fire Jiao's head amid ten thousand rays of light.
Just as Nantian Xiu was about to step forward and continue attacking, Lu Chen's shout came from behind him.
"Grandpa Xiu, come back quickly! Wan'er is trembling all over. She's about to die!"
Nantian Xiu no longer cared whether the Fire Jiao was alive or dead. He turned and returned to Nantian Wan'er's side.
At this point, Nantian Wan'er's body had already been encased in ice, and her aura was growing weaker and weaker.
Nantian Xiu circulated his power into Nantian Wan'er, yet there was not the slightest improvement. The cold energy even continued absorbing his spiritual energy and growing stronger.
Seeing this, Nantian Xiu beat his chest and stamped his feet. Like an utterly ordinary old man, he was grief-stricken beyond measure, lamenting that he had failed to take good care of Nantian Wan'er.
"I, Nantian Xiu, was once a heaven-favored prodigy of a Golden Age. Yet today, a mere Fire Jiao has harmed my granddaughter's life. What use is this cultivation to me?"
"Grandpa Xiu, will Wan'er be all right? Maybe there is another way."
Lu Chen had regained some of his strength. Seeing the helpless expression on Nantian Xiu's face, he wanted to comfort him.
"There is no way left unless we have a high-quality fire element right now. But I have searched for so many years. How could something like that be found so easily?"
"A fire element? I have one on me." Hearing that Nantian Xiu needed a fire element, Lu Chen hurriedly said.
"It is useless. I have examined the Fire Toxin in your body. It is merely an accumulation of toxins from the fire element. It is of no use."
"No, what I have is not just Fire Toxin. I also have the fiercest fire between heaven and earth. I can definitely save Wan'er."
Lu Chen slowly crawled toward Nantian Wan'er. With every inch he moved closer, a little more of the ice on Nantian Wan'er's body disappeared.
Seeing this, Lu Chen recalled that whenever he had been with Nantian Wan'er before, the Fire Toxin churning in his heart would slowly dissipate.
There had to be some connection between him and Nantian Wan'er. There had to be some way for the Fire Toxin and Cold Poison to resolve each other.
Lu Chen's hands touched Nantian Wan'er, and the Twin Fish Plate inside his body began to operate on its own. A method of channeling qi appeared in his mind.
Lu Chen's body began moving against his control. His fingers interlocked with Nantian Wan'er's, while the ice covering Nantian Wan'er slowly dissipated and her aura recovered somewhat.
"Th-this... what kind of technique is this?" Nantian Xiu watched the ice on Nantian Wan'er slowly disappear.
The image of the Yin Sea Pearl surfaced in Lu Chen's mind. This was information Feng Tiancheng had left behind about searching for the primordial yin-yang Twin Fish Plate.
"The Yin Sea Pearl? Could Wan'er's Cold Poison be because of the Yin Sea Pearl?" Lu Chen sensed the memories in his mind.
"Grandpa Xiu, when did Wan'er become afflicted with Cold Poison?" Lu Chen hurriedly asked Nantian Xiu. If it was the Yin Sea Pearl, then he was completely confident he could save Nantian Wan'er.
"Cold Poison? Is there a problem? It was probably eighteen years ago."
"At the time, I had failed to advance and was on the verge of death from severe injuries. I encountered the abandoned Wan'er, and she was also the one who gave me hope to live on."
"After recovering from my injuries, I brought Wan'er back to the sect and raised her as my granddaughter. Back then, her body was only frail and yin-leaning. The Cold Poison began accumulating after she started cultivating."
Nantian Xiu recalled the scene of meeting Nantian Wan'er and described it in great detail. He hoped these answers could help Lu Chen treat Nantian Wan'er.
"Eighteen years ago. Wan'er is eighteen now. The timing matches. The cause of Wan'er's Cold Poison should be the Yin Sea Pearl produced by that explosion back then." Lu Chen calculated the time. It was roughly the same time he had obtained the Twin Fish Plate.
"What Yin Sea Pearl? Young man, do you have a way to save Wan'er?" Nantian Xiu had now placed all his hope on Lu Chen.
"I have some ideas. I don't know whether I can save Wan'er." Having understood the source of the cold energy, Lu Chen began controlling the Twin Fish Plate himself and using the qi-channeling method.
Lu Chen tightly held Nantian Wan'er's hands and began sending spiritual energy through her right hand and into her meridians.
Nantian Wan'er's meridians had originally been blocked by ice. Once Lu Chen's spiritual energy, mixed with the spiritual energy of the Yang Sea Pearl, entered them, the ice immediately melted away.
After Lu Chen's spiritual energy slowly circulated through Nantian Wan'er's meridians for two cycles, Nantian Wan'er's chest began to rise and fall, and her skin gradually regained a rosy color.
"It's working."
Seeing Nantian Wan'er's condition, Nantian Xiu finally let out a breath of relief. But Lu Chen understood that this was only the beginning. The true danger lay within her Heavenly Pool.
Lu Chen carefully guided his spiritual energy into Nantian Wan'er's Heavenly Pool. Her Heavenly Pool had become an enormous block of ice, without the slightest space for Lu Chen's spiritual energy to be stored.
Sensing no immediate threat within the Heavenly Pool, Lu Chen began increasing the speed of his spiritual energy input. Slowly, a pea-sized gap opened in Nantian Wan'er's Heavenly Pool.
One minute, two minutes...
The gap in the Heavenly Pool grew larger and larger. At that moment, Lu Chen noticed a sky-blue round pearl at the center of the Heavenly Pool.
"Looks like this is the Yin Sea Pearl's true form. As long as I take it out, Wan'er will be safe." Lu Chen stared at the Yin Sea Pearl and thought without pause.
The White Fish in Lu Chen's Heavenly Pool seemed to sense the Yin Sea Pearl's aura as well. It became active and entered Nantian Wan'er's body through the spiritual energy passage formed between Lu Chen and Nantian Wan'er.
The moment the White Fish touched the Yin Sea Pearl, it became jubilant, as if it had found a long-lost friend. It swallowed the Yin Sea Pearl in a single bite, then swallowed all the ice within Nantian Wan'er's Heavenly Pool as well. Satisfied, it turned to return to Lu Chen's body.
Just as the White Fish swam out of Nantian Wan'er's Heavenly Pool, countless streams of cold energy burst forth from the depths of Nantian Wan'er's meridians and rapidly enveloped Nantian Wan'er's body.
"This is bad. The Yin Sea Pearl has been inside Wan'er for too long. The cold energy has already penetrated deep into her five viscera and six bowels. Without the Yin Sea Pearl suppressing it, this cold energy will probably directly destroy Wan'er's body."
Lu Chen knew he had been careless and hurriedly guided the White Fish back into Nantian Wan'er's Heavenly Pool.
The cold energy in Nantian Wan'er's body grew more and more abundant. This was cold energy accumulated over more than a decade, and now that it had erupted, it was far more violent than before. For the moment, even the White Fish and Yin Sea Pearl could not suppress it.
Cold energy continuously seeped out from her pores, surrounding Lu Chen and Nantian Wan'er and freezing Nantian Wan'er's blood vessels, five viscera, and six bowels.
Lu Chen stared at the cold energy on Nantian Wan'er's body. He understood that he had to draw it out.
"Channel qi, channel qi."
Thinking of the qi-channeling method in his mind, Lu Chen moved his mouth forward and kissed Nantian Wan'er on the lips.
An endless stream of cold energy entered Lu Chen's body from Nantian Wan'er. After circulating once through his meridians, it entered Lu Chen's Heavenly Pool.
At this moment, Lu Chen's Heavenly Pool possessed the complete fire energy of the Yang Sea Pearl and the cold energy of the Yin Sea Pearl. The Fire Toxin slowly vanished, and the Heavenly Pool gradually became balanced.
The Cold Poison in Nantian Wan'er's body slowly reached a controllable level, and the White Fish began guiding the cold energy in circulation.
Starting from Nantian Wan'er's Heavenly Pool, it traveled through the bridge of meridians into Lu Chen's Heavenly Pool. The Black Fish also seemed to receive a signal, guiding fire energy through the bridge of meridians into Nantian Wan'er's Heavenly Pool.
Before you continue