No More Shackles

The next day.

Early morning.

Ziwei's Chen Clan, Third Peak.

Inside a side room, there were only three people: Chen Tianliang, Ying Shuangshuang, and Chen Zhixing.

"Tianliang, drink your medicine."

Ying Shuangshuang held the medicine bowl, scooping up the decoction with a spoon and gently feeding it into Chen Tianliang's mouth, one mouthful at a time.

Chen Tianliang's face was deathly pale, his aura wilted. His cultivation, originally at the True Self Second Layer, had already fallen to the True Self First Layer, and was even on the verge of dropping into the Spirit Wandering Realm.

"I know my own condition. This medicine is useless."

Chen Tianliang forced himself to sit up, gently pushed the medicine bowl away, and gave a bitter smile.

Ying Shuangshuang fell silent at his words.

The Reverse Malady was an injury to the Dao Foundation. What use could some mere medicine for nursing the meridians possibly be? After a pause.

Chen Tiankai turned and asked, "What about you? How's your condition?"

Hearing this, Ying Shuangshuang likewise gave a bitter smile. She lifted her sleeve, revealing a stretch of pale arm that gave off cold air.

"My problem isn't too serious. It's just that my sealed Snow Cold Body has been triggered again. I may have to return to the Frozen Soil Plateau after some time."

The two looked at each other, both sighing, worry hidden between their brows.

Only after a long while did Chen Tianliang seem to remember something. His gaze turned to Chen Zhixing, and he said, "Son, tell your father—after those two took you away, what exactly happened?"

Once these words fell.

Ying Shuangshuang's spirits lifted, and her gaze likewise turned curiously toward Chen Zhixing.

She had wanted to ask yesterday how Chen Zhixing had survived in the hands of two assassins, but there had been too much going on, and she had also been afraid of frightening Chen Zhixing, so she had forced herself to hold back.

Chen Zhixing had long since prepared his wording. At once, in a childish, milky voice, he spoke with muddled innocence, "Father, Mother, I don't know either. Last night, after I was carried away by those two people, not long after we entered that alley, an old grandpa descended from the sky. That old grandpa casually waved his hand, and he killed those two people."

Once he said this.

Chen Tianliang and Ying Shuangshuang were both stunned.

"Old grandpa? Son, you're not joking with your father?" Chen Tianliang said, his face full of an expression that clearly asked, Do you take me for a fool?

This was far too absurd.

If the person saying it had not been Chen Zhixing, he would have wondered whether his intelligence was being insulted.

Chen Zhixing blinked his bright, shining eyes and said with a sincere little face, "Father, do I look like someone who can lie?"

"." Chen Tianliang still wanted to speak again.

Ying Shuangshuang rolled her eyes at Chen Tianliang and said, "Enough. How old is Zhi'er? How could he lie? If no one had acted last night, are you saying Zhi'er killed those two people himself?"

"Some exalted experts love doing good deeds and giving alms. They like to live hidden among the mortal dust, transforming into ordinary folk to comprehend the Dao. Last night, seeing Zhi'er in danger, he casually struck down those villains. Isn't that perfectly normal? This can only mean our Zhi'er has great fortune and a sturdy life, blessed by Heaven."

Chen Tianliang listened in a daze and said half-believingly, "There really is such a coincidence in this world? It was truly Zhi'er's great fortune and sturdy life?"

"What else?" Ying Shuangshuang said, rolling her eyes.

Listening to their conversation, Chen Zhixing could not help silently giving Ying Shuangshuang a big thumbs-up in his heart.

As expected of Mother!

With just a few words, she had rounded out the story into something reasonable and logical.

"Zhi'er, tell Mother, what did that old grandpa look like?" Ying Shuangshuang asked with a smile.

Without blushing or his heart skipping a beat, Chen Zhixing replied in his childish, milky voice, "That old grandpa had white hair and a white beard, with the bearing of an immortal sage. I didn't see the details clearly."

"I see." Ying Shuangshuang nodded, making up her mind that when she had time, she would find someone to draw that old man's appearance according to Chen Zhixing's description.

Such life-saving grace could not go unthanked.

"Did that old grandpa say anything else?" Ying Shuangshuang asked.

Chen Zhixing's thoughts stirred. At once, from the lapel at his chest, he took out the Tranquil Sea Pill Formula and the Nine Revolutions Heaven Chill Art, saying, "This is what that old grandpa gave me before he left."

"Mm?"

Seeing this, Chen Tianliang and Ying Shuangshuang immediately could not sit still. They hurriedly took the Tranquil Sea Pill Formula and the Nine Revolutions Heaven Chill Art.

The two looked them over carefully.

The next moment.

"H-how, how is this possible?!!!"

A shocked cry of uproar rang out instantly.

Chen Tianliang's eyes widened. He abruptly sat up in shock, staring fixedly at the Tranquil Sea Pill Formula before him with a face full of disbelief.

"Tranquil Sea Pill Formula. It can refine the Tranquil Sea Pill and suppress the Reverse Malady!!!"

Just this one sentence alone made the hand Chen Tianliang used to hold the pill formula tremble.

How many years had it been!

When the Reverse Malady erupted, the violent pain was like being hacked by a thousand knives and sliced by ten thousand cuts. It not only tormented him until he hovered between life and death, but also forced his cultivation, which should have soared to the heavens in a single bound, to remain stuck fast at the True Self Second Layer, unable to advance even an inch!

He had fought against it, searched for answers, lost his way, sunk into despair, and in the end, his heart had turned utterly cold.

But now, an Elixir Formula capable of refining a Tranquil Sea Pill and suppressing the Reverse Malady inside his body had descended out of nowhere, appearing right before his eyes!

At that moment, Chen Tianliang's eyes could not help reddening. He gripped the Elixir Formula in his hand tightly, afraid that all of this was merely a dream.

On the other side, Ying Shuangshuang looked at the Nine Revolutions Heaven Chill Art in her hand. Her body likewise shook as if struck by lightning, and in the next instant, all color drained from her face.

Why were Snow Women regarded by the world as symbols of disaster and ill omen? One major reason was that once a Snow Woman left the Frozen Soil Plateau, the cold energy emanating from her body would infect her surroundings beyond her control.

Later on, almost everywhere a Snow Woman passed would automatically turn into a world of ice and frozen earth, where not an inch of grass grew and all living things fell into deathly silence! Aside from that, once she left the Frozen Soil Plateau and lost the support of extreme cold energy, not only would she be unable to cultivate, she would also age rapidly with each passing day.

Back then, Ying Shuangshuang had obtained a fortuitous encounter that allowed her to leave the Frozen Soil Plateau. As long as she did not reveal her Snow Woman true form, she would not be affected.

However, last night, in order to save Chen Zhixing, she had not hesitated to reveal her Snow Woman true form.

She had originally thought that, to keep her own cold energy from harming the child, she would soon have to choose to leave and return alone to the Frozen Soil Plateau.

Then, alone on that Frozen Soil Plateau, she would grow old in solitude.

Separated from her husband and child forever, each going their own way after one final parting.

But! Just now, everything had taken a turn! "The Nine Revolutions Heaven Chill Art is a cultivation method perfectly suited for bodies of extreme cold. It uses one's own cold energy to cultivate, condensing Chill Cores within the body. Each Chill Core represents one major realm..."

Ying Shuangshuang read out the art's introduction word by word. Beads of crystal-clear tears slid from her eyes, drip, drop, drip, drop, falling onto the ancient book.

The next moment.

Ying Shuangshuang wiped her eyes. At the same time as Chen Tianliang, as if by tacit agreement, she raised her head and looked at him.

"We... are saved!"

At that moment.

The two of them cried and laughed all at once.

Chen Tianliang even threw back his head and let out a long howl, as if he wanted to pour out all the pent-up gloom of so many years.

The next moment.

The two of them reached out at the same time and hugged Chen Zhixing tightly in their arms.

Chen Zhixing, squeezed until he could barely breathe, smiled faintly in his heart.

This is really good.

Looking at Ying Shuangshuang and Chen Tianliang, he could not help feeling a faint sense of anticipation rise in his heart.

Now that the fetters and shackles holding them back had been resolved, just how strong would the two of them become in this life?