Looking at the Black Ice on the old man's lower body, Tian Ling'er pointed at it and asked, "What happened to you?"
"." The old man shook his head and sighed.
"?" Tian Ling'er cried out in surprise.
"Impossible. ? My father said that anyone afflicted with , would certainly die. How are you—how are you?" Tian Ling'er pointed at the old man, her face filled with bafflement.
"That was because your father hadn't broken through to the Nascent Soul Stage yet," the old man said.
"Uh, how did you know?" Tian Ling'er asked with the foolish innocence of a big sister.
"Hahahaha!" The old man laughed heartily.
"What happened to your hair?" Seeing that he did not answer, Tian Ling'er immediately asked again.
", it has attached itself to my Primordial Spirit. I don't yet have the ability to force it out. I can only use Fire Poison—fighting poison with poison—to cling to life," the old man said with a bitter smile, shaking his head.
"Fire Poison from the magma?" Tian Ling'er asked in surprise.
It seemed he truly had not spoken to anyone in a very, very long time. The old man became extremely talkative, answering as soon as Tian Ling'er asked: "Yes, Fire Poison from the magma. However, there can't be too much of it. If the Fire Poison overwhelms me—especially if it greatly surpasses the Black Ice—I will be burned and poisoned to death by it. Right now, I use my strands of hair to control the rate at which the Fire Poison is absorbed, slowly neutralizing it with the ."
Seeing how pitiful the old man was, a trace of sorrow suddenly appeared on Tian Ling'er's face as well.
"Have you neutralized it now? How long will it take before you can get rid of it?" Tian Ling'er asked.
"Get rid of it? A hundred years ago, the poisonous ice had only spread to my knees." The old man smiled bitterly. Clearly, escaping from it was impossible.
"How pitiful. Is there anything we can do to help you?" A kind expression immediately appeared on Tian Ling'er's face.
"Help me? Hehe, actually, helping me is very simple. Help me go outside and find someone." The old man suddenly smiled.
"Find someone? Right, I'll find my father. As long as we find him, he will definitely save you," Tian Ling'er said at once.
"No. I don't want a cultivator. Find me a mortal, and that will be enough." The old man smiled faintly.
"A mortal?" Tian Linger's face filled with utter confusion.
As for Zhong Shan, although his expression matched his confusion, he did not relax in the slightest. He remained on constant alert.
"Yes. Take this crystal and have a large number of mortals touch it. As long as someone touches it and makes the crystal shine, no matter what color the light is, that's the person. Bring him here, and he will be able to save me." The old man took a transparent crystal the size of a fist from his Storage Space.
Tian Ling'er had just reached out to take it when Zhong Shan snatched it from in front of her and seized the round crystal.
Seeing Zhong Shan grab it first, a trace of surprise appeared on the old man's face, while Tian Ling'er's attention was drawn toward the crystal.
"Then, Senior, we will go find someone to save you now." Zhong Shan immediately pulled Tian Ling'er along as he spoke.
"No." The old man's brows suddenly drew together.
"Huh?" Tian Ling'er looked at him strangely.
"What if you run away? One person stays with me while the other goes out." The old man was extremely stern.
"Stay with you?" Zhong Shan frowned at the old man.
Tian Ling'er also suddenly became indignant. Why should she stay with him?
"There's a Deep Valley outside. I know that. You stay here, and she goes out." The old man suddenly pointed at Zhong Shan.
"Hey, we'll definitely come back after we go out. Don't worry," Tian Ling'er called out at once.
The old man shook his head. He looked at Zhong Shan, then at Tian Ling'er, and said slowly, "If you refuse, then stay here with me together. This old man hasn't spoken with anyone in a very long time."
Looking at the stubborn old man, Zhong Shan furrowed his brows. He knew that someone who had been pent up for a hundred years could become as twisted as a grown Eunuch. If they went against his wishes, it would be very easy for him to erase them. In his mind, everything often became exceedingly direct and brutal.
"Ling Er, you go out. After you leave, go to the Bian City from before. There will definitely be people there to receive you and help you find someone. Bring them back once you've found them." Zhong Shan spoke solemnly and handed the crystal to Tian Ling'er.
Seeing how cooperative Zhong Shan was, a trace of satisfaction appeared on the old man's ugly face. He was also overcome with excitement.
Tian Ling'er gently accepted the crystal, her eyes filled with reluctance.
However, the instant Tian Ling'er grasped the transparent crystal, it began to shine, radiating an intense red light. The brilliance was so dazzling that it actually eclipsed the glow of the magma.
The old man stared blankly at Tian Ling'er's palm. Zhong Shan also gazed at the scene in amazement, while Tian Ling'er looked at the crystal in disbelief.
"Leaving Cauldron Physique, Leaving Cauldron Physique..." the old man murmured shakily. He was agitated—wildly agitated. The girl before him was of the Leaving Cauldron Body? She actually possessed a Leaving Cauldron Physique?
"Oh, it lit up, it lit up! We don't have to go outside anymore. I can save you, but how am I supposed to save you?" Tian Ling'er's initial excitement suddenly turned into confusion.
Greed. A greedy expression suddenly burst into the old man's eyes, and his gaze was fixed on Tian Ling'er.
Not good!
"Run!" Zhong Shan pulled Tian Ling'er along and took off toward the Mountain Cave they had come through, shooting away like a sharp arrow.
Tian Ling'er did not understand what was happening. Her feet were pulled clean off the ground, and immense pain shot through her wrist.
"Hmph~~~~~~~~"
The old man let out a cold snort from behind them. Zhong Shan and Tian Ling'er, who had shot away at high speed, were once again fixed in midair and twisted around to face the old man.
"What are you trying to do?" Tian Ling'er cried out in terror.
"Weren't you just going to help me?" The old man's kindly expression flashed away, transforming into a greedy, sinister one.
"Help you? How are we supposed to help you?" Seeing the old man's expression, Tian Ling'er was already frightened and knew that something was wrong.
"It's very simple. I want your body. With a Leaving Cauldron Physique, once I seize your body, your own body will naturally purge the Black Ice completely. Leaving Cauldron—it's actually a Leaving Cauldron! What a pity. If I had met you before I was poisoned, I would definitely have used you as a cauldron for cultivation. What an excellent physique." The old man was delighted at first, but his expression soon became filled with boundless regret.
"No, no! You're a big bad man! No!" Tian Ling'er cried out in terror, on the verge of tears again.
Body Seizing? Seizing her body? Even Tian Ling'er, innocent as she was, could now tell that the old man was no good. He wanted to extinguish her consciousness?
"Senior." Zhong Shan was held immobile, but he still called out respectfully to the old man.
The old man suddenly looked toward Zhong Shan, a trace of amusement flashing through his eyes.
"Innate Fourth Stage? What a surprise. With your Root Bone, you actually managed to cultivate to the Innate Fourth Stage." The old man sneered.
"Senior, we are from the Kaiyang Sect, and she is the Kaiyang Sect Master's daughter. Whatever kind of body you need, I can find one for you. Please don't harm her," Zhong Shan said.
"Kaiyang Sect?" The old man's eyes narrowed.
In the end, the old man shook his head and said, "If she weren't of the Leaving Cauldron Body, I could naturally give the Kaiyang Sect some face. But a Leaving Cauldron appears only once in a thousand years. How could I bear to give her up? Since Heaven has sent you to me, then I'm sorry."
As he spoke, Tian Ling'er's body gradually floated away from Zhong Shan and rose into the air.
Tian Ling'er stared at the scene in terror. She was going to be subjected to Body Seizing? Amid her fear, tears finally streamed down her face.
"Zhong Shan, sob, Zhong Shan, save me!" Tian Ling'er flew away from Zhong Shan, crying out in terror.
"Zhong Shan, Zhong Shan, save me!"
"Save you? Him?" A trace of mocking laughter appeared on the old man's face.
Zhong Shan knew that once Tian Ling'er was subjected to Body Seizing, it would be his own death sentence. The old man's tone showed some wariness toward the Kaiyang Sect, which clearly meant he intended to kill him to silence him.
At present, the old man was probably too agitated by Tian Ling'er, which was why he had not killed Zhong Shan first.
Having thought everything through, Zhong Shan hardened his heart. Thought Power surged madly from between his brows, rushing toward both his arms at a frenzied speed. Zhong Shan needed to succeed in one attempt. He could not fail—he could only succeed. Thus, he pushed the Red Phoenix Heavenly Scripture to its utmost limit.
Heavenly Devil Body Tempering Great Technique!
"Ah~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
Zhong Shan let out a thunderous roar. His physical strength suddenly doubled, and his body slammed violently against the force imprisoning him.
"Boom~~~~~~~~"
He broke free.
The old man also looked toward Zhong Shan in surprise. Divine Sense imprisonment consumed an enormous amount of energy, and its strength was determined by the cultivation level of each individual. According to the old man's calculations, even someone at the Innate Fifth Stage would have been unable to break free of the force imprisoning Zhong Shan.
Seeing Zhong Shan suddenly break free, Tian Ling'er's despairing heart trembled once more. As she looked at Zhong Shan, an exceedingly strange emotion began to grow within her. Zhong Shan seemed like the savior destined for her—every time, every single time, he managed to save her.
After breaking free of the imprisonment, Zhong Shan suddenly found a great saber in his hand.
Heaven Splitting Strike!
From far away, Zhong Shan fiercely brought the saber down toward the old man. A vast amount of pink energy surged atop the great saber and poured toward the old man in one furious torrent.
"Hmph." The old man let out a cold snort. Although his body shifted slightly, he once again imprisoned Zhong Shan invisibly.
The saber stopped, but the pink energy seemed not to. It continued surging toward the old man.
The old man's eyes narrowed, a trace of astonishment flashing through them. His previously all-conquering Divine Sense had actually failed to lock onto the pink energy. How could this be?
"Whoosh." The pink energy shot directly into the old man's body.
Seeing this, the old man hastily circulated his power to resist the invading pink energy. Yet the moment the pink energy entered his body, it vanished.
Seeing this, the old man knew something was wrong and quickly searched through his body.
Zhong Shan—when Zhong Shan saw the Red Phoenix Mist enter the old man's body, his heart leaped with joy, and he hurriedly circulated his power to urge it onward.
A vast amount of pink energy seeped from his body and spread in all directions.
With the second stage of the Red Phoenix Heavenly Scripture, his Thought Power had increased greatly. After using the Heavenly Devil Body Tempering Great Technique, his true qi also seemed to have surged tremendously. The Red Phoenix Mist—vast amounts of Red Phoenix Mist—slowly enveloped the surroundings and spread in every direction.
In merely a short while, the entire interior platform was completely filled with Red Phoenix Mist in every direction.
Before you continue