Ice Plain Divine Mountain, A Fortuitous Encounter

By the time she had killed all the snow wolves, she was utterly exhausted and collapsed onto the ground.

"Distinctive, one of a kind, captivating enough to overturn all hearts."

"Do you know that staring at a girl for so long is terribly ungentlemanly?"

The woman was used to the gazes of men.

But she had just gone through a desperate battle, and being watched still made her feel uncomfortable.

"Miss, are you all right?"

He was helpless as well. Unable to stand, he could only ask verbally.

All right? I'm so exhausted that I'm sitting on the ground without a care for my appearance, and that counts as all right? And does this person not know to give me a hand?

And he has no gentlemanly manners at all. I was fighting for my life just now, while this bastard stood in the distance and watched quietly.

What a waste of that decent-looking face.

"Hey, don't you know to pull me up?"

Xiao Xuan was speechless. He rolled his eyes at the girl.

"You're so young. Why are your eyes already failing you?

Can't you see that I rely on a wheelchair to get by?

These are Healing Pills. If you're not afraid they're poisoned, take them yourself and heal up.

The ice plain is strange. Who knows what other dangers might be lurking?

By the way, what brings you to the sparsely populated Northern Plains? Your situation just now was truly dire."

The red-clad girl was not afraid of poison. She directly accepted the pills, placed them in her mouth, and refined them. Half a Shi Chen later, she finally regained the ability to move.

"Were your legs injured in battle?

As for why I came here, I simply wanted to seek Life and Death trials for myself.

What about you? Why did you come here?"

"I was born this way. I can't stand.

As for me, I came here purely to seek death. I wanted to see what might be different when facing Life and Death."

Xiao Xuan had acted on a sudden whim. He always felt that he had forgotten something, yet he could not remember anything at all. He could only seek death himself and see whether, at the final moment, he might find some clue.

"Seeking death? You're still so young. Why be so pessimistic?"

The red-clad girl was genuinely stunned for a moment before she came to her senses and said incredulously.

"Everyone's experiences are different, and so are their thoughts. Only they themselves know what they want.

It is rare to see someone like you, Miss, who places herself in deadly situations for the sake of cultivation.

Saying that I'm seeking death is not entirely wrong. Put more nicely, I too hope to survive after being driven into a deadly situation.

My name is Xiao Xuan. May I ask Miss's name?"

"Jin Ping'er!"

After chatting for a while, the two traveled together...

Beneath a stone cliff, a fire burned brightly.

An animal's leg was being roasted over the flames, dripping fragrant grease into the fire.

The snow wolves Xiao Xuan had slain were now about to become their meal.

"Young Master Xiao, why isn't this meat done yet? I'm starving to death."

Jin Ping'er said unhappily, clutching her flat, empty stomach.

"I say, Miss Jin, you're exploiting the value of a disabled person."

On the Arctic Vast Sea Ice Plain, after Jin Ping'er departed, Xiao Xuan continued deeper alone.

Fortunately, his luck was not bad. He did not encounter a Beast Tide, only a few Fierce Beasts at most.

Even so, the constant killing and fighting, dodging sudden attacks from Fierce Beasts, and falling chunks of ice and snowballs made every kind of danger impossible to guard against. He was struck time and again, leaving him covered in wounds. The elegant young master of old was nowhere to be seen; now he was merely a ragged beggar, and several times he had nearly lost his life.

Tempering himself in the ice plain, where all four seasons were like winter and day alternated with night, about a year later, it had been two years since he had left Qingyun.

Two years: one year spent traveling, and one year spent honing himself through Life and Death. Especially for him, his cultivation technique had been circulating constantly.

Yuan Qi circulated, his Meridians broadened, and his entire body was strengthened, allowing him to obtain the qi of the Five Viscera and Five Elements.

The Five Qi forged the Lower Dantian into the Yellow Court. The Yellow Court continuously absorbed and liquefied the qi of the Five Elements, refining Taiji Primordial Qi within the Yellow Court to produce Taiji True Essence.

Because he had been born with powerful soul force, the liquefied Taiji True Essence passed through the Upper Dantian, greatly increasing in spirituality.

In merely two years, he had progressed more than he had in the previous five. One had to know that the further one cultivated the Taiji Xuanqing Dao, the more difficult it became.

He did not lack comprehension, nor did he lack perseverance. His only limitation had been the Meridians in his legs.

Over the years, as the Meridians in his legs were tempered, they gradually improved, and his cultivation became faster and faster.

For others, if such a condition had happened to them, it would have cut off their path of cultivation.

But he had endured it. Perhaps just as he had said, when Heaven closed a door for you, it would surely open another; all that was lacking was for you to seek it out and discover it.

Gazing at the distant end of the ice plain, at the black-and-white mountain range that soared into the clouds and stretched for nearly ten thousand li, Xiao Xuan's eyes filled with tears as he sighed endlessly.

This divine mountain stretched nearly ten thousand li from east to west and rose tens of thousands of zhang high, majestic and vast, ancient and weathered.

Facing south and standing amid ice that had never melted since ancient times, its enormous head resembled that of a snake, yet it bore two spear-like horns that pierced straight into the heavens;

Its incomparably broad black scales each measured nearly ten thousand zhang in diameter and were arranged in a miraculous pattern;

Its thick, powerful tail was covered with barbs each more than a zhang thick and over ten zhang long.

Its four limbs were like pillars supporting the heavens, deeply rooted beneath the ice;

Its massive jaws were slightly open, revealing rows of fangs. It was incomparably ferocious and terrifying, looking more like an ancient Fierce Beast. Truly, one could not judge a divine beast by its appearance.

"What... Spirit Marrow, with at least a thousand years of potency?"

Half a month after entering the divine mountain, Xiao Xuan saw the small pool at its center, filled with violent liquid brimming with spiritual energy, and was immediately overjoyed.

"Ha ha, what an unexpected windfall."

He immediately sat beside the Spirit Pool, circulated his cultivation technique, and sank into a daze.

At that moment, a mysterious, distant, and cold voice of unknown origin suddenly entered his mind. Like celestial music from the ninth heaven and the divine charm of Yaochi, it carried an immensely mysterious power.

"Water comes close to the Dao; the Dao is everywhere, water benefits all things, shunning heights and flowing downward, never acting against its nature..."

Hazy and ethereal, graceful as water, it gradually transformed into the resonant sound of metal and stone. It was like the roars of dragons and tigers, deafening and enlightening, yet also like morning bells and evening drums, shaking the soul.

Under the sound of that voice, Xiao Xuan entered a state without joy or sorrow, without self or things.

He did not know how much time passed. When he awoke again, the pool of spiritual liquid had already nearly dried up.

"Three Flowers Power of Essence Qi and Spirit, the Purple Mansion...

Heh, soul, Divine Sense, Primordial Spirit—they were merely different names.

I never expected that, not long after beginning cultivation, I would stumble into tempering my Divine Soul.

To a certain extent, I had instead walked the road ahead of time, so that my future cultivation path would not be entirely without direction.

Who could have imagined it? Even I could not have imagined that I, who I once was, could reach this point today.

It is time to leave. I have been away from Qingyun for more than two years."

On Dazhu Peak.

"Mother, Junior Apprentice Brother has been gone from Dazhu Peak for over two years without a trace. It truly makes me worry.

I hope that during the Liupo Mountain trip three months from now, we might receive some news of him."