"I heard an Ice Bi on the verge of Dragon Transformation appeared near Lao City. It froze eight hundred miles, and a million ice lotuses descended from the heavens. It might condense an Azure Sky Level Ice Attribute Treasure Medicine during its transformation."
"You two should be going, right? Don't be fooled by the fact that it's only at Earth Vein Level. For us, it's a Supreme Treasure above all other Supreme Treasures."
"It's right where Chen Min is. Chen Min will definitely go. What about you, brother?"
A clear male voice rang out again and again within the light mist, utterly sincere.
"Chen Min's in Lao City. Wouldn't going there be walking to my death?" said a voice that sounded neither quite male nor female.
"Ha! You say you won't go, but I don't believe you'll stay away." The clear voice rang out again.
"Chen Min, your Luo Chen Clan should already be making preparations over there, right?"
After he finished speaking, the man named Chen Min said nothing.
"Chen Min..."
"Shut up."
Far away, at the center of the Cold Pool, the young man named Chen Min also had a patch of light mist before him. He couldn't see it clearly, but his gaze was fixed on the last blurry figure within the mist. He smiled.
"Interesting. Very interesting!"
"This person... absorbed four of them already." The voice that sounded neither quite male nor female spoke with a hint of astonishment.
At that moment, the figures who weren't in any of those three places all turned to look at the light mist before them.
A brief silence followed.
They had tested one another too many times before. In their hearts, they still regarded each other as their own rivals.
As for Chen Yan, he had awakened a little too late.
For a Heavenly Pride, even one day less of cultivation was already far too late.
Yet now, all three were watching Chen Yan.
Chen Yan's heart felt as if it had been frozen solid. He shuddered.
The Elemental Energy inside the Light Pillar was strange. Though it wasn't Blood Energy, it really did make Chen Yan's Qi and Blood grow colder and colder.
With every trace he absorbed, the Qi and Blood in his body grew colder.
Fortunately, he hadn't been exhausted before he started absorbing it. He could still keep going.
The fifth, the sixth...
The light mist grew quieter and quieter.
"A monster has appeared," said the clear male voice.
"This isn't normal. Has his body undergone some kind of modification?" The voice that sounded neither quite male nor female spoke, astonished.
It was far too strange.
After their awakenings, they had been exhausted to the point of collapse. Absorbing Awakening Essence at that point had nearly killed them.
No matter how resolute a person was, they couldn't have managed this.
"Didn't you say only fools underestimate others?" Chen Min laughed.
"What are you doing now, then?"
His laughter was hearty, but cold light flickered in his eyes.
"I hope you can catch up with me. I don't want the Day of Hundred Meridians to be too boring."
His words brimmed with confidence and pride.
Even as he praised Chen Yan, he showed no sense of urgency.
Because no matter how much Chen Yan absorbed, he still couldn't surpass him.
Chen Min narrowed his eyes only after Chen Yan absorbed the seventh one.
"He's caught up with you," the clear male voice said with a teasing laugh. But then he turned to look at Chen Yan's blurry figure, his expression growing even more solemn and strange.
"Is he going to absorb them all?"
"If he absorbs all eight, this person... definitely has a secret."
"Perhaps he's more resolute than any of us."
No one spoke again.
They were all people who had Broken Limits. What they found hardest to admit was that they were less diligent than someone else.
Until...
At a certain moment, Chen Yan absorbed all eight.
"Excellent!"
Chen Min smiled, his expression icy.
The other two began breathing a little faster.
Then the light mist before Chen Yan dispersed.
"How noisy," Chen Yan finally said.
He'd been absorbing Elemental Energy, and now people were watching and judging him. There was no way he could be happy about that.
He'd have to ask later how to keep others from sensing him.
Then Chen Yan exhaled a cloud of White Mist and felt the changes in his body, marveling to himself.
When he had just awakened, the coldness in his body had been somewhere between ice and water. Now, he felt more like a block of solid ice that had been frozen for years.
After absorbing a huge amount of Elemental Energy, he felt like an Ice Lake, able to freeze everything around him.
He didn't need Blood Energy attacks, nor fists and feet. He could badly wound an enemy—or even freeze them to death outright.
If Zhang Qingsi had undergone Limit Breaking Awakening, Chen Yan might have been unable to move before he even got close to him.
This was the true power of Limit Breaking Awakening.
More importantly, Chen Yan seemed able to sense things he hadn't been able to sense before.
Elements!
Yes, elements.
Before, he could sense the whole prison growing cold because of him, but he definitely couldn't sense the faint Elemental Energy it contained.
Chen Yan held out a hand and carefully felt the space around him. Faint White Mist slowly drifted toward him.
Compared to the Elemental Energy he'd absorbed from the Light Pillar earlier, this was like a mosquito's bite.
But even the tiniest morsel was still meat. Chen Yan couldn't bear to waste it.
Did that mean he'd have to find ice to cultivate with every day from now on?
Chen Yan pondered it. That should work, right?
The chill in the air gradually faded, and beads of water formed on the walls throughout the dungeon.
"Hm?"
Outside the Town Martial Hall, Luo Puxin raised his brows.
It seemed to have gotten a little warmer.
Unlike the others, he had been paying extremely close attention to every change in the air.
Had Chen Yan failed?
"I'm going to the bathroom," he said, preparing to head to the dungeon and take a look.
"Then I'll go too," Zhuang Xihang immediately said. What did Xin Gongxian's trial have to do with him? He wanted to see Chen Yan; Luo Puxin had just been stopping him.
Could Luo Puxin be trying to steal his student?
"No, you can't go." Luo Puxin frowned at Zhuang Xihang.
"Director Luo, you can't seriously be policing other people's bodily functions too, can you?" Zhuang Xihang said, growing irritated.
Luo Puxin pursed his lips.
"I know you want to see Chen Yan, but he's special. He isn't just condensing one new Pattern Line right now. It's actually three.
"If you go in, you really will disturb him."
Luo Puxin fell silent after he finished speaking.
He himself thought it sounded too ridiculous, so he continued anyway.
"Even though they're three faint Pattern Lines, he still can't be disturbed."
Silence.
Yin Yanjun, who was still gathering evidence of Xin Gongxian's crimes, said nothing. Zhuang Xihang looked at Luo Puxin with a cold laugh.
Did he even hear himself?
A child who'd only just learned the Breathing Technique had condensed one Strength Stripe, and now he was going to condense more?
Three of them?
Who did he think he was fooling?
Couldn't he show a little respect for people?
"I'm telling the truth!" Luo Puxin said again. At that moment, he felt a little helpless. He really wasn't suited to lying.
But he couldn't let anyone go inside.
"Principal Zhuang, my son's a genius!" Chen Yuxu said proudly from nearby.
What was so ridiculous about three Pattern Lines?
Chen Yan was his son. It was perfectly normal for his son to condense three Pattern Lines.
Zhuang Xihang let out a soft sigh and glanced at Chen Yuxu.
Speechless.
He knew Chen Yuxu's son was a genius.
But did Chen Yuxu even know what Horizontal Refinement Stripes were?
He could guess that Luo Puxin must have some secret. With another soft sigh, he said, "Then you go first. I'll use the bathroom later."
"Mm." Luo Puxin waved a hand, then went inside.
The onlookers around them were baffled.
"Was that Venerable Sir talking about Chen Yan just now?"
"Chen Yan, Chen Yuxu's son?"
"Chen Yuxu said his son was a genius."
"He really is a genius. He won the Town Martial Bonus and got a reward of twenty thousand."
Everyone chattered, surprised and envious.
"Old Hu, your Hu Family's really going to rise now. Look after me in the future, will you?"
A man with a brandy nose spoke beside Hu Zeyuan, only to see that Hu Zeyuan's face had gone dark. He snapped, "Get lost!"
He was troubled, angry, furious, helpless, and regretful.
He glanced at Chen Yuxu, his expression complicated. He almost couldn't bring himself to look at him.
How had things ended up like this?
"What did you say?" The brandy-nosed man had a hot temper too. He glared at Hu Zeyuan, but after glancing at Chen Yuxu in the distance, he spoke with a resentful chuckle.
"Heh, now you've made it big, you don't recognize your own neighbors anymore. You're a piece of work!"
Someone nearby chimed in with a teasing grin.
"Old Wang, you must not know that Hu Zeyuan and Chen Yuxu fell out a long time ago. Hu Zeyuan even brought people to Chen Yuxu's house to cause trouble.
"You're asking him to look after you? He couldn't look after a damn thing."
As soon as he finished speaking, laughter and teasing rippled through the crowd. Only then did the brandy-nosed man catch on. He looked at Hu Zeyuan mockingly.
"So you've been at odds for ages. Chen Yuxu's an honest man, and you still bullied him. You're a real bastard."
Hu Zeyuan's face flushed red.
"What did you say?"
"You little punk!"
"You son of a—!"
The two of them started fighting. Hu Yuan hurried to break it up, but someone dragged him aside.
The crowd erupted into a commotion.
In front of the Town Martial Hall, Chen Yuxu looked over with a cold expression and paid them no mind.
But inside, he was bursting with pride.
His son had made it!
There have been fewer updates these past few days. First, the book's still in its trial period, and it hasn't had its first featured promotion yet.
Second, I've been organizing the plot to avoid too many mistakes and inconsistencies.
It's all sorted out now. Back to eight thousand words!
I might not update four chapters, but my chapters aren't only two thousand words long.
I'd like to recommend Dongzi's other book, <My Martial Skill Effects Are Maxed Out, I Slaughter My Way Through the High Martial World>. You can find it by clicking my profile.
It's also a high-martial novel, and it's complete. If you like this one, you'll probably like that one too.
Before you continue