"Bing'er, if you feel embarrassed..."
Snow Empress seemed to notice Ice Empress's struggle and spoke softly, but stopped mid-sentence - she knew Ice Empress would not give up, but she didn't want Ice Empress to feel that she was being forced.
Ice Empress took a deep breath and shook his head. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about."
She turned around and looked at Aoyao with a hint of seriousness in her eyes. "Aoyao, the next assessment... may trouble you."
"Yes, I accepted the inheritance of Top-Level First Trial, and I should have assisted you. But..."
He paused, and the meaningful words of Ice God flashed through his mind, and asked tentatively, "Are you sure you want to start now? Do you want to... prepare first?"
Ice Empress was silent for a moment, and suddenly laughed softly, "What are you preparing for? It's just something you have to go through sooner or later."
After that, she walked towards the underground Ice Chamber.
Snow Empress wanted to follow, but was blocked by an invisible barrier at the entrance of Ice Chamber.
"It seems... Fourth Trial only you and Aoyao can enter." Snow Empress's tone contained a hint of helplessness, but more of it was trust in Ice Empress, "Bing'er, I'll wait for you outside."
Ice Empress nodded and walked straight into Ice Chamber without looking back.
Aoyao followed her, and the moment he crossed the barrier, he clearly felt a strange chill coming from all directions - not the cold that acted on his skin, but some kind of chill that reached deep into his soul, as if even his thoughts were frozen.
But just a moment later, an inexplicable aura completely dissipated the chill.
Seeing this, Aoyao frowned, with a puzzled look on his face.
So... this is a convenience given by Ice God to his Top-Level First Trial escort?
The space inside Ice Chamber is wider than it looks from the outside. On the surrounding black ice walls, those pale golden God Markings flow slowly like living creatures, emitting a weak but steady light.
Ice Platform is located in the center of Ice Chamber, exuding the blue-white cold air of Youyou.
Ice Empress stood in front of Ice Platform and was silent for a long time.
Aoyao was very sensible and did not urge. Instead, he turned around, his back to Ice Platform, and his eyes fell on the God Markings on the wall, pretending to study their laws.
Immediately afterwards, a subtle rustling sound finally came from behind.
The soft sound of clothes falling to the floor.
And...Ice Empress's deliberately suppressed breathing sound.
Aoyao stared at God Markings on the wall, trying to focus on the complicated lines.
"... Okay."
Ice Empress's voice was very soft, with a hint of unnoticeable trembling.
Aoyao turned around.
Ice Empress is already lying on Ice Platform.
Her body glowed with a faint white sheen in the cold ice room, and the cold air from the ice platform wrapped around her, making her whole body look like she was wrapped in a hazy layer of ice mist.
Her eyes turned to one side, not looking at Aoyao, and her eyelashes trembled slightly, revealing her inner nervousness.
Aoyao walked to Ice Platform, and then noticed that the grooves and lines on Ice Platform began to emit a pale golden light - those lights spread along the lines, and finally converged on the nodes on the surface of Ice Platform, and the positions of those nodes happened to correspond to various key parts of Ice Empress's body.
"So... what exactly am I going to do?"
Aoyao whispered to himself, looking back and forth between Ice Platform and Ice Empress.
The moment he finished speaking, the pale golden lines on Ice Platform suddenly lit up.
Spots of light suddenly lit up on Ice Empress's body, and the locations of these spots were impressively distributed on the palms of Ice Empress's hands, the soles of his feet, his lower abdomen, the center of his chest, and... his forehead.
There are seven light spots in total.
A bold guess suddenly arose in Aoyao's mind - the so-called assistance would not allow him to touch the location of these seven light points, right?
Aoyao's mouth twitched subconsciously.
Ice Empress seemed to have realized something. The cheek that was originally tilted to one side instantly turned a thin layer of red, and even the cold air on Ice Platform couldn't cover it up.
But before she could finish speaking, the lines on Ice Platform suddenly flickered violently - Ice God seemed to have given them no time to hesitate.
Ice Empress's body trembled suddenly.
An unimaginable coldness gushes out from the inside of Ice Platform. It is not an ordinary coldness, but acts directly on the depths of her origin - every inch of her flesh and blood, every bone, and every meridian are frozen, broken, and decomposed bit by bit by that coldness.
"Uh--!"
Ice Empress gritted his teeth, clenched his hands unconsciously, and his nails almost pierced his palms.
That kind of pain is far beyond what can be compared to the previous body tempering test.
In the previous assessment, she didn't even feel any pain. Although her cultivation was suppressed, her foundation was still there, and she wouldn't have felt such pain at all.
But this time, the pain was particularly intense.
And this pain erupted from within her body, from deep within her body - it was like someone used an extremely fine knife to dismantle every inch of her body, and then reassembled it at the same moment of disassembly, over and over again.
Fine cracks began to appear on the surface of her body. Those cracks were not wounds, but marks that her original body was being decomposed.
The most terrible thing is that during the decomposition process, the energy in her body fell into complete chaos. She had no way to relieve the pain, and it became extremely difficult to even stay awake.
Although Ice God didn't say it explicitly, Ice Empress probably knew it in his heart.
Once she passes out, her Fourth Trial will only end in failure.
"Ao...Aoyao..."
Ice Empress's voice was intermittent, with extremely suppressed pain.
Aoyao didn't hesitate anymore. He took a deep breath and pressed his right hand on the node on Ice Empress's forehead.
The moment Aoyao's palms came together, Ice Empress took a sharp breath of cold air - the temperature and power coming from Aoyao's palms were amplified countless times in her perception.
That feeling... is amazing.
Not pain.
But a kind of... inexplicable warmth.
It's like trekking through the extremely cold ice fields for thousands of years and finally finding a fire to keep warm.
Aoyao's power spread along her forehead, and wherever it passed, the severe pain that was decomposed seemed to lighten a bit.
But at the same time, that warmth also brought an indescribable numbness, making all the nerves in her body tremble slightly.
However, this feeling of warmth and pain relief did not last long.
Soon, a more intense pain struck again.
Unprepared, Ice Empress almost fainted from the pain. Fortunately, Ice Empress's will was strong enough and he managed to survive.
"Aoyao... continue..."
Ice Empress's voice suddenly sounded, with a hint of tension.
Aoyao didn't hesitate and directly pressed his left hand on the node on Ice Empress's lower abdomen.
At this moment, Ice Empress's body arched up almost instinctively for a moment.
Aoyao's palm is pressed here, and the feeling is much stronger than that on the forehead.
The warm power slowly traveled through her body following the guidance of God Markings, forming a delicate balance with the extreme cold power that decomposed her body - the extreme cold power was responsible for decomposing her "mortal body", while Aoyao's assistance stabilized her origin and ensured that she would not completely collapse during the decomposition process.
But this process requires the power of Aoyao to accurately cover every corner of her body.
Which means... he can't just put his hands on the nodes and not move.
In other words, his hands need to constantly move between the seven light spots on Ice Empress's body.
A thin layer of sweat broke out on Aoyao's forehead.
It's not because of nervousness, but because his control of power must be extremely precise - if he exerts a little too much force, it will interfere with the reorganization process; if he exerts a little too much force, the origin of Ice Empress will collapse.
He moved his left hand from Ice Empress's lower abdomen to the palm of her right hand, placing the palm of his hand against her palm to inject power. Ice Empress's fingers subconsciously curled up, and his fingertips touched the back of Aoyao's hand, bringing a cold touch.
Then the palm of the left hand.
Next is the sole of the right foot.
With every movement of a node, Aoyao can feel subtle reactions from Ice Empress's body - sometimes it's a slight tremor, sometimes it's a sudden acceleration of breathing, sometimes it's muscles tightening unconsciously.
And when his left hand landed on the light spot on Ice Empress's chest.
Ice Empress's body suddenly froze.
That location... is too close.
Aoyao can feel her rapid heartbeat in the palm of her hand from less than an inch away.
His fingers were slender and powerful. When they covered the light spot, almost the entire central area of her chest was covered by the warmth of his palms.
Ice Empress's breathing instantly became disordered, his chest rose and fell violently with his breathing, and his fingertips unconsciously clenched the edges of Ice Platform.
"Don't... don't move..."
Ice Empress's voice was almost squeezed out from between his teeth, with a hint of trembling and embarrassment.
Aoyao's movements froze for a moment.
But he didn't move his hand - because God Markings's guidance clearly told him that this light spot was one of the most critical nodes in the entire transformation process.
He can only continue, otherwise the origin of Ice Empress will get out of control in the next decomposition cycle.
And Ice Empress also understands this.
She bit her lip and forced herself to relax.
That feeling... is very contradictory.
The pain of decomposition and the warmth brought by Aoyao's power were intertwined, like a glacier and a warm current meeting, colliding, and merging in her body. The temperature and touch from Aoyao's palm became extremely clear in her perception that was magnified countless times.
The lines on his palms.
His body temperature was slightly elevated due to nervousness.
Even... the frequency of his pulse.
These details were infinitely magnified in her perception and clearly transmitted to the depths of her consciousness.
As for Aoyao, the situation is not much better.
Although he tried to focus his attention on the control of power, the touch from his palm - the frequency of Ice Empress's body shaking slightly due to pain, the thin layer of ice mist on the surface of her skin melting into water droplets and then condensing again under the influence of her body temperature and the temperature of her palm, the subtle displacement of her chest rising and falling with each deep breath.
These details were inevitably perceived by him.
His Adam's apple rolled, but the movements of his hands did not deviate at all.
Time passes slowly in this dark Ice Chamber.
Under the dual effects of the power of extreme cold and the help of Aoyao, Ice Empress's body began a long and painful process of reorganization. Her original body was decomposed bit by bit, and then rebuilt at the moment of decomposition.
New flesh and blood, new meridians, and new bones slowly took shape in the icy blue light.
The deeper this process goes, the stronger her dependence on the help provided by Aoyao becomes.
Later, whenever Aoyao moved her hand away from one light point and prepared to move to the next light point, her body would instinctively produce a "sense of absence".
And the moment Aoyao's hand falls again, that feeling of lack will be filled.
"Aoyao..."
Ice Empress's voice is very soft.
Aoyao subconsciously lowered his head and looked at her.
Ice Empress's eyes reflected the light golden God Markings light in Ice Chamber. Those always cold eyes were now covered with a thin layer of mist - the result of pain, sensitivity, and some inexplicable intertwined emotions.
"I'm here."
Aoyao's voice is deep and stable.
His right hand re-pressed on the node on Ice Empress's forehead, and his left hand stayed in the center of her chest - these two nodes are the core of maintaining her original stability and require the most continuous and stable assistance.
"Soon."
Aoyao's eyes fell on the cracks on Ice Empress's body - the cracks were gradually reducing, replaced by a more crystal clear texture.
Her already extremely fair skin became even more... unreal after reorganization, like a work of art carved from the purest ice marrow, with every inch exuding a faint icy blue fluorescence.
That's the sign that Ice Spirit Body is taking shape.
But the final stage of transformation is also the most painful.
"Ah--!"
The next moment, Ice Empress finally couldn't help but let out a suppressed cry of pain. Her body trembled violently, and her hands instinctively wanted to grab something to resist the pain.
Her right hand suddenly grasped Aoyao's arm.
His nails dug into the fabric of his cuffs, and his fingertips turned slightly white from the exertion.
Aoyao did not dodge, but frowned and became completely immersed.
At this moment, he didn't have any charming thoughts in his heart.
Ice Empress's body was constantly trembling with the assistance of Aoyao. Her breathing was completely disordered, and her rapid breathing was mixed with extremely suppressed cries of pain.
Her consciousness became blurred under the dual impact of pain and warmth, leaving only the most instinctive reaction - her hand holding Aoyao's arm became tighter and tighter, as if it was the only driftwood she could hold on to in the raging tsunami.
"Aoyao...Aoyao..."
She repeated his name, her voice getting softer and softer, becoming more and more dependent.
"I'm here."
Aoyao responds every time, with a calm and firm voice.
There was no hesitation in his movements, and the warmth of his palms penetrated Ice Empress's sensitive skin. Sometimes his fingertips would accidentally touch certain areas that were too private, but in this situation, both of them chose to ignore it.
Because Ice Empress's body is going through the final stage of "life after death" - every inch of skin, every bone, and every meridian was shattered in the extreme cold, and then reborn under the protection of Aoyao's power.
This process requires Aoyao's assistance to cover every inch of her body.
No exceptions.