Cultivating the Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body! Transforming Alongside the Cocoon! Azure Lotus Sword Song: Second Form!

"Finally..."

Li Zhexian wiped the sweat from his brow and let out a slow breath.

Brewing the Ice Flame Immortal Dew had been far more difficult than he had imagined.

Even with his experience brewing the Snake Saliva Rice Soul, he had still gone through countless failures.

"But it was worth it."

"I finally got what I wanted."

His gaze fell upon the immortal dew before him, and the wine bug in Li Zhexian's stomach was already squirming impatiently.

The liquor was translucent and glazed in appearance, ice-blue on the left and crimson on the right. When still, it resembled a pair of taiji fish slowly circling each other.

Its temperature, meanwhile, was strange and unpredictable.

Li Zhexian took a Mysterious Stone from beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye and hollowed out a simple stone cup to hold it.

"This has been tormenting me with temptation!"

"Let me have a taste first!"

He extended a finger, Soul Power bursting from its tip and lifting the red-and-blue immortal brew into the air before sending it straight into his mouth.

"Mm?!"

The instant the liquor touched his tongue.

Li Zhexian's eyes flew wide open. It was as though magma surged through his throat as a strange sulfurous blaze exploded, its scorching sensation spreading wildly through his mouth.

Having never tasted anything like it before, he could not help nodding repeatedly.

However.

The moment that ball of "flame" slid into his stomach, it instantly turned into an icy current.

It was so cold that he shuddered, while a crisp, frigid cedar fragrance filled his mouth.

Before the words "good wine" could leave his lips, a sudden change occurred!

Once the liquor entered his belly, it split into two, transforming into crimson flame and frost that violently collided within his meridians!

The two surging energies crashed together and spilled outward.

A layer of Ice Crystal and molten patterns immediately formed over his meridians.

"This must be the process of cultivating the Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body!"

"The Brewing Record states that the Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body is exceptionally powerful, which is why one must drink Ice Flame Immortal Dew for three years before cultivating it successfully!"

"But I won't need that long!"

"Using Ice Flame Immortal Dew as the catalyst, taking the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot together, then tempering my body in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye—I can forge the most perfect Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body!"

A flash of sword light appeared.

Two peerless Immortal Flowers were severed from their stems.

Without hesitation, Li Zhexian stuffed both Immortal Herbs into his mouth.

Then, holding the Mysterious Stone wine cup, he leaped into the clearly divided boundary between the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye's two springs.

Splash—

The instant he hit the water.

Li Zhexian let out a muffled groan.

Excruciating pain struck like a torrential storm from the Nine Heavens.

The power of extreme cold froze his blood, and white frost covered even his internal organs. Yet his meridians felt as though they were being scorched by earthfire, while his skin began to char and peel away horribly.

Catalyzed by the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye, the medicinal power of the Infernal Delicate Apricot and Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass transformed into two vast currents of ice and fire energy that crashed madly through his body.

Crack—

Crack—

His bones could no longer bear the strain, splitting with crack after crack.

The energy of ice and fire poured through the gaps in his bones, scouring them again and again.

Pain!

Pain that gnawed into his bones and pierced his heart!

It hurt so badly that his soul nearly scattered!

Using his last shred of clarity, Li Zhexian struggled to raise an arm. Charred skin crumbled from it in flakes.

Yet he still drained the Ice Flame Immortal Dew in one gulp.

Blazing flames and chilling frost slaughtered one another without restraint inside him.

More and more Ice Crystal and lava patterns were branded across his increasingly translucent meridians.

His body, riddled with wounds, somehow reached a delicate balance amid the destruction of ice and fire and the restoration of the immortal dew.

Time flowed silently by.

Under this extreme tempering of ice and fire, Li Zhexian's body underwent a transformation that remade him from the inside out.

At the same time, having caught Li Zhexian's aura, an ice-blue and fiery-red cocoon hanging from a branch above the spring trembled lightly as well.

Dawn drove away the stars of Star Luo.

Star Luo, in turn, sent dawn away.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Within the Two Forms Eye, where scorching heat and icy chill intertwined, Li Zhexian sat cross-legged in silence like a dead tree.

If one looked inside his body now, one would see in horror:

The meridians across the left half of his body were crimson like flowing magma, while those on the right were deep blue like a frozen glacier.

A vast energy where ice and fire merged formed a Red and Blue Light Cocoon around him.

Whoosh—

A Clear Breeze swept past.

Crack—

Crack—

The sounds of breaking rang out almost simultaneously.

Spiderweb-like cracks appeared across the surfaces of both the Light Cocoon in the spring and the insect cocoon on the tree.

The Light Cocoon peeled away piece by piece, revealing within a perfect body with jade-white skin and well-proportioned muscles and bones.

On the branch, a Butterfly broke free from its cocoon and unfurled a pair of enchanting wings—one blue, one red.

Li Zhexian's skin, flesh, bones, internal organs, and meridians all faintly displayed Magnificent Red and Blue Interwoven Spirit Patterns.

His expression was serene and tranquil. The boiling hot spring and the bone-chilling ice spring now felt no different from warm water to him.

With every breath, he alternately exhaled frost mist and sparks.

His eyes suddenly snapped open!

His left pupil was crimson like a furnace, while his right was ice-blue like an abyss!

The strange phenomenon flashed past, and everything instantly returned to normal!

Splash—

Li Zhexian slowly rose from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.

The Butterfly on the tree gracefully spread its wings, floated down lightly, and danced around him.

The corners of Li Zhexian's lips lifted slightly. He naturally extended a finger, and the Butterfly obediently settled upon it.

"You and I have gone through transformation together. That makes us fated."

"Gathering and parting are like drifting clouds; whether you stay or leave, follow your heart. May you be free of all bonds and roam heaven and earth as you please."

"Go on."

The Butterfly beat its wings, circled him twice, then finally became a streak of light and flew toward the vast horizon.

Li Zhexian walked out of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.

One step.

His left foot touched the ground, and its footprint turned into scorched earth.

Another step.

His right foot came down, and frost condensed along its trail.

Only after he reached the wooden hut and put on the plain white robe he had prepared beforehand did the various strange phenomena gradually fade away.

He looked at his fair palm.

With a thought, red-and-blue spirit patterns flickered beneath his skin.

"The Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body... is complete."

Without an external ice- or fire-attributed attack, Li Zhexian could not yet truly experience how wondrous a constitution that "immunized and absorbed the power of ice and fire" really was.

But the fact that he could soak in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye as though it were a hot spring already said enough.

And that was not all...

A powerful wave of Soul Power spread from his body.

Li Zhexian's Soul Power had astonishingly reached level twenty-nine.

Li Zhexian casually beckoned.

He drew over a Mysterious Stone that had been washed by ice and fire.

His five fingers slowly clenched, and the Mysterious Stone, harder than refined iron, crumbled into powder in his palm and scattered on the wind.

"In terms of raw physical strength, even ordinary Soul Ancestors are no match for me."

Li Zhexian was deeply satisfied with this Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body.

A joyful heart called for fine wine.

"Heh, it's time for my Wine Martial Soul to level up too!"

Li Zhexian poured the half-cup of Ice Flame Immortal Dew he had reserved beforehand into the Clear Spring Wine Gourd.

Whoosh, whoosh—

Whoosh, whoosh—

At the mouth of the gourd, two-colored rays of ice and fire flickered in and out.

A rich wine fragrance, almost tangible and containing extreme cold and warmth, instantly spread through the mountain hollow.

A taiji pattern, ice-blue and crimson each taking up half, slowly emerged upon the smooth jade-like body of the celadon gourd.

Li Zhexian casually lifted the hem of his white robe and sat on the shore of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.

He soaked one foot in the hot spring and the other in the cold spring.

Then he eagerly raised the gourd and drank deeply.

In an instant.

Countless flavors, accompanied by an indescribably rich aroma, surged straight into his Spirit Platform.

"Good wine, good wine!"

He swung his feet in the ice and fire, taking gulp after gulp and utterly losing himself in the drink.

The Wine Martial Soul had now become an exceedingly rare strong liquor. Even Li Zhexian, a Wine Enthusiast, soon found his eyes hazy with drunkenness.

A hundred mixed emotions rose in his heart.

In the end, they settled upon the unforgettable agony he had endured while cultivating the Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body.

A tiny Azure Lotus Sword Seal quietly emerged on his brow, with faint ice-blue and fiery-red light flickering along both sides of its blade.

Clang—!

A clear sword cry suddenly rang out.

The Azure Lotus Sword appeared on its own.

Then the blade turned and plunged straight into the depths of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.

Watching the Azure Lotus Sword vanish beneath the Two Forms Eye and recalling the tempering he had just endured through ice and fire, a spark of insight flashed through Li Zhexian's mind.

His motion of raising the gourd to drink froze.

He allowed the two-colored liquor of ice and fire to run down from the corner of his mouth.

He sat there blankly by the spring where ice and fire merged.

Within his eyes was reflected that wondrous sight of ice and fire eternally clashing, yet coexisting and sustaining one another.

The sun rose and the moon fell. Another two days passed.

Li Zhexian was mentally exhausted, his eyes packed with bloodshot veins.

As the saying went, one could not live without going mad.

There was still a truth he had yet to understand, and he had fallen into a state of confusion.

That day.

A fierce wind swept through the mountain hollow.

It stirred whirlpools across the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.

Where the hot and cold springs met, crimson flames and frost did not extinguish one another. Instead, they formed a chaotic pillar of energy that spiraled upward.

The gale whipped his hair into disarray. As Li Zhexian watched this sight, light gradually began to return to his unfocused eyes.

He suddenly threw back his head and laughed.

"Hahahaha!"

"I understand! I understand!

"Water and fire clash? What utter nonsense!"

"People see only water and fire colliding, yet fail to see..."

"Frost burns into mist, flames condense into crystal—yin and yang root in one another. That is the supreme truth of heaven and earth!"

"The Azure Lotus Sword Song: Second Form is right before my eyes!"

This is so hard to write. There's still another chapter in progress... I took the morning off...