Mystic Ice True Qi

The moment the words left her mouth, Yuan Manzhi's face flushed scarlet, the color spreading from her cheeks all the way to her ears. Even her earlobes turned red.

She lowered her head, twisting her hands together in front of her as her fingers kept rubbing the hem of her clothes.

Jiang Tian watched her reaction, then glanced at Mu Sining's face, still calm as a placid lake. His brows knitted tighter.

Why did the atmosphere feel... a little off?

Judging by the look of things, Yuan Manzhi probably knew she had the Mystic Ice Body. And she knew what the Mystic Ice Body was for.

But wasn't this constitution supposed to help its owner cultivate?

Why did Yuan Manzhi look so... embarrassed?

Just then, he suddenly thought of the "great opportunity" Yuan Long had mentioned... No way.

It couldn't be what he thought, could it?

Jiang Tian pressed his lips together and shot Mu Sining a questioning look.

Mu Sining didn't answer him directly. Instead, she turned to Yuan Manzhi, her red lips parting as she asked gently, "Miss Yuan?"

She was clearly seeking Yuan Manzhi's consent.

"Mm."

Yuan Manzhi kept her head lowered, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

Mu Sining looked back at Jiang Tian, her expression composed, and began to explain.

"The Mystic Ice Body can only gather water-attributed qi. Its cultivation speed is astonishing, and few can hope to match it."

"However..." She paused, her eyes flickering slightly as if reorganizing her thoughts, then continued, "Only women can possess the Mystic Ice Body. Until its Primordial Yin is lost, their cultivation will remain stuck at Manifest Energy. No matter how hard they train, their cultivation will make no progress."

Jiang Tian's eyebrows shot up, disbelief written all over his face.

With Mu Sining's explanation, everything suddenly made sense.

No wonder Yuan Manzhi, despite having a red trait, had remained stuck at Manifest Energy. No wonder her face had turned so red...

So that was it!

Mu Sining continued, "The Primordial Yin of someone with the Mystic Ice Body... well, if a man absorbs it, it will not only temper his meridians, bones, and internal organs, bringing about a transformation, but also infuse his body with a strand of [True Qi]."

At that, Yuan Manzhi's face grew even redder, like a ripe red apple. A faint pink flush spread all the way down to the base of her neck.

Jiang Tian's eyes widened. His expression couldn't have looked stranger.

So this was the great opportunity Yuan Long had been talking about?

This opportunity was far too weighty! He wasn't sure he could bear it!

In his previous life, when he ran into those "bad women," he'd simply turned into... well, he'd pulled up his pants and pretended he didn't know them. Good girls were to be cherished; bad girls weren't to be wasted!

But Yuan Manzhi was clearly no bad woman.

After spending some time with her, he'd realized she was the sort who seemed aloof on the outside, but inside had a sweet, innocent personality.

Besides, whether by reason or by feeling, Yuan Long and his daughter had both done him a kindness.

Yuan Long could be considered his first master. He had taught him martial arts and given him pills. That debt of gratitude was real.

But...

Jiang Tian felt a dull ache in his teeth, his thoughts tangled beyond measure.

Just then, Yuan Manzhi suddenly lifted her head.

Her pretty, peach-blossom eyes were filled with a pool of autumn water. They gleamed and shimmered as she looked straight at Jiang Tian.

She said nothing.

Jiang Tian sucked in a sharp breath, immediately turned his head, and looked at Mu Sining. "Miss Mu, what exactly is this [True Qi] you mentioned?" he asked stiffly.

The corner of Mu Sining's mouth lifted slightly, as if she found Jiang Tian's reaction amusing. The smile vanished in an instant.

She returned to normal and explained, "Have you noticed that the more qi you gather into your body, the less of it you have left when you use it?"

"Hm?" Jiang Tian blurted out in surprise. "Isn't that how it works for everyone?"

"Not quite."

Mu Sining shook her head, her expression turning serious. "Once you've stored a certain amount of qi, you need to compress it into a liquid state. But even then, every bit you use is gone for good. Like a tree without roots or water without a source, it will eventually run dry."

"You need to use [True Qi] to build a core. Once you have a core, your body will produce qi endlessly. You'll have an inexhaustible supply."

"The higher the grade of the [True Qi], the faster it recovers."

"And the [Mystic Ice Nine Nether True Qi] produced by the Mystic Ice Body is Grade A [True Qi]."

Mu Sining paused, then added with a pointed meaning, "However, the [Mystic Ice Nine Nether True Qi] is water-attributed [True Qi]. The qi you gather is Gold Qi. If you want to..."

She trailed off halfway through.

But Jiang Tian understood what she meant.

He couldn't use [True Qi] of another attribute as the core for his Metal Attribute qi.

His eyes flickered. Suppressing the thoughts churning inside him, he asked, "Miss Mu, can I cultivate all five types of qi at once?"

With only Gold Qi in his body, his options were too limited.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth... How powerful would he be if he had all five elements?

Mu Sining frowned. "Are you making Qi Gathering sound too easy?"

"Generally speaking, disciples choose one path to focus on, since their talent and insight are limited. Because of my constitution, I can't gather fire-attributed qi."

"Some people do choose to gather both water and fire qi. They're yin and yang, generating and restraining each other. If they can balance the two, they can make water and fire coexist."

"But what you described—possessing all five elements—is impossible."

"Setting aside whether you'd have enough time to understand five different Qi Gathering Methods, the question of 'how to make them coexist' alone would give the sages of old a lifetime of headaches."

Jiang Tian nodded, only partly understanding, and didn't ask any more.

The Heavenly Fire Sect's horses seemed far from ordinary. Their hooves were swift as the wind, and they ran both fast and steadily, barely stopping along the way.

After a day and a night of travel, the group finally reached Qingyuan Prefecture City.

The main roads in the Prefecture City were more than twice as wide as those in Blackwater County. Jiang Tian reckoned they were at least six zhang across, wide enough for five or six carriages to travel side by side.

The side roads were also three or four zhang wide. The bluestone paving was neat and even, and not a single weed grew between the stones.

Most of the passersby wore brocade robes and had healthy complexions. They walked at an unhurried pace, exuding an air of wealth and composure.

As far as the eye could see, there wasn't a single homeless beggar. It was a world apart from the streets of Blackwater County, filled with people in ragged clothes.

Three- and four-story pavilions lined both sides of the street, their eaves sweeping upward and their beams carved and painted.

Restaurants, teahouses, silk shops, antique stores... one after another, all bustling with activity.

A scene of prosperity.

Jiang Tian lifted the carriage curtain and discreetly scanned the tops of passersby's heads, extracting quite a few traits along the way.

He'd extracted more purple traits on this journey than he had earlier, when facing that crowd of Martial Arts Hall masters in Blackwater County.

Some passersby had nothing displayed above their heads. Clearly, their realms were higher than his.

As expected of the Prefecture City: hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

Yuan Manzhi also stuck her head out now and then, her eyes shining like a child on her first journey away from home, curious about everything.

After more than half an hour, the number of passersby gradually dwindled.

Merchants and pedestrians disappeared from the streets, replaced by Heavenly Fire Sect disciples in matching uniforms. They stood or walked in groups of two or three, standard-issue short swords at their waists, each one carrying an air of distinction.

Jiang Tian looked ahead.

His pupils contracted in shock!

A dark, towering mountain gate appeared in the distance!

It stood more than ten zhang high and over ten zhang wide, supported by three massive dark stone pillars.

Lifelike auspicious beasts were carved into the pillars. Some were wreathed in crimson flames; others were enveloped in icy-blue cold qi. Red and blue shone against each other, as if the beasts might leap from the pillars at any moment.

A massive dark plaque stretched across the pillars. Three bold, sweeping characters were carved into it.

Heavenly Fire Sect.