The morning light grew brighter, and the warmth of the sun dispersed the chill lingering from the night.
Shui Bing'er, curled up beside the threshold, lightly fluttered her eyelashes and slowly opened her eyes.
Having just awakened, her head felt heavy and swollen. Her mind was completely blank, and her entire body was weak and sore.
Shui Bing'er braced herself against the ground and slowly sat up, rubbing her temples with a bewildered expression.
"Why am I sleeping here?"
Shui Bing'er looked around. The ancient well in the familiar backyard stood before her, yet she had somehow fallen asleep beside the threshold leading into the backyard.
She searched through her memories and instantly recalled that she had been cultivating beside the ancient well last night, using its extreme cold aura for mimetic cultivation.
But her memories abruptly stopped there. She had no recollection whatsoever of what happened afterward.
"What is going on? Could it have been Auntie?" she murmured to herself, her heart filled with confusion.
If it had been her aunt, she should not have been sleeping here, should she?
As the possessor of an Ultimate Ice Martial Soul, she had cultivated ice-element techniques since childhood and had long since grown accustomed to extreme cold. That ancient family well was indeed unusual, but her condition last night had been far too abnormal.
As she pondered this, she slightly raised her hand. Her clothes shifted, and a smooth, icy-cool milky-white crystal slipped from her robes. With a soft tap, it fell onto the bluestone floor.
The crisp sound made Shui Bing'er pause slightly, and she immediately lowered her head to look.
They were two unusual milky-white crystals. The larger one was the size of a palm, while the smaller one was only the size of a fingernail.
"What is this?"