Breaking Free

Lin Yan's wings trembled at high speed behind him as he tore through the air, the scenery along the way rapidly receding before his eyes.

Yet the roars of Soul Beasts rising and falling behind him remained like a shadow, clinging tightly to his back!

"Brother, look over there!"

Hearing this, Lin Yan, who was fleeing at full speed, immediately turned to look in the direction Jiang Nannan indicated.

Ahead, across the snowy plains, a pitch-black, unfathomably deep ice crevasse stretched across the land, extending endlessly into the distance. The ice walls on either side were steep and smooth, while below lay utter darkness, with no bottom in sight.

"Go! Get inside!"

Lin Yan made his decision without the slightest hesitation.

This ice crevasse was deep and narrow. Large Soul Beasts would find it difficult to enter, while those unable to fly could not descend into it.

Besides, its length was impossible to gauge. They would not have to worry about the pursuing Soul Beasts blocking them in below. It was the perfect place to shake off their pursuers!

Swiftly reaching the edge of the crevasse, Lin Yan spread out his spiritual power to probe below. After confirming that there were no signs of living creatures within, he immediately leaped into the crevasse with Jiang Nannan and the heavily injured, unconscious Zhang Lexuan!

As they fell, Lin Yan circulated his Soul Power to steady himself. His Thunder Fire Wings flapped slowly, reducing their descent.

Fine shards of ice occasionally peeled off the smooth ice walls on either side, raining down with crisp, faint clatters.

After falling for nearly eight hundred meters, the three of them finally reached the bottom of the crevasse!

The bottom of the ice crevasse was far more spacious than they had expected. The ice walls on both sides reflected a faint, cold blue glow.

The underground space was terrifyingly silent. In the entire world, only their slightly hurried breathing remained.

Before long, waves of Soul Beast roars came from the entrance of the ice crevasse above once more.

Perhaps they had smelled the lingering scent of blood and noticed their auras vanish above. Although no Soul Beasts dared to rush down recklessly, Lin Yan could clearly hear countless Soul Beasts circling and lingering where they had descended.

"Brother, they're blocking the entrance and refusing to leave!"

Lin Yan's expression did not change. He softly reassured her, "It's fine. They can't come down for now. As long as we conceal our auras and use the terrain here for cover, we'll eventually shake them off completely."

Seeing how calm Lin Yan was, Jiang Nannan's tense nerves relaxed slightly. She nodded gently and followed close behind him as they quickly headed deeper into the ice crevasse.

The terrain beneath this ice crevasse was far more complicated than it had appeared from above. High and low passages, holes, and branching paths crisscrossed one another like a massive underground labyrinth.

As the three continued deeper, the Soul Beast roars lingering behind them gradually became weaker and more distant.

After traveling for nearly another half hour, they could no longer hear the slightest movement from any Soul Beasts. Only then did Lin Yan stop and let out a long breath.

"We finally... shook them off completely."

After their arduous journey, Jiang Nannan's originally delicate face was covered in ice chips and dust. Her soft golden hair hung loose and disheveled, while her clear, bright eyes were filled with the relief of having survived disaster.

Taking out a blanket, Lin Yan carefully lowered Zhang Lexuan, whom he had protected with Soul Power the entire way, from his back and gently laid her face-down upon it.

He then raised his hand and lit a flame. While driving away the biting cold underground, he began carefully examining Zhang Lexuan's injuries by the bright firelight.

Under the glow of the flames, Zhang Lexuan's face was pale as paper, her lips utterly bloodless, and dark red blood that had yet to dry clung to the corner of her mouth.

The clothing over her chest had been soaked in blood, which had then frozen into dark red ice crust.

Her most severe injuries, however, were on her back. Through the garments that had already been shredded into strips, several savage dark red wounds could be seen crisscrossing her originally fair, smooth back. The sight was shocking!

After a thorough examination, Lin Yan discovered that compared to the external wounds on her body, Zhang Lexuan's internal injuries were even more troublesome!

Taking a blow of Ultimate Ice Explosion from a hundred-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion head-on had not only violently shaken and damaged her internal organs, but a massive amount of Ultimate Ice's cold energy had also invaded her meridians and flesh, constantly eroding her vitality.

Fortunately, she was a Soul Douluo with profound cultivation and a solid foundation, preventing the extreme cold from invading her heart meridians. Otherwise, things would have been truly troublesome!

After completely understanding Zhang Lexuan's internal and external injuries, Lin Yan slowly let out a breath. Her injuries were indeed severe, but the situation was not yet too dire.

As long as he completely removed the lingering extreme cold within her body, cleaned and bandaged her external wounds, and had her take healing pills, Zhang Lexuan's formidable foundation as a Soul Douluo would be enough to stabilize her injuries and prevent them from worsening.

And once her injuries were stabilized, everything would be much easier after they returned to Shrek Academy and a healing-type Titled Douluo took action!

Moreover, amid the misfortune, the most troublesome and urgent issue on Zhang Lexuan's body—the extreme cold—was not difficult for Lin Yan, who possessed Ultimate Fire, to resolve!

"Lexuan's injuries are so serious..."

Jiang Nannan looked at the unconscious, deathly pale Zhang Lexuan. Her eyes reddened slightly as she murmured in guilt, "It's all my fault. If she hadn't been helping me hunt a Soul Beast, Lexuan wouldn't have been hurt like this."

Lin Yan gently rubbed her hair and comforted her in a steady tone. "Don't blame yourself. This isn't your fault either. No one could have anticipated an accident like this."

"Now isn't the time for guilt. Treating Lexuan's injuries as soon as possible is what matters most."

Hearing this, Jiang Nannan immediately composed herself and nodded solemnly. Following Lin Yan's instructions, she carefully cut away the tattered clothing on Zhang Lexuan's back and meticulously cleaned the bloodstains and ice shards around her wounds.

Once the wounds had been cleaned, a warm jade-green flame slowly rose from Lin Yan's palm.

This was Life Spirit Fire transformed from Emperor Flame. Its nature was the gentlest, making it the most suitable flame at present for dispersing the cold energy within Zhang Lexuan's body.

Unfortunately, the Life Spirit Fire that Emperor Flame had fused with back then had only come from a Green Forest Luan Bird that had just reached a thousand years and possessed a thin trace of Emerald Phoenix bloodline.

The Soul Beast's cultivation had been too low, and its bloodline concentration insufficient. As a result, after its Origin Beast Fire was fused by Emperor Flame, the life attributes it granted Emperor Flame were relatively weak as well.

If he had fused with the Life Spirit Fire of a pure-blooded Emerald Phoenix back then, its powerful healing ability alone would have been enough to completely heal Zhang Lexuan's injuries!

But that was only wishful thinking. Pure-blooded Emerald Phoenixes had long since gone extinct on the Douluo Continent...

Lin Yan stepped to Zhang Lexuan's side. Under Jiang Nannan's worried and expectant gaze, he kneaded the spirit fire in his palm into jade-solid emerald fire needles.

Based on the injuries he had just examined, he precisely located the acupuncture points and rapidly inserted needle after needle!

Warm yet scorching power seeped through the acupuncture points into her meridians, transforming into tiny emerald fire snakes that coursed through her limbs, bones, flesh, and meridians, gradually devouring and dispersing the extreme cold that had invaded her body!

Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire were naturally mutually suppressive. And without its source to sustain it, the extreme cold naturally could not withstand the Life Spirit Fire precisely controlled by Lin Yan. In an instant, the cold energy was like snow meeting the blazing sun, rapidly melting away!

As the cold energy was continually removed, color gradually returned to Zhang Lexuan's pale cheeks. Her tightly furrowed brow loosened as well, and her originally chaotic, weak breathing steadily became even.

A full half hour later, Lin Yan slowly withdrew his Soul Power and spirit fire. By then, his forehead was already covered in fine beads of sweat.

Controlling spirit fire through the fragile meridians of a human body for such a long time, while constantly regulating its intensity, required him to control Ultimate Fire carefully enough to avoid causing secondary injuries while still ensuring it could shake and melt the cold energy. Multitasking for so long placed an enormous drain on his spiritual power.

When Jiang Nannan saw that Lin Yan had finished the treatment, she hurriedly handed him a handkerchief and asked with concern, "Brother, how is Lexuan?"

Lin Yan wiped away the sweat on his forehead and slowly replied with a relieved breath, "She's temporarily stabilized. The cold energy in her body has been completely cleared."

"As for the remaining internal and external injuries, our current conditions are limited. We can only keep them from worsening for now. For a complete recovery, we'll have to wait until we return to the academy."

As the two spoke, Zhang Lexuan's tightly shut eyes trembled twice and slowly began to open...