Buried in the Snow, It Helps Me Improve My Cultivation

Whoosh! Outside, the cold wind howled, and the merciless roar of ice and snow reached the stone chamber.

Feeling the familiar icy chill against his skin, Kong Jiao let out a heavy breath of warm air.

He looked at the rough stone walls with a complicated expression, his gaze slightly dazed.

If not for the abundant spiritual power coursing through his body, which had changed from deep blue to frost-white, and if not for the fact that he stood only one step away from the fifth level of the Wheel-Nourishing Realm—

If not for the Moon Palace disciple's token still lying in his storage pouch—

Proving that everything he had experienced in the trial space was not merely a dream of Nanke—

He might have believed it had all been a dream.

"No matter what, I got the opportunity." After standing there blankly for a long while, Kong Jiao finally broke into a smile.

This opportunity had gone far more smoothly than he had expected.

Not only had he obtained the complete Frostfall Fragmentary Scripture, the Moon Palace Taiyin Scripture, but his spiritual power had also undergone a qualitative transformation because of it.

He gently raised a hand, and a strand of frost-white spiritual power coiled around his fingertip.

Compared to before he cultivated the Moon Palace Taiyin Scripture, his spiritual power was now incomparably pure—several times stronger than before.

At the same realm, Kong Jiao felt he could fight three or four versions of his former self.

And he kept feeling that the frost-white spiritual power before his eyes had not merely become purer. It seemed to have gained something else as well.

Something he could neither explain nor put into words.

"Could that extra something be the vital essence Yi-Twelve mentioned? Perhaps only cultivators who have experienced nurturing the wheel with essence are truly in the Wheel-Nourishing Realm." Kong Jiao could not help recalling the remark Yi-Twelve had casually glossed over in the space.

He had only mentioned it in passing, perhaps assuming Kong Jiao should naturally have known such things.

"Does the Wheel-Nourishing Realm in today's world lack that thing, or have I simply not yet touched that domain?"

Kong Jiao had no way of knowing, but that did not stop him from exploring it in the future.

As Kong Jiao stared blankly at the frost-white spiritual power on his fingertip and pondered—

The Cloud-Pattern Stele, which had been quiet for a long time in the depths of his consciousness, suddenly reacted. Its words twisted and changed.

Carry the Frostfall Fragmentary Scripture to Frostmoon Altar to obtain Opportunity Value +10

Frostmoon Altar opportunity obtained, Opportunity Value +10

A full ten points of Opportunity Value—Kong Jiao had never received such a large amount before.

The cloud above his head, whose white fortune had occupied one-third of it, immediately churned the instant he received the Opportunity Value.

The white portion now occupied nearly half its area, and his fortune surged sharply.

Seeing this, a smile unconsciously touched Kong Jiao's lips.

Fortune was truly extraordinarily important. From the hundreds of Spirit Crystals he had easily harvested while clearing pests from the spirit fields, to encountering the Twin-Stem Ice Lingzhi growing right beneath his feet at Frostmoon Altar, and even narrowly evading Han Dong's search in the end—

That inconceivable luck had all been influenced by fortune.

And, of course, there was the most important point: those blessed with fortune would ultimately receive Heaven's favor.

They could always turn danger into safety and were exceedingly difficult to kill.

"With my current fortune, getting into the top twenty of the outer sect won't be a problem!" Kong Jiao thought happily.

Suddenly, the Cloud-Pattern Stele changed again.

Cultivate the Moon Wheel Seal to perfection and return to Frostmoon Altar to obtain Opportunity Value +15

The Cloud-Pattern Stele's change did not surprise Kong Jiao.

After all, Yi-Twelve had repeatedly instructed him about this before he left.

"Looks like there's an even greater opportunity to be dug out from Yi-Twelve!" The first thing Kong Jiao thought of was that unbelievably huge Moonfrost Ice Lingzhi.

Of course, it surely did not end there. Kong Jiao immediately felt filled with fighting spirit once more.

No matter what, everything here was over.

After taking one final look back at the stone chamber, Kong Jiao stepped outside.

As he walked, he did not forget to extend a finger and lightly tap the crescent mark between his brows.

That Moon Wheel Seal was the symbol of a Moon Palace disciple. Leaving it displayed on his forehead now was far too conspicuous.

Fortunately, after cultivating the Moon Palace Taiyin Scripture, Kong Jiao could already control the crescent mark.

As soon as his fingertip lightly touched it, the crescent mark vanished from sight.

Having done all this, Kong Jiao stepped out of the stone chamber.

The instant he set foot outside, the sight before him made his expression freeze.

The familiar Frostmoon Altar had changed drastically.

Though the buildings on either side of the altar had previously been ruined and decayed, their original appearance could at least still be made out.

Now, vast stretches had become true ruins.

Across from the stone chamber, the buildings east of Frostmoon Altar's sacrificial platform had been reduced entirely to crumbling bricks and shattered tiles, a complete mess.

This place seemed to have gone through some terrifying battle. Even the snow had vanished from that area, and between the broken walls and ruins, traces of bone-piercing killing intent still lingered.

"Han Dong's doing?" Kong Jiao narrowed his eyes as he sensed that familiar killing intent. It was the unique aura of Han Dong's spiritual power; he could not possibly mistake it.

Besides the killing intent, another unfamiliar, razor-sharp aura remained behind—utterly domineering.

It seemed even more forceful than the killing intent, continuously eroding the killing intent Han Dong had left upon the ground.

Clearly, while Kong Jiao had entered the trial space, a great battle had erupted outside.

More than half of Frostmoon Altar had been destroyed in that battle.

"Did reinforcements from the sect arrive?" Kong Jiao softly guessed.

Yet he did not dare be certain.

Nor could he determine who had won.

"Forget it. I'll hide for a few days and come out after this blows over."

Afraid that Han Dong might return, Kong Jiao hurriedly moved away from the stone chamber. He found a spot with relatively thick snow and quickly dug out a snow pit.

Just as he was about to lie in the pit and repeat his old trick, burying himself in the snow—

A faint fragrance suddenly drifted beneath Kong Jiao's nose.

It resembled the scent of orchids, delicate and clear, rich and lingering.

But Kong Jiao had no mind to savor it.

Because a girl dressed in a white ruqun, her hair arranged in circular buns, had appeared at the edge of the snow pit he had dug at some unknown moment.

Her exquisite face, every feature nearly flawless, hovered above him as she crouched halfway down. Her bright, spirited eyes regarded Kong Jiao in the pit with amused interest.

The sudden appearance of the girl startled Kong Jiao, bringing his attempt to bury himself to a halt.

Slowly turning his head, Kong Jiao met her gaze.

At the sight of that flawless face, his eyes uncontrollably widened for an instant.

But wariness swiftly replaced it.

Someone who could approach him without a sound—someone he would have almost failed to notice if not for her fragrance—was definitely not as simple as she appeared.

"So this is how you survived? By burying yourself in the snow?" The girl's pleasant voice rang out. Pointing at Kong Jiao in the snow pit, her eyes brimmed with laughter.

The girl's origins were unknown, and Kong Jiao had no idea whether she was friend or foe. He could only force himself to make something up. "This is my cultivation method. Being buried in the snow helps improve my cultivation."

Before the girl could respond, another burst of exaggerated laughter suddenly sounded above the pit.

A tall youth with a face covered in swollen bruises suddenly poked his head over the edge as well. Looking at Kong Jiao in the pit, he mocked in a slurred voice, "Shameless... you can actually say that kinda crap?"

Kong Jiao was startled by the youth's bizarre appearance.

He scrutinized him for a long time before finally making out a familiar face beneath the bruises and swelling.

"Shangguan Yuzhou?" Kong Jiao asked after a slight hesitation, his tone uncertain.

"Yesh, me!" Shangguan Yuzhou nodded with a grin. When his mouth split at the corners, one of his teeth fell out and dropped into the snow pit.

"Why are you here?" Kong Jiao's face immediately filled with a strange expression.

"And how did you end up looking like this?"

"I came to save you!" Shangguan Yuzhou mumbled a few words before finally managing to speak somewhat clearly.

As he spoke, he pointed at the bruises and swelling on his face, then pointed at the girl beside him. Completely unconcerned, he answered, "She beat me up."