"Young man."
Seeing Chen Nianzhi's expression, the Primordial Ice Phoenix understood his thoughts.
She could not help but shake her head before saying, "Someone once said that we cultivators are like fish swimming upstream, crossing perilous shoals time and again, surmounting rushing currents, soaring over gorges, all to seek the source of the sea."
"This path seems stirring and magnificent, yet little do they know that the path itself is wrong."
"No matter how a fish swims upstream, it remains a fish. It cannot transcend the river's shackles; once it leaps from the stream, it will wither and die."
The Primordial Ice Phoenix spoke at an unhurried pace, her expression calm.
She smiled, looked carefully at Chen Nianzhi, and finally said,
"A fish can only transform itself, grow wings, become a flying bird, become the Kunpeng of the Ninth Heaven, before it can transcend the river's shackles, utterly cast off its fate, and fly into the boundless firmament."
"Whether you and I, or that ancient demon, we are all fish within this stream. We struggle and transform in every way, all for the sake of growing those wings."
Having said this, she said nothing more and merely pushed Chen Nianzhi into the frigid pool.
"Hiss—"
The moment he entered the frigid pool, Chen Nianzhi felt a wave of icy chill assault him.
This Primordial Ice-Soul Spiritual Water was indeed extraordinary. In an instant, an extremely cold aura penetrated Chen Nianzhi's five viscera and six bowels, nearly freezing his entire body solid.
Though Chen Nianzhi continuously activated the Primordial Chaos Indestructible Body to resist it, even the hot blood within him instantly fell silent. In but a moment, he was completely frozen into an ice sculpture.
Yet within that ice sculpture, Chen Nianzhi seemed to have lost all breath. Even his