Was My Understanding Wrong?

"Senior Han, your Battle Qi is of the Ice Attribute. Why would you cultivate in a place like this? There isn't even any ice here."

Han Yue rose to her feet, the hem of her silver dress swaying gently.

She glanced at the pool beneath the waterfall and explained in an even tone:

"Ice is merely water condensed."

"Though there is no ice here, this place lies in the shade and never sees sunlight year-round. The pool water is freezing to the bone."

"With my current cultivation, an environment like this is more suitable than those icy, snow-covered lands."

Qin Yu nodded thoughtfully and turned to look at the pool as she spoke.

Sure enough, a faint layer of white frost had formed on the rock where Han Yue had just been sitting cross-legged, glistening crystal-clear beneath the sunlight.

A circle of water beside the rock had also frozen into a thin sheet of ice, like an irregular mirror reflecting the blue sky overhead.

The frigid pool water gave off a dense, chilling aura, making it an excellent match for Ice-Attribute Battle Qi.

However, Qin Yu's gaze was soon involuntarily drawn elsewhere.

The hem of Han Yue's silver dress fell just above her knees, exposing her pair of snow-white, slender legs.

Her legs were entirely different from Xiao Yu's.

If Xiao Yu's legs were round and long, making one unable to resist reaching out to touch them, then Han Yue's were slender and snow-white, the kind best admired quietly.

Especially her dainty feet, resting upon the rock with her toes slightly curled and dusted with frost. They gleamed pearly white in the sunlight, making it impossible to look away.

Han Yue noticed Qin Yu's gaze, and a trace of embarrassed annoyance flashed through her cool eyes.

She instinctively stepped half a pace back. Her skirt swayed slightly, and her voice became several degrees colder than before.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing. I just noticed that Senior Han seems to enjoy cultivating barefoot, just like me."

Qin Yu came back to his senses, his mind racing.

He had been caught red-handed. If he did not find a reasonable explanation, things would become awkward.

"Really?"

A hint of suspicion appeared on the beauty's face beneath her silver hair. Her cool eyes narrowed slightly as she scrutinized the new student before her.

Fortunately, Qin Yu's mind worked quickly, and he truly had grasped something from what Han Yue had just said.

"Of course. And when Senior Han said that ice is merely water condensed, I suddenly realized something."

Han Yue clearly did not believe him.

In her view, there was nothing profound about that statement. Qin Yu claiming to have gained insight from it was obviously nonsense, so she pressed on.

"What did you realize?"

She had originally thought Qin Yu would stammer and fail to answer, or make up some clumsy excuse to brush it off.

After all, she had seen this sort of scene far too often.

Whenever boys stared at her and got caught, they would always look completely flustered—either lowering their heads with red faces or changing the subject with a stutter.

But Qin Yu's reaction was completely beyond her expectations.

He raised his right hand. Brown Battle Qi emerged in his palm, condensing into a thin coating that wrapped around his fist like a glove.

"Among the Five Elements, Earth Generates Metal."

Qin Yu's voice was not loud, yet every word was clear.

"I have always been wondering what kind of transformative relationship exists between earth and metal."

The suspicion on Han Yue's face faded somewhat, replaced by a trace of seriousness.

"The moment I heard Senior Han's words, I thought of it."

Qin Yu clenched his fist, and the brown Battle Qi in his palm began to change.

The Battle Qi, originally spread evenly across his hand, visibly contracted, compressed, and solidified at a rapid pace, becoming a hard coating.

It clung tightly to the contours of his fist, its color gradually shifting from light brown to grayish white.

Han Yue's pupils suddenly contracted. She tried closing her eyes and judging solely from the fluctuations of Battle Qi, and the result left her deeply shocked.

"This is... no, it is not true Metal-Attribute Battle Qi."

The Battle Qi covering Qin Yu's palm was not genuine Metal-Attribute Battle Qi, yet it already possessed the solidity and sharpness characteristic of Metal-Attribute Battle Qi.

"Ice is merely water condensed... then isn't metal also formed from the essence of earth contracting and gathering together?"

As his words fell, Qin Yu's fist suddenly shook.

Yet unexpectedly, after the brown Battle Qi covering Qin Yu's fist had gathered for so long, the grayish-white color that seemed ready to emerge suddenly dissipated with a bang at the very last moment.

"Uh..."

Qin Yu stared at his empty palm and scratched his head in confusion.

That was not right...

Had his understanding been wrong?

"All right, I believe you."

Han Yue stepped half a pace forward and gave Qin Yu a slight nod. It seemed she had indeed misunderstood him.

Such a miraculous method was unlikely to have been improvised just to save face, and Qin Yu's actions did align with what she had just said.

Who would have thought there was such a genius in the academy?

From just one casual remark about her cultivation experience, he had been able to draw inferences and apply them to himself.

However, Qin Yu was immersed in his own thoughts at that moment and did not hear Han Yue at all.

Was metal not produced when earth condensed to its extreme?

Tsk...

It seemed he still did not understand enough. He would have to look through more books when he returned, or fight Luo Zheng a few more times.

"Qin Yu?"

Han Yue stretched out a hand and waved it in front of Qin Yu, finally bringing him back to his senses.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking about why it failed just now."

Han Yue fell silent.

She stared at Qin Yu's hand for a long while, then raised her head to look at his slightly bewildered face.

Her silver hair drifted gently in the mountain breeze, and the hem of her dress swayed softly.

"So you were staring at me just now... because you thought of this?"

Her voice was gentler than before. Qin Yu's expression did not change as he nodded frankly.

"Senior Han's words came too suddenly. Too many thoughts flooded into my mind at once."

Han Yue could tell that Qin Yu's attention truly was not on her right now, so she withdrew her gaze and sat back down on the rock.

Yet information related to Qin Yu involuntarily surfaced in her mind.

He had entered the academy as a One-Star Dou Practitioner, reached Nine-Star in half a year, and even defeated a Two-Star Battle Master.

He had created his own movement Dou Technique, and now he could even imitate Battle Qi similar to the Metal Attribute...

What kind of monster was this Qin Yu?

"Senior Han."

Qin Yu's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Han Yue raised her head and met his calm eyes.

"I'll probably come to this pool in a few days as well. I won't be disturbing you, will I?"

"My name isn't written on this place. How could you be disturbing me?"

Qin Yu nodded, then turned and left.

Han Yue watched Qin Yu's departing back. She had wanted to ask why, as someone with Earth-Attribute Battle Qi, he had thought to come here.

But recalling Qin Yu's miraculous method just now, she held herself back.

She really wanted to see what Qin Yu would come here for in a few days.

And Han Yue had noticed something else as well.

Qin Yu really did cultivate barefoot, just like her.