One Sword Opens the Lake!

"Screech!!"

The clear, ringing cry of a sword shattered the chill around Jiang Xuan. The instant the Innate One-Qi Sword took form, even his dying body glimmered with faint light.

The five organs were the foundation of the human body, the source of life. Tempered and elevated from Five-Organ Origin Qi, the Innate One-Qi Sword was both a killing sword that cleaved through ten thousand arts and a life sword that nourished all things.

"Whoosh!"

As the Sword Qi turned and abruptly scattered into a stream of warm, rich Innate Spiritual Impetus, it flooded into Jiang Xuan's limbs and bones. His flame of life, which had been reduced to a final ember and could have gone out at any moment, roared back to life like withered wood meeting spring, blazing fiercely once more.

Wherever that abundant life force passed, part of the bone-piercing cold entrenched within him was forcibly severed and driven from his body.

The next moment, Jiang Xuan, who had only just regained a shred of strength, stirred his thoughts again. A second Innate One-Qi Sword suddenly condensed!

This sword no longer carried vitality. The sharp edge forged from the origins of his five organs moved with his thoughts, transforming into a streak of silvery-white lightning that shot up from above his head and pierced straight into the heavens!

"Whoosh!"

The incomparably sharp Sword Qi forcibly split the solid ice and lakewater above his head in two. Its remaining force did not diminish, flying another twenty zhang and carving a sky-reaching path of light across the frozen lake surface. Within Winter Lake, Jiang Xuan finally saw daylight again.

That breathtaking sword strike made Xia He's eyes widen in shock, while even Granny Blue's pupils contracted sharply.

Yet just as everyone on the shore stood stunned and bewildered, Jiang Xuan in the lake... fell completely silent.

What he faced had never been a cultivator of the same realm, but Winter Lake—a creation forged at immense cost by the forebears of Four Seasons Valley, like the incarnation of winter's death.

Before such natural power, capable of utterly crushing him, Jiang Xuan could not resist even if he had broken through at the last moment.

Besides, he had already exhausted every last drop of strength. Enduring for the time it took an incense stick to burn had drained his final trace of power. That final sword was merely the last flash of light before death, erupting from desperate straits.

Had he been in perfect condition, he might have been able to escape alive through that cleaved path of light—though after escaping, Granny Blue would most likely have simply pressed him straight back into the lake.

"Splash..."

Granny Blue moved quickly. Seeing that Jiang Xuan had completely lost consciousness after slashing out that sword, she twitched her fingers, and the lakewater bore his body slowly to the surface.

Then, she poured a bowl of medicinal soup that had long been prepared into Jiang Xuan's mouth.

Rather than forcibly dispelling the chill, the medicinal soup produced a wondrous resonance with that bone-piercing icy intent. The cold energy, originally fierce and violent and devoted solely to freezing life, was tempered by the medicine until it carried a wisp of ancient, indestructible Severe Winter Dao Resonance.

Just as an ancient corpse preserved in ice and snow could remain uncorrupted for decades or even centuries, this chill now completely "froze" Jiang Xuan's body, which was on the brink of collapse, in this very moment.

Jiang Xuan was still weak, and the chill still coiled around him, but under the influence of that indestructible aura, he would not die easily.

Only after doing all this did Granny Blue let out a sigh of relief.

Di Chuan was the same.

"It wasn't the Returning-to-Void Annihilation Sword Intent. Good, good."

When Xia He gave him a strange look after he spoke, he hurriedly explained, "It's not that I'm jealous. I just think that if Junior Brother Jiang Xuan learned the Returning-to-Void Annihilation Sword Intent after entering the lake only once, it would make me seem terribly useless."

"It would also make me feel as if all these years of cultivation had gone to the dogs."

His words made Xia He laugh. "Of course I know you're not that kind of person, Senior Brother. We're not enemies. The greater Junior Brother Jiang Xuan's talent, the more beneficial it is for Four Seasons Valley."

As Di Chuan spoke with Xia He, he failed to notice that while he was sighing in relief over Jiang Xuan not comprehending the Returning-to-Void Annihilation Sword Intent, Granny Blue's expression had become especially complicated.

She recognized the Sword Intent Jiang Xuan had comprehended just now. What complicated her expression was this: "The One Qi Sword Art... comprehending the Innate One-Qi Sword is only slightly easier than comprehending the Returning-to-Void Annihilation Sword Intent. Moreover, this sword art is highly useful, especially to cultivators of the Four Seasons Reincarnation Art."

However, considering that Di Chuan had already suffered a sufficiently heavy blow, Granny Blue ultimately did not mention it—she could not stab the child again. That might completely sever his fighting spirit.

"Mm... cough, cough..."

"So cold..."

Who knew how long had passed before Jiang Xuan slowly awakened from his coma.

The moment he opened his eyes, a cold that penetrated deep into his marrow swept through his entire body. Even coughing became incomparably difficult. Every cough felt as though his throat and lungs had been viciously stabbed by ice awls, the pain making his entire body tremble uncontrollably.

That cold seeping from the cracks in his bones, along with the extreme weakness radiating through his limbs and bones, made him instinctively believe that he was still sunk at the bottom of Winter Lake.

Just as he struggled to move, Xia He's voice came from beside him. "Granny, Jiang Xuan is awake!"

"If he's awake, he can sit up himself."

Jiang Xuan forced open his heavy eyelids. Before him stood a quaint, elegant cottage suffused with the faint fragrance of grass and wood. Xia He and Granny Blue stood by the bed, while Zhou Qing and Meng Yingyue stood to one side holding food boxes. Only Di Chuan and Wu Shan were nowhere to be seen.

"Senior Sisters, you came..."

Seeing Jiang Xuan force his weak, sickly body to greet everyone, Granny Blue not only failed to stop him but instead sneered. "You can feel your body's suffering now, can't you? For some time to come, this icy intent will linger around your body and mind... enjoy it."

Jiang Xuan's brows first furrowed slightly at those words. He did not understand why, with Senior Sister Meng Yingyue and Xia He present, they had not treated him.

Jiang Xuan could tell that he had been unconscious for quite some time. That was enough time for Xia He and the others to treat him—even if they could not heal him completely for the moment, they should at least have eased his condition instead of letting his body remain so weak and terrible.

At this moment, he even suspected that Xia He had given up on him.

But the thought was extinguished the instant it arose.

"I remember that at the final moment of the Ice Lake Trial, because the danger outside was too great, my One Qi Sword Art broke through. A performance like that could not possibly be poor."

"Faced with someone like me, Xia He could not possibly give up. She would only invest more... so there must be another reason for my current condition."

Jiang Xuan was rather clever. After only a brief consideration, he thought of why his body had not been healed.

"So, my cultivation isn't over yet? This weakness and chill are the continuation of the Ice Lake Trial?"

Xia He nodded her little head at that. "Junior Brother Jiang Xuan, you truly are smart. Sinking into the ice lake and facing life and death was never the end. It was the beginning of winter cultivation."

"For the next few days, you must live with this chill and personally experience the essence of severe winter. Don't worry, Granny has already used a secret art to temper the icy intent within you. It absolutely will not harm your foundation. It's just... going to be very uncomfortable."

"But that is not necessarily a bad thing. A bountiful harvest comes only after heavy snow. The tempering of extreme cold will make the spiritual power you refine in the future more vibrant and resilient, as well as purer. It will not only greatly benefit Aperture Opening, but when you later switch to cultivating the Myriad Manifestations Spirit-Seeding Scripture, you will achieve twice the result with half the effort."

"Then that's fine." Once Jiang Xuan learned that the chill within him would not harm his body, he immediately stopped caring about it.

For the sake of becoming stronger in the future, Jiang Xuan could endure the present discomfort and weakness, suffering a little hardship for now.

"Thank you for the reminder, Senior Sister Xia He. I understand... By the way, is there any food?" At this point, Jiang Xuan rubbed his stomach somewhat embarrassedly. "After cultivating for a day, I'm a little hungry."

"Yes, there is. Senior Brother Zhou Qing and Senior Sister Yingyue brought you food." Xia He also explained why it was not Senior Brother Wu Shan who had made food for him that evening. "Senior Brother Wu cultivates the Flameglory Supreme Profound Canon and has comprehended the Sun-Blooming Dao Resonance. The food he makes is therefore rich in yang energy. If you ate it, the Dao Resonance in the dishes would neutralize the chill inside your body. That would be a good thing for others, but you are currently meant to experience icy intent, so you can only eat the grains, fruits, and melons brought by Senior Sister Yingyue and Senior Sister Zhou Qing."

"That's more than enough."

Seeing Jiang Xuan calmly accept the pain and trials he would face next without a single complaint, Xia He finally relaxed. She then helped Zhou Qing and Meng Yingyue arrange the vegetables and fruits before Jiang Xuan.

Just as the room's atmosphere turned warm and peaceful, Granny Blue, who had been silently leaning by the window, suddenly spoke.

And her next casually delivered sentence left Xia He completely stunned. Her eyes reddened, and she nearly burst into tears on the spot.