Again and again, he used his Heart Fire to strengthen the Hell Origin Flame, then used the Hell Origin Flame to dispel the cold within him.
At first, Huang Xiao could still roughly keep track of how much time had passed.
But as time went on, his sense of how long he had been here grew somewhat dulled and numb.
The cold within him was dispelled time and again, only for the cold flowing from the lake to fill his body once more.
He no longer had much attention to spare for counting his days here.
The cold wind around him remained biting, and Huang Xiao's frozen body stayed exactly as it had been, without any change.
If not for the fact that he was still conscious, anyone else would certainly have taken him for a dead man.
After an unknown length of time, a series of cracks rang out from the frozen surface of the lake.
A close look would have revealed thin cracks beginning to appear across its icy surface.
Those cracks began spreading outward, growing longer, wider, and deeper, their numbers steadily increasing.
Until one day, the frozen surface of the lake finally showed signs of thawing.
The ice was melting. This was a crucial turning point.
After that, the ice on the lake began melting faster and faster.
How long has it been? Huang Xiao's consciousness finally turned its attention to the cold invading his body.
Before this, his mind had been entirely focused on strengthening the Hell Origin Flame. He had given no further thought to the cold coming from the lake.
He knew very well that however much cold he dispelled from his body, the lake could send in just as much. This had become routine.
But now, things had finally become a