Afraid of Her Growing Distant

Beneath the cold spring.

Using the Water Escape Qi Transformation Spell Su Fuxi had taught him, Lin Sui sank eight hundred zhang below the surface.

"Hahaha, this really is a fine place! This old man likes it!"

The moment the No Falsehood Sword discovered the ice, it flew out of its own accord and plunged into it with a clang.

"Ten-thousand-year-old ice! Good, good. Perfect for this old man to absorb its cold qi!"

Lin Sui listened to the No Falsehood Sword's stream of excited muttering in his mind. He had long since grown used to it calling itself an old man in a boy's voice.

It was practically an old monster from tens of thousands of years ago.

Ignoring the No Falsehood Sword as it roamed about, radiating a dazzling red light, Lin Sui closed his eyes and cultivated.

His expression was serene, as though he could not feel the cold surrounding him, cold enough to freeze every living thing. Before long, he drew in all the cold qi for several li around him. As time passed, it formed ice that enclosed him.

Within three inches of his body, however, there was no ice, as though it were a vacuum. Instead, nearly solid, translucent cold qi flowed ceaselessly into him.

He refined it by circulating his cultivation technique, tempering his Ice Spirit Root. Though the cold qi was bone-chilling, it was rich in spiritual qi. Only an Ice Spirit Root could draw in and absorb spiritual qi of such icy breath without freezing to death.

At the dark bottom of the pool, only the block of ice containing Lin Sui gave off a faint halo, along with the red glow of the No Falsehood Sword ten zhang below him. Everywhere else, it was so dark he could not see his own hand.

This place seemed like a dark ice cavern set apart from the world, where the passage of time could not be sensed.

Crack.

At some unknown time, only the faint sound of ice cracking could be heard in the darkness.

Suddenly, the spiritual qi here was stirred up. In an instant, it began rushing in from a wide area on the outskirts, forming a spiritual qi vortex centered on the ice around Lin Sui. Dense spiritual qi poured into the ice and surged into his flesh.

Some went straight into his dantian, while some rushed into his vast, boundless sea of consciousness, forming a tornado of cold qi that headed for the gray vortex above the black sea.

Lin Sui felt a chill in his very soul. His Golden Core spun rapidly, refining the cold qi in his body and converting it into pure spiritual power that merged into the Golden Core in his dantian. Alongside the purple qi surrounding it, fine strands of silvery-blue light now appeared.

An hour later, he successfully advanced to the Mid Golden Core.

After advancing, he stopped absorbing spiritual qi. The tornado of cold qi pouring into his sea of consciousness finally vanished, and his soul no longer felt cold.

His consciousness carefully traveled around his sea of consciousness, finding nothing amiss, except that an eerie chill had appeared in the vortex of gray mist above. After observing it from afar, Lin Sui paid the dangerous vortex no more attention.

He spent another three days stabilizing his cultivation, nearly reaching the limit of what his body could endure. He opened his eyes, which glimmered with a cold, eerie light, and formed a hand seal. Blue light blazed from his entire body, shattering the ice encasing him. After several cracks, it burst into countless fragments with a bang, sending waves of cold surging in every direction.

"Huh? Is that Cold Marrow Cold Fire?"

Lin Sui had just stood up when the No Falsehood Sword cried out, turned into a streak of red light, and shot into the deeper darkness below!

"!" He hurriedly spread out his spiritual sense and formed a hand seal to follow. After sinking for a short while, he saw a ball of blue light, conspicuous in the darkness like a firefly.

He sent a beam of spiritual light downward and saw that the blue light was a flickering mass of eerie blue flame, trapped inside a huge block of mystic ice.

The mystic ice was embedded in an ice bridge that stretched across the entire narrow section of the cold spring. Beneath it was a dark, bottomless depth that made Lin Sui feel it was very dangerous. The cold breath down there was already sharp enough to sting his spiritual sense.

"It really is a strange fire born of heaven and earth! Hahaha, this little thing looks to be only tens of thousands of years old and hasn't fully developed sentience yet. Let this old man go swallow it. It's far more potent than that Immortal Astral Bamboo your master gave you!"

The No Falsehood Sword rang out, its red light flaring, and shot toward the Cold Marrow Cold Fire in the blink of an eye.

At his current Golden Core Stage cultivation, Lin Sui could not approach the fierce, arrow-like cold breath radiating from the ice bridge. He had no choice but to stop and let it go.

Several dozen zhang below, a flash of red light illuminated a circle of mystic ice marrow. It also let Lin Sui see the cold fire, no larger than a fist, flickering and burning at the center of the black-crystal-like marrow.

The No Falsehood Sword's sword intent was razor-sharp. With several swift strokes, it cut into the ice marrow, then actually pounced on the cold fire and sliced it right... off.

It hurriedly flew back with the cold marrow enclosing the fire and flung it at Lin Sui.

"Quick, quick, put it away..."

Before it finished speaking, its blade dimmed. Once again, it lacked the spiritual power to stay awake.

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Lin Sui hurriedly put away the cold fire and the sword, then used a hand seal to escape the cold spring through the water.

Just moments ago, it had boasted shamelessly that it would swallow the cold fire. Who could have known that merely digging it out would use up most of its spirit body's spiritual power?

Back on shore, he dug out a cave residence, refined the Cold Marrow Cold Fire, and merged it into the No Falsehood Sword. Then he took out the Origin Crystal fragment and refined it, keeping his promise to let the No Falsehood Sword devour it.

"Hahaha! Good lad, you kept your word."

The No Falsehood Sword blazed with red light. Having devoured the cold fire and the Origin Crystal, its sword spirit was completely unsealed and awakened.

The sword's imposing aura soared like a rainbow, and waves of red light radiated from it. Sword light shot out in every direction, instantly riddling the stone walls of the cave residence with countless holes and cracks.

Its sword intent was chilling and bloodthirsty, filling the entire cave residence like dozens of longswords crackling with lightning. Its pressure was several times greater than the sect master's sword intent!

Outside the cave residence, wind and clouds surged over the entire Cold Rock Mountain Range, and thunder cracked out of a clear sky. The primordial qi of heaven and earth was stirred by the aura the No Falsehood Sword released in an instant. Before a vortex could form, the No Falsehood Sword quickly reined in its aura, and the heavenly phenomenon vanished with it.

Hundreds of li away, Su Fuxi sensed the immense aura and was slightly startled. She pressed down with her foot and hurried back even faster.

"Eh? What extraordinary treasure has appeared to cause such a commotion?"

"What a shame. We didn't find anything, and the phenomenon vanished so quickly!"

Her spiritual sense detected many cultivators gathering in the Black Rock Mountain Range. Thinking of Lin Sui, that child of fortune, she suspected he had caused it. At that moment, Lin Sui was wrapped in a concealment Restriction Flag and sensed countless streams of spiritual sense sweeping over his cave residence.

Su Fuxi stopped ten li away. Only after the searching cultivators had left one after another did she descend at the cold spring.

"Lin Sui?"

Inside the cave residence, Lin Sui heard her voice transmission, rose, and stepped out in a single stride, the imposing No Falsehood Sword floating beside him.

"Master, you're back. Did everything go smoothly?"

"Mm." Su Fuxi nodded, her spiritual sense sweeping over Lin Sui, whom she had not seen for more than a year. He had actually advanced again!

Her gaze quickly fell on the No Falsehood Sword.

Although she had long known the sword was no ordinary weapon, Su Fuxi was still taken aback. Purple-black arcs of lightning flowed through the dark red light covering the Mystic Sword, and even from far away, she could feel the same chilling sword intent she had sensed in the sword pool.

"Has your sword spirit been unsealed?"

"Yes, it has, but it still can't leave the sword for the time being. It can only release thirty-six strands of sword intent."

Su Fuxi was secretly astonished. Even she was no longer certain she could defeat Lin Sui with the No Falsehood Sword in a short time.

Mid Golden Core!

No. I can't put this off any longer! I can't let him increase his cultivation any further!

"The secret realm will close soon. There's no need to linger; we'll head for the exit now." As she spoke, a thought brought a dazzling golden cicada into view. She flew onto the cicada beast's back and glanced at Lin Sui. "Let's go."

Lin Sui put away his sword and looked at the cicada beast, hesitating over whether to travel on his own. It was his master's mount, and without her permission, he did not dare presume.

"Don't just stand there. Hurry up and get on." Su Fuxi sat cross-legged, leaving room for him. Seeing him standing there in a daze, she urged him on.

Only then did Lin Sui fly up happily and sit down beside her.

Every time the two were apart for a while, he was afraid Su Fuxi would grow distant toward him.

Buzz, buzz! The golden cicada's wings beat powerfully, and it shot forward, its golden form vanishing into the clouds over the mountain range like a shooting star.