Playing with fantasy beasts in the martial arts world

Chapter 225 Acquisition of Jade Maiden's Frosty True Qi
Gentle questioning cannot create any real obstacles.

Jade Maiden Ice is not a human being with a complete mind and rational thinking.

It is merely a special aura flowing between snow-capped mountains and glaciers, which, under extremely accidental circumstances, acquired a vague and superficial consciousness.

This means that it's actually very easy to fool... as long as you find the right method!

After a day of rehearsals, Cha Nan and Wu Qing left the terminal one after the other and began their plan.

Everything had been agreed upon. The moment they captured the Jade Maiden Frost was the moment they exchanged 'Demon Seeds' and used the Dao Heart Demon Seed Cultivation Technique to mutually promote their cultivation, thus beginning their journey on the fast track of cultivation.

Of course, Cha Nan did not remind Wu Qing that this cultivation method was actually very close to 'dual' cultivation.

However, Wuqing did not actively think about it in that direction.

She may have sensed it, but she didn't have many options.

If she didn't want to be a cripple for the rest of her life, and for her 'paralysis' to keep moving upwards as her skills improved until only her head could move with difficulty, then she had to make such an attempt.

The choice between Cha Nan and the unfathomable Pang Ban is already quite obvious.

The wind... like a raging monarch, stirred up the chilling breath that had lingered over the snow-capped mountains and glaciers for millions of years, emitting a long, endless howl like a vengeful ghost.

The whistling sound rubbed against the boundless ice field, seeping into every crevice the traveler tried to keep warm, taking away the last bit of pitiful temperature.

The sky was a leaden-gray iron curtain, pressing heavily overhead, so low it seemed almost within reach, letting in no light at all, only a suffocating, frozen darkness.

Ice is the only territory here.

As far as the eye could see, there was only utter, despairing white.

But this whiteness is not the softness of a snowfield, but rather the hard, ancient ice that has been frozen and compressed countless times over millions of years.

The ice layer presents a murky blue-white hue of varying shades, like ancient seawater frozen for countless centuries.

The enormous cracks, like scars on the earth, crisscrossed the ice surface, their depths unfathomable, revealing an even darker, more terrifying deep blue darkness below.

Further away, jagged, towering ice ridges and towers rise like mountains, their massive ice walls reflecting a deathly dim light, like silent, towering ice giants, coldly overlooking this desolate wasteland.

Deep within this frozen white hell, a tiny black dot is stubbornly moving at a heartbreakingly slow pace.

He leaned forward, forming a diagonal line with an acute angle of less than thirty degrees to the ground, the rough drag rope digging deeply into the down jacket on his right shoulder.

The rope was taut, groaning under its own weight, and the other end was connected to an extremely simple yet exceptionally sturdy birchwood ski.

The base of the ski scooter is made of two thick, smooth, hardwood logs that are deeply embedded in the ice.

On the truck bed, packages of supplies tightly bound with sturdy, thick felt were piled up, like a small, static fortress.

At the very top of this "fortress," a bulky cocoon-like object was wrapped in thick, multi-layered snow camel wool blankets that almost reached the ice.

The blankets were layered upon each other, with only a small portion of a pale, almost transparent face and tightly closed eyes visible at the top.

Tiny white ice crystals condensed on her long eyelashes, like a thin layer of frost, and a few strands of her dark hair slipped out from the gaps in the blanket, frozen stiff.

Ruthless, like an elf frozen in the amber of time, silent and still, with only the very slight undulation of the blanket's edge as the sled moved, a testament to the faintest signs of life, while the blanket was covered with a thin layer of ice shards constantly being whipped up by the wind.

Cha Nan's down jacket had long been stiffened by the cold wind, and its surface was covered with a thick layer of white frost. With each exertion of his strength, the frost layer crumbled off, and strands of down leaked out from the damaged areas.

His face was almost entirely covered by a thick wool scarf and a frost-covered wolfskin hood, with only his eyes showing.

Those eyes, with tiny icicles clinging to the edges of their eyelids, and bloodshot eyeballs from the constant intense light and extreme fatigue, yet their pupils burned like two embers in ashes, radiating an almost inhuman, stubborn light.

Each heavy breath froze instantly into a white mist on the scarf in front of me, only to be torn apart and swept away by the gale.

His feet were wrapped in multiple layers of thick felt and tough animal hide, and then fitted with huge crampons with sharp metal spikes at the bottom.

Every step we take is a struggle against death.

"Sizzle—click!"

The crampon on its right leg dug deep into the hard, iron-like ice. The sharp teeth scraped against the millennia-old ice, producing a teeth-grinding scraping sound and splashing up tiny, shimmering blue ice crystals.

At that moment, all the muscles in his body tensed to their limit, his right shoulder slumped down, the rope digging deep into his flesh, and the power of his entire body surged like an angry wave, transmitted through the rope to the heavy skis, whose hardwood base slid forward with difficulty on the ice.

Almost simultaneously with the transfer of force, the crampon on the left leg was swiftly pulled out, bringing with it a small piece of sticky ice.

Before the soles of the feet were fully off the ground, the new crampons, carrying the weight and inertia of the whole body, slammed and precisely into a shallow dent or crevice in the ice in front of them!
"Sizzle—click..."

This monotonous, heavy sound, with intervals so long it was almost despairing, rang out regularly across the vast, desolate ice field, becoming the only rhythm to combat the endless howling of the cold wind.

Each click meant that the massive sled had moved forward by a negligible amount, perhaps only half a foot.

With each exertion, Cha Nan's shoulder and back muscles, covered in a thick layer of frost and snow, bulged and writhed violently beneath his fur coat. The sweat that had just seeped out of his pores was instantly frozen, turning into a sharp, needle-like pain under his skin.

The wind... grew stronger.

The swirling snowflakes, like countless tiny knives, lashed wildly at Cha Nan's exposed face and hands.

The distant ice ridges emitted a low, rumbling sound, like a giant beast grinding its teeth. It was the sound of the ancient glacier slowly moving, compressing, and collapsing under its own weight, carrying a chilling sense of destruction.

Deep within the ice beneath my feet, a faint, hollow sound of tearing silk seemed to emanate, the sound of new, potentially fatal cracks forming in the ice under immense pressure.

Time seems to have completely lost its meaning here.

There is only endless confrontation.

No one explained why he did it, but if one had even a little imagination, combined with the current scene and the characters, one could come up with a very reasonable and appropriate association.

This could not possibly have been a long-distance dumping of the body!
Instead, in this desolate, icy landscape, a man seeks a dream of rebirth for the woman he loves.

If we cannot live together... then let us die together!
suddenly!

Cha Nan's left leg, which was embedded in the ice, suddenly sank downwards.

Instead of the feel of solid ice, a subtle but distinct cracking sound came from underfoot, sending chills down your spine!

It is an ice crevasse trap, a fragile support point covered by a thin layer of ice.

Suddenly feeling weightless, the heavy sled, along with the immense force pulling from behind, caused Cha Nan to stumble forward violently. His left leg, below the knee, sank instantly into the suddenly cracked ice crevice. The icy water mixed with sharp ice shards, like countless steel needles, pierced through the thick felt and animal hide, digging deep into his calf.

"Uh!"

A muffled groan of extreme pain escaped from Cha Nan's clenched teeth. His eyes widened instantly in agony, and a terrifying burst of sparks erupted from the burning embers in his pupils. The rope on his right shoulder tightened to its limit, tearing through his somewhat flimsy down jacket, penetrating his sweater, and embedding itself deep into his flesh, almost breaking his collarbone.

His body was caught between the edge of the crevasse and the falling sled, and the enormous tearing force almost split him in two.

In a split second, Cha Nan's right arm erupted with terrifying power, his muscles bulging and swelling instantly. He gripped the rope tightening around his shoulder, his knuckles cracking from the excessive force. At the same time, his left leg, which had plunged into the icy water, suddenly unleashed all its power, his crampons kicking and cutting wildly at the relatively solid ice walls along the edge of the crevice. Large chunks of ice were kicked off and fell into the bottomless, dark blue abyss below.

"drink!"

A roar that exploded from the depths of his chest!

Using the crampons on his right arm and leg to grip the ice firmly, and the force of his left leg's kick, he managed to lift his body and the heavy sled a foot upwards. His left leg, dripping with icy water, was finally pulled out of the deadly crevice! The heavy crampons dangled from the edge of the crevice, leaving behind a trail of murky, blood-tinged icy water.

Cha Nan was breathing heavily, each inhale feeling like swallowing an ice dagger, and each exhale carrying a strong smell of blood.

He looked down, not bothering to check the injury on his left leg, his gaze quickly sweeping over the edge of the ice crevice where he had just fallen in.

The ice water was rapidly refreezing, masking the danger that had just occurred.

However, in that patch of icy water, there was an extremely subtle yet exceptionally glaring splash of bright red.

That was blood seeping from the wound on his calf where he had been cut by shards of ice, which quickly froze into tiny red threads in the extreme cold, like a death mark on the ice.

He raised his head, his gaze passing over his violently heaving chest, and landing on the silent silhouette wrapped in a thick blanket atop the skis.

As the wind and snow swept by, the frost on the merciless long eyelashes trembled slightly.

That barely perceptible tremor was like a drop of pine resin thrown into a hot coal fire.

Cha Nan took a deep breath, the breath seeming to drain away all the coldness around her.

He ignored the sharp, stinging pain and numbness in his left leg, and the deep marks on his right shoulder where the rope had begun to bleed.

He straightened his body into that sharp, slanted line again, his head lowered, his gaze fixed on the seemingly endless, all-consuming white expanse in front of him.

He took another step.

*Sizzle—click!*

This time, the landing point carries a heavier, more resolute meaning.

Crampons pierced the ice, and the splashing ice crystals were swept away by the howling wind.

Behind his heavy, slightly unsteady steps, at the edge of the shallow ruts plowed by the massive skid base, a tiny, almost indistinguishable dark red ice crystal was slowly seeping into the pure ice blue.

That red spot came from the wound on his left leg that was constantly being torn apart by the cold and friction.

It is tiny and fragile, yet like a struggling, unquenchable flame, it is imprinted on the ancient, unyielding ice, silently resisting this all-consuming white abyss.

There were no superfluous sounds, no lengthy confessions, no pronouncements of death, but that was enough to explain everything.

However, this cruel land did not seem to have any intention of letting this unfortunate couple off the hook.

Beneath the heavy sled, cracks suddenly appeared in the ice, and spread at an irreparable and irreversible speed.

If Cha Nan chooses to abandon all his burdens and escape alone, then he still has a chance of survival.

However, in that split second, it seemed as if countless emotions flashed through his eyes like streaks of light.

Almost without hesitation, he took a step onto the sled and then hugged Wuqing tightly as she lay on it.

The merciless long eyelashes trembled slightly, as if instinctively trying to struggle to get up, but in the next instant, everything began to collapse... falling into the abyss.

Rumble...!
The ice cap is cracking, and the high-hanging ice cliffs, like a huge mountain peak, are split open, leaving a long, deep, and terrifying laceration.

Cha Nan, cradling the cold yet soft body in her arms, stumbled and rolled along, as if about to fall into the deepest, most desolate, and silent place underground.

When they were battered and bruised by the ice and rocks, and their forms were barely discernible, they finally reached the bottom.

Wuqing, who was being held tightly in Cha Nan's arms, had completely extinguished his last breath... It was the Turtle Breathing Technique!

Cha Nan taught Wu Qing his specially modified version of the Turtle Breathing Technique!
She was as if she were truly dead; even the last vestige of her heartbeat was silenced.

The traces of life seemed to have completely vanished from her body.

As for Cha Nan, although she still had a sliver of light left, she was powerless to resist anything anymore.

He could only press his chin tightly against Wuqing's cheek. If he wasn't worried that Wuqing might be unable to resist offending him and jump up, ruining the performance, he would have even wanted to touch her cold cheek with his lips.

Cold snowflakes continued to fall through the meager sliver of light, quickly covering the two 'poor souls' with a thin layer.

Cha Nan's breathing gradually ceased, and the last warmth faded away.

They looked as if they were truly dead.

But no miracle ever happened.

Did Cha Nan's plan fail?
Do not!
hold on!
Suddenly, a ghostly blue light began to shine from the bottom of the previously dim ice cave.

The ice walls on both sides began to brighten.

A miracle called Azure is emerging. An aura, born from the millennia-old glacier and imbued with countless people's fantasies of beautiful love, is beginning to circulate and appear here.

It floated here, truly existing, then split into two streams, slowly flowing into the bodies of the two people.

However, even if it is a prototype of a deity, it does not mean that it truly has the ability to completely transcend the boundary between life and death and pull the dead back to reality from the other side of the River Styx.

The so-called resurrection is at most just waking up a person who is about to fall into a state of suspended animation.

Rather than saying it wanted to save the two, it was more like... it wanted to become them.

Then, this love story continues, allowing what was originally just vaguely circulated among people to become concrete, confirmed, and passed down by word of mouth.

However, clever hunters often appear as prey.

The moment it flowed into their bodies, they sensed the terrifying energy contained within these two seemingly 'dead' bodies.

It was about to run away.

But is it too late?
Even under the cover of Cha Nan's Longevity Technique, the characteristics of the Boundless Ocean Divine Skill and the Bright Jade Skill still function.

This vital energy, born from the cold, was drawn into Cha Nan's body in large quantities.

The situation was exactly the same for Wuqing. Her immense spiritual power erupted, like an invisible hand, tightly gripping the true qi and dragging it back into her body.

At the same time, Cha Nan and Wu Qing's hands, which were pressed together, began to transfer their internal energy to each other.

The 'demon seed' containing their true energy and spirit was sent into each other's bodies through the Jade Maiden's Frosty True Qi, and then settled safely in their dantian.

Everything was just as perfect as planned!
(End of this chapter)