The icicles shrieked across the air with an aura of zero absolute. They were not frozen water; they were an expression of a mighty law, the law of frost. To be touched by them would not only be to be pierced, but to have life itself frozen solid.
But I merely stood there, my mischievous smile never faltering.
"So cold," I breathed, and I raised my right hand, palm outward.
I did not tap a tremendous reservoir of Qi. I merely allowed a thin strand of the golden energy of my Primordial Dragon Bloodline to flow into the palm of my hand. A pale, nearly imperceptible golden glow played about my hand. It was no blinding light, but a gentle, warm radiance, like the breaking of day.
The icicles came.
But they never touched me. When they got within the range of my golden light, something odd occurred. They did not shatter. They did not rebound. They just. stopped existing.
Sssssssss.
The hissing of the water turning into steam dominated the chamber. The dozen lethal icicles, created by an ultimate Yin energy, dissolved into harmless white vapor before they could even approach within a foot of my body. They were completely, absolutely eliminated.
The chamber was silent again.
Bing Xin's sapphire eyes, which had burned with cold rage, were now open wide with shock. Her beautiful lips were parted slightly. She looked at my hand, and then at my grinning face. She could not believe what had just occurred. Her Absolute Frost Qi had never, ever deserted her the way it did just then. It had always encased everything it came in contact with in ice.
"That's all?" I taunted, dropping my hand. "I was getting a slight chill, but it went away. My turn?"
Her surprise rapidly turned back into a richer, more intense anger. This was no longer just a challenge; it was a humiliation. Her pride as the number one genius would not permit it.
"You possess an odd Yang-ascribed art," she told him, her voice falling to a perilously cold temperature. "But you are foolhardy if you believe a small amount of warmth can stand against a genuine glacier. I will demonstrate to you what actual ice is. Glacial Prison!"
She struck her hand down upon the slab of ice she occupied.
CRACK!
A blast of horror frost energy burst from her. It was not a strike at me, but a strike at the chamber itself. My ground below my feet immediately became white. A mounded chunk of crystalline ice sped across the floor and began to climb my legs, intent on encasing me in its entirety. The air itself thickened and grew heavy, the water content within it freezing into little, piercing crystals that prickled my skin.
It was a strong type-domain ability, meant to immobilize and crush an opponent.
But as the technique triggered, I saw it. A weak shudder coursed through Bing Xin's body. The thin frost veneer on her skin appeared to grow thicker, and she nipped her flawless lower lip, a brief flash of pain dancing across her face.
It was at that moment that Xue'er's voice, now solemn, echoed within my mind.
"Master! I know that aura now! That's the Absolute Frost Divine Body! One of the top Yin physiques, comparable to your Myriad Flowers Dao Physique! But it has a lethal flaw! Without a supply of pure Yang energy to balance against, the user's own strength will slowly devour them from the inside out! The frost will penetrate their meridians, their organs, their very essence, until they turn into a walking ice statue! Each time she unleashes her power, she's a step closer to killing herself!"
My gaze narrowed. So that was the reason. Her coldness wasn't a personality quirk. It was a curse. A gradual, agonizing suicide. The solitary girl on the cold block of ice was in her own self-imprisonment.
My amusement dissipated, replaced by a curious combination of pity and. something else. My Myriad Flowers Dao Physique was almost buzzing, calling out to assist her, to harmonize her.
The Glacial Prison was upon me. The ice reached my knees, its cold strength attempting to seep into my body.
"Hmph."
I released a gentle snort. A dragon's snort. A wave of golden warmth, perceived by the naked eye, emanated from my body. Not a violent blast, but a soothing, inescapable wave of warmth.
The moving ice didn't melt. It disappeared. The ground frost, the ice on my legs, the hard crystals in the air—all of it sublimated immediately into a dense, white fog. Instantly, the whole ice chamber had been converted into a steamy, warm sauna.
I strode through the fog. Uninjured. Unstopped.
Bing Xin's eyes widened in a mix of fear and fatigue. She had exhausted a lot of her energy, and her body was reaping the rewards. She was too drained to launch another attack. She could do nothing but stand there as I stepped out onto the now-empty floor, all the way to the border of the frozen pond, only a few feet away from her.
"How." she whispered, her voice shaking for the first time.
I didn't respond to her question. I did something that nobody in the Azure Sky Sect would have ever dreamed of doing.
I extended my hand.
She jerked away from me, thinking that I would strike her. But I was quicker. My fingers lightly brushed against the back of her hand, which lay on the ice.
The instant I touched her, her whole body stiffened. It was probably the first time she had been touched by a man. That wasn't why she was shocked, though.
A stream of my most concentrated Primordial Dragon Yang energy, warm and soft as the sun in summer, poured out from my fingertip into her hand. It wasn't an assault. It was a gift.
Bing Xin's body jerked spasmodically. A gentle, unconscious gasp escaped her mouth.
She felt. warmth for the very first time in her life.
It wasn't the blistering heat of fire. It was a true, inner warmth that penetrated her flesh, coursed through her frozen meridians, and drove back the gnawing, endless cold that had been her companion for as long as she could remember. The ever-present, throbbing pain that she kept hidden from the world eased away, leaving a sensation of warmth so happy she felt like weeping.
The intent to kill in her eyes disappeared entirely. The anger, the pride, the chill—everything washed away, replaced with an expression of sheer, unadulterated shock. Her face, reddened by rage, now stood deep, rich crimson, a flush born from an entirely new and overpowering emotion.
Wuwuw.
Tears well up within her sapphire eyes, ready to fall.
I leaned in close, my voice a low whisper beside her ear. "See? You're not an ice cube. You're just a girl who's been left in the cold for far too long."
And then I withdrew my finger.
The heat disappeared. The familiar, searing cold swept back in, twice as cruel as before now that she had experienced relief. She gave a tiny, anguished whimper and automatically grasped the hand I had touched, as if attempting to cling to the specter of the sensation.
I took one final glance at her. Her lovely face was a tangle of warring emotions—shame, confusion, anger, and a small, chilling flash of desperation.
Without hesitation, I spun around and left the chamber, leaving her to be alone in her frozen prison. But times were different now. Earlier, it was the only reality she had known. Now, she knew warmth existed. And she knew that it was I who possessed the key.
My mission to procure Frigid Yin Grass was a forgotten thing now. I had discovered something of much greater worth within this cave.
My first phoenix.