222: Chapter 221 Ice and Fire Xuan Turtle

"You are... just as you've always been." She withdrew her gaze and looked back at the giant rock. "Since you're here, let's Cultivate together. The pressure in this Ice Fire Lake is quite different when shouldered by two people instead of one."

Jiang Hanzhou was slightly taken aback, then he nodded.

"Alright."

He walked to the lakeside and sat cross-legged ten meters away from Teng Yuzhi.

There was a distance of ten meters between them, but in the midst of the intertwining ice and fire energies, this distance was already close enough.

Close enough to sense each other's aura.

Close enough to look out for one another in a moment of crisis.

Jiang Hanzhou closed his eyes and began to circulate his Cultivation Technique.

On the left, the power of fire baleful energy surged into his body.

On the right, the power of icy coldness surged into his body.

The two forces intertwined and clashed within him, battering his Meridians, his blood, and his True Intent.

He gritted his teeth, desperately circulating the Lihuo True Flame and Tidal True Intent, trying to bring the two forces into balance.

But balance was too difficult.

When the fire baleful energy surged in, the Tidal True Intent was suppressed.

When the icy coldness surged in, the Lihuo True Flame was suppressed.

The two forces waxed and waned, tearing at each other inside him like two tireless giant beasts.

His brows were tightly furrowed, and fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

As soon as the sweat appeared, it was either evaporated by the fire baleful energy or frozen by the icy cold, leaving mottled marks on his face.

Suddenly—

A cold voice rang out:

"Don't force it."

Jiang Hanzhou opened his eyes and looked at Teng Yuzhi.

Teng Yuzhi's eyes remained closed, the water-blue halo around her body flowing slightly. Her voice was as calm as water, yet every word reached his ears clearly:

"Water and fire are incompatible; this is a fundamental principle of heaven and earth. Trying to force them to coexist will only tear your Meridians apart."

"Then what should I do?" Jiang Hanzhou asked.

Teng Yuzhi opened her eyes and looked at him:

"Borrow the momentum."

She raised her right hand and gave a light wave.

A streak of water-blue light shot out from her fingertip and fell into the lake.

The moment the light entered the lake, the surface jolted violently!

The boiling magma and the frozen ice surged simultaneously! The magma churned to the left, and the ice spread to the right, creating a clear boundary between them.

At the boundary, the magma and ice eroded each other, yet they also depended on each other.

"Look," Teng Yuzhi said. "It's not that ice and fire cannot coexist. What they need is a 'boundary'—a border where they both conflict and balance."

She withdrew her hand and looked directly at Jiang Hanzhou:

"Your Tidal True Intent is water. Your Heavenly Fire True Intent is fire. They conflict because you are trying to make them collide directly."

"But what if you set a 'boundary' between them?"

Jiang Hanzhou's brows furrowed slightly as he fell into deep thought.

Teng Yuzhi continued:

"That 'boundary' could be the Golden Sharpness True Intent. The Golden Sharpness True Intent is sharp and fierce, and it doesn't conflict with any attribute. It can act like a blade, temporarily separating the Tide and Heavenly Fire, allowing them to flow on either side of the blade."

"It could also be your Physical Body. Your Physical Body has been tempered by Dragon blood and you Cultivate the Li Huo Golden Body Art, so it inherently possesses the properties of both water and fire. Use your Physical Body to contain them, letting them circulate within you rather than clashing in your Meridians—"

She paused and said word for word:

"Perhaps, you can forge a different path."

Jiang Hanzhou remained silent for a long time.

Then, he closed his eyes and began to try.

Within his body, the Tidal True Intent slowly circulated, flowing toward the left.

The Heavenly Fire True Intent slowly circulated, flowing toward the right.

Between them was a golden blade-light he had condensed with the Metal Sharpness True Intent—that was the "boundary."

The blade-light struck down, separating the Tide and Heavenly Fire.

The moment they were separated, the tension of their conflict suddenly weakened.

Although they still repelled each other and tested each other, they no longer collided directly.

Jiang Hanzhou opened his eyes, a sharp light flashing within them.

"It's feasible..."

He looked at Teng Yuzhi and said solemnly:

"Thank you for the guidance, Senior Sister Teng."

Teng Yuzhi shook her head and said indifferently:

"There's no need to thank me. It's your own ability that allowed you to realize it."

She paused, then suddenly took a palm-sized jade box from her robes and tossed it to Jiang Hanzhou.

Jiang Hanzhou caught it and opened it—inside the jade box lay three pale blue Medicinal Pills. Fine ice-crystal patterns flowed on the surface of the pills, emitting a bone-chilling coldness.

"Ice Soul Pill," Teng Yuzhi said. "A unique Medicinal Pill of Black Tortoise Peak, it can help one condense ice-attribute True Intent. I don't need this many, so I'll give you three."

Jiang Hanzhou was slightly stunned: "This..."

"In exchange for your medicinal food recipe," Teng Yuzhi said calmly. "I've tried that recipe for the [Eight Treasures Dragon Tiger Stew]. The effects were good, and it was also helpful for my cultivation of the Li Huo Golden Body Art."

She looked at Jiang Hanzhou, a hint of expectation flashing in her cold eyes:

"Do you have any other recipes?"

Jiang Hanzhou was silent for a moment, then smiled.

He took a Jade Slip from his sumeru pouch, imprinted a medicinal food recipe into it with his Divine Sense, and then tossed it to Teng Yuzhi.

"[Ice Fire Body Tempering Soup]," he said. "Using fire-attribute Spirit Medicine as the base and ice-attribute Spirit Medicine as the guide, it can help reconcile the conflict between ice and fire. I originally prepared it for myself, but since Senior Sister Teng needs it, I'll give it to you."

Teng Yuzhi took the Jade Slip and scanned it with her Divine Sense. A moment later, she looked up, a strange look flashing in her eyes.

"This recipe... you created it yourself?"

Jiang Hanzhou nodded.

Teng Yuzhi looked at him, silent for three breaths, then slowly said:

"Jiang Hanzhou."

"Hmm?"

"You are truly... special."

She put away the Jade Slip, closed her eyes again, and continued to Cultivate.

Jiang Hanzhou looked at her, smiled slightly, and also closed his eyes, continuing his attempt to harmonize his True Intents.

Time slowly passed.

No one knew how much time had gone by.

Perhaps it was one hour.

Perhaps it was two.

Suddenly—

A sharp screech came from deep within the Ice Fire Lake!

The screech was extremely sharp and piercing, like countless steel needles stabbing into the eardrums at once, causing both of them to open their eyes simultaneously!

Jiang Hanzhou looked up toward the center of the lake.

There, behind the ten-meter-tall translucent giant rock, a massive black shadow was slowly emerging.

The shadow was blurry at first but gradually became clear.

It was a giant tortoise.

The tortoise's back was ten meters high and over fifteen meters wide, its entire body covered in a thick shell. The shell was red and blue, half as crimson as blood and half as deep blue as ice, reflecting an eerie light on the lake's surface.

Its head emerged from the shell, about three meters in size, with vertical pupils—one red and one blue—staring intently at the two people by the lake.

Its limbs were as thick as giant pillars, and every step it took caused the lake surface to tremble violently.

It was surrounded by a dense aura of ice and fire—fire baleful energy churning on the left and bone-chilling cold on the right. The two forces intertwined around it, forming a red and blue halo.

Ice-Fire Black Tortoise.

Late Stage of the Primal Form Realm.

The Secret Realm Guardian Beast of the Ice Fire Two Energies Valley.