A sick mother, a gambling father, and... her suddenly frozen!

On the playground of Donglin University.

The night wind howled, yet it could not disperse the suffocating weight and oppression in the air.

After Xu Yuan gave up on stopping her, Shen Qingyi did not pause for even a moment.

At this very moment, her body was on the brink of collapse. Every muscle was wailing, and every nerve was twitching, as if countless needles were piercing into her bone marrow.

She didn't even have the strength left to lift a single finger.

However, she had to do it!

Because she knew very well that this was the only chance in her life to grasp the straw that could change her destiny!

Thud!

Once again, her thin and weak frame fell heavily onto the synthetic track, letting out a dull sound.

The surrounding students who saw this couldn't help but turn their heads away, unable to bear watching any longer.

But only a few seconds passed.

That figure began to move again, trembling and wavering.

Her hands clawed at the ground, and blood even seeped from her fingernails due to the sheer force she exerted.

She bit down hard on the tip of her tongue, using that piercing pain to forcibly drive away the grogginess and darkness that surged into her mind like a tide.

"Get... get up..."

"Shen Qingyi... you can't sleep..."

"If you sleep... your brother is beyond saving..."

She roared frantically in the depths of her heart. Driven by that single obsession, she stood up once more, swaying, and assumed that stance named "Like a Pine."

Although at this moment, she looked like a withered blade of grass that could snap at any time in the gale, without even half the uprightness of a pine tree.

Yet she still stood stubbornly, even if she might fall again in the next second.

"This girl... is truly ruthless to herself..."

On the high platform, Xu Yuan watched that figure that fell and climbed back up time and time again.

Even though he was a battle-hardened soldier accustomed to life and death, he couldn't help but feel his eyes sting at this moment.

He couldn't bear to look, yet he couldn't pull his gaze away.

He was even more curious about what kind of motivation could allow an ordinary, even physically weak girl to erupt with such terrifying perseverance.

This simply defied biological instinct!

With this deep question, Xu Yuan beckoned over the counselor responsible for that class—a gentle-looking female teacher wearing glasses.

"That girl, Shen Qingyi, what's her family situation?"

Xu Yuan pointed at Shen Qingyi in the distance and asked in a low voice.

The female teacher looked in the direction he pointed, and when she saw Shen Qingyi's miserable appearance, her eyes instantly turned red.

"Sigh... Instructor Xu, you don't know the half of it."

The female teacher sighed and said with a choked voice:

"Isn't there a joke circulating on the internet? Something about 'a sick mom, a gambling dad, a young brother, and a broken her'..."

"Everyone thinks it's just a meme."

"But for Shen Qingyi... this is the most realistic portrayal of her family; in fact, it's even more tragic than that!"

"What?" Xu Yuan felt a jolt in his heart.

The female teacher wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and continued:

"Her father is a degenerate gambler who ran away after racking up a mountain of debt. Her mother has been bedridden for years, relying entirely on medication to survive."

"And her young brother... was also diagnosed with a serious illness half a year ago. He's currently lying in the hospital's ICU, needing expensive medical fees every day just to stay alive!"

Speaking to this point, the female teacher's voice had already taken on a sobbing tone.

"Qingyi, this child, her life is too bitter!"

"To pay for her mother's and brother's treatments, she has hardly had a good night's sleep during these few years of university."

"She has been working part-time as a delivery rider off-campus. Regardless of wind or rain, she starts running every morning before dawn and doesn't stop until late at night!"

"A few days ago, because she really couldn't scrape together enough for tuition, she even came to me crying, saying she wanted to drop out to work full-time to save her brother..."

"It was only after the school leadership learned of her situation that they granted her a special tuition waiver and organized a donation drive. Only then was she able to stay in school."

"But even so, facing those bottomless medical expenses, she's still about to reach her breaking point..."

After hearing the female teacher's account, Xu Yuan fell completely silent.

He looked at the figure in the distance, which was like a flickering candle in the wind, and a sense of solemn respect rose in his heart.

So that's how it was... No wonder she was trying so hard, no wonder she was persisting even at the cost of her life!

She wasn't cultivating for herself; she was fighting for that sole chance of survival for her mother and brother!

This was a warrior in a quagmire of despair, carrying the weight of an entire family, fighting back with all her might, refusing to bow her head even in death!

This kind of will, this kind of responsibility—even he, Xu Yuan, felt inferior in comparison!

"Sigh..."

After a long while, Xu Yuan sighed deeply again, the admiration in his eyes gradually turning into a trace of profound regret.

"It's just a pity..."

"Her physical foundation is simply too poor; she's severely depleted."

"And according to my observations, her bone talent... also seems very average, one could even say low-grade."

"Cultivation, in the end, is a matter of Aptitude."

"Relying on this opportunity to turn her life around... is likely... as difficult as ascending to heaven."

Xu Yuan shook his head. Though it was cruel, he had to admit this reality.

With Shen Qingyi's current state, there was a very high probability she would be unable to sense Qi and blood to step into the Body Tempering Realm within ten days.

He was just about to pronounce a mental "death sentence" on this poor girl, thinking about whether he should personally provide her with some financial aid later.

However.

At the very moment this thought arose.

Whoosh—

An extremely abrupt and bone-chilling aura emerged on the playground without any warning.

And the instant this cold air appeared, the temperature plummeted!

Immediately after, a panicked commotion erupted on the playground!

"Ah!!"

"So cold!!"

"Holy crap! What's going on? How did it suddenly get this cold?!"

"Did an air conditioner explode? Wait, that's not right, we're on the playground!"

"Hiss—it feels like my eyebrows have frosted over!"

The surrounding students were all hugging their arms, shivering from the cold, their teeth chattering.

But soon, someone discovered the source of the cold air and let out a terrified scream.

"No... look over there!!"

"It's Shen Qingyi!!"

"Instructor! Instructor, something's wrong!!"

"Shen Qingyi... she's suddenly freezing over!!"

"What?!"

On the high platform, Xu Yuan was greatly shocked and snapped his head toward Shen Qingyi's direction.

With one look, his pupils instantly contracted!

He saw that Shen Qingyi, who had still been struggling to hold on, was actually undergoing an inconceivable transformation!

Her skin was turning pale at a speed visible to the naked eye—not a sickly white, but a deathly white that was as crystal clear as ice and snow!

And on the surface of her body, a thick layer of frost emitting a ghostly blue light was spreading frantically, covering her entire body in an instant!

Her whole person was like an ice sculpture rapidly taking shape!

"How is this possible?!"

"What is this situation?!"

Xu Yuan was pale with fright. Without a second thought, he leaped down from the platform and sprinted toward Shen Qingyi.

But before he could even get within ten meters of her.

Boom!

An even more terrifying and violent aura of extreme cold suddenly erupted from Shen Qingyi as the center, blasting out in all directions!

Crack, crack, crack!

The synthetic track and the grass on the ground were instantly frozen into brittle ice shards upon contact with this cold aura!

The moisture in the air condensed immediately, turning into countless ice crystals that showered down!

Xu Yuan felt a lethal chill rush at him, and even the Qi and blood of his Body Forging Fourth Stage were nearly frozen solid!

"Not good!!"

"Quick!!"

"Get away from her!!!"

Xu Yuan's scalp tingled, and an unprecedented sense of crisis enveloped his heart.

He stopped abruptly, turned around, and let out a hysterical roar at the students on the playground who were still in a daze!

This was absolutely no ordinary drop in temperature!

With this level of cold air, if an ordinary person touched even a bit of it, they would likely be frozen into an icicle!

Hearing the instructor's distorted shout, everyone finally snapped out of it. They were all scared out of their wits, their Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering as they scrambled and crawled to flee in all directions.

And while everyone was scattering in flight.

The icy Qi erupting from within Shen Qingyi's body had completely spiraled out of control!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!

The cold current howled, and wherever it passed, everything was frozen!

In an instant, with Shen Qingyi as the center, the playground within a hundred-meter radius was directly transformed into a dead land of ice and snow!

Even the streetlights and trees by the playground were hung with thick icicles!

And at the very center of that frozen land.

Endless cold air converged, compressed, and condensed frantically!

Finally, it actually formed out of thin air a massive ice crystal several meters high, crystal clear and emitting a dreamlike ghostly blue light!

And Shen Qingyi's thin figure was now Seal within this giant ice crystal.

Her eyes were tightly shut, still maintaining that "Like a Pine" stance, her expression peaceful, like a sleeping beauty slumbering within the ice!

Under the illumination of the searchlights, this scene appeared so eerie, yet... so beautiful!

The entire playground instantly fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone's brain stalled at this moment.

They stared blankly at that massive ice crystal and the girl inside it, completely unable to comprehend everything happening before their eyes.

Is... is this also an effect of the Body Tempering Art?!

Could she have had an Awakening of a Divine Body?!