55: Chapter 55 Your acting skills have improved rapidly

The wind on the glacier whipped over like a knife, carrying fine ice shards that struck the face, both cold and painful.

Shen Xiao walked in front, his pace significantly slower than before.

His back looked normal enough, his gait was steady, and his back was straight, but Xia Lengbai, following less than three steps behind him, could see fine beads of blood seeping from the side of his neck. The blood was black, trickling down the contours of his skin, soaking into the edge of his collar as a dark red stain.

He was forcing himself to endure.

Xia Lengbai did not speak to remind him, nor did she ask if he wanted to stop and rest.

She knew it would be useless to ask.

Given Shen Xiao's personality, even if both his legs were broken now, he would crawl forward with his hands, never revealing the slightest bit of weakness in front of her.

But she could see that on the ice beneath his feet, every few steps he left a drop of black blood, landing on the blue-gray ice like blooming dark flowers.

After walking for about another incense stick of time, Shen Xiao's footsteps began to noticeably falter.

He stepped on a loose piece of rubble, his body swayed to the left, and he had to steady himself by bracing his left hand against the nearby ice wall.

When that hand pressed against the ice wall, it left a clear, black bloody handprint.

Xia Lengbai stopped, looked at the handprint, and was silent for two seconds.

"Beneath that ice cliff ahead, there is a cold pool Spiritual Vein."

Xia Lengbai spoke, her voice not loud, almost drowned out by the howling wind.

"It is rare, pure ice spring water from Cangjue Mountain, capable of rapidly diluting the Blood Poison."

Shen Xiao turned his head to look at her.

His complexion was terrible, his lips purple, and the whites of his eyes were bloodshot, but his gaze remained calm, like two pieces of ice that could not be melted by fire.

He did not answer immediately, instead staring at Xia Lengbai for about two or three breaths of time.

Xia Lengbai felt somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze, but she did not look away.

She was waiting for his questioning; after all, she was Lin Yun's former fiancée and had just been exposed by him for the trick of hiding the Medicinal Pill in her sleeve. By all logic, he should not believe a single word she said right now.

But Shen Xiao simply nodded.

"Lead the way."

His voice was severely hoarse, as if his throat had been sanded down with sandpaper, but there was no hesitation in his tone.

Xia Lengbai was stunned for a moment, then immediately turned and walked toward the ice cliff, her pace slightly faster than before.

She did not look back, so she did not see Shen Xiao twitch the corner of his mouth after she turned away.

That expression was hard to call a smile or anything else, but at least it was not anger.

The location of the cold pool was even more hidden than Xia Lengbai had described, tucked beneath a half-collapsed ice cliff. From the outside, one could only see a narrow crack; one had to turn sideways to squeeze in to see the space inside.

The pool was not large, about a zhang square, and the water surface was a nearly transparent water-blue, allowing one to see the smooth white pebbles at the bottom of the pool directly.

A thin layer of white mist steamed off the water surface, a phenomenon formed by the intersection of the extremely cold water temperature and the faint warmth in the air.

Shen Xiao crouched by the pool and reached out to test the water temperature.

The moment his fingertips touched the water surface, a layer of thin ice rapidly spread up his fingers, freezing his entire palm in the blink of an eye.

He gave a forceful clench, shattering the layer of ice; the ice fragments fell onto the water surface, making a crisp clinking sound.

"Cold enough."

Shen Xiao said, his tone sounding like he was evaluating the heat level of a dish.

Then he jumped straight in.

The pool water submerged him to his chest, and his outer robe, already stained dark red by blood and dust, floated out on the water surface like a blooming dark lotus.

The ice-cold pool water felt like countless needles simultaneously piercing his skin, drilling into his Meridians through his pores, colliding with the scorching Blood Poison in his body, emitting a "hissing" sound, like a red-hot iron block being thrown into cold water.

White steam churned from the surface of his body, permeating the ice cave, quickly shrouding the entire space in a hazy mist.

Shen Xiao closed his eyes and formed a complex hand seal beneath the water surface.

He was channeling the last trace of Spiritual Power in his body, guiding the residual power of the Burning Heaven Pill Fire out of his Dantian, spreading it along his Meridians to his limbs and bones.

This was the "Meridian-Burning Poison-Dissolving Method" he had seen in Nangong Li's memory fragments, using the Pill Fire to burn the damaged Meridians while simultaneously forcing the toxins out of the blood.

The principle was simple to state, but in actual practice, it was like setting a fire inside one's own body.

The Burning Heaven Pill Fire burned along his Meridians, and wherever it passed, the Blood Poison on the Meridian walls was burned until it sizzled, emitting wisps of fine black mist that escaped through the pores on his skin, which were particularly conspicuous against the white water vapor.

His body began to turn red.

From an initial light red, it gradually turned deep red, and finally into a nearly transparent crimson, as if his whole person had been burned into a piece of translucent red jade; even the paths of the blood vessels beneath his skin were clearly visible.

The chill of the ice spring water and the scorching heat of the Burning Heaven Pill Fire clashed fiercely within his body, neither willing to yield even half a step. The Meridians at the boundary were repeatedly torn by the two forces, as if they were about to be shredded into pieces.

Shen Xiao's teeth chattered, and the veins on his forehead bulged, but he did not let out a single cry of pain.

Xia Lengbai stood by the pool, watching him glowing red all over, looking as if he were about to be steamed cooked, her fingers unconsciously gripping the hem of her clothes.

She could see those fine cracks on the surface of his body, which were signs that his Meridians could not withstand the clash of the two forces and were beginning to rupture.

Wisps of fresh blood seeped from the cracks, and as soon as they touched the high temperature on his body surface, they were evaporated into blood-colored mist, mixing into the vast white water vapor.

If he continued to force himself like this, in at most the time it takes for a cup of tea, he would die with his Meridians completely severed.

Xia Lengbai bit her lip.

She did not know why she had to do this.

She was clearly sent by Lin Yun; she clearly should take this opportunity to stab him in the back; she clearly should stand by the pool watching him be burned to death, and then take his head back to report to Lin Yun.

But her foot had already stepped out.

Her movement stepping into the cold pool was very light; the ice water submerged her boots, skirt, and waist. The cold pool water stimulated her to gasp, but she did not stop.

She walked to behind Shen Xiao and pressed both hands onto his back.

The moment her palms touched his back, she felt a temperature so scorching it almost burned her palms, as if she had pressed her hands onto a red-hot iron plate.

She could even smell a faint charred scent coming from her palms—that was the smell of skin being burned by the high temperature.

But she did not pull her hands back.

She closed her eyes and released the Ice Spiritual Power from her Dantian, slowly injecting it into Shen Xiao's body along her arms.

The moment the Ice Spiritual Power entered Shen Xiao's Meridians, she immediately felt the violence of that Burning Heaven Pill Fire. It was like an enraged fire Dragon, pouncing the moment her Ice Spiritual Power entered, attempting to burn her Spiritual Power away completely as well.

Xia Lengbai did not flinch.

She condensed her Ice Spiritual Power into a fine and tough thread, avoided the main force of the Burning Heaven Pill Fire, and wound around the fragile places in Shen Xiao's Meridians that had been burned by the Burning Heaven Pill Fire to the point of breaking, as if using a layer of thin ice to temporarily freeze those cracks, preventing them from continuing to rupture.

Under her guidance, the two forces of ice and fire began to coexist in an extremely delicate balance. The Burning Heaven Pill Fire was responsible for burning the toxins, while the Ice Spiritual Power was responsible for protecting the Meridians from being burned away. The two forces, like two snakes biting each other's tails, circulated and flowed within the channels she had built.

Shen Xiao's body trembled violently.

He could feel Xia Lengbai's Ice Spiritual Power flowing through his Meridians; that extremely cold force and the Burning Heaven Pill Fire within him had formed a strange balance.

He did not open his eyes, nor did he speak.

But Xia Lengbai could feel that the tense muscles of his back relaxed slightly beneath her palms.

Just at this moment, a loud noise came from above the cold pool.

Golden Sword Qi swept across like a giant blade of light, directly splitting a huge boulder at the top of the ice cliff in two. The shattered stones crashed down, hitting the water surface of the cold pool and exploding into ice waves three zhang high.

The pool water shook violently, and the figures of Shen Xiao and Xia Lengbai swayed in the water, but neither left their spot.

Xia Lengbai looked up.

Lin Yun's figure stepped out from behind the ice waves; he was stepping on a floating ice rock, his white robe already mottled with blood and dust, and a charred mark remained on his right arm.

That was a brand left after being burned by the Burning Heaven Pill Fire; the skin looked like charred tree bark, curling up to reveal the dark red muscles beneath.

Suppressed rage burned in his golden vertical pupils.

Behind him, Bailian stood quietly on an ice rock, her head bowed, her eyes hollow, like a puppet being controlled.

Her right hand held a palm-sized copper bell; the bell presented a dull, bloody color, its surface engraved with dense, tiny runes, faintly glowing in the dim light.

Lin Yun spoke, his voice even hoarser and more unpleasant than he had expected.

"Shen Xiao, you cannot escape anymore."

Bailian raised her right hand holding the copper bell.

The bell rang.

It was not an ordinary bell sound, but a sound wave sharp to the extreme, like a thin, long needle passing through the air, directly piercing into Shen Xiao and Xia Lengbai's Sea of Consciousness.

The soul sound bell, a Magical Artifact blessed by the Heavenly Dao Contract, functioned to lock onto the Soul coordinates and forcibly inject the holder's will into the locked target's Sea of Consciousness, controlling their mind.

Shen Xiao felt that invisible needle piercing deep into his Sea of Consciousness, attempting to carve a brand onto his Soul.

He did not move.

Because he could not move at all right now.

Inside his body, the Burning Heaven Pill Fire and the icy spring water were clashing fiercely; the two forces pinned his entire being in place. Forget about standing up to fight back, he couldn't even lift a finger.

Xia Lengbai also felt the impact of that sound wave.

She could feel her consciousness being pulled by an external force, as if countless hands were tearing at her mind, attempting to crush her will into a blank vessel so that Lin Yun's Divine Thought could fill it.

She gritted her teeth, veins bulging on her forehead, and pressed her hands tightly against Shen Xiao's back, continuing to channel her Ice Spiritual Power into his body.

But her body was trembling.

The power of the soul sound bell was constantly strengthening. She could feel her eyelids growing heavier and her consciousness becoming increasingly blurred, as if a sheet of darkness was surging toward her from all directions, intending to completely drown her.

"Lengbai."

Lin Yun's voice rang out; this time, his tone carried a suppressed disappointment.

"I gave you a chance. More than once. You chose to betray me."

He raised his right hand, and golden light began to condense on that seemingly charred palm.

A gigantic golden palm formed above his head. That palm was about a zhang in size, with every finger clearly visible. Golden Demonic Qi flowed through the lines in the palm, emitting a suffocating sense of oppression.

"Since that is the case, you shall die here together with him."

The massive golden palm slammed down with a boom.

The air was compressed by the giant palm, emitting sharp, explosive shrieks. The loose gravel on the ice surface was swept up by the palm wind, scattering and flying like bullets, striking the water surface and creating countless fine splashes.

Shen Xiao suddenly opened his eyes.

He saw that golden palm slamming down.

He also saw his current state: the forces of the Burning Heaven Pill Fire and the icy spring water were still clashing fiercely inside his body, at least one-third of his Meridians had ruptured, his circulation paths for Spiritual Power were riddled with holes, and he couldn't even stand up.

But in that instant, he made a decision.

He didn't have time to resolve the two forces within his body in the normal way.

He could only use the most brutal method: detonate both forces simultaneously and use the impact generated by the explosion as the driving force for his final strike.

His right hand reached out from under the water, backhanded to grab Xia Lengbai's wrist—which was pressed against his back—and pressed it downward with force.

Xia Lengbai didn't have time to react; her entire body was pressed down from the water surface by that force, pushed directly to the bottom of the pool, where her back struck the smooth pebbles at the bottom.

Just as she was about to struggle, Shen Xiao's voice reached her ears.

"Stay."

Only two words.

No extra explanation.

Then she felt Shen Xiao's figure disappear from above her.

Utilizing the impact generated by the simultaneous detonation of the ice and fire forces, Shen Xiao soared into the air from the cold pool.

His body rotated in the air, his whole being like a spiraling arrow shot out. His body surface was wrapped in a layer of red-gold Burning Heaven Pill Fire and a layer of ice-blue icy spring water mist; the two forces intertwined and wound around his body, forming a red-and-blue spiraling Qi force.

He headed toward the trajectory of that golden palm without a hint of hesitation.

Man and palm collided in mid-air.

The sound of the collision was not loud, but rather an extremely sharp sound, like metal being torn apart, piercing one's eardrums with pain.

The moment the red-and-blue spiraling Qi force struck the golden palm, cracks began to appear on the surface of the giant palm.

The cracks spread from the point of impact to the surroundings, like the shattered lines on an ice surface after being struck by a heavy hammer, spreading rapidly and unstoppably. Golden light leaked out from the cracks, like liquid flowing out of a shattered glass lamp.

Under Shen Xiao's impact, the golden giant palm shattered with a boom.

The shattered golden light turned into a sky full of light debris, like a golden rainstorm, fluttering down onto the ice surface, the water surface, as well as onto Lin Yun and Bai Lian.

Shen Xiao's body, under the reaction force of the impact, fell like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto the ice at the edge of the cold pool, creating a shallow pit, with broken ice and gravel flying in all directions.

He lay on the ice, coughing up a large mouthful of black blood.

That pool of blood landed on the ice, hissing and emitting white smoke, with a thin layer of ice rapidly forming around its edges.

Then he tried to prop up his body, but his arms were as soft as two cooked noodles; as soon as he exerted force, they collapsed, and he fell back onto the ice.

The Blood Poison within his body had completely erupted.

The forces of the Burning Heaven Pill Fire and the icy spring water were colliding and exploding within him, nearly shattering all of his Meridians. Meanwhile, the uncleared toxins in his blood were surging like a flood along those ruptured Meridians toward his internal organs.

He could feel his breathing becoming rapid; every inhalation required twice as much effort as before. He could also clearly feel the process of his lungs petrifying, as the Blood Poison was turning his alveoli into stone, bit by bit.

Xia Lengbai surfaced from the bottom of the pool, gasping for air, her hair wet and sticking to her face, with ice shards and water droplets hanging from her eyelashes.

She shook her head, her gaze piercing through the pervasive water vapor, and saw Shen Xiao collapsed at the edge of the pool.

He was lying on the ice, covered in blood; that blood was oozing from every pore on his body surface, staining the ice beneath him a dark red.

His limbs were twitching slightly and uncontrollably, like a frog after being electrocuted, the frequency of the spasms growing weaker and weaker.

That was the sign of impending death after the Meridians had ruptured and the body had lost its supply of Spiritual Power.

Xia Lengbai's eyes instantly turned red.

She didn't remember when she had last wanted to cry. As a daughter of a noble family raised as a political bargaining chip since the age of eight, she had long since learned to maintain that flawless social mask under any circumstances.

But now her eyes were red, burning red, as if someone had lit a fire beneath them.

She did not hesitate.

She grabbed the packet of powder that Shen Xiao had tossed onto the side of the pool. It was the nine-turn heart-protecting pill powder she had crushed from her sleeve; Shen Xiao had taken some earlier to keep in his robes, and she had picked up the rest.

Her fingers were trembling; several times, she failed to open the seal of that paper packet.

Finally, she bit the paper packet open with her teeth and poured all of that pale golden powder into her mouth.

The moment the Medicinal Pill powder melted on the tip of her tongue, an intensely strong medicinal scent rushed into her nasal cavity, as if someone had poured a bottle of chili water into her nose, making her tears fall from the stinging sensation.

She leaned down, cupped Shen Xiao's face with both hands, and lowered her head to press her lips against his.

Shen Xiao's consciousness was already blurred, but his instincts remained. When Xia Lengbai's lips pressed against his, he felt a warm liquid being transferred into his mouth, mixed with a faint sweetness and an extremely bitter medicinal taste.

He wanted to spit it out.

But Xia Lengbai pressed her palm firmly over his mouth, while simultaneously using her tongue to push that pool of medicinal liquid into his throat.

The medicinal liquid slid down his esophagus into his stomach, and then that warm sensation was like a ball of ignited fire, beginning to spread from his stomach to his entire body.

He could feel that the Blood Poison, which was spreading crazily within his body, seemed to have encountered a natural enemy in the face of this warm aura and began to retreat steadily.

His breathing stabilized somewhat.

Xia Lengbai released his lips, straightened up, and wiped the residual medicinal stains from the corners of her mouth with her sleeve.

Then she stood up, blocking the path in front of Shen Xiao, facing Lin Yun and Bai Lian.

Her voice was hoarse, but very steady.

"Lin Yun, what you want is nothing more than the Heaven's Mandate points inside his body."

She paused, as if giving herself a moment for final confirmation.

"I have changed my mind now. I will go with him. If you kill him, it is the same as killing me."

As soon as her words fell, the pale golden Restriction on her forehead suddenly lit up.

That rune mark was like an ignited star, changing from its originally dim, pale gold to a blindingly bright gold. Light erupted from within it, turning into countless fine threads of light that spread from her forehead as the center to her entire body.

Those threads of light were like blood vessels, extending along the surface of her skin toward her limbs, finally converging at her wrists and turning into a beam of light that connected to Shen Xiao's wrist.

Both of them felt that connection at the exact same instant.

Xia Lengbai's Spiritual Power fluctuations and Shen Xiao's Spiritual Power fluctuations were completely bound together in that instant—just as if their Souls had been tethered together with an invisible chain.

If one side is injured, the other side will inevitably suffer the same pain.

If one side dies, the other will inevitably perish at the same moment.

Lin Yun's pupils shrank violently.

His hand still maintained the posture of having struck the giant palm, frozen in mid-air, his fingers trembling slightly.

He saw it very clearly.

The Restriction on Xia Lengbai's forehead, the Life Soul Contract between her and Shen Xiao, had been completely activated.

Once that thing is activated, it is irreversible. If he kills Shen Xiao, the Restriction will backlash the moment Shen Xiao breathes his last, tearing Xia Lengbai's Sea of Consciousness and Divine Soul to shreds.

He gritted his teeth, anger and wariness intertwining in his golden vertical pupils, the light flickering uncertainly.