6: Chapter 6 Stop knocking, my Daoist partner is breaking through.

This thought hit Shen Xiao like a basin of ice water poured over his head, instantly jolting him awake from the fervor of his cultivation Breakthrough.

"Damn it! This Mo Feng is greedier and more cautious than I imagined!"

He is no loyal Law Enforcement Disciple, but a hyena guarding a bone, ready to take a bite at any moment.

"Click... click..."

A teeth-grinding sound of friction came from outside the door. It was Mo Feng using some kind of Magical Artifact to probe the Restriction on the black iron door, attempting to find a weak point in the Formation.

"No, I absolutely cannot let him in!"

In his current state, his Meridians were being frantically widened and reshaped by the energy of the cold marrow; he was completely defenseless.

And with Xia Lengbai unconscious, once Mo Feng, a Cultivator at Foundation Establishment Perfection, broke in, the two of them would be fish on a chopping board, without even a chance to resist.

"Pfft—"

Forcibly interrupting the circulation in his Meridians, a surge of retrograde Spiritual Qi rushed to his throat.

Shen Xiao felt a tightness in his chest, and a mouthful of metallic-tasting blood could no longer be suppressed, surging up.

He did not wipe it away, instead letting the blood flow down from the corner of his mouth. Against his already pale complexion, it added a touch of grimness and frailty.

"This is just the right effect!"

Shen Xiao took a deep breath, gathered all his strength in his throat, and roared with all his might.

But he deliberately controlled the voice he roared out to be hoarse and urgent, filled with the sense of a deathbed struggle.

"Senior Brother Mo, stop! Junior Sister Xia... Junior Sister Xia is in the middle of a Breakthrough! If you forcibly break the door, the Spiritual Qi backlash will kill all three of us!"

The roar passed through the crack in the Formation Plate, echoing in the deep corridor.

The probing movements outside the door paused instantly.

After a moment of dead silence, Mo Feng's cold, suspicious voice came through the door panel, sounding somewhat muffled: "Why would she suddenly undergo a Breakthrough?"

It worked! He had stopped, which meant he believed at least thirty percent of it!

Shen Xiao's thoughts raced, his brain working at an unprecedented speed.

"A Breakthrough?"

This excuse was perfect!

Xia Lengbai was the Sect Master's Personal Disciple; she had a noble status, extraordinary talent, and was a treasure well-known to the Sect Elders.

No matter how greedy Mo Feng was, he would never dare to shoulder the monstrous crime of "interrupting a Personal Disciple's Breakthrough and causing damage to her Dao foundation."

But he needed a reasonable explanation.

Shen Xiao glanced at the unconscious Xia Lengbai on the ground. Without the slightest gentleness, he half-dragged and half-carried her over, leaning her against his chest, directly facing the Formation Plate that was shimmering with a blue light screen.

Then, he firmly pressed Xia Lengbai's cold, soft hand onto the crack that had just opened on the Formation Plate.

Immediately after, Shen Xiao focused his mind, cautiously drawing a wisp of Origin energy—finer than a strand of hair—from the violent ocean of cold marrow energy in his Dantian.

This wisp of energy was extremely pure and cold; it was the essence he had already preliminarily refined.

Like threading a needle, he precisely injected this wisp of energy into the crack in the Formation Plate that Xia Lengbai's palm was touching!

"Hum—!"

Like a drop of water falling into boiling oil, the entire Formation Plate instantly erupted with a blinding blue light!

Under the stimulation of the pure cold energy, that barely perceptible crack not only instantly healed, but the runes all over the Formation Plate seemed to come alive, swirling wildly as a terrifying pressure, far exceeding what it had been before, suddenly surged outward!

This pressure even penetrated the black iron door, causing Mo Feng outside to feel a wave of palpitations and subconsciously take half a step back.

"What a powerful Ice-type Spiritual Qi fluctuation! This purity... it's definitely the Ice Soul Immortal Physique, no doubt about it!"

"I... the millennium cold marrow in my body has gone out of control!" Shen Xiao's performance continued. He panted heavily while explaining in a weak yet clear voice, "It's Junior Sister Xia... she disregarded her own safety and used her Ice Soul Immortal Physique to help me forcibly suppress it! This power was too vast, and it accidentally... accidentally triggered her Bottleneck!"

These words were half true and half false.

The cold marrow being out of control was true, and Xia Lengbai's instinctive absorption was also true; it was just that she wasn't "helping" him, but "draining" him.

Mo Feng outside the door fell silent.

He could clearly sense that the rampaging Spiritual Qi inside the stone room was indeed Ice-type, and its purity had reached a hair-raising level, perfectly consistent with the status of Xia Lengbai, this proud daughter of heaven.

His suspicions were largely dispelled, replaced by a complex mix of shock, jealousy, and confusion.

"Why would she save you?" Mo Feng demanded sternly. "You are nothing but a detained prisoner. As a Personal Disciple, why would she risk her life to suppress the cold poison for you?"

This question was the key.

Logic! He needed a logic that could convince a suspicious person like Mo Feng!

A sharp light flashed in Shen Xiao's eyes as he dropped the bombshell he had long prepared—one that would be enough to detonate everything.

"Because I told her that someone else was the one who ordered me to go to the North Sea Ice Abyss to seize the cold marrow!"

Shen Xiao's voice was very low, yet every word was like a knife, precisely stabbing at the most sensitive part of Mo Feng's heart.

"She destroyed the 'Blood Coagulation Pill' you gave me because she was afraid someone would kill me to silence me! She was afraid that the mastermind behind the scenes would even include her, a Personal Disciple, in their schemes!"

This statement was like a thunderclap exploding in Mo Feng's mind.

Sect infighting! A mastermind! Killing to silence witnesses!

These concepts instantly connected, outlining a thrilling picture of a power struggle.

As a Disciple of the Law Enforcement Hall and a confidant of the Sect Master, he was all too familiar with the factional strife and undercurrents within the Sect.

A Heaven And Earth Treasure on the level of the millennium cold marrow was enough to tempt any Elder.

If what Shen Xiao said was true, then the nature of this entire affair had completely changed.

It was no longer a simple struggle between Disciples, but a shocking conspiracy involving the upper echelons of the Sect!

And he, Mo Feng, was now at the center of this storm.

Should he choose to break in, kill the two people who might know the truth, and then face the wrath and schemes of that "mastermind" alone?

Or... choose another path?

A deathly silence fell both inside and outside the stone door.

Shen Xiao could hear his own heartbeat, which sounded like a beating drum.

"Senior Brother Mo!" Shen Xiao's voice rang out again, carrying a hint of temptation. "Protect us for three days! Just three days. Once Junior Sister Xia stabilizes her cultivation, we can leave! By then, this great merit of protecting a Personal Disciple during her Breakthrough will be yours alone, Senior Brother Mo! You'll have a good explanation for the Sect Master!"

"After it's done, I will also tell you the name of that mastermind! This is equivalent to handing you a massive favor and leverage, enough to help you rise to the next level in the Sect Master's eyes!"

After speaking, Shen Xiao forced himself to endure the stinging pain in his Meridians and fumbled to take something out of his Storage Pouch.

It was a Spiritual Plant, entirely emerald green and emitting a faint, refreshing fragrance.

A three-hundred-year-old Soul Condensing Grass!

This was the only valuable thing he had besides the cold marrow; it was something the original owner had intended to use before his Transmigration to bribe an Inner Sect steward in exchange for cultivation resources.

He pinched the stem of the Soul Condensing Grass and carefully pushed it, bit by bit, through the crack—less than half a finger wide—at the bottom of the black iron door.

Outside the door, Mo Feng's gaze was instantly drawn to that flash of emerald green.

He leaned down and picked up the Spiritual Plant. A pure and gentle medicinal power flowed into his fingertips.

It was real! And the medicinal properties had been preserved so perfectly!

At that moment, the last trace of doubt in Mo Feng's eyes was completely crushed.

It was replaced by undisguised greed and determination.

Risk and reward always coexist.

A possible "mastermind" versus a tangible "great merit of protection," plus leverage against a high-ranking official and a three-hundred-year-old Spiritual Plant... this deal was worth it, no matter how he calculated it!

"Fine, I'll trust you this once."

Mo Feng's voice turned low and firm. "Three days. Three days from now, if you can't give me a satisfactory answer, I will open this door myself and send you on your way."

As his voice faded, the footsteps outside the door disappeared.

They were replaced by the sound of robes rubbing against the ground.

Shen Xiao condensed his Divine Sense into a line and carefully probed through the crack in the door.

He "saw" that Mo Feng had actually sat cross-legged outside the stone door and closed his eyes, his breathing becoming steady and long.

He was actually guarding them!

He had won the gamble!

Shen Xiao's tense nerves finally relaxed, and he slumped against the cold wall, feeling utterly drained.

Damn it, dealing with these old schemers is more exhausting than fighting a Yao Beast!

Just as he was about to catch his breath and continue refining the cold marrow within his body, a cold killing intent erupted from his arms without any warning!

Shen Xiao's pupils shrank violently, and he looked down.

He saw that Xia Lengbai, who had been "unconscious" in his arms, had opened her eyes at some point!

What terrifying eyes they were!

Half cold reason, half burning obsession—two extreme emotions intertwined to form a chilling paranoia and madness.

The moment she opened her eyes, a slender hand, as powerful as an iron clamp, had lightning-fast gripped Shen Xiao's throat!

Her cold nails instantly pierced his skin, bringing a sharp, stinging pain.

"The power in your body..."

Xia Lengbai gripped him tightly, yet her body leaned toward him, her cheek almost brushing against his face. She whispered in a dreamy tone, filled with endless yearning: "...is disappearing."

"Give it... back to me."