384: Chapter 383 Misfortune and fortune are intertwined

Qin Yi held Si Yao and swam with all his might toward the cave emitting a faint golden light.

Passing through the cave entrance, the pool water surrounding him instantly receded, and the view before him suddenly opened up—unexpectedly, this place was a naturally formed stalactite cave.

On the cave ceiling, the hanging stalactites glowed with a gentle luminescence, illuminating the interior in a dreamlike manner.

Even more peculiar was that, compared to outside the cave, there was not much pool water inside.

Except for a shallow beach in the low-lying middle area, most of the region was dry, making it seem like a completely different world from the deep pool outside.

Qin Yi had no time to appreciate such a fairyland-like scene at this moment; after a hurried glance, he looked around. Soon, he found a relatively flat piece of ground and gently laid Si Yao, whom he was holding, onto it.

At this moment, Si Yao's eyes were tightly closed, her face was as pale as paper, and the bloodstains on her lips appeared particularly jarring. Beneath the clothes shattered by Bai Ruoxue's 'Mystic Ice True Qi' on her chest, a blue-purple palm print was shocking to the eye.

Qin Yi hurriedly took off his own clothes and covered Si Yao with them to shield her exposed skin.

Afterward, he reached out to check Si Yao's breathing. He could feel that her breath was very weak and extremely irregular, a sign of being on the verge of death.

Qin Yi's heart tightened, his voice trembling slightly, and he immediately asked the System for help: "System, quickly, quickly check how Si Yao is doing right now?"

[Ding! Reporting to the Host, Si Yao's injuries are extremely severe. If not treated in time, she may be in mortal danger! Please, Host, immediately use a 'longevity pill' to stabilize her injuries!]

Right, right, how could I have forgotten about the 'longevity pill'!

He hurriedly took one out from the remaining three Medicinal Pills in the System Space, carefully pried open her cold lips, and fed it to her.

The Medicinal Pill dissolved upon entering her mouth, and the pure medicinal power quickly coursed through her body. Si Yao's complexion began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Seeing this, Qin Yi finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.

However, the next second!

"Cough, cough—"

Still in a coma, Si Yao unconsciously coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with ice shards. Immediately after, her body trembled uncontrollably, and tiny white frost began to slowly form on her hair tips, eyebrows, eyelashes, and even her arms.

Seeing this, the heart that Qin Yi had just settled rose once again.

"System, how can this be?! Didn't she already take the 'longevity pill'? Why haven't her injuries recovered?"

[Ding! Reporting to the Host, the 'longevity pill' can only heal her damaged Meridians and organs; it cannot remove the residual 'Mystic Ice True Qi' in her body!]

[Si Yao released her 'Blazing Sun True Qi' with full force twice in a row. In the battle just now, the 'Blazing Sun True Qi' in her Dantian was completely exhausted. Although it neutralized most of the 'Mystic Ice True Qi', some 'Mystic Ice True Qi' still invaded her body.]

[The 'Mystic Ice True Qi' entered her body, traveled along Si Yao's Meridians throughout her whole body, and finally invaded her Dantian! Furthermore, because Si Yao has never Cultivated a Yin-attribute Cultivation Technique, she cannot refine and absorb it on her own!]

"System, then can I transfer my own True Qi to her? Don't I also have 'Blazing Sun True Qi'?" Qin Yi immediately asked in pursuit.

[Ding! Reporting to the Host, this method is inadvisable! Transferring 'Blazing Sun True Qi' into Si Yao's body might resist the 'Mystic Ice True Qi' within her, but given Si Yao's current physical condition, the confrontation between the two True Qi would very likely cause irreversible damage to her Dantian! Even if the 'Mystic Ice True Qi' in the Dantian is removed, she might never be able to Cultivate again in the future!]

"Then what should I do now? I can't just watch," Qin Yi looked at Si Yao's body, which was continuously forming frost, with burning anxiety, and urged, "System, hurry and think of a way! If it continues at this speed, in less than half an hour, Si Yao will be completely frozen!"

Fortunately, the System quickly provided a response!

[Ding! Reporting to the Host, the only way now is for the Host to immediately Cultivate the 'Jade Maiden Heart Sutra'! After the Host finishes Cultivating, transfer the Yin-attribute True Qi into Si Yao's body. The 'Jade Maiden Heart Sutra' inherently has the effect of moistening the Meridians. Although it is also a Yin-attribute True Qi like the 'Mystic Ice True Qi', the 'Jade Maiden Heart Sutra' is relatively gentle. Once the 'Jade Maiden Heart Sutra' True Qi gains the upper hand, the residual 'Mystic Ice True Qi' in her body will be guided and absorbed, ultimately achieving the goal of removing the 'Mystic Ice True Qi' from her body!]

After listening to the System's explanation, Qin Yi did not hesitate at all. Saving lives was the priority right now. Regardless of whether it was the Jade Maiden Sutra or not, as long as he could save Si Yao, it was nothing more than having an extra strand of Yin-attribute True Qi in his body.

Risk it all!

Qin Yi gritted his teeth and immediately ordered the System: "System, immediately Cultivate the 'Jade Maiden Heart Sutra'!"

The next second, as the System's prompt sounded, countless profound techniques surged into Qin Yi's Sea of Consciousness, and a third strand of True Qi quietly formed in his Dantian.

However, this third strand of True Qi did not undergo Fusion with the previous 'Blazing Sun True Qi' or the 'Supreme Soul Suppressing Art' True Qi. Instead, it entangled and circled with the first two strands of True Qi in an extremely miraculous way... Finally, in his Dantian, they gathered into a golden-white sphere of energy resembling a Yin and Yang Taiji diagram.

Following that, the System's prompt sounded.

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host, 'Jade Maiden Heart Sutra' Cultivation complete!]

Qin Yi could not spare the time to delve into the golden-white energy sphere in his Dantian. He placed his hand on Si Yao's, simultaneously circulating the 'Jade Maiden Heart Sutra' Mind-Cultivation Technique, and slowly transferred the white True Qi from his Dantian into Si Yao's body.

"You must hold on!" Qin Yi murmured in a low voice, while silently activating the 'Eye of Truth', his gaze fixed on the changes of the True Qi within Si Yao's Dantian.

Time passed minute by minute. Fine beads of sweat had already seeped out on Qin Yi's forehead, sliding down his cheeks, but he could not spare the time to wipe them away.

However, a sudden change occurred!

Just as Qin Yi's Cultivation Technique was at a critical moment, ripples suddenly appeared in the pool at the cave entrance. The 'Giant Black Python' from when they fell into the deep pool had actually swum into the cave.

Qin Yi's whole body stiffened, but he dared not make any sudden moves, continuing to steadily maintain the transfer of True Qi.

Through the 'Eye of Truth', Qin Yi could see that in Si Yao's Dantian, the 'Jade Maiden Heart Sutra True Qi' was tugging against the 'Mystic Ice True Qi'.

At this moment, it was the most critical juncture of the True Qi integration. If it were interrupted, the 'Mystic Ice True Qi' would immediately absorb the 'Jade Maiden Heart Sutra True Qi' and strengthen itself. If that happened, Si Yao would likely lose her life on the spot.

However, unexpectedly, the 'Giant Black Python's' scarlet vertical pupils swept over the two, actually revealing a human-like scrutiny.

After waiting for a moment, the 'Giant Black Python' did not attack the two but swam on its own toward the low-lying shallow beach.

Qin Yi breathed a secret sigh of relief, his gaze following the 'Giant Black Python' as it slowly moved. He saw that there were several wounds on the python's body pierced by ice cones, from which blood was gushing out.

Soon, the 'Giant Black Python' climbed onto a stalactite about two people high.

That stalactite stood in the shallow beach, its shape strange, and upon closer inspection, it actually looked somewhat like a Dragon head.

Qin Yi's mind was greatly shaken; a thought suddenly popped up.

Could this Dragon head-shaped stalactite be the location of the Dragon vein? If that were truly the case, then the dragon saliva liquid might be right here!

With this thought clear, Qin Yi immediately looked down along the 'Giant Black Python's' body.

The next moment, a flash of light shone in Qin Yi's eyes!

It turned out that the Dragon head-shaped stalactite was not an independent entity. Beneath that shallow beach, there were countless low stalactites, winding and coiling just like a Dragon's body scales.

"System, immediately detect if there is dragon saliva liquid at that Dragon Head Stalactite!"

[Ding! Reporting to the Host, energy fluctuations of dragon saliva liquid detected at the Dragon Head Stalactite!]

"That's great!" Qin Yi was overjoyed, "This really is how fortune and misfortune depend on each other! If it weren't for meeting Bai Ruoxue, I wouldn't know how long it would have taken to find this cave!"

However, the most important thing right now was still to heal Si Yao first; the rest was not urgent.

...

Outside the cave, just as Bai Ruoxue stood still, shouts echoed one after another from the foot of the mountain.

"Zhao Lintai..."

"Zhao Lintai..."

"..."

In the dense forest below the cliff, nearly a hundred Armed Police wearing camouflage combat uniforms were searching upwards while holding their guns. The crisp sound of boot soles snapping dry branches could still be heard even from a great distance.

What made her heart sink even more was that in the sky not far away, two armed helicopters were circling at low altitude around Zhuilong Valley, and the repetitive search sound from the loudspeakers pounded down over and over: "Zhao Lintai, stop moving immediately and cooperate with the investigation!"

"Oh no!"

Bai Ruoxue's heart tightened suddenly, and cold sweat instantly soaked her back.

Could it be that the Dragon Country Security Bureau is about to take action against Zhao Lintai?

No, Godfather gave strict instructions to deal with Zhao Lintai before the Security Bureau took action. If she let Zhao Lintai escape because she was delayed by the fight with Qin Yi just now, how would she answer to Godfather?!

She dared not think further. She tapped her toes on the cliff edge, her internal True Qi suddenly circulated, and the 'Treading Snow Without a Trace' movement technique was instantly deployed.

Her figure fell toward the protruding cliff wall like a paper kite. On the way, she used the vines in the rock crevices to swing gently, cushioning the force of the fall. Afterward, with a few agile flips, she landed steadily on the flat rock where she had previously separated from Zhao Lintai—but in front of her, it was empty; where was there any shadow of Zhao Lintai?

Bai Ruoxue's pupils shrank slightly. After a brief shock, she immediately forced herself to calm down.

There was only one path up the mountain nearby. Zhao Lintai could not have vanished into thin air; he must have been scared by the shouting from the foot of the mountain earlier!

She crouched down, her fingertips carefully feeling the ground. Not long after, she discovered a clue in the grass not far away: a patch of weeds had been forcibly trampled down, the broken edges were still stained with soil, and a few thorny brambles nearby had been cut off at the root.

"Want to run? Dream on!"

A cold arc curled at the corners of Bai Ruoxue's mouth. With a tap of her toes, she chased after the trail. Her clothes brushed across the bushes, creating a series of soft, rustling sounds.