What is it?
Yun Qingxue was momentarily distracted, and the strange sensation vanished as soon as her attention wavered.
She opened her eyes. The opulent and elegant room held no other living being besides herself.
“Reveal!” Yun Qingxue took out the pearl again, spinning it rapidly.
Behind the passage she had initially memorized, there was another segment:
“Movement without stillness, stillness without movement—this is the nature of matter. Movement without movement, stillness without stillness—this is the nature of the divine. Movement without movement, stillness without stillness—it is not mere motionlessness or inactivity. Matter cannot comprehend the divine mystery. All things are rooted in the yin of water and the yang of fire. The five elements, yin and yang, the Taiji of yin and yang, the cycle of the four seasons, the beginning and end of all things—chaos and order, boundless and infinite.”
Yun Qingxue memorized the latter passage as well. This time, she didn’t rush into meditation but instead began earnestly contemplating the hidden meaning within the words.
“Heaven and earth, yin and yang, the five elements…”
She murmured, frowning in deep thought…
As time passed, a sudden realization flashed through her mind. Could that alternating sensation of extreme cold and heat, along with the thing that seemed to want to burrow into her body, be the power of heaven and earth she had perceived?
The possibility excited her, and she immediately closed her eyes to meditate again.
At first, she felt nothing. But as time went on, the sensation that had vanished due to her momentary lapse returned.
Yun Qingxue felt her body once again alternating between extreme cold and heat, accompanied by something seeping into her through her pores.
This time, she steadied her mind, and the sensation grew increasingly intense.
More and more of that “something” entered her body through every pore. Gradually, Yun Qingxue began to feel as if her body was being torn apart—waves of extreme cold and heat alternately assaulted her, sometimes even striking simultaneously.
An excruciating pain spread through her body, making her feel as if she were being torn apart by these two forces, sometimes separate, sometimes intertwined.
“Pfft!”
Yun Qingxue suddenly opened her eyes and spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Whoosh!”
At the same moment, a streak of purple light shot through the window, landing right beside her.
Weak and in agony, Yun Qingxue curled up on the bed. Through her blurred vision, she caught a glimpse of a golden figure.
She tried to see who it was, but darkness swallowed her vision, and she lost consciousness entirely.
“Qingxue.” Jin Lin, brought over by A-Dai, arrived just in time to see Yun Qingxue collapse, with a pool of blood on the floor.
“She’s injured?” Jin Lin’s eyes widened. “Who hurt her?”
While demanding answers from A-Dai, Jin Lin rushed to Yun Qingxue’s bedside.
He extended his hand, and a golden ripple formed above her body, slowly moving from her head down to her feet.
This shimmering screen was Jin Lin’s way of examining her condition.
After checking her thoroughly, Jin Lin felt his entire being stiffen in shock.
He stared at A-Dai in disbelief. “Why did she harm herself?”
“Hiss—” *You caused this!*
A-Dai flicked his tongue.
“Ugh! Never mind—I’ll purify the spiritual energy in her body first.”
Jin Lin took Yun Qingxue’s hand and closed his eyes. A golden light flowed from his palm, snaking across her body like a living thing.
Even in the depths of unconsciousness, Yun Qingxue could still feel the torment of alternating fire and ice. Her body swung between extremes—one moment freezing into an icicle, the next melting under scorching flames.
Amidst this torment, she gradually sensed another force intervening—a soothing presence, like a warm spring breeze in winter, comforting enough to make even a cat purr.
She clearly felt this new force, alive and guiding, taming the two chaotic energies raging inside her.
Under its guidance, the two tormenting forces quieted down.
Slowly, Yun Qingxue could no longer sense the three forces. Her breathing steadied, and the pain faded.
But after a while, she felt something else coursing through her meridians. In her dazed state, her mind grew restless and tense again.
Jin Lin withdrew his magic, only to see Yun Qingxue, who had just calmed, suddenly furrow her brows again. His relief turned back into worry.
Had he failed to fully control the celestial energies within her?
The thought made him examine her once more from head to toe.
Finally, he confirmed that he had indeed stabilized the forces within her.
Ripples shimmered in the water as the luminous pearls of the Dragon Palace glowed softly in the night. The underwater world had its own day and night, though the sun, moon, and stars remained unseen.
Yun Qingxue awoke from the darkness of sleep, remembering that she had lost control during her cultivation and collapsed.
And then…
Her bright eyes turned to the figure sitting by her bed.
“Qingxue, you’re awake!”
Jin Lin’s handsome face broke into a wide smile the moment she opened her eyes.
Had he saved her? That was Yun Qingxue’s first thought upon seeing him. But before she could ask, Jin Lin’s cheerful expression twisted into confusion and concern.
“Xuexue, why did you harm yourself?”
“What?” Yun Qingxue wondered if she had misheard. *Harm herself?* Was Jin Lin talking about her?
*She* would harm herself? What kind of international joke was this?!
“I’m asking why you harmed yourself! Do you have any idea how dangerous your condition was when I found you?”
“If you were unhappy, you should have told me! Or if anyone in the aquatic realm upset you, I’d have dealt with them! Why resort to self-harm? Even if you were born with an immortal body, recklessness like this is still dangerous—do you understand?!”
Jin Lin continued scolding, leaving Yun Qingxue utterly baffled.
“Self-harm? When did I harm myself? Explain yourself clearly!” She had only been trying to cultivate seriously—how was that self-harm?!
“You forcibly absorbed untransformed celestial energies into your body and nearly went berserk!” Jin Lin frowned deeply.
Yun Qingxue recalled the two opposing forces—one icy, one scorching—that had surged into her body.
Wait—those energies needed to be *transformed* first?! (⊙o⊙)
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