The deeper Ye Chen walked into the northern sector of the Hidden Cloud Valley, the lower the temperature dropped.
The lush green canopy gradually gave way to frosted leaves.
A thin layer of white ice began to crackle beneath his worn cloth shoes.
The air here was sharp, each breath exhaling a thick plume of white mist, but the natural spiritual energy was nearly twice as dense as the outer perimeter.
Using the maps he had plundered from the rogue cultivators—combined with the unerring tactical memories of his past life—Ye Chen avoided the main paths.
He knew the other Lin Clan disciples were busy fighting over low-grade Crimson Spirit Fruits.
Fools.
They were competing for scraps, completely unaware of the true fortune hidden within the frozen heart of the valley.
After pushing through a thick curtain of frost-covered briars, the dense forest suddenly opened up into a breathtaking, hidden cavern.
Nestled within the center was a small, circular pool of crystalline water, barely ten paces wide.
This was the Glacial Spirit Spring.
Unlike normal water, the liquid was so cold that dense, ghostly white vapors rolled off its surface.
Yet it remained completely liquid, radiating a pure, biting spiritual pressure that made the surrounding air hum.
“Perfect,” Ye Chen murmured.
A rare smile appeared on his young face.
The clan’s ancestors had found this place fifty years ago but deemed it a dead zone.
The freezing energy was known to destroy a normal cultivator’s flesh.
They didn’t know that under the right refinement scripture, this cold was the ultimate catalyst.
He wasted no time.
Ye Chen shed his outer grey tunic and stepped into the pool.
The moment his feet touched the water, a gasp of pure agony was forced from his throat.
It felt as though thousands of liquid ice-needles had pierced through his skin, rushing directly into his bones and freezing his blood solid.
His skin instantly turned a terrifying shade of pale blue, and frost began to form rapidly on his eyelashes and dark hair.
But Ye Chen closed his eyes and sank deeper until the freezing water reached his chest.
Nine Heavens Monarch Scripture, activate!
The silver thread of Qi inside his dantian throbbed, then began to spin at a furious speed.
Instead of fighting the invading glacial energy, Ye Chen used his immense soul awareness to guide the freezing currents directly into his repaired spirit roots.
The Nine Heavens Monarch Scripture acted like a massive furnace, taking the raw, destructive cold and smelting it into a pure, concentrated essence.
The jagged, silver pathways of his foundation began to absorb the essence, expanding and hardening until they resembled polished, unbreakable glass.
The pain was suffocating.
Every second felt like a year as his body was repeatedly frozen and shattered from the inside, only to be woven back together by his supreme cultivation art.
One hour passed.
Two hours.
By the third hour, the white vapors rising from the pool began to swirl around Ye Chen, forming a localized vortex of frost.
The silver Qi in his veins grew thicker, transforming from a single fragile thread into a rushing river of liquid silver that shattered the icy constraints of his flesh.
Boom.
A silent explosion echoed within Ye Chen’s mind.
His eyes snapped open, a brilliant, silver light piercing through the dark cavern like two swords.
He stood up, stepping out of the spring.
The water instantly evaporated from his skin, leaving his body completely dry.
The pale blue tint was gone, replaced by a flawless, healthy complexion that radiated a faint, translucent glow.
He ran his spiritual awareness inward.
The bottleneck had been crushed.
He had not only broken through to the Second Layer of the Qi Condensation realm, but his spiritual energy was so dense and pure that it could easily match a normal cultivator at the Fourth Layer.
His physical body had been tempered by the glacial frost, making his skin as tough as iron leather.
“Second Layer,” Ye Chen whispered, clenching his fist.
The air in his palm compressed with a sharp pop. Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
“Now, I am ready for the real harvest.”
Before he could put his tunic back on, the sound of heavy footsteps and frantic shouting echoed from the cavern entrance.
“Hurry! The spiritual fluctuations came from this direction!” a voice shouted.
“There must be a high-grade treasure or a spirit king herb ripening inside!”
The frost briars were violently slashed away.
Five disciples rushed into the cavern, their swords drawn.
At the front was Lin Hao’s younger brother, Lin Cheng—a proud youth at the Second Layer of Qi Condensation—followed by four outer sect lackeys.
When Lin Cheng’s eyes adjusted to the dim cave light, they didn’t find a legendary herb.
They found Ye Chen standing by the edge of the pool, half-naked, his dark eyes looking down at them with a bone-chilling indifference.
“Ye Chen?!” Lin Cheng gasped.
His greed instantly turned into shock, then into a cruel, venomous grin.
“So it’s you! My brother said you vanished into the north. We’ve been looking for you everywhere, trash. To think you’d hide in this freezing hole.”
His eyes then fell upon the crystalline pool.
He realized the dense energy radiating from it.
“A spiritual spring? You actually found a hidden spring! Excellent. Today, not only will I take your head for my brother, but this fortune belongs to me!”
Ye Chen slowly picked up his grey tunic, sliding his arms into the sleeves with an agonizingly calm grace.
He tied his iron sword to his waist, never once taking his eyes off the intruders.
“Lin Cheng,” Ye Chen said softly.
His voice echoed off the cavern walls like a winter wind.
“Your brother sent two rogue cultivators to take my head earlier. Their bodies are currently rotting three miles south of here.”
He paused, letting the words sink in.
“Since your family is so eager to reunite with them, I will gladly send you to the yellow springs to guide them.”