The ice spring was nearly a zhang across. Icy mist rose from its surface, and its bitter cold pressed against them.
As Xu Ziqing approached, a freezing current threatened to injure him. Only after circulating his true essence through several complete cycles did he begin to feel warm again.
Even then, his fingers and cheeks remained slightly stiff.
Yun Lie looked down at him. “Are you all right?”
Xu Ziqing smiled faintly. “I’m fine.”
Yun Lie took his wrist and sent a vast stream of true essence into him, sweeping away the last of the cold in an instant.
Xu Ziqing let out a soft breath and felt much more comfortable.
Now he wished all the more urgently to find the divine water and form his Nascent Soul. Otherwise, if they visited another dangerous place, its strange and unpredictable illusions might put him through quite an ordeal. He did not want to hold his senior brother back.
The two looked into the spring.
Its pool was perfectly round, like a full moon. The icy water lay as still as a mirror, clearly reflecting anyone standing beside it.
At the center of this mirror, two curved “crescent moons” embraced each other, their heads and tails touching like two fish.
Something seemed to be boiling within those crescents, sending up a steady stream of bubbles.
Xu Ziqing brightened. “Senior Brother, those must be the warm currents produced by extreme cold.”
Yun Lie gave a slight nod. “I’ll collect them.”
With Xu Ziqing’s strength, collecting the spring’s contents would be difficult. Even if he forced himself to do it, the cold would injure him badly.
Yun Lie, by contrast, possessed a naturally cold aura and feared no such thing.
In a flicker, Yun Lie entered the ice spring.
The water was shallow, reaching only his waist. With every step toward the center, his imposing aura grew stronger.
Xu Ziqing watched intently.
Yun Lie moved quickly. As he approached the crescents, a pure bottle about a chi long appeared in his palm. He pressed its mouth against the crescents, and in just a few breaths collected both of them into the bottle. Then he returned to the bank. True essence circulated through his body, dispelling the cold and drying his clothes completely.
Xu Ziqing asked, “Senior Brother, how was it? Did the spring produce divine water?”
Yun Lie nodded. “If my senses are correct, it did.”
Xu Ziqing relaxed. They had obtained the divine water, fulfilling the purpose of their journey. He no longer needed to worry.
They did not linger. After Yun Lie put away the pure bottle, Xu Ziqing gathered some of the extremely cold spring water for possible future use.
There were also many ice-attribute spiritual herbs around the spring. He collected seeds from some and entire mature plants from others, adding considerably to his harvest.
Afterward, the two rejoined the Feng family, greeted Family Head Feng Tai, and accompanied them back toward the Ice and Snow Immortal Palace.
Although the trip had required some effort, it had gone fairly smoothly. Feng Tai was equally relieved and dared not waste time on the journey back.
Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie encountered no obstacles at the Second Ice Palace and entered without delay. Feng Tai took his leave, bringing his family members to bid farewell to the Second Young Palace Master. Meanwhile, Zhuang Wei came out to welcome the two men.
Zhuang Wei smiled. “You’re finally back! Hezhi hasn’t had anyone to spar with lately, and he’s getting rather impatient. Fellow Daoist Yun, I hope you’ll bear with him.”
Yun Lie glanced at him and nodded. “I also enjoy exchanging moves with him.”
Zhuang Wei was all the more delighted.
Ever since reuniting with Xu Ziqing, he had finally made up for certain old regrets. He also had a close friend to listen to his feelings, and much of the sadness weighing on him had faded.
They might not have much more time together. He wanted to make the most of it.
Xu Ziqing smiled warmly, took Zhuang Wei’s hand, and entered the hall with him.
After settling Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie in their rooms, Zhuang Wei hurried away to attend to his duties. But as soon as he disappeared, Xu Ziqing frowned.
Yun Lie noticed immediately. “Why are you so troubled?”
Xu Ziqing swept his spiritual sense around the area to make certain no one was nearby, then said quietly, “Senior Brother, something is wrong with Zhuang Wei.”
Yun Lie regarded him. “He is sincere toward you. If something is wrong, it is not his character, but his person.”
Xu Ziqing nodded. “When we first reunited, I was so happy that I noticed nothing unusual even when we clasped hands. Later I felt vaguely uneasy, but Yuezheng Hezhi treated him so well that I dismissed the feeling. When he came to welcome us today, it occurred to me to check while we were holding hands. The contact lasted only a moment, yet I still discovered something.”
Yun Lie said nothing.
Xu Ziqing sighed. “A Golden Core cultivator can live eight hundred years. Lifespan and life force are closely connected. Ordinary people might not sense the difference, but Senior Brother, you know that my cultivation is founded on the Great Art of Myriad Woods Heart-Planting. Ever since I formed my Golden Core, I’ve grown increasingly sensitive to life force.”
“Zhuang Wei is only a little over ten years older than I am, and I’m barely more than a hundred. He should still have more than six hundred years of life ahead of him. Yet his life force is almost completely exhausted. Unless I’m mistaken, he has fewer than twenty years left…”
Xu Ziqing felt grief rise in his heart as he spoke.
He had assumed Zhuang Wei had reached Golden Core so quickly despite possessing three spiritual roots because he had access to rare natural treasures and the abundant spiritual energy of the Qianyuan Great World, while Yuezheng Hezhi obtained suitable cultivation methods and guided him.
But now it was clear that Zhuang Wei had achieved this only by sacrificing his own lifespan and damaging his foundation!
Given Yuezheng Hezhi’s temperament and how highly he valued Zhuang Wei, he surely would not deliberately subject him to such a fate. Then what had happened?
Yun Lie said simply, “Ask him directly.”
Xu Ziqing hesitated. Ask Zhuang Wei? If he had not told Xu Ziqing himself, there must be a reason he found difficult to discuss.
Yun Lie shook his head slightly. “Ask Yuezheng Hezhi.”
Xu Ziqing paused, then understood.
Lifespan was an intensely private matter. Even a close friend should not carelessly expose another person’s painful secret. But if Yun Lie asked Yuezheng Hezhi, then if the man truly cared about Zhuang Wei, he would not overlook the smallest possibility of helping him. Before their matches, he might have brushed the question aside. Now, however, Yuezheng Hezhi knew that Yun Lie and Xu Ziqing belonged to the Zhou Tian Immortal Sect. A sect of that caliber possessed immense stores of information and rare treasures. He might well explain the situation in hopes they could think of a solution too.
Having settled on this, Yun Lie turned and went to find Yuezheng Hezhi.
Xu Ziqing considered following, then decided against it.
Yuezheng Hezhi had acknowledged Yun Lie as a friend, but not Xu Ziqing in the same way. It would be better to leave the matter in his senior brother’s hands.
Before long, Yun Lie returned.
Yuezheng Hezhi came with him.
Xu Ziqing stood and looked behind Yuezheng Hezhi, but Zhuang Wei was nowhere to be seen.
Yuezheng Hezhi said, “I’ve assigned him an important task. He won’t be back for two hours.”
Xu Ziqing nodded. Without beating around the bush, he asked, “Palace Master Yuezheng, could you tell me why Brother Zhuang’s life force is so badly depleted? And his remaining lifespan…”
He still clung to a small hope that there might be some other explanation, or perhaps this was only a temporary condition that would improve in time.
Yuezheng Hezhi studied him. A flash of pain passed swiftly through his eyes. “Zhuang Wei’s condition is entirely my fault.”
Xu Ziqing’s heart sank.
Yuezheng Hezhi seemed not to notice his expression. He closed his eyes briefly and began in a quiet voice. “After Zhuang Wei returned here with me, I often traveled across the ice plains, seeking demonic beasts to fight to the death so that I might advance my cultivation. He accompanied me frequently. In those days, I was exceedingly arrogant and believed I could protect him from anything. But one day, we blundered into a demonic beast’s lair, and six eighth-rank beasts surrounded me. I was already at Soul Transformation, but the beasts were powerful, no weaker in cultivation than I was, and extremely cunning. I sustained injuries in several places while fighting them. Then one beast attacked from behind, using a divine ability that would have pierced straight through my body!” He paused, then continued. “Zhuang Wei had been sheltering inside a protective treasure so he wouldn’t distract me. But he saw the attack. Somehow he managed to rush over and block it for me with his own flesh and blood!”
As he spoke, the fierce aura between his brows seemed to intensify.
The story sounded familiar. Xu Ziqing remembered Feng Qi speaking with boundless admiration about the Second Young Palace Master killing several eighth-rank demonic beasts. So this was what had really happened.
Could it be…
Sure enough, Yuezheng Hezhi’s story was not over.
At the time, Zhuang Wei had not been with him for long. Despite all his efforts to cultivate, he had only just reached Foundation Establishment.
The beast’s strike shattered his internal organs and destroyed his dantian. There was no possibility of survival.
But how could Yuezheng Hezhi simply watch him die?
Fortunately, the Ice and Snow Immortal Palace possessed a secret technique that could burn lifespan to bring someone back from the brink of death.
While Zhuang Wei still had one breath left, Yuezheng Hezhi performed the technique.
Yet the technique did not merely demand lifespan from the caster. The person saved by it also had to pay a price.
Yuezheng Hezhi burned a full five hundred years of his own life to activate it. At the same time, nearly all of Zhuang Wei’s three-hundred-year Foundation Establishment lifespan was consumed.
When Zhuang Wei was brought back, he had only three days left to live.
What difference was there between saving him this way and letting him die?
Desperate, Yuezheng Hezhi poured his own true essence into Zhuang Wei and supplemented it with countless precious pills. Burning another seven hundred years of his own lifespan, he forcibly propelled Zhuang Wei into the Essence Transformation stage. Even so, after paying the price exacted from him, Zhuang Wei had only a few years remaining. Yuezheng Hezhi then burned yet another thousand years and infused him with more true essence, bringing him all the way to Golden Core.
Only then did Zhuang Wei have more than a hundred years of life left.
In total, Yuezheng Hezhi had sacrificed twenty-five hundred years. As a Soul Transformation cultivator, he still had two thousand years ahead of him, and his extraordinary talent meant he did not begrudge the loss. But even the most miraculous pills and spiritual medicines could only forcibly elevate another person’s cultivation to Golden Core. Bringing someone to Nascent Soul that way was absolutely impossible.
Worse, Zhuang Wei’s Golden Core had been forced into existence. His own cultivation reserves were too shallow for him to form his Nascent Soul through personal effort. If he was to live, only one path remained: seek extraordinary natural treasures and refine an exceedingly precious pill capable of extending his lifespan.
From then on, Yuezheng Hezhi, who had never enjoyed idle socializing, began holding birthday banquets every year. He also became far less selective about the people he accepted as followers.
It was all to find those precious natural treasures.
Over the years, he had managed to obtain most of the ingredients listed in the pill formula. Only a few were still missing.
But as time ran short, those ingredients remained beyond his reach. Some had long since vanished from the world, with nowhere left to search…
Never since his birth had Yuezheng Hezhi known such anxiety.
And yet he was utterly helpless.
Elio’s Note: The lifespan math takes a little detour here. Yuezheng Hezhi’s three sacrifices are given as 500, 700, and 1,000 years, which add up to 2,200. The narration later says 2,500 years. I’ve kept both figures as they appear in the Chinese original.