Chapter 1: Strange Encounter in the Cold

  Vast continent, State of Yan Yun, Cloud and Mist Mountain.

  The cloud and misty mountains stretch for thousands of miles, with lush green peaks standing tall, and countless cliffs, mountain streams, canyons, and caves. Countless rare birds and beasts inhabit this land, where even the most skilled warriors dare not tread lightly on the vast mountain terrain.

  A jade-like waterfall hangs down from the steep peaks, and the water falls hundreds of feet to form a rain of flying droplets that dance in the air, drifting gently into a deep pool at the foot of the mountain, stirring up endless ripples.

  A huge rock stood upright at the edge of the pond, and a young man sat cross-legged on top of it.

  He looked like he was only fifteen or sixteen years old, with a slender figure, sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, his resolute face still had a hint of childishness.

  The young man's upper body was a deep crimson, with a light bronze-colored skin underneath. The bulging muscles were as solid as steel casting, containing immense power that left one in awe!

  His name is Qin Yun, from Shang Lie Village five miles away. Every afternoon, he comes to the Water Pool to practice his body and martial arts skills, never stopping for ten years despite wind, frost, rain or snow.

  At this moment, Qin Yun's inner heart was far from as calm as his surface.

  He started training his body at the age of five and spent ten years practicing diligently. With his outstanding talent and innate perseverance, he reached the ninth level of physical training a year ago and cultivated the family's Red Flame Heart Technique to the second layer of Yang Fire Triple Reiteration!

  The vast nine provinces are filled with warriors like clouds, their strength is divided into five major realms: Forging Body, Refining Qi, Innate, Transforming Aura, and Divine Communication. Each realm contains nine smaller sub-realms of the Nine Heavens.

  Qin Yun's body has a strong martial arts foundation, and he has been practicing both internal and external skills since childhood. Now, whether it is his muscles, bones, skin, or blood vessels, they have all been tempered to the point where they can withstand the impact of true energy. The true energy in his dantian is thick and solid, but he has always been unable to break through the bottleneck and open up his meridians to refine his energy.

  The transition from the Refining Body stage to the Refining Qi stage is a qualitative leap, and only after reaching the latter can one be considered to have truly set foot on the path of martial arts. Being stuck at this juncture for an entire year, how could it not make a young man with great ambitions feel a little anxious?

  He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, closing his eyes to clear his mind of distractions. He stirred the accumulated Chi in his Dan Tian, sending it surging towards his meridians.

  Wu Mai is also known as Qi Mai, it is a special meridian for running true Qi.

  Martial pulse is not something that everyone possesses. Only those with martial pulse can cultivate internal energy and condense true qi. Those without martial pulse, even if they practice martial arts, will at most only reach the ninth level of physical refinement.

  The pulse is also different from person to person, and it can be divided into different types and levels. Some people have a natural talent and can make rapid progress in their practice, while others may have average abilities and no matter how hard they try, they cannot break through to higher levels.

  Qin Yun's martial pulse was robust and resilient, his innate talent could be considered top-notch, but for some reason, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't open his meridians to guide the qi.

  What is meant by "opening the pulse" refers to running the true qi to open up the martial pulse, leading the true qi of the dantian directly to the four limbs and skull, thereby penetrating the entire body's meridians, which is the most important condition for advancing to the Lianqi realm.

  Unable to open meridians, no matter how good one's innate talent is, they will never become a true strongman.

  As the heart secret turned, three flame-shaped true energy clusters quickly took shape in Qin Yun's dantian. They spun rapidly and merged into a single true energy stream that shot towards the connected dan Tian's wuji.

  Like the thousands of times before, Qin Yun's true energy was met with Wu Mai's stubborn resistance and could only advance a few inches before being unable to break through.

  Soon, beads of sweat the size of peas appeared on his forehead. Part of the true energy condensed in his dantian was consumed when it collided with the martial pulse, while another part dispersed into his limbs and bones.

  Chi Yan Xin Jue is a top-notch foundational internal energy cultivation technique, and the Chi Yan True Energy it cultivates is fierce and powerful. However, since Qin Yun's meridians have not been opened yet, the true energy that is emitted cannot be controlled or absorbed, affecting his body.

  Qin Yun's skin turned a deep crimson, his entire body resembling a cooked shrimp. Sweat had not even seeped out of his pores before it evaporated into gas, and his internal organs felt as if they were being scorched by flames.

  If he didn't have the robust physique tempered over ten years, the scattered Flame True Qi would be enough to take his life!

  He persisted for a whole incense stick's time, and when the skin on his face cracked with fine lines due to excessive dryness, Qin Yun reluctantly gave up his unknown number of attempts at opening his meridians.

  He opened his eyes, shook his head helplessly, stood up straight, and jumped into the water with a beautiful fish-like posture.

  When entering the water, it didn't even splash a single ripple!

  The icy cold water of the pool instantly submerged Qin Yun, sucking away the heat from his skin in an instant, and he felt refreshed and comfortable immediately.

  The Hanshuiyan at the foot of Yunwu Mountain is not large in area, but it is quite peculiar. Normally, no matter how much rain falls, it will not overflow, and even in a year of severe drought, it will not dry up by half.

  The water in the pool is extremely cold, and no one from Shanghui Village has ever dared to enter the pool for a swim or play, because those who dare to do so have all sunk into the pool and died without leaving any remains.

  Qin Yun was an exception.

  The intense flame power of the Red Flame Heart Technique he cultivated was extremely vigorous, and unless he took special medicine to regulate it, long-term cultivation would cause certain damage to his body.

  The cold pond water was just right to neutralize the flame power of the Red Flame Heart Technique, and Qin Yun also discovered its benefits unintentionally, so he came to the edge of the cold pond every afternoon to practice his technique.

  In fact, his Chi Yan Xin Jue could be cultivated to the level of Yang Huo San Ceng, and this had a great deal to do with Han Tan.

  In the water, a string of bubbles was spat out, and Qin Yun stretched out his hands and feet towards the depths of the cold pond.

  The deeper down, the colder and darker it was, and the enormous pressure that came with it made it hard for people to bear, but Qin Yun had long been accustomed to adapting over the years, so he continued to dive deep without a care.

  Tan Shui's cold power and pressure were both tempering his heart-natured physique and Chi Yan's true energy. Qin Yun had once dived into the depths of Tan Shui, dozens of meters deep.

  But today's failure in opening the pulse again made him feel a surge of evil fire in his heart, and he couldn't help but want to push himself to the limit, to see if he could explore the deepest part of the Cold Pond.

  Several chi-long green fish swam leisurely past him, and the cold pond was not a forbidden zone for life. There were many fish living in it, and they all tasted extremely delicious.

  Just as Qin Yun was about to catch the fish, the carp around him suddenly seemed to have received a huge shock and frantically shook their tails and fled in all directions.

  A dark shadow suddenly appeared near Qin Yun, silent and swift in speed.

  A frantic and desperate green fish happened to rush forward and was swallowed by the black shadow in one gulp!

  However, Qin Yun did not show any surprise, but instead a smile appeared on his face, and he waved his hand at the black shadow.

  A dark shadow quickly approached him and turned out to be a huge carp, about 7 or 8 feet long.

  It touched Qin Yun's arm with its long carp whiskers, and the dark red scales on its body, as big as a palm, rippled in the pool water, emitting a faint cold light.

  Qin Yun reached out and stroked its slippery head, looking very affectionate.

  This carp is the overlord of the cold pond and has been alive for many years, very spiritual.

  Every time Qin Yun sneaked into the Cold Pond, Chi Li would come over to accompany and play with him, adding a bit of fun to his dull cultivation life.

  After playing for a while, Qin Yun continued to dive towards the bottom of the pool.

  The red carp accompanied him all the way until Qin Yun took a deep breath and dove to a depth of over thirty feet, before reluctantly turning around and leaving.

  But Qin Yun did not stop, he wanted to try his own limits.

  At this depth, the pressure of the pool water was already very great, but still within Qin Yun's tolerance range.

  No fish can be seen around, although the sunlight cannot reach such a deep place, but there are many floating algae in the water, emitting tiny lights, allowing Qin Yun to barely see the scene within a range of about ten feet.

  Another dozen or so zhang down, Qin Yun finally felt the real pressure.

  The icy power of the pool water suppressed the remaining scarlet flame energy in his body, and his joints made a fine cracking sound due to the external force crushing them.

  It's almost there! Although he still can't reach the bottom of the pool, Qin Yun knows that this is almost his limit.

  The invading chill made him clearer-headed than ever, and he wouldn't go doing something that would get him killed.

  However, just as Qin Yun was about to turn over and float up, he suddenly noticed something in his left lower corner of vision.

  This discovery made him move in his heart, slightly adjusted his posture and carefully looked at it with his eyes, and found that there was a thing emitting a faint light in the deeper part, but it was vague and unclear.

  What's that? Qin Yun's curiosity was immediately piqued.

  After all, he was just a fifteen-year-old boy. Although he clearly knew it was very dangerous here, he couldn't help the impulse in his heart and ventured to swim towards that thing, wanting to find out the truth.

  After diving seven or eight feet, Qin Yun finally saw clearly that the glowing thing was actually a duck egg-sized peculiar gemstone!

  Its surface is rounded and constantly changing color, from crimson to cyan, flowing with colorful light, half buried in black mud, extremely beautiful and eye-catching.

  Around the gemstone, a half-concealed grayish-white human skeleton is presented!

  In terms of position, this gemstone is placed at the sternum, as if it were being held by the skeleton's hands.

  Qin Yun's eyes widened in surprise as he hadn't expected himself to reach the bottom of the Cold Cavern, and yet he had discovered something.

  However, the painful groans from his skeletal system and the chill that pierced through his body reminded Qin Yun that his current situation was not good.

  Without thinking twice, Qin Yun gritted his teeth and kicked his legs towards the gemstone.

  The pressure of the pool water suddenly surged, Qin Yun only felt a blackness in front of his eyes, and threads of fresh blood overflowed from his mouth, nose, and ears, but his fingers touched that piece of five-colored gemstone.

  A strange feeling came from his fingertips, he grasped the gemstone firmly in his hand, and with his last bit of strength turned to swim upstream.

  With one breath, he floated up more than a dozen feet, and the pressure of the pool water was greatly reduced. However, Qin Yun's internal true energy had been completely depleted, and the invading cold force had frozen his entire body stiff.

  What's even more frightening is that his legs cramped at this moment!

  Overwhelming pain and a chill that permeated his entire body finally destroyed Qin Yun's last will.

  He fainted away.