After Lu Xueqing’s breakthrough, life returned to its quiet routine.
Bai Qingxue continued her daily cultivation: the cold pond in the early morning, the quiet room in the afternoon, and sword practice in the evening. Pills were consumed one by one, and her spiritual power grew bit by bit. However, even with the Ice Condensation Pills, her progress was not fast.
At this moment, Bai Qingxue clearly felt how stubborn the barrier between the sixth and seventh levels of Qi Refining was.
If the previous barriers were like thin ice, this level was a stone wall.
For three consecutive days, she applied the same force at the same position with the same result—the barrier remained unmoved.
On the morning of the fourth day, Bai Qingxue rose, washed, and went to the cold pond.
It was the same as every day before.
The only difference was that this time, she sat in the pond water for an extra half hour.
It wasn't because her cultivation required it; Bai Qingxue simply didn't want to get out.
Going up meant returning to the quiet room; returning to the quiet room meant meditating; and meditating meant hitting that wall.
While Bai Qingxue wasn't afraid of hitting a wall, she hated the feeling of being unable to exert any influence.
That feeling allowed other things to surface from the depths of her heart—things without shape or sound, yet far harder to push through than any barrier.
That afternoon, when Bai Qingxue returned from the cold pond, she didn't go back to the quiet room. Instead, she went to the main hall.
Liu Ningshuang was sitting at her desk, leafing through a register. Hearing footsteps, she looked up.
“Is something the matter?”
Bai Qingxue sat down opposite her. Her robes were still damp, and a small patch of water seeped into the stone tiles.
“My cultivation has stagnated at the barrier between the sixth and seventh levels,” Bai Qingxue said in a steady voice. “I wish to ask the Perfected One if there is a way to overcome this.”
Liu Ningshuang set down the register and glanced at her. Her gaze was calm, showing no surprise.
“The watershed of the Qi Refining stage cannot be crossed through bitter cultivation alone,” she said. “What you lack is not spiritual power, but a catalyst.”
A catalyst.
Bai Qingxue chewed on the word.
“Then, what is a catalyst?” Bai Qingxue continued to ask.
Liu Ningshuang looked at her, seemingly having anticipated this follow-up. She lowered her eyes, took a map from a drawer, spread it out, and pointed a finger at a specific location.
“Deep within the Luoyun Mountain Range, there is an Ice Ganoderma. It grows where yin veins converge and has a miraculous effect on helping those with Ice Spiritual Roots break through bottlenecks. However, a monster beast guards it. If you wish, you may go and retrieve it.”
Bai Qingxue’s gaze fell upon the map.
“What does the Ice Ganoderma look like?”
“It is pure white, with leaf edges that shimmer with a blue light.” Liu Ningshuang handed her a jade box. “Use this to store it. Take only one, and leave immediately once you have it. Do not be greedy.”
Bai Qingxue took the jade box and placed it into her storage bag.
She stood up, bowed to Liu Ningshuang, and took her leave. Naturally, Liu Ningshuang made no move to keep her.
By the time she returned to the courtyard, the twilight was already creeping in.
Bai Qingxue didn't enter the house but stood under the old plum tree instead.
The buds on the withered branches had grown larger than they were a few days ago. Some had even cracked open, revealing tender green tips inside.
Bai Qingxue glanced at them before withdrawing her gaze and raising her hand.
With a single thought.
A chill seeped from her palm, condensing into tiny snowflakes in the twilight. One, two, ten, a hundred.
They drifted slowly around her, landing on her shoulders, in her hair, and on the stone table.
Bai Qingxue didn't lower her hand, letting the snow continue to fall. One flake piled upon another, forming a thin layer of white on the stone table’s surface. It condensed without scattering, growing thicker and thicker, like real snow.
She stared at the layer of snow for a while. Then, her intent shifted.
The snowflakes suddenly changed direction. Instead of falling, they swirled upward, forming a slowly rotating ring of snow around her.
The snow ring spun faster and faster. The ice crystals at the edges were flung out, shattering into even finer powder in the air, shimmering with a cold light in the twilight.
Bai Qingxue closed her eyes for a moment.
In the darkness, something seemed to well up.
It wasn't loneliness; loneliness was too light.
It was something heavier.
If it had to be described, it was like standing in a place where there was nothing.
It was empty beneath his feet, empty above his head, and empty in every direction.
There was no orientation, no boundaries, and nothing to hold onto or lean against.
Bai Qingxue didn't know how he had arrived here, nor did he know where to go.
It seemed that since the reincarnation, this feeling had always followed him.
Only usually, he always had a way to avoid looking at it.
He would immerse his entire mind in cultivation.
When spiritual power surged through his meridians and the orb of light in his dantian rotated slowly, the tangible sensation of "growing" would fill all the cracks.
He would not hear that emptiness, nor would he have the leisure to care about it.
With every cycle of spiritual power, he would take a small step forward.
Even if it was only a small step, it meant growth and life.
That feeling made Bai Qingxue feel that she was still vibrant, still existing.
But tonight was different.
Tonight, Bai Qingxue sat on the stone bed for a long time, circulating her spiritual power through cycle after cycle.
But the barrier was still there, exactly the same as when she had left that morning.
At the same time, she could not feel any growth in her spiritual power.
It was like pouring water into a jar with a hole in the bottom. No matter how much was poured in, it all leaked out.
She didn't know where that spiritual power went. Perhaps it was swallowed by that wall, or perhaps it had never grown at all.
Bai Qingxue opened her eyes and withdrew her spiritual power.
There was no point in sitting any longer.
She didn't want to do things that had no meaning.
The snowflakes on the stone table slowly melted, turning into droplets of water.
The droplets flowed down along the patterns and disappeared into the cracks in the stone.
She rose and returned to the quiet room.
Inside the quiet room, Bai Qingxue did not light a lamp. She sat in the darkness for a long time.
The bronze mirror was still face down on the table, its back patterns shimmering with a dull luster in the moonlight.
He did not look at it.
His gaze fell out the window. The shadow of the old plum tree swayed gently in the wind. The buds on the branches were hard to see clearly in the moonlight, but he knew they were growing.
They were growing, but he was not.
This feeling wasn't exactly painful; it just felt... empty.
It wasn't sadness or anger, but a very quiet, helpless emptiness.
If her spiritual power didn't increase, it meant she couldn't move forward.
If he couldn't move forward, he could only sit here, staying with those questions that had no answers.
And he didn't want to stay with them... Bai Qingxue sat in the darkness for a few more moments, then slowly lay down and closed her eyes, something she hadn't done in a long time.
Since the reincarnation, how long had it been since he had closed his eyes?
Come to think of it, Bai Qingxue herself couldn't remember...
Rate on N.U.
