Ning Xian reached out, her two slender fingers gently tapping against his wrist.
Clearing the heart, calming the mind, and guiding the energy back to the source.
Fang Xuan: "......"
...So this was how she "helped."
He felt the bit of anticipation he’d just held pop like a bubble, vanishing with a soft hiss.
No way...
...He had even prepared himself for...
System, does this count as training? Does guiding blood and energy count?
......
Fang Xuan stared at the leaping flames of the campfire, his gaze somewhat vacant.
It seemed he really would have to punish Senior Sister harshly...
Once they returned, he would definitely... well, find a way. At the very least, he had to make her realize that her junior brother didn’t just need feeding—he also needed to perform some serious training on her.
Thinking of this, his gaze fell back onto the fragrant mushroom soup in the pot.
"Senior Sister, is there any soup left?" he leaned in and asked expectantly.
Ning Xian glanced at him. Seeing that his complexion had returned to normal, she nodded and served him another bowl.
Fang Xuan took it and, with a series of loud gulps, finished the entire bowl of hot soup in a few mouthfuls.
Ning Xian: "......?"
Didn't he just say the medicinal effects were too intense? Why was he drinking so much now?
"It’s a bit cold, drinking more helps stay warm," Fang Xuan explained without a hint of guilt.
Unfortunately, it seemed his body had adapted.
Aside from a bit of warmth, this second bowl of soup produced no other reaction.
Fang Xuan was a bit disappointed, but he could only let it go.
......
The night deepened, and the cold grew heavier.
Ning Xian arranged the watch: "You take the first half of the night, and I’ll take the second."
"Though this place is safe for now, we cannot be careless. I will set up a few simple warning restriction barriers."
"Alright."
Fang Xuan agreed. With his current Void Core Realm cultivation, going without sleep for ten days or a month was no issue; keeping watch was perfect.
But Senior Sister was still in the Body Tempering Realm. She was the type with maxed-out attack and skills, but an extremely fragile constitution.
Therefore, she needed normal meals and sleep to recover.
He didn't plan on waking her; he would just stay on guard.
After setting the restriction barriers, Ning Xian walked to the other side of the fire and lay down with her clothes on.
Fang Xuan sat cross-legged nearby. While keeping a thread of his divine sense alert to the surroundings, he circulated his cultivation method, absorbing the thick spiritual energy within the secret realm.
At the same time, he didn't let his hands stay idle. He took out several array disks and set up a simple concealment array around them.
Safety first.
......
Time flowed silently.
The stars in the night sky were exceptionally bright, the Milky Way stretching out like a white ribbon.
During the latter half of the night, while Fang Xuan was immersed in comprehending his new cultivation method, he suddenly felt a slight movement beside him.
He opened his eyes to see Ning Xian, who had originally been sleeping properly with her back to him, had turned over at some point.
Her cold brow was slightly furrowed, as if she were encountering something unpleasant in her dreams.
Then, she moved subconsciously, her small head slowly inching closer toward him.
Fang Xuan: "!!!"
He froze in place, watching that small head eventually rest against his leg, even nuzzling it slightly.
Her furrowed brow seemed to relax upon finding a heat source, but her sleeping face was still not entirely peaceful.
Was this still the cold and distant Senior Sister Ning he knew?
After hesitating for a moment, he still reached out.
His fingertips landed on her slightly furrowed brow, gently smoothing it out.
This was much better.
Ning Xian seemed to be stirred by his touch. Her long eyelashes trembled, and her eyes drowsily opened to a narrow slit.
Their eyes met.
The campfire was on the verge of going out, its remaining light hazy.
Fang Xuan could clearly see the misty, watery light in her eyes as she woke, along with his own reflection.
She looked at him, her gaze devoid of the coldness from the daytime, replaced only by an ignorant daze.
She watched him for a few seconds, seemingly confirming who it was, and then closed her eyes again with peace of mind.
Fang Xuan's hand remained suspended in mid-air.
He slowly withdrew his hand, looking at the sleeping Ning Xian once more. For some reason, the thought of punishing her harshly was replaced by an increasing urge to pin her down.
Forget it, why bother arguing with a Senior Sister who is so... cute after falling asleep?
......
Early the next morning, as the daylight faintly dawned.
Only then did Ning Xian wake up.
She glanced at Fang Xuan, who was meditating beside her, and the arrays set up around them.
"Why didn't you wake me?"
Fang Xuan also opened his eyes and stretched his muscles.
"I forgot... hahaha."
The two tacitly avoided mentioning the incident from the previous night. They extinguished the remnants of the campfire and continued on their journey.
Their goal: the depths of the snow mountain.
As they climbed higher, the wind and snow grew fiercer.
For cultivators, this ordinary cold could usually be ignored, but the blizzard in this secret realm seemed to be laced with a type of extreme cold spiritual power.
Fang Xuan didn't mind; his spiritual energy was thick, and his half-step Void Core Realm cultivation was enough to sustain him.
But Ning Xian was currently only in the Body Tempering Realm.
As they walked, Fang Xuan suddenly felt his hand being gripped by a slightly cool hand.
Ning Xian didn't change her expression, keeping her eyes on the mountain path blurred by snow. Her voice was calm: "The wind and snow are too heavy. It's easy to get separated."
"Mhm... alright."
......
Following Senior Sister's treasure-mouse intuition, the harvest along the way was simply jaw-dropping.
Almost every few steps, they would discover something good.
Snow ginseng of incredible age, glowing star-trace grass...
Although some things weren't of the highest grade to Fang Xuan, the quantity and quality far exceeded normal secret realm exploration.
"Senior Sister, have you... been here before?"
Fang Xuan couldn't help but ask.
This treasure-hunting efficiency was basically cheating, wasn't it?
Ning Xian didn't stop her pace, shaking her head lightly: "I have not."
Near noon, they found a cave entrance half-hidden by thick icicles under a massive leeward ice cliff.
Faint spiritual energy fluctuations emanated from within the cave, carrying a refreshing, icy fragrance.
"Jade marrow." Ning Xian’s eyes lit up slightly as she spoke two words.
The two entered the cave.
The cavern wasn't deep, but at the end, there was a naturally formed stone depression.
A shallow layer of white jade-colored liquid had accumulated in the hollow.
A extremely rare natural spiritual treasure—Ten-Thousand-Year Ice-Core Jade Marrow! Moreover, judging by its concentration and spiritual glow, the quality was terrifyingly high.
This item was a supreme treasure for cultivators who practiced ice-attribute arts.
Even if the attributes didn't match, its incredibly pure spiritual energy and its effects on tempering the physical body and stabilizing the soul were enough to drive any cultivator mad.
Such a small pool of it was of immeasurable value.
Returning with this would not only bring one to the late-stage Void Core Realm; it would be more than enough to directly charge into the Golden Core Realm.
Ning Xian was about to step forward to collect it when her movements suddenly stopped.
She raised her right hand, spreading her palm.
Beneath the skin of her palm, a blood-colored mark, so faint it was almost invisible, was currently glowing slightly, emitting a stinging pain.
A drop of bright red blood uncontrollably seeped out from the center of the mark, dripping onto the water-slicked rock.
"Tracking restriction..."
Ning Xian's voice instantly turned cold.
It was Shen Chen.
Generally speaking, sect rules did not allow high-level cultivators like elders or peak lords to enter secret realms to avoid damaging the realm's stability.
"What's wrong?" Fang Xuan asked.
"Let's go first," Ning Xian said, pulling Fang Xuan to leave.
Just then.
A slightly raspy female voice, laced with a hint of mocking laughter, drifted leisurely from the direction of the cave entrance:
"Tsk tsk tsk, jade marrow... truly good stuff. It wasn't in vain for me to go through all this trouble."
Following the words, a female figure whose brow and eyes were thirty percent similar to Shen Chen's slowly turned out from behind the icicles at the entrance, blocking the only exit.
She radiated the spiritual energy fluctuations of the early-stage Void Core Realm, but her gaze was like a venomous snake, firmly locked onto Ning Xian and Fang Xuan.
Ning Xian stopped her steps, shielding Fang Xuan slightly behind her as she spoke in a low voice: "Soul-Anchoring Art..."
The Soul-Anchoring Art was a sinister secret technique that allowed one to forcibly peel away a portion of their own soul and anchor it within another's body.
While it allowed temporary control and even a portion of one's original strength, it caused immense damage to the original body, ranging from a drop in cultivation realm to permanent soul damage.
It seemed that in order to kill them, Shen Chen was willing to ignore even his own cultivation foundation.
Fang Xuan frowned from the side. Soul-Anchoring Art?
It didn't sound like anything good.
Ning Xian looked solemnly at the woman at the cave entrance, explaining: "A split remnant soul extracted by Shen Chen is temporarily anchored within this vessel."
After hearing this, Fang Xuan looked at the undisguised mockery in the woman's eyes and asked: "So, this woman outside... is Shen Chen?"
"You could understand it that way. By using this body, the strength he can exert is likely close to a portion of his original body, at least... far beyond an ordinary Void Core."
......
At the cave entrance, Shen Chen’s female vessel grinned, her gaze scanning back and forth between Fang Xuan and Ning Xian.
"Today, you two and this jade marrow shall rest eternally here together..."
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