28. Young and Fearless

"Junior Sister!" Zhou Yan’s voice cracked in sheer alarm.

He prepared to descend into the pool, but the biting cold of the water made his very bones ache. *The Water-Avoidance Bead.* A thought struck him, and he hurriedly rummaged through his belongings. Thankfully, he had listened to his junior sister and brought everything; it should come in handy.

"Found it." Just as he was about to enter the pool, he caught sight of Lin Jiuzi sleeping soundly beside him. His hand, clutching the bead, dropped, and the excitement on his face vanished. If he went after Jiuge, what would happen to Jiuzi? Who knew what other dangers lurked in the surroundings?

He set up a concealment array around them, gathered Lin Jiuzi into his arms, and sat quietly with the two beads resting by his side. Zhou Yan stared longingly at the pool, as if Lin Jiuge might emerge at any second.

Inside the pool, Lin Jiuge’s body temperature had dropped, but her eyes remained searingly hot. The nameless sword within her sea of consciousness released a cold, sharp sword aura, helping her purge the clumps of black residue from her eyes. Once shattered, these black fragments flowed out of her body with her tears and dissolved upon touching the pool water.

Once she regained control, she began to circulate her cultivation techniques. She ran "God-Slaying" and the "Classic of Reason" simultaneously. Within her body, the black-red energy and the milky-white energy surged without interfering with one another; one destroyed, breaking through the blockages within her, while the other repaired the minute injuries left by that destruction.

After seventy-two cycles, her eyes still throbbed with pain, but she could open them. Her vision was blurry, yet her senses had returned. She realized she was underwater. As the pool water continuously washed over her eyes, her vision became increasingly clear. She could even peer through the depths of the pool, seeing the icicles and those mysterious water droplets that had nearly cost her her life. Looking past the icicles, she saw a wisp of silver thread within them, and beyond that, the sky above. *Have my eyes evolved again?* she wondered, touching her eyelids.

As her consciousness fully recovered and she reclaimed control of her body, a thought struck her: she didn't know how to swim!

The thought was so intense that her body felt the pool’s rejection. In a panic, she grabbed onto something and propelled herself upward.

"Cough, cough! Help!" Lin Jiuge broke the surface in a disheveled mess, flailing her arms and legs in a frantic, undignified scramble.

Zhou Yan’s dull eyes lit up the moment he saw her. Heaven knows how his heart had been tossed and turned during this time. He had released paper crane after paper crane without a single reply; he had tried using an unlimited communication talisman, only to find it restricted. He suddenly recalled his junior sister's words—truly, one never knew if the unexpected or tomorrow would arrive first. At this moment, his heart felt heavy.

He dispelled the concealment array and hauled her out. Lin Jiuge coughed up water, gasping for air, finally feeling like she had come back to life.

"Junior Sister, why didn't you wrap yourself in vital energy?" Zhou Yan couldn't help but ask. She was soaked through, which, by all rights, shouldn't have happened.

"Cough, cough... Senior Brother, what is that?" Lin Jiuge regained a little strength, dried her clothes, and looked at him in bewilderment.

The look in her eyes confirmed it: she truly didn't know. Zhou Yan explained it in detail, and Lin Jiuge suddenly realized the truth. *So it could be used that way?* She had only been using it for dusting and drying—it was a complete waste of a divine gift!

"I understand now, Senior Brother." Lin Jiuge’s eyes brightened. She looked at her right hand, where a lake-blue crystal sat. "Do you know what this is?" she asked, recalling she had picked it up in the pool.

"I’m not sure. Let's take it back and ask the Grand Martial Uncle," Zhou Yan replied. He didn't know, but the Grand Martial Uncle certainly would; he was a walking encyclopedia, after all.

"Fair point." Lin Jiuge tried to put it into her storage bag, but it wouldn't go in. In the end, Zhou Yan took out an ice box, placed it inside a jade container, and only then was it successfully stored.

"Senior Brother, do you have any more jade containers?" Lin Jiuge stared at the icicles, unwilling to give up.

"I do, but surely you aren't thinking of collecting those water droplets? It’s too dangerous," Zhou Yan refused.

"What if they’re useful? I’ll take the icicles too," she insisted. "I’ll cut one down and see."

With a flick of her wrist, her golden sword appeared and severed an icicle. Zhou Yan caught it, but the droplet at the tip vanished.

"That won't work." The silver thread remained, but the droplet was gone. They tried various methods to collect the remaining droplets, but they vanished too quickly. Only six remained; they couldn't afford to waste them.

"Senior Brother, this is an opportunity. After consuming it, enter the pool and remember to circulate 'The Classic of Reason' and 'Thunder in Motion'," Lin Jiuge instructed. It was too much of a pity not to use them.

"Let's gamble." Having spent so much time with Lin Jiuge, Zhou Yan had become much bolder. With no word from his paper cranes, he wasn't sure if the path back was safe, but his junior sister would never lead him astray.

"You go first, Senior Brother." Lin Jiuge’s eyes were bright and clear, no longer shimmering with purple light. Looking at her, he thought how truly brilliant her eyes were. She had her reasons; his body was too weak, and she was worried. She had already used one drop, and though the result was unexpected, it allowed her to observe his condition closely.

"Alright." They were young and daring—one bold enough to suggest it, the other brave enough to follow through.

Lin Jiuge held Lin Jiuzi, surrounded by the concealment array. Zhou Yan didn't hesitate; he swallowed the droplet and let himself fall into the pool.

His junior sister had described a burning sensation, and the pool was meant to provide cooling relief. However, Zhou Yan didn't feel any heat—only an all-consuming sensation of being frozen solid.

It was so cold that his consciousness began to blur. Lin Jiuge, watching from the side, noticed the temperature of the water surface dropping and knew something was wrong. She stared directly at Zhou Yan in the pool—why was he frozen?

She set her sister down. Without realizing it, the nameless sword appeared in her hand. The mottled blade seemed protected by a film of water. Lin Jiuge unleashed a sword aura, shattering the ice covering Zhou Yan. With another strike, she parted the waters of the pool, jumped in, and dragged him out. The moment she surfaced, the split water crashed back into the pool.

She put away the sword and brought her index and middle fingers together, sparks of electricity dancing at her fingertips. With her left hand, she grabbed a mass of water that surged from the pool and, channeling her cultivation, focused her gaze on Zhou Yan’s body. Her right fingers moved rapidly, tapping him; every point of contact resulted in the sound of shattering ice. Lin Jiuge was under immense concentration; had her body not been tempered by the pool earlier, she never could have sustained such high-intensity, focused work.

Zhou Yan’s spirit sense flickered to life the moment her finger touched his brow, the numbing sensation stimulating his sea of consciousness. *Hiss...* His sea of consciousness had actually been frozen. As his awareness slowly returned, he realized Lin Jiuge was guiding him through "Thunder in Motion." The feeling of being carried through a breakthrough was truly magnificent.

"Junior Sister, I can take it from here."