Chapter 6 Frost and Flame

In the distance, a figure dressed in white shot through the forest path like a streak of light. He moved so quickly that he seemed to fly above the ground. After just a few blinks of an eye, he arrived at the edge of Ironwood Forest.

"Silas Thorne..." a loud voice echoed, carried by a wave of true qi. The young man in white stood tall and proud, his expression cold. His sharp eyes swept over the area, looking for someone.

"Here... I'm here!" came a breathless voice from the trees.

Silas Thorne burst out of the forest, panting heavily, with a bundle of thick black branches strapped to his back and a firewood knife in his hand. He looked exactly like a young man who had been cutting wood all day. His hair was messy, his face was sweaty, and his shoulders drooped from fatigue.

"Huff..." Silas exhaled hard and dropped the bundle of branches onto the ground with a loud thump. He sat down and stretched out his legs, wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeve. "Finally made it," he muttered to himself.

The young man in white watched him with a look of disdain. Without a word, he picked up one of the black ironwood branches, weighed it in his hand, and gave a small nod. Apparently satisfied, he tossed a pill toward Silas. Then, he rolled the bundle of wood onto his back and disappeared the same way he had come, as if speaking even a single word to Silas was beneath him.

Once the white-robed disciple was gone, Silas sat up straight. His breathing was steady now. His eyes no longer looked tired. His body was no longer slouched. His face had color, and there was a spark of energy behind his gaze.

That's right-he had been pretending the entire time.

Silas had already reached the fourth level of talent and martial skill. A task like cutting a hundred pounds of ironwood normally took outer disciples two full days to complete. But he had finished it in just one. To avoid drawing attention or suspicion, he had faked being exhausted.

He picked up the small pill that had been thrown at him and swallowed it without hesitation. A sweet scent flowed down his throat, spreading warmth through his stomach and chest. The ache in his limbs faded quickly.

It was a Bigu Pill-a special kind of food used by outer disciples. Just one was enough to satisfy a person's hunger and energy needs for an entire day.

That night, the stars shimmered in the sky, and the bright moon cast silver light across the mountains and trees. The forest was quiet, peaceful even. But Silas had no interest in the scenery. He moved quietly and carefully, his steps light, his breathing slow. He was in a hurry, but he didn't want to be noticed.

After several minutes, a steep cliff appeared in front of him. He paused, then crouched low and began to climb down. There were some oddly shaped rocks sticking out of the cliffside. Most people wouldn't notice them, but Silas had. He had memorized their positions after walking this route several times.

Step by step, he moved down the hidden path. Eventually, he reached a group of large boulders. Behind them, almost completely hidden, was the entrance to a small cave.

Silas ducked inside, and a wave of cold air struck him like a slap to the face. He shivered.

The temperature inside the cave was completely different from the warm night outside. It felt like he had stepped into a world of ice.

The cave itself wasn't very large. It was quiet and dark, and nothing much stood out-except for the pool in the center.

The pool was about two or three feet wide and filled with clear water. A thin mist of cold air hovered over it. It looked calm and still, but Silas didn't dare to treat it lightly. He already knew how dangerous that water could be.

Without hesitation, he removed his outer clothes and stepped to the edge. He took a deep breath-and then jumped in.

"Ahhh-!" Silas gasped.

Even though he had prepared himself mentally, the cold was unbearable. It felt like thousands of tiny knives were scraping his skin. His teeth chattered, and he struggled to keep from leaping right back out.

But he forced himself to stay still. Slowly, he began to run his cultivation technique-Gangling Method.

Earlier that day, Silas had discovered this cave by accident. He had climbed to the top of a massive ironwood tree to look out over the landscape, and from there, he noticed something odd about the cliff. His curiosity had led him to this hidden place.

Silas had been facing a problem for some time. Every time he cultivated, he absorbed more spiritual energy than he could safely store. His body gathered the energy quickly, but his ability to refine and balance it was slower. Over time, this caused heat and pressure to build inside him. It felt like he was walking around with fire trapped in his chest.

If it continued, he might explode from within during cultivation.

This pool, however, seemed to be the answer. Its freezing temperature could reduce the danger by cooling down his body. And it did more than that.

As he sat in the icy water and ran the Gangling Method, spiritual energy began to gather around him. The cold mist floating above the pool started to fade, pushed away by the thick spiritual energy now swirling in the cave. A glowing cloud formed above him, circling slowly.

Silas opened his eyes slightly and smiled. "It's working..."

The heat that usually burned inside his body was now under control. Even more surprising, his cultivation speed had increased. The spiritual energy entered his body faster, and more of it was transformed directly into Spirit Core energy-the kind needed for higher stages of cultivation. The cold water didn't just suppress the heat. It also helped direct the spiritual energy into the frozen areas of his body, slowly warming them.

Little by little, his body became stronger.

"If I reach the Innate Stage," Silas whispered to himself, "I'll be able to refine essence into elemental force... then I'll have true power."

His eyes burned with determination.

Primordial Energy-that was the true goal of every cultivator. Only by converting the natural spiritual energy into Primordial Energy could one rise to the ranks of real cultivators. It was said that once someone truly mastered it, they could crack the earth with a single strike. They could bend wind and fire, call lightning from the skies.

That kind of power was still far away from Silas. But for the first time, he could see a path leading to it.

In the quiet cave, he focused all his attention on cultivation. His body soaked in the cold pool, glowing slightly in the light of the spiritual energy swirling around him.

But deep beneath the pool, something was changing.

Buried in the mud and hidden for who knows how long, a quiet place began to stir.

Above the water, Silas noticed something strange. The spiritual energy around him, which had been calm and flowing into his body, suddenly became chaotic. It split into two parts-one half still flowing into him, and the other half sinking into the depths of the pool.

A strange chill ran down his spine.

He opened his eyes. "What's going on?"

The ground beneath the water started to tremble.

Bubbles rose to the surface, and the water turned cloudy.

Something was waking up.

Silas's heart skipped a beat. "No way... is something living down there?" he whispered.

He quickly climbed out of the pool and backed up toward the entrance of the cave. His body was still wet, and the freezing air bit into his skin, but he didn't care. He stared at the pool, unsure of whether he should run or stay and find out what was happening.

Curiosity got the better of him.

He crouched against the rock wall, ready to flee if needed. His eyes never left the pool.

Suddenly, a flash of icy white light burst from the water. The entire cave lit up in an instant, as if struck by lightning.

Then-a powerful, sharp force exploded outward!

Silas barely had time to roll away. A huge gust of wind and energy shot past him, and a loud crack echoed through the cave.

When he looked up, he saw it.

A deep crack had been sliced into the floor of the cave, as smooth as if it had been cut by a blade. The wall near it had also been split open.

Silas swallowed hard.

"If that had hit me..." he thought, his face pale, "I'd be dead. No doubt."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, even though the air was freezing.

He was still too weak.

And now... something terrifying had awakened beneath that pool.