As Su Yang focused all his willpower into manipulating the karma True Fire Art, trying to melt the ice overtaking Lu Ying's body, he suddenly felt something wrong.
The ice wasn't melting. It was pushing back.
A powerful coldness surged out from her body, denser and more aggressive than before. His flames, once steady and warm, flickered uncertainly under the pressure of this biting chill.
With alarm, Su Yang opened his eyes—and froze.
Lu Ying's serene face was now twisted in agony. Fine cracks were spider-webbing across her skin, glowing faintly with blue light. Blood seeped from the fractures, streaking down her pale cheeks like crimson tears.
"Lu Ying!" he gasped, voice trembling as he rushed to her side.
She didn't respond.
Su Yang cupped her face gently, trying to reach her with his warmth, physically and emotionally. "Lu Ying, can you hear me? Please, say something—anything!"
Still, there was only silence. Her lips trembled slightly, but no sound came.
His heart raced. Something was wrong—terribly wrong. This wasn't just a breakthrough gone awry. It was a crisis.
He immediately activated his appraisal skill, praying for answers.
---
[Name: Lu Ying]
[Age: 18]
[Race: Human]
[Cultivation: Vein Refining (Peak), Extreme Ice Body (57% Awakened)]
[Special State: Unstable Ice-Origin Blood Integration]
[Remarks: Body cannot withstand the full force of the ice-origin blood. Current progression is fatal. Without intervention, host will freeze to death.]
[Solution: The only way to stabilize the integration is for another with strong fire and yang attributes to help temper her body and soul. This requires direct bodily and spiritual connection. Karma Fire Body and yang qi transfer through physical intimacy will complete the process.]
---
Su Yang stared at the floating screen, stunned.
His heart thudded like a war drum, loud and chaotic. He reread the words again and again, hoping they would change. But they didn't.
> "Direct... bodily and spiritual connection..."
He felt dizzy. Never in his life had he even held a girl's hand, and now the system was telling him—
He couldn't even finish the thought.
His eyes shifted to Lu Ying again. Her body trembled uncontrollably, and the blood continued to flow. She looked like a fragile statue made of porcelain, shattering bit by bit.
This isn't about me. This is her life.
He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails drew blood from his palms.
> What would I want someone to do, if I were the one dying? Would I want them to hesitate? Would I want them to ask for permission I can't give?
Lu Ying had trusted him. She had followed him into danger. She had fought by his side. And now, her life was in his hands.
Su Yang took a trembling breath and knelt beside her. He reached out and brushed her cheek—cold as ice—and whispered, "Lu Ying... I don't know if you can hear me. But if you can... I'm sorry. I have to do this. Not because I want to. But because I can't lose you."
Slowly, carefully, he let his karma True Fire spread across her skin—controlled, gentle, like a warm blanket wrapping around her soul. The warmth crept into her core, battling the frozen tide inside her.
Then, drawing upon the Karma Fire Body, he placed his palm on her abdomen—where the bloodline energy had entered. A radiant red-gold glow surged from his body, resonating with the core of her being.
He could feel her pain through the bond. It was like being pierced with a thousand icicles. Her soul trembled—weak, afraid, but clinging to life.
And then... something stirred.
Her body moved, not physically, but internally. A pulse, faint but real. Her soul was responding.
His yang qi, mixed with Karma Fire, began circulating through her meridians. Every pulse of energy he transferred helped calm the icy rampage inside her, tempering her blood, hardening her bones, reinforcing her spirit.
It was a moment beyond words—sacred and surreal.
Their spiritual energies intertwined, like rivers flowing into one. Her body glowed with soft blue light, his with golden flame, the two opposites mingling together in perfect harmony. Ice and fire. Yin and yang.
---
Outside them, the room grew silent. The very air paused—as if the world itself was watching.
Then, slowly, Lu Ying's cracked skin began to mend.
The blood ceased.
The trembling stopped.
And her breathing, which had been shallow and erratic, became calm—rhythmic.
Su Yang, drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted, released a shaky breath.
She was safe.
---