Chapter 228

Chapter 228: Soulfrost Ice

As soon as the Human Skin Skeleton finished his threat, everyone hurried to eat the dishes in front of them.

Beside Li Shuang’s “ice mountain” dish sat a thoughtful touch: a spoon carved from bone.

Li Shuang picked up the spoon and slowly scooped a mouthful of frost.

It looked like pure ice, but when she blinked, she saw a faint red tint seeping through the ice.

The Heaven and Earth Furnace sent a message: “Polar Soulfrost Ice: this ice comes from the Ice and Snow Prison of the Far North. It can freeze the body and also freeze the soul. The ice holds the juice of the Bloodguide Flower; once taken, the soul becomes unstable.”

The Heaven and Earth Furnace added: “For cultivators below the Integration Stage, taking this means almost certain death. But if an ice?attribute cultivator takes it, there is a tiny chance to temper the spiritual root and help it break through.”

Li Shuang thought calmly.

She had let Zi Guang swap dishes for another reason too: even though it was 100 Value Points cheaper, this Soulfrost Ice might help an ice?attribute cultivator temper the spiritual root.

The chance to push a spiritual root to a higher grade was very small, but it was still a chance.

She decided not to exchange this dish for Value Points. She would try it herself.

Half a year earlier, she had formed her Foundation in the Langya Secret Realm, using a Ninth-Grade Lotus Seed as the rare core to build her base.

A Ninth-Grade Lotus Seed has many wonders.

One of them is quietly tempering the spiritual root over time.

Before this, Li Shuang’s spiritual root was a Peerless-grade Spiritual Root.

Under the seed’s effect, her talent had kept rising.

Now, half a year later, she felt only one small step away from the legendary Supreme Spiritual Root.

If she could use the effect of this Ice Marrow to break through to a Supreme Spiritual Root, it would be far more valuable than trading the dish for Value Points.

She had asked the Furnace before: having it upgrade her spiritual root directly would cost an astronomical number of Value Points, more than she could ever pay, even if she spent everything.

That showed the gap between a Peerless-grade Spiritual Root and a Supreme Spiritual Root was like an unbridgeable chasm.

Polar Soulfrost Ice was so rare that even the Compendium of Marvels she exchanged for did not record it. Before seeing it here, she had not known it might help a spiritual root transform.

Because the chance of success was low, almost zero, the Value Points price for Soulfrost Ice was not that high.

That meant even if these pieces could not help her break through, later she could keep redeeming more from the Furnace and try again.

For Li Shuang, as long as there is a chance, no matter how slim, there will be a day to succeed.

That was for later. For now, the important thing was to try.

[If I get lucky, maybe this little bit of Soulfrost Ice will push me over the line.]

Li Shuang did not hesitate and took the first bite.

Extreme cold burst in her mouth.

Her once radiant lotus platform halted, frost surged upward, and even the lotus platform iced over in a hard shell.

Li Shuang’s heart tightened.

This Soulfrost Ice was truly dangerous. Her soul froze at once. Without the right response, in just a few breaths her soul would shatter like brittle ice.

She tried to react, but the Bloodguide Flower’s effect triggered. A heavy drowsiness fell over her, and she could not make any decision.

[No, this won’t work.]

With the last thread of clarity, Li Shuang sped up the Supreme Emotionless Art.

As her power moved, her mind slowly cleared.

Keeping her cool, she shaped her power into Sword Qi and slashed straight at the Azure Lotus wrapped in frost.

A sharp, tearing pain exploded. Sweat beaded on her brow, yet the Sword Qi kept falling, stroke after stroke, without pause.

Soon, the frost cracked and broke.

She looked closely.

Part of the once green lotus platform had turned crystal clear.

Her pupils tightened.

She tried to run her power again; its purity had grown.

Her Azure Lotus was transforming.

Not only that.

A spiritual root can’t be seen at normal times.

But now, at the center of the blooming Azure Lotus, she could faintly see the spiritual root in the Phantom Stage.

What made her frown was this:

Crack lines had appeared on the crystal clear spiritual root.

This…

[Is my spiritual root about to break?]

She suddenly understood.

The Human Skin Skeleton was grinning as he urged them: “You’re eating too slowly, far too slowly; you had better hurry, or else…”

The Human Skin Skeleton tittered: “Hee hee.”

Then he watched Li Shuang snatch up the entire plate and pour every bit of Soulfrost Ice into her mouth.

The Human Skin Skeleton yelped: “Not hee hee!”

He stared at Li Shuang. This human was up to something again!

All the Soulfrost Ice went down in one go.

But it still was not enough.

[Not enough.]

“Heaven and Earth Furnace, redeem Soulfrost Ice and place it directly into my sea of consciousness,” Li Shuang ordered.

The ice she had eaten and the ice she redeemed piled up in her sea of consciousness into a heavy iceberg that pressed the Azure Lotus flat.

The Azure Lotus had started to get used to this depth of cold.

When Li Shuang used Sword Qi to melt the ice again, nearly half the Lotus had already turned crystal clear, while the crack lines on her spiritual root grew even more.

“Heaven and Earth Furnace, continue redeeming!” Li Shuang commanded without a hint of doubt.

Soon, a larger iceberg pressed down.

Li Shuang drew Sword Qi again.

She used the sharpest Sword Qi to split the coldest mountain of ice.

Her Soul Lotus transformed again and again in the process.

If it had been anyone else, their soul would have collapsed during this round of melting with Sword Qi.

But Li Shuang’s soul was different. She not only held on, she forced changes through her sea of consciousness with this strange method.

No one knew how much time passed.

The Azure Lotus turned fully crystal clear, and in that instant her spiritual root—

Bang!

It shattered completely.

As it broke, a bright smile lifted the corner of Li Shuang’s lips.

[It worked.]

Between a Peerless-grade Spiritual Root and a Supreme Spiritual Root stands a sky-high barrier.

Most people can never cross it.

To break through, you must break first, then stand again.

Destroy the old to form the new.

On this Ice Lotus, a new spiritual root was slowly forming.

While Li Shuang sprinted toward the Supreme Spiritual Root, the scene outside grew lively.

Zi Guang cheerfully ate the “harmless” bone marrow.

At first, nothing happened. He turned to thank Yi Lan.

In the next heartbeat, white Gu Worms appeared in his blood.

Zi Guang tried hard to expel them.

But it was useless.

In a few breaths, his blood swarmed with White Gu Worms.

They drank his blood, then his soul, then everything he was.

Only then did Zi Guang realize something was very wrong.

He glanced at Yi Lan on instinct, but she had already moved to sit openly beside Rou Shan and the little girl.

He stared wide-eyed and choked out: “You… you tricked me…”