"It's finally done…"
Li Zhexian wiped the sweat from his brow and let out a long breath.
The difficulty of brewing Ice Flame Immortal Dew had far exceeded his expectations.
Even with prior experience from crafting Serpent's Venom Rice Spirit Wine, he had still faced countless failures.
"But it was worth it,"
"It was worth it in the end."
His gaze fell on the immortal dew before him. The wine worm in his belly stirred impatiently.
The wine was semi-translucent, glazed like crystal. The left side shimmered with icy blue, the right burned crimson red — swirling gently like a Tai Chi diagram in motion.
Its temperature was unpredictable and ever-shifting.
Li Zhexian retrieved a chunk of profound stone from the side of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, carving out a crude cup.
"I've been craving this for ages."
"Let me try a sip first!"
He extended his hand. Spirit Power surged from his fingertip, lifting the red-and-blue brew through the air and directly into his mouth.
"Mm?!"
The moment the wine touched his tongue, his eyes snapped wide open.
A blast of molten fire surged down his throat like lava. A strange sulfuric heat burst open inside his mouth, burning wildly.
And yet—
As it slipped down into his belly, the "flame" instantly reversed, transforming into a current of freezing cold.
He shuddered. A crisp scent like frosted pine filled his mouth.
He was just about to exclaim "good wine" when—
Suddenly, a violent transformation erupted within him.
The wine split into two opposing forces, one crimson flame and the other glacial frost, clashing furiously through his meridians!
The collision of the two energies exploded outward—
Leaving behind streaks of magma-like lines and frost-crystal markings on his meridians.
"This must be the process of cultivating the Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body!"
"The Brewing Records stated that the Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body is extremely formidable, thus one needs to drink Ice Flame Immortal Dew continuously for three years to successfully cultivate it!"
"But I don't need that long!"
"With the Ice Flame Immortal Dew as the lead catalyst, and combining it with the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot, then tempering the body within the Yin Yang Well—
I can forge the perfect Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body!"
A flash of sword light sliced the air.
Two rare immortal herbs were severed at the stem.
Without hesitation, Li Zhexian shoved both herbs into his mouth.
Then, wine cup in hand, he leapt directly into the boundary between the two springs of the Yin Yang Well.
Splash—!
The moment he hit the water, a muffled groan escaped his lips.
Pain struck like a storm from the heavens.
Extreme cold froze his blood. Frost crept across his internal organs, while his meridians felt as if they were being incinerated from within. His skin began to char and peel from the heat.
The effects of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot, catalyzed by the spring, turned into two massive torrents of ice and fire, raging within his body.
Crack—
Crack—
His bones, unable to withstand the pressure, began to fracture.
The energies surged through the fissures in his bones, scouring them again and again.
Agony.
Bone-gnawing, soul-rending pain.
It was so intense that his very soul threatened to scatter.
With the last shred of clarity, Li Zhexian forced his hand to rise. Carbonized skin crumbled from his arm.
And still—he drained the Ice Flame Immortal Dew in one gulp.
Flames and frost tore through him in a brutal internal war.
More and more crimson magma and ice-crystal patterns etched themselves onto his now semi-transparent meridians.
That battered, shattered body — under the assault of fire and ice and the restorative power of the immortal brew — reached a strange, tenuous equilibrium.
Time quietly flowed. Li Zhexian's body, in this extreme ice and fire tempering, underwent a profound metamorphosis.
At the same time, touched by Li Zhexian's aura, a cocoon hanging from a branch above the spring trembled softly.
The cocoon shimmered — half ice-blue, half flame-red.
...
Morning scattered the stars.
Stars reclaimed the dawn.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
In the boiling-and-frozen waters of the Yin Yang Well, Li Zhexian sat motionless, like a withered tree.
If one could peer inside—
They would see that the left half of his meridians flowed like molten lava, while the right half was sealed in glacial ice.
A massive, intertwined force of ice and fire encased him in a red-and-blue cocoon of radiant light.
Whoosh—
A breeze passed.
Crack—
Crack—
Cracking sounds echoed almost simultaneously. The light cocoon in the spring eye and the silkworm cocoon on the tree both developed spiderweb-like cracks on their surfaces.
The light cocoon crumbled, revealing a figure smooth as jade, with perfectly proportioned flesh and bone.
From the cocoon on the branch, a butterfly emerged — its wings a radiant, alluring blend of blue and red.
Li Zhexian's skin, flesh, bones, organs, and meridians were now faintly etched with dazzling red-and-blue spiritual patterns.
His expression was serene.
The boiling spring and the bone-chilling cold spring beneath him now felt like nothing more than warm baths.
His breaths alternated between exhaling icy mist and sparking embers.
His eyes snapped open!
His left iris burned like a furnace, his right glowed like a frozen abyss!
The anomaly flashed and vanished, instantly returning to normal!
Splash—
Li Zhexian slowly stood up from the spring.
Above him, the butterfly fluttered down in a graceful spiral, dancing around him.
A faint smile curved his lips.
He stretched out a finger, and the butterfly gently landed there.
"You and I have undergone transformation together. I suppose that makes us kindred."
"Fate gathers and scatters like drifting clouds.
Go, be free. May the heavens and earth be your playground."
The butterfly flapped its wings, circled him twice, then transformed into a stream of light, vanishing into the distant sky.
Li Zhexian stepped out of the Yin Yang Well.
One step.
His left foot landed — leaving behind scorched earth.
Another.
His right foot fell — leaving a trail of frosted ground.
When he reached the wooden hut, he dressed in a fresh white robe.
Only then did all the surrounding anomalies fade away.
He looked at his pale hand.
With a thought, the red-and-blue spiritual lines pulsed beneath his skin.
"The Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body… is complete."
Without external ice and fire attribute attacks at this moment, Li Zhexian couldn't truly experience how profound the physique of "immunity to and absorption of ice and fire energy" was. But merely being able to soak in the Ice and Fire Ying Yang Well like a hot spring was a clear indication.
Not only that...
A powerful surge of Spirit Power pulsed from his body.
Li Zhexian's Spirit Power had now reached Rank 29.
He raised his hand—
A chunk of profound stone, tempered by fire and ice, floated into his grasp.
He slowly closed his five fingers, and the profound stone, harder than fine iron, actually crumbled into dust in his palm, scattering with the wind.
"In terms of physical strength alone…
Even a typical Spirit Ancestor would be no match for me."
Li Zhexian was very satisfied with this Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body. A joyful heart required good wine to enhance the mood.
"Heh. It's about time my Wine Martial Soul leveled up too."
Li Zhexian took the half-cup of Ice Flame Immortal Dew he'd set aside earlier and poured it into his Clear Spring Wine Gourd.
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
A glow of red and blue swirled around the mouth of the gourd.
An intoxicating fragrance — infused with the essence of ultimate heat and cold — filled the entire mountain hollow.
On the jade-smooth surface of the wine gourd, a Tai Chi diagram of crimson and ice-blue began to appear, slowly rotating.
Li Zhexian casually lifted the hem of his robe and sat at the edge of the spring.
He dipped one foot into the blazing spring, the other into the freezing one.
Raising the gourd, he drank deeply.
In that moment—
A hundred flavors and indescribable layers of aroma surged straight to his mind.
"Good wine! Damn good wine!"
He happily swung his legs in the Yin Yang Well, drinking without restraint, completely lost in it.
By now, his Wine Martial Soul had evolved into a legendary brew, rare in the world.
Even someone like Li Zhexian, a lifelong wine addict, soon found himself thoroughly drunk.
Emotions swirled chaotically within him.
His thoughts eventually returned to the unforgettable experience of forging his Molten Frost Vein.
On his brow, a faint imprint of the Qinglian Sword surfaced —
Its edges glowing with flickers of ice-blue and flame-red light.
Zheng—!
A crisp sword hum suddenly rang out.
The Qinglian Sword manifested of its own accord.
Then, its tip turned — and plunged directly into the depths of the Yin Yang Well.
Li Zhexian stared into the spring.
Replaying the memory of body tempering in fire and ice, a sudden flash of insight passed through his mind.
The motion of lifting the gourd to his lips paused midair.
The bi-colored wine trickled down his jawline.
And so he sat, lost in thought at the edge of the spring —
his eyes reflecting the eternal, opposing, yet coexisting miracle of ice and fire.
...
Days turned into nights, and two more days passed.
Li Zhexian's spirit waned, his eyes bloodshot.
"One must go mad to become truly alive."
There was a principle he had yet to grasp — and he was trapped in confusion.
Then—
A strong wind howled through the mountain hollow.
The Yin Yang Well stirred into a vortex.
Where boiling and freezing waters met, the flame and frost did not cancel each other out—
Instead, they fused into a rising spiral of chaos.
The storm whipped his hair wildly.
Li Zhexian looked on.
And in that moment—his dimmed eyes sparked with newfound clarity.
He suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha!"
"I get it! I finally understand!"
"Water and fire opposing? What utter nonsense!"
"The world sees only their clash, but fails to see—"
"Frost gives rise to mist, flame solidifies into crystal—
Yin and Yang generate each other. This is the true law of Heaven and Earth!"
"The second move of the Qinglian Sword Song is right before me!"