Chapter 42: Acting Cute

Lin Yue crossed his arms, his teeth chattering.

Not far away.

Chu Wanning had fallen to the ground, her condition even worse than Lin Yue’s.

The cold poison inside her was already on the verge of going berserk, and now, stimulated by the extreme cold from outside, it had erupted.

Her face was pale as paper, her lips had turned a bloodless, light purple.

A layer of fine frost was spreading from her fingertips to her entire body at a visible speed.

“Don’t… don’t come closer…”

Chu Wanning’s voice was as weak as a thread of silk.

“My cold poison is out of control… it will… will freeze you…”

“Sis, what kind of time is this to be stubborn?”

Lin Yue sighed, enduring the bone-piercing cold, and strode over.

Looking at this fragile woman, how could Lin Yue watch his nominal “superior” and “cohabiting roommate” die before his eyes?

Lin Yue grabbed Chu Wanning’s hand, which was covered in frost.

“Hiss—so hot!”

The moment Lin Yue grasped Chu Wanning’s hand.

What Chu Wanning felt was not cold.

Instead, it was an extremely domineering, blazing hot current that seemed capable of melting all the ice in the world.

That hot current followed Lin Yue’s palm and directly rushed into Chu Wanning’s meridians.

It was like pouring a basin of scorching lava onto a dry, frozen plain.

It swept away the rampaging cold poison with devastating force.

“You…”

Chu Wanning raised her head with difficulty, staring at the man before her in shock.

Under the dim blue glacial light.

Lin Yue’s face, which usually had a roguish look, was now extremely focused and serious.

The pitch-black true qi of the Demon Emperor within him, under his control, was gently peeling away the cold poison from Chu Wanning’s meridians, strand by strand.

Chu Wanning’s heart began to race uncontrollably again.

She couldn’t help but think of 500 years ago, when she was still a little girl, an ordinary sword attendant, who had been gently patted on the head by the passing Demon Emperor.

And that warmth, she actually felt it again.

And this time, that warmth protected her heart meridian in such a domineering yet extremely delicate way.

‘Who… who exactly is he?’

Other strange emotions began to appear in Chu Wanning’s mind.

‘He can not only cure An Xiaoxiao’s peerless poison, but also easily see through the flaws in my sword intent.’

‘And now, he actually uses such a profound micro-manipulation technique that even my master cannot achieve, to remove the cold poison for me!’

Thinking this far.

Chu Wanning’s gaze toward Lin Yue had completely changed from initial disdain and wariness to a look of extreme complexity, filled with deep gratitude and a trace of inexplicable… admiration.

Lin Yue had no idea what Chu Wanning was wildly imagining.

His mind was entirely occupied with how to warm up this iceberg quickly so he could go out and sleep earlier.

“Senior sister, you’re cultivating this technique wrong.”

While transmitting true qi, Lin Yue started his usual lecturing mode.

“You righteous sects always like to go to extremes.”

“Cultivating an ice-type technique, you have to turn yourself into a refrigerator. Don’t you know that extremes lead to reversal?”

At this moment, Chu Wanning was like an eager disciple, asking very obediently: “Then… in your opinion, what should be done?”

“Simple, treat it like cooking.”

Lin Yue very naturally placed his hand on Chu Wanning’s shoulder and pulled her into his arms to let the body heat transfer faster.

Chu Wanning’s body stiffened, but surprisingly, she did not push him away.

Instead, she obediently leaned against that broad and warm chest.

“See, when you stir-fry, if you use high heat the whole time, the food burns, right?”

Lin Yue’s voice echoed in the ice cave, carrying an extremely strange soothing power.

“Sword intent is the same. You deliberately pursue ‘coldness,’ and that actually makes it inferior.”

“True extreme cold is not surface freezing. It is that kind of ‘annihilation’ that instantly locks away all vitality.”

“Like when you simmer soup, locking all the umami inside the broth without any steam rising on the surface. That is the work of a master.”

Chu Wanning was stunned.

Connecting the supreme sword path with cooking in the kitchen.

This extremely absurd, down-to-earth, yet directly pointing to the origin of the Dao completely shattered her previous understanding.

‘Formless on the surface… life locked within…’

Chu Wanning murmured to herself.

Suddenly, an extremely clear sword cry erupted from within her!

Buzz—

Accompanying this sword cry.

Chu Wanning’s cultivation bottleneck, which had been stuck for three years, actually burst open at this moment!

From the peak of Foundation Establishment, she directly stepped halfway into the Golden Core Dao!

The cold air on her body completely withdrew inward.

The surrounding ten-thousand-year profound ice even faintly resonated due to the sublimation of her sword intent.

But at this moment.

Chu Wanning did not care at all about her breakthrough in cultivation.

All her attention was focused on the man hugging her tightly from behind.

Because of being so close.

And coupled with the fact that the spiritual connection of the jade token had not been cut off.

The heartbeat sounds of the two.

Thump… thump…

Actually, at this moment, they perfectly synchronized.

Lin Yue felt that the delicate body in his arms was no longer cold, but instead exuded an extremely tempting warmth, softness, and faint fragrance.

He looked down.

Just meeting Chu Wanning’s beautiful eyes raised to look at him.

Those eyes, usually as cold as ice, were now filled with a watery sheen.

Carrying three parts shyness, three parts gratitude, and four parts of an emotion even she herself had not noticed.

“Lin Yue…”

Chu Wanning’s voice was incredibly soft.

“Thank you.”

Lin Yue looked at the red lips so close at hand.

Swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

‘Damn, who can withstand this! This is the number one unattainable beauty in the cultivation world!’

“Um… senior sister, since you’re fine,”

Lin Yue extremely painfully averted his gaze and coughed twice.

“Then can we go out? This hand of mine is almost numb from cold.”

The air suddenly froze for a few seconds.

Chu Wanning looked at Lin Yue’s flustered expression and suddenly let out a Pfft laugh.

This laugh was like a spring breeze turning into rain, ice and snow melting away.

Supremely beautiful beyond compare.

“Silly.”

Chu Wanning murmured softly.

She, surprisingly, very proactively extended her jade hands that had just regained warmth and wrapped them around Lin Yue’s waist.

In an extremely low, shy tone.

“Stay with me a little longer.”

Lin Yue froze.

His hands stopped mid-air, not knowing where to put them.

The Ledger of Fated Encounters hummed two lines inappropriately: “If you ignore her after she says such a shameless line, don’t blame me if she stabs you to death.”

The ledger flipped back and forth, and finally, cinnabar scratched out a few words: “This special task, upon completion, will help remove impurities from your body.”

He looked up at the dome of the ice cave, letting out a deafening wail in his heart: ‘It’s over, the plot is going the wrong way.’

‘What happened to the plan of being a salted fish? What’s with this smell of romantic sourness in my nose!’

‘I am getting more and more entangled with these heavenly chosen women, and I am truly afraid that one day I will be killed for failing to fulfill their wishes.’

….

Outside the Profound Ice Cave.

Mu Qingxue pressed herself against the thick stone door, holding an extremely exquisite “Sound-Listening Conch.”

This magical artifact could bypass all formations and clearly hear the movements inside.

When she heard Chu Wanning’s soft, sweet “Stay with me a little longer” from inside.

This formidable Nascent Soul stage senior actually couldn’t hold back her tears.

“Wuwuwu… this kid, he’s too smooth.”

Mu Qingxue wiped her tears while taking a big swig of wine.

“That deadbeat back then, if he had even half the wits of this kid, I wouldn’t have been single for three thousand years!”

She recalled that year, that man had also saved her on a similar wasteland.

But that dead straight man, after healing her, his first words were: “Your meridians are too narrow, affecting the efficiency of my spiritual power transmission. Do more chest-expanding exercises in the future.”

“Difference! This is the difference!”

Mu Qingxue pounded the stone door in anguish.