Second Time

Chapter 38 - Breakthrough

Cai Fei let out a long breath. Her eyes flicked over to the array she'd drawn on the wall.

"It's been three days, huh?"

She took out a jade bottle and poured the three pills into her palm, staring at them.

"I should have time."

She threw the pills into her mouth and washed them down with some of the water from the mysterious spring. She closed her eyes and begun reciting a chant that Shao Yue had taught her, quickly falling into a trance.

In her mind, she imagined a vast, uninteresting snowy landscape. The chill seeping into her bones made it all the more realistic. Mountains shot up out of the ground. Trees sprouted, only to be quickly covered in snow. A river cut through the landscape, chunks of ice following the flow.

With each line Cai Fei muttered, the scenery grew more interesting and more vivid. Signs of life appeared. Wolves and other animals prowled the environment. Fish swam through the rivers. Bright red berries grew from bushes. Birds circled the mountain peaks.

Cai Fei sat in the sky above the imaginary world. Even with her eyes closed, she could sense everything happening as if it were an extension of herself.

The world began shrinking, collapsing in towards Cai Fei's head. It grew smaller and smaller until everything became a single point.

Shao Yue abruptly shivered. "What is this cold?"

Leizhu glanced over. "Cold?"

Shao Yue looked in the direction of Cai Fei with a frown. It felt like a small piece of ice was constantly being pressed against her head. "Do you have any memories regarding souls taking on an element?"

"Yep," Leizhu confirmed with a nod. "For example, there are Blazing Souls that can do drastically more damage to other souls when used to attack, and Frozen Souls that have great clarity of mind, enhancing their comprehension and perception. But, you have to be born with them, and they're exceedingly rare."

"Interesting."

Shao Yue thought about it for a bit. Cai Fei had always shown an uncanny ability to learn, progressing at a faster rate and focusing longer than others of her cultivation. Shao Yue had always attributed it to being taught by an Emperor, but perhaps it was simply the strength of her soul.

That could also explain why the Black Wind Caterpillar had been drawn to Cai Fei.

Shao Yue shook her head. "Let's keep going."

Back in the cave, Cai Fei let out a long breath and checked the array. "That took a full day, huh?"

She stood up and stretched her arms and legs. After condensing her Nascent Soul and refining so much of the liquid in the pool, the cold no longer bothered her in the least, though she herself didn't fully understand why.

She regretted that she only had a little more time. If she could, she'd spend months by the pool.

"Yue, I found something interesting," she said out loud. "It's a small, deep pond, where the water is almost entirely pure yin qi. Is there any way I can take it out of here?"

"Is there something inside or above the pool that's creating it?" Shao Yue asked. "If it's an object, you can take that and recreate the pool elsewhere."

Cai Fei looked up at the icicle-covered ceiling, then down into the depths of the pool. She couldn't see the bottom.

She closed her eyes and reached out with her consciousness, trying to sense anything. The deeper her senses went into the water, the thicker the yin qi became. She shivered.