Chapter 651
In the Hantan Bamboo Pavilion, the purple flame lamp illuminated Nangong Wan's pale face. She stared at the glass pill in her palm, which contained ice and fire patterns, and a miniature star map floating on the surface. The pill was cool to the touch, but it faintly felt like a heartbeat, as if there was life breathing in it.
"This pill is spiritual. After taking it, you need to use the purple flame to guide the medicinal power, otherwise the icy cold will backfire on your heart meridians." Fu Shaoping stood beside her, with the black iron sword placed across his knees. The sword energy formed a frost curtain around the bamboo pavilion to prevent the pill power from leaking out and causing a heavenly calamity.
Nangong Wan took a deep breath and lightly touched the pill with her fingertips. Purple flames rose from her palm and slowly lifted the pill. She raised her eyes to look at Fu Shaoping and whispered, "If I lose control..."
"I will cut off the cold." Fu Shaoping's voice was low and firm, "but you will be fine."
The moment the pill entered his mouth, Nangong Wan's whole body trembled.
——That was not the melting of an ordinary elixir, but a ball of blazing purple flame and a biting cold current exploding at the same time!
"Ugh!" She groaned, her five fingers clenching her collar. Purple flames gushed out from her seven orifices, and her hair moved without wind, like a burning flag. The meridians in her body seemed to be burned by a raging fire, and every inch of her flesh was boiling. She gritted her teeth, forced herself to sit cross-legged and regulate her breathing, and formed seals with her hands, trying to guide the power of the medicine with the "Purple Flame Breathing Art".
However, the icy cold air in the elixir was like a thorn in her flesh, flowing upstream along her meridians and heading straight for her heart!
"Hmm..." A trace of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth, and the scene in front of her began to distort.
In a trance, she found herself in a sea of red fire, with boiling magma under her feet and snow flying all over her head.
"Nangong Wan..." Hoarse whispers came from all directions, drilling into her ears like a venomous snake, "Do you think you have refined the remnant of the demon? No... It is just dormant in your body, waiting for today..."
She turned around suddenly and saw a blurry face emerging from the sea of fire - it was herself, but her eyes were red-gold and there was a sarcastic smile on the corners of her mouth.
"What are you afraid of?" Phantom whispered, "Are you afraid of being frozen by the cold? Or are you afraid that... Fu Shaoping will see you lose control?"
Nangong Wan's pupils suddenly shrank, and the purple flame condensed into a blade in his palm, and he slashed at the phantom without hesitation!
“Get out!”
In the real bamboo pavilion, Nangong Wan's body was covered with frost, and Zi Yan was struggling and jumping under the ice, like a trapped beast. Fu Shaoping frowned, and the sword energy on his fingertips was ready to go, but he didn't move for a long time - he was waiting for her to break through on her own.
Finally, Nangong Wan in the illusion shouted angrily, and the purple flame turned into a long rainbow, penetrating the sea of fire and ice and snow!
"How can I allow outsiders to interfere with my way?!"
--boom!
The ice layer in reality exploded, and purple flames shot up into the sky, but suddenly converged at the highest point, turning into a gentle stream of fire returning to the meridians. Nangong Wan slowly opened his eyes, purple light flowed in his eyes, and a Taoist seal of ice and fire appeared between his eyebrows.
She succeeded.
-
When Nangong Wan finished regulating his breathing, Fu Shaoping had been sitting in meditation for a long time. In front of him was another pill floating, which was ice blue in color, but contained a wisp of purple flame.
"It's your turn." Nangong Wan's voice was slightly hoarse, and his fingertips lightly touched his forehead, leaving a purple flame mark, "If the cold air gets out of control, I will use the purple flame to protect your heart meridian."
Fu Shaoping nodded, said nothing more, and put the pill into his mouth.
The moment the pill entered his throat, Fu Shaoping's whole body stiffened.
——That was not melting, but a sharp ice sword piercing into the Dantian!
"......!" He groaned, and the black iron sword came out of its sheath half an inch with a clang. The sword energy burst out uncontrollably, and the walls of the bamboo pavilion were instantly covered with thick frost. Nangong Wan quickly retreated, and the purple flame formed a barrier around him, so he was not affected.
Fu Shaoping closed his eyes tightly, and veins bulged between his eyebrows. The icy sword energy in the elixir rushed through his body, and what was even more terrifying was that the purple flame actually burned along his meridians towards his sea of consciousness!
In a trance, he returned to the time when he was seven years old.
In the dark dungeon, with walls carved with red leaves, the elder of Xuanyin Sect approached step by step with a scarlet dagger in hand.
"Fu family boy, your eyes...are very suitable to be the core of the Soul Locking Formation."
The pain of the dagger piercing his forehead was so real that it made him shudder. Fu Shaoping wanted to draw his sword, but found that his hands had turned back to the way they were when he was a child, weak and powerless.
"You can't escape..." The elder's voice twisted into the whisper of a demon, "Do you think Nangong Wan can save you? Sooner or later she will be attacked by your coldness... just like your parents!"
Fu Shaoping's pupils suddenly contracted.
——The scene before his parents’ death flashed back before his eyes. Their bodies were frozen into ice sculptures by his out-of-control sword energy...
"No..." He gritted his teeth and dug his fingertips deep into his palms.
In reality, Fu Shaoping was completely covered in ice, like an ice sculpture. Nangong Wan's fingertips trembled, and the purple flame mark became hotter and hotter - that was a sign that his sea of consciousness was about to freeze.
"Fu Shaoping!" She no longer cared about the risk and pressed her palm on his chest, and the purple flame was forcibly injected into his meridians!
Fu Shaoping was about to sink into the illusion when he suddenly felt a warm current rushing in. He looked up and saw a crack in the darkness - Nangong Wan's purple flame shone in like the rising sun.
“Shaoping, look at me.” Her voice penetrated the illusion. “You are not alone.”
——Crack!
Cracks appeared on the ice sculpture in reality, and Fu Shaoping suddenly opened his eyes. The ice-blue sword energy and purple flames intertwined in his eyes, and finally returned to calm.
He succeeded.
-
When the two of them finished regulating their breathing, dark clouds appeared over the cold pond and a thunderstorm was about to come.
Nangong Wan stood up, and purple flames condensed into a long bow in his palm; Fu Shaoping drew his sword, and sword energy soared into the sky.
They smiled at each other and faced the thunder at the same time.
This time, it's no longer a one-man show - it's a true battle of ice and fire.
The night was as dark as ink, and the surface of the cold pond reflected the stars in the sky.
The pill tribulation has passed, and the sky is clear and clean, with only a wisp of purple clouds and ice-blue sword energy intertwined, lingering for a long time. Nangong Wan leaned against the railing of the bamboo pavilion, gently shaking a pot of "Jiuxiaozui" with her fingertips, and the amber wine glowed in the moonlight. "It's been seventy years," she said softly, "and this is the first time I feel that this cold pond is not that cold."
Fu Shaoping stood three feet away from her - this was the usual distance between them, which would not allow the sword energy and the purple flame to collide, and they could hear each other's breathing. He held a green jade cup in his hand, and the wine in the cup condensed into frost. It was the "Xuanbing Brew" specially made for him by Nangong Wan using the purple flame.
"Your Dao Seal is stable." He suddenly spoke, his eyes falling on the ice and fire pattern on her forehead.
Nangong Wan chuckled and drank the wine in the cup. The strong liquor went down her throat and turned into a line of fire that went straight down to her dantian, resonating with the remaining purple flame of the elixir, and tiny flames rose around her body. She deliberately tipped the wine pot towards Fu Shaoping: "Try it?"
Fu Shaoping looked at the wine hanging in the pot, and the sword energy condensed into a thin piece of ice at his fingertips, intercepting the wine drop in mid-air. The ice flakes wrapped in the wine flew back to his lips, and turned into mist the moment it touched his lungs - this was a unique way of drinking for sword cultivators.
"Cough." He suddenly tilted his head and coughed, and there were a few sparks mixed in the icy mist.
Nangong Wan laughed loudly, his purple sleeves swept across the stone table, and twenty-eight jade cups were arranged in the air to form a star map: "The 'Twenty-Eight Constellation Cups' that I snatched in the Guixu Secret Realm that year can finally be used today!"
-
After three rounds of drinking, Nangong Wan suddenly threw the cup to the ground.
"Zheng——"
Before the sound of the cup breaking had faded, she had already spun around and leaped onto the surface of the cold pond, her toes creating a circle of purple flame ripples. She did not make any hand gestures or chant any incantations, she simply used her spiritual consciousness to activate the elixir fire in her body, creating lotuses in the air with every step.
"Nine Tribulations Flame Dance?" Fu Shaoping recognized this ancient secret toast dance, and his fingertips unconsciously stroked the frost patterns on the hilt.
Nangong Wan looked back and smiled. The jade hairpin in her hair had turned into flowing fire and dissipated. Her silver hair fell like a waterfall. "Young Master of Xuanyin Sect, do you dare to dance with me?"
The last word was still trembling in the air, and Fu Shaoping's figure had already appeared in the center of the pond. The black iron sword was not unsheathed, but the scabbard was used to touch the water to draw a circle, and in an instant, thousands of ice lotuses bloomed, complementing the purple flame red lotus.
"Is this the opening move of the sword manual "Fishing Alone on a Cold River"?" Nangong Wan tapped the ice lotus with his toes and suddenly leaned over to the water surface. The moment his fingertips touched the water, the entire cold pond boiled! Countless liquors gushed out from the bottom of the pond, ignited by the purple flames into a rain of fire all over the sky.
Fu Shaoping blocked the way with his scabbard, and all the rain of fire suddenly solidified when it touched three inches in front of him, turning into crystal beads of ice and fire that fell down.
"The third move, 'Stars Over the Plains', was well received." Nangong Wan suddenly leaned in close, his breath filled with alcohol brushing past his ears, "But if I do this——"
The purple flames on her fingertips suddenly turned into three thousand fine threads, entangled with the ice soul rope that Fu Shaoping used to tie his hair. The moment the hair crown fell, the sword energy and the flames burst out at the same time, engulfing the two figures.
-
When the ice and fire storm dissipated, the stone table in front of the bamboo pavilion was filled with spiritual food.
In the center of the jade cauldron was stewing "Dragon Carp Leaping into the Abyss Soup". The fish body was crystal clear, and the fish tail was burning with an eternal purple flame - it was made from the thousand-year-old dragon carp suppressed under the cold pond. Nangong Wan scooped up a spoonful of golden soup, and the fish eyes floating in the soup suddenly turned, and an old voice uttered: "Little girl, my dragon ball..."
"Here it is." Nangong Wan took out a bright pearl like a magic trick, but in front of the surprised eyes of the old dragon soul, he pressed the pearl into the "Xuanbing Yogurt" in front of Fu Shaoping, "I'll lend you your dragon energy to help him stabilize his sea of consciousness. You're welcome."
Fu Shaoping looked at the dragon ball struggling in the bowl, showing a rare helpless look. He pointed his finger as a sword and passed a wisp of original sword energy into the dragon ball. The ball suddenly calmed down and began to actively breathe in and out cold air.
"What a waste of natural resources!" Old Dragon Soul was heartbroken, "That can help people break through to the Mahayana stage."
Nangong Wan picked up a piece of "Fiery Bamboo Shoots" with chopsticks and stuffed it into the cauldron, successfully turning the nagging sound into the hissing sound of steam. She turned to Fu Shaoping and suddenly said seriously: "Actually, there is something that I didn't have time to say when I took the pill."
She took out an ice box from her sleeve and opened it to reveal two pills wrapped in gold thread: "The 'Heart-to-Heart Pill' made from the remaining medicine residue. If one person is in danger, the other can..."
Before he finished speaking, Fu Shaoping had already taken one and swallowed it. The moment the pill entered his stomach, the golden bell on Nangong Wan's wrist rang without wind - this was a bond deeper than the blood contract, and from now on, the spiritual power resonance between the two would no longer be blocked.
-
When the east was already bright, Nangong Wan fell drunk on the stone table, with the jade hairpin in his hair that had been re-formed at some unknown time. Fu Shaoping stood in the morning light, the black iron sword fully sheathed for the first time - without defense, without vigilance, just quietly watching his sleeping Taoist partner.
Outside the bamboo pavilion, all the spiritual medicines that were destroyed by the sword energy and purple flames last night were reborn. The most bizarre thing was the twin flowers, the golden flowers were wrapped in sword energy, the silver flowers were bathed in purple flames, and the two flower stems were tightly entangled in the middle, and they could no longer be distinguished from each other.
Fu Shaoping took off his outer robe and covered Nangong Wan's shoulders with it. His movements were very gentle, but it still woke her up.
"Is it dawn?" She grabbed his sleeve in a daze. "I dreamed that we went back to when we were seven years old."
Fu Shaoping suddenly leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead with the scent of Xuanbing wine: "It's not a dream."
The morning breeze blew away the last wisp of wine aroma, and ripples appeared on the surface of the cold pond. In the reflection, the two figures finally crossed the three-foot distance.
The wasteland on the east side of the cold pond is covered with black ice all year round, and even the most cold-resistant "Snow Soul Grass" can only grow curled up on the edge. However, Nangong Wan stepped into the frozen soil barefoot, and the golden bell on his ankle shattered the three-inch ice layer, revealing the faintly red spiritual soil underneath.
"It's right here!" She stabbed the ground with purple flames from her fingertips, and the fire flowed along the soil texture to burn out spider-web-like golden lines. "The Nine Flames Medicinal Scripture is not lying. There really are ancient fire veins under the cold pond. It's perfect for growing 'Ice Flame Twin Lotus'."
Ten steps away, Fu Shaoping was carving a piece of thousand-year-old black ice with his sword. Upon hearing this, the tip of his sword paused slightly, and ice chips fell on the newly engraved "ban" tablet: "The restlessness of the fire veins will trigger the "
"That old dragon? We've already made soup out of it." Nangong Wan threw out a pair of golden scissors, the blades still stained with yesterday's dragon carp blood, "If you're afraid of it causing trouble, why don't you help me set up a 'Liang Yi Guarding Spirit Formation'?"
Fu Shaoping looked at the frozen soil that she had turned over, and the sword energy suddenly swept across. When Nangong Wan turned around to avoid it, she found that thirty-six ice spikes had been accurately nailed into the golden thread nodes she had burned - exactly the center of the spirit-guarding formation.
"The center of the formation is too cold, the flower seeds can't survive." She deliberately kicked the nearest ice ridge with her toes, "Unless..."
Before he finished speaking, Fu Shaoping had already put his fingers on her forehead. As a wisp of origin cold air came over, Nangong Wan pressed the purple flame on his dantian with his backhand. The two people's spiritual power collided in the formation, and the exploding ice and fire spiritual rain poured into every inch of the turned soil.
For the first time, a warm mist rose over the wasteland.
-
The twin lotus seeds were snatched by Nangong Wan from an auction.
"It is said that this is the last pair of 'seeds of life and death'." She held the half-ice and half-fire seed and looked at it in the sunlight. "If it does not sprout within three days after being planted, the seed soul will turn against its owner."
Fu Shaoping suddenly intercepted the seed, and the sword energy carved hair-thin lines on the surface. Nangong Wan got closer and saw clearly that it was the "Soul Locking Contract" of the Xuanyin Sect - if it was really backfired, all the damage would be transferred to him.
"Nosy." Her ears felt hot, and when she snatched the seeds back, she deliberately let her fingertips brush against the frost on his wrist.
On the day of sowing, Nangong Wan untied the purple flame rope that bound her hair and wrapped it around the seeds, while Fu Shaoping shaved off a strand of white hair and covered it with it. When the seeds sank into the spiritual soil, the entire wasteland suddenly shook. The cold pond water poured back into the newly dug ditch, but was evaporated into colorful mist before it touched the planting pit.
"Something is wrong." Fu Shaoping looked around while holding his sword. "The Book of All Spirits says that the lotus with two stems should have a clear sound."
The ground suddenly cracked open, and a tender bud broke through the soil against their hair. The tip of the bud split into two branches, and when the left branch bloomed, a dragon roared, and when the right branch stretched, a sword whistled - this was not a lotus, but a symbiosis of the Cold Pond Old Dragon and the Black Iron Sword Qi!
Nangong Wan laughed loudly and pulled Fu Shaoping back three steps: "It's a win! The twin lotuses grown by the Dragon Soul Sword Qi can save three hundred years of effort in brewing the 'Ice Soul Flame Heart Wine'!"
-
(End of this chapter)