A long gown of lake-blue satin trailed to the floor, gossamer light as clouds.
As the woman knelt, the fabric pooled outward like rippling stream water.
Her slender waist was loosely cinched by a sash of matching hue, accentuating willow-thin curves that seemed delicate enough to clasp in one hand.
Her former icy pride and aloof detachment were nowhere to be found, replaced only by simmering wisps of humiliation.
Once, she had been Fairy Jueqing, high and exalted, while he was nothing more than an obscure Foundation Establishment minor cultivator clawing his way out of the wildlands.
In the Ice Billow Palace, when they first met, he had lacked even the courage to raise his eyes and look at her.
Yet now, the world had turned, and everything had changed.
With their stations completely inverted, she was no longer an unfeeling, detached fairy, but a Golden Core junior begging for a favor.
He, meanwhile, stood beyond reach—a renowned Pill Master of his generation, celebrated even among top powerhouses!
Under ordinary circumstances, with her temper, she would rather go to her grave without ever speaking to him again than come groveling for old ties.
Between her and Luo Chen, interactions had mostly been transactions, devoid of deep emotional bonds or personal grudges.
If one were truly to split hairs, it amounted to little more than her once ordering Luotian Sect cultivators onto the Mount Thunder Accumulation battlefield, causing heavy casualties to his sect.
Remembering Luo Chen's vindictive nature back then—leading a slaughter straight into the Yan Alliance over the slightest grievance—she knew there was every chance she would be subjected to humiliation today.
Yet some things had to be done, even if there was only a sliver of hope!
And so, she had summoned every ounce of courage to come!
The surroundings were dead silent, broken only by the soft rustle of her hem against the floor as her slender frame trembled faintly.
At this moment, time seemed to freeze.
Amid the heavy, delicate silence, an invisible force suddenly descended upon her.
Before Fairy Jueqing could react, Luo Chen's voice drifted over.
"We are old acquaintances to begin with, and meeting again is rare enough. Why demean yourself like this?"
Buoyed by magic power, Fairy Jueqing rose uncontrollably to her feet.
Even as the sting of humiliation subsided, she could not help but be shaken by his prowess.
Was this the power of a Nascent Soul Master? She hadn't even the slimmest margin to resist.
Raising her head, she met Luo Chen's smiling eyes.
He looked just as young as he had back then, though his gaze carried an added trace of weathered maturity.
Not daring to hold his gaze any longer, Fairy Jueqing lowered her head slightly and parted her lips.
"You are now a renowned Pill Master, burdened with endless affairs and hardly any leisure, Master. That you are willing to see this humble woman is already a gracious boon. How could I fail in proper courtesy?"
The words were steeped in worldly politeness.
Yet clearly, she was unaccustomed to speaking like this.
Her delivery was halting, her emphasis clumsy, to the point that anyone unfamiliar with her might have taken it for passive-aggressive sarcasm.
Luo Chen chuckled. Knowing her personality well, he did not nitpick.
He seated himself casually in a nearby chair and asked, "I heard from Xiaoliu that when the beast tide surged from the Great Snow Mountain, Ice Fort suffered catastrophic losses and was nearly wiped out, leaving only a handful of survivors?"
Fairy Jueqing's body shuddered, that horrific day seemingly replaying before her eyes.
She gave a pained nod.
"Ice Fort was never that strong to begin with, and to help Senior Sister Canglong attempt a breakthrough to Nascent Soul, we sacrificed most of our Golden Core fighting strength.
"During the opening war, our sect planned to assist Master Yunhe—who had departed the Hehuan Sect—and invested considerable manpower and resources.
"When the beast tide poured out of the Great Snow Mountain in full force, Ice Fort was destroyed in an instant.
"Even though I later gathered many surviving fellow disciples, over the past century, barely a dozen remain by my side."
Listening to her account, Luo Chen could not help letting out a sigh.
Once, Ice Fort had been quite a powerhouse among the major Golden Core sects.
With nine Golden Cores, it held undisputed sway over the northern reaches of Yuding.
Tens of thousands of cultivators served under it, with numerous vassal factions.
Even his Luotian Sect had once been a vassal to Ice Fort.
Yet before the overwhelming tide of events, it was still utterly fragile, reduced now to a pitiful dozen or so stragglers.
Rather than saying Fairy Jueqing still clung to the name of Ice Fort, it was truer to say they were merely a band of rogue cultivators huddled together for warmth.
And this was the fate of major powers that lacked a Nascent Soul Master to anchor them.
Now, the Luotian Sect had him to anchor it, but when the Eastern Desolation demon army arrived, its numbers would surely dwarf the Great Snow Mountain beast tide by thousands of times.
Would the Luotian Sect fare any better than Ice Fort?
Luo Chen dared not dwell on it. Any warmth from reuniting with an old acquaintance had mostly evaporated in the shadow of Ice Fort's tragedy.
"Xiaoliu mentioned that you wished to ask me to save someone?"
Luo Chen bringing up the purpose of her visit unprompted brought a flash of delight to Fairy Jueqing's heart.
Her greatest dread had been that he would beat around the bush and deliberately avoid the topic.
Taking a deep breath, Fairy Jueqing solemnly retrieved a jade box from her storage bag.
Several talismans were plastered tightly across its surface.
"I know other Masters must pay exorbitant prices to commission your services. After asking around, I spent my life savings to trade for a wisp of empyrean qi. I hope it meets with your approval."
Luo Chen swept his divine sense over it and shook his head.
The contents of the box were indeed a wisp of empyrean qi, but not one of the Three Empyrean Qi he needed.
Yet this was only natural. Fairy Jueqing was merely a Golden Core cultivator; gaining accurate information about exchanges between Nascent Soul Masters was far beyond her reach.
Moreover, empyrean qi was an ethereal essence of the nine heavens that only Nascent Soul Masters could forcefully ascend into the azure skies to harvest. Its value was immense.
That she had exhausted every means to secure even a single wisp was already no small feat.
Thus, he grew quite curious: who did she want him to save?
"You might not know this, but when I deal with fellow Daoists, I always assess the difficulty of the task first before discussing remuneration.
"Besides, I may not actually be able to save the person you have in mind.
"Let us first understand the specific circumstances before anything else.
"Whom do you wish to save?"
The preceding words had turned Fairy Jueqing's already fair complexion even paler.
Fortunately, Luo Chen asked about the situation in the end. Hesitating no further, she flicked her wrist.
A miniature fortress appeared in her palm.
Luo Chen's gaze narrowed. It was Ice Fort's legacy Magic Treasure—the Moonlight Ice Fort!
Yet unlike the brief glimpse he had caught of it on the Great Snow Mountain years ago, three of its nine tiers were now gone, and the remaining six were deeply mottled and scarred.
Cracks from the clash of fire and water, fractures from metal and stone impacts, and faint scorch marks from lightning strikes covered its surface.
A supreme-grade Magic Treasure of its era had been reduced to such a state.
As magic power circulated, the miniature fort slowly expanded.
When it reached two zhang in size, the entrance on the first tier slid open.
Fairy Jueqing looked tense, struggling to channel her magic power to operate the ice fort.
Her technique was unpracticed; evidently, she had never truly mastered this treasure, which was why it proved so taxing.
Even so, something finally emerged from the open portal.
An ice coffin, billowing with pervasive chill!
Whoosh!
Luo Chen stood up, his eyes falling upon the figure within the coffin.
She was lifelike, just as gentle as she had been in years past.
Her delicate brows were faintly knit, as though she were enduring immense agony.
This sleeping ice beauty was none other than the old friend Luo Chen had remembered with gratitude time and again.
"Senior Sister... Canglong."
Thud!
The Moonlight Ice Fort dropped to the floor, yet the ice coffin remained suspended midair.
Only this time, it was Luo Chen's magic power cradling the coffin, keeping it aloft.
Seeing this, Fairy Jueqing let out a sigh of relief. Only the sect masters and Supreme Elders of Ice Fort possessed the secret techniques to control the Moonlight Ice Fort. But Canglong was in deep slumber, and their former sect master, Bingpo, had perished long ago.
Without knowledge of the proper arts, forcing control over it placed a tremendous strain upon her.
Seeing Luo Chen stare transfixed at the ice coffin, Fairy Jueqing explained, "Back then, Senior Sister attempted to force a breakthrough to Nascent Soul and failed, severely damaging all three treasures of essence, qi, and spirit. Fortunately, Master Han Zhan, Supreme Elder of the Luoyun Sect, came to her aid. Using a secret technique, he gathered her fractured soul, and by placing her in our sect's precious coffin, preserved her physical body. That is how she has clung to this meager thread of life until now."
Luo Chen pursed his lips. This matched what Han Zhan had told him years ago without the slightest discrepancy.
"Normally, had nothing gone awry, keeping this precious coffin within Ice Fort's forbidden grounds would have preserved Senior Sister Canglong for several centuries. We would have simply waited until a Nascent Soul Master emerged in our sect to rescue her.
"However, Ice Fort was destroyed. Without the nourishment of ten-thousand-year black ice, the coffin's ability to protect Senior Sister's mortal form has been drastically compromised.
"By my estimate, the coffin will lose its effect in a few decades at most. When that happens and Senior Sister is exposed to the open sky, she will perish in an instant."
Luo Chen held his hand hovering over the ice coffin, already understanding the situation.
The ice coffin was not a Magic Treasure or True Artifact. It was carved from top-grade ten-thousand-year black ice reinforced with spell formations, which allowed it to preserve flesh from decay and isolate it from the corrosive influence of external spiritual energy.
Without a frigid environment to sustain it, the coffin could not endure for very long.
"Have you sought treatment from anyone else?" Luo Chen asked.
Fairy Jueqing shook her head. "No."
"Why?"
"I didn't dare!"
Sensing Luo Chen's confusion, Fairy Jueqing lowered her voice. "In these turbulent times, treachery lurks in every heart; no one can be trusted. What is more, Senior Sister possesses an extraordinary constitution. Should she fall into the hands of petty scoundrels, the consequences would be unthinkable."
"An extraordinary constitution?" Luo Chen frowned.
Fairy Jueqing hesitated, then steeled herself and said, "I originally knew nothing of this either. Later, after the Hehuan Sect was destroyed by a powerful Demon Emperor, I chanced upon an escaped Hehuan Sect Golden Core cultivator. It was while fighting him that I learned the truth: the real reason Master Yunhe chose Ice Fort as a partner to pioneer the Great Snow Mountain back then was because he coveted Senior Sister's constitution! It was only because Master Han was protecting her at the time that he couldn't make an overt move."
Luo Chen's brow furrowed even deeper. There was actually so much hidden behind the scenes?
Han Zhan had never breathed a word of this!
Looking at the woman in the ice coffin with her faintly furrowed brows, Luo Chen grew slightly impatient.
"What constitution does she possess, exactly?"
At this point, Fairy Jueqing seemed to cast all caution aside.
No longer coy, she stated directly, "Senior Sister Canglong possesses the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Body. Beyond her qi sea, she has an additional heart aperture capable of amassing immense magic power. Even after her failed breakthrough to Nascent Soul, her cultivation realm did not collapse, and her magic power remains on par with ordinary peak Golden Core cultivators! That is why Master Han Zhan anchored her soul and our sect's ice coffin protected her body—neither needed to worry about her magic power.
"And aside from granting a cultivator innate intelligence and profound magic power, this Seven-Aperture Exquisite Body has another unique attribute: when dual cultivating with another, it can forcibly elevate their cultivation realm!
"That was what Master Yunhe coveted. He wanted to use the Great Snow Mountain opening war as an opportunity to legitimately annex Ice Fort, and then lay his hands on Senior Sister.
"Senior Sister never wed her entire life. Even when courted by an exceptional man like Master Han Zhan, she guarded her chastity, all out of fear that she might fall from grace and be reduced to someone's cultivation cauldron."
Luo Chen listened, dumbfounded.
Never had he imagined such twisted secrets lay beneath it all.
He had long felt that there was something unusual between Senior Sister Canglong and Han Zhan. She had helped him during Foundation Establishment to cultivate the Soul Splitting Art ahead of time, while Han Zhan had braved the threat of the White Bone Mysterious Snake to aid Canglong in her tribulation. Yet the two had never ended up together.
Han Zhan's explanation had been that Ice Fort focused its resources on nurturing Canglong and forbade her from marrying out, and being proud of his own talent, he had not pressed the matter of fate.
Yet upon reflection, Ice Fort had never maintained any such rule.
Fairy Jueqing herself had once taken a Dao companion.
Didn't her disciple, Shi Lan, also bear a daughter with Xu Xiaoliu of the Luotian Sect?
As it turned out, it was Senior Sister Canglong who had rejected Han Zhan.
Of course, whatever the absolute truth was, Luo Chen had no desire to probe deeper.
He looked toward the ice coffin with a pensive expression.
"According to what you say, Senior Sister possesses a special constitution capable of forcibly boosting another's realm.
"And you feared her physical form falling into petty scoundrels' hands, meaning even in her slumber, her constitution still..."
"Luo Chen!"
Before he could finish, Fairy Jueqing let out a sharp cry.
She went so far as to call him directly by name.
Luo Chen cast a cold gaze over her.
Fairy Jueqing stiffened her neck to meet his gaze, but gradually she could no longer bear the mounting pressure, cold beads of sweat seeping across her pale face.
She parted her lips and said hoarsely, "I sought you out because of our past ties, and because Senior Sister treated you exceedingly well back then. Today, your renown as a Pill Master precedes you, just like your fame as the Fire Spirit Lord once did. That is why I trusted you.
"If you are unsatisfied with the empyrean qi as payment, or if you still resent me for forcing the Luotian Sect onto the battlefield back then, I... I... I am willing to..."
Her voice trailed off, words choking in her throat as she nearly bit through her thin lip in mortification.
"Enough. Her, I shall save!"
With a wave of Luo Chen's sleeve, the ice fort resting on the ground flew into the air.
The haphazard remnants of divine sense imprints inside it vanished into nothingness in an instant.
As the Moonlight Ice Fort landed in his grasp, Luo Chen used his vast artifact-refining experience to master the techniques for operating it within breaths.
Much like the Hunyuan Cauldron, it possessed spatial storage properties, allowing it to house Canglong's physical body.
Fairy Jueqing seemed momentarily dazed—both by Luo Chen's declaration and by the cutting off of her own half-spoken offer.
She stared blankly at Luo Chen, as if waiting for whatever words he had left unsaid.
Luo Chen merely offered a gentle smile.
"Senior Sister Canglong was very kind to me back then. Saving her is my duty as a friend; why would I need remuneration?
"Let her stay by my side. I will find a way to heal her."
His words were sincere, his smile warm.
Those deep eyes were completely open and upright, without a shred of pretense.
The woman was caught off guard, yet this answer seemed entirely within expectation.
Taking a deep breath, she bowed low before Luo Chen.
"Gu Xiaorou thanks the Master!"
...
Fairy Jueqing took her leave.
Though it was only temporary.
After inquiring about the current condition of Ice Fort's remaining cultivators, Luo Chen sent Xu Xiaoliu to find Yang Pingdu and have Yang Pingdu incorporate the Ice Fort female disciples under Luo Chen's name, making it convenient to look after them.
Once she was gone, Luo Chen curled his lips wryly.
Fairy Jueqing had appeared weak and vulnerable today, but in truth, she remained just as formidable as she had always been!
Every word she spoke was aimed at prodding his apparent weakness—his care for his reputation.
One could easily imagine that if Luo Chen refused to save Canglong, or harbored illicit designs upon her physical body, Fairy Jueqing would not hesitate to throw everything away to ruin his good name.
To Luo Chen, that would be no small trouble.
His present reputation served both to expand his network of connections for when he would face that old bastard from the Five Elements Divine Sect, and to elevate his value in the eyes of the Mingyuan Sect. Even if they chose to investigate past events at Mount Cangwu down the line, they would have to weigh Luo Chen's alchemical mastery before acting against him.
Therefore, his reputation could not be compromised!
What was more...
Luo Chen's gaze rested upon the ice coffin, which he had now reinforced with fresh formations, a look of nostalgia and emotion rising in his eyes.
Senior Sister Canglong truly had treated him well back then.
She had allowed him into Ice Fort's forbidden grounds to refine the Wither-Bloom True Fire, shared her experiences and insights on core formation, and helped him understand the strengths and flaws of his own aptitude.
One could say that for Luo Chen to attain his current cultivation, Senior Sister Canglong had played no small part.
Most importantly, Senior Sister Canglong was one of the very few who had genuinely aided him without harboring ulterior motives!
Throughout his journey, Luo Chen had met quite a few "benefactors."
Yet whether it was Mi Shuhua, Fairy Jueqing, or figures like Han Zhan and Fu Chaosheng, though appearing friendly on the surface, they all harbored hidden agendas.
Either they coveted his alchemical prowess, plotted to seize his physical vessel through possession, or cost him fifty years of his lifespan.
Only Canglong had simply wished to forge a good karmic bond with him.
Caressing the frigid lid of the coffin, Luo Chen broke into a heartfelt smile.
"You will wake up!"
Chapter 803