250 - Destroyer of Ice and Fire

"Let's go eat." Ning Songwu doubted her own ears as she looked up at the cold woman before her. Ran Fanyin ignored her, summoning her flying sword and pulling Ning Songwu up onto it. Perhaps remembering something, Ran Fanyin said, "You don't need to hold onto me; you won't fall." Ning Songwu nodded, still somewhat bewildered. Ran Fanyin brought Ning Songwu to a town at the foot of Cangjun Mountain. Unfortunately, it was already night, and the restaurants had closed, leaving them empty-handed. Ran Fanyin, having been in a high position for too long, was too distant from the daily lives of common folks, so she made such a basic mistake. Ning Songwu, on the other hand, was so hungry she could barely think straight. Ning Songwu was exhausted. All she wanted now was to sleep, believing that sleeping might make the hunger go away. Seeing Ning Songwu in such a state, Ran Fanyin felt a pang of guilt. However, she neither knew how to cook nor concoct alchemy; her magical skills were mostly offensive, and she was unfamiliar or utterly unskilled with functional ones. To Ran Fanyin, those skills were unnecessary; knowing how to kill monsters was sufficient. Ran Fanyin asked, "Feeling unwell?" Ning Songwu weakly responded, her exhaustion clear. With no solution at hand, Ran Fanyin decided to take Ning Songwu back. As Ran Fanyin controlled her flying sword back to Zhaoci Peak, she suddenly felt weight on her shoulder. Startled, she heard the sound of steady breathing by her ear—Ning Songwu had leaned on her shoulder and fallen asleep. The gentle moonlight bathed the sleeping girl with a tender glow, making Ran Fanyin sigh softly, letting her rest against her. Upon returning home, Ran Fanyin carefully placed Ning Songwu on the bed, tucked her in, and stepped out of the room. It seemed Ning Songwu hadn't eaten all day and had climbed the mountain back and forth. Ran Fanyin glanced at Ning Songwu's room and shook her head. "It seems I'm not cut out to be a teacher." --- Chapter 100: Beyond the Realm (2) Suddenly, the surroundings became as bright as daylight. The sudden burst of light forced Yao Huang to halt her attack. Numerous runes crawled up the cave walls; it appeared to be another formation. The formation sensed that Ran Fanyin was in danger and began to activate. Yao Huang looked furious. This was the perfect moment for revenge, yet she had no choice but to stop. "Hmph! Consider yourself lucky!" Yao Huang retracted her spiritual power, suppressing her killing intent. To avoid distractions, she began studying the cold spring within the cave. Once the formation could no longer sense killing intent, it stopped functioning. Yao Huang gazed at the vanishing runes thoughtfully, "This seems like something that guy did. Even after four hundred years of death, he can still ruin my plans." The memories made Yao Huang gnash her teeth in anger. Yao Huang's true form was that of a Danniao, more commonly known as a phoenix. The phoenix did not prey on humans but merely drank sweet dew. However, as a member of the demon race, she did not restrict the demons from oppressing humans. Within the demon race, mutual slaughter was common, and Yao Huang did not intervene, believing it was the nature of demons and should not be suppressed. Yao Huang, having lived so long, naturally knew how the cold spring was formed and its effects. It seemed that Ran Fanyin hadn't fully recovered in five hundred years and needed to seclude herself for healing. The azure spring water glowed faintly and was bottomless. Yao Huang calculated her chances and channeled her spiritual power to cover herself before diving into the spring. Deep within the spring was an ice-blue crystal the size of a palm. Surrounding the crystal were rune engravings forming a spiritual constraining array, which confined the spiritual energy of the object within a certain range. However, over the years, many runes had been lost, causing the array to become unstable. Consequently, the cold spiritual energy, which should have been entirely locked within the spring, seeped out, turning the entire cave icy blue. Yao Huang's eyes lit up. She kicked off the ground and grabbed the crystal, then swam upwards. Breaking through the water's surface, Yao Huang gazed at the radiant crystal with a smile. She activated her technique to absorb its spiritual energy. After a long while, the crystal dimmed and eventually turned into a pile of powder. The temperature in the cave began to rise, the ice layers melted, and the cave became damp. The spring water returned to its clear state. None of this concerned Yao Huang. She carefully examined her body's cultivation, currently at the early stage of the Golden Core. Though she'd advanced a whole level, Yao Huang was unsatisfied. However, Ning Songwu's body was intrinsically a unique spirit-devouring constitution, promising rapid future growth. Additionally, due to Yao Huang's interference, Ning Songwu would be spared from initial tribulations. The more Yao Huang thought about it, the more jealous she became. Her own powerful cultivation in her previous life had come at the cost of immense suffering, nearly being struck dead by heavenly tribulations at the Transcendence stage. "Water..." Ran Fanyin's weak voice turned Yao Huang's moment of bitterness into one of delight. She approached Ran Fanyin, looking down at her. "Your miserable state truly pleases me." Yao Huang was about to kick her old nemesis when a sudden, piercing pain struck her mind. The blood-red tint in her eyes faded back to their original black. Ning Songwu, holding her head, almost fell. She felt as though she had awoken from a prolonged dream where she had tried to kill her master but had been overpowered. Her head throbbed, making Ning Songwu wince. When she opened her eyes, everything in the cave appeared sharply clear, though the ice on the walls seemed to be melting. "Water..." The faint call brought Ning Songwu back to reality. She suddenly remembered she had fainted while fetching water. Approaching the spring, she found that the water had changed. Testing its temperature, she found it normal. Scooping up the water, Ning Songwu fed it to Ran Fanyin. Fortunately, Ran Fanyin was still conscious enough to swallow, sparing Ning Songwu from the dilemma of whether to administer it mouth-to-mouth. After drinking, Ran Fanyin's furrowed brows relaxed a little. Ning Songwu, bewildered by the alterations in the cave, could only wonder what had transpired. Seeing that Ran Fanyin's condition had improved somewhat, Ning Songwu bent down to carry her and continued searching for an exit. Upon lifting her, Ning Songwu noticed something was amiss—she felt incredibly light.