After returning from the Luoyun Mountain Range, life settled down like the surface of a cold pond.
Bai Qingxue’s daily routine remained unchanged: the cold pond in the early morning, the quiet room in the afternoon, and sword practice in the evening.
She wore the Jade Radiance Pendant against her skin, refining her spiritual power to be finer and purer day by day.
As for the pills won from the competition, she took them one by one according to a schedule. Combined with her daily cultivation, she gradually melted the medicinal power into her dantian, making progress much faster than through bitter cultivation alone.
During this time, Lu Xueqing would occasionally drop by. As before, she always brought a pot of tea or a plate of tea snacks. During their brief tea sessions, they would exchange a few casual words, but more often than not, they sat in silence, sipping their tea.
That silence was never uncomfortable. They simply sat there, neither of them in any rush to find something to say.
Sometimes, Lu Xueqing would also leave a bamboo basket on the stone table.
Inside the basket were sometimes a few spirit fruits, sometimes a small bundle of medicinal herbs, and occasionally a bottle of pills.
Bai Qingxue would glance at them and accept them without refusal.
After Lu Xueqing left, she would put the items away in a wooden box, wash the bamboo basket, and return it the next time Lu Xueqing visited.
Although Bai Qingxue disliked owing favors, these items weren't particularly valuable; a sudden refusal would have seemed overly deliberate.
Of course, Bai Qingxue had thought about giving something back, but she hadn't decided what yet.
After all, Lu Xueqing didn't seem to lack pills or spirit stones, and Bai Qingxue didn't know what Lu Xueqing truly lacked—nor could she provide it.
So, she could only accept them, remember the kindness, and wait.
The days slipped by in this quiet back-and-forth.
About six months later, through the daily circulation of spiritual power, Bai Qingxue vaguely felt that the barrier had loosened.
This loosening wasn't a sudden realization. Instead, every morning when she entered the water, every afternoon during her quiet meditation, and every evening when she sheathed her sword, that thin membrane grew thinner bit by bit.
It was like the ice on a river in winter, washed day and night by the current beneath—from thick to thin, from thin to transparent, until finally, only a faint, almost non-existent layer remained.
Bai Qingxue continued her daily visits to the cold pond and her cultivation technique as usual. She wasn't anxious about the breakthrough; for her, as long as she was growing, it was enough.
...
This morning was no different from any other.
A thick, white mist hung over the cold pond, obscuring the far bank.
The water was bone-chillingly cold. She removed her outer robe, stepped into the water, and sat cross-legged in her usual spot. The cold surged from all directions, merging with the Mystic Frost spiritual power within her.
She closed her eyes.
Spiritual power flowed through her meridians—one cycle, two cycles, three cycles.
As the spiritual power passed through her dantian, it was gently buoyed by the energy from the Jade Radiance Pendant, making the rotation slightly smoother.
Bai Qingxue didn't know how many cycles she had completed; she didn't count, nor did she need to.
She simply kept her eyes closed, letting the spiritual power circulate round after round, like a river flowing over its bed, steady and unhurried.
The bottleneck for the eighth level was unlike the one for the seventh level; it didn't require external aid. It simply vanished on its own during one of the spiritual power cycles.
Like ice melting into water, it disappeared silently.
As the bottleneck vanished, Bai Qingxue’s dantian suddenly expanded, as if pushed open from the inside by an invisible hand. The newly surging spiritual power was thicker and colder than before, flowing through her meridians with even greater ease.
Bai Qingxue opened her eyes.
Immediately, a layer of thin ice spread silently from beneath her. There was no flurry of snowflakes like when she reached the seventh level, nor was there any violent burst of spiritual power. Her breakthrough only left a layer of fine frost patterns on the ice. At that moment, the cold pond was as silent as an ink wash painting.
The moment of condensation was so light it was almost imperceptible, making it hard to tell exactly when the ice had appeared—perhaps the moment she opened her eyes, or perhaps even earlier.
Bai Qingxue raised her right hand. With a thought, cold energy seeped from her palm. But this time, it didn't form an ice blade or a snowflake; instead, only a thin wisp of mist drifted silently from her fingers. The cold energy merged into the water vapor and then quickly condensed.
In fact, she hadn't even consciously channeled the cold; it had emerged on its own the moment she raised her hand. Now, the manifestation of this cold was as effortless as breathing—like a shadow that could no longer be separated from her.
Bai Qingxue looked down at her palm, spreading her fingers and then closing them.
The cold energy flowed according to her will, taking various forms without a hint of resistance.
This was the eighth level of Qi Refining.
Bai Qingxue put on her outer robe and looked down at the water.
Fragments of ice floated on the surface of the cold pond, breaking her reflection into several pieces, yet she could still see herself clearly.
Her white hair had increased significantly compared to six months ago. The silver strands now spread from her temples to the crown of her head. Even though she held them high with her jade hairpin, they could no longer be hidden.
After watching for a moment, she withdrew her gaze and stood up. The thin ice beneath her feet shattered with a series of soft, crisp cracks.
As she walked up the stone steps, water droplets fell from the hem of her robe, freezing into tiny ice beads on the stone. One by one, they rolled down and vanished into the mist.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves, falling onto her shoulders. The warm sun met the cold aura on her body, turning into a faint wisp of white vapor that dispersed before it could even rise.
Bai Qingxue looked down at her waist. The Jade Radiance Pendant still hung there, its lustrous white surface reflecting the sky, clean and pure.
This jade pendant had been with her for over half a year.
With it, the circulation of her spiritual power was indeed slightly less hindered and more fluid, but that was all.
As for the pendant's more precious mind-calming effect, Bai Qingxue had never really felt it.
After all, she practiced the Mystic Frost Heavenly Heart Art; her mind naturally became serene when the technique was active, requiring no external assistance.
It wasn't that she didn't have stray thoughts, but she simply never cared about them. Things one doesn't care about are the same whether they come or go.
Keeping it on her wasn't exactly a waste, but it wasn't being used to its full potential either.
She reached out, her fingertip touching the smooth surface of the jade pendant for a brief moment.
Bai Qingxue suddenly thought of Lu Xueqing.
In truth, she could tell that Lu Xueqing had been acting a bit strange lately.
For instance, Lu Xueqing would say she was there for tea, but she rarely took more than a few sips. More often, she would sit across from Bai Qingxue and simply watch her.
She wouldn't speak; she would just watch.
If Bai Qingxue didn't speak, she wouldn't either.
This led to silences that lasted even longer than usual—long enough for the tea to grow cold before she would seemingly snap out of it, refill the hot water, and begin another round of silence.
Bai Qingxue didn't ask.
She didn't know what Lu Xueqing was looking at, or what she was thinking.
But she vaguely felt that Lu Xueqing had something weighing on her mind that she couldn't easily voice.
The mind-calming effect of the Jade Radiance Pendant was optional for Bai Qingxue, but it might be just right for Lu Xueqing.
Even if it couldn't solve the problem, it could at least help her gather those scattered, restless thoughts.
With that thought, Bai Qingxue untied the Jade Radiance Pendant and held it in her palm for a moment.
The surface of the pendant had been warmed by her body heat, feeling much softer than when she first received it, yet it still carried the same cold aura as Bai Qingxue herself.
She remembered the gifts Lu Xueqing had sent—the spirit fruits, herbs, and pills. Previously, she hadn't known how to repay her.
Repaying too little would seem dismissive, while repaying too much wouldn't feel right.
Now, she didn't have to think about it anymore; she would give the Jade Radiance Pendant to Lu Xueqing.
It would help calm her mind and settle the debt of favors.
It served both purposes perfectly.
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