The Birth of Snowflame

Someone fond of reveling in drama once quipped, ‘If one never acts on impulse, can they truly claim to be young?’

Agonizing pain surged through his consciousness like a relentless tide, yet Lin Mo clung fiercely to his rationality.

In ancient times, there was the tale of scraping poison from bone, with one’s mind diverted by a game of chess.

Now, I, Lin Mo, shall divert my attention by pondering… a night of passion with Ji Xue!

‘Indeed!’

‘He would recall the delicate fragrance and sweet nectar emanating from those soft, warm lips.’

‘He would remember that full, yielding touch.’

‘What bliss he had savored in that moment!’

‘He would relive the sensations of that night!’

‘He would savor the happiness of that night!’

‘He would recall the feeling of becoming a man that night!’

‘And yet!’

A small, rather ill-timed question inconveniently arose in his mind.

‘Still, when it came down to it…’

‘That is to say—’

‘Well—’

‘If, in the cultivation world, spiritual energy could somehow cause pregnancy through kissing, then how exactly do babies appear on Earth, purely from kissing?’

‘Hmm…?’

‘Could it be that the entwined affection of two people somehow settled within a girl’s belly…? Then… why couldn’t it settle within a boy’s?’

The thought of ‘entanglement’ inadvertently brought to Lin Mo’s mind Yang Po Po’s book, the ‘Art of the Bedchamber,’ whose cryptic scribbles seemed to be inexplicably intertwined as well.

‘Hmm…?’

‘Ah, yes!’

‘Could it be!’

A sudden enlightenment struck Lin Mo!

His mind cleared, and he realized what he had forgotten all this time!

The ‘Art of the Bedchamber’!

Although his consciousness had been hazy that night, Lin Mo could still vaguely recall having used the ‘Art of the Bedchamber’; yet, the sheer embarrassment of that intimate night had prevented him from ever truly replaying it in his mind.

Only now, as he meticulously savored the memory to escape the agony, did he realize with a jolt!

That night!

It was precisely because of the ‘Art of the Bedchamber’!

Only then could the energies within their bodies be harmonized!

Only then could they merge!

Perhaps, by circulating this ‘Art of the Bedchamber’ once more, it might become the key to taming the Phoenix Flame!

The raging Phoenix Flame current astonishingly began to yield, no longer rampaging through his body like an unbridled wild horse; instead, it surprisingly followed his thoughts, entering his meridians.

Even as that omni-incinerating, incomparably domineering power entered his meridians, it remained excruciatingly hot, bringing with it a tearing, distending pain.

Nevertheless, at least it could now be guided into his dantian.

The most crucial moment had arrived!

Lin Mo took a deep breath, his gaze as sharp as a blade.

The immense Profound Yin Energy ceased to function as a shield; instead, it transformed into a colossal, icy black dragon, coiling around the Phoenix Flame’s body, guiding it into the dantian, where it plunged into the spiritual sea.

Ice and fire, cold and heat, the Spring of the Netherworld and the world-burning Phoenix Flame, violently collided within this constricted passage!

“Ohm—!”

It was not an explosion, but a violent tremor, transcending mere sound, that erupted from within Lin Mo’s body.

His body instantly stiffened like wood and stone, a blinding aura flashing across his skin; his left side was instantly encased in thick, deep-blue Profound Ice, covering his limbs, while his right side blazed with golden-red flames, a foot high, distorting the very air around him!

The scene within his dantian was even more harrowing.

The interface between the Profound Yin Liquid and the Phoenix Flame’s essence churned wildly, surging, annihilating each other, yet simultaneously devouring one another!

Every collision triggered a violent tremor in his soul, his consciousness almost torn to shreds by the dual, extreme agony of freezing and burning.

“Ugh…”

Even Lin Mo, who could endure the pain of fractured meridians, was forced to let out a muffled groan at this moment!

A deeply suppressed roar squeezed from his throat; from Lin Mo’s seven orifices, his left eye wept blood-tears that froze into frost, while his right eye exhaled hot, blood-scented vapor.

He frantically pushed his body, which had been forcibly repaired by Grand Elder Qing You’s medicinal pills, while desperately urging the Profound Yin Energy to delve deeper and ’embrace’ the Phoenix Flame—not to resist it, but to attempt to ‘understand’ its searing heat, to ‘analyze’ its domineering nature.

The pain!

It was a pain that pierced his bones and scorched his soul! Every attempt at integration felt like pouring ice water into a blazing furnace, instantly vaporizing and exploding, causing a backlash upon himself.

His body convulsed violently, his bones groaned under the unbearable strain, and his skin, caught in the tug-of-war between ice and fire, alternately cracked like parched earth and charred like charcoal.

It was truly a perilous dance of life and death! Each clash added another hairline fracture to his meridians, and the Profound Yin Energy, imbued with the medicinal power, was rapidly depleted.

The delicate balance could collapse at any moment, promising either a spectacular explosion of his body or complete incineration!

Just as his will teetered on the brink of disintegration, Lin Mo desperately recalled his previous theoretical deduction: ‘Spiritual energy is not a pipeline flood; it is an incredibly malleable substance… The body is a vessel!’

This realization, once grasped, was like a single spark igniting in the profound darkness!

He abruptly changed his strategy!

‘No longer would he forcefully cram the two entities together!’

‘Their sheer magnitude was too immense for him to manage! His body simply couldn’t withstand it!’

‘Instead, he would differentiate them!’

In the depths of his consciousness, the cryptic talismans of the ‘Art of the Bedchamber’ once again activated on their own; several blurred diagrams of intertwined, meditating figures, with their undecipherable, peculiar energy circulation routes, suddenly lit up!

Following their guidance, a peculiar, gentle, inclusive aura, brimming with the rhythm of life, silently flowed along the invisible ‘channels’ formed by his threads of thought, reaching the core battlefield of the two powers.

It dispersed them, breaking the Phoenix Flame into tiny, vibrant clusters of fire, and solidifying the Profound Yin Energy into ice crystals.

He abandoned the forceful, holistic fusion, choosing instead to concentrate his mind.

His thoughts splintered into a myriad of threads, guiding wisps of minute Profound Yin Energy to cautiously approach and envelop those equally tiny Phoenix Flame embers.

This was an enormous undertaking, but now, armed with his spiritual sense and intricate engravings, it felt as though everything was prepared; all that remained was to assemble it step by step.

This time, it was no longer a colossal clash of ice and fire beasts, but countless, exquisitely delicate fusions.

“Sizzle… crack…”

A subtle sound seemed to echo from the depths of his soul.

A single Profound Yin ice crystal enveloped a tiny wisp of flame.

Instantly, the ice crystal melted and vaporized!

Then, a new ice crystal flowed serenely into the center of his palm.

At its core, there was no flame.

And the ice crystal was no longer pure azure.

Instead, it shimmered with the brilliant, rosy hue of a sunset-painted evening cloud.

And as he spread his left hand, a mass of cold energy rapidly condensed in his hand, yet it surged upwards like a flame.

Rather than a flame, it resembled boiling Profound Ice.

The heat it radiated, however, was like that of a tangible fire.

But it was far from over.

A tiny, deep-blue Profound Yin ice crystal finally, gently yet resolutely, completely enveloped a faint but stubborn golden-red Phoenix Flame spark!

In that instant!

The sensation of the ice crystal’s inner core being incinerated and vaporized surged forth!

However, before the vaporization could complete, the harmonizing rhythm originating from the ‘Art of the Bedchamber’ violently surged!

It was as if two invisible hands had gently brushed them at a microscopic level!

The vaporization ceased!

The deep-blue ice crystal, in a never-before-seen form that almost defied natural laws, rapidly re-condensed! It was no longer pure ice; within its translucent core, a golden-red speck of light, smaller than a needlepoint and still stubbornly flickering, was now solidified!

The entire ice crystal was imbued by the core’s halo with a strange, magnificent crimson hue, flowing like the colors of a sunset!

His spiritual energy now possessed two forms.

Though a snap of his fingers would instantly ignite flames around him, these flames burned with a tangible presence, immediately transforming into various shapes within Lin Mo’s mind.

With a thought, a certain person’s face was instantly consumed by the flames, yet their features remained unetched—a blank canvas, save for a cascade of beautiful hair flowing to the ground.

Lin Mo wished to depict her, but dared not to now.

How many eyes were watching him from outside?

However…

Lin Mo’s thoughts stirred, and the ring, forged from Profound Yin ice crystal, quietly floated in his palm.

Deep within the ice crystal, a cluster of ethereal blue Phoenix Flame pulsed and flowed like a living entity, finally swirling and settling upon the ring’s surface—

It solidified into a winter plum blossom, outlined by flame patterns, with ice spirit as its branches and cold fire as its petals, blossoming brilliantly within the crimson ice crystal.

At this moment, the Spiritual Energy Imbuement—was complete.

The flame belonging solely to Lin Mo—and Ji Xue—had been born.

‘Snowflame.’

Lin Mo settled on the name in his heart.

Spiritual Energy Imbuement: complete.

Lin Mo had officially stepped into the Foundation Establishment realm, his cultivation surging directly towards—