Harvesting the Cold-Sha

Dongyi had trained for centuries, traveled to many places, and encountered a few lucky breaks. He had even bred a cold-sha within his body—the very cold-sha he had unleashed during his fight with Ji Ning.

“This is…” Dongyi stared at the sliver of golden light shimmering from the fissure in the earth ahead.

The crack was about two zhang wide.

Peering down… he could faintly see rolling magma far below.

“Earthfire? With a trace of gold in it? Pure and dazzling…” Dongyi observed with a slight nod. “If it grows along the magma, then this must be ‘Goldflame Earthfire’.”

There were hundreds of types of earthfire.

Some earthfires were cold and bone-eating; some were savage and explosive. Goldflame Earthfire, however, was famous for its scorching heat—an excellent variety of earthfire.

“A pity. My cultivation art is a cold-attribute technique,” Dongyi shook his head. “And I’ve already bred a cold-sha in my body. It’s completely unsuitable for me to nurture an earthfire now. If my cold-sha and an earthfire met… I’d likely be reduced to ash.”

Simultaneously nurturing an earthfire and a cold-sha was extremely rare, requiring exceptionally demanding qualifications and techniques.

Ji Ning clearly qualified.

“I can’t use it, but someone else can.” A thought struck Dongyi. He could trade this vein of Goldflame Earthfire to another Wanxiang Adept. A naturally occurring earthfire vein was a rare find—one could easily fetch a high price for it.

“Let’s go.”

With a flicker, Dongyi vanished.

The dragon-headed warboat sped northward through the clouds, Mu Zishuo occasionally peering down through the thin mist. “Qingqing! Are we almost there?”

Ji Ning sat to one side, a little green serpent coiled around his wrist. It lifted its head, glanced outside, and spoke in human tongue: “Not yet. I’ll tell you when we are. We’ll definitely get there today, so stop fidgeting.”

“How can I not be anxious about the cold-sha?” Mu Zishuo muttered. “If we’re too slow, someone else might snatch it.”

“If it’s really that unlucky, then you’re just out of luck.”

The little green serpent grumbled, then coiled back around Ji Ning’s arm, closed her eyes, and dozed off contentedly.

Perhaps it was the old karmic connection from years ago…

Perhaps it was because they were from the same hometown…

Perhaps it was because Ji Ning had once saved her life…

Whatever the reason, she loved to snuggle up to him. It felt so comfortable.

“Senior apprentice-brother, she isn’t even looking outside. What if we fly right past it without her noticing?” Mu Zishuo said worriedly.

“Then we’ll just fly back,” Ji Ning teased.

“I really wonder what kind of cold-sha it is,” Mu Zishuo muttered. “I’ve never had this kind of luck before.”

Ji Ning was also curious…

What kind of cold-sha was it? And would it be suitable for him? His Fiendgod body had been born from Taiyin True Water and Sunstar True Fire. The best cold-sha would be one that resonated with the Taiyin True Water. Some cold-shas, like the ‘Bloodbane Cold-sha’, would be incompatible with it.

Of course, aside from a few extreme types, most would be suitable.

“Hoo.”

The little green serpent suddenly transformed into mist, coalescing into a human figure.

“We’re almost there,” Qingqing said, standing at the gunwale and looking out. “Hey, Log! Change course, turn east!”

“My name is Mu Zishuo, not ‘Log’,” Mu Zishuo shot her a glance. “Even my senior apprentice-brother doesn’t call me that.”

“So what if I call you Log?” Qingqing glared at him. “Ji Ning is my master, but you aren’t. Here I am, helping you get a cold-sha, and you get upset over being called a few times ‘Log’?”

Mu Zishuo sighed. “Fine, fine. Call me whatever you want.”

Ji Ning smiled.

It seemed his junior apprentice-brother was someone everyone could pick on. Even Qingqing could bully him so easily.

“Hoo, here we are.” Qingqing pointed downward. “That giant lake down there.”

…

The dragon-headed warboat rapidly shrank as it dove. The surface of the boat even shifted its color to match the sky, trying its best to avoid being noticed. Soon, the boat reached the surface of the vast lake, and Ji Ning, Mu Zishuo, and Qingqing all stepped onto the water.

“Where is it?” Mu Zishuo looked around. “This lake is a thousand li across!”

“It’s at the bottom of the lake,” Qingqing transmitted secretly. “I naturally love the water, so I accidentally swam into this lake. That’s how I discovered a hidden spot at the bottom. Don’t worry—the lake bottom has quite a few dangerous places, so there are very few demons. No Wanxiang-level great demons, either. Just follow me.”

“Let’s go.”

Qingqing led the way as they all dove into the water.

They used their yuan power to keep the water at bay, effortlessly sinking deeper and deeper.

“It’s deep,” Mu Zishuo transmitted.

“A few li deep,” Ji Ning agreed, his gaze fixed on the lakebed. At this depth, they could barely make out the scenery. They encountered a few lesser demons along the way, but the powerful aura Qingqing deliberately emitted kept them far away.

Qingqing pointed to a dark crevice on the lakebed. “Follow this underwater gorge. Keep going down!”

…

As they entered the gorge, the water grew colder, and patches of ice began to appear.

At the very bottom of the gorge, they found a thick layer of solid ice. Ji Ning, Mu Zishuo, and Qingqing stood on its surface.

“I used to use Void Shuttle to teleport straight into this ice and play around,” Qingqing transmitted. “About a thousand zhang beneath this ice, there’s a vein of cold-sha. Without my guidance, you’d never find it by just wandering around.”

“A thousand zhang?”

Ji Ning focused his will, and his divine sense spread out to encompass the entire area.

Deep within this massive chunk of ice, there was indeed a single vein of cold-sha. Only one.

“Let’s go.”

To be cautious, Ji Ning and Mu Zishuo first used a diving technique to plunge a hundred zhang into the ice, then simply charged forward, easily smashing a path. These layers of ice were as tough as rock, but to Wanxiang Adepts… they were nothing.

The cold within the ice was no threat to them at all.

Moments later… Ji Ning and the others arrived at the cold-sha vein.

“This is…?” Ji Ning and Mu Zishuo both stared at it.

The cold-sha vein before them was formed from concentrated, icy-cold sha energy. It was about ten-odd zhang long, and faint, humanoid spirits seemed to play within it, giving the entire vein a sense of life and sentience.

“Snow-Soul Cold-sha?” Ji Ning’s face lit up with joy.

“Snow-Soul Cold-sha!” Mu Zishuo also broke into a grin.

Beside them, Qingqing quickly asked, “How is it? What do you think of this cold-sha? I’ve been absorbing this very vein to nurture my own cold-sha.”

“It’s called Snow-Soul Cold-sha,” Ji Ning said. In his three-plus years at the Black-White College, he had naturally learned common knowledge. “It’s considered one of the most top-tier cold-shas, brimming with innate sentience. Did you know that cold-sha is ranked into nine grades?”

“Mm-hmm, I know, I know,” Qingqing nodded. “I’ve heard that a top-grade, first-grade cold-sha has astonishing power.”

“Right. But some cold-shas are very hard to nurture up to the first grade,” Ji Ning said. “Cold-sha has nine grades: ninth, eighth, and seventh are low-grade; sixth, fifth, and fourth are mid-grade; third, second, and first are high-grade. Most cold-shas can only reach the top three grades at best. Reaching the second grade is already rare, and reaching the first grade is extremely rare.”

“Snow-Soul Cold-sha is excellent. It has immense potential and can definitely be nurtured to the first grade,” Ji Ning explained.

“Looks like I was pretty lucky,” Qingqing cheered.

Mu Zishuo chimed in, “It seems this cold-sha can be shared by a few people. Let’s get ready to plant it.”

“Qingqing, we’ll leave the guarding to you,” Ji Ning said, flipping his hand to reveal six formation flags. “This is a maze formation. It’s quite powerful. Without a deep understanding of formations, no one can get in. While Junior Apprentice-brother Shuo and I are planting the cold-sha in our bodies, keep watch. Planting a cold-sha is very dangerous. It can’t be interrupted. You must be careful.”

“Alright.” Qingqing nodded. “Don’t worry, Master.”

She understood perfectly. Cold-shas were inherently aggressive—that was why cultivators valued them so much. Natural cold-sha energy was even more savage. “Planting” it meant absorbing the cold-sha into one’s Violet Palace. If they were interrupted midway, the cold-sha could wreak havoc inside the palace, possibly injuring it. In some cases, it could even be fatal.

However, as a Fiendgod Body Refiner, Ji Ning wouldn’t die. But he was still worried about damaging his Violet Palace.

…

Deep within the icy layer at the bottom of the underwater gorge, Ji Ning and the others quickly carved out an ice chamber, which contained the cold-sha vein. They set up the maze formation around it. Qingqing stood guard.

The two of them sat cross-legged on the ice, facing the cold-sha vein.

“Junior apprentice-brother, be careful,” Ji Ning warned seriously.

When it came to planting a cold-sha, the worst that could happen to him was damaging his Violet Palace, which would take a few years to heal. But for his junior apprentice-brother, the worst-case scenario could be death.

Ji Ning was determined: if something went wrong, he would sooner injure himself and stop than fail to protect his junior apprentice-brother.

“Don’t worry,” Mu Zishuo laughed. “For Puppet Path cultivators, working with rare materials is second nature. Harvesting a cold-sha… I’ll be fine.”

Ji Ning smiled.

Then he turned to face the sentient, icy-cold sha energy before him. He opened his mouth and inhaled.

Wrapped in his yuan power, a strand of the icy sha energy was drawn directly into his body.

“So cold.”

As the cold-sha entered his body, a wave of bone-chilling cold spread through him. But as a Fiendgod Body Refiner, he naturally didn’t mind. The same couldn’t be said for Mu Zishuo, who immediately began to suffer.

Ji Ning recalled the key techniques from the Water Source Manual on harvesting cold-sha, earthfire, wind-sha, and light-sha.

“Condense!”

Within his Violet Palace, the myriad stars, the bright moon, and the golden crow in the sky all shot beams of light downward. These were pure Wanxiang-level Yuan power. They rapidly coalesced above the endless ocean of Yuan power into a transparent island, an inconspicuous speck on that vast sea.

The strand of cold-sha Ji Ning had absorbed then appeared directly within his Violet Palace.

The moment it appeared…

Ji Ning felt his entire Violet Palace turn ice-cold, as if pierced by needles. Without a moment’s hesitation, he guided the strand of cold-sha directly toward the transparent island.

Whoosh!

Like a tree being planted in soil, the cold-sha drilled directly into that transparent island.