Lin Shuan stood beside the window of the hall, his gaze resting upon the distant night sky. The moonlight fell across his face, illuminating the faint traces of exhaustion that had accumulated over the past several days. The events surrounding the Frost Dragon Alliance, the mysteries of Protector Yi, and the countless secrets hidden within his own body had left him with more questions than answers.
For a while, everything remained peaceful.
Then his expression suddenly darkened.
A sharp, inexplicable pain erupted from his dantian.
"Ugh—!"
Lin Shuan's body stiffened. His fingers instinctively clutched the edge of the window, but the pain struck with such sudden intensity that his strength deserted him. He tried to stabilize his breathing and circulate his spiritual energy, yet the moment he attempted to do so, another wave of agony surged through his abdomen.
His vision blurred.
Before he could understand what was happening, his knees buckled.
"Lin Shuan!"
Han Qing Li, who had been standing nearby, immediately rushed toward him.
She caught him just as he lost his balance, wrapping one arm around his shoulders to prevent him from falling to the ground.
His body felt unnaturally hot.
The realization startled her.
Only moments earlier, his presence had carried the familiar chill of his Frost Divine Heart. Now, beneath her hand, she could feel an inexplicable heat spreading through him.
"Lin Shuan, what happened? Can you hear me?"
He tried to answer, but his lips barely moved. A fresh wave of pain seized him, and his consciousness began to sink into darkness.
Han Qing Li's expression changed.
She did not waste another second.
Supporting his weight, she hurried out of the hall and carried him into the nearby room. She laid him carefully upon the bed before immediately checking his condition.
"Lin Shuan? Open your eyes!"
No response.
She placed her fingers against his wrist and circulated a strand of her spiritual energy through his meridians, carefully examining his internal condition.
At first, she detected nothing unusual.
His meridians were intact. His spiritual foundation showed no obvious signs of damage. Even his energy core appeared to be present.
Yet something was wrong.
She could sense an unfamiliar disturbance deep within his dantian, but whenever she attempted to approach it with her spiritual sense, the disturbance seemed to retreat into an immeasurable depth, beyond the reach of her investigation.
It was as though his dantian concealed a world that refused to reveal itself.
Han Qing Li frowned.
"What is happening to you...?"
She tried again, this time more cautiously.
Still nothing.
The strange energy remained beyond her perception.
After several unsuccessful attempts, she finally withdrew her spiritual energy. Her expression had grown increasingly troubled.
She could not find an injury, a broken meridian, or any obvious source of the pain.
And yet Lin Shuan had collapsed right in front of her.
Han Qing Li sat down on the chair beside the bed, her eyes never leaving his face.
"Don't tell me you've been hiding another problem from everyone..." she murmured.
Her fingers tightened around the edge of her sleeve.
She had seen Lin Shuan face dangers that would make ordinary cultivators tremble. She had witnessed him fight opponents whose cultivation surpassed his own, and she had watched him walk into situations from which others would have retreated without hesitation.
But this was different.
There was no enemy in the room.
No visible wound.
No warning.
Only Lin Shuan, lying unconscious on the bed, while something unknown stirred within his body.
And Han Qing Li could do nothing except wait.
Deep within Lin Shuan's dantian, however, a far more extraordinary transformation had already begun.
His consciousness had descended into a place that resembled an endless abyss.
A vast expanse of pure white ice stretched in every direction. There was no visible boundary, no sky, and no ground that could be distinguished from the frozen horizon. Everything existed beneath a profound silence, wrapped in the absolute coldness of the Frost Divine Heart.
This was the frozen domain within Lin Shuan's dantian.
For a long time, the ice had remained perfectly still.
Then a faint crimson-golden light appeared beneath its surface.
At first, the light was barely noticeable.
A single glimmer.
A tiny disturbance in an otherwise endless sea of white.
But within moments, the glimmer began to spread.
A thin crack appeared in the ice.
Then another.
The frozen surface trembled as though something ancient had finally awakened after remaining dormant for countless years.
Drip.
A single drop of liquid fell into the darkness.
It was not ordinary water.
Its colour was an extraordinary mixture of crimson and gold, and within its translucent surface flickered a light resembling the heart of a star.
Another drop followed.
Then another.
The white ice began to melt.
The transformation was slow at first, but the liquid accumulating beneath the frozen surface soon began to expand. What had once been an unbroken expanse of ice gradually became a strange sea of crimson-golden energy.
It resembled a vast ocean of fire that had somehow taken liquid form.
Its surface glowed with an ancient brilliance, and every movement sent ripples of terrifying energy through the depths of Lin Shuan's dantian.
At that very moment, Lin Shuan's unconscious body suddenly convulsed.
"Kh—!"
Blood spilled from his mouth.
The sudden movement made Han Qing Li rise from her chair.
"Lin Shuan!"
She hurried to his side, but before she could reach him, his body became completely still again.
His breathing was shallow.
His face was pale.
And the heat radiating from him continued to increase.
Han Qing Li clenched her teeth.
"What kind of power is this...?"
She reached for his wrist once more, hoping to discover something that she had missed.
But the disturbance inside his body had already grown beyond anything she could understand.
Within the dantian, the crimson-golden sea continued to expand.
Then, just as it seemed that the entire frozen domain would be consumed, the Frost Divine Heart reacted.
An immeasurable wave of freezing power descended upon the sea.
In an instant, the surrounding ice began to reform.
The white frost spread rapidly, freezing the crimson-golden liquid wherever it touched. A vast section of the sea was sealed beneath a layer of ice, and the advancing frozen domain seemed poised to reclaim everything that had melted.
But the crimson-golden energy refused to surrender.
A brilliant flame burst from beneath the frozen surface.
The ice melted.
The Frost Divine Heart froze it again.
The flame burned once more.
For several moments, the two powers entered a relentless struggle.
Neither seemed willing to yield.
The colder the ice became, the more fiercely the crimson-golden light burned. And the more intensely the flame surged, the more violently the Frost Divine Heart responded.
Yet there was something peculiar about the conflict.
The flame was powerful, but it did not appear to possess enough strength to melt the entire frozen domain.
Likewise, the Frost Divine Heart could suppress the flame, but it could not completely extinguish it.
Every time the ice expanded, the flame melted a portion of it.
Every time the flame surged, the frost descended and sealed it again.
It was a struggle without a decisive victor.
Lin Shuan's consciousness gradually returned to the depths of his dantian.
He stared at the extraordinary scene before him, unable to conceal his astonishment.
"What kind of flame is this...?"
His gaze shifted toward the crimson-golden sea.
"And how did it enter my dantian?"
He had never possessed such a power before.
His cultivation had always been built around the Frost Divine Heart, and every trace of energy within his body had ultimately been influenced by its freezing nature.
Even the other bloodlines he possessed had to coexist with that extraordinary foundation.
But this flame was different.
It was not simply another kind of spiritual energy.
It seemed to possess an origin of its own.
An origin that had remained hidden within his body until now.
Suddenly, a memory flashed through his mind.
The crimson-golden blood he had swallowed several days earlier.
His expression changed.
"Could it be because of that blood?"
He remembered the strange energy contained within it. He also remembered how his master, Tian Wuchen, and the ancient existence he had encountered had acted to suppress its power.
At the time, Lin Shuan had believed that the matter had been settled.
He had assumed that whatever danger the blood contained had already been neutralized.
But the reality before him suggested otherwise.
"Wasn't it suppressed by Master and that ancient existence?" he muttered. "Then how did it reappear inside my dantian?"
His gaze grew cold.
He had survived countless dangers, yet he had never liked the feeling of being unable to understand his own body.
If this flame was truly connected to the crimson-golden bloodline, then its awakening could not be a coincidence.
Something had triggered it.
But what?
And why now?
Lin Shuan slowly raised his hand.
The surrounding ice responded to his will, and an immense wave of freezing energy gathered around him.
His eyes turned completely white.
The aura of the Frost Divine Heart spread through the frozen domain, suppressing everything in its path.
Lin Shuan stared directly at the crimson-golden sea.
"So, you're still trying to resist me?"
His voice echoed across the endless expanse.
The moment he finished speaking, the crimson-golden bloodline erupted.
A colossal wave of fire surged from the sea, sending brilliant golden-red light across the frozen horizon.
The flame no longer remained confined to the depths of the dantian.
It began to travel through Lin Shuan's internal energy pathways, following the invisible connections between his dantian, meridians, and heart.
Outside, his body suddenly became scorching hot.
The temperature inside the room rose sharply.
Han Qing Li instinctively stepped back.
"What...?"
The heat continued to intensify.
It was no longer the ordinary warmth of a fever. The air around Lin Shuan seemed to distort, and the faint glow beneath his skin gradually turned crimson-golden.
His breathing became uneven.
Sweat appeared across his forehead, only to evaporate almost immediately.
For a moment, it seemed as though his body had become a furnace.
Han Qing Li's heart tightened.
"Lin Shuan! Wake up!"
She reached for his shoulder.
But before her hand could touch him, an invisible wave of heat forced her to withdraw.
She stared at him in disbelief.
What kind of power could produce such a terrifying temperature without even being deliberately released?
Inside the dantian, the Frost Divine Heart responded with even greater force.
A white radiance descended upon the crimson-golden sea.
The frozen domain expanded at an astonishing speed, and countless crystalline formations appeared across the surface of the flame.
Within moments, the crimson-golden bloodline was once again suppressed beneath an enormous mass of ice.
The sea became still.
The struggle appeared to have ended.
But it had not.
Although the flame had been frozen within the dantian, its power continued to flow through Lin Shuan's body.
It moved along his meridians like a river searching for a new path.
It passed through the spiritual channels connected to his heart, following a route that the Frost Divine Heart's freezing power had not completely occupied.
Then something extraordinary happened.
The crimson-golden energy gathered around his heart.
Rather than attacking the Frost Divine Heart directly, it began to form a separate space beside it.
The two powers existed close to one another, yet an invisible boundary emerged between them.
One side carried the absolute cold of the Frost Divine Heart.
The other contained the terrifying warmth of the crimson-golden flame.
Neither crossed the boundary.
Neither absorbed the other.
Instead, they seemed to recognize that they could coexist only by remaining separate.
Lin Shuan's consciousness observed the transformation in stunned silence.
"Damn it..."
He stared at the strange sea within his dantian.
"Handling this is more difficult than I thought."
He had originally intended to suppress the strange energy, refine it, and gradually bring it under his control.
But the flame was unlike anything he had encountered before.
It could not be subdued through ordinary means.
The Frost Divine Heart could freeze it, but not destroy it.
His own spiritual energy could restrain it, but not assimilate it.
And now, despite the conflict raging within his body, the flame had begun to establish a separate domain of its own.
Lin Shuan's expression gradually changed.
He studied the crimson-golden sea more carefully.
Its surface was no longer as turbulent as before.
Beneath the thin veil of frozen energy, the flame had become strangely tranquil.
It did not seem eager to destroy his body.
It was not trying to devour his Frost Divine Heart.
It simply existed.
As though it had been waiting for him to discover it.
Lin Shuan narrowed his eyes.
"But you're still inside my body..."
He paused.
"And you haven't harmed me beyond this disturbance."
A thought emerged in his mind.
Could it be that this power is meant for me?
The possibility seemed absurd.
Yet the more he observed the flame, the more difficult it became to dismiss.
If the crimson-golden bloodline truly intended to destroy him, why had it not continued its assault after breaking free of the initial suppression?
Why had it formed a separate domain around his heart instead of consuming the Frost Divine Heart?
And why did its energy seem to follow the natural flow of his spiritual channels, even though he had never learned to control it?
Lin Shuan slowly extended both hands.
A complex hand seal formed between his fingers.
He began gathering his spiritual energy, attempting to establish a connection between the crimson-golden flame and the Frost Divine Heart.
If he could combine the two powers, he might be able to control the flame through the same method he used to manipulate his icy energy.
The moment his spiritual energy approached the crimson-golden sea, however, the flame reacted violently.
A brilliant explosion erupted within the dantian.
The shockwave struck his consciousness and sent him staggering backward.
"Kh—!"
Lin Shuan immediately changed his approach.
Instead of forcing the flame to merge with the Frost Divine Heart, he summoned the power of his Golden Dragon bloodline.
Golden light emerged around him.
The pressure within his dantian increased as the dragon bloodline joined the struggle, reinforcing his ability to restrain the crimson-golden energy.
For a brief moment, the three powers entered a tense equilibrium.
The Frost Divine Heart suppressed the flame.
The Golden Dragon bloodline reinforced the suppression.
And the crimson-golden sea resisted both.
Lin Shuan gritted his teeth.
He could hold it back.
He could prevent it from spreading uncontrollably.
But he still could not make it his own.
The crimson-golden flame refused to merge with his existing power.
It was as though he were attempting to force two completely different laws of existence into a single vessel.
His body trembled.
A sharp pain surged through his chest, and blood streamed from the corner of his mouth.
"Why is it like this...?"
His voice was strained.
"I can suppress you, but I can't refine you?"
The flame continued to resist.
Lin Shuan's breathing became heavier.
His spiritual energy was being consumed at an alarming rate, and he could feel the strain spreading through his internal channels.
He knew that if he continued forcing the process, the consequences could become disastrous.
He had to find another way.
His thoughts suddenly turned toward a particular figure.
A woman whose presence had always seemed contradictory to him.
Protector Yi.
She represented fire.
Yet she was also someone who preferred to remain distant, concealing her true thoughts behind an expression that often appeared cold or cruel to others.
Whenever she stood before him, however, that carefully maintained appearance seemed to falter.
She would attempt to speak in a threatening tone, only to become awkward moments later.
She would try to act like an untouchable protector, yet sometimes behave like an ordinary girl who did not know what to say.
Lin Shuan had once regarded those moments as strange habits.
Now, as he stared at the crimson-golden flame within his dantian, he found himself thinking of her again.
"Protector Yi..."
His voice softened.
"Could this be you?"
The flame flickered.
Lin Shuan's eyes narrowed.
"Is this the reason you have always wanted to remain separate from everything else...?"
For a brief moment, an unfamiliar emotion stirred within him.
He could not explain why the thought had come to him.
Perhaps it was because of her connection to fire.
Perhaps it was because she had always seemed to conceal something from him.
Or perhaps, deep within his heart, he had already begun to associate this mysterious crimson-golden power with her.
He looked at the flame again.
Then he finally understood something.
He had been approaching the problem incorrectly from the beginning.
He did not necessarily need to merge the flame with the Frost Divine Heart.
He had assumed that every power within his body had to become part of a single cultivation system.
But what if that assumption was wrong?
What if the crimson-golden bloodline was not meant to be absorbed into his existing power?
What if it was meant to exist independently?
The Frost Divine Heart had its own nature.
The crimson-golden flame had its own nature.
Trying to force them into one was like attempting to erase the distinction between ice and fire.
Perhaps the correct path was not to make them identical.
Perhaps it was to allow both to coexist.
Lin Shuan's expression gradually relaxed.
He withdrew his hands and stopped trying to merge the two energies.
The moment he did so, the pressure within his dantian began to decrease.
He looked toward the vast white domain.
"Fine..."
His voice became calm.
"Let's see whether my body is willing to accept you."
He closed his eyes.
Then he deactivated the Frost Divine Heart.
The change was immediate.
The absolute cold that had sealed the crimson-golden sea began to recede.
The ice covering the flame gradually melted away, revealing the brilliant energy beneath it.
For a moment, the crimson-golden sea remained perfectly still.
Then its surface began to glow.
A single wave rose.
The light spread across the dantian, illuminating the endless frozen domain with a radiance that had never existed there before.
Lin Shuan did not resist.
He did not attempt to suppress the flame.
He simply allowed it to approach.
The crimson-golden bloodline responded.
Its energy surged out of the dantian and entered his spiritual channels.
The first wave travelled through his meridians.
The second followed.
Then countless streams of crimson-golden energy began moving through his body, spreading into every spiritual pathway connected to his energy core.
Lin Shuan's consciousness trembled as the unfamiliar power passed through him.
His body felt unbearably hot.
It was as though he had stepped into the heart of a blazing furnace.
Yet beneath the overwhelming heat, he could sense something else.
A strange rhythm.
The crimson-golden energy was not flowing chaotically.
It followed the natural structure of his meridians with astonishing precision.
Its movement resembled the circulation of his former icy energy, except that the sensation it produced was entirely different.
His original bloodline had carried a coldness that seemed capable of freezing the world itself.
This new power carried a warmth that felt equally profound.
But the warmth did not merely burn.
It flowed.
It spread.
It seemed to awaken every part of his body that it touched.
Lin Shuan's brows furrowed as the energy approached his energy core.
The core had always resembled a crystalline sphere of pure white ice, connected to the Frost Divine Heart through a network of spiritual channels.
Now, a crimson-golden flame began to emerge within it.
At first, the fire appeared as a tiny spark.
Then the spark grew.
A thin golden-red line spread across the surface of the icy core, followed by another and another, until the unfamiliar energy began to form a distinct region within it.
The white core did not disappear.
Instead, the crimson-golden flame took root within it.
The two powers remained separate, yet they occupied the same spiritual foundation.
Lin Shuan's eyes widened.
He could feel the transformation occurring inside his energy core.
The crimson-golden bloodline was not replacing his original power.
It was establishing itself alongside it.
At the same time, the two spiritual channels connecting the Frost Divine Heart to his energy core began to change.
Previously, they had carried the familiar freezing energy of the Frost Divine Heart.
Now, a faint crimson-golden radiance appeared within them.
The new energy spread through the channels, intertwining with their existing structure without destroying it.
The result was an extraordinary transformation.
One connection continued to carry the cold power of the Frost Divine Heart.
The other began to carry the crimson-golden flame.
They remained linked to the same energy core, yet their energies were no longer forced to follow the same path.
Lin Shuan's heart gave a powerful beat.
His eyes opened.
For an instant, both of them shone with a brilliant crimson-golden light.
The colour was so vivid that the darkness of the room seemed to retreat before it.
Within his dantian, Lin Shuan slowly lowered his gaze toward the transformed energy core.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"So... this is how it works."
He could finally understand the first step.
He had not mastered the flame.
He had not refined it completely.
But his body had accepted its presence.
And that was enough to change everything.
The warmth continued to flow through him.
His physical body, which had long been accustomed to the cold nature of his cultivation, struggled to adjust to the unfamiliar sensation. The heat felt intense, almost painful, yet the energy itself moved through his meridians with a natural rhythm.
It was not destroying him.
It was not tearing apart his spiritual foundation.
It was simply unfamiliar.
Lin Shuan gradually relaxed his breathing.
Then he raised his right hand.
A thought passed through his mind.
If I can make it follow my will, I should at least be able to manifest a small flame.
He concentrated.
The crimson-golden energy gathered in his palm.
At first, nothing happened.
Then a tiny light appeared.
It was no larger than the flame of a small oil lamp.
A slender crimson-golden tongue of fire flickered above his palm, its delicate movements almost beautiful.
Lin Shuan stared at it.
"Is this all...?"
He had expected something more impressive after the extraordinary struggle within his dantian.
But the small flame appeared harmless.
It flickered gently, producing a faint glow that illuminated his fingers.
Lin Shuan examined it carefully.
The flame did not seem particularly large or unstable.
Perhaps, he thought, the difficulty had been exaggerated by the initial conflict between the two powers.
He decided to test it.
Gathering a small amount of spiritual energy, he carefully guided it toward the flame.
His intention was simple.
He wanted to control the fire in the same way he controlled his icy energy, using spiritual power to shape its movement and maintain its stability.
The moment his spiritual energy touched the crimson-golden flame, however, the entire situation changed.
BOOM!
A violent explosion erupted above his palm.
The tiny flame expanded in an instant, releasing a sudden wave of terrifying heat.
Lin Shuan's eyes widened.
"WHAT—?!"
He immediately turned his head away and raised his other hand to protect his face.
The blast illuminated the entire room.
For a brief moment, the air around him seemed to ignite beneath the crimson-golden radiance.
The sudden heat swept past his face with such intensity that he felt as though he had narrowly avoided being struck by a blazing sun.
When the light finally faded, Lin Shuan remained frozen in place.
His hair was dishevelled.
The remnants of his upper clothing had been scorched.
And the palm that had produced the flame was still surrounded by faint traces of crimson-golden energy.
He stared at his hand in disbelief.
"...What was that?"
He had merely introduced a little spiritual energy into the flame.
A little!
Yet the resulting explosion had nearly overwhelmed him.
He slowly lowered his hand and examined the remaining energy.
The flame had disappeared, but its power had not vanished entirely. A few crimson-golden sparks continued to flicker around his fingers before gradually fading into the air.
Lin Shuan's expression became serious.
"So, you don't tolerate being controlled that way..."
He recalled the moment when the flame had resisted his attempt to merge it with the Frost Divine Heart.
Perhaps the problem was not merely its strength.
Perhaps its fundamental nature was different from that of ordinary spiritual energy.
He had only just awakened the crimson-golden bloodline. He had not refined it completely, much less mastered the method required to use it.
Expecting to control it immediately had been foolish.
Lin Shuan let out a slow breath.
"Fine. I understand."
He looked toward his palm again.
"I've only just awakened you. There's no reason to expect you to obey me perfectly."
A faint, rueful smile crossed his face.
"But if you're going to explode every time I try to control you, this is going to be troublesome."
He did not attempt another experiment.
For now, understanding the flame's nature was more important than forcing it to obey.
The transformation had already succeeded in one crucial respect: the crimson-golden bloodline had established itself within his body without destroying his Frost Divine Heart.
Everything else would require time.
Outside his consciousness, however, the consequences of his experiment were becoming impossible to ignore.
Han Qing Li had initially believed that Lin Shuan's condition would gradually stabilize.
Instead, the room had grown hotter with every passing moment.
At first, she had noticed only a slight change in the air.
Then the warmth had become strong enough to make her uncomfortable.
Now, it felt as though she were standing beside an enormous furnace.
She rose from her chair and looked toward the bed.
The sight before her made her stop.
Crimson-golden light was pouring from Lin Shuan's body.
It surrounded his shoulders, spread across his chest, and flowed around his arms like countless streams of living flame.
The fire did not appear to be burning him.
Yet its presence was so powerful that Han Qing Li could barely believe what she was witnessing.
"Lin Shuan...?"
She took a cautious step forward.
His upper clothing had been badly scorched, leaving almost nothing intact across his shoulders and chest. The fabric that remained hung in charred pieces, while the crimson-golden aura continued to rise from his body.
Han Qing Li's heart began to race.
She had never seen anything like this.
The cold aura that had always surrounded Lin Shuan seemed to have disappeared entirely.
There was no familiar frost.
No crystalline chill.
No trace of the icy pressure she had associated with the Frost Divine Heart.
Instead, the room had become a world of crimson-golden fire.
Han Qing Li's expression turned pale.
"What's happening to you...?"
She immediately approached him.
Whatever this power was, Lin Shuan needed help.
She could not simply sit there and watch his condition deteriorate.
Ignoring the intense heat, she reached for his wrist and carefully checked his pulse.
The moment her fingers touched his skin, she froze.
Her eyes widened.
The familiar icy energy she had expected to find was nowhere to be felt.
She tried to sense it more carefully, extending her spiritual perception through his wrist and into his meridians.
Nothing.
The cold aura that had once been so unmistakable had vanished from the pathways she could perceive.
In its place, she encountered an unfamiliar force.
Crimson.
Golden.
And profoundly hot.
It flowed through Lin Shuan's body like a vast world of fire, its presence extending far beyond anything Han Qing Li could comprehend.
Her breathing stopped.
"This..."
She stared at Lin Shuan, unable to complete her sentence.
"What is this...?"
Her fingers trembled slightly against his wrist.
"Lin Shuan, what happened to you? How could your power change like this?"
She attempted to investigate the unfamiliar energy, but the instant her spiritual sense approached it, a wave of heat swept outward.
She withdrew immediately.
Her heart was beating so rapidly that she could hear it in her ears.
This was not an ordinary transformation.
Even if a cultivator changed their cultivation technique or awakened a new bloodline, such a complete alteration of their aura would be extraordinary.
But Lin Shuan's situation seemed far more mysterious.
The power inside him was unlike anything she had encountered before.
And she could not determine whether it was a blessing or a danger.
Han Qing Li looked at his face.
Despite the terrifying aura surrounding him, Lin Shuan's expression had gradually become more peaceful.
His breathing was stabilizing.
The crimson-golden light still flowed around his body, but its violent fluctuations had begun to subside.
Han Qing Li slowly released the breath she had been holding.
At least he did not appear to be getting worse.
She remained beside him, carefully watching every change.
Then, as she shifted her position, her gaze inadvertently fell upon his scorched clothing.
Her face suddenly heated.
She immediately looked away.
For a moment, she forgot about the mysterious flame.
Her thoughts became hopelessly tangled, and she pressed her lips together, trying to regain her composure.
What am I thinking about at a time like this?
She shook her head lightly and forced herself to concentrate on the more important matter.
Lin Shuan was still unconscious.
Whatever had happened to him, she needed to make sure that he was safe.
Yet whenever she tried to examine him again, the unfamiliar crimson-golden energy made it impossible to obtain a clear understanding of his condition.
So she did the only thing she could.
She stayed beside him.
The night slowly passed.
The moon moved across the sky, and the darkness beyond the windows gradually began to thin.
Throughout the night, Han Qing Li remained near the bed, watching Lin Shuan's breathing and waiting for him to awaken.
Occasionally, the crimson-golden aura around his body would flicker.
Sometimes it would become so faint that she wondered whether it had finally disappeared.
Then, without warning, a wave of warmth would spread through the room again.
Each time, she would rise from her chair and check his condition.
Each time, she would find that he was still breathing steadily.
Eventually, exhaustion began to weigh upon her.
But she refused to leave.
She had already decided that she would remain until Lin Shuan opened his eyes.
And so, when the first traces of dawn appeared beyond the window, Han Qing Li was still sitting beside him.
Then Lin Shuan's fingers moved.
A moment later, his eyelids slowly opened.
His consciousness returned with a faint sense of heaviness, as though he had spent the entire night struggling against an invisible mountain.
For several seconds, he simply stared at the ceiling.
Then he became aware of someone sitting beside him.
He turned his head.
Han Qing Li was there.
She sat close to the bed, her posture slightly bent forward, her attention fixed upon his face.
For an instant, Lin Shuan felt as though he had returned to the moment when he had first encountered her in the ancient forest of the Eastern Region.
The memory surfaced unexpectedly.
The forest.
The encounter.
Her cautious gaze.
And the strange sense that their paths had crossed for a reason neither of them understood.
Now she was sitting beside him in almost the same manner.
Lin Shuan blinked.
Han Qing Li noticed the movement immediately.
Her eyes brightened.
"Lin Shuan... you're awake?"
As she spoke, she raised a hand and gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
Her cheeks had acquired a faint blush.
The sight startled Lin Shuan more than he expected.
He suddenly sat up.
Then, realizing how close she was, he hurriedly shifted toward the other side of the bed.
"Li'er... what are you doing?"
Han Qing Li was taken aback.
Her blush deepened.
"Don't misunderstand!" she said quickly. "I didn't have any such intention!"
Lin Shuan stared at her.
"Then why are you sitting so close to me?"
"I was only checking your condition!"
"My condition?"
"Yes!"
She tried to sound composed, but the hurriedness of her reply betrayed her embarrassment.
"You collapsed last night. Your body became frighteningly hot, and a strange energy spread throughout the room. I couldn't understand what was happening, so I stayed here to make sure you were all right."
Her expression grew serious as she remembered the events of the previous night.
"Lin Shuan, what happened to you? I couldn't sense your usual icy aura at all. Your entire body seemed to have become a world of crimson-golden fire."
Lin Shuan's expression changed slightly.
He looked down at his hands.
The faint warmth still present within his body reminded him of the transformation that had occurred in his dantian.
He slowly clenched his fingers.
Then he answered, "There's a strange flame inside my body now."
Han Qing Li immediately leaned forward.
"A flame?"
Lin Shuan nodded.
"It seems to be connected to Protector Yi."
The moment he mentioned her, his expression became thoughtful.
The crimson-golden bloodline had awakened after remaining suppressed for several days. Its power was extraordinary, and its relationship with his Frost Divine Heart remained unclear.
Yet he could not dismiss the connection he felt between the flame and Protector Yi.
He did not know whether his suspicion was correct.
He only knew that he needed to understand it.
Han Qing Li studied his face.
"Protector Yi...?"
She paused, then quickly asked, "Did something happen to you? Are you injured? Do you feel any pain?"
Lin Shuan moved his shoulders and carefully examined his internal condition.
His body felt different.
The familiar coldness of his Frost Divine Heart remained, but it was no longer the only sensation within him. Beneath that icy foundation, another power flowed quietly, carrying a warmth that he could now distinguish from ordinary heat.
The crimson-golden flame was still there.
It had not disappeared with the end of the night.
But it was no longer fighting him as fiercely as before.
"I feel fine," he answered. "At least, I don't seem to be injured."
Han Qing Li's shoulders relaxed slightly.
"That's good..."
She had been worried throughout the night, and hearing him say that he was fine finally allowed her to breathe more easily.
Lin Shuan noticed her expression.
For a moment, he felt a faint sense of guilt.
He had not intended to make her worry.
Yet the mysteries surrounding his body had become increasingly difficult to predict, and he could not promise that something similar would never happen again.
He looked at her and gave a small smile.
"Sorry for making you stay awake all night."
Han Qing Li shook her head.
"You don't need to apologize. I was worried about you, that's all."
Her voice was quieter now.
Their gazes met for a brief moment.
Then Han Qing Li suddenly seemed to remember something.
She looked away.
"Anyway..."
She rose from her chair and began moving toward the door.
Lin Shuan noticed the change immediately.
"What's wrong? Where are you going?"
Han Qing Li stopped.
She hesitated for a moment before turning her head slightly.
"Look at yourself. You haven't properly dressed... Do you really expect me to remain here?"
Lin Shuan froze.
He looked down.
Only then did he notice that his upper clothing had been almost completely destroyed during the previous night's struggle.
His expression changed.
For a moment, he simply stared at himself.
Then the events of the previous night returned to his mind.
The crimson-golden flame.
The failed attempt to control it.
The explosion.
And the terrifying heat that had swept through the room.
His cheeks gradually turned red.
So that's what happened...
He had been so focused on understanding the flame that he had completely forgotten about the state of his clothing.
Lin Shuan looked toward Han Qing Li.
A mischievous smile slowly appeared on his face.
"Then... Li'er, could you give me some clothes?"
Han Qing Li turned around.
"I—"
Her words stopped.
Her gaze had inadvertently fallen upon his uncovered upper body.
Although Lin Shuan's build was lean, his physique was remarkably well-proportioned. His shoulders were firm, his chest was strong, and the defined muscles of his abdomen were clearly visible.
The contrast between his youthful appearance and the strength of his body caught her completely off guard.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Then it began to pound so loudly that she felt certain he would somehow hear it.
"Y-you..."
She immediately turned her face away.
Lin Shuan watched her reaction, and the mischievous smile on his face widened.
"What's wrong, Li'er?"
"N-nothing!"
"Then could you help me find some clothes?"
"I... I forgot to bring any!"
Lin Shuan raised an eyebrow.
"You forgot?"
"Yes!"
Her voice rose slightly.
"I'll go and get some right now!"
Before he could respond, Han Qing Li hurried toward the door.
She moved so quickly that Lin Shuan almost laughed.
The moment she disappeared from the room, he shook his head with an amused expression.
"She's still the same..."
Then he remembered the storage ring Protector Yi had given him.
With a thought, he summoned it into his hand and opened its storage space.
Several sets of clothing appeared before him.
He quickly selected one and dressed, making sure that his appearance was presentable before approaching the door.
Outside, Han Qing Li had barely taken a few steps when she discovered that a group of people was waiting nearby.
Xue Han Yue.
Xue Mei Yun.
Lei Yun Hua.
Han Xue Long.
Lei Hao Tian.
Yan Feng Luo.
Han Lei Jun.
Lei Zhan Yu.
Tai Gu Chen.
All of them had gathered outside, apparently waiting for news about Lin Shuan.
Han Qing Li stopped abruptly.
For a moment, she stared at them in surprise.
Then she remembered that she had been inside Lin Shuan's room throughout the night.
Her cheeks immediately turned red again.
Han Lei Jun, who had been standing near the front of the group, noticed her appearance and stepped forward.
"Princess, we have received some news—"
He stopped.
Han Qing Li's expression had changed the moment she realized how many people were looking at her.
Her face became even redder.
Without waiting for Han Lei Jun to finish, she turned around and hurried away.
The entire group watched her leave.
Silence descended.
Han Lei Jun remained standing where he was, his mouth slightly open.
He looked toward the direction in which his niece had disappeared.
Then he slowly turned to look at the others.
"What... just happened?"
Behind him, several people immediately raised their hands to cover their mouths.
Their shoulders trembled.
A few turned their faces away, clearly struggling to suppress their laughter.
Even Xue Mei Yun, who usually maintained a composed expression, could not entirely hide the amusement in her eyes.
Tai Gu Chen stroked his beard and glanced meaningfully at Han Lei Jun.
"Han Lei Jun," he said, his voice filled with exaggerated seriousness, "it seems your niece has grown up."
Han Lei Jun looked at him blankly.
Tai Gu Chen continued, "Perhaps it's time to let her make her own decisions."
For several seconds, Han Lei Jun did not respond.
Then the meaning of those words finally reached him.
His expression became strange.
He looked toward the room from which Han Qing Li had emerged, then toward the direction in which she had fled.
A complicated expression crossed his face.
"Ah..."
He cleared his throat.
"Ha ha ha! Indeed! Indeed!"
His laughter sounded somewhat forced.
"But when have I ever stopped her from making her own decisions? His Majesty only instructed me to ensure her safety. Everything else is naturally her choice!"
He spoke with the dignity of an elder defending his innocence.
Unfortunately, the amusement in everyone's eyes made it clear that few of them believed he was entirely unaffected.
Yan Feng Luo, however, was not laughing.
His expression had darkened.
He stared toward the room with an increasingly complicated gaze.
He had already suspected that Han Qing Li's feelings toward Lin Shuan were different from those she showed others.
Now, seeing her rush out with a flushed face after spending the entire night inside Lin Shuan's room, his suspicions had only grown stronger.
A bitter feeling rose within his chest.
He clenched his fists.
Lin Shuan...
The name echoed through his mind.
His gaze became sharper.
A faint trace of battle intent began to stir around him.
He had not expected matters to develop in this direction.
And he certainly had not expected to be forced to witness it so directly.
Tai Gu Chen noticed the change in Yan Feng Luo's expression, but he did not comment. Instead, he continued speaking with Han Lei Jun, allowing the awkwardness to pass without drawing further attention to it.
At that moment, the door opened.
Lin Shuan stepped outside.
The moment he appeared, several gazes immediately turned toward him.
The atmosphere changed almost imperceptibly.
The amusement on some faces remained, but beneath it lay a strange seriousness.
Their eyes moved from Lin Shuan to the room behind him, then back to his face.
The meaning was obvious.
They were warning him not to take advantage of their princess.
Lin Shuan stopped.
He looked at the gathered group.
Then he looked at their expressions.
For several seconds, he remained silent.
Finally, his face became one of complete helplessness.
"...I didn't do anything."
No one answered.
Lin Shuan pointed toward himself.
"Why are all of you looking at me like that? I think you've misunderstood something."
Han Lei Jun cleared his throat.
"There's no need to explain, young man."
Lin Shuan's expression became even stranger.
"Explain what?"
Han Lei Jun patted him on the shoulder with the solemnity of an experienced elder.
"It's perfectly normal for young people to develop feelings for one another. You don't need to feel embarrassed about it."
Lin Shuan stared at him.
For a moment, he could not believe what he had just heard.
What kind of conclusion have these people reached?
He had merely awakened a strange bloodline, spent the night unconscious, and nearly destroyed his own clothing while experimenting with a flame.
And now, apparently, he had become the subject of an entirely different misunderstanding.
Lin Shuan looked toward the others, hoping that at least one person would understand his situation.
Instead, he saw several people attempting to conceal their smiles.
His expression turned helpless.
"I really didn't do anything..."
Han Lei Jun nodded as though he had understood everything.
"Of course, of course."
His tone suggested the exact opposite.
Lin Shuan fell silent.
There was no point arguing with a group that had already decided upon its own explanation.
His gaze eventually shifted toward Yan Feng Luo.
The latter's expression had become almost black.
The battle intent surrounding him was faint, but Lin Shuan could sense it clearly.
Lin Shuan's eyes narrowed slightly.
What's wrong with him?
He had done nothing to provoke Yan Feng Luo this morning, yet the man's hostility was so obvious that it was difficult to ignore.
For a moment, Lin Shuan considered asking him directly.
Then he decided against it.
There were already enough unnecessary misunderstandings surrounding him.
He had no intention of creating another.
Before the awkward atmosphere could continue, a new figure approached from the far end of the corridor.
It was the First Elder of the Lin Clan.
His expression was serious, and he carried two sealed message scrolls in his hands.
Unlike the others, he did not appear amused by the situation.
His steps were quick, and the concern in his eyes was unmistakable.
Lin Shuan immediately turned toward him.
"First Elder? Is something wrong?"
The First Elder stopped in front of him and bowed respectfully.
"Clan Head, I have received two messages addressed to you."
Lin Shuan's expression became attentive.
"From whom?"
The First Elder raised the two sealed scrolls.
"One is from the imperial royal family."
He paused before continuing.
"The other is from the Merchant Organization."
The surrounding atmosphere changed.
The playful expressions on several faces gradually disappeared.
Everyone present understood that these were not ordinary messages.
By now, news of the Frost Dragon Alliance had spread throughout the empire.
What had begun as an alliance between powerful forces had quickly grown into a major development capable of influencing the balance of power across the entire region.
The Frost Dragon Alliance was no longer merely another organization.
Its strength and influence had advanced to the point that it was now counted among the empire's Supreme Three.
Such a rapid rise naturally attracted the attention of the imperial royal family and the Merchant Organization.
And now, both had sent messages directly to Lin Shuan.
Lin Shuan accepted the two sealed scrolls.
He examined their seals briefly before opening the first message.
His gaze moved across the lines.
At first, his expression remained neutral.
Then, as he continued reading, the faint ease in his face gradually disappeared.
His eyes narrowed.
The fingers holding the message tightened almost imperceptibly.
When he reached the end, Lin Shuan remained silent.
He lowered the first message and opened the second.
His gaze moved across its contents.
This time, the change in his expression was even more noticeable.
The faint smile that had lingered on his face earlier vanished completely.
His eyes became cold and focused.
The First Elder watched him carefully.
"Clan Head...?"
Lin Shuan did not answer immediately.
He stood among the gathered cultivators, holding the two messages in his hands.
The morning light fell across his face, but it did nothing to soften the seriousness that had settled into his expression.