Cold.
A bitter cold that pierced the bone.
Long Chen slowly woke up when he felt the cold seeping into his body.
Am I dead? He remembered how fast his body was falling when he jumped into the abyss. It was so fast that he knew his body would outright disintegrate if he collided with a solid object rather than becoming meat paste.
He saw nothing but darkness surrounding him. It was so dark that he was unable to spot the Ling Xi Sword or even catch a glimpse of his own fingers. He didn’t know if diving down into the abyss to find Ling Xi was the correct choice. Xuan Ming had said she did not regret being with Dongfang Xuanxiao.
And Long Chen did not regret jumping down into the abyss.
All he thought about was how dark it was. What if she’s afraid of the dark? What if she died? What would I do?
Long Chen still couldn’t fully open his eyes. He felt like he was floating in water. He tried struggling and found out that he was not dead, or at least he probably wasn’t, since he could still feel the coldness.
He slowly collected his thoughts and remembered being told that the abyss had an end and was not a limitless void. He knew he would’ve been dead if he continued to fall at that speed and crashed into the ground. At that time, he only remembered gripping the Azure Dragon Halberd.
He remembered a warm feeling emanating from the halberd that enveloped his body, causing his falling speed to reduce drastically before a massive impact made him faint. All he could remember was crashing into what felt like extremely frigid water.
The Azure Dragon Halberd saved me while I was falling into the abyss of the Star Devil Prison … But … Did I fall into a deep pool of water? Long Chen slowly collected himself. Now that he was coherent, he used Recovery.
He woke up after using Recovery for fifteen minutes.
“Ling Xi!” Long Chen shouted as he opened his eyes. Unexpectedly, his surroundings were bright. He was laying in a deep pool of emerald water. The pool was deep and frigid. Even though Long Chen’s Qi was slowly gathering in his body, he still trembled from the cold.
The pool was massive, so much so that he couldn’t see the border. The skies were completely dark, although he faintly saw five bright stars in the distance.
Are those the five stars? Is that the Azure Dragon Star?
But what attracted his attention weren’t the stars in the distance, but what was directly in front of him. It was the dragon soul that lived inside the Azure Dragon Halberd. He had seen it when he comprehended the Azure Dragon Combat Technique. At the moment, the dragon was very small but much more solid. It was thanks to the dragon illuminating their surroundings that he could see in the darkness. The dragon was emanating a pale, azure light that lit up a small area around them.
The warmth given off by the dragon soul was protecting Long Chen from the frigid chill.
The dragon soul had half of its body submerged in the deep pool. Long Chen saw that it was staring at him with gentle eyes.
Long Chen examined the dragon soul and realized that it was exactly as the books had described them. It had the head of an ox, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a shrimp, the ears of an elephant, the abdomen and neck of a snake, the scales of a fish, the claws of a phoenix, and the paws of a tiger. It had eighty-one scales on its back, and its roar was like a gong. Two whiskers grew beside its mouth, with a prominent chin. There was a reverse scale on its throat, and the top of its head was bulbous.
“You saved me …” Long Chen knew that the ancient dragon soul in the Azure Dragon Halberd had saved him. Without it, Long Chen’s body would’ve disintegrated from hitting the water at such high speed.
The ancient dragon soul nodded as if it understood him. It then touched the top of its head to Long Chen, spreading the warmth and dispersing the cold.
Just then, the dragon soul merged into Long Chen’s body, and an azure dragon brand appeared on his palm. A stream of information entered Long Chen’s mind.
“I’ve been recognized as the owner?” Long Chen was surprised. That meant that unless he died, the halberd would always be his. It was different from the inheritance process initiated by the ancestors of the Eastern Azure Dragon family.
“You are the first important weapon in my journey of cultivation, the Azure Dragon Halberd.”
The Azure Dragon Halberd was not far away from Long Chen. He put it in his Universe Pouch and deciphered the information in his mind.
“The Azure Dragon Halberd is an intermediate Earth-tier Divine Weapon, and it’s even stronger than regular intermediate Earth-tier Divine Weapons. It also has an intermediate Earth-rank martial technique!”
Long Chen realized that Split Yellow River and Shattered Skies were the basics of the Azure Dragon Combat Technique. The true strength of the halberd would only be unlocked when the intermediate Earth-tier martial technique was used. Starsweep Dragon was considered an elementary Earth-tier martial technique. Now Long Chen was sorting out the information about the intermediate Earth-tier martial technique in his mind. It was even stronger than Starsweep Dragon!
To think that there was an intermediate Earth-tier Divine Weapon in Yuanling City, and it even contains an intermediate Earth-tier martial technique! The Eastern Azure Dragon family must’ve never known about it because no one has ever managed to obtain the true acknowledgment from the halberd itself, not even the Patriarch!
However, Long Chen was not eager to cultivate it.
After putting the halberd away, the surroundings got darker again. He couldn’t see anything at all. Accepting the acknowledgement from the Azure Dragon Halberd hadn’t taken much time, but he was still very anxious about Ling Xi’s condition.
Ling Xi used the Heaven Bearing Sword Prison to trap the Patriarch. She must’ve returned back into the sword and fallen into the deep pool. She must be still alive, so I must find her!
Ling Xi’s name had been carved deep into Long Chen’s heart.
The pool was cold, so Long Chen enveloped himself with Qi, but he was still freezing. If it means saving Ling Xi, this cold is nothing! He had jumped down with no hesitation just for Ling Xi, so the cold was nothing to him.
She must have fallen close to where I am. Even though the pool is big, she should be around my vicinity. Long Chen dove down into the water. It was even colder and his vision was worse, but he did not give up.
Ling Xi had used a lot of power when she used the Heaven Bearing Sword Prison, and she had fallen from such a great height. Her chances of survival were slim even if he found the Ling Xi Sword. Long Chen was on the verge of crying when he thought about that.
The deeper he sunk into the water, the colder it got. Normally, the water should’ve frozen from that temperature, but Long Chen was surprised to see the absence of even a single speck of ice.
Thankfully, he managed to detect the bottom of the pool. He was close to his limit and could barely endure it. At his current depth, his body was trembling and his lips were blue.
Xiao Xi … Where are you … Long Chen gritted his teeth and dove down deeper. If Ling Xi had indeed fallen into the water, she would most likely be at the bottom of the pool.
He braced himself and soon reached the bottom, but when touched it, he was stunned.
“Wait … Why is it metallic?” Long Chen could tell that the bottom of the pool was not muddy, it was made of metal. The metal was harder than anything he had touched before.
Why is the bottom metallic?
Long Chen knew he couldn’t last long at the bottom, so he continued his search for Ling Xi even though he had come across something bizarre. Still, he kept his guard up as he wondered why it was metallic. He circled around and was even more confused.
The bottom of the pool is a metallic coffin? And the coffin is massive! It’s two hundred meters wide! I wonder how long it is?
Long Chen surfaced due to the cold. He had to take a rest before continuing.
His eyes were still wide with shock as he processed what he had just witnessed. When he was in the water just now, part of his attention had been directed to the bottom of the pool while he was searching for the Ling Xi Sword. He walked on the metallic bottom until he saw an opening. He then swam into the opening and found out that the bottom was muddy. Then he turned around and saw that what he once thought was the bottom of the pool was the surface of a metallic coffin!
He managed to identify it after taking a look at the shape. But where did the coffin come from? Why is it so big? What did it contain? What is this place?
Long Chen was confused.
Whatever. My priority should be Ling Xi. Thankfully, we fell directly on top of the coffin. If the Ling Xi Sword had fallen deeper and into the mud, it would’ve pierced deep into the soil thanks to its sharpness. Since the bottom is metallic, I should be able to find it on the surface of the metallic coffin… But would the Ling Xi Sword break on impact?
The Ling Xi Sword’s origin was mysterious, but the metallic coffin was equally mysterious.
Long Chen was worried and dove into the pool again. He limited his search area to the surface of the coffin, making it much more systematic for him to search the area.
He surfaced nine more times before he finally found the Ling Xi Sword. He found it embedded on the coffin, leaving just the hilt on the surface. He took one look and knew it was what he was looking for.
The Ling Xi Sword was stronger. It had pierced the coffin, creating a dent and a crack.
“Xiao Xi!” Long Chen ran over and touched the familiar hilt. He was so happy that he could barely speak.
But another problem lay ahead of him. Is Ling Xi alive?