The metallic tang of blood still hadn’t fully faded in the icy air.

The two Blood Shadow Sect disciples had shattered into ice fragments, drifting away on the mountain wind and catching the moonlight.

Luo Bingning stood where she was, her blue robe stirring without wind, the cold around her frosting the grass and trees in a thin white glaze.

Her expression was colder than the moonlight, yet when she turned to Lin Xi, the killing intent in those ice blue eyes melted in an instant, leaving only anxious tension.

“Xi’er, are you alright?”

Her voice carried the faintest, almost imperceptible tremor.

Lin Xi shook her head, hurried to her side and reached out to steady Luo Bingning’s arm.

It was ice cold to the touch.

Luo Bingning’s body swayed, her brows knitting for a flash as if she were suppressing something.

That tiny motion did not escape Lin Xi’s eyes.

Forcing power that had not yet recovered to cut down three Foundation Establishment cultivators was too heavy a burden for her current body.

“Bingning-jie, let’s go back.”

Supporting her, Lin Xi spoke with unmistakable worry.

Luo Bingning did not refuse and let most of her weight lean into Lin Xi.

Her body was cold, but pressed to Lin Xi’s warmth she felt an overwhelming sense of ease.

As soon as they returned to the cave dwelling, Luo Bingning could no longer hold on, a sickly flush rising to her pale face as her breathing turned rapid.

“Bingning-jie!”

Lin Xi helped her sit on the stone bed at once and immediately exchanged for a high grade healing pill from the System Shop.

She carefully fed the pill into Luo Bingning’s mouth, then placed her fingers on Luo Bingning’s wrist, sending her own Peak Foundation Establishment spiritual power over in a gentle stream to help dissolve the medicine.

Just then, the system’s chime sounded quietly in Lin Xi’s mind.

[System Prompt: Detected that Luo Bingning, due to host encountering a threat, suffered intense emotional fluctuation and forcibly drove her power.]

[Physique stimulation: Ice Phoenix Bloodline, awakening increased by 1%. Current total awakening: 1%.]

Lin Xi’s heart gave a sudden thump.

So that’s it.

She looked at Luo Bingning’s brows drawn tight in pain and a complicated feeling welled up in her chest.

Every time she fell into danger, Luo Bingning’s all out protection invisibly stimulated the slumbering bloodline in her body.

The price of this awakening method was Luo Bingning’s own injuries.

Lin Xi’s fingertips traced lightly across Luo Bingning’s cold cheek, torn inside.

On one hand, she wanted Luo Bingning to grow stronger quickly so they could face the Blood Shadow Sect’s relentless hunts.

On the other, she could not bear to see Luo Bingning endure such pain.

‘Looks like I’ll have to act as the harmless pig who eats the tiger even more convincingly from now on.’

Lin Xi made a silent decision.

If she wanted this empress’s bloodline to fully awaken, the right amount of “crisis” was an indispensable catalyst.

With the combined effect of the pill and Lin Xi’s spiritual power, the rampaging energy inside Luo Bingning gradually calmed.

Some color returned to her face and her breathing evened out.

* * *

For the next ten days, a rare peace returned to the cave dwelling.

Lin Xi put all her attention into caring for Luo Bingning.

Using a newly discovered spiritual spring water together with various top tier spiritual herbs redeemed from the system, she cooked medicinal meals for Luo Bingning every day.

Luo Bingning’s injuries recovered at a rate visible to the naked eye.

The cave dwelling’s chill grew purer by the day, a sign that her Cold Law power was steadily returning to its peak.

On this day, Luo Bingning finished a long session of meditation.

She slowly opened her eyes and an ice blue divine light flashed and vanished in her gaze.

The cave dwelling’s temperature dropped by several degrees with it.

She extended a jade white hand and a crystal clear, exquisitely intricate ice flower slowly bloomed in her palm, emanating a fluctuation that made one’s heart quail.

“Xi’er, my injuries have recovered by half.”

There was joy in Luo Bingning’s voice and the aura about her was far more solid than before, no longer hollow and unstable.

This meant her cultivation had recovered to the late Core Formation stage, just a step from the Nascent Soul stage.

[System Prompt: Luo Bingning’s injury recovery has reached 50%.]

[Host reward: cultivation raised to early Core Formation. Awarded 1,000 system points.]

A vast flood of spiritual power appeared in Lin Xi’s body out of nowhere and in an instant smashed through the wall at the peak of Foundation Establishment.

In her dantian the gaseous spiritual power began to compress madly and spin, finally condensing into a golden, gleaming inner core.

Core Formation.

Feeling the earthshaking change inside herself, Lin Xi was overjoyed.

This rocket-like speed was simply too good.

She pressed down her excitement and kept a look of happiness for Luo Bingning on the surface.

“That’s great, Bingning-jie.”

Looking at Lin Xi, Luo Bingning’s eyes were full of tenderness.

That she could recover so quickly was all thanks to the girl before her.

She rose, walked to Lin Xi and naturally took her hand.

“Xi’er, when I recover my full strength, I’ll take you back to Tianshuang Divine Palace and give you the best things in the world.”

Lin Xi shook her head with a smile.

“I don’t want the best things, I only want Bingning-jie safe and well.”

Those words from the heart completely melted Luo Bingning’s own.

She gripped Lin Xi’s hand tight and was about to speak.

Suddenly, Luo Bingning’s expression changed.

Almost at the same time, a shrill system alarm blared in Lin Xi’s mind.

[Warning. Detected a high intensity energy source approaching at high speed.]

[Target: Blood Shadow Sect elder, Xue Lian.]

[Cultivation: peak late Core Formation.]

[Threat level: high.]

An extremely frigid aura saturated with the stench of blood and malice pressed over the entire cave dwelling like thunderclouds.

Outside the cave, the low grade warning formations Lin Xi had set up did not last even a single breath under that pressure and were wiped away without a trace.

“Boom.”

With a thunderous crash, the stone gate of the cave dwelling was blasted apart by a violent force.

Shards of stone flew everywhere.

A middle aged man in blood robes with a sinister face appeared at the entrance.

His eyes were like a viper’s, locking onto the two inside the cave without blinking.

It was the Blood Shadow Sect’s late Core Formation elder, Xue Lian.

“Luo Bingning… So you really were hiding here.”

Elder Xue Lian’s voice was hoarse and grating, thick with triumph.

The instant the stone gate exploded, Luo Bingning had already moved to shield Lin Xi behind her.

She was jolted awake by that overwhelming aura.

Although her injuries had yet to fully heal, the moment she sensed Lin Xi behind her, a power unlike any before surged up from the depths of her bloodline.

She could not let Xi’er suffer any harm.

That thought was more important than her own life.

“Hum—

The pale blue cold around Luo Bingning roared to life, no longer the gentle flow from before.

That cold seemed to take on life, gathering around the two of them into a translucent shield of ice crystal.

On the shield, the lifelike phantom of an ice phoenix flickered into view and let out a ringing cry that could pierce metal and stone.

The temperature in the cave dwelling plunged to freezing in a breath.

Elder Xue Lian, who had just stepped inside, was forced back three steps by the sudden, terrifying cold.

Thick ice spread under his feet in an instant and a chill that cut to the bone climbed his legs.

Startled pale, Elder Xue Lian hastily roused his blood colored spiritual power to drive the cold out.

He steadied himself and stared at Luo Bingning with shock and disbelief.

“This… this is… the power of laws. Impossible! Weren’t you still badly wounded. How can you still command Cold Laws this pure.”

According to the sect’s intelligence, Luo Bingning at most had early Core Formation combat power right now, so how could she erupt with such force.

He had thought this would be easy.

Yet the power before him had already far surpassed the Core Formation realm and even made him feel the suppression of laws that only a Nascent Soul cultivator could exert.

Elder Xue Lian swept his gaze around the cave dwelling, doubt and fear warring in his heart.

Could it be that a high level protector was hiding here as well.

He could not gauge the depth of that ice phoenix phantom, he could only feel the bloodline pressure that made his heart pound.

Cold sweat beaded on Elder Xue Lian’s brow.

He did not dare take another step forward.

That unknown fear was far more dreadful than facing an enemy whose strength was clear.

A desire to retreat rose, yet he was unwilling to leave empty handed.

Elder Xue Lian fixed a venomous stare on Lin Xi under the phoenix phantom and a vicious glint flashed in his eyes.

Perhaps he could make a move on that weak little girl.

However, the moment his gaze met Luo Bingning’s icy stare, a tremor ran through him.

‘What kind of gaze was that!’

Contempt, cold and unhidden killing intent.

It was as if the instant he dared to touch that girl he would be torn to pieces the next second.

Elder Xue Lian’s heart sank.

He was sure there was no chance of gaining anything today and he might even leave his life here.

Weighing gains and losses, he chose to back down without hesitation.

“Hmph.”

With a show of bluster to cover his fear, Elder Xue Lian snorted and fished for an excuse for his sorry state.

“Luo Bingning, count yourself lucky today. When I report to the sect master, next time you won’t be so lucky.”

With that, he did not dare linger a second longer.

His body turned into a streak of blood light and he fled in disgrace.

Only when that frigid aura had utterly vanished beyond the sky did the ice phoenix phantom around Luo Bingning slowly dissipate, the cold drawing back into her body.

Her knees went weak and she nearly collapsed.

“Bingning-jie.”

Lin Xi caught her quickly, her eyes full of worry and the lingering shock.

Leaning into Lin Xi’s arms, Luo Bingning panted for breath, that brief eruption having almost drained every shred of power from her.

She turned her head and looked at Lin Xi at arm’s length, the ice blue eyes filled with fear past and relief now found.

A moment ago she had truly thought she would lose her.

Luo Bingning reached out and hugged Lin Xi tight, burying her face in the hollow of Lin Xi’s shoulder like a frightened small animal that had finally found a haven.

“Xi’er…”

Her voice quivered with the aftershock of survival.

“You really are my lucky star. With you here, I’m not afraid of anything.”

That reliance had sunk into the bone.

Lin Xi patted her back gently to soothe her.

She could feel that the empress in her arms was relying on her even more deeply now.