Chapter 121: Two Jewels United, Shocking the Night

In the hotel room, the light was still on.

Zhang Jun sat cross-legged on the carpet, eyes closed, breathing slow and deep. The pure yang energy in his dantian was warm, and now as it circulated, it felt different from before.

It flowed smoothly, like running along a polished jade track, tough yet with an indescribable roundness. Even stranger, within the warm current seemed to linger something extremely fine yet unusually strong—a coolness. This coolness didn't disturb; instead it made the heat more obedient, more condensed, and more effective to use.

Earlier that day at the Qin family's place, after being stirred up by that strange cauldron and clashing with Lin Xue's internal force, the changes in his body were far greater than he'd expected. Fragments of the messy Medicine Sect mnemonics flashed through his mind—things he'd never understood before now gave him a vague sense.

It seemed that Lin Xue's icy internal force, cold enough to make one's teeth chatter, was the key to unlocking this Medicine Sect labyrinth.

He slowly opened his eyes; in his palm lay the cool bronze plate, lying still. With a thought, he directed the pure yang energy tinged with a hint of coolness within him toward the plate.

"Hum—"

The bronze plate trembled slightly, a sound so faint it was almost inaudible. Yet the strange symbols on it flashed briefly, light flowing across them, clearer than ever before.

At the same time, a faint suction came from the neighboring room.

Next door.

In Lin Xue's room, the chill was heavier than usual, the air sticky as if about to freeze. She sat as well, sensing the change in her body's Profound Yin internal force.

Within that cold capable of freezing bone marrow, there was actually a hint of indefinable warm resilience—like a spark of vitality suddenly emerging from the depths of ice frozen for millions of years.

This slight change let her control of power reach a fineness she'd never achieved before.

She raised her hand; the dark blue crystal rested in her palm. Light and shadow flowed across its surface, the chill intensifying, yet now it seemed to have matched something next door—cold and heat pulling at each other through the wall.

Rap rap.

A knocking sounded, shattering the room's dead silence. Lin Xue's surrounding chill drew back, her motion freezing.

It was Zhang Jun.

She said nothing, her fingertip lightly tracing the icy blue crystal. The strange sensation from earlier, when their internal forces had clashed and mingled, still left an imprint in her meridians.

It was quite unfamiliar, but… it didn't seem so unpleasant either.

Rap rap.

The knocking sounded again, unhurried.

Lin Xue rose, walked to the door, stood there a moment, then reached out and opened it. Outside, Zhang Jun stood in the light, his expression unreadable.

"Third Master Liu's illness has some follow‑up; I wanted to tell you about it." He threw out a casual excuse, his gaze sweeping across her face.

Lin Xue stepped aside without a word, tacitly letting him in. She turned and walked to the window, her back to him, gazing out at the pitch‑black night.

The atmosphere in the room felt a little odd.

Zhang Jun closed the door, not bringing up Third Master Liu right away. He could sense that Lin Xue's aloof, thousand‑mile‑chilling demeanor was still there, only… it seemed a bit thinner.

"Earlier at the Qin household," Zhang Jun began, lowering his voice, "when that cauldron was acting up, our internal forces…"

Lin Xue's shoulder twitched almost imperceptibly.

"The pure yang energy in my body seems to have absorbed some of your Profound Yin power," Zhang Jun said frankly, watching her reaction. "My cultivation now flows much more smoothly, and many points have opened up."

Lin Xue slowly turned her face, blurred in the lamp light. "My Profound Yin internal force has also changed." Her voice remained cold, but she admitted it.

As expected.

Zhang Jun's heart jumped. "Perhaps the arts we practice are inherently related, even… mutually complementary?"

Lin Xue said nothing, neither acknowledging nor denying.

Zhang Jun took a step forward. "I want to give it a try."

Lin Xue lifted her head.

"Just a little," Zhang Jun extended one hand, palm up, "each release a trace of internal force, to see if we can still… like earlier today…"

The room was so quiet you could hear their breathing.

Lin Xue looked at Zhang Jun's outstretched hand, then at his expressionless face.

After a moment, she slowly raised her hand as well, palm up, holding it about an inch from his, not touching.

They exchanged a glance, both quite cautious.

The next second, a wisp of warm pure yang energy and a wisp of icy Profound Yin energy cautiously emerged from their palms, probing toward each other.

Just as the two currents were about to meet—

Sizzle—

The hotel room's lights suddenly all went out! The entire floor plunged into darkness where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face! A few muffled thuds came from the hallway outside, then utter silence.

Almost simultaneously, a freezing, blood‑scented killing intent surged in like a tide from outside the door and windows, engulfing the whole room!

"Not good!"

Zhang Jun and Lin Xue reacted with frightening speed; the internal energy they'd just projected snapped back, their auras erupting simultaneously as they warily eyed the door and window.

In the darkness, several blurry human shapes appeared like ghosts in the hallway and on the window ledges, moving so fast they made no sound—clearly veterans.

An invisible aura locked down the surroundings, its yin‑chilling force sealing off inside from outside.

"People of the Lin family?" Zhang Jun snarled low, his pure yang energy spiking to its peak.

Lin Xue didn't reply; her fingertip's chill surged, and several gleaming ice needles formed in her hand, ready to strike at any moment.

Boom!

With a tremendous crash, the heavy door was blown apart by brute force, wood chips flying everywhere!

The first shadow to burst in was none other than the middle‑aged man whose face was as black as a pot bottom, who had trailed behind Lin Feng at the Qin household earlier that day—Lin Hai!

His eyes were full of killing intent, and he gripped a short dagger that glowed with an eerie blue light—clearly laced with deadly poison.

Following him, seven or eight black‑clad warriors, as emotionless as wooden puppets, poured in through the shattered door and the window they'd forced open, instantly spreading out into a small encirclement, blades flashing as they lunged at the two inside.

It was too fast, too coordinated—obviously a pre‑planned ambush, aiming for the kill from the outset.

In the darkness, Zhang Jun and Lin Xue didn't think; they simply pressed their backs together.

Their lives hung by a thread—no time for talk!

Lin Hai's target was Zhang Jun! He moved like lightning, his short dagger tearing through the air with a foul wind, aiming straight for Zhang Jun's throat.

Zhang Jun did not retreat; instead he surged forward, his right fist clenched, and the pure yang qi mixed with a hint of coolness inside his body burst forth completely, leaving none behind.

His fist shot out, the air heated and twisted, violent and fierce, blasting straight at Lin Hai's poisonous blade.

At the same time, Lin Xue also moved.

Her body was light and floating, as if weightless, she slid back half a step amidst the encirclement of several dead warriors to avoid the front.

Her hands moved so fast their shadows vanished, and the ice needles at her fingertips scattered like a downpour!

Hiss—

The air was filled with sharp whistling; the ice needles carried a soul‑freezing chill, dead‑on accurate, all aimed at the dead warriors' joints and eyes.

Just as the two each unleashed their strike, their backs leaning together, their internal energy naturally linked again.