Chapter 83: Yin-Yang Reversal, Finding Life in Desperate Circumstances

The strike that fused both of their powers resulted in a deathly silence.

The moment the spiral violet‑silver energy torrent hit the beacon, the entire glacier fissure seemed to have a sun stuffed into it.

Light devoured all color, sound was stripped away, leaving only a bone‑shaking hum.

Then came utter darkness and endless pressure.

The ice layer shattered like glass struck by a hammer, emitting a teeth‑grating cracking sound as it pressed down from above.

Zhang Jun only managed to tightly embrace Lin Xue, bearing the first wave with his back, before being flung away by an irresistible force.

He slammed into the collapsing ice wall, then was completely buried under more ice chunks and rubble.

Pain.

His consciousness sank into the icy seabed, surrounded by boundless pressure.

His bones felt dislocated; each breath tugged at his viscera, bringing tearing agony.

Damn, I'm going to die here.

That was Zhang Jun's final thought before losing consciousness.

I don't know how long—perhaps an instant, perhaps eternity.

A strange warm current quietly arose deep within his body.

Scalding, domineering, like magma flowing through his shattered meridians.

Wherever it passed, shattered bones and torn muscles began to writhe and heal under this scorching "burn".

Primordial Bloodline?

No, it feels different.

It is purer, more primal, bearing a tyrannical vitality.

This power spontaneously shielded his vital heart vessels, resisting the deadly external cold and pressure.

Meanwhile, Lin Xue on the other side faced the exact opposite situation.

Forcing the nearly exhausted Ice Soul Power to activate, plus the violent explosive impact, her body felt completely drained.

The runaway cold no longer obeyed her; instead it surged back, invading her viscera.

That was not the Ice Soul Power's natural chill, but a deathly yin cold capable of freezing the soul.

Her consciousness sank in extreme cold, her body temperature plummeting, and a thin layer of ice rapidly formed on her exposed skin.

"Ugh..."

Zhang Jun choked violently, struggling awake from the darkness.

His chest felt stifled, as if a ball of fire burned inside him, the scorching heat nearly igniting him.

He moved his fingers; sharp pain shot through, but he could move.

Power—an unprecedented force surged through his limbs, foreign and wild.

He painfully propped up his upper body; surrounding deformed ice and rock pressed in, trapping him in a cramped space.

Light was dim, almost nonexistent.

"Lin Xue?"

He shouted with a hoarse voice, dry and raspy.

No reply.

His heart sank; that scorching power seemed to stir as well.

Gritting through the pain, he relied on his newfound strength to shove aside the several huge ice blocks pressing on him.

Then he saw.

Less than an arm's length away, Lin Xue lay curled up, motionless.

Her whole body was almost covered in a layer of icy blue‑light frost, even her hairs and eyelashes laden with ice crystals.

Her formerly pallid face now lacked any color, her lips a shocking bluish‑purple.

Her chest barely rose and fell; her breath was so faint it seemed it could snap at any moment.

Damn!

Zhang Jun's head buzzed; thoughts of Lin Yan's betrayal, the trust crisis—all were blown away by the fear brought on by the sight before him.

"Xue'er!"

He lunged forward; the instant his hand touched the frost on her arm, a piercing cold shot up his fingertips to his heart, causing the scorching power within him to stall.

She's about to die!

Victim of her own power's backlash, frozen to death!

What to do?

His mind was a chaotic mess.

Clone Wang Jun is dead, Lin Yan that bastard doesn't know where he died, the Crystal Core… damn, the Crystal Core!

He instinctively reached into his pocket, finding only torn cloth and cold stone fragments.

It's all over.

No!

I can't let her die!

No time to think it over, not even to comprehend this power within him.

An almost instinctive impulse drove him.

He gritted his teeth and, without hesitation, pressed his scorching palm against the cold spot on Lin Xue's back.

"Hum——!"

The moment the two extreme energies made contact, they emitted a strange low hum.

Zhang Jun felt his hand as if pressing against the seam where a red-hot branding iron meets ten-thousand-year-old profound ice.

The scorching pure yang power flowed along his palm, violently surging into Lin Xue's body; wherever it passed, the yin-cold death energy invading her meridians and organs, upon encountering its nemesis, emitted a "hiss" sound, being quickly neutralized and dispelled.

The frost covering Lin Xue's body melted at a visible speed, revealing the pallid, almost translucent skin beneath.

Her tightly furrowed brows eased a fraction, and her weak breathing grew slightly steadier.

At the same time, a clear coolness also flowed from within Lin Xue's body, through Zhang Jun's palm, seeping into his body.

Though weak, this coolness wonderfully eased his internal scorching, dry-heat sensation, letting his muddled consciousness grow slightly clearer.

But this process was far from pleasant.

Controlling this nascent pure yang power remained extremely strenuous for him, like trying to rein in a frenzied bull—one slip could send it out of control.

Veins stood out on his forehead, he gritted his teeth, and sweat that broke out froze instantly in the surrounding cold.

"Hold on..."

He snarled low, unsure whether he was speaking to Lin Xue or to himself.

After a moment, the frost on Lin Xue's surface had mostly faded; her complexion remained pallid, but she at least showed a sign of life, and her breathing grew somewhat longer.

Only then did Zhang Jun dare to let go; he himself was exhausted to the point of exasperation, he plopped onto the icy ground and gulped large breaths.

The pressure from the surrounding ice grew stronger, and from above came occasional cracking sounds.

This place could collapse at any moment, burying them alive.

"Damn, we need to get out."

Zhang Jun brushed ice shards from his face and looked around.

The cramped space offered only one apparent way out: upward.

He rose and stretched his limbs.

Though that pure yang power was hard to control, the strength it imparted was real.

He approached a section of ice wall that looked relatively weak, drew a deep breath, and attempted to concentrate that scorching power into his fist.

The process was still halting, but a bit smoother than when he had just rescued Lin Xue.

A faint, nearly transparent shimmer of distorted heat rippled across his fist's surface.

"Open up, dammit!"

He launched a punch!

"Bang!"

The thick ice wall shattered, ice shards flying everywhere!

Though it didn't blast a large hole as before, it still smashed open a sizable gap.

There's hope!

He glanced at Lin Xue, still semi-conscious, hoisted her light body onto his shoulder, then summoned his power again, raining punch after punch upward.

Shards of ice and snow kept falling; each meter cleared upward was extraordinarily difficult.

The ice layer's thickness exceeded imagination, and it grew harder the higher up.

Zhang Jun's stamina was rapidly draining, and the pure yang power within him grew unruly—sometimes raging, sometimes sluggish.

But he dared not stop.

He didn't know how long he had been pounding; his fists were nearly numb, and his arms ached so much he could barely lift them.

Finally, with a "crack," a different sound came from above, and a weak but genuine light streamed down!

The exit!