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Deep in the cave-

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As they moved in, Leroy instructed Jasmine to circulate her qi to keep warm instead of relying on her Inscripted Armor. With a lot of the Cold Stone gone, it was not that bad but still enough to cause an issue if one was not careful. Moving one's qi before the cold sunk in did help to keep the body warm.

Leroy was surprisingly fine overall when the others looked at him. The cold actually just moved towards the center of his chest under the flow of his Qi to the Metal Seed. Those trace minerals already improved enough for this little change. The very qualities that the wall exterior and the Cold Stones had now existed in the Metal Seed.

His cultivation did not improve but it did not hurt him at all to be under the effects. As long as he circulates some qi that is. A small minuscule amount that was no different than what Qi cultivators breathe in daily.

Victoria received help from Chu Xue to make it through at some point. Thanks to him channeling Life Qi she was able to even adapt to it faster. But the proximity had to be close enough to him for it to work. Her flame was just not good enough on its own.

'If I was an Alchemist more I could develop something from this.' Taking a few discarded pieces under the primus to study later he put them in the Storage Pouch around his waste. 'Of course, they think nothing of this.'

'I'm shivering and he wants me to rely on my armor, my Qi will run out if I do not get a handle on the situation.' Turning back, Jasmine noticed Victoria was just fine. Holding hands with her junior brother Chue Xue. Looking at Leroy who was just fine as he moved she felt an unusual feeling well in her stomach at the current dynamics. "How are you ok in this cold?"

"Hm, Flamelighting Martial Artist." Leroy said simply with a shrug offhand. He blinked at her a bit then looked around. "Are you controlling your Qi properly?"

"Yes!" Jasmine fumed a little. "Victoria is a Flame Cultivator too! She is pure in Qi since she does not have a mutated Dantian like yourself and having trouble as well!" The North Princess thought it was unfair.

"Maybe because you are females this is happening," Leroy gave a smirk as he knew it was a low blow but effective. It was the right thing to tick Jasmine off. Her anger spiked a little more as some more of her qi came out flushing out the cold. But it also allowed a lot of it to flush immediately afterward. It chilled down the body and clogged her pores a little. "I am kidding.. partially. Take this as a time to temper yourself. You lack control. Like a lot. All that teenage angst and those daddy issues... or maybe mommy issues."

*Fwip!* Jasmine did an about-faced and took a swing at Leroy who dodged of course. No since in letting yourself get hit for nothing. As he stepped to the left, he maneuvered toward the pool of water.

"Really, a 5th Rank... no a 6th Rank incapable of hitting an injured Ranker below her in the same Realm, how unsightly." Leroy was about a foot away from the water now. The Trident to his left side above in the air a little. Jasmine was following his eyes toward the weapon. "I bet even with that you couldn't land a hit."

"Grrrr!" Jasmine was beyond insulted as she took the bait. She grabbed the Trident firmly just like Leroy hoped. "I will show you!" The moment she grabbed it, the ice started to travel up her arm. In seconds it moved up to her shoulder. "Ahhh!" Her scream was pretty sharp and very ear-piercing. "Help!"

"Oh geez, calm down." Leroy grabbed her other arm and channeled his qi into her. His left hand was placed over her frozen one. "This is a chance that you shouldn't pass up." He channeled the Flame Vortex Core Qi to help next to test something further.

The thick Ancient Cold Qi created by the Trident was eaten up. All of it heading to the Flame Vortex Core for later that he managed to grab. Jasmine fought back against the cold in her body that had already frozen and destroyed some red blood cells. Her eyes never left Leroy who looked extremely focused on what he was doing.

Frozen sweat drop fell down his cheeks and neck. The Cold Qi had penetrated his flesh as well but not that brutally compared to her own.

'He is so calm and focused, did he goad me on purpose?' Feeling a little foolish she made a note to deal with him later for this if it was true. 'If we are partners, he should confide in me more. Unless...' She looked a little over her shoulder at Victoria and Chu Xue who stood there doing nothing. 'Is it because they are here?'

"Chu Xue.. see if you can help maybe relieve some of the pain." Victoria spoke up after seeing a wave of Cold pass from the Trident once more. Noticing he didn't move she nudged him. "EH!?" Chu Xue's eyes were glowing with Qi as he looked at the Trident. Slowly he moves forward as if possessed. "Chu Xue..."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

To focus on his work, Leroy didn't notice the change as he couldn't afford to. Internally the Flame Vortex was trying to snatch the Trident itself away as if to take ownership of it. But that was not good and not something he could accept if he was to survive the craziness taking place in the Test Area.

"I almost have it!" Jasmine announced not noticing the change immediately in her vicinity. She could feel a presence that caused her Beast Qi to change. It became more robust from the Cold Qi and purer from the Flame Vortex Core Qi mixing in. 'Such an intense feeling combined together!'

'Such a good offering of Qi.' Leroy thought to himself. He was not worried about the technique inside the Trident that started to manifest. The Cold Qi inside was more of a prize to help temper and speed up his healing. As well as the information on how Beast Qi worked and the improvement to the Metal Seed if he tossed it into the Flame Vortex for refining. 'The more she circulates her qi, the more I am understanding how they work in comparison to others.'

Before Leroy could learn something fundamental, Chu Xue grabbed hold of the Trident. His Life Qi injected into Jasmine caused a conflict with Leroy's Flame Vortex Qi that already was geared against that type of Qi due to its effects on him.

*Crack!* The clashing Qi hit the cave walls causing small openings all over.

"What the hell brat!?" Leroy removed his Core Qi and stepped back on wobbly legs. "Are you nuts!? You could have killed her just then!"

"Uggh!" Jasmine groaned as the chill overtook her without the Flame Vortex Qi present. 'The warmth is gone but the Life Qi is healing my wounds from the cold damage at least!'

'I can't do anything right now. I feel so useless.' Victoria thought to herself. She caught that Leroy looked a little tired then the situation became much worse looking at his legs. Then fell into the water. "Leroy!"

Jasmine and Chu Xue were too occupied to do anything. Without Leroy to help contend against it, the Trident rampaged against the other two. If not for the two rings on Jasmine's fingers she may have lost her arms to serious frost damage.

Victoria made it to the water but stop by the cold fog that hit her. The disturbance caused by Leroy falling in stirred it up a lot and caused a problem as the surface water evaporated. She fretted a little but nothing she could really do to reach in. She could wait to see what happens of course. Her fists balled tight as she was basically just a spectator at what was currently going on.

Leroy allowed himself to fall into the pool. Since he was not interested in the Spear and already received a benefit from taking in the Cold Qi inside, it was better to let them deal with the trap that might still trigger. Circulating his Flame Vortex Qi a little, he headed down to get the Cold Qi Liquid.

The more he traveled the more the water was actually put into his Internal Space to help relieve the pressure. The water was rich in qi and tasted delicious. Very cold but nothing he could do about that really. Besides heat it up of course.

At the bottom devoid of any light touching besides what came off his body, the Champion came across an air pocket. Inside was floating blue liquid. It grew bigger from a few small bubbles that were left from much thicker Cold Stones.

These Cold Stones were a higher Tier, however. But such cold emissions tied to the Qi would make it hard to mess with. Unknown to him a little of this Qi vanished upon interacting with him. Sucked away to somewhere unknown.

'Jackpot baby!' Leroy reached out and snatched the glowing rocks and placed them away into his Internal Space. He kept 6 pieces out to surface with, however. 'Just in case I need to make some bribes or something. Plus will let me test how trusty worthy they are.'

A few pieces of wood were down there as well he thought but it turned out to be actual roots. Because of the incident with the Demon Plants fresh in his mind still, he didn't take chances and broke the roots off with sharp rocks.

They were immediately placed in the Flame Vortex directly to be refined. Unable to break anymore he punched the sides and let it be buried under some rocks. Of course, it was not a lot but he hoped the exposure to the still cold water would do something to prevent it from growing.

'Need to get out of here!' Not satisfied he figured it had been long enough down here. 'Wonder what kind of tree root that is?'

With his back turned and a few feet away from the surface already, he missed the roots had already healed! The tree itself had been stirred awake thanks to him removing the Cold Stones down below and the Trident weakening.

It actually wanted to think the departing cultivator but he left to quickly after chopping off the damaged roots. A good deed was wasted and he didn't even know it.

The second-biggest piece of the Cold Stones was sent to Tang Bo to use. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Tang Bo used it immediately to get started to push his cultivation. He had a surprise for his cousin Tang Xui once they met back up.

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Elsewhere-

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Out at a large lake, a young lady was diligently cultivating to push herself to the next Realm. Taking in volatile Qi that burn her veins was the risk she dealt with for the power it affords.

"I will not allow myself to be the wife of someone lesser! Not my father or the Elders can decide this for me!" As she grimly reinforce her thoughts and beliefs, a figure in the water appeared briefly. With a small push of the mind, the young lady received Insights! "I will become the Mistress of my own Destiny!"

*Fwish!* The Volatile Qi that burned her flesh was stripped of the corrosive properties. The Overly purified Warm and Cold Qi swirled across her body creating fire tuffs and drops of water.

On her back clothing, the symbol of her Noble Family shined for brightly for any to see. She was the young lady of the Clear Jing-Fire Family

The small island she was on rumbled with a large wave of volatile Qi flooding into the cultivator. But she was not the only one to receive benefits from this. Several lake Demon Beasts moved deeper in to take in the Qi as well.

'This is all I can do to speed up my release!' Dissipating back into regular water itself, the figure silhouette solidified inside of a Temple under the Lake. A Formation constantly lit that restricted Qi gathering and secured this prison tightly. "Ughh.." A slight moan echoed out of the body before it went completely still.