Chapter 31: Condensing Water Into Ice, The Primordial Mystic Ice!

“Water Origin Manual, breakthrough!”

As the one who started it all, Shen Yan paid no attention to the events unfolding on Jingyun Island. At this moment, he was diving deep beneath the sea, harnessing the spiritual energy within the Heavenly Emperor Seal to push the Water Origin Manual to a new level. In an instant, he became a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

Suddenly, Shen Yan understood why the Qi Refining stage was divided into four layers. The early stage was about shedding the mortal body—it focused on sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, absorbing spiritual essence, and using that energy to heal hidden wounds and make it easier to absorb more spiritual energy, returning the body to a state as pure as at birth. Once the body had been refined by spiritual essence and all impurities were eliminated, one naturally reached the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

The mid-stage emphasized control—using mana to temper the flesh, much like when Shen Yan once cultivated the Primordial Unity Art, making it easier to command the body at will.

The late stage honed in on transformation—not the same as the transformation of the Serpent Concealment Technique, but rather transforming the spiritual energy absorbed from heaven and earth into the attribute of one’s primary cultivation method. From then on, the absorption of same-element energy became faster, and the power of spells grew stronger.

“So what does it feel like to reach complete perfection in Qi Refining?”

Feeling the remaining spiritual energy within the Heavenly Emperor Seal, Shen Yan pondered for a moment before deciding to attempt another breakthrough.

“Water Origin Manual, breakthrough again!”

However, to his disappointment, the spiritual energy within the Heavenly Emperor Seal remained motionless. Clearly, what remained was insufficient to push the Water Origin Manual to the fourth layer and allow him to achieve perfection in the Qi Refining stage.

“Not enough, then?”

Shen Yan was not disheartened. He turned his focus to the Freezing Ice Art.

“Freezing Ice Art, breakthrough!”

In an instant, the spiritual energy within the Heavenly Emperor Seal was consumed at a frenzied pace, and Shen Yan’s newly acquired Freezing Ice Art was instantly elevated to the third layer—the current limit of his cultivation.

“So this is the art of condensing water into ice!”

With a flick of his finger, his mana surged, and the seawater before him instantly solidified into a cluster of blue crystal ice.

“Hm, the seawater contains salt and other impurities, so the ice formed isn’t particularly hard.”

Sweeping his divine sense over the ice, Shen Yan immediately noticed subtle flaws.

“Profound Primordial Heavy Water!”

With a shift in his mind, grain-sized beads of translucent Profound Primordial Heavy Water hovered in the sea. Unlike regular seawater, a single drop of this heavy water weighed a thousand pounds. If Shen Yan had not refined these drops, even controlling them would have cost a great deal of mana.

“Condense water into ice!”

Mana surged, and the Profound Primordial Heavy Water in Shen Yan’s hand began to change. Yet the next moment, his brow furrowed—over half of his mana was drained at once, and only a small portion of the forty drops of heavy water transformed.

“The limit a Qi Refining cultivator can control is forty-nine drops of Profound Primordial Heavy Water, but transforming them all into ice, with only a Qi Refining stage’s reserves, is impossible.”

After a moment’s thought, Shen Yan decided to reduce the number of drops to nine.

The spiritual energy within the Heavenly Emperor Seal surged, and Shen Yan’s mana was instantly restored. He put away the remaining heavy water, leaving only nine drops, then pointed with his finger.

“Condense water into ice!”

In an instant, over half of his mana was drained again, but this time, the nine drops of Profound Primordial Heavy Water transformed perfectly into round beads of ice.

“There’s even a concealment effect?”

Shen Yan’s eyes widened. After the transformation, unless he, as the master, used mana to control them, they could not be detected even with divine sense.

“Now that the Profound Primordial Heavy Water has become solid ice, calling it heavy water doesn’t seem right…”

He pondered for a while before breaking into a smile.

“I’ll call it Elemental Profound Ice.”

He played with the nine beads of Elemental Profound Ice in his palm, feeling invigorated.

“It’s been nearly a year since I entered the Jade Immortal Sect, and at last I have a trump card to rely on!”

With that, he flicked a bead of Elemental Profound Ice, sending it shooting toward a rock not far away on the sea floor.

The ancient rock, sculpted by countless millennia of currents, instantly shattered and crumbled, scattering fragments that stirred the water before slowly settling to rest on the ocean bottom.

“With such power, could Yang Yun’s True Essence Shield withstand it?”

Shen Yan silently weighed the strength of the Elemental Profound Ice.

“Yang Yun once gave me a Flowing Cloud Sword; I should test its power as well.”

He took out the Flowing Cloud Sword, performed a simple ritual with his mana, then aimed and thrust at another rock in the sea.

Swish!

The rock was pierced clean through as if it were tofu, yet did not shatter.

“The Elemental Profound Ice overpowers with sheer force, while the Flowing Cloud Sword is incomparably sharp; the two can’t really be compared.”

“But since Yang Yun dared to give me the Flowing Cloud Sword, it means she has even better artifacts.”

Recalling the pair of boots Yang Yun wore on Jinzhou Bay, Shen Yan’s gaze grew pensive.

“She truly is a core disciple of the Jade Immortal Sect—never to be underestimated.”

He raised his estimation of Yang Yun’s threat, but did not belittle himself.

Elemental Profound Ice was not simply Profound Primordial Heavy Water frozen into solid form; it also carried the water-manipulating power bestowed by the Heavenly Emperor Seal. Otherwise, how could a mere late-stage Qi Refining cultivator like Shen Yan have crafted such a fearsome artifact?

Thus, Shen Yan remained highly confident in himself, and his ambitions soared—to challenge the Nascent Soul stage while still in Qi Refining!

Now that he was drawing ever closer to that goal, his motivation burned brighter than ever.

“With my cultivation advanced, my combat power increased, and two trump cards—the Flowing Cloud Sword and the Elemental Profound Ice—at hand, there’s not a single peer, even those at the peak of Qi Refining, who could last a single round against me.”

Since he could not yet easily kill Yang Yun, Shen Yan turned his attention to dealing with the Yang family.

“No matter what, I must slaughter the entire Yang clan. The longer I wait, the more variables arise. I’ll destroy them first.”

Having resolved himself, Shen Yan prepared to set off for Jinzhou Prefecture at once.

In the past, the Yang household had been an insurmountable behemoth to Shen Yan. But now, it was nothing more than the vassal of a mortal dynasty.

Even so, Shen Yan would not underestimate them. Only the core disciples of the Jade Immortal Sect could act with impunity in the Qian Kingdom, which meant that there were certainly Qi Refining cultivators in Qian, and perhaps not a few.

By this logic, was it not likely that the Yang clan had their own cultivators as well?

Shen Yan had not spent long in the Jade Immortal Sect, but he understood that Yang Yun still cared about her family. After all, the Yang clan was a channel through which she could gather spiritual resources, so she would not abandon them—she’d likely stationed people to protect Yang Ze.

And as a Nascent Soul core disciple, Yang Yun could command no small number of Qi Refining disciples.

Shen Yan considered every possible complication, determined to leave no room for error.

“On Jingyun Island, Yang Yun faces Yu Qing as her open opponent and has Yusuo Peak watching from the shadows. In a few days, she’ll be too busy to care—this is my best chance to deal with the Yang family!”