I'm quitting!

Chapter 12 Fanfan's Broken Ice Cream, I'll Share Half with You

Lin Xiaofan stared at Ma Qiu's retreating figure, his gaze fixed on the data chains, and his throat tightened slightly: "Ma... Ma Qiu..."

Before he could finish speaking, his body swayed, and if Dan Xuanzi hadn't caught him quickly, he would have fallen into a pool of blood. The commotion was quite loud, and Ma Qiu suddenly turned his head, his large eyes instantly filling with tears.

"senior!"

Dan Xuanzi swiftly pressed a major acupoint on Lin Xiaofan's back with his fingertip, and a warm current surged into him along the meridians, barely supporting the swaying body.

Maqiu was so anxious that she kept spinning around, but her little nose suddenly twitched—a very faint wisp of cold air emanated from the pool of blood.

"squeak…"

The little creature darted over, picked up the shattered ice crystal jade pendant, and ran back, its front paws pressing down on Lin Xiaofan's feet as it bounced around, saying, "Smells good...it'll help me recover!"

Dan Xuanzi lowered his gaze, and upon seeing it, his pupils shrank dramatically: "Nine Heavens Frost Marrow Jade?! One of the Su family's secret treasures... Senior, you actually have such a connection with the Su family of Nanguan?"

Lin Xiaofan did not answer directly, but only forced a question: "Master Dan...do you know its uses?"

Dan Xuanzi nodded slightly: "This jade originally contained bone-corroding cold poison, and was usually only used as a protective magic treasure. However, I have heard that if it is warmed with heart blood for a hundred years, it can turn the poison into marrow... Now that the cold poison has been completely eliminated, it is the supreme holy medicine for tempering the body."

"In that case..." Lin Xiaofan forced a weak smile, "then I'll trouble you, Master, to open the furnace."

"But..." Dan Xuanzi looked troubled, "I... haven't personally heated the furnace for over a hundred years, and the Dao of alchemy is most averse to a restless mind..."

Lin Xiaofan looked up at the sparse light filtering through the bamboo tips, her voice soft yet firm: "A person lives on a breath, and when a person dies, they turn to ashes... At worst, they turn into ashes, and even ashes can bloom into flowers."

Dan Xuanzi trembled, and golden light suddenly shone in his eyes: "Good! Today I will rekindle your alchemical fire for you, Senior!"

He slammed his hand on the storage bag, and a small bronze cauldron engraved with medicinal patterns crashed to the ground, instantly expanding to the size of a cauldron that could hold several people.

Dan Xuanzi rolled up his sleeves, and several spiritual herbs fell into the cauldron like stars—the Crimson Flame Grass spun three times to the left, and the Ice Soul Lotus sank seven-tenths to the right. As the last two drops of morning dew condensed into jade marrow fell, a cluster of dark blue flames rose up from the center of the cauldron with a "poof".

As the aroma of medicine began to rise, Lin Xiaofan closed his eyes and sank into the soup where ice and fire intertwined, but in his heart he muttered to himself: I've said so many things that I'm not afraid of death... I can't really die here, can I?

Maqiu squatted on the edge of the cauldron, its little paws dipping into the medicinal juice and smearing it onto Lin Xiaofan's chest. The shattered jade melted away in the rising blood and qi, turning into snowflake-like patterns that were branded into the flesh inch by inch.

Seeing his complexion improve, Maqiu excitedly jumped into the medicine cauldron and splashed around: "Plop! Maqiu has turned into a hot pot!"

A low laugh escaped Lin Xiaofan's throat, causing the jade patterns on his chest to flicker erratically, and wisps of icy mist climbed up his eyebrows along the curve.

呲——

The sound of ice freezing suddenly arose, and a cold wave struck.

The flow of the medicinal liquid in the cauldron stopped, and it turned from greenish-yellow to ice blue.

Fine frost flowers formed on Lin Xiaofan's eyelashes, layer upon layer, and in the blink of an eye, they solidified into a white film.

The sesame ball, chilled to the bone, leaped out of the liquid and clung to Lin Xiaofan's shoulders with its four paws. Its wet little body trembled like a leaf. Looking up, it saw Lin Xiaofan's Adam's apple bobbing, and he swallowed the groan that was about to come out of his mouth as a muffled groan. His ten fingers dug into the patterns on the edge of the cauldron, and thin lines of blood seeped from under his fingernails, winding down along the rust.

Ice crystals clung to the bamboo tips around the cauldron, faintly reflecting its curled-up silhouette.

Dan Xuanzi's fingertips, which were calculating in his sleeve, trembled slightly: "The most dangerous thing is for the cold marrow to penetrate to the bone. If you waver even slightly... you will become an ice sculpture."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Xiaofan suddenly started humming a wild, off-key tune, broken and muffled by the sound of his teeth chattering: "Roasted...sweet potato...sweet as honey...with...with chili..."

With each utterance he made, a fine crack would appear on his skin, from which tiny drops of blood would seep out, resembling his crimson eyes.

"Senior! Concentrate and focus your mind!" Dan Xuanzi shouted urgently.

Suddenly, the snowflake tattoo on Lin Xiaofan's chest lit up, and blood beads seeped in along the veins of the ice crystals. The cold current in the cauldron surged upwards like a living python!

The bamboo forest was instantly covered with three inches of white frost. The hemp ball was blown away by the shockwave. Its four little paws grabbed wildly in mid-air and "thud" landed on Dan Xuanzi's head, holding onto the hair crown tightly to anchor itself in place.

However, its wet tail was still flicking the medicinal beads, drawing a rainbow on Dan Xuanzi's face.

boom!

The moment the ice mist exploded, the ten-zhang-tall bamboo forest transformed into a crystal world. Each icicle reflected the phantom of Lin Xiaofan roaring to the sky, his hair standing on end, and white mist rising from his body.

As the last ice crystal fell to the ground, Dan Xuanzi removed his protective aura, and ice shards fell like snowflakes.

The figure slowly rose from the cauldron, shaking off the frost. It flicked its forearm with its fingers, producing a clear, chiming sound like a set of chimes.

"Congratulations, Senior! You have achieved the Extreme Cold Dao Body!" Dan Xuanzi clapped his hands and laughed, causing the hemp balls on his hair ornament to shake violently. "The Frost Marrow Jade has cleansed away impurities, and your bones and flesh have been refined. From now on, you will grow stronger the colder it gets, and your meridians can withstand three times the flow of true essence!"

He pulled a white silk cloth from his sleeve and wrapped it around Lin Xiaofan: "However, this body is newly formed and still needs nurturing. If it encounters a pure yang cultivation technique... it will still need to be harmonized and cultivated slowly..."

Before he could finish speaking, Maqiu suddenly jumped off his hair ornament and slapped Lin Xiaofan's jade pattern on his chest with its wet paws: "Hard as rock."

Lin Xiaofan chuckled and directed the true energy within his body back to his dantian.

Maqiu's eyes widened immediately: "Soft and limp!"

"It seems that you have already adapted to the Dao body, and you will surely be able to discover many mysteries in the future."

"This is all thanks to Master Dan's superb skills..." Lin Xiaofan smiled in response, then looked up at the Nine Cauldrons Cage high above—

Xianyunzi hovered in mid-air, the scarlet chains wrapped around his body flickering with his breath, pulsating like the veins of a living creature.

"Maqiu just bit through this chain, maybe we can give it a try..." Lin Xiaofan pondered to himself. Before the thought was even finished, the little guy had already jumped onto his shoulder, his wet nose twitching incessantly towards the chain.

"Master Dan, I'll leave the matter of controlling the cauldron to you."

"This..." Dan Xuanzi hesitated, but still controlled the Nine Cauldrons to slowly descend.

The moment the tripod touched the ground, the hemp ball eagerly pounced on the light shield.

"Senior, this chain is extremely malevolent. If the little one loses control—"

"If anything goes wrong, I will take responsibility." Lin Xiaofan said solemnly.

This battle is not only about rescuing the sect leader, but also about laying the foundation for future confrontations with the Script Management Bureau.

"Alright..." Dan Xuanzi gently pushed with his palm, and a thin crack appeared in the golden light.

"squeak!"

The hemp ball transformed into white lightning and darted in, its tiny teeth gnawing at the chains as if chewing on sugar threads.

Click, click—

The snapping sounds intensified, a red glow appeared in the little creature's eyes, its fur gradually changed from snow-white to silver-gray, star trails appeared around its body, and its belly swelled up like an inflated balloon.

"Going mad from cultivation?!"

Dan Xuanzi quickly gathered the three cauldrons, and the golden light suddenly receded, trying to close the gap. Lin Xiaofan raised his hand to stop him, and then leaped towards the gap in the light.

"Mahjong ball!"

The moment my palm touched the burning hot back, a torrent of silvery white fluid rushed down my arm and into my meridians, and the jade pattern on my chest suddenly shone like an icy moon.

"Hmm!"

Lin Xiaofan slowly bled from his seven orifices—he was so violent that even his Extreme Cold Dao Body almost couldn't withstand it.

He grinned and said, "Little one, you can't eat alone."

Blood dripped down his chin, blooming like red plum blossoms among the hair of the sesame ball.

Energy, like twin vines, flows back and forth between the man and the mouse.

The color of the sesame ball's fur gradually stabilized into moon silver, and the star trails condensed into the shape of the Big Dipper. Tiny ice crystals condensed at Lin Xiaofan's fingertips, constantly changing shape with the rhythm of his breath.