Chapter 37: Ripples in the frozen heart
At a certain region near the forest of bones:
The area was unusually quiet, but a figure blurred into and out of vision from time to time. All of a sudden, a bulky plant shot its leaves towards an empty region.
"Damn" a voice resounded clear and loud in the area as Sheng Tian, holding the unconscious cold beauty in his arms, created a barrier to block the lethal leaves.
The leaves folded themselves and became as thin as a needle and pierced the profound energy barrier.
BOOM!
Sheng Tian clenched his fist and used profound energy to shield them before he kept her behind her.
'Damn you girl. For the one time you saved me, I will repay you. Then, we're even.' he thought as the sharp leaves pierced his shoulders and chest breaking his barrier.
It would have not been a problem for Sheng Tian to take care of a plant at 3rd level of Earth Realm, but the attack by Qin Cheng earlier almost killed him.
Now he is trying to move away from the group to recuperate.
Fortunately, his moment art—Formless Void Steps can be used to fool the people at his level to think that he teleported when he is just disappearing and travelling at high speeds.
Sheng Tian used every bit of profound energy in his body and shot a sword shaped beam of profound energy towards the bulky plant.
Despite the plant trying to resist, the sword beam impaled it from the roots and sliced the sword into countless pieces.
THUD
Sheng Tian collapsed on the soft grass with Leng Yue Yan in his arms.
Both of his arms were on her slender waist as his eyelids dropped.
Before he lost consciousness, Sheng Tian took out all the talisman items he had and set up a basic defense formation. Then, he passed out.
Leng Yue Yan had a dream.
She was in a world of ice. Everywhere she could see, there was only whiteness of ice.
With every passing second, she felt a bone chilling cold.
She hugged herself and tried to bear the cold. But she could only take a step before her body started shivering.
She looked all around, only limitless glaciers and endless snow mountains entered her sight.
Biting her lip, she clenched her fist and took a step forward, because she had no idea where to go. However, one thing is for sure— she doesn't want to stay in the eternal loneliness.
Time passed. minutes, hours, days, months, years.
She didn't know how she was able to walk for so long. There was not a single change in her body since she started walking.
She didn't even shiver and walked calmly as if she was strolling in a park.
But there was a look of desolateness in her eyes. She found that she was lonely. There was no one in her life. There never was.
Even her master, her best friend, no one came to her during this time. They were out of her reach.
Fed up by her own loneliness, Leng Yue Yan woodenly walked in the endless path.
She hated the coldness. She hated the loneliness. She hated herself.
There was only one thing she wished—a bit of warmth. Alas, the little warmth seemed more distant than eternity.
Suddenly, a large snow storm assaulted the path.
She tried to protect herself but under the coldness was higher than ever. It seeped into every inch of her soul.
Leng Yue Yan tried to move, but she couldn't. She had no way of resisting against the snow storm.
When she gave up all hope, a pair of hands gently pulled her into a warm embrace shielding her from the coldness of the storm, giving her the warmth she longed for all the time.
Leng Yue Yan felt a feeling of peace and acceptance. She didn't hate herself. She wasn't lonely anymore.
She looked up at the person who gave her the warmth.
She couldn't see him properly due to the fog and snow. But as she tried to look at him clearly, unknowingly her vision started going blurred as she saw an otherworldly handsome face with clear sky blue eyes and illusory silver hair.
Those eyes had a feeling of loneliness striking a deep chord in her. Her heart shook.
Slowly, she opened her eyes.
The extreme handsome face quickly changed into a good looking face with black hair and pupils.
Leng Yue Yan felt something wet on her face. Touching her cheeks, she found that they were tears coming out unceasingly.
Confused, she was about to think about them when she suddenly realised the position she was in.
The Young Man in Qin Qing's team, Ling Tian—had his hands wrapped over her waist, hugging her tightly as he laid on the ground with a gentle smile. Her face was on his chest, listening to his heart beat. Her arms, somehow were hugging him back tightly.
Her gaze instantly turned cold as the temperature of the surroundings dropped instantly. A bone chilling killing intent filled the air.
Instinctively, her palm gathered the last of the little profound energy she had left.
Just when she was about to slam the palm down, the fight with Qin Cheng and Qin Lie's team flashed in her mind.
She realised that...she was saved by him!
And he didn't have any ill intentions. Even the veil on her face was untouched!
The next second, the profound energy in her palm dissipated.
Leng Yue Yan immediately tried to move out of his embrace and escape his touch. But she found that her body was heavily injured and she only had a tiny bit of profound energy remaining.
However, she didn't want to stay like this any longer and struggled to move.
"Ugh." a groan escaped the lips of Sheng Tian.
Leng Yue Yan became vigilant and used her profound energy to push away his arms and stood up.
But the next second, she could't support her own body in the weakened state and collapsed on him.
"Fuck!" Sheng Tian cursed out loud as his eyes opened wide.
Looking at Leng Yue Yan who awkwardly fell on his chest again, Sheng Tian glared "What's wrong with you girl? I'm injured for your sake and you are jumping on me, eh? ."
Leng Yue Yan who was about to say something was stunned.
This was the first time someone scolded her.
Every person that talked to her were either flattering her or trying to show off. There was never a person who was like Sheng Tian.
However, due to the coldness she developed, getting scolded was not an option.
She glared at him and said coldly as her celestial voice sounded angry "I'm not playing. Don't expect me to thank you. If not for me saving you, you would have already died. And you saved me. We don't owe each other anything."
"My words exactly. Saving you was a pain in the ass." Sheng Tian mocked.
Then, he slowly got up, bringing with him Leng Yue Yan who was still trying to move awkwardly with a body full of injuries and no profound energy left.
"What are you doing?"like the most beautiful song ever sung, her voice sounded by his ears. But the aura she emitted made his body shiver instinctively.
But he paid it no heed and smirked instead.
Now, Sheng Tian was sitting crosslegged and Leng Yue Yan was sitting on his thighs.
To keep herself from falling, Leng Yue Yan could only grudgingly wrap her arms around his neck.
Due to the position they were in, their chests were practically touching each other and Sheng Tian felt a soft and supple sensation on his chest, incomparable to anything he felt. Knowing what it was, he made no efforts to avoid and enjoyed it fully.
And their faces were incredibly close, so much that they could feel each other's breath.
Feeling the fragrant cold breath on his face, Sheng Tian felt a bit dazed. This was his first time seeing her so close.
Leng Yue Yan mind went blank momentarily.
She never touched a man. In fact, her body would reject any form of contact with males, instinctively.
But this touch, this touch reminded her of the warmth she felt in the dream she had. She couldn't remember the dream properly. It was like a vague memory that was never recalled but never left her.
As she lifted her head, their gazes met as the young man and woman stared straight into each other's eyes.
They saw a common feeling that they never told each other—Loneliness and Struggle.
Sighing lightly, Sheng Tian used the last of his energy to give her the spirit fruits for recovery.
Without speaking a word, Leng Yue Yan gracefully ate the fruits he gave her and felt her body recover at an insane rate. This is the quality of the orange spirit fruit—It lets you recover at an insane rate as long as you're in the Ancestral Grounds.
Having recovered some basic strength, Leng Yue Yan quickly stood up from Sheng Tian's lap and gazed at him intensely before she finally said "Stupid."
Looking at Leng Yue Yan who started at him so intensely, Sheng Tian thought that she wanted to declare her undying love and offer herself as a gift.
But what did she say? Stupid?! The hell is wrong with this chick's head.
Immediately munching a recovery fruit, Sheng Tian stood up and dusted his clothes before he gazed at her weirdly, scanning her head for any potential injuries.
"What?" Leng Yue Yan started gathering profound energy form the surroundings as she stood in front of him.
"Why call me Stupid? Did you have any head injuries?" Sheng Tian frowned.
Leng Yue Yan's gaze turned ice-cold and the water droplets in the air started to freeze.
"You gave me the recovery fruit first instead of taking it yourself. What if I wanted to harm you? In your state, if I attacked, you would have died without a doubt! Just because a woman is pretty, you guys lose their sense." she spoke her longest, but the words were like needles to any man.
However, Sheng Tian chuckled "Coz I know you won't. I trust my judgment. And if you tried to attack me, there is a person who would kill you before you even reach me."
Taken back by his words, Leng Yue Yan didn't know if he was defending his behaviour or speaking the truth. But she choose to ignore it.
Unknown to her, Xiao Lian was watching everything since the fight with Qin Lie's group.
Though she was surprised by Leng Yue Yan's tears, Xiao Lian didn't show any sympathy and sensed each of her reactions.
When Leng Yue Yan was about to slam Sheng Tian's body, Xiao Lian was ready to kill her without mercy.
Even if Sheng Tian would be upset by her action, she is ready to take the blame. Because she didn't like the thought of seeing him betrayed by someone he saved.
In her mind, she wished that Sheng Tian had to never undergo through such pain.
Unknowingly, Sheng Tian's life became increasingly important in her life with every passing second. The talks they had, the jokes they made, the feeling of closeness made Xiao Lian consider Sheng Tian a close person to her in life.
But even she herself doesn't know this, much less Sheng Tian.
Leng Yue Yan coldly spoke "We'll cultivate at the same place so that we can have each other's back."
Sheng Tian shook his head and handed her a pill "This will give you some strength to protect yourself instantly."
He blurred and disappeared.
Leng Yue Yan's gaze followed Sheng Tian's invisible foot steps.
She took the pill and felt a surge of energy fill her profound veins. She can now fight a first level earth realm cultivator without losing.
Involuntarily, Sheng Tian's eyes appeared in her mind. They seemed so familiar, yet so distant.
She calmed her emotions and started to regain profound energy.
.... .... .... .... ....
With the Primal Seed gathering profound energy for him, Sheng Tian had no problem gaining profound energy.
From the glowing intensities of Jade Seals, Sheng Tian pretty much determined everyone's direction. The static one as the center of the forest and the ones changing directions as participants.
The Forest of Bones is in the shape of a circle. There is a thick boundary made of different kinds of Tree monsters and plant monsters. So, if one wanted to go to the other side of the wall, the only way is to go through the wall as no one would want to go through the center. But it is very hard.
That means basically even if a participant carrying a Jade Seal is detected is found on the other side of the wall (or center), they could do nothing about except hoping to catch them in the final test place, the Chamber of Inheritance.
Every one of their opponents thought that Sheng Tian was using 'Teleportation Token' to teleport.
As a teleport token teleport range starts from kilometres, others could very well believe that Sheng Tian and Leng Yue Yan were transported to the other side of the forest, because the Jade Tokens only have the ability to detect the direction.
They are distance independent— there would be same glow even if the person having Jade Seals is 1 km away or 10 km away as long they are in the detection range.
Following this simple logic, they definitely won't be able to detect them as the participants are always transported at one side of the wall when they are teleported here.
But when one uses a teleportation token, it is very much possible that they are now teleported to the other side of the wall.
So, instead of wasting time and taking gambles, a practical decision would be to let the two day time period pass as they accumulate as many Spirit fruits as they can then leisurely snatching the Jade Seals once they get to the Chamber of Inheritance. From Sheng Tian's understanding of Qin Cheng, he would definitely do that.
So, he didn't need to worry about anything but just get the three Jade Seals from the center of the Forest.
.... .... .... .... ....
Qin Cheng and the others were shocked because teleportation tokens are very rare.
Having one such token would basically mean having a second life. It is very precious. But they didn't know that it was just Sheng Tian using Formless Void Steps which would turn him invisible and undetectable from spirit sense for a few moments from the ones of same realm.
Since Sheng Tian didn't want anyone to know of his Movement Technique, he used the teleportation token as a cover-up which worked well. No one even suspected that it could be a movement technique.
Meanwhile, Qin Qing felt that they might be teleported to the other half and ordered his group to search for the existing Jade seals if any and collect as many Spirit Fruits as possible.
Taking advantage of the situation, Qin Lie's group escaped when Qin Cheng's group is fighting with Sheng Tian and the Ice Goddess.
.... .... .... .... .... ....
Leng Yue Yan woke up from cultivation. Her wounds healed faster than usual and so did the recovery of her profound energy. She didn't know it yet, but something inside her began to change.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
_Transcendent
_Transcendent >....<
Well, Real Life came crashing upon me for the past two days.
Nonetheless, Enjoy~
-- Gift
received