I am about to die of old age, and I have awakened the character of longevity.

Chapter 149: The Shrine Woman, Baozhi!
Making this decision is not an easy thing.

Xie An instinctively felt that this was very dangerous, and an unknown danger.

Xie An felt it necessary to tell Yuhe.

He turned to look at Yu He and found that she looked extremely haggard, her face had turned pale, her lips were almost bloodless, and her breath was full of
When the air encounters a cold current, it immediately turns into white mist.

Even though Yuhe was a martial artist with the second level of internal strength, after two days of enduring hunger and cold, it was difficult for her to withstand the cold here.

It's too cold here.

If Xie An had not practiced the Mingyu Gong to the eleventh level, he would not have survived until now and would have died of hunger and cold long ago.

You have to remember, the two of them were already wearing very little, and for the past two days they had been relying on circulating heat and internal energy to keep warm. This was very exhausting, and even outside they needed to eat a lot to make up for the loss.

And they hadn't eaten for two days.

How can I withstand it?

There's no shortage of water here, the water from the cold pond is drinkable. But there's no edible food, there's nothing around except rocks and ice...

Eat dirt?

There's not even any soil here.

Xie An looked at Yu He, whose face was filled with despair and guilt, and felt very sorry for her. "Yu He, wait here. I'll go to the opposite side to see the shrine."

Yuhe huddled up and turned to look at the small ice temple on the other side. "This shrine looks very strange. I guess Li Changchun and the high priest came here... just to worship there. It's dangerous for the master to go there."

Perhaps because it was too cold, Yuhe's voice was trembling a little.

Xie An saw this and felt very uncomfortable.

If he didn't find food or a way out, Yuhe would probably freeze to death or starve to death. And after Yuhe died, he wouldn't be able to hold out here for much longer, all alone.

"There's no other way right now. Let's give it a try."

Yuhe tilted her head and thought about it, then readily agreed, "Then Yuhe will go with the master."

"It's dangerous over there..." Xie An wanted to persuade Yu He to stay here and wait, but before he could finish his words, Yu He firmly objected: "No, it's me who is causing trouble for the master. If there is danger, I should go first to explore the way."

As soon as she finished speaking, Yuhe jumped into the cold pond and swam quickly to the other side.

Eh.

This girl... doesn't listen to advice.

Xie An did not hesitate and jumped into the water with a "splash".

The moment my body touched the cold pond water, I immediately felt a biting chill sweeping through my body, as if piercing my bones.

This made Xie An exclaim that it was unscientific.

It is said that water will freeze at zero degrees, but the water in this cold pond... is more than zero degrees?
The extremely low temperature made his hands and feet numb, and his movements were not very smooth. If it were an ordinary person, he would have frozen to death. Fortunately, Xie An and Yu He had reached the level of martial artists, so they could withstand it for a while.

Even so, the two of them did not dare to be careless and swam forward faster. Yu He, who was in the front, kept urging Xie An to hurry up, as it would be bad if he got cold.

Xie An said he knew.

However, Xie An, who had extraordinary five senses, felt a special smell underwater.

Ok?
Xie An took a breath, sank into the water, opened his eyes and looked down.

By the dim light of the bell and stone, Xie An vaguely saw the scene under the water:

The water was deep, and the light dimmed as we went deeper. But we could vaguely see the vastness of the underwater space. The overall structure resembled a large wine jar, with a small opening but gradually expanding inside.

In the deep water, there was a faint shadow moving.

monster?

Xie An instinctively thought of these two words, and he was startled. But after diving two or three meters, Xie An discovered... what looked like a giant underwater plant. Because a fountain was gushing out from under the water, the stems and leaves of the plant were shaking. It could easily be mistaken for a monster.

Underwater plants...can't they be eaten?
Xie An was very hungry.

Continue sinking immediately.

But when he sank to five meters, the water temperature around him plummeted again, becoming bone-chilling. Even if Xie An had trained himself to be as strong as a slab of steel, he couldn't withstand it. He felt the piercing cold penetrate his skin and even seep into the cracks in his bones.

it's too cold!
If you continue to sink, your body will freeze.

Even at this moment, Xie An felt it was unbearable, and his blood seemed to be solidifying.

Blood clotting is a very dangerous thing.

It will instantly cause irreversible damage to organs and tissues throughout the body. If the blood coagulates for a few minutes, even a martial artist will die.

Xie An decisively gave up sinking, and quickly waved his hands and feet to paddle upstream.

Yuhe's anxious cry came from the water.

"Master, master..."

Wow!

With the sound of water, Xie An poked his head out from under the water. Yu He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly swam over to grab Xie An's arm, "Master, you scared me to death. You are not a good swimmer, why did you come down here? I will take you out."

Xie An said: "I am a good swimmer. I just saw a conservationist underwater."

"Treasure plant?" Yu He was greatly surprised. She took a deep breath and lowered her head into the water to examine it. After a while, she surfaced with a glimmer of hopelessness in her eyes. "Underwater plants that can grow in places like this really could be treasure plants. But the deeper you go, the colder the water gets... I can't go down. Otherwise, I could dig up the treasure plants to fill my stomach."

At the end of her words, the bright light in Yuhe's eyes dimmed again.

Precious plants are extremely rare and precious medicines. Not only can they satisfy hunger, they can also greatly nourish the body, and are extremely beneficial to martial artists. Some powerful precious plants can even transform a person's innate strength. Even ordinary people who consume them will have extremely high martial arts innate strength. It is truly magical.

There are good things in the market that money can’t buy.

Xie An comforted Yu He and said, "Don't worry, go and take a look at the small ice temple."

After some effort, the two reached the other side.

After walking a few steps on the shore, their wet clothes froze into hard ice, making them feel as uncomfortable as if they were wearing a layer of ice.

Yu He sat down cross-legged, circulating her inner energy. Immediately, waves of heat emanated from her body, melting the ice on her clothes and steaming them dry. After finishing her exercise, she planned to steam Xie An's clothes, but she discovered that Xie An had, like her, dried his clothes with just the same heat.

"Hey, Master didn't break through the inner strength... How did you do that?"

Xie An said: "I have practiced Mingyu Gong, and there is a heat in my body. I think I have the means of internal strength, but I can't use it for killing."

Xie An asked Liu Chun about internal strength in detail and had a general understanding of it:
Internal strength is a special power that can be extracted from the blood and qi after breaking through the barrier after achieving great success in the blood realm. It is internal strength.

Once you enter the inner energy, you will be reborn.

In battle, there is no need to compete in strength anymore, but rather in qi, blood and internal energy.

Before developing internal strength, women were at a disadvantage; it was difficult for women of the same level to compete with men. However, after developing internal strength, this gap was eliminated.

As for the effect of internal strength, Liu Chun had done a simple demonstration before - holding a cup of cold water in his hand, after stimulating the internal strength, the cold water was quickly heated to boiling, and there was no need to worry about burning hands.

For example, an ordinary warrior can exert force by pressing down on a marble with his hands, but the maximum force he can exert cannot exceed his own weight. This is in accordance with physics.

But when a martial artist with internal strength presses down on the marble, he can stimulate the internal strength and directly press a hole in the marble.

These are all the wonderful uses of internal strength.

It is said that after cultivating to the seventh level of internal energy, one can even release the internal energy externally, killing people from ten steps away.

Although Xie An's Mingyu Gong caused a wave of heat to flow throughout his body, and after activating Mingyu Gong, the heat could flow at high speed in his body, making his body run like an engine, it was still unable to crush marble.

Pros and cons.

Yu He was amazed after hearing this. "So that's how it is. I've heard that when health-preserving exercises are practiced to the extreme, one can unleash all sorts of unpredictable abilities. Even great martial artists can't match them. Li Changchun and the high priest practiced Mingyu Gong, which is how they were able to prolong their lives and even regain youth. Master, in the future... maybe you can also regain youth. But, Master, I'm not old to begin with..."

Xie An smiled lightly without explaining anything, "Let's go and take a look at the Ice Sculpture Temple."

"I'll go ahead and lead the way for you. You have to follow me closely." Yuhe drew out her dagger and led the way towards the ice temple.

Xie An looked at Yuhe who was protecting him seriously, and his heart felt warm but also funny.

If a fight really breaks out, Yuhe will definitely not be his opponent.

And her slightly thin body looks... very pitiful.

After walking for dozens of meters, the two arrived at the Ice Sculpture Temple.

The pavilion was small, about ten meters in diameter. It was entirely carved from ice blocks, its four massive ice pillars intricately carved with various designs. At the end was a black shrine, two meters high and one meter wide. Outside the shrine were two spirit tablets, one on each side, forming a doorway.

On the surface, there was nothing different about the shrine, but Xie An, because of the vibrations in the road, "saw" more than 7,000 strands of immortal energy gathered within the shrine. The closer he got, the more he felt the vastness and grandeur of this immortal energy.

When they were about five meters away, Yu He stopped, clearly sensing an inexplicable danger. "Master, there are words engraved on the two spirit tablets in this shrine."

"I saw it."

Xie An moved closer to Yuhe and looked intently.

On the spirit tablet on the right, the top horizontal scroll has four large characters written on it: Prosperity for Generations.

On the far left side of the tablet, vertically inscribed: "Established in the 303rd year of the Tianbao era." Further to the right, another column reads: "May the descendants prosper for generations." This corresponds to the innermost column on the far right: "A hundred years of ancestors are here to see you."

In the middle of the spirit tablet there is a row of eye-catching large characters: The spirit tablet of the third generation ancestor, Mrs. Jin.

Right: Born in the third year of Tianbao, died in the 303rd year of Tianbao.

Xie An looked at the spirit tablet and couldn't help but wonder, "Who is this old lady Jin?"

Yuhe shook her head. "I don't know either. It was too long ago. Could she be the high priest's mother?"

The high priest's mother?

Xie An felt that this speculation had some rationality.

This world was different from the previous one. Those who achieved the Martial Arts Masterhood had a 150-year birthday, while those who achieved the Grandmasterhood could live for 300 years. And this old lady, Jin, had lived for exactly 300 years.

It is worthy of the lifespan of a martial arts master.

This shows that this old lady Jin... was a martial arts master. Later, she fell.

But Xie An was also confused: The Tianbao reign lasted for three hundred years, so where did the three hundred and three years come from?
Or is it that the 300-year reign of Tianbao was just a rough quantifier, not an exact number? After all, such a long time had passed that Xie An did not get accurate information.

He collected his thoughts and looked at the spirit tablet on the right. The core information was as follows:

It was established in the 300th year of Tianbao.

He was born in the ancient calendar and died in the 300th year of Tianbao.

The spirit tablet of the third generation ancestor, Mr. Chen Haiming.

By the time Xie An reached this age, he had some understanding of the importance of spiritual tablets.

"Bi" means deceased mother, while "Kao" means deceased father. The left memorial tablet is engraved with a phoenix, while the right memorial tablet is engraved with a golden dragon. The dragon and phoenix carvings symbolize a harmonious marriage.

This old lady Jin and Mr. Chen should be a couple.

"Yuhe, do you know who this Mr. Chen is?"

Yuhe shook her head, "I don't know."

Xie An was not surprised by this. After all, hundreds of years had passed, and it was not easy to find some information.

Including the birth time of Mrs. Jin and Mr. Chen, it has been four hundred years since now.

What's more, the high priest deliberately concealed it.

Xie An was not in a hurry. He squatted down and stared at the shrine for a long time, but found no other useful information.

Yuhe reminded him, "Master, these two spirit tablets on the left and right look like a door. Can I try to push it open?"

Xie An also thought it should be so, "Don't use your hands, use your whip."

"knew."

Yuhe took out the whip tied around her waist and shook it forward. Suddenly, with a "whoosh" sound, the whip was infused with internal energy and was shaken straight, like a stick, pushing away the spirit tablet.

Click, click, click!
Following a noise, the two spirit tablets on the left and right were slowly pushed open. The two saw what was inside the shrine:

It’s not a spiritual position at all, but a person!

A fresh and beautiful woman!

A woman, dressed in dark gold with phoenixes embroidered on her head, her hair covered in golden hairpins, sat cross-legged within a shrine. Her complexion was translucent, almost delicate. Her vibrant makeup made her appear lifelike. Even at first glance, she possessed a sense of the sublime splendor of a phoenix, a sight unmatched in the land.

"Master, be careful!"

Yuhe's heart was pounding. She stepped forward and stood in front of Xie An, holding a whip in one hand and a dagger in the other, alert and vigilant.

Not to mention Yuhe, even Xie An was shocked by the scene before him.

Didn’t this old lady Jin die a hundred years ago?
How can she still be so young and beautiful?

Is he dead or not?

Xie Andu developed an instinctive feeling of "I want to go home".

No matter how scary it is, we still have to face what we have to face.

Xie An took several deep breaths, immediately adjusted his mood, and opened up his Qi sense. However, he found that the woman had no vitality and energy, and must be dead.

But... why does this woman contain such a huge amount of immortal energy?

The high priest disregarded the life and death of the Corpse Refining Hall and collected a large amount of immortal energy... just to nourish this woman?
Could she still be alive?

Otherwise, the high priest wouldn't have spent so much time and effort.

Xie An reviewed the events in his mind. He suddenly remembered what Su Yuqing had said: If the high priest collected 10,000 strands of immortal energy, it would mean that the hundred-year plan would be accomplished.

Following this line of thought, Xie An felt that the so-called accomplishment should be to revive this woman.

Judging from this information, this woman would need ten thousand strands of immortal energy to revive.

But who knows... Ten thousand strands are the conditions for her decent revival.

If an emergency occurs, seven or eight thousand strands of immortal energy... may be able to revive it.

After all, the gap is not that big.

Scary!
After weighing the pros and cons, Xie An immediately identified this woman as a threat. "Yuhe, this person cannot be kept. She is now dead, send her on her way."

Clang!

Xie An didn't hesitate any longer and drew his sword. With a clang of the sword, he immediately activated the Nine-Layer Mountain Blade and slashed at the woman inside the shrine. Yu He also raised her long whip and attacked the woman.

The peak attack of the two second-level martial artists was still quite terrifying. However, as soon as the attack hit the spirit tablet, it was hit by an extremely strong recoil force, forcing Xie An and the other two to retreat more than ten steps.

Boom!

The two spirit tablets flew backwards and fell to the ground.

"It's really strange, come again." Xie An knew the situation was extremely critical, and after adjusting his body, he continued to attack. Yu He also followed suit.

However, there seemed to be a very powerful force in the shrine that was always protecting the woman. No matter how hard Xie An and the other man tried, they could not get close to the woman, let alone kill her.

After a fierce attack, Xie An and the other man had to stop to catch their breath.

Yu He collapsed to the ground, her face pale from exhaustion. "Master, there's a restriction inside this shrine that we can't break. What should we do now?"

Xie An, with the blessing of Mingyu Gong and Yangsheng Gong, had extraordinary endurance, and his situation was much better than Yuhe's. Seeing Yuhe's extreme weakness, Xie An also knew... Now he was Yuhe's only support.

Xie An had been observing the woman with his Qi sense. Although he had just made quite a noise, the woman had kept her eyes closed, and the immortal Qi flowing through her body had not changed.

However, the two spirit tablets scattered on the ground were emitting heat, melting the ice on the ground.

Xie An leaned over to check and found that the spirit tablet was not hot, but there was a heat flow being released, which continued to melt the surrounding ice sculptures.

Perhaps it was because the ice melted, disrupting the temperature balance here. Xie An clearly noticed that the woman in the shrine... had regained a bit of vitality.

This woman... is reviving!

Forced resuscitation! ?
This shocked Xie An greatly, and he immediately thought of something, "Yuhe, take a spirit tablet and try to see if you can dive into the depths of the cold pond to dig out precious plants to satisfy your hunger. I'll keep an eye on this woman."

Yuhe had a flash of inspiration and thought it was a good idea. She took the spirit tablet and plunged into the water with a "plop". After a moment, Yuhe poked her head out and said, "Master, it really works. Look, I dug up a precious plant. It's something like a lotus root. We don't have to worry about starving to death."

----

Happy New Year's Eve to everyone.

(End of this chapter)