Zhi Xuan sat in absolute tranquility, enveloped by a dual aura: the sharp silence of his cultivation concentration and the muffled rumble of the Essence Gathering and Attraction Formation, which had begun carving runes into the peak of the ancient stone tower. The pure essence of the Taiyin Holy Pool flowed rapidly, bathing the tower and then being channeled into the Formation.

  Yet that tranquility was too silent, so silent that he could not even sense Ruo Xianxue, or even Xiao Die, who was humming on his shoulder. It was as if, for a moment, he was enveloped by an uncertain feeling. His spiritual blood resonated faintly, as if a part of his spiritual blood was nearby.

  “Big Brother Zhi Xuan.” A soft tap on his back felt smooth and gentle, almost like cotton touching. However, the warmth behind it was familiar.

  Zhi Xuan opened his eyes with a calm motion, without panic, but with deadly resolve. In a split second, his sharp divine sense enveloped the entire tower, but he found no spiritual essence fluctuation from the outside—no aura of another cultivator, no threat. There was only cold silence.

  However, the gentle tap and the voice calling him were too real, too close, too personal. Zhi Xuan slowly turned his head. The ice-blue light emanating from the Taiyin Holy Pool illuminated his face, revealing the red rings in his sapphire pupils which now radiated a cold and calculating light.

  There, sitting cross-legged right behind him, at an unnatural distance, was a small girl. She wore a shimmering cloud silk dress that looked untainted by the decaying Dead Mist around her.

  Her long jet-black hair fell down her back, and her small, innocent face was adorned with a gentle smile reminiscent of morning dew on a sacred meadow. She did not emit the slightest spiritual essence fluctuation; she looked like an ordinary mortal, or worse, a ghost.

  On her lap lay a rag doll in a shimmering cloud silk outfit, Lulu, which seemed to absorb all the dust and rotten aura of the Primordial Ancient City, a contrast to the girl's purity. It was Mei Hua. That was the cloud silk he had given her. And now, after Mei Hua disappeared and reappeared, she still looked the same.

  Zhi Xuan’s heart, forged by the Heavenly Thunder Calamity and the Devil Seed, showed no turmoil of fear, but a sharp shock. He immediately channeled his divine sense into the folds of his robe, and the Small Ape Statue he had given the girl pulsed faintly, confirming her existence.

  He froze for a moment, his face pale and showing disbelief. The little girl who suddenly disappeared beside him during the heavenly selection announcement at Cloud Sky Mountain, which caused him to frantically search for her until he received a severe reprimand from the Great Elder, now appeared before him as if she had simply materialized.

  "Mei Hua!" Zhi Xuan hissed, his voice in his mind containing a mix of shock, frustration, and involuntary relief. He immediately halted the Essence Gathering Formation he had just activated, fearing that its energy vibrations would endanger the little girl behind him.

  "Big Brother Zhi Xuan," Mei Hua replied, her voice soft and clear, like a crystal bell echoing in the silence of the Ancient Tomb. She leaned forward, her large, innocent eyes staring straight into Zhi Xuan's sapphire eyes. "Why didn't Big Brother Zhi Xuan look for me? I was bored, Big Brother Zhi Xuan. I just wanted to be with Big Brother Zhi Xuan."

  Zhi Xuan let out a rough sigh. The anger that flared because Mei Hua suddenly appeared in the most dangerous location in the Lower Realms was immediately muffled by a deeper panic. No, this was not a coincidence or something ordinary. In fact, the little girl who had disappeared and he could not find since the last time, now suddenly appeared in a place she should not be.

  “Mei Hua, what are you doing here?” Zhi Xuan hissed, now in a low voice restraining all turmoil. He turned his body completely, facing the girl. The red rings around his sapphire pupils pulsed rapidly, reflecting thoughts spinning at insane speed.

  How could she be here? This Primordial Ancient City was the Tomb of Will guarded by the Ancient Supreme Law. Even strong Consciousness Transformation cultivators collapsed just by touching the ground. Mei Hua had no spiritual essence fluctuations. She was a mortal, or something stranger, yet she was here, at the peak of the tallest tower, amidst the rotten Dead Mist, and she had just patted his back.

  Zhi Xuan immediately realized something more terrifying; he did not sense Mei Hua's presence at all—even after he channeled his divine sense. This transcended mere concealment ability; this was an absolute absence of fluctuation, a black hole in the eyes of the Law of Heaven and Earth. And worse, his surroundings felt frozen. He could not even sense Ruo Xianxue and Xiao Die.

  “Mei Hua,” Zhi Xuan repeated, his tone now softer, a conscious effort not to frighten her. “Big Brother looked for you, of course Big Brother looked for you. But how did you get to this place? This is a very dangerous place, full of ghosts and evil spirits.”

  “I don’t know, Big Brother Zhi Xuan,” Mei Hua replied, tilting her head slightly, making her jet-black hair sway gently. The innocent smile never faded from her face, as if the danger around her was just decoration. “I just… closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I was already here. Right behind you, Big Brother Zhi Xuan.”

  That innocent answer felt like a cosmic hammer hitting Zhi Xuan’s head, shattering the fortress of logic and calculation he had just built. She did not teleport. She just closed her eyes. In a Primordial Ancient Tomb, under the Ancient Supreme Law, she arrived as if it was just a short trip in a garden.

  Zhi Xuan clenched his jaw, the red rings in his sapphire pupils, surrounded by resolve, began to fade, replaced by an expression of cold helplessness. This was something that transcended realm capability or Heaven-Grade Artifacts. This was a pure and inexplicable Phenomenon.

  "I saw it too, Big Brother Zhi Xuan," Mei Hua continued, her voice slightly lowered, but her large, innocent gaze was now directed at the ancient stone alley below the tower. Zhi Xuan felt a chill creeping up his spine. He followed Mei Hua's gaze. Down there lay the two empty mortal bodies of the Flying Lion School disciples.

  "I saw those two big brothers crying. They were so cold, Big Brother Zhi Xuan. They were calling for their mothers," Mei Hua said, her tone flat and emotionless, as if she were commenting on the clouds. “And there are many crying sounds underground. They are calling out. Big Brother Zhi Xuan, is this a place for crying? Why didn't their sect give them blankets?”

  Those words, spoken with absolute innocence, were far more terrifying than any Ancient Devil threat. Mei Hua did not just see empty bodies; she saw imprisoned souls, souls crying in the eternal cold of the Primordial Ancient Tomb. She saw what a cultivator's eye could not see, even with sharp divine sense.

  Zhi Xuan immediately realized why he did not sense Mei Hua. The little girl was a spiritual absence; she was an anomaly undetectable by the Laws of the Lower Realms. And furthermore, she had a terrifying connection to the world of souls, a world beyond the reach of the mortal realm.

  He reached out his hand, and this time, he did not try to scare her or hide. He grabbed Mei Hua and pulled her onto his lap. He hugged the little girl tightly, his sky-blue robe covering the small figure, a gesture of instinctive protection from a danger he did not even understand.

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  "Yes, Mei Hua. This is a very cold place," Zhi Xuan muttered, his voice now returning to its gentlest tone, the tone he only used for the little girl. "But Big Brother Zhi Xuan is here. Big Brother Zhi Xuan will keep you warm. Don't look down, Mei Hua."

  Zhi Xuan hugged the little girl tightly, feeling a warmth that should not exist in this cursed place. Mei Hua's warmth was the only thing that felt real, while all the Laws around them felt frozen. He felt an unnatural weight; not the physical weight of the girl, but the weight of the Phenomenon she carried.

  He immediately channeled his divine sense to his shoulder, where the Thousand Feathered Moth, Xiao Die, should have been resting and harvesting essence. Xiao Die did not move, nor did it react. Its rainbow-emitting wings were now still, as if time around it had become stagnant. In his Sea of Consciousness, he called out, "Ruo Xianxue!"

  The silence that came in response was absolute. Even his Devil Tree of Life, which usually rumbled from resisting the Primordial Will, now felt silent, its dark leaves no longer moving. There was only one source for this absolute silence, and that was the girl on his lap.

  Zhi Xuan took a deep breath, a futile effort in the middle of the Dead Mist. He now held the key that should have given him peace, but what he felt was a tension greater than the threat of the Ancient Being.

  He leaned his head down, his long jet-black hair touching Mei Hua's soft crown. He tried to understand, using his calculative logic, but Mei Hua was an anomaly that rejected logic. This little girl was an entity that did not obey the Ancient Supreme Law, an existence ignored by Heaven and Earth itself.

  “Mei Hua,” Zhi Xuan whispered, his voice containing a careful tone he had never shown even to the Holy Fairy Zhu. “If you close your eyes and open them, and you are here, did you also see anyone else? Or… something else?”

  Mei Hua slightly tilted her head, her large, innocent eyes staring at the Taiyin Holy Pool radiating ice-blue light. Her rag doll, Lulu, now felt cold and heavy in her small hand, as if it had absorbed all the coldness of the Ancient Tomb.

  “I saw water that shines,” Mei Hua replied, her voice remaining soft and clear. “Very, very cold water, Big Brother Zhi Xuan. And inside that water… there are lots of sleeping fish. They are very big, Big Brother Zhi Xuan. And they all have their eyes closed. I dare not touch them, Big Brother Zhi Xuan. They look sad.”

  Zhi Xuan clenched his jaw, the muscle in his temple twitching. "Sleeping fish." The Taiyin Holy Pool was not a pool of water, but a pure crystal disc radiating Yin essence. What Mei Hua saw were not fish, but perhaps a much larger and more terrifying Manifestation of Will, trapped beneath the Taiyin disc. Fallen Ancient Beings, whose will was absorbed by the Pool itself.

  “It’s alright, Mei Hua,” Zhi Xuan muttered, his voice containing a cold promise. “Big Brother Zhi Xuan won't let you be cold. Big Brother Zhi Xuan won't let you see those sad things.”

  He hugged the little girl even tighter. The pressure from the Ancient Supreme Law, which previously felt like a tidal wave, now felt like a distant, muffled pressure. The little girl on his lap, who had no essence fluctuation, had strangely created a zone of Law absence around her.

  Zhi Xuan channeled his divine sense once more, this time not to search for Mei Hua, but to observe his surroundings. The absolute silence that enveloped the tower was the strongest defensive fortress. The cultivator factions hovering in the distance seemed unaware of Mei Hua's existence. They saw Zhi Xuan sitting cross-legged, but they did not see the little girl on his lap.

  He let out a long sigh, a strange calm covering him. Mei Hua’s presence was a danger that transcended the Ancient Being, but at the same time, the girl was a perfect shield—a loophole in the Laws of the Lower Realms.

  "Mei Hua, you must promise Big Brother Zhi Xuan," Zhi Xuan whispered, his voice containing a cold vow. "Don't go anywhere. Never look down again. Stay here, on my lap, until this Formation is finished."

  Mei Hua did not answer. She only shifted her small body. Her small head rested on Zhi Xuan's chest, and her small hand holding the Lulu doll slowly slipped from Zhi Xuan's embrace.

  "Big Brother Zhi Xuan," Mei Hua called. Her voice was no longer soft and clear like a crystal bell, but contained a deep resonance, a cold ancient tone, as if coming from the depths of the earth.

  Zhi Xuan felt a bone-piercing chill. He looked up. Mei Hua got up from his lap. Her movement was not hurried, but had absolute resolve, a movement that a five-year-old mortal girl did not possess. The Lulu doll on his lap now felt heavy, a decaying weight.

  Mei Hua walked slowly to the edge of the tower peak, passing the Essence Gathering Formation scroll lying on the stone. The Formation rumbled, the flowing essence suddenly trembled and stopped, as if the Law supporting it suddenly disappeared.

  "Mei Hua, don't!" Zhi Xuan hissed, immediately getting up. The red rings in his sapphire pupils widened wildly. He felt the coming disaster, a disaster far greater than the threat of the Primordial Will. The little girl ignored him. Her large, innocent gaze was no longer focused on the stone alley, but on the shining Taiyin Holy Pool, the ice-blue crystal disc radiating pure Yin essence.

  "The fish are calling," Mei Hua whispered, her voice cold and clear. "They are so sad. I must give them Lulu. Lulu is very warm."

  Without warning, without hesitation, the little girl jumped.

  WHUSH!

  The small figure slid from the peak of the tower, falling with terrifying speed towards the ice-blue crystal disc below. It was no longer a mortal movement; it was the fall of a Phenomenon.

  "Damn it!" Zhi Xuan cursed. All calculations, all caution he had shown, completely collapsed in the face of this innocent impulsivity. Zhi Xuan did not waste time. In a split second, he channeled all the essence he possessed into his legs. The Three Traces Shadow Step, which had reached the proficiency stage, was used not only as an attack but also as speed that surpassed limits.

  He shot from the tower peak, a streak of dark purple light splitting the Dead Mist air, chasing the small falling figure. He did not care about the dozens of cultivators around him who were shocked by this sudden movement. He did not care about the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron or the Ocean-Shattering Thunder Sword. The only thing he thought about was reaching Mei Hua before the girl touched the dangerous Taiyin Holy Pool.

  "DON'T TOUCH THE WATER!" Zhi Xuan shouted in his mind, a warning not directed at Mei Hua, but at the Law of Nature. Just before Mei Hua reached the surface of the crystal disc, Zhi Xuan managed to grab the little girl's wrist. He pulled her with brutal force, trying to swing both of them back into the air, to the safe limit.

  However, as he touched Mei Hua's wrist, he felt a layer of unimaginable coldness spreading, an attraction that did not come from the earth's gravity, but from cosmic depths. It was the attraction of the Pure Yin Essence emanating from the Taiyin Holy Pool, an attraction amplified by Mei Hua's anomalous existence.

  "Lulu!" Mei Hua shouted, and the rag doll slid loose from her small hand, hitting the surface of the crystal disc first.

  CLANG!

  The rag doll hit the crystal surface with a clear and loud sound, as if hitting cosmic steel. The surface of the Taiyin crystal disc rippled, not with water, but with ripples of pure ice-blue light. The doll did not sink, but immediately after touching the surface, the rag doll began to emit a cold dark purple light. The doll quickly sank into the pool.

  The attraction, which was initially only piercing, now turned into an irresistible vortex. The Pure Yin Essence from Taiyin did not only pull, but also pulled Zhi Xuan and Mei Hua back into the vortex. Zhi Xuan immediately realized he could not go back. He pulled the Seven Star Boat out from his waist, forcing it to enlarge in the air, hoping the flying artifact could hold them.

  BOOM!

  Before the Seven Star Boat could hold them, the Taiyin Holy Pool exploded. Not with destructive power, but with an absolute wave of coldness. The wave penetrated Zhi Xuan's sky-blue robe, penetrated his skin, and stabbed directly into his Perfect Five Divine Organs.

  "Shit!" Zhi Xuan hissed, his jaw clenched. He forcefully retracted the hand holding Mei Hua’s wrist. He had to resist this cold wave. As the cold wave hit him, he realized something terrifying: the attraction of the Primordial Will below him suddenly completely disappeared.

  The Ancient Supreme Law, which demanded soul plucking for anyone who touched the ground, had been ignored. However, the price was high. The cold wave washed over Zhi Xuan's essence.

  BUM!

  Zhi Xuan could not hold it anymore. He swallowed the Thousand Heavens Sect Formation and pulled the Seven Star Boat into his jade ring. He had to save Mei Hua. He had no choice but to let himself fall.

  PLUNG!

  Zhi Xuan and Mei Hua disappeared into the depths of the Taiyin Holy Pool, sinking into the pure and absolute core of Yin essence coldness. The ice-blue crystal disc rippled, then returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.

  In the air, dozens of cultivators, from the Hongmeng Empire faction to Solitary cultivators, froze. They saw a streak of dark purple light slide, and then Zhi Xuan’s figure vanish into the Taiyin Holy Pool. Deadly silence descended upon the Primordial Ancient City.