Chapter 18: Silver Needles Release the Cold
“Who told you that?” Xia Qingyue asked with a frown, her heart stirring with shock. For those of equal profound strength, the people of Bing Yun Fairy Palace lived significantly shorter lives than those of other sects. This was a cruel truth, and one that was kept secret even within the Bing Yun Fairy Palace itself, deliberately suppressed by the upper echelons of the sect. And because the profound strength level of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace was extremely high, its members generally had long lifespans, so this fact was not too apparent.
The reason Xia Qingyue knew was that her master had inadvertently revealed it after one of her breakthroughs, telling her it was the greatest flaw of the Ice Cloud Art, and strictly ordering her not to tell anyone, including her fellow senior and junior sisters. And now, Xiao Che had spoken it aloud.
“If I were the palace master of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, I would use every means to suppress such a ‘flaw’ and keep outsiders from knowing. Where do you think I could have heard it from?” Xiao Che curled his lip. “I really just deduced it from your pulse, nothing more. Judging by your reaction, it seems I was completely right.”
“I don’t believe it!” Xia Qingyue shook her head firmly. To deduce a major secret that the Bing Yun Fairy Palace had been hiding from just a pulse? Preposterous! If it were that simple, with all the divine physicians in the Cang Feng Empire, this secret of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace would have spread across the world countless years ago.
But everything Xiao Che had just said hit the mark, without a single deviation. This made it impossible for Xia Qingyue not to feel suspicion and shock.
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me.” Xiao Che picked up the medicine pot and bundle from the ground and walked toward the room. “Come with me.”
Xia Qingyue’s gaze lingered on the items he was carrying. After a moment of hesitation, she followed him into the room and closed the door.
“Sit down.” Setting down the medicine pot and bundle, Xiao Che spoke to Xia Qingyue in a commanding tone.
“What are you going to do?” She looked at him with doubt.
“What else? Regulate your condition, of course.”
“I don’t need it.” Xia Qingyue shook her head directly.
“Need it or not, you should at least try before you decide… Hey! You’re not even willing to try, are you?”
Xiao Che had already opened the bundle, taking out a silver box. He sighed, a hint of disappointment and loss appearing on his face. “I know you don’t believe a word I say. But at the very least, I have no ability to harm you, and no reason to. I went to the medicine hall early this morning to get these things, purely because I wanted to regulate your condition. If it works, that’s good; if not, you lose nothing… Since you don’t believe me and won’t even try, forget it. Consider it me being foolishly sentimental.”
Xiao Che’s words stunned Xia Qingyue, and a trace of guilt arose in her heart… Indeed, everything he had said and was about to do was to help regulate her condition, not to ask for anything or make any demands. As he himself said, he had no reason or ability to harm her… Regardless of the outcome, her direct refusal was indeed a bit too harsh.
Xia Qingyue sighed softly in her heart and sat down beside Xiao Che. “How are you going to do it?”
“…You’re willing?” Xiao Che glanced at her, then snorted lightly and turned his face away.
His childlike, sulky attitude made Xia Qingyue feel both amused and exasperated. Her voice softened. “I want to see how you’ll regulate me.”
“Mm, that’s more like it.” When Xiao Che turned back, his face was already a beaming smile. It left Xia Qingyue momentarily stunned… This guy changes his expression way too fast!
“Stretch out your hands.”
Xiao Che sat in front of Xia Qingyue, who complied and extended her arms, laying them flat on the table. Her loose red sleeves were pulled up to her elbows, revealing two pale, snow-white jade-like arms.
Xiao Che opened the silver box. Inside, there were dozens of silver needles, as thin and long as silk threads.
“Silver needles… Are you going to use acupuncture?” Xia Qingyue’s brow lifted slightly.
“Oh? You actually know about acupuncture?” Xiao Che looked at her with some surprise. Back in the Cang Yun Continent, fewer than ten people in the entire continent could perform acupuncture, including himself and his master, the Saint of Medicine. But in the Tian Xuan Continent, it seemed to be a medical art that had become fairly widespread—he could even find a set of acupuncture tools in the medicine hall of the Xiao Sect.
“Of course I do. I also know that acupuncture requires extremely high proficiency. It takes over ten years to achieve minor mastery and decades for major mastery. I’ve never heard that you studied medicine, let alone acupuncture. Moreover, there’s no smell or trace of medicinal arts in your room. What exactly are you trying to do?” Xia Qingyue’s eyes remained full of doubt and caution.
Xiao Che took out a silver needle, lightly twirling it between his fingers at the base… And as he picked it up, Xia Qingyue’s eyes momentarily blurred. The silver needle in his hand gave off an indescribable sense of harmony, as if the needle was born to be in his grasp. It was a subtle, unspeakable feeling, yet real and clear.
Xiao Che opened a small bottle and lightly dipped the needle into it, saying, “You’ll soon find out if I know acupuncture. Of course, if you feel any discomfort, or think I’m messing with you, you can stop me anytime.”
“What’s in that bottle?” Xia Qingyue’s gaze shifted to the small medicine vial.
“Just ordinary red sun flower juice.” Xiao Che answered casually, his eyes fixed on Xia Qingyue’s snowy hands. The needle in his left hand flickered slightly.
His movement was extremely fast, so fast that Xia Qingyue didn’t react. When Xiao Che withdrew his left hand, the silver needle between his fingers was gone, and a needle was now vertically inserted into the Yangchi acupoint on her right wrist… perfectly accurate.
There was no pain, not even any sensation. If she hadn’t seen the needle with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have known it had pierced her wrist. Xia Qingyue was visibly moved… Fast? No, it wasn’t just speed! It was skill! A level of skill so astonishing it could only be called the epitome of proficiency!
Xiao Che picked up a second silver needle, dipped it in a bit of red sun flower juice, approached Xia Qingyue’s right hand, and with a slight flick of his wrist, the second needle precisely pierced the Yanggu acupoint. Then came the third and fourth, inserted into Zhongzhu and Hegu respectively.
After the right hand, four more needles were inserted into the Yangchi, Yanggu, Zhongzhu, and Hegu acupoints on her left hand in sequence. Each insertion was so fast that Xia Qingyue could only see a fleeting blur. Her surprise deepened with each needle.
She didn’t know if Xiao Che’s “regulation” would have any effect, but his technique, skilled to the point of being uncanny, made it impossible for her to believe it came from a sixteen-year-old youth.
“Relax your hands, breathe steadily, and don’t use any profound strength.”
Xiao Che’s voice sounded in her ear. She cooperated, relaxing her arms and calming her mind. Just then, she suddenly felt four streams of icy cold energy gathering in each of her hands, then rushing like water finding an outlet toward the Yangchi, Yanggu, Zhongzhu, and Hegu acupoints where the needles were inserted…
In an instant, wisps of white mist began to rise from the eight silver needles, slowly dissipating. The cold contained in the mist caused the surrounding temperature to drop rapidly. Feeling the cold energy coursing through her meridians and the mist quickly escaping, Xia Qingyue’s snow-like face showed intense emotion.
The white mist rose for several minutes before completely stopping. At that moment, Xiao Che suddenly reached out, both hands moving like phantoms. In an instant, all eight needles on Xia Qingyue’s hands were back in his grip, then placed into another box.
“This cold is even heavier than I imagined. Good thing you met me.” Xiao Che muttered softly, then closed the needle box and said casually, “Dear Qingyue wife, how do your hands feel now?”
Xia Qingyue raised her own hands, ripples of emotion stirring in her eyes. Light, comfortable, warm… That was how her hands felt now. It was as if they had been released from some heavy restraint. The warmth in her palms and arms was something she had never felt since beginning to cultivate the Ice Cloud Art. She looked up at Xiao Che and said in amazement, “What is this exactly?”
“It’s actually very simple. I just guided and released the cold energy from your hands and the meridians in your hands, and cleared the blocked meridians along the way.” Xiao Che explained casually. “The profound art of your Bing Yun Fairy Palace makes profound energy icy cold, greatly increasing its power. The reason cold profound energy is stronger is that cold energy can harm others… But your enemies are human, and so are you. Before it harms others, it must first harm yourself. That’s a very simple truth.”
“When I touched your hand this morning, I found its temperature far lower than normal body temperature. People of your Bing Yun Fairy Palace might think this is a normal phenomenon from cultivating the Ice Cloud Art, but from a medical perspective, such a temperature is anything but normal!! When you’re not using profound strength, it resides in your profound veins and doesn’t affect you. But once you activate it, the Ice Cloud profound energy flows through your entire body. When released, it injures the enemy, but during its circulation, it inevitably injures you! You’ve practiced the Ice Cloud Art for only a few years, but a large amount of cold energy has already seeped into your five viscera, six bowels, blood, bone marrow, and dantian. It accumulates more and more, and over time, it will cause continuous and severe damage to all your organs. How could you not have a shortened lifespan! And those negative reactions you experienced are perfectly normal.”
Xia Qingyue: “…”
“Moreover, under the cold energy, many of your meridians will become blocked due to frequent spasms, which greatly affects the use of profound energy. Now try channeling your profound strength to your hands and see if there’s any difference from before.” Xiao Che said with a serious face.
Xiao Che’s fluent explanation was logical, with a clear beginning, middle, cause, and effect. The reasoning was simple and easy to understand—even a fool could grasp it. Coupled with Xia Qingyue’s own tangible reactions, there was simply no room for doubt or refutation.
But as he spoke with such solemnity, Xiao Che was inwardly grinning… Because everything he said was indeed true—but precisely because it was true, it was also complete nonsense!
That cold energy accumulating in the body and harming it was true, and that it would block meridians was also true… But if the Ice Cloud Art were as flawed as he made it sound, the Bing Yun Fairy Palace would be nowhere! Let alone standing at the peak of the Cang Feng Continent, it would have collapsed eight hundred years ago. When someone cultivates the Ice Cloud Art for a certain period and their body fully adapts to it, although the cold energy still shortens their lifespan, it no longer harms their body. Instead, it becomes a help, and the blocked meridians naturally clear.
But Xia Qingyue had only been practicing the Ice Cloud Art for three or four years, far from reaching the point of “full adaptation.” Combining his words with her own long-standing feelings, plus the sensation after the “regulation,” Xia Qingyue found Xiao Che’s argument utterly flawless.
“Regulation” was just an excuse. The “flaw” of the Ice Cloud Art was also just an excuse. What he really wanted to do, only he knew.