"Crazy!" The soldier screamed after seeing movement under the frozen surface.
Indeed, the girl had used the short time window to follow the guard's fist into the broken shaft.
Diving into the freezing water, made Luo Si feel like she had jumped into a haystack made out of needles. It was even colder than the shower she took without touching the red handle.
Qi was around herself to counter the freezing. But the cold qi still aggressively seeped into her body. Although, it now just felt like entering fresh water, as she had experienced places many times colder in her past life and under harsher conditions.
Opening her eyes underwater she looked at the source from within the water. The glowing target had become a bit brighter. But remaining unidentifiable, it had confirmed the small pool into a well.
She used a burst of qi to dive deeper into the water. Since the entrance was already refrozen, the diver could only move forward, deeper and deeper into the well.
The light from the source got brighter and many times colder the lower she got.
When she reached halfway towards her destination, she released some air from her lungs in shock of what she saw. The light source, a person, lying on the very ground. More importantly feminine lined individual was encapsuled inside transparent coffin like cube.
The oxygen froze into bubbles in an instant, and shot up. It echoed inside the well as it hit the surface some seconds later.
Luo Si stopped in front of the cube when she reached it. The person inside the cube could be seen clearly.
"It's a woman, or at least the remains of a feminine body." She was wrapped in silk-like blueish white ice armor. Her hair was white but her skin still looked lively. Probably preserved by the ice.
She had a beautiful face, though it was slightly ruined by the cracks that emitted light from all over her body. Her body had already dissolved halfway through, and her wounds slowly enlarged.
There was a big hole in the center of her upper body, showing a pearl. The pearl was cracked all over and some parts had already split apart.
'A core? Did she had already reached that stage? It's already broken though, and her body had decayed halfway. She should be dead already, but why is she still emitting such a pulsating qi?' Luo Si touched the glass like coffin and send a wisp of her qi inside.
Yet, when she touched the glass a white light suddenly enveloped her and the entire well. Her mind went blank after being hit by something.
"Oh, the heaven seems to not have abandoned me and send me a gift. Any longer and I would have become a free meal. This body, hmm… it should belong to somebody who had ascended not long ago. Letme take a look at the constitution." A stranger's voice appeared from within Luo Si's head. Her eyes closed, indicating that she herself was unconscious.
Cold qi entered Luo Si's body. "Not bad, her heart meridian is the starting point and she even has a connection to another point. Let's take a look at how far she has progressed, hopefully she did not end in a dead end."
The qi ran through the connected lines."2, 3, …6. So far so good, at least this is qualified enough to be a cultivator. …7, 8?" The strangers voice halted her mumbling for a moment. "What is this?"
Inspecting the 8th meridians split path, made the formless feminine voice become a bit wary. "As far as I know, there should be no meridian in that direction. Wait a minute." As if to have remembered something, echoing gnashes of grinding teeth were emitted. "A qijing-mai!? How did she open one of those? Doesn't matter, this benefit is meant to be shared with me nevertheless. You are so unlucky to have met me, as your misfortune. Well, this should be the end, 10 meridians, and one is even an unexpected surprise."
The owner's qi was pushed out as the foreigner made itself accommodate in her new home. Luo Si's qi however, somehow still remained inside the body. "Huh, why is… umm, is still going. It seems like I underestimated this child's fortune. 11, 12, 13, …18! A second one! And it's still going!?"
'19, …26, '
"Another one? Was this girl blessed by god himself? Is he looking down on me, even I only unlocked 2 and I was envied by all around me? Are you kidding me and it's still going. Is she not of the Martial learner realm?"
'30, 31, …and another one… 40, 41, …a-another one?' The counting voice became more and more depressed by the second, feeling as if she was treated unfair in front of this seemingly heavenly body.
'51, 52, 53, wait a second. This bitch has opened more meridians than I did, is she reincarnation of heavenly being or what?! And you are telling me she is still going, am I genuinely fucked with? Even I only opened 52 points in my prime.'
'56, …64! I'm so done! …65, …71, 72.' The voice stopped after checking on the 72th meridian as she realized the next would be her starting point.
"72 FUCKING MERIDIANS! WHY DON'T YOU JUST ASCEND THE HEAVENS?!" The voice howled.
Although, the next moment, the voice broke out in a heartily laughter." Jackpot! And it's all for me to grab. Just need to extinguish her soul and this awesome treasure is mine. Amitabha young soul, but this is for the greater good. For me and this body." The foreign soul said and attacked the owner's unconscious soul by icing it.
Luo Si's consciousness awoke from the freezing attack. She could not move her body, however, her acute perception over her body gave her a quick overview of the momentary situation. Feeling a foreign intruder too much. "Oh, so you aren't dead. Well, at least your soul still exists." Analyzing her state of being she realized what was going on.
She looked at the frozen part of her soul as if it was just some dust. 'It looks like I overestimated that for nothing.'
"And it seems you want to kill me for real and steal my body."
The foreign soul scuffed." So, what? The strong eat the weak. You don't understand it. You have just entered the martial path. I don't know how you have done it, but blame your tasty body and luck for meeting me. So, just do me the favor and die."
Luo Si's soul froze further as cracks had appeared all over already. The situation did notlook good for her. However, instead of fearing for her inevitable death, she cracked a smile. "Indeed, the strong do eat the weak. But you clearly don't know who is the prey and who is the hunter. Since you want this body so much how about I should offer you the emotional part as well."
A dreadful aura exploded out of Luo Si and flooded her entire body.
"What are you saying-… Uwah!" the intruder screamed up as highly dense killing intent countered her.
While Luo Si's soul stopped being frozen into dust, the infiltrator felt like she was drowning in hatred and sorrow, pushing her out of Luo Si's body.
The earlier opened her eyes, having regained the control over her body. Her pupils constricted, though.
The gasly debut of the cocooned snow white was floating in front, looking at her with crystal clear eyes and bouncing chest.
It was the woman she had spotted in the coffin earlier. Different from the body of higher existence this one did not have any dissolving wounds on her body, she looked transparent and disheveled.
The female ghost shouted in bewilderment. "How can this be? How can your qi circle be so big? Did you not just ascend?! I do not believe that this is your body. No one at the martial realm would ever stay so calm with your damaged condition. And such a strong killing intent. Who are you?"
Luo Si retracted her intent and opened her mouth as she found herself able to speak without breathing." A little super realm cultivator, how cute. Let me guess, 50 years. "
The ghost was taken aback in rage." You little brat, I'm 48 and how do you know my realm? You are definitely not a martial learner."
"Oh, but this is indeed my body. As for the rest, you don't qualify to know." Luo Si said in a calm manner. "However, I am intrigued. How did someone of your level ended up like this."
The ice woman was clearly angered by Luo Si's arrogance. "Hmph, not qualified." After being pushed out of Luo SI's body, she took a closer look at the shell she had invaded a moment ago. Her eyes fell on Luo Si's arm-tattoo making her think about the splitting paths. "But maybe you do…"
She stopped her tantrum, seeing her last effort of a comeback fall down the drain. "Sigh* It's all over now anyway. My village got destroyed together with all my people. All because of this fucking bastard."
"Anyway," she looked at Luo Si," since my life has reached its end, maybe you can carry on my will. I will give you a little startup. How much you gain from it depends on yourself, be that as it may."
The woman dissolved into nothingness and cold to the bone qi rushed into Luo Si's body yet again. Luo Si was in contemplation of the others words. Caught off guard by the stranger's second doing she lost her consciousness, again.