The most top-tier noble district in Jiangnan City is none other than Jinding Garden.
Jinding Garden, backed by mountains and facing water, can be said to have the best environment in Jiangnan City, with nothing but ultra-luxurious standalone villas inside. Only the rich or noble could live here.
In one of those villas, Lin Changtian, the famous president of Lin Corporation in Jiangnan City, was frowning deeply as he made a phone call, "Hello, have you found her... What, you found her, but she was taken away by a young man! A bunch of people can't even handle one young man, what a bunch of trash... No need to say sorry, apologies are useless, I want you to bring her back to me... If you can't bring her back, then you don't deserve to live in this world!"
The last sentence was roared out. Usually calm and collected, no matter what he faced, he was as unfazed as an old fox, but now Lin Changtian was almost losing control.
The reason for such a reaction was a matter of great urgency: his precious second daughter Lin Jiaojiao had secretly run away from home.
If Lin Jiaojiao had run away from home due to rebellion, Lin Changtian would not have been worried.
Unfortunately, Lin Changtian's beloved second daughter had been afflicted with a very, very strange condition, a 'cold disease' since she was young.
Since the age of three, she experienced periodic episodes where a cold energy would emanate from her body during the deep hours of the night.
This illness, whose cause was unknown, eluded cure by all the famous doctors that Lin Changtian had consulted; she could only temporarily suppress the cold energy.
But as she aged, the cold energy became increasingly uncontrollable and the episodes more frequent than ever.
From having attacks once every few months in her childhood, it had progressed to almost every night now.
Even more dangerous was the fact that, with each attack, the cold energy intensified.
Lin Changtian feared for any misfortune that might befall Lin Jiaojiao, and had always protected her diligently.
But today, she left a letter resembling a will, stating her desire to experience freedom, even if just for once, and sneaked away without her medicine for suppressing the cold poison.
Without her medicine to suppress the cold poison, Lin Jiaojiao was unlikely to make it through the night.
The thought of his precious daughter possibly encountering disaster nearly shattered Lin Changtian's heart, and he quickly dialed a number, Gu Hao's number, "Hello, it's Old Lin, there's a matter I need your help with... "
Far away on the other end of Jiangnan City, Liu Mang was under the bridge, frantically busy.
The cold poison in Lin Jiaojiao's body had fully flared up, and Liu Mang felt a bone-chilling cold when he merely approached her, let alone touched her.
She had almost become an ice sculpture, with frost already forming on her eyebrows.
Liu Mang was busy untangling a thin rope wrapped around his wrist, from which he pulled out several strands of thread.
At first glance, the strands looked like silk, but on closer inspection, they were not quite the same, soft and pliable. With a gentle flick, the strands suddenly straightened out, turning into needle-like silver threads.
The object on his wrist seemed to be a bracelet but was in fact the treasured Nine Deaths Needle of Liu Mang's sect.
Each thread was one needle, a total of nine hundred and ninety-nine, each one exceedingly precious.
Liu Mang inserted nine of the Nine Deaths Needle into Lin Jiaojiao's major acupuncture points such as the Baihui, Taiyang points, and the center of the chest at the Danzhong point.
After inserting the needles, he took out a red small medicine bottle from his backpack, poured out a bean-sized, fiery red elixir, and stuffed it toward Lin Jiaojiao's mouth, "This is Baihuo Pill, its potency is extremely yang and forceful, it can temporarily suppress the cold poison in your body. Open your mouth and I'll feed it to you."
Although Lin Jiaojiao's body was ice-cold, to the point that her soul felt nearly frozen stiff, her consciousness remained relatively clear, and she could hear Liu Mang's words.
If she could, Lin Jiaojiao would have given a bitter smile, shaking her head to tell Liu Mang that it was no use.
No one understood the cold poison in her body better than herself; no one in the world could cure it.
Ever since she was three years old, Lin Jiaojiao had suffered endlessly from the torment of the cold poison.
Each episode was more ferocious than the last, faster, colder, icier, and more painful for her.
She'd had enough, she couldn't stand this torment any longer.
So tonight, she left the medicine that suppressed the cold poison behind and sneaked out.
Tonight was the time for liberation; death might well be the best release.
Lin Jiaojiao didn't open her mouth, so Liu Mang thought she couldn't, and simply put the Baihuo Pill into his own mouth and then kissed Lin Jiaojiao's lips.
Lin Jiaojiao was terrified and wanted to refuse, but it was too late.
When their lips touched, Lin Jiaojiao briefly forgot the cold, her mind filled only with Liu Mang, the man before her.
To be kissed, to actually receive a kiss from a handsome young man she somewhat fancied right before dying...
The kiss for Liu Mang was anything but pleasant, not just his lips, but his entire face was nearly frozen numb; this first kiss was painfully awkward.
At least after he managed to transfer the Baihuo Pill into Lin Jiaojiao's mouth, he quickly pulled back his head, his teeth chattering.
Lin Jiaojiao felt a hint of warmth suddenly emanating from her mouth, spreading gradually throughout her body.
The power of the Baihuo Pill took effect quickly, erupting like a volcano, with surges of heat spreading into every corner of Lin Jiaojiao's body.
The fierce cold poison inside her was being continuously pressured by the heat from the Baihuo Pill, forced toward the Nine Deaths Needle, and little by little, it left her body through the needles.
Lin Jiaojiao had never felt anything like this before; the medicine previously concocted by that expert just barely kept the cold poison at bay.
Now, however, the iciness in her body was actually being expelled, relentlessly driven out.
The boundless chill grew weaker and shallower, fading away until it almost disappeared, her body becoming warmer and more comfortable by the moment.
When the last trace of cold air was forced out of Lin Jiaojiao, Liu Mang quickly removed the Nine Deaths Needles.
The moment the Nine Deaths Needles left Lin Jiaojiao's body, they turned into ashes and scattered with the wind.
As a disciple of the Sect, Liu Mang was well aware of the outcome; saving a life meant the destruction of the needles.
But having just arrived in Jiangnan City and to have destroyed all nine in one go was unexpectedly heartbreaking.
Lin Jiaojiao's body felt warm and extremely comfortable, devoid of the pain she used to feel when the cold poison acted up.
Moving her body a little, Lin Jiaojiao muttered to herself, "Strange, really strange, how come I don't feel cold at all? Am I dead, and that's why I don't feel cold? So death can actually be this delightful. If I had known, I would have chosen to die a long time ago."
"Happy in death? That would be a strange thing!" Liu Mang replied irritably. He had gone to great lengths and wasted nine of the Nine Deaths Needles to save her, and she thought death would come easy, "You're very much alive right now. I expelled all the cold air in your body with the Baihuo Pill and the Nine Deaths Needles. However, it seems you have a congenital coldness, and what I did was just a temporary solution, not a cure."
"I'm not dead?" Lin Jiaojiao blankly stretched out her hand, pinched her waist softly, "Ouch... That hurts. I'm not dead, am I really not dead?"
As it seemed she truly hadn't died, Lin Jiaojiao joyfully jumped up and threw herself into Liu Mang's arms, hooking her arms around the back of his neck, her calves playfully swinging back and forth. "I'm not dead, I'm not dead, I really didn't die…"
"You're not dead, but at the expense of my nine Nine Deaths Needles," Liu Mang murmured a couple of complaints, but his attention quickly shifted to Lin Jiaojiao.
This girl had no idea how adorable and likable she was at this very moment.
Overwhelmed by the extreme thermal stimulus and excessive excitement, drowsiness crept over her. Lin Jiaojiao's hands weakened, losing grip on Liu Mang's neck, and she slipped, on the verge of falling to the ground.
Liu Mang instinctively caught Lin Jiaojiao, holding her tight in his arms.