A sudden turn of events caused a deep fear to well up in Lin Dong's heart. The Yin Sha Qi from Qing Tan's body surged into his own, and this icy cold energy was terrifyingly violent. This type of Yin Sha Qi was fundamentally incomparable to the cold energy he had previously absorbed from the Yin Pearl.
As Lin Dong struggled to control his body, the layer of ice covering him completely vanished. The bone-chilling cold energy, like steel needles, frantically pierced every part of his body. Excruciating pain flared immediately, and Lin Dong's internal organs and flesh began to twist slightly. Even the flow of his blood gradually slowed down…
All these signs indicated that his current situation was extremely perilous!
However, in the face of this extremely dangerous situation, Lin Dong found himself utterly powerless. Against the cold energy, which was like a primordial beast within Qing Tan's body, his strength seemed insignificant, negligible. Furthermore, he didn't understand why the mysterious Stone Talisman had caused such a sudden change today. He had interacted with Qing Tan before, but this was the first time such an event had occurred.
Under the corrosive assault of the cold energy, Lin Dong's consciousness began to blur. But just as his consciousness was about to completely plunge into darkness, the mysterious Stone Talisman hidden in his right palm finally made its move.
A suction force once again erupted from within the Stone Talisman. Subsequently, the Yin Sha Qi that permeated every part of Lin Dong's body was rapidly pushed back, eventually being entirely swallowed by the Stone Talisman.
"Buzz."
After absorbing the cold energy that had filled Lin Dong's body, the Stone Talisman trembled slightly. Immediately afterward, a wisp of ice-blue cold energy emerged, seemingly seeping out from within the Stone Talisman. It then swiftly traveled along Lin Dong's meridians, heading towards his Dantian.
Although this wisp of ice-blue cold energy was small, Lin Dong, with the little consciousness he had left, still felt his heart pounding rapidly. He feared this wisp of ice-blue cold energy was not as simple as it seemed…
The ice-blue cold energy met no obstruction, directly rushing into his Dantian. Afterward, Lin Dong felt a fierce conflict erupting once again within his Dantian. Here, the two forces intensely battled, simultaneously eroding and merging with each other. A faint, subtle ache emanated from his Dantian.
In this kind of battle, Lin Dong had lost control of his body and could only watch helplessly. However, what allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief was that the ice-blue cold energy, which had made his heart pound, perhaps due to the Stone Talisman, didn't seem as tyrannical as he had imagined. Therefore, after nearly seventy to eighty percent of the Yuan Power in his Dantian was consumed by the wisp of ice-blue cold energy, the two finally showed signs of fusion…
Within the Dantian, as the two fused, the originally colorless Yuan Power gradually turned a deep blue. Moreover, the seed of Yuan Power, which was originally only the size of a fist, transformed into a mass of ice-blue energy at this moment. Around this mass of energy, one could even faintly sense cold energy drifting.
When the mass of ice-blue energy took shape, Lin Dong's body suddenly trembled violently. An unprecedented sense of power rapidly surged from deep within his heart, finally spreading to every part of his body.
“Crack… crack…”
The layer of ice on Lin Dong’s body suddenly cracked into fissures at this moment, and finally, chunks of ice continuously fell off.
Lin Dong’s mind sank into his Dantian. This was the first time he had “seen” his own Dantian; that ice-blue mass of energy seemed incredibly captivating. The mass of energy slowly rotated, a wisp of Yuan Power carrying a chilling aura swirling all around, ready at any moment for Lin Dong’s command.
Lin Dong’s mind withdrew from his Dantian. He closed his eyes, and a strange fluctuation emanated from within his head, projecting the surroundings within several tens of meters back into his mind with extreme precision.
“Is this the Earth Yuan Stage?”
This feeling of control made Lin Dong’s body tremble uncontrollably with excitement. Stepping into the Earth Yuan Stage truly meant entering the grand gate of cultivation!
This was the first crucial hurdle on the path of cultivation!
To break through this hurdle, Lin Dong had put in an unknown amount of effort during this period. He never expected that this incident would cause the Yuan Power in his Dantian to completely fuse with the Yin Sha Qi, thus allowing him to instantly step into the Earth Yuan Stage!
This sudden surge of excitement made Lin Dong want to look up at the sky and let out a loud roar, but fortunately, at the last moment, he forcefully held it back.
In the dense forest, the layer of ice on Lin Dong’s body had completely fallen off, turning into a puddle of water on the ground. His tightly shut eyes trembled slightly, then slowly opened.
The moment his eyes opened, a streak of ice-blue light flashed from Lin Dong’s eyes, appearing for an instant before vanishing.
Lin Dong clenched his fist. The power contained within his body was immeasurably stronger than before. According to his estimation, now, even the power of an ordinary punch would probably be enough to rival ten times the combined force of his previous Tongbei Fist!
“Whoosh…”
A mouthful of icy cold air was exhaled from Lin Dong’s mouth. Lin Dong’s hands suddenly came together, forming a complex hand seal—it was the Qimen Seal.
Lin Dong really wanted to know what level of power the Qimen Seal could reach after he had stepped into the Earth Yuan Stage.
As Lin Dong skillfully changed the hand seals, the ice-blue mass of energy in his Dantian quickly released a stream of ice-blue Yuan Power, which swiftly condensed beneath Lin Dong’s palm.
The beautiful ice-blue Yuan Power enveloped Lin Dong’s right palm, and a chilling aura rose, causing the surrounding temperature to gradually drop.
“Bang!”
The changing hand seal suddenly solidified. Lin Dong took a step forward and directly slammed his palm seal onto a large tree in front of him, as thick as the thighs of two strong men.
As the palm seal struck, the large tree instantly burst and exploded, sending countless wood fragments scattering far and wide. On the surface of the explosion on the tree trunk, a layer of cold mist condensed. This palm strike, if it were to land on a person’s body… just the Yuan Power containing the chilling Yin energy would cause the opponent immense suffering.
The power of the Earth Yuan Stage was far beyond what Body Tempering could compare to!
Looking at the might of this palm strike, a look of joy appeared in Lin Dong’s eyes. But just as he couldn’t help but want to cheer, his gaze suddenly fell upon Qing Tan, who was still unconscious on the ground, and a look of embarrassment immediately appeared on his face.
This time, breaking through to the Earth Yuan Stage, it was clearly the mysterious Stone Talisman that powerfully absorbed this terrifying cold energy from Qing Tan's body. Furthermore, after undergoing its refinement, and after purifying the terrifying savagery hidden within the cold energy, it was then infused into Lin Dong's Dantian. Otherwise... with Lin Dong's current strength, if he had forcefully absorbed this cold energy from Qing Tan's body, the result would likely have been him turning into an ice statue forever.
"Thankfully nothing happened. Otherwise, if my parents found out, I'd inevitably get an earful."
Lin Dong checked her, finding that Qing Tan was merely unconscious. Only then did he feel a burden lifted, letting out a sigh of relief. He gently rubbed his right palm, letting out a bitter laugh, then carried the young girl, who resembled a sleeping beauty, on his back as he walked out of the forest.
Breaking through to the Earth Yuan Stage, due to this incident, was much earlier than Lin Dong had anticipated. However, being able to reach this stage before the hunting competition was clearly an extremely good thing for Lin Dong.
"The Lei and Xie families have taken the Lin family's bets so many times; this time, they should spit it all out!"
As he carried the young girl home, a cold smile appeared on Lin Dong's face.