A brilliant stratagem breaks the siege to rescue the fair maiden; with wisdom and courage combined, a heroic spirit is revealed.

Shen Yi’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he gently handed the unconscious Gao Yao to the old village chief.

The lotus mark on the girl’s chest shimmered with an eerie, faint glow under the moonlight, and even the lingering warmth on his palms felt searing.

"There is no medicine for regret sold in the system shop," he muttered, stooping to pick up his bronze plow. The blade reflected the sinister, demonic aura of the encampment in the distance.

The remnants of the Night Shadow were busy at an altar constructed of obsidian. Gao Yao, suspended by the Immortal-Binding Rope at the intersection of the spirit veins, looked remarkably like an ice butterfly trapped in a spider’s web.

He crushed the iris pollen clinging to his cuff. Suddenly, a line of golden light flashed across his consciousness: "Detected seeds of the Profound-grade stealth spirit plant, Fog-Hide Grass. Consume 30% of your spiritual power to force-ripen?"

"I’m betting it all on this!" Shen Yi bit his fingertip and dripped a bead of blood onto the plow. The moment a surge of green light erupted, pale purple mist surged up from the soil within a ten-foot radius.

Two demonic cultivators hauling spirit stones paused. The shorter one twitched his nose. "What is that smell? It’s like..."

Before he could finish, vines coiled tightly around his neck. As the fine barbs on the leaves pierced his skin, the demonic aura within his meridians began to flow backward, drained into the earth.

Shen Yi flashed out of the mist, half a withered sprig of Fog-Hide Grass still clinging to his fingers. The red warnings flashing wildly on his system interface nearly blinded him.

"There are cracks in the demonic sigils on the southeast altar!" Gao Yao’s telepathic voice exploded in his mind.

Shen Yi looked up sharply, meeting her gaze, which was filled with suppressed agony. Where the Immortal-Binding Rope bit into her, her snow-white wrists had turned a bruised purple, yet the sparks dancing in her almond-shaped eyes were clearly those of a prairie fire.

As the cold sneer of the Night Shadow drifted down from the altar, Shen Yi had already leaped, stepping off the shoulders of a demonic cultivator.

The instant the bronze plow pierced the array’s core, the entire camp erupted with a sound like shattering glass. The trapped energy of the spirit veins burst forth as tens of thousands of golden threads, and the demonic cultivators who had been drawing the array screamed as they dissolved into black smoke.

"Catch that rat!" The Night Shadow’s black robes billowed like a night owl. The demonic energy flickered from his fingertips, but every time it touched the hem of Shen Yi’s clothes, it was blocked by a sudden eruption of spirit plants.

Shen Yi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His system’s spiritual power gauge had already plummeted past the danger zone, but the lotus mark that suddenly lit up on Gao Yao’s wrist made his pupils contract.

The catastrophe unfolded in the blink of an eye.

When Shen Yi broke through the final three barriers of demonic energy, only the severed remains of the Immortal-Binding Rope lay on the altar.

The Night Shadow’s raspy laughter echoed from beneath the ground. "So fond of playing hide-and-seek? I have prepared a new chessboard for you at the Nine-Nether Cold Pool."

"Shen Yi, don't come over!" Gao Yao’s cry was accompanied by the sound of freezing ice crystals.

By the time Shen Yi stumbled to the edge of the cold pool, complex silver curse patterns were emerging on the ink-black ice, each stroke pulsing with a ghostly light identical to that of the lotus mark.

The girl was sealed in the center of the pool by dark ice, the lotus on her chest having already spread to her collarbone.

The phantom of the Night Shadow hovered in mid-air, his fingers entwined with golden threads of spirit energy being drawn from Gao Yao. "The Symbiotic Lotus Mark was planted using your own heart’s blood, Master Shen. You should know best—the price of breaking this seal."

Shen Yi’s plow slammed heavily into the ice, and flying shards of ice left bloody gashes on his cheeks.

The water in the pool began to churn as if boiling. Several barbed chains of mysterious iron burst out from beneath the surface. The curse runes flowing along the chains flickered, uncannily matching the illustrations in an ancient, fragmented manual currently stored in his system inventory.

"Don't use your spiritual power!" Gao Yao’s voice became muffled through the layers of ice. She pressed her palms against the surface, and the lotus mark suddenly erupted with a searing white light.

The moment Shen Yi’s fingertip touched the ice, a metallic clang of chains tightening rang out from the bottom of the pool—the light was devouring his spiritual power!

The Night Shadow’s phantom sighed with pleasure. "As expected of the Shennong bloodline. This water is well-fed on spiritual power; it will be perfect for nurturing my..."

The taunt cut off abruptly.

Shen Yi had somehow managed to plunge his plow into the mud on the bank, dark red blood dripping down the blade and seeping into the soil.

Under the Night Shadow’s shocked and furious gaze, a pitch-black Datura flower broke through the earth at a visible speed. As its demonic petals unfurled layer by layer, the curse runes across the entire cold pool began to twist and warp.

"Are you insane? Using a demonic poison flower to counter..."

"I’ve been farming for ten years," Shen Yi spat out a mouthful of blood, his blood-stained hand gripping the violently trembling handle of the plow, "I know best how to make prickly things—flower and bear fruit!"

The moment the Datura exploded into purple mist, the mysterious iron chains around the cold pool let out a wail of unbearable strain.

Gao Yao’s lotus mark shone with blinding intensity. Cracks like spiderwebs appeared in the dark ice sealing her, and a bright red prompt suddenly popped up on Shen Yi’s system interface:

[WARNING! Symbiotic Lotus Mark awakening countdown initiated: 23:59:59]

Ripples appeared in the air above the cold pool. Blood from the wounds on Shen Yi’s hand dripped onto the ice, blooming into crimson frost flowers.

He tapped his knuckles against the cracking ice barrier, the crisp sound waking the girl sealed within.

"Ever heard the story of the farmer and the snake?" Shen Yi grinned, his bloodied lips parting. As his fingertips grazed the ice, they sparked with tiny flickers of flame. "But this time—" He gripped the iron chain shooting up from the pool floor, letting the barbs pierce his palms, "the farmer is going to roast the snake!"

Gao Yao’s pupils constricted. Through the layers of ice, she saw a green totem quietly emerging behind the boy.

It was the sign of the awakening Shennong bloodline. The winding patterns of vines climbed up his spine and onto his neck, echoing the burning Symbiotic Lotus Mark on his chest.

"No!" She struggled violently, her hair, frozen in the ice, turning silver. "The Symbiotic Lotus Mark will drain all your..."

Shen Yi pressed his forehead hard against the ice, his nose almost touching the girl’s fingertips through the frozen barrier. "Remember the first Moon-Gazing Grass we planted in the spirit field?" As he spoke, his breath condensed into frost flowers on the ice. "You said back then, all grass and trees—"

"If they have the courage to face death, they will surely find the chance to break through the earth." Gao Yao’s almond eyes welled with tears, but her frozen lips tried to curve into a smile.

The wounds caused by the iron chains began to seep pale golden blood, staining the outline of a lotus within the ice.

The Night Shadow’s phantom twisted above the altar, dozens of chains wrapped in demonic energy extending from beneath his black robes. "What disgusting displays of affection!" As the chains whipped against the ice, the entire cold pool surged with dark purple waves. "I want to see if your mouths are harder, or the Nine-Nether Dark Ice..."

Before he could finish, Shen Yi suddenly pulled a rusted bronze compass from his system inventory.

He had scavenged this little trinket from a demonic cultivator’s storage ring three days ago, during the annihilation of a Blood Fiend Sect sub-altar.

At the time, the system had identified it as [Damaged Ancient Spirit Tool: Nine-Turn World-Breaking Shuttle (Awaiting Repair)]. Now, after being stained with his blood, it emitted a drone like the roar of a dragon.

"I’ll bet five pounds of spirit rice," Shen Yi pressed the compass onto the violently vibrating ice. The Shennong totem lit up on the back of his hand, his veins bulging. "This thing is much faster at gnawing through ice than a field mouse!"

The Night Shadow’s expression finally changed.

He recognized the Kui-dragon pattern on the edge of the compass—it was clearly a sacred relic of the World-Breaking Sect, destroyed three thousand years ago!

As his black robes billowed, the demonic sigils of the entire altar suddenly flowed backward into the pool. The dark ice thickened at a visible rate, and Gao Yao’s cry was frozen within a sudden eruption of ice shards.

"System! Activate spiritual power overload mode!" Shen Yi roared in his consciousness. A blood-red warning window exploded before his eyes.

He poured his remaining spiritual power into the compass without regard for the cost. As the rust peeled away from the bronze surface, the pool water suddenly boiled into a sky full of stars.

When Lie Feng and the villagers arrived, they were greeted by this bizarre sight: the boy kneeling half-prostrate on the ice,青-gold sparks erupting where his palms met the compass.

Countless profound runes emerged from the bottom of the pool, only to dissolve like spring snow the moment they touched the sparks.

The old village chief raised his hunting bow with trembling hands, only to realize his arrows could not penetrate the distorted air three yards away.

"Brother Shen is burning his life essence!" Lie Feng caught the scent of blood drifting on the wind. The wine gourd at his waist exploded, the amber liquid solidifying into talismans in the air. "Form the array! Pass your spiritual power to him!"

The Night Shadow’s phantom let out a piercing shriek, and the entire cold pool began to sink.

Blood spilled from Shen Yi’s ears and nose, yet the compass in his hand shone like the rising sun.

Through the melting ice, he saw the lotus on Gao Yao’s chest blooming with unprecedented brilliance, the iron chains binding her snapping inch by inch.

"Give me..." Shen Yi coughed up a mouthful of blood infused with golden light. The pillar of light from the compass shattered the clouds. "Break!"

As the first ray of moonlight pierced the thinning ice, the mutation occurred.

Shen Yi suddenly felt his spiritual power flowing uncontrollably into the compass. A dark green prompt box, the likes of which he had never seen, popped up on his system interface:

[Detected ancient law fluctuations. Symbiotic Lotus Mark awakening process accelerated: 00:59:59]

Gao Yao’s cry of shock was swallowed by the deafening roar of the ice shattering. The Night Shadow’s sneer suddenly became ethereal.

Shen Yi looked down at his right hand, which was beginning to crystallize. He realized that the green Shennong totems were devouring the lotus mark, while the World-Breaking Shuttle, suspended in the air...