"Noted!"
Although Dai Yuan was eager to start immediately, since Yang Kai had suggested it, she didn't object. She nodded in agreement, discussed a few minor details with Yang Kai, and then took her leave.
After Dai Yuan left, Yang Kai sat on the stone bed in the room, stroking his chin in thought. After a moment, he waved his hand broadly, and numerous medicinal herbs immediately appeared on the bed.
He then took out his alchemy furnace and ignited the fire of his Divine Sense, enveloping each of the different herbs and refining the medicinal liquid contained within them.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye. When Yang Kai opened his eyes from meditation and swept his divine sense outward, he discovered Dai Yuan standing outside. After two days of recovery, her mood and emotions had completely settled. Her expression held neither joy nor sorrow. She stood outside the door without any intention of rushing him—simply waiting quietly for Yang Kai to come out on his own.
Yang Kai smiled slightly, thinking her condition had improved significantly, and quickly rose from the stone bed to open the door.
Dai Yuan heard the movement, raised her eyes, and upon seeing Yang Kai, offered him a faint smile.
"Let's go!" Yang Kai gestured. Dai Yuan nodded and immediately led the way.
They returned once more to the enormous stone chamber they had passed earlier. Dai Yuan led Yang Kai down a passageway on the opposite side. This corridor appeared to lead straight down into the depths of the earth, spiraling downward. Stone steps had been hand-carved into the passage, so the descent wasn't steep. Strange luminous stones lined both sides of the corridor, casting a soft glow.
As Dai Yuan descended in silence, Yang Kai said nothing either, though his Divine Sense had been continuously spreading downward the entire time.
Halfway down, Yang Kai suddenly felt a wave of cold wash over him. This wasn't ordinary frigidity—it was a bone-chilling yin cold that made one's hair stand on end. Strictly speaking, it was yin qi. Only where yin energy gathered in abundance could such a bone-piercing cold exist.
So the so-called Yin Pool must be hidden below, Yang Kai realized with a flash of understanding.
This yin cold posed no trouble for Yang Kai whatsoever. He didn't even need to circulate his Sacred Yuan—he could easily resist it with his physical body alone. Dai Yuan was similarly unaffected. Though her body couldn't compare to Yang Kai's, her cultivation realm was considerable. Moreover, the Yin Pool had been here for many years, and Dai Yuan must have descended countless times to investigate it in preparation for the poison extraction. She naturally wouldn't be affected either.
The further they descended, the more intense the yin cold became.
After roughly half an incense stick's worth of time, Dai Yuan was finally forced to circulate her Sacred Yuan to shield her body. A faint fluorescent glow appeared on her skin, keeping the yin cold at bay.
They continued downward for quite a while longer before the view suddenly opened up. Below them was another enormous stone chamber. But this one was completely empty—yet to the naked eye, the entire room was filled with dense, condensed yin cold aura. Wisps and strands of it permeated every corner of the chamber.
Snow-white frost blanketed the surrounding stone walls. The temperature here had plummeted to a terrifying degree.
In the very center of the chamber sat a small pool, no more than three zhang in area, resembling a shallow pond. Wisps of yin cold aura drifted out from this pool.
Yang Kai's expression shifted slightly. "Miss Dai Yuan, is this Yin Pool a thousand-year pool or a ten-thousand-year pool?"
Dai Yuan seemed to know what Yang Kai was going to ask and smiled. "According to what that senior told me, this Yin Pool has existed for at least five to six thousand years."
Yang Kai frowned. "That long? The yin cold water in this pool would be far beyond what you can endure. Are you sure you want to continue?"
Yin Pools were classified by age. Yang Kai had previously not heard Dai Yuan mention anything about the Yin Pool and had assumed that immersing herself in it wouldn't be particularly dangerous, so he hadn't asked many questions. He never expected this pool to have five or six thousand years of history. At that age, Dai Yuan would likely be frozen into an ice sculpture the moment she dipped in.
Dai Yuan smiled faintly. "Don't worry, Junior Brother Yang. I've already made extensive preparations beforehand, merging many fire-attribute and yang-attribute medicinal herbs into the Yin Pool's water to neutralize the yin cold force. Besides, I'm an alchemist myself and have cultivated a fire-attribute technique. As long as I'm careful, there shouldn't be any problems. Moreover… if I don't continue now, I can only wait for death. If Junior Brother Yang were in my position, what choice would you make?"
Yang Kai fell silent, knowing Dai Yuan had no alternative and carried her own burdens. He stopped trying to dissuade her.
"Don't worry, Junior Brother Yang. I've left a letter in my meditation room. If something truly goes wrong this time and I perish, you can take that letter to my master. It explains everything, and she won't make things difficult for you after reading it. My master is Elder Gong Aofu, who resides on Wanren Peak. If you wish to leave after that, just find her!"
She spoke as though settling her final affairs, which left an unpleasant taste in Yang Kai's heart. But he nodded nonetheless. "Understood."
Dai Yuan smiled and nodded, then beckoned. "Please, follow me."
A moment later, the two arrived at the edge of the Yin Pool. Yang Kai looked and found the water was not deep—only about three chi—but it was crystal clear to the bottom, without a single impurity. The surface was perfectly still, like a pool of dead water. Yet this very pool, if seen by a martial artist who cultivated dark yin techniques, would drive them to wild ecstasy. They would pay any price to obtain this Yin Pool.
Because the benefits of this Yin Pool for such cultivators were immense—no less valuable than the rarest heavenly treasures and precious medicines.