"Qing Tan, has the chilling cold flared up again?"

As he felt waves of chilling cold emit from Qing Tan's body, Lin Dong could not help but shiver as he anxiously asked.

"Yes." Qing Tan squeezed out an answer through clenched teeth. Her frail body constantly shivered from the cold, a look of suffering on her tiny face.

"I'll go and call father!" Lin Dong quickly said.

"No, please don't go!" Upon hearing those words, Qing Tan swiftly grabbed on to Lin Dong's sleeve. Immediately, the chilling air swifty formed a thin layer of frost on his sleeve. "It's no use. Besides, its rare to see Father in such a good mood. Please do not trouble him, I can endure this."

As he looked at Qing Tan's tiny yet deathly white face, Lin Dong felt a growing ache in his heart. Gritting his teeth, he finally nodded. He knew that Qing Tan was right, even if he called father over, it would be of little use and will instead only increase the number of worried people to two.

Qing Tan had frequently suffered from this chilling cold since young. After a certain period of time, an extremely dense chilling air will explode from within her body. Under the effects of this chill, her insides will be tormented by extreme pain. Over these past ten years, she has suffered immensely due to this chilling cold. However, even Lin Xiao could not find any solution to alleviate her condition. He once tried to use Yuan Force to forcefully expel the chilling cold, but in the end, he had to spend nearly half a month in bed in order to remove the chilling cold that entered his body.

Therefore, every time the chilling cold flared up in Qing Tan's body, the three of them could only helplessly watch as Qing Tan suffered while their hearts were cut to pieces on the inside.

"Let me carry you back to your room." Observing that Qing Tan was paralyzed with pain, he suddenly lifted her up, hugging her tightly in his arms, and ran like a mad man towards her room.

"Hsss hss!"

As he dashed into the room, Lin Dong swiftly placed Qing Tan on her bed. Then, he hastily rubbed his arms, which had turned numb from the chilling cold and felt as though they were being pierced by needles.

"Lin Dong-ge, you......you should return first. I can endure this." Qing Tan hid her frail body under the blanket as she feebly mumbled. However, as she spoke, her body started to tremble even more violently. It seems that the chilling cold was even more intense compared to previous times.

"So cold......so cold......"

Qing Tan popped her little head out of the blanket, her tiny face white as sheet and her hair glittering with ice crystals.

Upon witnessing this scene, Lin Dong, who was standing beside her, became extremely anxious and agitated as he paced up and down her bedside. Suddenly, his footsteps stopped. Clenching his teeth, he tore off his shoes and jumped onto her bed before proceeding to hug Qing Tan tightly through her blanket.

People who train posses a strong and vigorous life-force. Lin Dong hoped to use his body warmth to alleviate some of Qing Tan's pain. Even though he understood that his actions would hardly amount to anything, he could not bear to watch Qing Tan being tortured by the chilling cold all by herself.

"Lin Dong-ge, please don't!"

Qing Tan hurriedly replied as she felt Lin Dong's embrace. Even though Qing Tan was nearly unconscious from the chilling cold, Lin Dong's movement caused her to regain some of her senses. She clearly knew how potent the chilling cold in her body was, as even Lin Xiao, who was at Earthly Yuan level, had a difficult time dealing with it. How could Lin Dong, who was merely at Tempered Body 4th Layer, handle it?

"Be good, I'll be fine......" Clenching his jaw, Lin Dong tenaciously held on to Qing Tan tightly. Even though they were separated by the blanket, he felt as though he were hugging a piece of millennial ice. The bone piercing chill was akin to thousands of razor-sharp needles relentlessly stabbing into his body.

Needless to say, moments later, Lin Dong's body began to shiver as well. Frost appeared on his eyebrows as his teeth chattered nonstop. Nonetheless, despite the pain, Lin Dong's grip only grew tighter.

Qing Tan rested her tiny head on Lin Dong's chest, her eyes gazing at the constantly shivering Lin Dong, who was now biting his lips as he endured the cold. Tears began to flow as she felt a faint warmth blossom from the depths of her heart. She knew that she was only an orphan, yet Lin Dong and his family had always treated her like one of their own.

"Thank you, Lin Dong-ge". Qing Tan lightly mumbled as she slowly lost consciousness, her eyelids slowly falling in response.

As the layer of frost on Lin Dong's body grew thicker, his consciousness began to fade as well. Suddenly, moments before he was about to faint, a strange suction force arose from his chest area. Soon, he felt the relentlessly chilling cold in his body gradually sucked away by this force.

The bone-chilling cold swiftly left his body and Lin Dong slowly began to regain consciousness. As he stared at the melting frost on his arm, he was dazed for a second before he hurriedly opened his shirt. There, lay the stone talisman that he had kept close on his body, emitting a light glow. At the same time, he could also vaguely feel a cooling sensation coming from it.

"The stone talisman sucked up the chilling cold?" Lin Dong blinked as a disbelieving smile surfaced on his face. He did not expect that this chilling cold, which had even stumped father, could actually be sucked away by this stone talisman!

While Lin Dong was still in awe at this turn of events, Qing Tan, who had originally fainted, let out a soft cry. Her eyes slowly opened, immediately detecting the changes in her body and exclaiming: "The chilling cold has subsided?"

"Seems like it." Lin Dong replied with a smile, as he scratched his head. Then, he let go of Qing Tan and said: "Now that it has subsided, it's all good. Get some rest."

"Yes, Lin Dong-ge, thank you." Qing Tan softly muttered, her cheeks turning a light pink as she looked at Lin Dong's smiling face.

"We're family, there's no need for you to say these words." Lin Dong patted his chest, smiling as he said in a manly manner. Seeing that it was late, he decided not to linger any further and waved goodbye to Qing Tan before turning to walk out of her room.

Gazing at Lin Dong's leaving figure, Qing Tan looked like a little belle as she laid on her bed, her languid self appearing somewhat charming and lovely. Her cheek rested on her tiny hands and her little feet, which were as white as jade, slowly swayed over her back. On her lips, a sweet smile hung, brightening her angelic face.

After leaving Qing Tan's room, Lin Dong rushed to his room at lightning speed. He quickly locked his door before taking out the stone talisman that was tucked near his chest. Under the lights, three milky white bean-sized crystals appeared from the small crevice in the middle of the stone talisman.

Lin Dong carefully removed the three milky-white bean-sized crystals. As they rolled onto the palm of his hand, he felt a cooling sensation which reached into the very marrow of his bones. The chilling cold within these pearls was almost the same as the chilling cold within Qing Tan's body, except the chill from the crystals seemed much more gentle.

"This should have been condensed from the chilling cold that was sucked out from Qing Tan's body......"

Lin Dong muttered as he closed his fingers on the three white pearls, gripping them in his hand. The Yin Energy contained within these pearls did not have the violent nature of the one observed in Qing Tan's body. In fact, it could even be possible for one to absorb the Yin Energy from the pearls into one's body.

Although he was far from reaching the Earthly Yuan level, Lin Dong knew that after advancing to Earthly Yuan level, the most vital step was to absorb Yin Energy, that existed between Heaven and Earth, into one's body. After which, the Yin Energy will merge with the Yuan Power that lies in one's body, greatly enhancing the attacking potential of one's Yuan Power. Subsequently, when one advances to Heavenly Yuan level, one must absorb the Yang Energy, that exists between Heaven and Earth, into one's body. Eventually, when the Yin and Yang Energy within one's body synergizes, a Yuan Dan will be formed.

Hence, this way of training was termed as 'Stealing Yin and Yang'.

Thus for the Earth Yuan and Heavenly Yuan stages, Yin and Yang Energy could be considered the most important components. However, within Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang Energy can be classified into different grades and categories, with each possessing their own advantages and disadvantages. Most people would however, choose to absorb Yin Yang energy directly from Heaven and Earth because it was the most convenient method. After all, special Yin Yang Energy is not so easily chanced upon. Naturally though, this method would result in them being slightly weaker.

Of course, some wealthy people would rather choose to absorb special Yin Yang Energy. This way, they will end up distinctly stronger than a practitioner on the same level as them.

Besides, the higher the quality of Yin Yang Energy absorbed during the Earthly and Heavenly Yuan stages, the stronger the Yuan Dan formed will be!

Thus, some wealthier people will expend vast resources in order to find various kinds of special Yin Yang Energy to allow their Yuan Dan formed to be of a higher quality.

Obviously, though Lin Dong had never come into contact with Yin Energy before, he was very certain that the white Yin Pearl in his hand was definitely much higher in quality than the natural Yin Energy found between Heaven and Earth.

Perhaps, the Yin Energy contained within can be classified as 3rd Grade or even higher.

And to expert practitioners at Earthly Yuan level, these are highly prized treasures one would kill to obtain!

TN: millennial ice – is ice that has stayed frozen for a millennia ;)