The third day ca and went…
The cold chamber no longer felt like a prison. The frost that once covered the walls had lted into gentle vapors. The spiritual formation Kent had drawn still pulsed softly, feeding a warm current of energy to the still figure lying atop the Ice Lotus Bed.
Princess Neela, the First Daughter of the Naga Clan, finally opened her eyes.
The mont her silver lashes fluttered, Princess Nyara rushed forward and grasped her hand with tearful joy. "Sister! You're awake again—how do you feel? Can you speak?"
Neela nodded faintly and sat up on her elbows. Her breath no longer trembled in the air. Her gaze was clear. Her limbs moved without stiffness. She even managed a ghost of a smile.
"I... I can feel my body again," she said, her voice light like the sound of snow falling on silk. "The pain that clung to my bones... is gone."
Nyara turned around with bright eyes. "Kent! You've done it! She's finally...!"
But Kent didn't smile.
Instead, he stood by the edge of the room, arms crossed, gaze dark with thought.
Neela looked at him and frowned slightly. "Why do you look like you've failed?"
Kent stepped forward, slowly. "Because you're only half-recovered. The pain is gone, yes. Your body's motion has returned. But the flow of your inner qi… remains completely stagnant."
Varun, who had been quietly watching from the shadows, stepped forward.
"Stagnant? She moved just fine! And you told us her constitution had been stabilized!"
Kent turned sharply toward him. "Don't confuse comfort with healing."
The room fell silent at his words.
"Her body is no longer rejecting Yin energy—yes. But only for now. As ti passes, the problem will occur again."
He walked to the side of Neela's bed and gently pressed two fingers against her waist back.
"Your ridians are like hollow pipes filled with powder. The Yin inside you doesn't move—it just lingers. No matter how much energy you cultivate, it won't circulate. It's like placing divine water into a dried root. There's no uptake."
Neela blinked. "But… why?"
Kent closed his eyes. "Because many healers fed your system with useless dicinal extracts. Too many so-called 'elixirs' were pumped into your body over the years—each one clashing, countering, or corrupting the last."
"You're not frozen because of your constitution anymore. You're frozen because you were over-treated. Your own clan's healers crippled you—slowly and unknowingly."
A cold wind swept through the room, though no windows were open.
Nyara covered her mouth in shock.
Varun's staff struck the ground. "How dare you insult our healers?! You think you're better than all the learned experts of the Naga court?!"
Kent looked him dead in the eye. "I don't think—I know."
"And if you want your sister to walk again as a cultivator, not just a decorative statue in silk, then I need full authority to treat her my way—with no one interfering."
The room went quiet again.
For a long mont, even Neela didn't speak. She stared at Kent, her silver eyes narrowing as she absorbed every word.
Finally, she whispered, "Is there a cure?"
Kent exhaled and turned to face her.
"It's not a single herb or fla that will solve it. I also need to study her condition more thoroughly and must find a suitable treatnt. And I'll need a full night. Alone."
Varun's eyes flared with blue lightning. His staff roared with spiritual pressure. "You have one night! If you can co up with a valid reason, I will believe your nonsense. Otherwise, you will pay for your drama."
Kent smiled faintly. "Fair enough."
Neela looked at her sister and gave a soft nod.
Nyara blinked back a tear and placed her hand on her sister's shoulder.
—-
Later that night, when everything was silent…
Princess Neela's private chamber, where the cold still lingered in the air, despite the absence of frost. She sat by the edge of the Ice Lotus Bed, ditating silently.
The heavy doors opened with a soft creak.
Kent stepped inside, his expression unusually solemn. He ca alone, leaving all pets behind in the chamber. This was not a mont for spectators.
Neela opened her eyes slowly. "You're here?! At this ti?"
Kent gave a slight nod. "I've co to tell you sothing which I didn't reveal earlier. There's one thod… that can cure your condition completely."
She tilted her head. "What are you saying? Why didn't you ntion it beforehand? Can it really cure ?"
He stepped forward. "I have reasons to hide before your siblings. Yes… I'm certain about this thod."
Her breath paused. "What is it?"
There was silence for a long ti. Then Kent spoke, his voice low.
"You must dual cultivate with a man who possesses an Extre Yang Constitution—soone whose natural energy can neutralize and circulate the boundless Yin trapped in your system."
Neela sat still for a few heartbeats. Her eyes dimd—not in shock, but sothing closer to resignation.
"Our family healers… told the sa years ago. In fact…" She stood slowly. "The patriarch issued a secret decree—to find a man in the Naga race with a Supre Yang body to marry . They searched through three realms."
Her smile was thin, broken.
"No one was found. I gave up hoping. That's when I chose the path of the Silent Cold Arts and sealed myself. It was better than slowly watching my body decay."
Kent looked down, his fists tightening.
Neela turned to him and said softly, "Why did you bring this up now?"
Kent hesitated.
"Don't misunderstand my intentions. I am saying this now, because... I possess the Yang Body."
The words shattered the silence like thunder across still water.
Neela's lips parted in disbelief. Her knees weakened slightly, and she stumbled a step back.
"You're lying," she said, but it was barely a whisper.
"I'm not," Kent said, eyes calm but sharp. "That's why my flas can purge Yin so easily. It's why my spiritual core resists all Yin poisons. I didn't say anything earlier because I wasn't sure how your siblings would react."
Neela stared at him for several breaths. She turned sharply and reached for her robe.
"Co with . Now."
Without waiting, she stord out into the hallway.
—
Eastern Treasury Chamber – Lower Vaults…
The cold mists of the treasury coiled around their feet as they walked down an obsidian staircase lined with jade tiles and guarded by statues of ancient Naga ancestors. Neela's face was pale but determined, lips tight with emotion she didn't dare release.
Two armored guards stood by the sealed golden gate of the Eastern Branch Vault. Upon seeing Neela, they imdiately bowed. "First Princess."
"I require entry to the Sovereign Appraisal Chamber," she said.
The guards didn't ask questions and let her inside the closed chamber of the treasury along with Kent.
As she stepped forward and bit her finger, a drop of royal blood fell on the serpent-shaped seal in the center of the gate. The engravings glowed blue and white, then the doors rumbled open.
Inside was a chamber lined with mountains of treasures, glittering weapons, spirit herbs, ancient scrolls, and sealed boxes wrapped in divine chains.
She walked to the fifth row and knelt before a large obsidian box inscribed with golden runes. Carefully, she chanted the unlocking incantation.
The box opened with a hum, revealing a pedestal. Upon it, floating midair, was a golden ceremonial bowl, swirling faintly with sky-blue essence and runic marks pulsing along its rim.
She picked it up carefully and handed it to Kent.
"This bowl was left by the First Naga Queen. It is one of the few tools in this realm that can verify a Sovereign Physique. No one, not even the Patriarch, dared claim they could awaken it. Try it."
Kent accepted it silently. He pricked his finger and let a single drop of blood fall into the swirling liquid.
The reaction was instantaneous.
The soft blue mist inside the bowl burst into violent motion, spinning like a furious storm, and the liquid turned crimson red, glowing with searing intensity. Runes burst from the rim and flew into the air, forming the ancient symbol of the Yang Sovereign Fla above Kent's head.
Neela staggered back.
"This… this is…" Her lips trembled. "The impossible…"
She clutched her chest as though her heart itself was struggling to keep up.
"You… truly have the Yang Sovereign Body. Not Supre. Not just Extre. The Sovereign."
She sat down, hard, on the nearest stone.
All the years of disappointnt, of being told she was a burden, that her condition was a curse no one could lift—it shattered in one mont of truth.
"Do you understand what this ans?" she whispered. "My entire life… my dignity… my future… all of it depended on a man who didn't exist. And you—you—walked into our clan silently, carrying the one thing I was denied again and again…"
Kent lowered the bowl, looking at her not with pride, but with gentle understanding.
"I didn't ask for this body. But now that it's here… if you still wish it, I will help you."
Neela looked up, eyes misted with tears—but not of sorrow. A mix of pain, hope, and sothing else, sothing buried deep and long forgotten, flickered within her.
"If you can heal completely, Kent… If you can give back my path… then I will never forget you. I will definitely make it up for you." She continued to speak in a hurried tone with great excitent.
Suddenly Kent raised his hand and said, "I'm ready to help and you don't need to promise anything in return. I'm not a weak mind to sway by treasures. You can open up without any guilt."
Hearing his answer while staring into deep crimson eyes, Neela understood his intention. Without wasting another second, she directly hugged him and began kissing him.
As her cold body touched him, Kent's fingers creeped onto her chest.
-
Note: Expect a spicy-chapter tomorrow...
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