LRAB Page 77
Page 77
He even felt that his bones had become light and airy, as if they would crumble into powder if he squeezed them.
He tried to lift his head, but his eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. Everything in his vision—whether it was the dark, turbulent water or Huang Rong's anxious face beside him—was blurred, distorted, and devoid of any real color, as if viewed through a thick, foggy frosted glass.
The deafening roar of the water seemed to come from a very distant world, booming and rumbling, yet sounding so unreal.
Breathing has become a luxurious form of torture.
Each inhale felt like it took all his strength, yet all he inhaled was icy vapor and a tearing, piercing pain.
He placed almost all of his weight on the petite yet incredibly resilient body beside him.
If Huang Rong hadn't been holding him up so tightly, he had no doubt that he would have lost consciousness completely in the next second and sunk to the bottom of the cold, dark water like a stone.
He was no longer the vigorous and powerful Wang Meng whose thirteen kidneys roared like a ferocious beast.
He was just an empty shell, drained of all life essence, more vulnerable than even the weakest ordinary person...
But it's just an empty shell.
Compared to those two people whose skeletons were indistinguishable from living corpses, they were undoubtedly a thousand times better.
Wang Meng is still alive.
What he lost seemed to be everything—the Mingzun Sacred Fire Technique, which he had just mastered and was incredibly powerful; the Sacred Fire Origin that burned like the sun in his dantian; the powerful true energy he had painstakingly cultivated, which was enough to split rocks and shatter monuments… But in the end, these were just the “power” he had gained during this period.
His foundation still stands.
Although the meridians were experiencing sharp, needle-like pain due to excessive exploitation, they were not completely destroyed by that cold, yin energy; they were merely temporarily atrophied and dried up.
Although he was so weak that he was practically useless, his condition was vastly different from when he had just unraveled the mystery of his unborn child.
More importantly—that golden finger, imprinted deep within his soul and belonging to him, is something that woman can never take away!
Just as the cold and weakness were about to overwhelm his consciousness, Wang Meng forcibly gathered his scattered spirit and sank it into his body.
The color of the title "King of Waist" has changed.
[The Dragon Essence and Tiger Might, Thirteen Kidneys] - A somber scene.
Those two core abilities, representing "never tiring" and "limitless energy," were like two extinguished oil lamps, completely losing their luster.
Only the "Rapid Heat Dissipation" indicator at the very bottom still glows faintly, as if by symbolism.
But in the icy, frigid waters of Taihu Lake, the existence of this ability felt like a chilling mockery.
However, just as his consciousness was about to slide to the next panel, preparing to accept the worst outcome, his mind suddenly jolted!
【The Primordial Qi】!
This panel still emits a faint, warm, and seemingly timeless glow!
The four ancient characters above, like a lighthouse in the dark night, instantly illuminated his sea of consciousness that was about to be swallowed by despair!
In particular, the ability called "True Qi Concentration" at the bottom of the panel remains as bright as ever, seemingly waiting for its master's summons at any moment!
why?
A thought flashed through Wang Meng's mind in an instant.
Yes, it's indestructible!
His towering Qi, under the passive blessing of the "Indestructible Vajra," had long since become harder than divine iron, essentially transcending the realm of mortal flesh and blood.
Therefore, even when facing the woman's terrifying, black hole-like maw, the core ability [Sky-Supporting Qi], which is deeply bound to Sky-Supporting Qi itself, miraculously did not suffer much damage!
They've just become a little lethargic.
The floodwaters had already submerged his neck.
Muddy water was constantly being poured into his mouth and nose.
Huang Rong was beside him, clinging to him tightly, also coughing violently in the water, her pretty face turning blue and purple from holding her breath.
Not far away, Wang Yuyan and the mysterious woman were like rootless duckweed, bobbing up and down on the water, about to be swept into the deeper water.
But this time, there was no trace of despair in Wang Meng's eyes!
A crazy, audacious, yet incredibly feasible idea exploded in his mind like a thunderbolt!
So now, although [Qingtian Yiqi] is somewhat listless.
But you can still work!
The warm, golden "Qi," carrying the aura of new life, flowed like a babbling brook, slowly yet firmly, along a resilient meridian that had never dried up, towards the Heavenly Qi!
Change has begun.
Huang Rong was holding onto Wang Meng tightly, using all her strength to prevent him from sinking.
At the same time, he reached out and grabbed the hair of the two women, forcing them to remain floating on the surface of the water despite their unconsciousness.
Suddenly, she felt something that had become cold and soft on her arm, which was pressed tightly against Wang Meng's thigh, begin to undergo an astonishing change!
A scorching heat, as if it would burn her skin, suddenly surged through her!
She looked down and saw it in the murky water.
Wang Meng's once soft and no longer ferocious Qi was now reviving, expanding, and growing wildly at a speed that defied all common sense of physiology and was visible to the naked eye!
That was not a change caused by desire.
It was a... a pure, unreasonable manifestation of energy!
The icy lake water was actually heated up around that towering Qi, and strings of fine white bubbles rose up!
It unfurled in the water, and every inch of its flesh seemed to be re-infused with life!
No! Huang Rong's almond-shaped eyes, which had been misty due to the low temperature, suddenly widened. She instantly realized that she was wrong!
The scorching heat didn't come from any boiling lake water; on the contrary, it was from the strange thing that was growing wildly beside her arm, actively and roughly pushing away the cold lake water!
That's not heat at all!
Every tiny pore now seemed to have transformed into an independent, miniature jet nozzle!
Countless fine, sparkling, pearl-like bubbles are continuously, even violently, bursting forth from its taut, incredibly smooth skin!
"Fizz!"
The sound was like thousands of tiny venomous snakes flicking their tongues, or like the ceaseless, joyful flow of life from the opening of the finest champagne!
That towering structure, it's "breathing"!
It is actively "breathing out" life!
Huang Rong could clearly see that, on his seemingly smooth skin, streams of the strongest and purest air were rhythmically emanating from him, in sync with Wang Meng's heartbeat!
They eagerly broke free from the scalding surface, converging into a visible, churning white column of air that stubbornly broke through the pressure of the icy water and shot straight to the surface!
"No...can't!"
And in this process.
Gradually, Huang Rong and Wang Meng could no longer stand on the ground. They were floating in the center of the stone chamber, about half an incense stick's time away from being completely filled.
The boundary between life and death becomes both blurred and clear at this moment.
Clearly, the ever-rising, icy floodwaters were relentlessly robbing them of the last bit of air from their lungs, bringing with them the suffocating feeling of death.
Huang Rong's lungs were like a ball of cotton being scorched by fire; every futile twitch brought excruciating pain.
Her vision began to darken, and the hands that were gripping the hair of the other two women started to weaken.
She knew that in a few more breaths, all four of them would sink into this eternal darkness.
The instinct for survival, like the sharpest knife, pierced through all the ice in her mind about "propriety, righteousness, integrity, and a sense of shame."
Her gaze, once again uncontrollably fixed on the hard, scalding spring that was continuously gushing out "life."
A thought, both crazy and shameful, yet with an unparalleled allure, exploded in her dying consciousness.
There is air there...
There is a way to survive there!
Huang Rong's body trembled violently in the water.
It wasn't because of the cold, but a profound, soul-deep struggle. Reason screamed at her, telling her how absurd and despicable her actions were.
But her body, every single cell, yearned for that gushing, churning white gas.
Time was running out, and she could no longer hesitate.
She closed her eyes, her long eyelashes covered in water droplets, like a butterfly resigned to its fate, ready to be sacrificed.
Wang Meng, somewhat dazed, saw Huang Rong beside him.
He used all his remaining energy to channel his inner energy and draw oxygen from the surrounding river.
"Huang... Rong'er... I... can make oxygen... quick..."
Before she could speak, Huang Rong slowly, as if she had used up all the courage she had left, approached him.
She released her grip on his waist and instead wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing them tightly together.
Her movements were so gentle that they didn't seem like she was seeking life, but rather like the most desperate and affectionate embrace.
Then, she lowered her head slightly.
That beautiful, bluish-purple face, frozen but still breathtakingly beautiful, slowly and resolutely sank into the water, disappearing beneath her.
When her lips finally gently touched the scalding source of the ever-flowing air, an unprecedented, scalding "living thing," full of vitality and intense masculine energy, instantly broke through her last line of defense, surging into her mouth and filling her already depleted lungs.
"Gudu..."
That's not breathing.
That's drinking air.
The moment the first breath entered her body, Huang Rong felt as if she had died once and then been reborn on a cloud of bliss!
That scorching, incredibly pure airflow not only dispelled the stinging pain in her lungs, but also brought a strange warmth that instantly flowed through her icy limbs and bones!
Her brain was momentarily dizzy from the sudden, rich "oxygen," and the darkness before her eyes was instantly illuminated.
She's a little oxygen-intoxicated!
Redemption and damnation are separated by only a fine line.