"Madam Gao!"

Yi Chen immediately rushed next to her while calling her out several times, "Madam Gao! Madam Gao! Can you hear me?!"

He tried to understand what was going on with her, but to his shouts, Gao Zhen remained unresponsive and continued to groan in pain while tightly clutching her lower abdomen.

’Just what went wrong...’ Yi Chen frowned while glancing in the direction her hands were tightly clutching.

The moment his gaze was directed towards her abdomen, a sense of familiarity once again arose within him.

’It’s there...’

He thought with his eyes affixed. Even though he couldn’t see anything beneath her robes, he could somehow feel the wisp of black Qi from earlier violently banging on the inner walls of Gao Zhen’s Qi pool.

It felt as if the wisp of Qi had suddenly gained sentience and was trying with all its might to get out of her Qi pool.

And because of some inexplicable connection, Yi Chen felt that the wisp of black Qi was trying to reach for him.

"This..."

A totally confused expression formed on Yi Chen’s face when he sensed this. The next second, he glanced at Gao Zhen’s sweat-covered face, and a worried frown formed on his forehead.

’If this goes on for any longer, her Qi pool will get damaged....’

If something like that were to happen, she wouldn’t be able to learn the Abyssal Blackglacial Arts...which meant they would be unable to escape this place.

’No...I must prevent this!’

Yi Chen thought with a sense of urgency as his mind worked in overdrive in an attempt to tackle the situation.

’Yes... the Golden Firmament Pills can repair damaged Qi pools so I can definitely depend upon them if things go wrong,’ he suddenly thought before further assessing the issue.

’...but what if the same thing happens then when she tries the breathing technique?’ he tightly knitted his brows as Gao Zhen’s pain-filled groans had started turning into screeches.

"I-I must find out what exactly is going on..." he muttered with a firm expression while glancing towards her stomach.

Since he knew the black Qi was creating havoc inside her because of its desire to reach for him...he decided to take the initiative instead.

’I don’t know what’s going to happen...But I need to figure out what will happen if I do this,’ he thought with a firm expression.

Taking out the bottle containing Golden Firmament Pills, he placed them next to him in case his actions damaged her Qi pool.

With that done, he reached for Gao Zhen’s hand that was tightly clutching onto her abdomen and pulled it away.

She tried to resist, lost in her pain, but in front of Yi Chen’s strength, that resistance had little effect.

With that done, he placed his right hand over her abdomen in an attempt to sense the wisp of black Qi better.

ARGHHHH!

Gao Zhen’s screeches became even louder when this happened, as the black Qi started banging against her Qi pool’s inner walls even more intensely after sensing Yi Chen’s proximity.

’This!’

Yi Chen immediately pulled his hand away when he realised this, but that action only further provoked the wisp, and like a crazed beast, it started crashing all over her inner walls.

A-AAAAH!

A brutal pain assaulted Gao Zhen’s whole being the very next instant. Her fingers dug deep into her palms, teeth clenched on the brink of breaking, and her mind overburdened with pain on the verge of shattering.

It was evident that if things continued on for a few seconds, a fate worse than death awaited Gao Zhen.

Seeing this, Yi Chen clenched his teeth in anxiety and uncertainty as various thoughts flooded his mind.

’What should I do...What should I do...’

He kept thinking while rapidly filtering out ideas in his mind. However, since time was of the essence, he had limited time in his hands.

"Fuck!"

He cursed his inability to think of any good solutions as Gao Zhen’s state began to worsen with each passing second.

’I have no choice but to try that...’

He thought while gritting his teeth. Although he feared this might worsen her state, at this point...he could think of no other solution than to try it out.

’Work... Please work...’

While repeating those words in his mind, he firmly placed both his palms on Gao Zhen’s abdomen. She struggled in great pain, but Yi Chen ensured that his hands were firmly fixed.

The very next instant, he began circulating his innate Qi through her meridians.

His fiery Qi passed through her robes, entered her Qi points and gushed into her meridians before finally entering her Qi Pool.

The moment that happened, the wisp of dark Qi immediately rushed towards it, and the instant the two made contact, it became completely docile as if it was finally in its natural environment.

"...It worked!" Yi Chen exclaimed brightly, seeing Gao Zhen gasp for air as relief spread across her face.

While she was still in her daze, Yi Chen shifted his attention back to the wisp of Qi that was only being temporarily restrained by his Qi.

’I had guessed that since my spirit root has a dual nature...then even the fiery Qi produced by it would hold some properties of the dark Qi...and somehow, it managed to calm the wisp down...’ 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Yi Chen thought with a frown while thinking on the next problem in hand, ’...and now that it seems to be restrained by my Qi, how should I proceed? If I stop circulating my Qi, it’ll start rampaging again.

Suddenly, an idea struck him, and glancing towards Gao Zhen, who still appeared to be in a dazed state and breathing heavily, he asked, "Madam Gao. Madam Gao! Can you hear me?"

It was only on his second call that her head finally tilted in his direction.

"Y-Yes..." Gao Zhen answered weakly.

Hearing her response, Yi Chen immediately responded with urgency apparent in his voice, "The black Qi! It’s still inside your body and might go on a rampage any moment if we don’t do anything about it."

Gao Zhen’s eyes immediately widened when she heard this, but before the wave of worry could overwhelm her, Yi Chen’s next words entered her ears.

"I’m currently restraining it inside your Qi pool using my innate Qi. So, can you try out the breathing technique and attempt to absorb the black Qi inside your Qi pool?"

"I-I’ll try..."

She answered and, with her back resting on the icy ground, closed her eyes to focus.