21 Insurmountable Mistake?

After drinking a sip of ale, Zhou Yan felt his entire body burned with extreme heat from within. All the exhaustion and fatigue he felt mere moments ago were burnt away, and within his body, there was an explosion of immeasurable power. With that, he gained a significant boost of energy. He was tempted to once again unleash his rampaging madness to train the Formless Dragon's Blade.

This violent burning energy was similar to burning the fuels of life, replenishing any lost energy with an added potency and infinite boost of their original strength.

Zhou Yan knew nothing about the ale. However, he knew that the long-term dependence on this ale would undoubtedly leave some dreadful side effects.

His father was most probably a victim of his situation and depended on the effects of the ale to boost his natural abilities before he began carving…

Using this burst of immense power and his heightened state of awareness, he proceeded to heal the young lady with the same methods he attempted moments earlier.

However, this time, he used some high-tier spirit crystals in healing the weakened girl. As a result, her shallow breathing and dire condition gradually stabilized. She then progressively began to recover.

Throughout the entire process, Zhou Yan did not feel a thing. Before he began, he was skeptical of the side effects this powerful, yet potent ale could bring. However, after drinking 5 full jugs of ale, he realized his body felt fine, and he knew that he was getting used to it.

In every jug, he could detect a pocket dimension within it, since they all contained more than 8 liters of pure ale.

This young man had drunk 5 full jugs without any breaks in between. Hence he slowly began to enjoy the taste of ale.

Even after 5 full jugs, Zhou Yan felt although his mind was still sharp and clear, he knew he had reached his limit. He felt that if he had drunk slightly more, or continued to infuse his essence, it would not end well for him.

Even after having such a peculiar thought, he had decided to ignore the warnings and began to infuse his essence. However, almost instantly, he felt his blood flow begin to stagnate, and he started trembling violently. At this moment, he could feel the chaos rampaging within his body, which just moments ago was calm.

Immediately, he stopped the special healing process that he was focused on earlier. He exhaled deeply while letting go of his grip.

At this moment, the lady in purple who sat cross-legged had recovered significantly. Her once pale and weakened face was slightly flushed red with life. It was as if her entire body radiated a strong spiritual light.

Upon noticing her recovery, Zhou Yan let out a sigh of relief as he could finally relax, knowing the lass' condition was stable.

He thought about it while standing up.

Suddenly, he felt the entire world was spinning around him. This sudden violent dizziness was too much for him to handle which resulted in him collapsing almost instantly.

Unfortunately for him, his fell face-first into the young girl in purple, and he accidentally pressed on the young lass in a very inappropriate position.

…

"Hmm…"

After letting out a soft, gentle moan, the young lady slowly opened her eyes while repeatedly blinked to collect herself. She was sluggish to the point that opening her eyes was a difficult task. She proceeded to slowly push away the load that was weighing on her body. However, the moment she touched the heavy load, she instantly recoiled and took a good hard look at the object weighing her down…

"You, you…."

Her expression changed drastically. By impulse, she struck him with her palm causing him to fly off into the distance. Without even examining her own body, with a single flick of her wrist midair, her long silvery sword flew into the grasps of her palm.

A clear, excited, high-pitched sound echoed from the silver blade as it ecstatically leaped around midair. It was behaving like a really happy child.

Zhou Yan found himself being flung across the area due to the violent force of her strikes. He flipped twice before landing and stumbled a couple of steps backward as he regained his balance. He felt as if he was awoken from an amazing dream. Confused and puzzled by what had just happened, he stared blankly at the young lady.

His look apparently angered her further.

"It was so bold of you to take advantage of me in my weakened state. You b*stard. I'll kill you!"

The young lady looked inhumanly pale due to the injuries that her body sustained earlier had not fully recovered yet. However, at that point, she had not noticed what her body's condition was like.

As she held up her blade in one hand, the long silver blade transformed into a blinding beam of light, and it was aimed directly at Zhou Yan's neck.

It seemed like she truly intended to murder him at this moment.

Zhou Yan was extremely confused since he had no clue what had happened. He was puzzled by the possibility of him violating her by accident when he had passed out. However, it seemed unlikely. How was it possible that he had absolutely no memory of anything that had transpired?

Without any chance to think, he felt the murderous blade's light charging directly at him. It was impressive how immensely powerful she truly was. Fortunately, she was weakened since the immense power unleashed by her was equivalent to the force of an entire mountain being dropped on the surface of the earth. He knew that he was unable to dodge that attack from the blade.

He was slightly intimidated, but he never panicked. He began to unleash Sorrow Breaker to invoke the Blade's soul Specter that was sealed within his blade, to have a fighting chance.

However, as dire as the situation may be, the moment the silver blade was close enough to reach him, it stopped without any warning. Instead it emitted a warm, compassion filled ray of light. It felt like a young girl who was behaving in a coquettish manner, and expressed its gratitude to the young lad.

Zhou Yan was gobsmacked. The lady in purple was stunned as she stood frozen in place while staring in complete disbelief at the whole situation.

"Silver Frost, you, you…"

She was only able to mutter a few words.

Filled with shock, her eyebrows twitched slightly, almost as if she was unable to believe what she just witnessed. To quell her curiosity, she seemingly communicated with her blade. However, after doing so, her expression dimmed.

"Shameless scum!"

She yelled at him while her face blushed through the pale tone of her face. It seemed that she clearly saw how Zhou Yan had groped her breasts earlier.

However, her face changed when she witnessed Zhou Yan's arduous process of healing her.

Eventually, she looked sad and guilty while she stared into Zhou Yan's gaze. She had an extremely complicated expression on her face, however, this time, it was obvious that she had an indescribable conflicting feeling that reflected through her gaze.

"Young...pretty lady, I believe, there has been a misunderstanding between us. The truth about your condition earlier was without a doubt… a dire one indeed."

Zhou Yan chuckled to himself when he thought that if not a single soul knew what he had done, he would be able to deny ever groping her breasts. It seemed that the cursed blade was seemingly able to record the entire event in detail. However, he was still unsure of what actually happened, but it seemed that she was able to piece together the entirety of the occurrence.

"Did you use your personal Qi Column to infuse the spirit crystals while healing me earlier?"

However, that young lady did not bother what Zhou Yan was going to reply as she just sighed.

"Yeah…"

Zhou Yan hesitated slightly. However, he never denied her claims.

"You've used 20 mid-tier crystals, 8 high-tier crystals, and drunk the 'Burning Blade's Heart Ale'?" 

Her expression grew increasingly complicated while she stared at Zhou Yan. A strong sense of guilt and regret could be seen, reflecting through her eyes.

Staring at him with those eyes wrenched his heart. He replied with a serious tone, "You're right about crystals, but regarding what the ale is and what effects it has, it is still a mystery to me. However, only after I drank it was I able to regain the strength and focus on infusing the spirit crystals that healed you."

Zhou Yan had no ulterior motives nor other intentions. His reply was sincere.

Since the look on her face scared him, it made him nervous as he thought if he had done something terrifying.

"Sigh... it seems that it is exactly what has happened. Judging from your current level and abilities, forcefully infusing top-tier spirit crystals would be an excruciatingly painful process. Even though you had violated me earlier, and I was supposed to murder you on the spot, knowing the fact that you went through hell and endured such torture to save my life, it is enough to absolve your actions for ten lifetimes.

"To save me, you've destroyed and completely severed your Qi Column... I am extremely sorry."

Her sad and depressing reply shocked Zhou Yan. His eyes were wide open. Infusing top tier spirit crystals would be a torturous process? How come he had not heard anything like that before? Drinking the Burning Blade's Heart Ale would destroy and sever one's Qi column? He had never heard anything like that nor had the knowledge of such news. If that was the case, why did he feel like he was able to break through the realms of the blade's essence then?

His Qi column was destroyed and severed? It was still spiraling like before, and its foundation seemed even stronger!

There was no explanation for his confusion.

At this moment, the lady suddenly appeared next to him, startling him. This young lady could just materialize and disappear without a trace. She truly was something!

The guilt on her face was truly able to cause anyone to worry!

"Your potential... your Qi column... was also completely gone... I'm so sorry…"

The young maiden proceeded to give him a sincere and extremely grateful bow and when she bent over, he was seemingly able to see the glistening white cleavage. This made his heart ignite in a raging flame of lust. However, he obviously kept those emotions to himself.

"The truth is, you have nothing to do with this, and my situation wasn't as horrible as you think. We just happened to run into each other. However, you never intended to murder me the instant we crossed paths, so this counts as you sparing my life. Besides, you seem close to the Lady of the Snow-Jade Palace.

"I am indebted to her so saving your life this time is only right. I'm not as great as you think.

"Since I was exhausted in an interval while saving you, I had also decided to give up. 

"Thus, there's no need for your apology," Zhou Yan explained seriously.

He explained the truth of the situation. Although she felt guilty and indirectly assumed she owed him everything, Zhou Yan did not have the heart to trick a naïve young girl even though the outcome was tempting and awesome.

Since he lived in such a chaotic society, meeting a girl this pure was rare.

"You... what is your name?" the young girl sighed bitterly while asking in a soft tone.

There were hints of curiosity and awe in her gaze.

"I'm Zhou Yan, what would your name be, young maiden?" Zhou Yan stared silently at this stunningly beautiful and compassionate young girl. He was curious about her.

After saying his name, the entire expression of her changed into an odd one. It was unsure if her expression was of joy, anger, worry, or sadness.

"Zhou Yan... Zhou Yan... sigh, I didn't think… I didn't expect... I should've known... the moment you drank the Burning Blade' Heart Ale... Sigh... I've made an insurmountable mistake…" sighed the young lass sulkily as there was a slight hint of a bitter smile and regret.