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 this lad’s body, there was an explosion of immeasurable power. With that, he seemingly gained a significant boost in energy. He was tempted to once again unleash his rampaging madness to train the Formless Dragon’s Blade.

This violent burning energy was akin 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, the lad proceeded to heal the young lass with the same methods he attempted moments earlier.

However, this time, the lad used some tier-one spirit crystals in healing the weakened lass. As a result, the lass’ 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 indifferent, and he knew that he was getting used to it.

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

This lad, however, had drunk 5 full jugs without any breaks in between. Hence he slowly began to become fond of 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, the lad ignored the warnings and attempted to infuse his essence. However, almost instantly, he felt his blood flow begin to stagnate, and he started trembling violently. At this moment, the lad could feel the chaos rampaging within his body, which just mere moments ago was calm and without any sensation.

Immediately, the lad stopped the unique healing process that he was focused on earlier. He exhaled deep and long as he let go of his grip.

At this moment, the maiden clad in purple who sat cross-legged had recovered significantly. Her once pale and dire 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.

As he thought about it, the lad proceeded to stand up.

Suddenly, he felt the entire world was spinning around him. This sudden violent ambush was too much for the lad to handle, and thus he collapsed almost instantly.

Unfortunately for the young lad, his fall had him face-first into the young maiden 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 lass slowly opened her eyes as she 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 the lad 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 stumbling 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 maiden.

His look apparently angered the young lass 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 lass looked inhumanly pale as the injuries that her body sustained earlier had not fully recovered yet. However, at that point, she had not yet 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 deeper, he felt the murderous blade’s light charging directly at him. It was impressive how immensely powerful this lass truly was. It was fortunate that she was weakened since the ferocity 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 the lad 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 the young lad, it paused without any warning. It instead emitted a warm, compassion filled ray of light. It felt like a young maiden who was behaving in a coquettish manner, and it expressed its gratitude to the young lad.

Zhou Yan was gobsmacked, and the maiden 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 the young lad as 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 as she witnessed Zhou Yan’s arduous process of healing her.

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

“Beautiful… maiden, 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 as he thought that if not a single soul knew what he had done, he would be able to deny ever groping her breasts. Alas, that cursed blade, was seemingly able to record the entire event in detail. However, the young lad was still unsure of what actually happened, but it seemed that the young lass 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 lass 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?”

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

Staring at the young lad 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 and genuine.

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

“Sigh… it seems that it is exactly what had 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 did not hear anything like that before? Drinking the Burning Blade’s Heart Ale would destroy and severe 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 the lad’s confusion.

At this moment, the lass suddenly appeared next to him, startling the young lad. This lass 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 the young lad 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 owe her a huge debt, so saving your life this time is only right. I’m not as great as you think.

“Since I was exhausted in the middle of saving you, I also decided to give up.

“Thus, there’s no need for your apology,” explained Zhou Yan seriously.

These were truths that the young lad spoke. Although the lass felt guilty and indirectly assumed that she owed him everything, Zhou Yan did not have the heart to trick a naïve young lass even though the outcome was tempting and awesome.

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

“You… what is your name?” sighed the lass bitterly as she asked 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 lass. He was curious about her.

After saying his name, the entire expression of the young lass 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.