You Ruhua, accompanied by Wang Mu, entered Qingcheng Mountain. There, they met the Sect Leader of Qingcheng Mountain, whom You Ruhua successfully healed.

"You old Taoist, I saved your life, and you're not going to show any appreciation?" You Ruhua said, hands on her hips in the Sect Leader's hall.

"Well... may I ask what Miss desires?" Yu Dingyang, the Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect, asked, his expression solemn.

"I heard your Qingcheng Sect has a formidable Inner Strength technique called the Purple Extreme Divine Skill," You Ruhua said, waving her hand. "I saved your life, surely I can take a look at it?"

"Miss, the Purple Extreme Divine Skill is not suitable for women to cultivate..."

"What's it to you? Is taking a peek going to kill you?"

The Sect Leader had no choice but to retrieve the Divine Skill Secret Manual for You Ruhua to peruse.

"Alright, I'm done looking!" You Ruhua giggled and said to Wang Mu, who was beside her, "Let's go. The poison he suffered from is quite unusual; one of the herbs needed for its cure is extremely rare and only found near the Great Snow Mountain. If we want to find out who poisoned him, we'll need to look for clues there..."

With that, she pulled Wang Mu out of the Qingcheng Sect, and they walked to an inn at the foot of the mountain.

"Listen well, foolish boy..." You Ruhua began, then recited the entire Divine Skill she had just memorized.

"Huh? Miss You, you memorized all of it?" Wang Mu exclaimed in surprise.

"Of course!" You Ruhua snorted. "That Purple Extreme Divine Skill isn't suitable for women to cultivate, so it's not like I'm going to practice it, am I? Your Martial Arts are so poor, you need to train more. I can only recite it for you; how much you comprehend is up to you... Consider this repayment for you helping me before. Now we're even!"

Wang Mu committed the Divine Skill's Mantra to memory, though he only understood a small fraction of it.

[Cultivation:... Purple Extreme Divine Skill (+)…]

A string of information inexplicably appeared in his mind.

"We'll rest for a month or two, then head to the Great Snow Mountain... I'll also buy some things in a nearby town... This poison is also quite interesting..."

「Two months later.」

The pair reached the Great Snow Mountain and found one of the required herbs. However, they were suddenly caught in an avalanche, which trapped them in an ice cave for several days...

"You brat, do you think we're going to die here...?" You Ruhua shivered, lying on the floor of the ice cave. The cotton coat she wore felt as if it had frozen solid.

"No, we won't." Wang Mu's head was throbbing, and he couldn't stop shivering.

The temperature here was so low that an ordinary person couldn't last even a day.

He glanced at You Ruhua, who was frozen stiff. Gently channeling his Inner Strength, he pressed his hands onto her shoulders.

A torrent of Inner Strength, like the warmth of the morning sun, flowed into her body.

"Eh...?" You Ruhua's body jolted. "This is the True Qi of the Purple Extreme Divine Skill... You've only been training for two months...?"

She gazed at him, her eyes gleaming.

"I've just been practicing randomly every day..." Wang Mu said.

"Hmph, I hadn't realized. You're quite talented, kid..." You Ruhua's expression improved considerably, though she remained somewhat pessimistic. "But if you keep using your Extreme Purple Internal Power to warm me, you probably won't last much longer yourself."

"It's okay..." Wang Mu shook his head. "It's my fault for getting you, Miss You, into this..."

"Tsk, what does that have to do with you...?" You Ruhua pursed her lips. "That Sect Leader's poison, and something related to my clan... Never mind. You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

Several more days passed. Wang Mu's Inner Strength was nearly depleted, and their dry rations had also run out. The ice cave was sealed, and they couldn't find an exit.

"You should go." You Ruhua's face was pale, her lips looked as if they were coated in frost, and even the scars on her face seemed to have faded considerably. "You possess Extreme Purple Internal Power. Go find a way out; you might still have a chance of survival."

Wang Mu fell silent for a moment. Gazing at the vast ice cave, he knew his Inner Strength was almost exhausted.

He knew that if he didn't find a way out of this ice cave soon, they might truly die here... The walls of the ice cave were smooth. When they fell, countless layers of ice and snow had blocked the opening above, leaving no other exit. Wait... Suddenly, Wang Mu recalled something. It seemed like... there was some kind of mechanism in this place...

He then vanished from You Ruhua's sight.

Seeing him disappear, You Ruhua's gaze dimmed. She then closed her eyes and lay on the ground, motionless.

After a long while, a wildly joyful voice called out, "Miss You, Miss You, wake up! I've found a way!"

You Ruhua opened her eyes, looking somewhat blankly at the youth's face, which was flushed with excitement.

"You... why haven't you left?"

"I found a way out! Quickly!"

"I don't have any strength left..."

Wang Mu scooped You Ruhua up, settled her on his back, and rushed excitedly deeper into the ice cave.

"Look! This ice cave seems completely solid at first glance. For the past few days, I tried probing it several times and thought it was all solid rock. But just now, when I collapsed in utter disappointment, I heard a sound coming from the ice beneath me!"

"You fool, how can there be sounds coming from inside the ice?"

"I don't know either, but there's definitely something here... So I blasted it with my Inner Strength and made an opening! I'll take you down now."

"What if there's something dangerous down there?"

"That's still better than dying here! Hold on tight..."

"Mm..."

The youth, with the woman on his back, jumped down into the opening. The ice walls, smooth as mirrors, reflected his excited face and her startled gasp as they fell...

「——」

"This is where it all began, isn't it?"

In another dimension, a woman stared blankly at this scene, countless memories flooding her mind. "Exactly the same situation... such similar choices... If that's how it was, then why did you disappear...?"

She clenched her teeth, resentment flaring in her eyes. "I'll just watch. If it's truly identical, if you really abandoned me then..."

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