As the icy energy entered her body, it felt like thousands of ice needles piercing her limbs.

After a while, she coughed up blood.

Qin Ruqing took a breath, “I didn’t vomit blood even when I was scorched before. This is really pushing it…”

However, it seemed there was more to these crystals than just ice attributes.

Qin Ruqing thought deeply.

She dared to take this risk because she believed these crystals were more than ordinary energy crystals.

If they only improved her cultivation, how could she explain the enhanced perception and control over fire when she absorbed the fire attribute crystals before?

Qin Ruqing had a bold and intriguing idea. She stopped using her innate fire to resist the cold and began absorbing.

—She absorbed the cold energy with a golden flame.

Excitement gleamed in her eyes, and her expression was clear and determined.

She wasn’t crazy!

She felt an inexplicable attraction to these crystals.

Although the attributes were opposing, it seemed her innate fire wanted her to do this.

Qin Ruqing decided to follow her heart’s guidance.

After vomiting blood for the third time, her breathing stabilized.

When the blue crystals finally dimmed, she opened her eyes and summoned her fire.

Her innate fire still clung to its golden color, unchanged in appearance, maintaining its smoky texture, but it seemed the outer layer had…

There was a slight change in temperature.

“The change is very subtle. I wonder if absorbing the purple sea’s crystal will make any difference.”

The Purple Sea is the last of the Five-Colored Seas.

As soon as Qin Ruqing stepped into it, she felt the power of the Purple Sea. She was instantly frozen.

Her body, blood, and even her heart were all affected.

If it weren’t for the fact she couldn’t speak, Qin Ruqing would have wanted to shout: “Frog go!”

She tried to use the Golden Flame to counter the penetrating cold, but it was ineffective.

The cold was no longer just about temperature—it seemed like the source of the world’s cold or a concentration of it.

Her instinct to handle crises quickly led her to abandon using flames for defense and instead began absorbing the cold.

Better to drain it than to block it. After all, she had already absorbed a cold crystal before (which had been a close call), so she had some experience.

Her stiff body gradually recovered, her blood began to circulate, and her heart resumed beating.

Once her movements returned to normal, Qin Ruqing patted her chest and said, “Almost died.”

…Well, almost a billion points short.

She began diving deeper.

It was impossible not to harvest the last crystal.

Absorbing the purple crystal took the longest and was the most challenging.

Several times, her blood almost froze.

It was uncertain how she managed to compress all the cold energy into a seed and then devour it with her innate divine flame.

Qin Ruqing slowly opened her palm and gazed at the floating golden lotus in her hand.

It seemed unchanged in appearance, but in her perception, the flame seemed slightly different.

It had some freezing properties, but the extent was not quite enough.

Qin Ruqing turned to glance at the deep purple crystal at the core of the manhole cover, feeling a trace of regret.

It was a pity that the crystals from the Five-Colored Sea couldn’t be pried off.

Miracle Qingqing was indeed concerned about this.

But now, under someone else’s roof, she had to lower her head.

With a firm grip, Qin Ruqing spun around and left.

Her vision suddenly cleared.

The areas that were previously opaque and impenetrable to her spiritual sense were now wide open.

However, the scene that became clear was chilling.

The illuminated area of the Five-Colored Sea was clear and empty, but other areas not reached by the light were filled with countless fragments of bones and vengeful spirits.

The entire circular mountain wall was dotted with countless ghostly blue soul lamps, and the bones on the wall were visible.

Qin Ruqing: “Ugh.”

Not out of fear, but realizing she had just been swimming in water filled with bone fragments for so long!

She clutched her chest and sighed for a moment when she suddenly heard a few soft laughs.

She quickly looked up toward the cliff top, where a shining figure stood, waving leisurely at her.

Frog go! Qin Ruqing wanted to sigh again.

This annoying person had been standing up there the whole time! Could it be that he heard all the things I said about him?

Flamboyant, annoying, black-hearted rotten radish…

Something rumbled, as if emerging from the ground.

Qin Ruqing looked over and saw a towering bone monument.

It read: Hell Path, Five-Colored Sea, Life! Evaluation: Celestial Grade.

The white bone monument was engraved with blood-like characters, with red drips on the edges, looking very eerie.

Qin Ruqing was not overly concerned about her Celestial Grade rating, but her gaze lingered on the word “Life.”

Life, meaning she’s alive.

But how could she pass through the Five-Colored Sea if she wasn’t alive?

The inscription on the monument was quite strange.

Qin Ruqing picked up the copper bell, which indicated that she should leave her name on the monument.

Leaving her name was fine.

Qin Ruqing performed a spell and flamboyantly wrote her name in big characters:

Qin Ruqing.

She might be the only Qin person on this bone monument.

Just as she finished the last stroke, the ground suddenly shook, and the previously calm Five-Colored Sea began to boil.

Qin Ruqing steadied herself and watched vigilantly, “Seriously? Is this bell telling me to leave my name? You could have said so earlier!”

She realized that the shaking wasn’t coming from the monument but from the seabed.

Five beams of light suddenly shot up from the sea, flying towards Qin Ruqing.

Qin Ruqing reacted quickly and dodged, but found that the beams of light didn’t seem to be attacking her but…

“Eh, aren’t these the five crystals I just absorbed? Why are they coming out on their own?”

The crystals floated less than an arm’s length away from Qin Ruqing, as if waiting for her to take them.

Qin Ruqing, suspicious, reached out, “No way, are you really giving these to me? Could this be a reward for the Celestial Grade? If so, I’ll be polite then!”

Her hand reached halfway and suddenly stopped.

She looked around, and her survival instincts led her to use a spell to retrieve a storage bag from the opposite shore, taking out a recording stone.

She aimed the recording stone at herself and the five crystals and started speaking.

“Celestial-grade people, please look, these crystals came to me on their own, not something I took!”

Although she had reached out before, as long as she hadn’t pried them off, it wasn’t considered taking.

After recording the scene of the Five-Colored Crystals coming to her voluntarily with the recording stone, Qin Ruqing felt relieved, smiled, and gathered her arm into a cup shape, saying:

“Come, come, little treasures, come!”

At the cliff top, Head Director Daju waiting for the result hadn’t left.

Seeing Fifth Lingyu waving down, he looked up and asked, “So, what’s the verdict?”

Fifth Lingyu gave him a fleeting glance and said, “Don’t you have the copper bell? Can’t you see for yourself?”

Hey, if you’d just said that directly, it would’ve saved me the trouble!

Daju was surprised, “You were quite respectful to me as the Head Director outside, but now that we’re in Penglai, your attitude has really changed?”

Fifth Lingyu replied, “You know that was outside. Here in Penglai…” He paused deliberately and grinned maliciously, “I’m of higher rank.”

Head Director Daju was infuriated, his beard bristling.

This guy was relatively young, but his rank was impressively high.

He could still throw his weight around as the Head Director outside, but here in Penglai, it really didn’t work.

Daju silently dismissed the copper bell and widened his eyes:

“Celestial Grade assessment!”

“This young member of the Qin family is indeed impressive. It’s understandable that the Golden List acknowledges her, but even the Four Hells’ evaluation of her is so high!”

“But,” Daju shifted his tone and started analyzing rationally, “The girl is inherently fire attribute and is likely to master a celestial fire. It’s not surprising she got a Celestial Grade evaluation in the Five-Colored Sea. However, the next eighteen layers of the Life and Death Realm and the Dark Realm won’t be so easy.”

“By the way, did she end up absorbing all the Five-Colored Mysterious Crystals?” Daju remembered how Fifth Lingyu had been so certain that Qin Ruqing would absorb them all.

He didn’t quite believe it, so he needed to verify the result now.

Fifth Lingyu turned his head and said plainly, “Not quite.”

Head Director Daju was smug, with an expression that seemed to say, “See, I told you so”:

“I said she didn’t have such a big appetite. The Five-Colored Sea’s crystals aren’t that easy to absorb. Even among us celestial family, only you and the young clan leader have absorbed attribute crystals.”

Ancient Mysterious Crystals, also known as Ancient Attribute Crystals, provide the most fundamental attribute power, deepening the absorber’s understanding of the attribute’s path.

Each time an absorber takes in a Mysterious Crystal’s energy, the base formation automatically closes, reducing the Five-Colored Sea’s power significantly.

It takes at least three months to recover. Looking at the history of their celestial families, no more than ten people could absorb Mysterious Crystals.

This generation is particularly outstanding, with two people achieving it at once.

Seeing the confident expression of the Head Director Daju, Fifth Lingyu’s lips curled into a smirk as he slowly continued:

“When I said ‘not quite,’ I meant the crystals actually floated over to her.”

The Head Director Daju’s confident expression froze.

…Frozen.

The expression was frozen, and the air was frozen.