Peking Opera Cat: I Became A Zi's Brother

"?"

Just as Mo Yun reached the middle of the stone steps, the temperature of the heater in his sleeve pocket suddenly became extremely clear.

It was not the residual heat of a charcoal fire before it went out, but rather a ball of carefully protected warm light that was seeping into the bones and blood along the lines of the cloth.

"Why is there such a sudden surge of warmth?"

This warmth collided with the coolness coming from the bottom of the ice lake in his heart, but it did not produce a biting chill, but instead made a tiny "buzzing" sound - like a dusty bronze mirror being knocked by fingertips, instantly emitting a clear light.

"This feeling..."

At this moment, the fog that had covered my heart for countless days and nights was suddenly dispelled by the sound of "hum".

"!"

He suddenly stopped and looked down at his hands.

The fingertips still retained the coolness of the surface of the icy lake, and the knuckles were white from being clenched for too long, but the coldness that emanated from between the fingers was clearly even colder than that of the icy lake.

These past few days, he always felt like the wind from Palm Cliff was drilling into his bones. In fact, it was his own breath that was disturbed first.

The icicles on the eaves of the houses were half an inch thicker than in previous years. It wasn't because the rhythm of the icy lake was out of balance, but because the cold air it released froze the moisture under the eaves.

Even Xiaoqing said last night, "There are always ice chips on your brother's cuffs." It wasn't the ice from the cliff that got there, but his own rhythmic energy that condensed into frost on his cuffs.

How could the chaotic energy be consuming him?

The blue-gray thing was not waiting for him to be exhausted, but waiting for him to lose his composure - waiting for him to regard his foundation as a burden, waiting for him to protect the people around him and let his rhythmic energy, which should have been as solid as a rock, be released into a pool of broken ice that drifted with the waves.

"I see……"

He whispered these four words, and the hoarseness in his voice suddenly became clear as if washed by morning dew.

The moment he finished speaking, a familiar force suddenly surged from his dantian.

It was not the kind of stiffness that was barely supported in the past few days, nor was it the stagnation when spreading the ice silk. It was a smooth flow from deep within the muscles and bones to every part of the body, like an ice spring that had been blocked for a long time finally breaking through the cracks in the rocks, bringing with it the force of thousands of troops.

"Roar--!"

Before he could think about it, a dragon roar burst out from his throat.

This roar was not deliberate, but a natural sound produced when the rhythmic force flowed along the blood vessels to the throat.

"Wong..."

The snow on the stone steps was shaken and fell down, splashing fine snow mist when it rolled to the bottom of the cliff;

The morning mist on the distant icy lake was blown away by the sound waves, revealing the faint light reflected from the ice surface below;

Even the unmelted frost on the window frames of the houses trembled slightly at the dragon's roar, like living creatures being awakened.

"my body……"

When he raised his eyes, he saw that the cold air around him was being recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The coldness scattered throughout his body, the coldness hidden under the eaves, in the cracks of the rocks, and on the edge of the icy lake, were like streams that had found their home, following an invisible trajectory to gather behind him.

At first, it was just a vague white shadow, and gradually it solidified into ice-blue scales - each scale was shining with cold light, like broken stars in the morning light;

When the dragon's horns pierced the mist, they brought up fine ice chips, the edges of which were so sharp that they could reflect the faint light in the sky; even the dragon's whiskers were covered with crystal frost, which gently swept across the stone steps as they fell, leaving two faint white marks.

That was the form he was most familiar with.

It was the look that could calm even the wind and snow when he was patrolling the Shen Sect.

It was Molan, smiling and saying

The appearance of "My son's dragon shadow is brighter than the rhyme core of the icy lake";

It was the look that he thought he could never go back to, the look that Hyotei should have been like.

"came back……"

Mo Yun watched as the shadow of the ice dragon gradually overlapped with his own figure, and the heater in his palm was just the right temperature.

A few days ago, he always felt that Yunli was like a cup of water, which would be full if he added a little and empty if he leaked a little. In fact, he had forgotten that he was the source of the ice lake and the master who could make the cold air bow down.

The chaotic energy was not gnawing at the core of the ice lake, it was gnawing at the hesitation in his heart that “I may not be able to hold on any longer”.

The cold air that permeated his body seemed to come alive at this moment, flowing into his body along the dragon's shadow.

The icicles on the eaves were shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye, and fine water droplets oozed from the roots of the icicles that were originally frozen solid.

The frost on the window frames was melting, revealing the original grain of the wood, and even the window paper seemed to have stretched a little; even the ice cracks on the cliff wall that had been frozen for half a winter were seeping out a little moist warmth, dripping onto the stone steps and splashing tiny water droplets.

When the cold air penetrated into his meridians, it was not bone-chillingly cold, but rather like a stream flowing into a river or the sea.

At first, it was a thin thread, flowing along the blood vessels to the dantian, gradually converging into a stream, and then solidifying into a rushing river. He could clearly feel the blocked areas in his limbs and bones loosening - like a frozen river suddenly opening, and as the rhythmic energy rushed through, it also washed away the accumulated fatigue, anxiety, and fear.

The shadow of the ice dragon behind him became more and more solid, and the dragon's body was winding and almost touching the clouds on the top of the cliff. The light in the dragon's eyes was astonishingly bright, and even the morning mist could not cover the icy blue edge.

He looked down at his sleeve pocket. The cloth of the heater had already warmed up, but the fire in his heart was burning brighter and brighter.

That is the determination warmed by warmth, and the confidence illuminated by the dragon's shadow - the chaotic energy at the bottom of the icy lake should be able to feel it, right?

It took so long, hiding in the dark and lurking for so long, thinking it could wait for him to use up his strength bit by bit, but it didn't know that this strength was not borrowed light, but something in his bones.

Just like the rhyme core of the ice lake will never really go out, and just like the light in Xiaoqing's eyes will never dim when she hands over the heater, his Ice Emperor's blood will never really admit defeat.

When Mo Yun turned and walked towards the ice lake, her footsteps were so light that it felt like she was walking on clouds.

The ice dragon behind him moved with him, and the ice-blue light left a long tail behind him, dyeing the morning mist into a transparent blue.

The snow on the stone steps automatically retreated to the sides as he walked past, revealing the clean stone surface;

When passing by Xiaoqing's window, I heard faint sounds of turning over behind the window paper. Maybe it was because the room was warmer, and even her dream was more peaceful.

He touched the heater in his sleeve pocket and suddenly felt like laughing. The moment of enlightenment on the stone steps wasn't because he suddenly possessed some new power, but because he finally remembered—what he wanted to protect wasn't just one person's safety, but the warm light from his mother's window, the light in Xiaoqing's room, the warmth in the dark purple medicine bowl. It was this warmth that made him willing to put away his edge.

But when the time came to draw his sword, he was never the Mo Yun who could only stand on the edge of the cliff and worry.

The icy lake was getting closer and closer. The morning mist had mostly dissipated, and the ice patterns on the lake surface could be seen shining in the sunlight.

He could feel the chaotic energy at the bottom of the ice lake stirring, like an insect startled by a sudden light, fluttering restlessly around the rhyme core.

The force with which it had been gnawing on the rhyme core stopped, and it instead shrank deeper into the lake bottom, probably trying to hide.

When Mo Yun walked to the lakeshore, the ice dragon behind him hummed softly, and the dragon's breath fell on the ice, stirring up circles of transparent ripples.

He did not act immediately, but simply stretched out his hand and gently pressed on the ice surface - this time, the feeling his fingertips felt was no longer cold, but the same warmth as his own.

The rhyme core under the ice was trembling slightly, but it was no longer the "pain" of before. It was more like the echo of a long-awaited reunion. The blue-green light reflected through the ice and intertwined with the rhyme power in his palm.

"Don't be afraid."

He whispered to the ice, with a smile in his voice,

"I am back."

"Roar--"

The moment the words fell, the ice dragon behind him suddenly raised its head and let out a dragon roar that shook the valley.

This time, the dragon's shadow was no longer an illusion. The ice-blue dragon body passed through the morning mist, circling and falling into the icy lake - there was no earth-shattering collision, only layers of blue light rising from the ice surface, spreading towards the center of the lake like ripples.

The chaotic energy let out a sharp hiss, and blue-gray mist surged up from the bottom of the lake, but the moment it touched the blue light, it melted away without a trace like ice and snow meeting the sun.

Mo Yun stood on the lakeshore, watching the Yun core at the bottom of the ice lake becoming brighter and brighter, and the gaps that had been gnawed out were being filled with blue-green light.

He could feel that the rhythmic energy in his body was still surging, but it was no longer as tense as before, but flowed naturally, as easy as breathing.

The coldness in his body was completely absorbed into his body. Smoke rose from the chimneys of houses in the distance, and even the air was slightly moist from the melting snow.

As he turned around and walked back, he heard a slight "crackling" sound behind him - it was not the ice cracking, but the thickest layer of ice on the surface of the lake melting, revealing the flowing water underneath, which reflected the skylight and was as bright as broken silver.

When he passed by his house, he saw Xiaoqing standing at the gate, holding the thick cloak he had forgotten to bring. When she saw him coming back, her eyes lit up like stars:

"Brother! I think I heard a dragon roar!"

Mo Yun walked over with a smile, stretched out his hand to rub her hair, his fingertips carrying the warmth he had just withdrawn:

"Yeah, that's the sound of the ice lake."

He didn't mention the ice dragon or the chaotic energy. He just took the thick cloak, put it on his arm, and walked into the yard with Xiaoqing in his hand.

The sunlight fell on the two cats, making them feel warm, and even the water marks on the stone steps were slowly drying up.

……

……

……

(Mo Yun actually had some issues catching up after waking up...)