The icy pool water soaked An Honghan's clothes. Xi Xizhi could even see that An Honghan's exposed arms were covered in goosebumps and the veins were bulging. Looking at An Honghan's face, there was still no expression at all, as if the pool water had no effect on him.
Despite the bright sunshine, Xi Xizhi felt a bit cold. Without realizing it, she reached out her hand towards the direction where An Honghan was stepping into the pool, as if she wanted to pull him back and prevent him from taking another step.
Xi Xizhi didn't know what to say at this moment...
Previously, when she entered the pool, she could use her spiritual power to prevent her body temperature from dropping. However, An Honghan was just a mortal who could feel cold and heat. How much endurance would he have to withstand such a bone-chillingly cold temperature?!
"What are you looking for?" Xi Xizhi asked, puzzled, as she saw An Honghan searching around the pool.
"Besides mechanisms, what else could I possibly be looking for?" The entire Qingyuan Pool was approximately seventy square meters in size and over five meters deep. An Honghan took a few breaths and then plunged back into the pool.
His swimming style was very agile, and his wet clothes clung to his skin.
If the pool water hadn't been so icy cold, he might have swum even faster.
Xi Xizhi didn't want to just stand there blankly, so she took two steps forward, wanting to help An Honghan search as well.
The pool was such a small area, just as An Honghan said, that it must have hidden a mechanism.
Since Xi Xizhi was not wearing any clothes when she transformed into human form, she was now completely naked, her fair and rosy skin on full display.
Before Xi Xizhi's feet even stepped into the pool, a splash suddenly appeared, and An Honghan swam out from the bottom of the pool again.
Seeing Xi Xizhi's actions, he frowned and said, "Pull your feet back and stay on the shore."
"I want to help you." Xi Xizhi's feet were only a few centimeters from the water's surface. Just as Xi Xizhi was about to step in again, her feet were suddenly gripped tightly by a large hand.
Xi Xizhi shivered instantly; the hand holding her foot was so cold, almost like a block of ice.
"The water's cold, don't get down." An Honghan gently put Xi Xizhi's feet back on the ground.
Xi Xizhi stared blankly at An Honghan's series of actions, a warm current welling up in her heart and spreading throughout her body.
Although An Honghan only said six words, Xi Xizhi clearly felt the concern in them. This was the first time An Honghan had not hidden his care for her.
Suddenly, Xi Xizhi felt that An Honghan might not be as bad as she had imagined; at least he was a good master.
“I’m not afraid of the cold, I can help you find it.” She knew that An Honghan wouldn’t give up until he found the mechanism, but staying in such cold water for a long time would definitely be unbearable for a person’s body, and Xi Xizhi was a little worried that An Honghan might get sick.
An Honghan frowned even more deeply. He would rather search for a while himself than let Xi Xizhi experience such icy pain.
Seeing his worry, Xi Xizhi blinked her innocent big eyes, "I'm really not afraid of the cold. I can protect myself with my spiritual power. Besides, I've caught fish in Qingyuan Pond before, and I was fine."
An Honghan thought for a moment and finally nodded, "If you feel cold, climb up, understand?"
Xi Xizhi nodded frantically, quickly wrapped herself in spiritual energy, and jumped into the pool.
Although Xi Xizhi had indeed wrapped herself up completely, she could still feel a little bit of the water temperature, but these were negligible.
Compared to An Honghan, Xi Xizhi was able to stay submerged in water for a longer period of time.
She ventured deep into the pool, tapping and striking along its perimeter, trying to find the mechanism quickly.
The golden-scaled fish in the pool kept darting away, and whenever Xi Xizhi approached them, they would immediately distance themselves.
Xi Xizhi snorted twice. If it weren't for this time, she would definitely have caught two fish herself and sent them to the imperial kitchen so that the imperial chefs could make them into appetizers to go with the wine.
Xi Xizhi's spiritual power had increased significantly, so she did not feel uncomfortable even after staying in the water for a long time.
She had already explored the pool walls. Looking at the bottom of the pool, Xi Xizhi frowned. Fortunately, this ice was not covered with water plants or anything like that, otherwise just pulling out the water plants would have been exhausting.
However, there were still many stones piled up at the bottom of the pool. Just like when he used to move crabs in the stream, Xi Xizhi picked up the stones one by one and examined the bottom of the stones.
Xi Xizhi flipped over several stones, becoming a little out of breath. She looked up at An Honghan, whose face was pale and bloodless, clearly from being frozen.
Xi Xizhi felt that things couldn't continue like this. No matter how good or strong An Honghan's martial arts were, his body was still just that of a mortal!
Just as I was about to swim over and persuade An Honghan to stop the search and come back tomorrow, a ray of sunlight shone through the water...
Then Xi Xizhi suddenly noticed that something at the bottom of the pool seemed to be reflecting light, so bright that she couldn't open her eyes.
After closing her eyes briefly, Xi Xizhi opened them again and swam quickly towards that spot.
Glug glug... Glug glug...
Xi Xizhi opened her mouth and choked on the pool water, making only gurgling sounds.
Swimming upwards towards the surface, breaking through the water, Xi Xizhi excitedly shouted, "There's a metal handle at the bottom of the pool!"
An Honghan's ears twitched as he heard the sound, and he swam to the surface to breathe.
"I'll go take a look." An Honghan swam toward the place Xi Xizhi had mentioned.
The metal, of unknown material, remained uncorroded and rusted even after being submerged in water for many years. It shimmered silvery-white and was difficult to spot underwater.
The handle was round. An Honghan went closer to examine it, reached out and pulled it outwards, and found that it could still be pulled out.
There is a small hole about the size of a fingernail at the bottom of the pool, and a thick wire connects to the other end of the handle.
Because this handle has not been pulled for many years, it is very dull and not easy to pull.
An Honghan held onto the handrail with one hand and paddled upwards with the other.
The creaking sound was heavy, and as the handle was extended, a dark, circular tunnel slowly emerged from the right side of the pool.
The tunnel is only a little over a meter wide, and it is obvious that it was carved by hand. It is just wide enough for one person to pass through.
Xi Xizhi stood at the edge of the cave entrance, looked inside, and discovered that it was also filled with water.
It suddenly occurred to me that there must be a water source underground in Qingyuan Pond.
In order to swim further once they entered the tunnel, An Honghan and Xi Xizhi surfaced to take another breath. Then, the two swam into the circular tunnel one after the other.
An Honghan led the way, clearing the path for Xi Xizhi.
The tunnel was very narrow, and Xi Xizhi and An Honghan would bump into each other from time to time.
Xi Xizhi felt a pang of heartache when she touched An Honghan's cold skin.
This feeling of heartache swept over her for no apparent reason; she simply didn't want to see An Honghan suffer.
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