He glanced at the bead inside the Nine Dragons Cauldron, reached out and touched it. It was icy cold, without any heat. Zhou Xuan pondered for a while, then suddenly thought of trying to use ice energy. From the time he first saw this thing at Lin Shilong's place until now, he had used ice energy to probe it countless times, but those were all tests on the outside of the Nine Dragons Cauldron. Because the Nine Dragons Cauldron was made of special materials, ice energy could not penetrate it, so he had never used ice energy to probe inside the Nine Dragons Cauldron, and therefore had no chance of detecting the bead.
When Zhou Xuan's icy energy touched the bead, he felt it move slightly, as if it had a tiny connection with the bead. But it only lasted for a moment, and then there was no further reaction.
Zhou Xuan was very frustrated. He tried to use his ice energy on the bead, but no matter what he did, there was no further reaction. He racked his brains for a long time but couldn't think of any other way. He also didn't know what this Nine Dragon Cauldron was or what it was.
A soft knock sounded on the door, followed by a woman's voice calling out, "Sir, room service!"
Zhou Xuan casually said, "Come in!"
The hotel staff have electronic cards to open the doors, so they can open them even if the door is locked from the inside. After Zhou Xuan responded, the female staff member inserted the card to open the door, then pushed a cart in, put out a fruit platter and drinks, and then asked, "Sir, would you like anything else?"
Zhou Xuan felt a bit hungry and asked, "Do you have any porridge?"
"Yes, we have potato chip and red ginseng porridge, bird's nest and oatmeal porridge, black chicken and ginseng porridge..." The waitress immediately rattled off a whole bunch of names, all of which sounded like highly nourishing porridges.
"Anything will do, and a couple of side dishes too!" Zhou Xuan waved his hand, signaling the waitress to bring them over as soon as possible.
After the waitress left, Zhou Xuan started thinking about the Nine Dragons Cauldron again. The water in the cauldron was still full and had not decreased, and the beads still did not heat up or produce bubbles.
Zhou Xuan was puzzled for a while. Could it be that the heat and energy inside the bead were used up in just a moment? Otherwise, why couldn't the added water evaporate?
Upon thinking of energy, Zhou Xuan paused for a moment, then immediately thought of ice energy. He had just tried it but couldn't move it, yet he could feel a tiny bit of it. Could it be because the ice energy was too weak right now?
After thinking about it, Zhou Xuan realized there might be some connection, so he immediately used his ice energy to recover.
In fact, Zhou Xuan's ice energy had already recovered long ago because it could be combined with his own internal energy. As long as there was enough time, it would slowly recover even without using his internal energy. If he used the Qi cultivation method, the recovery would be faster. Now, as soon as he started using ice energy and circulating it along his body's meridians, he recovered to more than 40% in half an hour, which was more than double the 20% he recovered yesterday.
This is actually because Zhou Xuan's body has recovered. As long as a person's body is healthy and not in pain, no matter how hard they work, they will recover to normal the next day. But if they are sick, they may not be able to recover for many days. Zhou Xuan is like that. His body functions are in good condition, and as long as there is enough time, the lost ice energy will naturally recover easily.
Zhou Xuan practiced with great enthusiasm, and his ice energy recovered faster and faster. After circulating his meridians a dozen more times, his ice energy actually recovered to 50%.
After retracting the icy energy to his left wrist, Zhou Xuan looked at the Nine Dragons Cauldron on the coffee table, let out a long breath, and then reached his left hand into the cauldron, channeling the icy energy into the beads inside.
When Zhou Xuan first tried, his ice energy was weak, and he had already assumed that the energy was insufficient to activate the bead. Therefore, when he channeled his ice energy into the bead, he was channeling it at full power. Although it was only 50%, even 50% of Zhou Xuan's ice energy at its peak was extraordinary, far stronger than the energy he absorbed from that massive golden stone at the bottom of the sinkhole in America.
As soon as the icy air entered the bead inside the cauldron, it burst into flames with a whoosh, as if a lighter had ignited a can of gasoline!
"It's activated! It's activated!" Zhou Xuan was overjoyed and immediately focused even more intently on channeling his icy energy into the bead.
But now there's no need for Zhou Xuan to use his ice energy to force it in. The bead is now like a huge vortex spinning violently, sucking in anything that gets close to it.
Zhou Xuan's icy energy initially went in, and then it was sucked in, like a long line. After one end was sucked into the vortex, the rest was powerless to stop it and could only be pulled into the vortex!
Zhou Xuan was immediately startled. This was just like when he was refining the crystal. When the ice energy entered the crystal, it was also violently absorbed by the crystal. However, there was a problem: after the crystal absorbed his energy, he could draw it back from the crystal. But this bead was clearly a consumable item. After absorbing his energy, it immediately transformed into another kind of energy, which was violently evaporating the clear water in the cauldron!
Bubbles rose up like beans, and water vapor rose like thick fog, much more violently than when the bead evaporated water on its own!
The nine dragons seemed to be frantically absorbing the water vapor, and their eyes turned from white to red, becoming increasingly redder.
The water in the cauldron was also decreasing rapidly, with more than half disappearing in an instant. Zhou Xuan's face turned red from being sucked in the icy air, and his heart was pounding wildly, as if it was about to jump out of his chest!
If this continued, Zhou Xuan could almost feel that he would die, his life force exhausted. Only then did he feel fear, but when he tried to get rid of this thing, he found that he couldn't move his body and could only be passively sucked in, unable to control himself!
Zhou Xuan's body trembled violently, and the ice energy was almost completely absorbed. The water vapor became thicker and thicker, and the eyes of the nine dragons turned even redder. It seemed that a faint red light flashed for a moment.
Just then, there was another knock on the door, and someone called out, "Zhou Xuan, are you asleep? Zhou Xuan, Zhou Xuan."
Hearing Wei Xiaoyu's voice, Zhou Xuan wanted to reply, but his body had no control over itself, and he couldn't speak!
Wei Xiaoyu kicked the door open and walked in. When she saw Zhou Xuan, she found him to be looking strange. One of his hands was immersed in the Nine Dragon Cauldron that he had brought back that day, as if he had put hot water in it. Wei Xiaoyu couldn't help but find it funny. When she called him from outside the door and he didn't answer, she thought Zhou Xuan wasn't there, so she pushed the door open and came in. But she saw Zhou Xuan washing his hands in the Nine Dragon Cauldron, and he was only washing his left hand. It was so strange!
Just as she was about to ask him, another waitress came in, carrying a small cart with the dishes, drinks, porridge, etc. that Zhou Xuan had ordered. She didn't pay attention to what Zhou Xuan and Wei Xiaoyu were doing after she came in; she just placed the dishes and porridge on the table one by one.
Just then, when Zhou Xuan felt he was about to die, the eyes of the nine dragons suddenly flashed with light. The lamp turned on, the moisture disappeared, and the beads stopped absorbing. Only then did Zhou Xuan break free from his connection with the beads, as if he had collapsed.
But Zhou Xuan also noticed that Wei Xiaoer and the waitress were frozen in place, just like they had been frozen in place. They were still in the same position as they had been doing just now!
Especially the waitress, a drop of water fell right off the edge of the dish she was holding in her right hand, and the drop of water was falling in mid-air, shimmering slightly under the light!
This is definitely not some kind of immobilization spell; it's like time has been frozen!
Because Zhou Xuan never believed in gods or ghosts, and besides, even if there were a freezing spell, it could only freeze people or animals, not water droplets in mid-air, right?
Volume 1, Chapter 357
Faced with this strange phenomenon, Zhou Xuan was almost stunned. He paused for a moment, seemingly for four or five seconds!
"What's wrong with Xiaoyu?"
Zhou Xuan asked Wei Xiaoyu, both surprised and suspicious, but Wei Xiaoyu remained motionless and silent. Apart from himself, Wei Xiaoyu and the waitress stood like wax figures in the entire room.
Zhou Xuan had no idea what was going on. Could it be that there was something wrong with the Nine Dragon Cauldron?
Looking at the Nine Dragons Cauldron again, the red light above the eyes of the nine dragons on the cauldron dimmed a little, then flashed and went out!
In that instant, Zhou Xuan sensed something different; it was as if the space had returned to normal.
Wei Xiao walked over and sat down next to him. The waitress continued to serve the dishes, and the drop of water fell to the floor. Everything returned to normal.
In that instant, Zhou Xuan immediately understood what had happened in those ten seconds!
Just now, the well was frozen for ten seconds. That's the feeling Zhou Xuan had—the feeling that time had stopped!
"What's wrong with you? What's so interesting about this little cauldron?" Wei Xiaoyu couldn't help but ask when she saw Zhou Xuan staring blankly. "I knocked on the door just now, but I didn't hear you answer, so I opened the door and came in. What's wrong with you?"
Zhou Xuan then realized what was happening and didn't know what to say. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Xiaoyu, did you feel anything just now? Did you hear me when I asked you?"
Wei Xiaoyu chuckled, reached out and touched Zhou Xuan's forehead, saying, "Are you catching a cold? Are you talking nonsense? You haven't said a word since I came in, and I haven't asked you anything."