"Still nothing?" Yiren asked as she watched Xuefeng from up close.
Xuefeng took another Cursed Fragment at the end of the twelfth section but nothing changed. No matter how much he tried to match the pieces together, it was all for naught.
"Yup, nothing. I hoped that maybe some of the fragments would eventually fit together but none of them does. Not sure what to think about it," Xuefeng replied with a sigh.
Yiren cheered with a bright smile and gave his palm a rub.
"Don't worry, you will figure it out soon," she assured lovingly before glancing down at the Cursed Fragment. "Can I touch it?"
"Sure," Xuefeng nodded and passed her one of the fragments. "Be careful though. We are still not sure what it does."
Yiren took it carefully and observed it all around as Xuefeng explained, "We tried to use Elemental Qi and even Fate Qi to maybe awaken something from within but the metal doesn't even absorb any type of Qi."
"Mhmm, I see. Can I have the other fragment too?"
Xuefeng only smiled at Yiren's curiosity and passed the second fragment to her. He had full trust in her and even if she dropped them, he was ready to catch them so he wasn't worried.
Yiren inspected the two fragments and tried to match the two metal fragments somehow, causing Xuefeng to laugh.
"Hah, baby, I already tried every possible combina—"
His smile died halfway through when something changed.
"Oh! It works!" Yiren exclaimed as two fragments suddenly brightened and merged like two liquid metals. It changed shape into a completely different fragment, this time much bigger and angular.
'What?!'
Both Ming and Ling cried out in shock while Xuefeng was left speechless, his expression changing between amazement and admiration. They have been struggling this whole time while Yiren didn't even need ten seconds to discover the fragment secrets.
"Yiren! What did you do?!" Xuefeng called out excitedly as he embraced her and grabbed the fragment. The texture was the same aside from the more cubic-like structure.
"Oh… Did I break it?" Yiren muttered with a saddened expression. "I just wanted to help…"
"No, no! You did great!" Xuefeng assured as he kissed her deeply, realizing he must have been too explosive.
She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and claimed her reward without hurrying. The rest were still picking up their Treasure rooms, so they had time left for themselves.
"What happened?"
Nuwa was the first to notice their celebration and approached them, but Xuefeng didn't release Yiren until she was fully satisfied.
"You know how much I love you?" Xuefeng confessed as he rubbed their noses together. "I realized I should say it more often."
"Hehe, I love you too," Yiren giggled as she rubbed his ear. "Did you forget we are connected? I can feel what you feel. If you stopped loving us, I would already ask if there is something wrong."
"Mhmm, that won't happen," Xuefeng promised with a kiss and finally pulled away, showing Nuwa the bigger fragment.
"Oh, did you finally connect it? How did you do it?" Nuwa asked in surprise, but Xuefeng simply glanced at Yiren, also wanting to know the same.
"I also don't know how I did it, though. I simply tried to glue the two pieces together with my Soul Power, and then it started shining before it merged," Yiren explained innocently.
'Soul Power? Quick, try with another fragment,' Ming suggested urgently while Xuefeng was already on it.
"So just glue it together?" Xuefeng asked as he grabbed two fragments and channeled his Soul Power through his bloodline.
It wrapped around the fragments, lifting and bumping them together, but no matter how much he tried, nothing happened.
"Let me try," Nuwa suggested as she took over the fragments, but she frowned right after, failing miserably. Both of them looked at Yiren, who simply reached out for the fragments with a smile.
The moment Yiren touched the Cursed Fragments, they shone brightly and instantly merged as if to tease them both.
"See? Like this," Yiren displayed the bigger fragment happily. "Should I help with all the fragments?"
She seemed so excited to help him that Xuefeng didn't hesitate and pulled out all the fragments he collected so far. Sure enough, Yiren didn't even need a minute to connect them all, creating a head-sized metal fragment.
'Wait, what if it's not the matter of how but who?' Ling proposed an explanation. 'You and Nuwa both tried, but only Yiren succeeded. Maybe it depends on what kind of Soul is used? If we assume that metal has consciousness or even behaves like an Artefact, maybe it chooses who is worthy of being its master?'
'So there is a chance I was rejected, and Yiren was chosen? I don't really mind as long as we can get this treasure,' Xuefeng replied, not even slightly jealous. His wives' strength was his strength as well.
'It's just the theory, though. We won't know for sure unless you reach the top. For now, let's just ask Yiren to help you,' Ming suggested.
"Yiren, how about you stay with me for now and help me merge the fragments?" Xuefeng questioned right away, and Yiren couldn't help but start jumping cutely.
"Yes!" Yiren called out happily, but then she wondered worriedly, "But what if I can't handle the pressure and continue to follow you?"
"We will worry when that happens. You should still be good to go, right?"
They were already on the one hundred twenty-ninth floor, and even he could feel the pressure building up. Naturally, his body was tempered by his Regeneration Ability for much longer than his wives, so it was much easier for him. Not even counting Ming's blessing that rebuilt his bodily structure.
"Mhmm, I'm still good. Our bloodline is a little bit stronger than that of humans," Yiren nodded and offered to give back the Fragment.
"No, you hold it for now. You can give it back when you can't handle the pressure anymore," Xuefeng decided as he patted her on the head. "Alright, let's get going."
As they talked, his wives grouped up one by one, and they could continue to climb further. Unfortunately, it soon came the time they had to say goodbye.
Lisa and Wu were the second to stop, giving up just ten floors later. Even though Xuefeng improved their constitution, there were limits to the strength of a human body.
The next to follow were Wen, Shan, Yi, and Tianshi, stopping ten floors after them. Wuying reached the barrier of one hundred and fifty floor, retiring only after Xuefeng asked her to. He couldn't allow her to suffer, seeing how much she struggled even to walk.
"So it seems it's just the seven of us left," Xuefeng counted as he gave Mona a scratch under her chin. She already had five fluffy tails rubbing against his back and neck, recovering much faster than he anticipated.
All left had a stronger bloodline which gave their body additional resistance, but he could see the group slowed down with each floor reached. The only one who didn't seem to struggle was surprisingly Yiren which gave him a sudden idea.