C1082 Frost Queen's Advancement Path

In the Frozen Wastes, one of the seven Wintermaw, glaciers and snow-capped mountains were omnipresent. Jun Chen, the Crane Rider temporarily stationed there, played his bamboo flute. The notes floated through the air, melodious and otherworldly, infusing the frigid expanse with a hint of warmth.

After several tunes that evoked nostalgia and the depths of love, Jun Chen set aside his flute. His brows, sharp as blades, lifted, and his eyes shone with a piercing light, as if he could see the essence of all things. The sea, shrouded in white mist, was undergoing a transformation...

Jun Chen watched carefully, his senses attuned to the changes. He discovered that the ice energy, once drawn to the Wintermaw and suffused with the Star River's psionic power, no longer converged upon the sea's surface.

As one of the seven Wintermaw, this Frozen Wasteland ceaselessly devoured ice energy from beyond its borders, channeling it to the Frozen Hellscape in the Everlands. The marvels and chilling secrets of the Frozen Hellscape were intimately connected to the seven Wintermaw, an inseparable and significant relationship.

"Something's not right."

Jun Chen's instincts warned him of trouble. He realized that an issue with a single Wintermaw might be manageable, but if more than half of them were problematic, like the one before him, the repercussions could be far-reaching and severe.

"I must notify the chairman immediately!"

Without further delay, Jun Chen tossed his bamboo flute skyward, transforming it into a slender boat. Clad in white, he stepped into the bamboo vessel and set off for Ionodios.

Long after his departure, the Songbird Queen arrived, gliding gracefully onto the crystalline sea surface. She unleashed her remnant soul, a vast presence that permeated the glaciers, snow mountains, and the depths beneath the sea. Forces of destruction and rebirth, tinged with a faint death aura, radiated in all directions.

"So, this is one of the Wintermaw."

Moments later, the topography of the Frozen Wastes materialized into a three-dimensional map etched deeply into her mind. With a knowing smile, she seemed to unravel the secret linking the seven Wintermaw with the Frozen Hellscape.

...

Within the cauldron lay a little world.

After Fernand unveiled the mysteries of the Dark Realm, Yu Yuan was plunged into deep contemplation, his mood weighed down by the revelation.

The three Otherkin peered around inside the Crucible of Evil, observing clusters of glyphs on the cauldron's walls that seemed to harbor the secrets of the soul. However, one section, engulfed in black demonic light, obscured their vision completely.

"Master..." Yu Yuan's myriad thoughts were interrupted by the gentle call of Yu Yiyi, the cauldron spirit.

Snapping out of his reverie, he mentally inquired, "What's the matter?"

"Come and see."

Where the black demonic light was thickest, a barefoot silhouette slowly materialized, beckoning to Yu Yuan with a gentle wave.

"Hold on for me," he said, before gliding upward. He effortlessly navigated through the dark demonic light to reach Yu Yiyi's side on the opposite end of the cauldron.

Side by side, they hovered in midair, facing the ninth tier of the cauldron's inner stairway. This level was currently home to just one Bane — the Frost Queen.

Perched in a recessed seat, the Frost Queen, now reduced to a fraction of her size, shimmered like ice. Her upper body was elegantly curved, strikingly beautiful, while her lower half remained that of a scorpion, complete with a tail as sharp as an icicle, disproportionately long against her torso.

At that moment, the Frost Queen's brows were knitted in concentration, seemingly struggling against some external force. Fragments of the shattered Frost Well, once part of the Winter's Bite, floated around her, threatening to drift away.

"The divine body fragments of Ruan Fu, the Chief Elder of Winter's Bite, have been absorbed and dissolved by her. With her efforts and my assistance, Ruan Fu's soul imprint has been utterly extinguished. Yet, as she began to assimilate the fragments of the Frost Well, they seemed to be yanked away by some outside force," Yu Yiyi explained with a grave tone.

"If I hadn't reconstructed my physical form and regained much of my strength, I wouldn't have been able to lend her the support she needed. These fragments of the Frost Well would have likely broken free from the Crucible of Evil, slipping from the Frost Queen's control and escaping into the beyond."

She provided a detailed explanation.

Yu Yuan moved closer and scrutinized the scene before him. He could see extremely fine beams of ice emanating from the Frost Queen's icy body, binding the shattered pieces of the Frost Well like ropes, preventing their escape.

"These fragments of the Frost Well contain a peculiar power. Once the Frost Queen has fully refined them, she has the potential to become a tenth-level Bane," Yu Yiyi said, her gaze lingering on the well pieces that the Frost Queen struggled to control. "But currently, she barely manages to control the fragments, let alone refine them."

Yu Yuan squinted, "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Master, do you recall how the Frost Well was shattered?" Yu Yiyi asked with a light chuckle.

"It was the Dragon Slaying Stage, buried with the tenth-level frost wyrm, that transformed into a sharp ice blade and sliced through the well's wall," Yu Yuan replied without hesitation, the event still fresh in his memory.

Then it dawned on him, "You're suggesting we harness the power of the Dragon Slaying Stage?"

"No, I believe we could directly have the Frost Queen take the fragments into the inner world of the Dragon Slaying Stage," Yu Yiyi's eyes sparkled with the idea. "The Frost Queen's advancement might just be possible in that realm where the frost wyrm lies buried."

"Is that feasible?"

"It's worth a try."

"Okay, let's do it."

Without delay, Yu Yuan retrieved the now unified Dragon Slaying Stage.

In its reduced form, the Dragon Slaying Stage became a prism-shaped stone resting in the palm of his hand.

The Dragon Slaying Stage felt smooth, cool, and heavy, devoid of any dazzling radiance.

"I'll have a look first."

In an instant, Yu Yiyi, who had cultivated an extraordinary physique, entered the Dragon Slaying Stage in his hand, slipping in from a particularly cold spot.

Yu Yuan was inwardly astonished.

He was amazed that Yu Yiyi, now with a physical form, could enter the Dragon Slaying Stage, and equally surprised that their soul connection remained uninterrupted as she did so.

Their communication was seamless.

He was also aware that Yu Yiyi had summoned the Frost Queen, instructing her to bring the Frost Well fragments into the inner world of the Dragon Slaying Stage.

The Frost Queen sprang into action, only to collide with a "clang" against the stone surface.

The Bane, once a Sky Fiend, found itself repelled by the Dragon Slaying Stage, unable to access the inner world as seamlessly as Yu Yiyi had managed.

Despite her diminutive, palm-sized form and the awkwardness of her collision, the Frost Queen maintained an air of grace.

She looked at the Dragon Slaying Stage in Yu Yuan's hands with fear and a sense of injustice, her ice-like eyes seemingly conveying the helplessness she felt within.

Yu Yuan sensed that this Bane was on the cusp of fully awakening and regaining its memories.

It wouldn't exhibit such sentience otherwise.

"Master, she might need you to escort her. Try infusing her with your Lunar Spirit, let her be enveloped by its aura," Yu Yiyi suggested.

Back in the Moonfall Sanctuary, Yu Yuan had roamed the three Dragon Slaying Stages with his Lunar Spirit, employing Wraithbinding to assimilate the unique luminescent energy left by the dragon slayer.

In essence, Yu Yuan was the true master of the Dragon Slaying Stage.

Yu Yiyi had been merely a servant tasked with its oversight, not its owner.

A servant could patrol the area but lacked the authority to bring outsiders or objects into the Dragon Slaying Stage.

"Then I'll give it a try."

Yu Yuan's Lunar Spirit detached from his body and descended upon the crown of the Frost Queen's head, gently settling in.

With no resistance, thanks to Yu Yiyi's guidance and her familiarity with his essence, the Frost Queen allowed his Lunar Spirit to penetrate deep into her soul realm.

Within her, thousands of tiny ice shards, each housing a soul and memories, lay scattered and unorganized in her soul realm, failing to coalesce into a single entity.

The instant Yu Yuan's Lunar Spirit entered, he realized something...

Once the Frost Queen advanced to the tenth level, achieving the Bane's ultimate form, these myriad ice shards would assemble into a complete crystalline soul, uniting all the fragmented memories.

At that moment, the Frost Queen would regain all her lost memories.

However, she remained the Bane, steadfast in her loyalty to Yu Yiyi.

The Frost Queen's soul and life form had undergone a transformation.

Take Youqian, for instance, who became the Ghost King Tian Zang. Despite apparent similarities, they had fundamentally changed.

"Let's go!"

With that thought, the Frost Queen shrouded herself in radiant frost light and soared once more toward the Dragon Slaying Stage.

She vanished into it in an instant.

In the world of drifting snow, the tenth level frost wyrm was severed into nine sections, transforming into nine majestic ice peaks.

The dragon's head was central, with the remaining eight sections of the dragon's body arranged in a ring around it, creating a frigid landscape that sent shivers down one's spine and made souls quiver.

Far off, psionic power mingled with the stark white cold fog, forming a barrier akin to a wall.

Yu Yuan knew at a glance that, with the two halves of the Dragon Slaying Stage joined, one could pass through that barrier to reach the boneyard of the Chronowyrm and witness another breathtaking spectacle.

Whoosh!

His Lunar Spirit drifted from the Frost Queen's mind, carefully alighting on the massive snowy peak formed by a section of the frost wyrm's corpse, deliberately avoiding the dragon's head.

"Alright."

Yu Yiyi, with a soft smile, gestured toward the Frost Queen and said to Yu Yuan, "See, even the fragments of the Frost Well remain immobile in this Frozen World."

True to her words, the fragments that had previously struggled to escape the Frost Queen's grasp now lay still.

The Frost Queen no longer needed to exert herself dragging the well fragments.

"A tenth level frost wyrm, even in death, embodies the pinnacle of ice force. Here, the presence of a Dragon God's chill can suppress the Frost Well's shards, impervious to any external influence," Yu Yiyi explained cheerfully.

"Then let her refine the fragments here," Yu Yuan suggested.

Meanwhile, his real body within the Crucible of Evil picked up the voices of Noeyr and Benin from outside.

"Yu Yuan, this is Noeyr. I wish to pay homage to the World-Sundering Stone!"

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