C1255 Trembling in Fear
"She's still alive, but in a different way now."
Seeing that the Devaputra recognized the Ice Concubine, Yu Yuan's demeanor became much more relaxed.
As he spoke, his Yin God soul form was stealthily probing the frigid and peculiar terrain.
His spiritual awareness expanded, suddenly encountering numerous bloodline laws brimming with extreme cold power. Slender beams of silver-white light suffused the visible ice, rocks, and frozen rivers.
The Devaputra's bloodline and spiritual awareness were in complete harmony with the environment, indistinguishable from one another.
Yet...
Yu Yuan felt that the bloodline laws marked by the mysteries of extreme cold were disjointed and inconsistent.
Other forces had infiltrated deep into the icy bedrock and the solidified rivers, fragmenting the pathways of extreme cold and causing the once fluid river of laws to become muddled with numerous foreign powers.
The presence of destruction and death was covert yet omnipresent.
Yu Yuan understood the situation.
When the empress extracted the Devaputra's body, it was infused with the power she had mastered.
Using the upper half of the Devaputra's body, she crafted a translucent prison, solidifying it into a cold crystal that trapped the Devaputra within, rendering it unable to break free from its own flesh.
"I should have realized..."
The half-illusory, half-real Devaputra's face, blurred with sorrow, conveyed regret, "I have failed in my duty, and my incompetence has led to my inability to protect the two young ladies."
He not only knew the Ice Concubine, but if he wasn't lying, he also bore the responsibility of protecting her.
"I am certain to meet her. From what you've said, you... you've guarded them before?" Yu Yuan asked, surprised.
The sisters who had ventured into the vastness were the same pair.
As the younger sister, the Ice Concubine was confined within the Ember Waters, destined to be transformed into a Devil Soul in a unique form.
The other had lingered in the depths of the Nether Abyss for an extended period, only secretly arriving just before the emergence of the Chaos Roc.
That individual had possessed Lim Zhuyun, using her as a vessel and enjoying a brief moment of prominence.
But as the Chaos Roc altered its course, she became Lim Zhuyun's dowry, ultimately subdued by her, and her power and Devil Soul were used to augment Lim Zhuyun's strength and status.
Her younger sister had become one of the mightiest Devil Souls within the Evil Cauldron.
Her older sister had supported Lim Zhuyun.
"Our chieftain was slain by the Demon Phoenix from the Demon Palace, plunging our clan into turmoil. It's a familiar tale: the clan's original elders demanded certain clan relics, leading to a clash with the two young ladies. I helped them flee, but sustained grave injuries in the process, leaving me in this state."
"The young ladies, upon learning that the clan's relic had been claimed as a trophy of war by the Demon Phoenix, plotted to covertly infiltrate the Vast Ocean in search of the lost relic."
"They opted to pass through a mysterious Cold Abyss Entrance, using the Freezing Devaputra's edge to stealthily penetrate the Vast Ocean."
The Heavenly Devil was steeped in pessimism and a sense of helplessness, shaking his head with a sigh.
Yu Yuan was already familiar with these past events, having heard them from the Moon Swallowing Ape.
The ancestor of the Ice Concubine, along with the chieftains of the Outland Devaputra and the Blood Devil Clan, had joined forces to vanquish the Moon Swallowing Ape, consuming the Demon God's flesh and soul.
In an act of vengeance, the Demon Phoenix from the Demon Palace had executed the Great Demon God of the Freezing Devaputra Race.
Subsequently, the Freezing Devaputra Race never recovered.
"It's wishful thinking, they don't grasp the gravity of their actions. After my last injury, realizing I could no longer protect them, I drew the pursuers away to the Deep Starfield. That's how I ended up like this. Yet, I later heard that the two of them might have actually succeeded in entering the Vast Ocean."
"But what good does entering do? They'll either perish or be captured. There's no third option."
He paused there, giving her a cold, detached look, "Who has them imprisoned? Is living in such a state more agonizing than death?!"
The intense cold that was his signature power struggled against the empress's seal, seeking to unleash his fury as a blizzard to make Yu Yuan pay.
But as he strained against his power, the lower half of his body, resembling a scorpion's tail, violently ruptured.
The Heavenly Devil quickly regained his composure.
"Let's do this: I'll find you a new place to recover. Once she... and I are reunited, I'll have her visit you," Yu Yuan offered with a smile.
The Devaputra was taken aback.
Within the cavern, Yu Yuan's true form called forth the Dragon Slash Platform from his inner realm.
The elongated Dragon Slash Platform resembled a piece of mysterious jade, its interior murky yet radiating an extraordinary, divine light. However, an enigmatic mist swirled within, obscuring the marvels it contained.
Nonetheless, it was clear to anyone who laid eyes upon it that this was no ordinary object.
"This thing?" Yan Ziyang was astonished.
Yu Yuan chuckled lightly, "It seems you truly don't know enough about me."
Yan Ziyang's ignorance of the Dragon Slash Platform suggested that the information he had acquired about Yu Yuan was severely outdated.
Perhaps it was Yu Yuan's association with the Evil Cauldron and the Evil Sect that had drawn Yan Ziyang's attention in the first place.
Yet, Yan Ziyang was unaware of Yu Yuan's past actions or what he had taken with him upon departing the Boundless Great World.
"Don't rush to assimilate it. This Freezing Devaputra and I share a past connection. I'll handle it."
Without further explanation, Yu Yuan, gripping the Dragon Slash Platform, glanced sideways at Chen Qinghuang, secretly apprehensive that the Empress might suddenly awaken and devour the platform.
Chen Qinghuang's breathing was even, showing no signs of disturbance.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Yu Yuan's Yin God communicated with his physical form. Extending his hand, he grasped the icy crystal and established a connection with the Yin God within.
He then took the icy crystal, found the correct angle, and pressed it into the opposite side of the Dragon Slash Platform.
Effortlessly, the icy crystal containing his Yin God reached the resting place of the Frost Dragon within the platform.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The palm-sized icy crystal, once the domain of the Ice Concubine and instrumental to her advancement, now splintered with visible fissures.
Through the icy crystal, Yu Yuan's Yin God vividly observed the frigid world crumbling, the mountains collapsing, and the earth shattering.
Ice boulders, solid ice, and spheres burst apart.
The Demon God Level Devaputra watched in terror as the forces that had bound and constrained him were obliterated by the overwhelming laws of the Great Dao. His Devil Soul was seized by an innate terror.
The ordeal was brief.
The diminutive icy crystal was annihilated by the laws of another microcosm within the Dragon Slash Platform.
As the ice light and shards cascaded down, the Devaputra shivered, attempting to regroup them once more. Throughout this ordeal, he remained vigilant, closely monitoring Yu Yuan's Yin God for any sign of a response. Yu Yuan's Yin God bore a smile that seemed to radiate encouragement, which put him at ease.
Meanwhile, in the outside world, Yu Yuan was clutching the Dragon Slash Platform, acutely aware of the tumultuous changes within. He, too, was on edge, keeping a watchful eye on Chen Qinghuang's every action. The platform's inherent power, while crushing the cold crystal, had inevitably clashed with the empress's might.
He was aware that Chen Qinghuang, even in her slumber, would have felt the disturbance. His anxiety stemmed from his own curiosity to test whether the empress could maintain control when confronted with the Dragon Slash Platform leaving his inner sanctum and the alluring "divine pill." Would she succumb to her instincts, transforming into the Secular Bird to consume the platform's power?
For a moment, the empress's long eyelashes quivered, as if sensing something imminent. Yu Yuan held his breath in anticipation. After a tense wait, prepared to flee at a moment's notice, he noticed that the empress had once again settled into a tranquil sleep, showing no intention of awakening.
It felt like an eternity had passed before Yu Yuan truly relaxed, finally returning the Dragon Slash Platform to his acupoint with a deep sigh of relief.
