C558 Way of Heaven Suppressing
An ice-blue figure emerged from the cauldron.
The entity had the upper body of a human woman and the lower body of a scorpion, known as a "Bane." Its entire form shimmered with a crystalline ice-blue hue, as if meticulously sculpted from a single block of ice-blue crystal.
Boom!
A cold, ethereal flame burst forth from within her crystalline form.
Beneath the seven-colored cloud, dense spiritual energy was drawn by her power and surged in.
This woman, with her aloof demeanor and icy eyes devoid of any human emotion, was suddenly propelled outward by the control of the cauldron spirit.
Yu Yuan held the cauldron with one hand and looked up at the seven-colored cloud, bellowing, "Open!"
At his command, a hole spontaneously formed in the thick miasma cloud that shrouded the island!
The frigid "Bane" slipped through the opening.
Qin Yun, wide-eyed and astonished, cried out, "Young Master!"
Yu Yuan remained composed, "This lake, the mid-lake island, and Yu Zhu's aura are perfectly aligned. The island possesses a strange power that naturally attracts miasma. I have contributed significantly to its formation."
He had chosen this location when he first guided Yu Zhu through the Forgotten Ruins, after exploring numerous places.
He had planted various medicinal herbs in the vicinity and Phaseblossom on the mid-lake island.
His preparations were made in secret.
Even the deadly formation he had created in Gloomhollow within the Serpent Spine Mountains had been relocated by Yu Zhu, serving as a layer of protection for the mid-lake island.
His audacity to navigate the Crucible of Evil into this place without hesitation was not solely due to the artifact itself. His confidence stemmed from his intimate knowledge of the area's toxic miasma and his clear understanding of the rune circle.
Moreover, Yu Zhu had set up safeguards before departing for Shadow's Keep.
His ability to command the rune circle to open with a single word, his willingness to refine pills on this island, and his boldness in practicing his craft here all relied on his mastery over this domain.
"Continue to expel the Lunar Spirit and the cold fog!"
As Qin Yun was about to inquire further, Yu Yuan raised his voice once more, urging him to concentrate.
Qin Yun's Lunar Spirit was on the verge of succumbing to frost, a condition that was already giving him a headache and seemed to spell trouble.
Yet, in the blink of an eye, as the Bane ascended into the heavens, Qin Yun experienced a sudden wave of relief.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Above the seven-colored cloud, the distant figure of the Bane, a woman, hovered beneath a canopy of stars, bathed in the glow of a crescent moon.
The tall, frosty Otherkin woman, whose body resembled an ice sculpture, burst into flames.
An ice-blue flame sparked from within her and swiftly enveloped her entire being.
In that moment, she mirrored Lin Zhuyun at the bottom of the Embers Sea, when first possessed by the Sky Fiend, engulfed in green flames, wreaking havoc wherever she went.
Both flames, one dark green and one ice blue, concealed an ice energy potent enough to shatter souls.
With a flick of her scorpion tail, the icy woman darted forward like a bolt of freezing lightning.
From her, clusters of ice-blue flame erupted, quickly transforming into swirling ice tempests that descended upon the serene lake.
Initially no larger than a fist, these tempests voraciously absorbed the spiritual energy of the area, swelling to hundreds of times their size in an instant.
Those below who looked up would see an ice tempest spanning dozens of acres, its inner maelstrom of spiritual energy, ice shards, and ice blades, all driven by the central ice-blue flame, twisting into a vortex that seemed poised to grind all to dust and rend everything to despair.
The cosmic order appeared to be in sync with the Bane, drawing spiritual energy from miles around without end.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The ice tempests, like collapsing heavens, caused the very air to snap, and the ground rumbled ominously, as if heralding the end of the world.
"Master, Master! I—I can't hold on any longer!"
Fifteen miles west of the lake, a Winter's Bite cultivator at the Subtlety Stage had just ended a battle with a frost wyrm. Before he could even gather his spoils, he was seized by an uncontrollable shivering.
The refined cold Yin spiritual energy within his Golden Sanctum was in complete disarray.
Puff!
A small chunk of ice, no larger than a fingernail, burst forth from his lower elixir field, piercing through the acupoint.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that it consisted of dozens of slender, colliding streaks of cold light.
"Ah!"
He clutched his abdomen, wailing to the heavens in agony.
"Master!"
The other two cultivators from Winter's Bite were locked in fierce combat with Fellbeasts when they suddenly sensed a loss of control in both their lower and middle elixir fields, as well as the vitality within the Profound Gate.
Seizing the moment, a Golden Striped Beast's body shimmered with a blinding golden glow as it swelled to nearly twice its size. In the midst of the Winter's Bite disciple's struggle to stabilize his spiritual energy and vitality, the beast clamped its jaws around his neck, severing it.
The third disciple of Winter's Bite leaped away, only to be engulfed by an ice tempest descending from the heavens.
Crack!
The chilling sound of bones snapping, mixed with his dying screams, erupted suddenly from within the tempest's grasp.
Weixian, who was a moderate distance from the three disciples, heard their piercing cries for help. As he moved to assist them, he too was caught in the grip of a massive ice tempest.
He had been concentrating on using the Lunar Spirit to subtly manipulate the Yin Spirit imprints, but his body abruptly seized up.
In the moment the ice tempest struck, Weixian caught sight of an ice-blue shadow darting out from the seven-colored cloud above the mid-lake island.
As he attempted to detect it with his remnant soul, an overwhelming sense of discomfort washed over him, leaving him feeling helplessly constrained.
It was as though the entire Forgotten Ruins, along with the surrounding lakes, islands, and woodlands, were repelling him, singling him out for persecution.
"The Way of Heaven is suppressing me!"
Weixian's face paled as he watched the ice-blue shadow draw near, a wave of panic washing over him. "Could it be her? Impossible. The Ethereal Void Sect and Skyreach Consortium's reports were clear; she was summoned by Shadow's Keep to the Land of Quiescence!"
Weixian had mistakenly assumed that the ice-blue shadow emerging from the seven-colored cloud was the mistress of the Forgotten Ruins—Yu Zhu.
Yu Zhu, as the rightful master, was uniquely in tune with the cosmos. Harnessing the power of heaven and earth, she imposed the cosmic order of a little world upon him, layer by layer, exerting immense pressure.
The profound darkness he had mastered, the spells he had penetrated, were all counterbalanced.
The ice-blue figure before him now seemed to embody the Way of Heaven of the Lost Lands.
Though it was merely one aspect of the Great Dao.
Yet, this particular Way of Heaven could suppress him, leaving him feeling uneasy and constrained, as if he were bound and unable to fully unleash his abilities.
This Way of Heaven was the very essence of the ice attribute, the arcane power he had dedicated his life to cultivating.
"If it were Yu Zhu..."
As Weixian's face subtly shifted, three sect disciples who had been battling a Fellbeast nearby all perished.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Weixian unleashed a soul light as fine as ice needles, aiming it at the ice-blue figure.
Simultaneously, a seal crafted from an eternal ice crystal ascended like a radiant moon, releasing the beast souls of ice attribute alien beasts within.
"Frost Beast Soul Freeze!"
Dozens of Frost Beasts, of both sixth and seventh levels, combined their soul power into a single spell.
With the spell's completion, the world and space surrounding the Bane were momentarily encased in ice.
Whoosh!
The Bane paid no heed to the world's icy imprisonment, nor did it fear the assault of the ice needles, breaking free in a flash and advancing towards Weixian.
Instead, an ice tempest abruptly engulfed the seal.
Crackle!
Countless ice blades, beams, and shards battered the seal, wrought from the eternal ice crystal, grinding away at the beast souls trapped within.
Weixian grunted, wounded in the blink of an eye.
His complexion shifted from one shade to another. He could no longer afford to stay. Exhaling a mouthful of lifeblood, he enveloped it in a burst of icy light and hastily executed a sophisticated spell.
"Lifeblood Transposition!"
The icy light flared brilliantly as the lifeblood was rapidly depleted.
Whoosh!
The ice seal, into which he had poured so much effort, materialized within the light, undeterred by the spatial distance, amidst the raging ice tempest.
Clutching the seal tightly in his grasp, Weixian called out with a loud voice, "Miss Yu Zhu, if you are still within the Forgotten Ruins, I am Weixian of Winter's Bite. I have intruded upon your peace and beg your forgiveness!"
With those words, he dared not linger and transformed into a beam of ice light, speeding toward Gavanas.
He spared not a single glance for the bodies of the three disciples.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A terrifying ice tempest continued to wreak havoc around him, sweeping up the corpses of the Winter's Bite disciples and any Fellbeasts, dead or alive.
Eighty miles east of the lake, a majestic man with a beast's horn on his forehead and long brown hair cascading to his waist stood atop a sphere of lightning, levitating into the air.
The man was unmistakably a Devilkind in human form.
He watched Weixian depart and observed the ice tempest's fury. After a brief hesitation, he began to slowly make his way toward the lake.
His approach was deliberate, as if waiting for the ice tempest to subside.
A hundred miles north of the lake, a fire wyrm of considerable length suddenly shifted, transforming into a handsome, red-haired youth who chuckled as he too made his way to the lake.
In a secluded deep pool, a green fish abruptly shrank into a speck of green light.
The light swelled wildly, sculpting itself into a young girl.
Step by step, the girl emerged from the pool's depths. Her ascent was slow, and as she moved, the once deep waters began to recede.
It seemed as though all the water was being absorbed into her body, leaving the pool dry as she stepped onto the shore.
She laughed lightly as she headed toward the lake, shrouded in seven-colored miasma, all the while murmuring to herself in a melodic yet slightly awkward human tongue.
Having just arrived, she had no need for transformation or human speech before. To acclimate and communicate smoothly later, she practiced the language as she walked, gradually becoming more fluent.
The massive ice tempest, after its tumultuous dance around the lake, began to fade away.
The vicinity of the lake bore the scars of catastrophe, with innumerable fissures in the earth and all vegetation laid to waste. The blood and remains of humans and Fellbeasts were strewn about.
An ice-blue shadow soared back into the seven-colored cloud before descending onto the mid-lake island.
"An archdemon is approaching!"
...
