C788 Ice Body!

Yu Yuan's heart was undisturbed, serene as a dust-free mirror.

In his Mindscape, a sanctuary of spiritual sense, pure Yin Qi gently infused his soul, coalescing his dissipating spiritual sense into streams of luminescent remnant souls.

As the remnant souls were reborn, they coursed through his earthly soul, bringing him a profound sense of relaxation.

A hint of a smile played at the corner of his mouth as he watched the Ghost King Dhoreus wield his theurgy over the River Styx, casting a towering soul projection into the waters. "Thank you, Elder Dhoreus, for aiding me in seizing the flaw within my heart, transforming it into an inner demon, and refining it away."

Yu Yuan bowed with clasped fists, his sincerity evident in his voice.

Had Dhoreus not intervened, drawing out the inner demon with his words, Yu Yuan's heart would have remained flawed, even as he refined his Lunar Spirit and ascended to a new realm.

This flaw could have burst forth at any time, plunging him into an irreversible deathly Abyss!

"The speed at which you shattered the inner demon is truly astonishing," remarked the towering soul projection of Dhoreus as it began its descent to the river's depths.

Beneath the riverbed, countless shadows emerged, reminiscent of fragmented souls of all beings.

These myriad souls seemed to support his towering phantom, enabling him to communicate across the void.

"I know little of you, only gleaning your past from our conversation," Dhoreus said, undaunted and with an air of nonchalance. "Thus, I could only evoke a single inner demon within you. The journey of seeking the Dao is fraught with hardship and hidden dangers, and the demons within your heart are certainly not limited to one."

He shook his head slightly, "You've surmounted this challenge."

Below, the billions of fragmented souls swirled as if forming the Maw of Oblivion within an extraterrestrial Star River, engulfing Dhoreus' soul projection.

Realizing he could not undermine Yu Yuan's Sacred Heart with the inner demon, he refrained from further attempts, conserving his time and words.

Even for him, projecting his soul through the spell of the River Styx demanded the constant expenditure of Soul Power.

Weakened as he was, far from his prime, he also had to shield his insights from the prying eyes of the Root of the Lunar Meridian, ensuring that his understanding of the soul and spells remained concealed.

At the bottom of the river, his phantom completely vanished.

Almost instantly, another wisp of will began to emerge, as if rising from the deepest recesses of the earth.

Yu Yuan instantly realized that the will of the Root of the Lunar Meridian had returned following Dhoreus's departure.

"He arose because of me, a poison that has built up over time, and I've lost control over him."

The will of the Root of the Lunar Meridian emerged in this small world. "The Pale Reaper has found his eight ancient followers and brought them back to the Land of Terror. His body is also being escorted across the Star River. Remember, the only thing that can harm him, that can inflict serious damage, is the sword sheath marked with your sword spirit."

"Pale Reaper!" Yu Yuan exclaimed in shock.

"The Pale Reaper, stepping out of the Land of Terror to deliver his message. He has always served him, loyal to his cause."

"I understand!"

After their brief exchange, Yu Yuan swiftly banished all distractions and continued refining his Lunar Spirit.

This time, there were no impediments.

The abundant Yin Qi from the Root of the Lunar Meridian warmed his soul, mended his spiritual wounds, accelerated the transformation of his earthly soul, and purified his remnant souls.

He was faintly aware of the great disturbances above, yet remained undisturbed, wholly devoted to the metamorphosis of his earthly soul.

...

Above ground.

The harsh wind howled like the cries of a legion of ghosts, and an ice tombstone loomed like a glacier, encircled by innumerable ghost spirits, materializing under the dim expanse of the sky.

Even from dozens of miles away, every creature in the vicinity felt a piercing cold.

Inside the towering palace, the mighty from Euwrea Continent and the Lunar Spirit seemed to shiver.

The spiritual energy barrier shrouding the palace could not fully negate the Arctic Breath emanating from the ice tombstone.

Mo Yan, within the Shadowblade, and Ann Ziqing, clad in purple divine armor, ceased their conversation as soon as the ice tombstone came into view.

Their attention was wholly captured by the massive ice tombstone.

Below the heavens, the towering ice tombstone, buoyed by myriads of ghosts, was blindingly brilliant.

The grandeur of Thoaos was astonishingly formidable.

"Thoaos!"

Ghosts and spirits, unaffiliated with any faction, murmured in awe and reverence.

These spirits were all at least of the Celestial Shade caliber, with some unnamed Spectres among them. Drawn by the massive disturbance in the Ossuary, they had instinctively sniffed out that something was amiss and converged here, fearless of death. They soon realized that White Bone paid them no mind, understanding that they were merely onlookers, not participants in the impending clash of Ghost Kings.

In the ruins of Shadow Mountain, White Bone sat at the entrance to an underground cavern, his luminescent skeletal form radiating a solitary defiance. He showed no urgency to strike at the suspended palace above him, ignoring the hushed exchanges between Ann Ziqing and Mo Yan, simply waiting for his equals among the Ghost Kings to arrive.

"White Bone! I have arrived!" Thoaos's chilling voice emanated from the massive ice tombstone. As it drew near, a myriad of eerie soul lights flickered over its surface like erratic lightning. These lights wove into a pattern aligned with the Way of Frost, forcibly altering the tombstone's material composition. The once crystal-like tombstone abruptly transformed into an Ice Titan towering over a hundred feet tall.

"Wintermaw!" Eyes locked onto the imposing Ice Titan, recognizing the formidable Thoaos. Legend had it that Thoaos, too, was a foreigner. His origins were so ancient they were beyond traceability. All that was known was that after his death in the extraterrestrial realms, a tombstone of ice was erected in his honor.

Beneath that ice tombstone lay Thoaos, originally marked with inscriptions. Few were aware that after his demise, a fragmented Lunar Spirit stealthily made its way to the Land of Terror. Starting as a mere wisp among the weak, it rapidly grew in strength, ascending step by step to the stature of a Ghost King.

Upon achieving Ghost King status, Thoaos ventured out, located his final resting place, and reclaimed the ice tombstone, bringing it back to the Land of Terror. This tombstone became both his weapon and his new vessel. The inscriptions, which once chronicled his identity, were deliberately erased by him. He wished to obscure his past from any who might decipher the script. Moreover, the presence of the inscriptions signified a death he had once experienced.

He disagreed.

"Eternal ice crystal!"

In the floating palace high above, a cultivator from the Sunlit Order sensed Thoaos below and his face underwent a dramatic change. "Could that ice tombstone be the Celestial Ice Crystal from the Frozen Hellscape? My God, could there really be such a massive piece of Celestial Ice Crystal?"

"Ice tombstone, Frozen Hellscape, Thoaos..."

Another cultivator from the Thunder Sect murmured softly.

Chu Yao also displayed a look of astonishment. "This Thoaos, the fabled resting place of the dead, could it actually be located in... the Frozen Hellscape?"

Cao Jiaze gave a slight nod. "His audacity to claim the title of Thoaos, though somewhat presumptuous, does hint at his origins. However, it's rare for anyone to make that connection. It's unexpected that he met his end in the Frozen Hellscape, perishing from the pervasive chill. The remnant soul that fled was tainted with the Frozen Hellscape's Ice Venom."

"The Ice Venom, while it caused his demise there, ultimately led to his ascension as a God of Ghosts."

"It was through his constant struggle against the Ice Venom that he managed to rapidly advance and break through his own limits in the Land of Terror. Ultimately, he assimilated the Ice Venom and underwent a transformation to become the Ghost King."

Cao Jiaze elucidated the history of Wintermaw.

"To think he managed to escape with a wisp of his residual soul from the Frozen Hellscape, even after being afflicted with Ice Venom!" The Thunder Sect cultivator immediately regarded him with solemn respect. "After rising to the status of Ghost King, he was able to return to the Frozen Hellscape and retrieve the ice tombstone, crafted from the Celestial Ice Crystal, back to the Land of Terror."

"Before his death, who was Wintermaw?" he inquired.

Cao Jiaze simply shook his head, his smile enigmatic, choosing to remain silent.

His smile conveyed a clear message to those behind him: he was well aware of Wintermaw's true origins. His silence suggested a pact of secrecy with Wintermaw.

It made sense, after all. As the future sect master of the Ebon Star Sect, Cao Jiaze had personally journeyed to the Land of Terror to wholeheartedly support Wintermaw's ascent to the God of Ghosts. Surely, he would be privy to Wintermaw's life story.

Cao Jiaze was well aware of the places where Wintermaw had trained and the accomplishments he had achieved.

"Don't speculate wildly. If Wintermaw becomes a God of Ghosts, you will naturally learn who he was and the cause of his death," Cao Jiaze advised, noticing the group's preoccupation with Wintermaw's identity and their fixation on these irrelevant matters.

The group promptly abandoned their conjectures.

"What difference does it make that you've arrived?"

White Bone, who had been sitting motionless for an extended period, slowly rose to his feet. His green eyes brimmed with scorn. "Didn't the descent of your soul cause you pain?"

Not long before, deep underground, one of Wintermaw's souls had been incinerated by his white flames.

"White Bone, your flames may harm my soul, but they cannot pierce the body I've forged from Celestial Ice Crystal!" The Ice Titan, transformed from Wintermaw, lacked a detailed visage, presenting only a cold, flat face that appeared eerily abrupt. "My soul is shielded within; you cannot reach it, so how can you harm me?"

The Celestial Ice Crystal from the Frozen Hellscape is revered as the ultimate cold treasure of the Everlands!

Any practitioner of ice magic would consider the Celestial Ice Crystal an elusive gem, found only at the depths of the Frozen Hellscape, where it slowly absorbs the quintessence of ice energy over time.

A Celestial Ice Crystal that remains undiscovered at the bottom of Wintermaw for hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years can accumulate an immense amount of ice energy!

Naturally, the potency and the ice energy stored within a Celestial Ice Crystal vary with its age.

Celestial Ice Crystals less than a hundred years old are exceedingly rare, while those that are a thousand years old are considered the finest materials for the elders of Winter's Bite to refine their Solar Spirit.

A ten-thousand-year-old Celestial Ice Crystal is, without a doubt, beyond price.

The piece that Thoaos brought forth, having refined it into his own body, was not only immense but also of the ten-thousand-year variety!

This time, he brought the ice tombstone crafted from the eternal ice crystal, confident that White Bone's white flames would be powerless to shatter his icy form.

"If I'm not mistaken, what you desire, Wintermaw, is..." White Bone scoffed.

Before he could finish his thought, the Crucible of Evil burst forth from the opening beside him.

"The Crucible of Evil!"

Eyes widened in shock, converging on the Crucible of Evil as exclamations filled the air.

A chilling glow emanated from Thoaos's icy form. The Ghost King, self-proclaimed ruler of Wintermaw, was visibly thrilled, eyeing the Crucible of Evil with avarice.

More precisely, his greed was fixated on something within the Crucible of Evil.

It seemed there was an item inside that had him salivating, something he would forsake all else to possess!

"White Bone, you're quite knowledgeable!" Thoaos cackled.

"Yu Yuan, you were indeed hiding in there just now!"

"Yu Yuan must be inside the crucible!"

"He's arrived in his corporeal body; why would he hide inside instead of breaking out?"

The cultivators from Euwrea, standing behind Cao Jiaze, leveled their cold accusations.

They all assumed that Yu Yuan was inside the Crucible of Evil at that moment, compelled to show himself due to Thoaos's arrival.

Inside the palace, these cultivators from Euwrea harbored deep-seated animosity towards Yu Yuan.

Mo Yan, perched atop the Shadowblade, cast a significant look at Ann Ziqing upon the revelation of the Crucible of Evil. He then vanished into the blade, his voice emanating from within, "Miss Ann, I am eager to see which side you'll assist."

Ann Ziqing's brow furrowed, and she remained silent.

The Ghost Kings were evidently planning to unite against White Bone, aiming to eliminate him and prevent future threats.

Yu Yuan and White Bone were allies in battle, and she couldn't gauge what their fate might be.

She stood as a representative of Colddeath and Razses, the Ghost King.

Razses's strategy was to observe and wait for his arrival before deciding on a course of action.

Yet, the people of the Everlands viewed Yu Yuan as a traitor, and he did not refute this. If she were to take action, she knew she couldn't escape being implicated.

With a whoosh, a figure emerged from the Crucible of Evil—a woman of icy beauty with the lower body of a scorpion.

Then, with a gaze as cold and piercing as the depths of winter, he fixed his eyes on Thoaos, whose body had merged with the ice tombstone.

"Hehe, it's you!" Thoaos howled eerily.

"..."