C882 A Cold Current Enveloped

Scarlet dots of light, imbued with the wisdom of a remnant soul, emerged as the Illusion Orb shattered.

Amidst the tower's ruins, Qi Yunhong wandered in a daze, drawn by an inexplicable summoning. His expression was vacant, yet he moved with an almost instinctual purpose within a confined area showered by the scarlet radiance.

The light fell like raindrops, and Qi Yunhong's once dull, ignorant eyes began to subtly transform as the light penetrated his being.

Qin Yun stood protectively before Qi Yunhong, shielding Qu Jing and Huang Ming with a wary eye.

"Quite the character, this Qi Yunhong..."

Yu Yuan, employing a mystique, activated his Third Eye and saw clearly that each dot of scarlet light was a miniature reflection of Qi Yunhong's soul.

Upon reflection, he realized that these glowing specks, rich with the wisdom of a remnant soul, were in fact Qi Yunhong's heaven soul.

This heaven soul had manifested after the Solar Spirit, into which it had transformed, was destroyed.

The Solar Spirit Body served as the soul's armor, with the true core being the soul refined by the heaven soul.

Qi Yunhong had willingly shattered his soul, allowing the Soulsear Bolt to explode alongside the fragments of the Solar Spirit, all to obliterate the Illusion Orb and scatter the artifact soul to the winds.

His mad scheme, it appeared, had succeeded.

The Illusion Orb disintegrated into a cloud of dust, and the artifact soul, in the form of a young girl, was likely no more.

Yet, Qi Yunhong's heaven soul, seizing the moment, scattered and was absorbed by his real body.

A single spark can ignite a wildfire, and the scarlet wisps, carrying the wisdom of the remnant soul, were the heaven soul's embers. Once inside Qi Yunhong's Mindscape, they could take root and flourish.

Given time, Qi Yunhong's heaven soul would be restored, granting him the potential to forge a Solar Spirit anew.

While the earthly soul bears memories, the heaven soul embodies the essence of wisdom.

Thus, as the scarlet light rained down into his Mindscape, the man once deemed insane by Huang Ming regained his sanity.

Qi Yunhong's real body steadied, and with newfound composure, he offered a respectful bow to Yu Yuan, saying, "Master."

With that address, Yu Yuan understood that the wild figure before him had once again become Qi Yunhong.

Yu Yuan coughed lightly, holding the soul puppet, his gaze fixed on the figure of Qi Yunhong that had materialized on one of its fingers. He pondered over Qi Yunhong's Lunar Spirit, still confined within.

"I trapped your Lunar Spirit to counteract the lethal Soulsear Bolts and to shatter the Illusion Orb, but I never anticipated..." Yu Yuan began to explain, then abruptly stopped.

He discovered that his thoughts could be instantaneously conveyed through the soul puppet, the transmission completed in a mere breath.

He decided to give it a try.

Qi Yunhong, whose Lunar Spirit was within the soul puppet, understood Yu Yuan's entire explanation as soon as he revealed his true intentions. He realized that Yu Yuan's actions were solely aimed at escaping the Illusion Orb, not to permanently imprison his Lunar Spirit or enslave him.

Nevertheless...

"You can depart now, return your Lunar Spirit to your real body, and be yourself again, Qi Yunhong," Yu Yuan murmured, his eyes lowered toward the soul puppet.

As the words were spoken, they became reality!

His thoughts and intentions resonated with the Lunar Spirit's shadow within the soul puppet, and he watched as the shadow, resting on the table, lifted a hand and pointed toward Qi Yunhong's representation.

With a whoosh, Qi Yunhong's Lunar Spirit began to drift out from the body of the soul puppet.

Qi Yunhong noticed sticky strands clinging to his spirited body's Lunar Spirit. As it slowly separated from the soul puppet, a feeling of weakness washed over him, as if a layer of skin were being stripped from the Lunar Spirit itself.

Looking down as his Lunar Spirit continued to ascend, he saw that the sticky strands were, in fact, his remnant soul. These remnants were being tugged away by the soul puppet, stripped from his Lunar Spirit as it departed.

The strands then coalesced into a soul imprint within the body of the soul puppet, leaving a permanent mark.

At last, Qi Yunhong's Lunar Spirit broke free from the soul puppet. Under the watchful eyes of Yu Yuan, Qin Yun, Qu Jing, Huang Ming, and several other cultivators from the Midnightshields, it merged into the Third Eye acupoint of his real body.

Qi Yunhong's body jolted, his eyes blazing with sudden brilliance. His demeanor was serene yet tinged with frenzy, like a volcano repressing sinister thoughts, churning tumultuously beneath a deceptively tranquil surface.

"The soul mark, created from the remnant soul of my Lunar Spirit, can still constrain me within the soul puppet and detect my movements..."

Qi Yunhong, observing the soul puppet, seemed to grasp what had transpired.

"Nevertheless, I was already deceased. It was his doing that the fragments of my shattered Lunar Spirit coalesced once more. It was because of him, and that peculiar puppet, that I was resurrected."

"Furthermore, he..."

Involuntarily, Qi Yunhong recalled the immense phantom within the soul puppet, resembling an ancient God-King.

The overwhelming majesty, which could only be admired from below, filled him with a shudder of fear even now as he remembered it.

He swiftly came to a resolution.

With the return of the heaven soul and the Lunar Spirit fragment, Qi Yunhong, having descended from the Solar Spirit Realm to the Spirit Walk Realm, once again offered a reverent salute to Yu Yuan. "You have my unwavering loyalty, my lord. I, Qi Yunhong, vow to serve you unto death!"

Yu Yuan paused, then burst into laughter, nodding his approval. "Good!"

"We are now at the Midnightshields, which was our intended destination." After his laughter subsided, he surveyed the puzzled cultivators of the Midnightshields who had arrived upon hearing the commotion. He commanded, "Work with him. His name is Qin Yun, and he will eliminate those whom he deems deserving of death!"

Qi Yunhong acknowledged with a nod.

Qin Yun was invigorated.

Meanwhile, Huang Ming and the onlooking cultivators of the Midnightshields were visibly shaken.

Qu Jing of the Ethereal Void Sect was no exception to the change in demeanor.

"You belong to me."

Yu Yuan leaped from the cauldron, sending a telepathic message to Yu Yiyi. The dark cauldron soared into the sky.

Subsequently, the cauldron swelled rapidly, becoming a colossal black mass that eclipsed the sun over the Midnightshields.

A chilling presence, emanating from the Frost Queen's emergence, began to spread in all directions, making everyone's souls feel icy cold.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Many lower-level cultivators of the Midnightshields chattered their teeth and instinctively pulled their clothes tighter, only to realize that layering more garments did little to ward off the piercing cold.

Swoosh!

A fierce crimson sword light, imbued with the power to cleave through the heavens and shatter the Star River, burst forth from Yu Yuan's scabbard.

Qu Jing, ever vigilant, caught a glimpse of a scarlet flash and, seizing his large black umbrella, turned and made his way outside.

He held the umbrella aloft, its canopy shielding his back from Yu Yuan.

And then there was Yu Yuan's Moonfall Strike.

Scarlet sword lights, one after another, relentlessly pursued Qu Jing and the black umbrella.

Qu Jing, with his back to his opponent, appeared to move slowly, but in reality, he was incredibly swift. Employing a technique akin to shrinking the earth to a mere inch, he covered ten miles in just a few breaths.

The crimson sword light doggedly followed, puncturing the fabric of the black umbrella with a persistent "thwack."

In the sky, the Frost Queen, resembling a frigid deity, extended her slender, snow-white arm, pointing through the air at the escaping Qu Jing. Her lips parted slightly, uttering indistinct syllables that echoed with the weight of divine punishment.

Wielding the Spectral Umbrella, Qu Jing deftly navigated through the dense thicket of ancient trees.

The slightly shorter trees he passed transformed into replicas of Qu Jing, complete with the essence of flesh and blood and the pulse of a soul, as though they were truly alive.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Seven Qu Jings burst from within, their bodies a blur of blood and flesh that, before hitting the ground, morphed into tree bark and roots.

Qu Jing had employed some arcane technique to redirect the crimson sword lights from the Moonfall Strikes onto these phantom trees, mitigating the harm to himself.

Yu Yuan, persistently executing Moonfall Strikes, had his remnant soul keenly fixated on Qu Jing. Streaks of rainbow light imbued with the intent of the sword also thrust into the Spectral Umbrella.

Yet, as the sword light penetrated the umbrella, Yu Yuan felt as though it had vanished into the abyss.

Subsequently, he witnessed Qu Jings seemingly shattered by the sword light. When they finally burst, each one transformed into trees and plants.

Qu Jing, still under the umbrella, showed no urgency to extricate himself from the woods. He continued to meander, back turned to Yu Yuan, converting more trees into his own likeness.

The essence of Moonfall Strike lay in its continuity, a seamless chain of strikes, with the might of each subsequent sword light progressively intensifying.

However, no matter how much the power of each strike was compounded, it all amounted to naught if it merely pierced the void.

As this realization dawned on him, Yu Yuan suddenly witnessed the forest where Qu Jing was concealed transform at an astonishing rate. Trees, grass, and soil were rapidly encased in frost.

A gossamer veil of dark blue cold fog enveloped the woods.

The intense chill emanating from the Frozen Hellscape abruptly escalated.

Crack! Crack!

Every tree and plant was ensnared by the cold, shattering under its grip. Influenced by the Spectral Umbrella and Qu Jing's mystique, they briefly became "false figures" aiding his ascent, only to snap and plummet to the ground, breaking into icy fragments.

Qu Jing, clutching his umbrella, found himself in the midst of this icy debris, struggling to take a step.

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