Chapter 322 – Soul Piercing Words
Gong Yuxian wrinkled her brows at the berserkness and oppressive might of the strike as her body dropped down. When she landed on the ground, the long ribbon fluttered, and the magnificent ice around her dazzled. Amidst the whirling snow that filled the air, an ice lotus blossomed, towering toward the sky…
“Zap!!”
With a sound similar to the exploding sound of thunder, the berserk energy burst out like a violently surging tsunami. Even the ice beneath was roughly lifted up, and covered the whole sky within the range of vision.
Yun Che and Gong Yuxian fell back at the same time. All the surrounding ice and snow within nearly thousand meters from the place they were standing, had turned into extremely minute powder.
There was no one in the Blue Wind Empire who would dare to question Gong Yuxian’s strength. However, the momentary battle between Yun Che and Gong Yuxian, actually ended without either gaining an advantage over the other! This made all the Frozen Cloud disciples extremely shocked. But, the momentary battle further aroused Yun Che and Gong Yuxian’s fury. After the two stayed still for a while, Yun Che let out a wild roar as he waved the Dragon Fault. His body and sword was burning with the incomparably blazing phoenix flame.
Phoenix Flame burned the sky as ice and snow covered the sun. Along with an earsplitting explosion sound, the sword shadow and the tip of the ribbon continuously clashed together. It even produced terrible sounds like that of lightning and thunder.
Gong Yuxian’s figure floated and wandered within the ice, snow, and phoenix flame like a fantastic figure… This was the Absolute Movement Skill of the Frozen Cloud Asgard, Frozen Snow Dance Steps. Yun Che had seen it once when battling with Xia Qingyue in the Ranking Tournament. When Xia Qingyue used Frozen Snow Dance Steps, her posture was so outstandingly graceful and extraordinary that she looked very much like a fairy. It was unimaginably beautiful, and could’ve easily confused a person’s sight. However, as for Gong Yuxian, her steps were so ghostly that her movements were completely unpredictable! Yun Che used Star God’s Broken Shadow to deal with it… Even if it was only the third stage of the Star God’s Broken Shadow, it was in no way inferior to Gong Yuxian’s eighth stage Frozen Snow Dance Steps.
When comparing the two movement skills, the Frozen Snow Dance Steps, which she had trained in for nearly her whole life, was actually unable to gain the upper hand in the slightest!
A virtual image of an ice lotus began to blossom behind Gong Yuxian’s back, and gradually became substantial. As she released her move, hundred streaks of Ice Phoenix mirages were discharged with every wave of the ribbon… In the beginning of her battle with Yun Che, she didn’t really use her whole strength, but when she discovered that she was unable to do anything to him, she began to increase the amount of profound power she was using little by little. However, she was shocked to find that with every bit of increase in her profound power, the power of her opponent was also increasing bit by bit, and he wasn’t suppressed at all by her during the entire battle. Just when her move switched from Frozen Dance to Ice Phoenix’s Dance, his heavy sword began to let out a soul-shuddering dragon’s cry, and minced all the Ice Phoenixes.
In the blink of an eye, both of them had already exchanged more than hundred blows, yet neither of them was able to do anything to the other.
Both of them seemed to evenly match each other in strength.
However, among the two, one had been famous for dozens of years, and her might was known to everyone in the world. It was the Frozen Cloud Asgard Mistress whom everyone was afraid of!
But on the other side, it was just a nineteen year old young man!
All the disciples of the Frozen Cloud Asgard lost their voices in endless shock. After all, this battle between the two, completely overturned their perceptions.
“Frozen Heaven Coffin!”
As both of them got separated by some distance after their frantic collision, Gong Yuxian stabilized her body and brought her hands together before Yun Che could make his move. Along with successive “cracking” sounds, the place around Yun Che rapidly took shape of a crystalline ice coffin. The ice coffin wasn’t thick at all, but it was formed by the power of incomparably high density Frozen Cloud. Once someone was enclosed inside that ice coffin, even if it was an opponent of the same level as her, it would be impossible for them to break out of it in a short amount of time.
After successfully sealing off Yun Che, Gong Yuxian immediately let out a sigh of relief, and said in a stern voice: “With your current age and strength, you are comparable with the descendants of the Sacred Grounds! You’re almost as strong as our Frozen Cloud Asgard’s Xia Qingyue! Truly, I never thought that I’d be destroying such a genius from the Blue Wind Empire with my own hands! However, there’s no way I could forgive a person like you who has offended my Frozen Cloud Asgard!”
Yun Che turned a deaf ear to her, and smashed on the ice coffin, which produced a vibrating “bang” sound.
Gong Yuxian said in a cold voice: “This is the strongest sealing skill of my Frozen Cloud Asgard —— Frozen Heaven Coffin. Once a person is sealed within it, it’d be absolutely impossible for them to get out in a short amount of ti…”
Along with a cracking sound, long cracks quickly spread around the entire surface of the ice coffin. This immediately caused Gong Yuxian to stop talking halfway through the sentence, and her face showed a terrified expression.
With a sneer on his face, Yun Che’s second strike suddenly smashed down on the ice coffin again.
“Falling Moon Sinking Star!”
Bang!!
The Frozen Heaven Coffin immediately burst open into pieces with an exploding sound. Amidst the countless pieces of ice crystals that filled the whole sky, Yun Che’s silhouette moved with such intensity as if tearing open the space itself, and rushed over to Gong Yuxian with the demeanor of a ghost. Subsequently, the image of a blue wolf loftily emerged behind his back.
“Sky Wolf… Slash!”
The incomparably tenacious Frozen Heaven Coffin was actually smashed in two blows from Yun Che. Under the huge shock, Gong Yuxian found herself absent-minded for a moment. Then, her chest was struck by the wolf’s exceedingly heavy blow that carried enough might to destroy a mountain.
“Pff!!”
The dreadfulness of the wolf silhouette’s power, far exceeded Gong Yuxian’s expectation. All of her internal organs were dislocated in a very short time, and her entire body was dyed in blood. As blood sprayed out from her mouth, she staggered continuously, moving more than ten steps backwards. A ghastly streak of blood could be seen at the corner of her mouth.
“Mistress!”
“Mistress!!”
The six fairies of the Frozen Cloud, who had turned pale with fright, quickly dashed over to Gong Yuxian, and stood before her in a guarding posture. The ice spirits surrounding their bodies moved chaotically as coldness bore through their hearts. However, what covered them even more was the extreme shock that didn’t show any signs of disappearing… Although he used a sneak attack, the fact remained that Yun Che was able to injure Gong Yuxian!!
His battle strength completely broke the very foundation of their imaginations and perceptions… it was at least as strong as someone in the Emperor Profound Realm!
It was simply impossible to imagine the future accomplishments of someone like him who was already so strong even before turning twenty!
Yun Che didn’t continue with his attacks, and withdrew his sword force in front of every Frozen Cloud disciple’s line of sight. Even Dragon Fault had vanished without a trace from his hands.
“Gong Yuxian…” There were already no signs of anger in Yun Che’s expression and eyes; a stillness that absolutely shouldn’t be appearing on a person of his age had fully replaced it. It was as if he wasn’t facing Frozen Cloud Asgard’s Mistress, but a criminal who needed to be tried: “You simply can’t understand my anger, just as I can’t understand the significance of the Frozen Cloud Asgard’s rules and clean reputation to you. Everything that you did to Yuechan, may not be wrong at all for someone in your position, but as for me, to make her leave to some other place, where she might find herself in a risky situation when she was pregnant, is an inexcusable mistake! You owe me this strike! “
Gong Yuxian slowly suppressed her internal injuries, and sternly said: “Your talent may be astonishing and exceptional, but you’re extremely conceited, and your heart and mind are even more selfish and narrow! Yuechan was the last disciple that I personally taught after myself bringing her back to Frozen Cloud Asgard back then! I spent the majority of the latter half of my life, heart and blood on raising her, which eventually let her become famous all around the world as the Fairy of Frozen Beauty! So regardless of her violating the sect rules, staining Frozen Asgard’s clean reputation, and even self-abolishing her profound art, I wouldn’t have owed her in the least even if I abolished her with my own hands for no reason, and expelled her from our Frozen Asgard! As for you… hmph! You sullied my Frozen Asgard’s disciple, and also defiled my Frozen Asgard’s thousand years long of pristine reputation. As such, it wouldn’t be too much even if I were to personally kill you. So why would I feel the need to protect your and Yuechan’s vile spawn?! Your questions and violent criticism have to be the biggest joke in the world!”
Yun Che slowly raised his eyebrows, and coldly said: “You say you don’t owe Chu Yuechan anything? Heh… no! You do owe her! You owe her too much! If you hadn’t met her back then, and brought her to the Frozen Cloud Asgard, she could also have the life of a normal girl. With her beauty that can overturn the world, she could have easily found a suitable man to accompany her throughout her life, and enjoyed the most intact emotions as well as the most perfect life. But you, aside from making her obtain a strong power, what else did you give to her? Was she ever able to laugh, cry, or be happy even once? She spent her every day under this frozen sky and snowy land, completely absorbed in practicing the Frozen Cloud Arts. Fettered by the rules of your sect, there was no way for her to touch the emotions she originally possessed as a woman… What you did for her, was to almost make a living person like her into an ice sculpture with completely frozen emotions!!
“You nearly destroyed her entire life!”
“Although she and I had been acquaintances for a brief period of time, she willingly abandoned her life of several decades she had in Frozen Cloud Asgard for me. It was during the short time that I let her change back to a true woman, no longer an emotionless ice sculpture sealed by the Frozen Cloud anymore!” Yun Che’s voice gradually became lonely: “Your Frozen Cloud Asgard’s tradition of collecting extremely talented and beautiful girls every year from all over the place, and bringing them in the Frozen Asgard, is the same as fettering them for the rest of their life. In order to continue your Frozen Asgard’s foundation, you’ve ruined the intact fates that many of the extremely outstanding girls brought to this place were supposed to enjoy! Even if I call the sect rules of your Frozen Cloud Asgard as the world’s most savage shackles, I wouldn’t be accusing you wrongly even a bit! The Frozen Cloud Asgard is an existence akin to the Sacred Grounds in the hearts of countless people, but in my eyes, it’s nothing more than a tomb of the living dead, which shouldn’t exist in this world!”
“You… you… shut your mouth!” Gong Yuxian let out a loud roar, and her face twitched for a second… That’s right, it actually twitched! Even Yun Che didn’t think that his speech would make her give such a huge reaction. However, all the girls of the Frozen Cloud were only staring blankly, as no one had brought up such a topic as Yun Che did in front of them before. The kind of words he spoke not only vilified their sect but also insulted it, so they should’ve been angry, and rejected the validity of his accuses. But each and every word he said penetrated deep inside the silent depths of their souls like a spell, and suddenly set their emotions, that were impossible to remain completely faded out for eternity, into motion.
Yun Che faintly glanced at Gong Yuxian, and continued: “You say I’m a selfish person, and I completely agree with your words, as I’m originally an extremely selfish person! If I have to make a choice between the lives of countless innocent people who are unrelated to me and Chu Yuechan’s life, I would immediately kill those countless innocent people without any hesitation at all! That’s how selfish I am! For Chu Yuechan, I can bear any nightmare or sin, but for you… and the Frozen Cloud Asgard, it’s simply impossible to ever feel such feelings!”
Gong Yuxian: “…”
Yun Che turned around, and indifferently said: “Although I resent you for expelling Chu Yuechan from the Frozen Cloud Asgard, but I simultaneously feel glad about it. Because when I find her, she would completely belong to me, for there would be no relation between your Frozen Cloud Asgard and Chu Yuechan anymore! She wouldn’t need to be restrained and burdened by your heavy fetters that only serve to shackle one’s heart!”
After he finished speaking, Yun Che lifted his leg and slowly walked toward the outside of the palace gate.
“Don’t block his path!” Gong Yuxian reached out with her hands, grabbing Murong Qianxue and Jun Lianqie who were thinking of chasing after him, and said with a pale face: “You are… not his opponent. Let him go.”
When she finished talking, her body, that shouldn’t have suffered any great internal injury, slowly sank down on the ground, as if she had exhausted all her strength. Both her eyes lost spirit, and she couldn’t even hear the shouts of surprise near her ears.
Within her mind, the figure of a young man emerged as if she was in a dream… It was the person who had thawed her frozen and sealed heart with his thoroughly genuine feelings, and then she experienced with him all the happiness that she never felt before in the Frozen Cloud Asgard… However, she wasn’t as courageous as Chu Yuechan… and stepped back from the relationship… She broke her ties with him… and they never saw each other again… Afterwards, she found his ice-cold corpse that was still releasing an aura of sorrow at the extreme border of the Snow Region of Extreme Ice, where they had met for the first time…
It had already been eighty years since then. The thing that should have been a beautiful dream, had actually became the most heartrending nightmare for her. After countless stings of pain she felt over the period of a long time, she believed that her soul had already completely frozen over and wouldn’t waver anymore.
What Yun Che said, suddenly awakened the nightmare that she had always continuously tried to forget with all her heart, and made her heart throb…