Chapter 664 - Frozen Cloud Post-Calamity
The startling sound of thunder blanketed a fifty kilometer radius, but once it died out, all that remained was a deathly silence.
Following the dissipation of the golden light, the south-west side of Blue Wind Imperial City had become an empty void. Whether it was the Divine Phoenix soldier or the enormous herds of profound beasts, all of them had disappeared… there were no corpses, no traces of blood, no fragments of broken armor. There was not even a trace of their existence left on this continent. The only thing that remained in the wake of that light was countless pitch-black, spatial tears which distorted as they rapidly shrunk and disappeared.
This was the second wave of Divine Phoenix forces to arrive today, and the way they had met their end was actually… exactly the same as their first wave!
Hundreds of thousands of Divine Phoenix Soldiers had been reduced to ashes in mere seconds under Yun Che’s wrathful flames. A thirty-five kilometer radius had been burned into nothingness… that scene had evoked extreme alarm and astonishment, and all of those who had personally witnessed it could not calm their hearts down. This was because what they saw was power which could truly raze the heavens and the earth; it was akin to the power described in those legends.
And to think that this kind of power and this kind of scenario… was once again played out for them in the same day. Not only that, but this time, it was not Yun Che but someone else altogether. What was similar, however, was that the foes they eradicated were all dire enemies of Blue Wind Nation… his wrathful aura and his shouts of rage was not any weaker than the explosion of fury that Yun Che had previously displayed.
The huge, dark green bow in Number One Under Heaven’s hand had vanished, and his heart was filled with boundless shock, but he was no longer panicked… the strength of this “giant” was incomparably terrifying, and it seemed like he was not any weaker than Yun Che, but he definitely was not an enemy because the target of his wrath had been the Divine Phoenix Army, and when he had released his power along with the fires of his wrath, he had purposely controlled and restricted the energy so that it would not affect Blue Wind Imperial City behind him… If not, even the slightest backlash from that attack would have reduced the southern part of Blue Wind Imperial City to rubble.
Number One Under Heaven took in a deep breath and asked Cang Yue, “Just now you shouted ‘Yuanba,’ is it that person’s name? Could it be that you know this person?”
“His name is Xia Yuanba, and he is the junior brother of my husband and I… and even more than that, he is a relative of my husband,” Cang Yue replied in a voice filled with emotion.
“Ju... ju... jun… junior brother?” The eyes of Number One Under Heaven and Xiao Yun widened into saucers as they found it hard to believe what they just heard. “Could it be that he is actually… younger than Big Brother?
“Yes, he is more than one year younger than my husband,” Cang Yue replied softly
“！#￥%....” Number One Under Heaven and Xiao Yun could practically hear the sound of their jaws hitting the floor.
In the air, Xia Yuanba had fully vented his fury following the complete destruction of the Divine Phoenix Army, and he had regained a modicum of calm. He slowly turned around and looked towards Cang Yue and Qin Wushang, who stood beside her. When Yuanba saw them, he, who had awoken the heart of a Tyrant and had long ago ceased to be cowardly and weak, felt his eyes quiver as they moistened slightly.
“Senior Sister Xueruo… Palace Chief Qin…” he said in a low voice as he swiftly flew over. During the period where he lived in the Blue Wind Profound Palace, besides Yun Che, it had been Cang Yue who had treated him the kindness while Palace Chief Qin had always taken care of him. When he saw that both of them were safe and sound… there was nothing that comforted his heart more.
Ping!!
A faint shattering sound that seemed to resonate from the deepest depths of the soul caused a frazzled and frustrated Feng Hengkong to immediately open his eyes as confusion fogged his vision for a moment… he could only hope that what he sensed was only a misconception.
But immediately, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard from outside. What followed it was a shout that was filled with bewilderment, “Sect Master, this isn’t good! Fifty-second Elder’s soul crystal… suddenly shattered just a moment ago!”
“We sent a sound transmission to Fifty-second Elder and Commander Han who was together with him, but we received no response whatsoever!”
Feng Hengkong slowly rose to his feet, a dark cloud covering his face. It had not even been an hour since Han Xingzhao had sent a sound transmission to him, reporting that there was a weird calm settling over Blue Wind Imperial City, and not only were there not traces of the Divine Phoenix Army, there were not even any traces of battle… and now, the situation that occurred with the main Divine Phoenix Army occurred once again, and they had become impossible to contact with no new messages coming in!
What exactly was happening… over at Blue Wind Imperial City!
Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace.
Yun Che used the Frozen Cloud Celestial Soul in his body to release a unique restriction. After that he, together with all the ladies of Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, entered the Frozen Cloud Secret Grounds and deposited the ice coffins, in which the bodies of Feng Qianhui and Gong Yuxian rested, at the room at the very end of the area.
Murong Qianxua, Jun Lianqie. Mu Lanyi, Feng Hanyue, and Feng Hanxue knelt in front of the ice coffin, and all of the Frozen Asgard disciples behind them followed suit. They knelt for nearly two hours until Yun Che finally let out a soft sigh and said, “Let us depart and allow Mistress Gong to sleep in peace. She labored for Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace her entire life, so it’s about time she enjoyed her well-deserved rest.”
Once he brought the gathered Frozen Cloud disciples out of the secret grounds, the sky outside had already darkened. Even though Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace had met with a great calamity, they had the protection of their special barrier, and after that barrier had vanished, they had all huddled inside the Frozen End Divine Hall. As a result, no terrible battles had taken place, and the better part of Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace had been preserved from harm.
The canopy of night had dyed Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace in some sort of illusory beauty, transforming it into a fantasy of ice and snow, one of glittering snowflakes and crystalline glass. Yun Che glanced at the sky… there had been no sound transmissions from Blue Wind Imperial City, so it looked like no other Divine Phoenix soldiers had attacked it.
However, what he did not know was that the Frozen Cloud Secret Ground’s special restrictions not only blocked auras from outside… it even blocked sound transmissions as well.
“We greet the Palace Master!”
Just as Yun Che was about to turn around, all of the women of Frozen Cloud… including the Frozen Cloud’s Seven Fairies, had all knelt down and bowed their heads as they solemnly paid their respects to him. He hurriedly said, “Get up, get up, you do not need to pay respect to me. Even though I am the temporary Palace Master, you don’t need to behave with such decorum towards me.”
Murong Qianxue sincerely replied, “It was due to the Palace Master’s actions that Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, along with all our lives as well, were saved. Moreover, you are also the person who was personally appointed by the previous Palace Mistress as the new leader of our sect. So according to both our emotions and the law, we still want to kneel before you in respect. From today onwards, we sisters and disciples will follow the orders of the Palace Master.”
Every single one of the ladies of Frozen Cloud were paramount beauties, but their hearts were like ice and snow, making it hard for people to approach them. This had previously caused his teeth to itch while he secretly raged that Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace was a sinful place which greatly wasted its natural resources… and now he had become the leader of this very Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, and all these women of Frozen Cloud now knelt at his feet. This feeling was indescribably complex and subtle…
“... Fine, but all of you quickly get up, you can consider this my first command as Palace Master,” Yun Che said as he strove to keep a straight face.
All the ladies of Frozen Cloud rose to their feet, and even though their eyes still contained the bleak pain of being plundered when they gazed at Yun Che, they did not contain too much rejection towards their new male leader. Three years ago, when he was the first male disciple to ever be accepted in the history of Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, it caused all of the Frozen Cloud disciples to become puzzled… and this even included Gong Yuxian. But after that, he helped Murong Qianxue and the other fairies open their Profound Entrances and helped six of them achieve the world-shocking Heavenly God’s Spiritual Veins. In addition, coupled with him being able to understand the Frozen End Divine Art even faster than Xia Qingyue, these actions caused the disciples of Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace to not reject or question him. It even caused them to lower their guards against him… and after a few months, they basically became used to his existence.
And now, he had returned in their hour of need and basically single-handedly rescued them from their certain doom and demise. Furthermore, the power that he had displayed caused them to be incontrovertibly convinced… the calamity hanging over Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace had not been completely removed, but having Yun Che, who had strength at the Sovereign Profound Realm was undoubtedly like having a powerful guardian which they did not even dare dream of before.
After going through these nightmarish six months, they had since formed a dependence on their male sect master that was so strong that they themselves had not realized it yet.
“My senior and junior masters and all the various senior and junior sisters,” Yun Che said in a gentle and sincere tone, “Three years ago, I entered Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace as its first male disciple, breaking a thousand years of regulation. And now that I have become Palace Master, I still feel that it is rather inappropriate and it will bring about a great deal of criticism for our sect. The previous Palace Mistress transferred the position to me because she didn’t have any other choice, so I will only temporarily assume the position of Palace Master. When Qingyue comes back, I will immediately transfer the position of Palace Mistress back to her. But everyone, do not worry. In the end, I am still a disciple of Frozen Cloud, so I will definitely keep my promise to the previous Palace Mistress… unless I die, I will definitely not allow anyone to bully or trod on our Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace.”
Gong Yuxian had passed down the Frozen Cloud Celestial Soul to him, and inside of it lay the important memories of all the previous Asgard Mistresses and a large portion of the hidden secrets regarding Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace. According to the records within, the escape profound formation that Xia Qingyue had used was a random teleportation formation, so no one would be able to decipher where she was sent to. In fact, it was not even known what the greatest scope of this teleportation would be.”
He also knew that the reason Ye Qingsheng and his goons attacked Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace… was astonishingly Xia Qingyue!
This was something that caused him to be extremely confused while putting him on high alert. Xia Qingyue had spent sixteen years in the Floating Cloud City, and she had hardly left her own room. Even Yun Che, who was her fiance, had only seen her a few times in those sixteen years. After that, she had basically remained at Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace and very rarely went abroad… even during those rare occasions, she had never left Blue Wind Nation before.
So why would the Sun Moon Divine Hall suddenly want to aim for Xia Qingyue?
Could it be that Ye Xinghan took a fancy to Xia Qingyue’s beauty?
That could not be… because Ye Xinghan should have never even seen Xia Qingyue before!
“Palace Master, what should we do next?” Murong Qianxue asked in a quiet voice as her icy eyes filled with deep sadness and worry. Even up till now, they still did not understand why Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, which had never involved itself in worldly affairs, would be struck with such a terrible calamity.
All of those beautiful eyes turned towards Yun Che. In the face of this dire calamity, this young man of not more than twenty-two years of age had quietly become their support. After all, wherever you went, it was the law of nature, the strong ruled supreme, and it was the same everywhere else.
Yun Che gave a faint but heavy sigh and said, “Let us first interrogate this wretch who deserves to die!!”
Yun Che extended his hand, and a cold wind blew, causing the black-robed man to cry out as he was dragged from far away before heavily landing at his feet.
Ye Qingsheng’s profound strength had already been crippled by Yun Che, and his meridians were also severed, so he could not even commit suicide if he wanted to, much less resisting or running away. In this frozen snowscape, he, who had no profound energy to protect him, was so cold that he kept trembling and shivering as the extremely bitter cold sent countless icy needles piercing into his body with each breath. resulting in untold pain. He looked at Yun Che and his eyes contained no more pleading, it only contained terror… but he was not even able to utter a single sound from his mouth.
Looking at him, the faces of all the ladies of Frozen Cloud were filled with fury and resentment. Yun Che strode forward a step, and not wanting to waste any words on him, he simply extended his hand and caused his Profound Handle to fly out and sink into his body as he instantly performed the Profound Handle Soul Search.
Ye Qingsheng’s entire body trembled while both of his eyes quickly lost their focus and became blank pools.
“What is your name?” Yun Che asked blandly as he removed his palm.
“Ye… Qing… Sheng…” Ye Qingsheng’s voice quavered due to the cold.
Ye?
Yun Che’s brows faintly quivered… it was Sun Moon Divine Hall after all! Even though Sun Moon Divine Hall was not a power that was tied together by a family, all of the people who entered Sun Moon Divine Hall had to change their surname to “Ye.” He urgently asked, “Is the sect that you belong to Sun Moon Divine Hall?”
“...Yes…” Ye Qingsheng replied robotically.
Shouts of surprise and alarm rang around Yun Che. The name “Sun Moon Divine Hall” caused the pretty faces of the girls of Frozen Cloud to go pale.
There were not many powers within the Profound Sky Continent which had the ability to dispatch Overlords. During the past six months, the words “Sacred Ground” had occasionally appeared in their minds, but they immediately dismissed those words. Because in regards to Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace and even the entire Blue Wind Nation, the Four Sacred Grounds were akin to divine palaces that were high above the heavens, so they would never, ever have any interaction with their Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace… and there was even less reason for them to act in such a vicious manner towards them.
But the name that they had heard at this moment was indeed a name that belonged to the mythical Four Great Sacred Grounds that they could only gaze at from the ground.
“Who sent you here?” Amidst the voices filled with shock, confusion, and fright, Yun Che looked directly at Ye Qingsheng as he continued his questioning.
“It was Young Master… Ye Xinghan…”
“And Ye Xinghan sent the lot of you to Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace in order to capture Xia Qingyue?” Yun Che asked with sunken brows.
“Yes… we also had to guarantee that Xia Qingyue… was not harmed at all in the process…”
“Why did he send you to capture her? What scheme does Ye Xinghan have regarding Xia Qingyue?” Yun Che’s voice grew even deeper and more severe.
Ye Qingsheng’s hollow eyes turned blank, and it was a long time before he replied, “I do not know…”
No lies could be uttered while someone was under the influence of the Profound Handle Soul Search. So since his answer was that he did not know, it could be confirmed that it was so.
The question that caused the most questions in Yun Che’s mind was not able to be answered, so he heavily sucked in a breath and abruptly asked, “And where did Ye Xinghan see Xia Qingyue? Or was it that he found out about Xia Qingyue’s existence from another source?”
“Young Master… has never seen Xia Qingyue before… Young Master had heard… the name of Xia Qingyue… from an elder belonging to Mighty Heavenly Sword Region…”
“An elder from Mighty Heavenly Sword Region?” Yun Che’s brows knit together tightly as he replied, “Which elder?”
“I… do… not… know…”
Yun Che ran out of patience and planted one foot on Ye Qingsheng’s chest as he pressed both palms against his head. He released his Profound Handle and swiftly retrieved all of his memories… in the span of a few short breaths, he released Ye Qingsheng’s head while his expression had turned grave.