Chapter 31: The Protagonist's Power Fantasy (30)

The Xuanwu Mountain Range, which separates the Far North from the cultivation world, trembled.

Unlike the usual gentle snowfall of previous years, today’s snow fell with extraordinary intensity. The Snow Demon clan had inhabited the Far North for tens of thousands of years and had never witnessed such a vast and overwhelming blizzard.

It surged fiercely, as if intent on swallowing the entire snowfield.

At the heart of the snowfield stood the Snow Demons’ stronghold.

Here was built a colossal ice palace, surrounded by manors and castles. The gates soared four meters high, with ice-carved spires piercing the clouds. Above, countless corridors constructed from ice crystals intertwined, connecting thousands of buildings, forming an icy blue world.

Young Snow Demons hopped and skipped along these corridors.

They were still experimenting with shaping their bodies from snow, but more often than not, they ended up with bizarre forms—heads of oxen, horse bodies, three heads and six arms—strange and comical.

At the highest spire of the ice palace, the Snow Demon Saintess opened her deep blue eyes.

Her long eyelashes were as white as snowflakes, and her features were sculpted from faintly gleaming ice crystals. Her skirt, made of snow, flowed softly and smoothly, trailing behind her like silk.

The connection with the Devouring Ice Flame had been severed.

The Snow Demon Saintess furrowed her brow.

For years, everyone had believed the Far North was the domain of the Snow Demons. But only the clan’s most senior elders truly knew that the true master of the snowfield had always been the strange fire born with the world itself—the Devouring Ice Flame.

The Devouring Ice Flame was whimsical and unpredictable. Even the oldest and highest-ranking elders of the Snow Demon clan dared not interfere in its affairs.

Though the Far North belonged to the demon realm, almost no other beasts survived there besides the Snow Demons. The reason this land maintained a clear boundary between the demon realm and the cultivation world was thanks to this capricious, mercurial divine fire.

The snow line stretched tens of thousands of miles, and beyond it lay famous illusions and phantasms where many exalted cultivators had perished—some even at the peak of tribulation or rumored to be great ascended beings.

Yet, many of these famed illusions were not crafted by the Snow Demons.

They were the work of the divine flame, which disliked too many fools trespassing on its territory. Bored from long years of solitude in the Far North, yet unwilling to leave its comfort zone, it would pry into the minds of wandering beasts and cultivators to converse and pass the time.

The Snow Demon Saintess knew all this simply because she was beautiful and favored by the Devouring Ice Flame. Whenever the flame grew tired of playing outside, it would come to the Saintess, calling it “refreshing the eyes,” and complain about how dull and ignorant both demons and humans were.

When tired of something, just discard it.

Just like the illusions the Devouring Ice Flame grew bored of—left abandoned and lonely in the snow.

Over tens of thousands of years, these remnants accumulated, and the Devouring Ice Flame single-handedly created an unbreakable ten-thousand-mile defense line for the Snow Demons in the Far North—though all of it was just what the flame had left behind.

“Saintess, something’s wrong!”

A Snow Demon elder stumbled inside, panic etched across his face. “The illusions surrounding the snowfield are collapsing one by one!”

The illusions set by the Devouring Ice Flame had existed for millennia, impervious and indestructible. How could they collapse now of all times?

The Snow Demon Saintess sensed disaster and immediately gathered elites and elders to the snowfield’s edge.

A fierce wind whipped at the snowfield’s boundary.

The snow wasn’t fine flakes but fist-sized ice balls.

The thick snow suddenly shifted, forming a large mound. Snow cascaded down as a person coughed violently, frostbitten, clawing at the ground to climb out.

“Junior sister? Pearl? Shen Xing?”

Yue Nianxin blew warm air into her hands, trembling, calling out loudly, “Where are you?”

“Here!”

A few meters away, a snow mound shifted, and suddenly a hand thrust out.

Shen Xing shook snow off his head, only his head and hands visible, resembling a chubby snowman.

He waved excitedly at Yue Nianxin. “I’m here!”

Yun Zhu also clawed snow from her face.

She was sprawled on the ground like a cat, arching her back, coughing as she struggled to sit up. “I... I’m here!” she said haltingly.

But their junior sister was nowhere to be seen.

Yue Nianxin’s worry deepened.

Hail and snow fell so thickly they nearly blinded her.

The three huddled together, conserving energy by sharing a single defense formation. Yun Zhu pulled out the last Spirit Nourishing and Soul-Calming Pills from her bag and some Qi Recovery Pills to quickly replenish their spiritual energy.

Before leaving Wuji Sect, Elder Yaoguang had given each of the four a Soul Stabilizing Pearl to prevent them from getting lost.

The Soul Stabilizing Pearl was a heavenly-grade artifact that linked their minds, custom-made by Elder Ruogu according to the Far North’s conditions. In any perilous situation, even with the interference of tribulation-level cultivators’ spiritual senses, it allowed them to quickly locate each other.

The Soul Stabilizing Pearls flickered faintly.

Shen Xing was responsible for maintaining the defense formation, blocking the relentless hail overhead. Yun Zhu used her Snow Sweeping Technique to clear the blizzard that obscured their vision, while Yue Nianxin poured her spiritual sense into the Soul Stabilizing Pearl, following its guidance to search for Su Bai.

Panic surged in Yue Nianxin’s heart.

After an unknown time, the hail finally ceased, and the snow lessened.

Ahead stood hundreds of figures, motionless in the snow, forming a half-circle around something.

“Snow Demons!” Yun Zhu frowned. “Why are Snow Demons here?”

“The lowest cultivation among them is the peak Nascent Soul stage!” Yue Nianxin gritted her teeth. “But the Soul Stabilizing Pearl shows our junior sister is among them.”

“Whether they’re Snow Demons or not doesn’t matter,” Shen Xing said. “By seniority, the three of us are her senior brothers and sisters. Moreover, our junior sister’s master, Elder Yaoguang, entrusted us with many artifacts, hoping we’d bring her back safely.”

His tone grew serious. “This is our duty.”

Yun Zhu nodded and pulled out a handful of pills from her bag, grimly saying, “If we can’t win, we’ll just take the pills and wear them down!”

“There are more of them, but we have more pills!”

Yue Nianxin had been ready to fight to the death but didn’t want to endanger others. Hearing Yun Zhu and Shen Xing, her heart warmed, nearly bringing tears to her eyes.

With the lowest among them at peak Nascent Soul, if a fight broke out, their survival odds were slim.

“Kill?” Yue Nianxin made a throat-slitting gesture, holding back tears.

“Kill!” Shen Xing bared his teeth.

“Kill!” Yun Zhu clenched her fist, eyes resolute.

Just having emerged from the illusions, their blood surged with righteous fury, eager to die on this snowfield in honor of the eternal Dao.

Yet, they decided to test the Snow Demons’ attitude first.

Shen Xing cautiously stepped forward and tapped the shoulder of the last Snow Demon.

“Um... what are you looking at?”

But as soon as he spoke, the Snow Demon turned and gestured for silence, signaling them not to speak.

What was going on?

The three exchanged glances.

Yue Nianxin grew more anxious and pushed past the Snow Demons to get inside.

Yun Zhu and Shen Xing followed.

Unexpectedly, the Snow Demons made no move against them.

Their minds were utterly captivated by whatever lay within.

No.

Yue Nianxin trembled.

They were revering something.

The Snow Demon Saintess stood at the front.

And there, on the snow ahead, sat a girl turned into a snowman.

Although made of snow, pale blue flames flickered over her.

“Junior sister!”

Yue Nianxin’s pupils contracted as she rushed forward.

But the Snow Demon Saintess raised a hand, and an icy barrier rose, stopping Yue Nianxin’s advance.

“Do not disturb her.”

She turned, her voice tinged with warning.

Seeing Yue Nianxin halted, Shen Xing drew his sword, ready to fight the Saintess to the death, but she merely waved her hand gently.

Icy vines sprouted from the snow, effortlessly binding Shen Xing’s feet.

At the critical moment, Shen Xing’s eyes sharpened. Though his feet were trapped, he poured sword intent into his blade and unleashed a soul-infused strike, the sword energy surging sharply toward the Snow Demon Saintess.

The sword technique his junior sister had taught him—he had finally mastered it at this life-or-death moment!

Yun Zhu also summoned a Fire Dragon Technique to strike from behind.

The Snow Demon Saintess shook her head, her icy, snow-made eyes brimming with cold. She flicked her fingers, and the fire dragon froze instantly, then raised an ice wall with ease, blocking Shen Xing’s sword energy.

Though the sword energy did not break the ice wall, it left a mark two inches deep.

The Saintess, tired of fighting, lifted her hand and straightforwardly froze the three troublemakers, preventing further chaos.

Now at the peak tribulation stage, three Golden Core cultivators were hardly a challenge.

Her gaze lingered briefly on the sword scar on the ice wall.

“Good swordsmanship.”

She withdrew her gaze and complimented faintly.

Yun Zhu’s heart was anxious, finally understanding what it meant to be at the mercy of others.

A peak tribulation cultivator was a powerhouse capable of establishing her own sect. She didn’t even want to fight the three of them, yet with a mere gesture, she could imprison them in an ice wall.

Or rather, they should consider themselves lucky she harbored no murderous intent.

But should they just stand by and watch Su Bai fall into their hands?

What exactly did they want? Was there something special about Su Bai’s phoenix bloodline? Or did her Heavenly Water Spirit Root differ from others, granting her unique value to the Snow Demons?

Countless thoughts flashed through Yun Zhu’s mind, growing increasingly fearful. She gripped the ice wall with her right hand and pounded it desperately with her left, shouting, “Using these crooked and heretical methods to cultivate will lead to no good end!”

The Snow Demon Saintess looked up. “Noisy.”

Then sealed Yun Zhu’s mouth with ice.

Though the temperature was frigid, cold sweat formed on Yun Zhu’s forehead. She struck the ice harder and harder, blood seeping from her fingertips, leaving bloody scratches on the ice wall.

No!

She hadn’t yet learned sword control!

She hadn’t even mastered the simplest soul-infused sword strike!

Therefore—

Junior sister must live!

Even if she died, she would bring her back!

Could a peak tribulation cultivator make her surrender?

She refused to lose. She could not lose!

At that instant, the barrier that had long held Yun Zhu back from the Nascent Soul realm abruptly loosened in her spiritual sea.

At that moment, the girl sitting silently in the snow fluttered her eyelashes.

The pale blue flames entwining her merged into her forehead, forming a lotus-shaped mark with a silver-white outline and icy blue core.

Su Bai opened her eyes.

Hundreds of Snow Demons held their breath, and at her awakening, their ingrained reverence and submission to the Devouring Ice Flame stirred them to spontaneously kneel, welcoming their new master.

The Snow Demon Saintess stepped forward and knelt on one knee.

She bowed her head, respectfully addressing her: “Master.”

“You have awakened.”

Shen Xing, ready for a death match: ?

Yun Zhu, on the cusp of Nascent Soul and preparing for tribulation: ?

Yue Nianxin, heartbroken and ready to trade lives: ?

Who would explain what was truly happening?

Two armies facing off—only to find they were on the same side?