Chapter 1709: The Mountain Has Trees, the Trees Have Branches
The melted ice branch turned into a pale cloud of mist, vanishing in an instant.
Huo Poyun quickly turned around, catching sight of Mu Feixue. Her icy pupils reflected the dissipating ice mist, but there was no trace of him within them.
"Fairy Feixue..." Huo Poyun's hand froze mid-air, momentarily forgetting to lower it.
Mu Feixue's figure flickered, appearing in front of Huo Poyun. Her jade fingers condensed cold, releasing chill, and the ice branch reformed—but upon it, there were no longer the marks carved by her snowy hands and icy heart.
"Forgive me," Huo Poyun said, a flicker of panic flashing in his eyes. "I was lost in thought watching the ice flowers and momentarily lost control..."
One breath... two breaths... A brief, cold silence. Mu Feixue turned around, her snowy face and icy eyes showing no anger or abnormality, only a cold, familiar indifference that Huo Poyun knew all too well: "The Flame God Realm King honors the Ice Phoenix Palace with his presence. May I ask what business he has?"
"Your King... I was just..." Huo Poyun quickly lowered his hand. "I had business visiting the Ice Cloud Realm King and came by for a look."
As the Realm King of the Flame God Realm, he could face any other upper-level Realm King with composure. Only before Mu Feixue did his breath and heartbeat inexplicably spiral out of control.
"The Sect Master is currently in seclusion and not receiving guests. Flame God Realm King, please return," Mu Feixue said.
Huo Poyun gathered his energy internally, quickly suppressing the turmoil in his heart. The image of the newly carved characters on the ice branch flashed through his mind, and the slight agitation gradually transformed into a resolve he had never before possessed. He looked into Mu Feixue's eyes and suddenly said, "Actually, I came specifically to see you. I even deliberately..."
"Since you have seen, please return," Mu Feixue replied, as plain as ever. Her supremely beautiful face and crystal-like icy eyes betrayed not a single trace of emotion. "The Flame God Realm King is of noble status. To stoop so low as to visit a disciple of a mid-level star realm alone would be beneath your dignity."
As her voice fell, her figure directly swept past Huo Poyun, walking slowly toward the hall.
"Feixue!" Huo Poyun spun around sharply, calling her by name directly. "Is your heart still unable to forget Yun Che?"
"..." Her icy eyes rippled gently, but she did not stop walking, nor did she respond.
"But he has never cared about you!" Huo Poyun's voice rose several notches. Since the words had left his mouth, he finally steeled himself and abandoned all hesitation. "Do you know, he personally told me back then that Realm King Xuanyin had given you to him as a dual cultivation partner, but he flatly refused... He told me this himself!"
"..." At last, her footsteps ceased, but still no emotion could be seen on her snowy face. She said softly, "That I have him in my heart—what does it matter whether he has me in his?"
These words were also an admonition to Huo Poyun.
But the stillness of ice and the wildness of fire were ultimately different.
"But he is a demon! A demon! A demon!" Huo Poyun growled three times. "He is the demon written in your Ice Phoenix Sect's rules—a demon to be slain on sight!"
His figure flickered, blocking Mu Feixue's path, staring into her eyes. "Moreover, in the Northern Divine Region, he is revered as the Dark Demon Lord! The Yun Che of today is not only a demon, but the most extreme and most evil of demons! All the Divine Emperors of the three Divine Regions regard him as a great threat. Aside from the dark Northern Divine Region, there is no place left in the world for him. Why, why are you still so stubbornly deluded?"
"Dark Demon Lord..." Mu Feixue murmured softly, a glimmer of light blue, dreamy radiance surfacing in her ice-crystal eyes. "As expected of him. Even when the world pushes him into the abyss of darkness, he can still shine so brilliantly."
Even though he was right before her, even though he stood in the direct line of her vision, Huo Poyun still could not see his own reflection in her icy eyes.
At the mention of Yun Che becoming the Dark Demon Lord, the emotion that surfaced in her eyes was not fear or terror, but rather—an admiration and infatuation he had never seen before and could never, ever evoke from her.
Huo Poyun's pupils dilated silently by a fraction. Within his heart, it was as if countless wild flames were burning in chaotic turmoil. He could not understand why, even though he had climbed to such heights, the woman before him still refused to spare him a single glance.
Yet Yun Che, who had once rejected her, never held her in his heart, and had now become a demon—she remained so obsessed with him.
"And do you know how many women he has outside?!" Huo Poyun, in his turmoil, was already beginning to speak recklessly. "It is said that in the lower realms, he already has several wives and concubines, and perhaps even children! He had a prior engagement with Shui Meiyin of the Glazed Light Realm, the Moon God Emperor was once his wife, and the Heavenly Execution Star God is entangled with him.
"Even your own master—the outside world is rife with rumors of an improper relationship between them..."
Suddenly recalling Mu Feixue's deep respect for Mu Xuanyin, Huo Poyun stopped himself in time.
There was no response. Mu Feixue bypassed him once more and walked slowly away.
Huo Poyun turned, watching Mu Feixue's retreating figure. As the Flame God Realm King, the greatest glory in Flame God history, he felt nothing but helplessness and oppression in his heart. "Why! I don't understand! Why are you so fixated on him?!"
Why...
Mu Feixue stepped silently on the snow, a dreamy mist shimmering in her eyes, and whispered, as if to herself or as if confiding: "Because... he is Yun Che."
Huo Poyun stood frozen there, not moving an inch until Mu Feixue vanished from both his sight and his perception.
Only then did a cool voice slowly reach him: "Women of the Ice Phoenix are extremely hard to fall in love with. But once their hearts melt, they are unwavering unto death."
Mu Bingyun walked slowly over and said to Huo Poyun, "Flame God Realm King, release your obsession with Feixue. No matter how much you force it, there will never be a result. With your current status and position, there are countless wonderful women in the world for you to choose from. Why must you cling to a doomed thought?"
Huo Poyun’s eyes refocused. He gave Mu Bingyun a stiff smile and a nod. "Let the Ice Cloud Realm King see my shame. Farewell."
With that, he soared into the air and departed swiftly.
"Flame God Realm King, was it you who quelled the southern domain's wild beast uprising in our realm earlier?" Mu Bingyun called out.
Huo Poyun’s heart was in turmoil. He vanished into the distance without replying.
————
Time flowed, and before anyone knew it, a year had passed.
It had been a remarkably peaceful year.
In the Eastern Divine Region, the Brahma God Divine Realm had been recuperating and lying low ever since the Three Brahma Gods died at the hands of Jie Yuan and the Brahma Divine Maiden was first crippled then fled. There had been no major commotions, and Qianye Fantian had not shown himself in public again.
However, rumors quietly spread that the Brahma God power inherited by the Three Brahma Gods had already found new successors.
With only six Star Gods remaining and always failing to find Xing Juekong, the Star God Realm had remained dormant. In the eyes of the world, the Star God Realm had withered like this due to the Evil Infant calamity, and it would take at least several generations to recover to its peak.
But the Six Star Gods knew very well... the disappearance of the Star God Emperor was a minor matter; if the Star God Wheel could not be recovered, the Star God Realm simply had no next generation.
The Moon God Realm, as usual, remained peaceful. Rumors said that the Moon God Emperor had been in seclusion all this time, refusing all visitors.
As for the Heaven Punishing God Realm, it had remained in a state of realm closure ever since losing the Heaven Punishing Crown Prince.
However, a piece of news had recently spread: The Heaven Punishing God Realm was preparing to hold a ceremony to install a new crown prince, but it would not invite outside guests.
Although the speed at which the Heaven Punishing God Realm installed a new crown prince surprised everyone, it was not too strange. Two or three years ago, there had already been rumors that the Heaven Punishing God Emperor was considering stepping down. Choosing a new crown prince so quickly was both a way to ease the pain of losing his son and seemed to confirm the earlier rumors.
But another kind of rumor began to quietly spread from some lower-level and mid-level star realms.
"I heard that the Heaven Punishing God Realm has been frequently sending people to the border of the Northern Divine Region over the past few months. This is no random fabrication. The news seems to have come simultaneously from several star realms at the northern borders of the Eastern and Western Divine Regions, the ones closest to the Northern Divine Region. It might very well be true."
"It seems I heard that the reason the Heaven Punishing God Realm is installing a new crown prince so quickly is that the Heaven Punishing God Emperor wants to focus entirely on launching a full-scale attack on the Northern Divine Region, to exterminate the demons on a massive scale."
"What? Why?"
"Remember the rumor from a year ago? It also came from the northern border: that the Heaven Punishing God Emperor once secretly entered the Northern Divine Region with Zhou Qingchen, and that rumor says Zhou Qingchen actually died there."
"No one believed that rumor a year ago, but if it matches this current news... hss!"
"Could it be true?"
"Could Zhou Qingchen really have died in the Northern Divine Region? Has the Heaven Punishing God Realm been closed and silent all this time because they're preparing for revenge?"
"Zhou Qingchen was the Heaven Punishing God Emperor's only legitimate son, cherished like his own life. If he was indeed killed by demons, it would be no surprise if the Heaven Punishing God Emperor was furious beyond measure."
"Speaking of which, although demons are ugly species that should have been exterminated long ago, if they keep hiding in the Northern Divine Region like a 'dog cage,' it would be very difficult to launch a strong attack. Otherwise, the three Divine Regions would have joined forces long ago to wipe out the Northern Divine Region."
"So these are probably just chaotic rumors. Take them with a grain of salt."
"Besides, how can we mere mortals speculate about matters at the level of the Heaven Punishing God Realm?"
These 'rumors' once again spread from the northern border for unknown reasons. They did not spread quickly, but they also covered a fairly wide area.
Although still not very credible and mostly treated as novel gossip, this time the rumors made people think of the nearly forgotten rumor from a year ago that few had believed... There seemed to be some subtle alignment between the two.
————
Northern Divine Region, Eternal Dark Bone Sea.
In the dark world, ancient yin energy raged like a hurricane, sweeping through continuously.
After several hours, finally, amid a particularly muffled roar, the Eternal Dark Bone Sea fell silent.
Then, a man clad in tattered black robes, shrouded in dark, baleful aura, slowly walked out of the Eternal Dark Bone Sea.
Rumble!
The moment he stood under the sun, dark clouds surged and churned above the Yanmo Realm, trembling in fear.
Because the terrifying demon god feared by the Heavenly Dao had grown even stronger.
The Three Yanmo Ancestors, guarding the exit of the Eternal Dark Bone Sea, saw Yun Che and immediately knelt down, bellowing: "Congratulations, Master, on your breakthrough!"
Behind them, all the members of the Yanmo race knelt in reverence, their shouts shaking the heavens: "Congratulations, Demon Lord, on your breakthrough!"
Yun Che slowly raised his hand. Within his pupils and between his palms was a darkness deeper and more profound than ever before.
On his lips was the savage grin of a demon that made the entire Yanmo Imperial Domain shiver.
In one year, by harnessing the ancient yin energy of the Eternal Dark Bone Sea, he had broken through rapidly from the eighth level of the Divine Lord Realm to the ninth level... and today, he had successfully stepped into the highest level of the Divine Lord Realm.
The tenth level of the Divine Lord Realm.
According to his agreement with Chi Wuyue, the day he achieved the tenth level of the Divine Lord Realm...
Would be the time to raise the curtain on his war of vengeance!
Four years.
A very short time.
But to him, it had already been far too long.
He had long been unable to wait!