Chapter 253: How Do You Want to Die?
Tianchi Secret Realm, northwest direction.
Boom!!
A mountain wall was directly blasted open, revealing large areas of soil and rocks buried under ice and snow. Based on past experience entering the Tianchi Secret Realm, rare stones were often found beneath such mountain walls.
After blasting open the mountain wall, Fen Mo Li did not move forward. Instead, his entire body trembled, frozen in place, and his expression turned extremely ugly. The middle-aged man beside him hastily asked, "Grand Elder, what's wrong?"
Fen Mo Li's face gradually became incomparably gloomy. The anger and killing intent suddenly emanating from him made the middle-aged man tremble with fear. After a long while, he said in a low voice, "Juebi... is dead!"
"What!?" The middle-aged man was greatly shocked. They had entered the Tianchi Secret Realm less than an hour ago and had yet to gain anything, but they had already received such bad news. He asked in alarm, "Grand Elder, Juebi had your soul imprint on him. Who... who has such audacity to kill Juebi!"
"It's Mu Tianbei!" Fen Mo Li clenched his fists, almost crushing his finger bones. Suddenly, he punched out, sending a purple flame forward that blasted the small hill ahead into powder. He roared with extreme anger: "Mu Tianbei!! Our Fen Tian Gate has no grievances or grudges with you, yet you resort to such a vicious hand! Within a month, I will make sure your Tianqiang Leihuo Fort disappears from this world forever!"
On the other side, Mu Tianbei descended from the air. Looking at the scattered remains of Fen Juebi on the ground, his body swayed, and his face was as ugly as if he had swallowed a dead fly alive. Fen Juecheng's face was ten times uglier than his, his once somewhat handsome face twisted to the point that even his own mother would never recognize him.
Fen Juebi was dead... He had just threatened Yun Che with the existence of his soul imprint, and now Fen Juebi was dead in the blink of an eye... and not at the hands of Yun Che, but from a spear strike that Mu Tianbei had intended to kill Yun Che.
Pa pa pa pa...
Light clapping came from the side. Yun Che's face was filled with schadenfreude. He turned to Mu Tianbei and said gratefully, "As expected of the Fort Master of Tianqiang Leihuo Fort! That spear strike was truly peerless and exquisite. The younger generation had a small conflict with Fort Master Mu before and had been brooding over it. I never thought that when the younger generation was in trouble, Fort Master Mu would not only not kick me when I'm down or stand by coldly, but would instead act chivalrously and shoot dead the second young master of Fen Tian Gate with one spear! Such a broad mind, such spirit, such courage—I am both ashamed and full of admiration! By the way, I heard that this Fen Juebi had a soul imprint left by Fen Mo Li on him. By now, Fen Mo Li should know of Fort Master Mu's feat of shooting dead his second young master. He must be so angry right now that his soul has left his body and ascended to heaven, hahahahahaha..."
After a string of taunts and sarcasm, Yun Che even added a burst of wild laughter. Mu Tianbei's face turned from green to black, then from black to white. The anger stuffed in his chest almost burst his chest cavity. He clenched his fists and roared furiously, "Little brat! The young gate master will naturally explain this matter to the Fort Master! You're about to die and still able to laugh! Watch me break every bone in your body!!"
Mu Tianbei leaped up in fury, pouncing at Yun Che, his right hand forming a claw, aiming straight for Yun Che's crown.
Yun Che stood still, not moving, staring at Mu Tianbei's approaching claw with a mocking look. This reaction made Mu Tianbei's heart skip a beat, and his movements slowed. Just then, an extremely cold chill suddenly hit his face. Several cold lights shot toward his eyes. Mu Tianbei stopped his advance and grabbed at the incoming objects, which turned out to be several icicles releasing bone-piercing cold air.
On the other side, a white silk ribbon shot out from the wind and snow, wrapping around Yun Che's waist, pulling him away swiftly. At the other end of the ribbon was a snow-white, soft and slender woman's figure!
"Qingyue?" Yun Che looked in surprise at the suddenly appearing Xia Qingyue. He hadn't expected that the fourth person trailing him that Mo Li had mentioned... was Xia Qingyue.
"Don't talk, hurry!"
Xia Qingyue's brows were tightly knit as she carried Yun Che at extreme speed through the wind and snow. In such an environment, other profound practitioners would be greatly hindered, but for her, not only was there no hindrance, she could even use the ice and snow to quickly recover profound energy. So even carrying Yun Che, her speed was extremely fast. The two soon vanished into the wind and snow.
Mu Tianbei naturally recognized that person as Xia Qingyue. He shook off the icicles from his hand, but did not pursue. Instead, he stopped there, unmoving for a long time, his face shifting through various expressions.
"Fort Master Mu, what are you standing there for! Go kill him!" Fen Juecheng shouted urgently.
Mu Tianbei still did not move. He took a deep breath and said, "That person is Xia Qingyue of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace! When Yun Che was alone, of course I wanted to eliminate him to avoid future trouble! But now he has Xia Qingyue by his side. If I kill him, the Bing Yun Fairy Palace will know! Once the news spreads that I, the dignified Fort Master of Tianqiang Leihuo Fort, killed Yun Che in the Tianchi Secret Realm, how can I still hold my head up!"
"Then kill Xia Qingyue as well!" Fen Juecheng said with a twisted face.
"Wh... what!?" Mu Tianbei was greatly startled. What status did Xia Qingyue have? She could be considered the most talented disciple in the history of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace! If he killed Xia Qingyue and the Bing Yun Fairy Palace found out, it wouldn't just be a matter of him holding his head up—the entire Tianqiang Leihuo Fort would become a deadly enemy of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, facing their ultimate fury. Centuries of foundation would be uprooted. The consequences were not something he could bear.
"What is there to hesitate about?" Fen Juecheng said loudly. "Kill both of them. After the secret realm closes, no one will know! As for my second brother's matter, I will explain it clearly to the Grand Elder. If you let them go now, your attempt to kill Yun Che will also be spread by them. Your reputation, Mu Tianbei, will plummet from now on! Moreover, you have seen how ruthless Yun Che's nature is. You provoked him before, and now you have tried to take his life. When he grows up in the future, do you think your Tianqiang Leihuo Fort will have any peace? By then, it won't just be you who suffers!"
"If you still can't figure it out!" Fen Juecheng's voice began to carry a threat: "Then I won't bother explaining my second brother's matter to the Grand Elder... heh heh, do you want to throw caution to the wind and simply kill me too, so that our Fen Tian Gate hates you even more?"
Mu Tianbei's entire body stiffened. His face twitched for a moment, then suddenly, snow and ice flew up from under his feet, and he shot out like a goshawk, chasing in the direction Xia Qingyue and Yun Che had fled.
"Qingyue, you... how... are you here..."
The speed was too fast. As soon as Yun Che opened his mouth, a large amount of wind and snow poured in. He used all his strength to barely manage to ask a question he already knew the answer to.
Xia Qingyue did not speak. Whether she didn't hear or was too worried about being caught by Mu Tianbei, she dared not be distracted in the slightest.
Earlier, after Yun Che had left, she worried he might encounter danger, so she quietly changed direction and followed behind him. The heavy wind and snow made it easy to conceal aura, so neither Yun Che nor Mu Tianbei had noticed she was nearby all along. As for why she couldn't help but follow behind him, the reason she gave herself was that Yun Che's injuries were ultimately because of her, so she had a responsibility to protect him in this dangerous place.
But she never expected Fen Juecheng and Fen Juebi to try to kill him, and even more so, she never expected a sect master-level Mu Tianbei!
Yun Che's eyes moved. His body suddenly tilted, and he tumbled headfirst into the snow, then was miserably dragged through the snow by Xia Qingyue. Xia Qingyue quickly stopped, her voice urgent: "Are you alright? Get up quickly! If Mu Tianbei catches up, it'll be terrible."
Yun Che straightened his upper body, shook off the snow on his head, and said pitifully, "Qing... Qingyue wife, it seems my internal injuries have relapsed... I... I can't run anymore... You go quickly... don't worry about me! He wants to kill me. As long as you stay far away, he won't... do anything to you... cough cough cough cough..."
Yun Che coughed a few times, forcefully spitting out the snow that had been forced into his chest cavity.
Xia Qingyue looked back anxiously, throwing caution to the wind. She put away the Ice Phoenix Qionghua Ribbon, reached under Yun Che's arm, and helped him up: "Hold on to me... In this environment, we might still escape!"
Yun Che obligingly reached out and hugged Xia Qingyue's waist. Her waist was slim and soft, so slender it seemed like it could be encircled with one hand. It was hard to imagine that this fragile willow-like body could release power that freezes heaven and earth. Once Yun Che hugged it, he was reluctant to let go and almost moaned in comfort.
Being hugged closely by a man, a deep sense of strangeness flashed through Xia Qingyue's heart. Immediately, she activated her Bingyun Art to its fullest, executing the Bing Yun Fairy Palace's exclusive movement technique "Ice Illusion Snow Dance," fleeing north at extreme speed.
"Little brat! Where do you think you're going! Prepare to die!"
Behind them, Mu Tianbei's howl suddenly rang out. Xia Qingyue quickly looked back and was shocked to see his figure emerging from the wind and snow, getting closer and closer.
Xia Qingyue's beautiful eyes condensed with cold light. She extended her left arm, and as a mass of ice-blue light danced, all the snowflakes within a few dozen zhang around were drawn by her and flew toward Mu Tianbei.
Boom!!
With a loud crash, all the snow was easily shaken off by Mu Tianbei. As the Fort Master of Tianqiang Leihuo Fort, Mu Tianbei had a profound strength of at least Level 5 of the Heavenly Xuan Realm. His overall strength was almost comparable to Xia Qingyue's master, Chu Yueli, and far beyond what Xia Qingyue could resist. Even if she forcibly opened the Ice Cloud Domain, she could hardly affect him.
Yun Che was enjoying hugging Xia Qingyue, his hands occasionally caressing her slender waist, feeling quite comfortable. But then Mu Tianbei had to come charging in and was getting closer and closer, eventually reaching a distance where he could attack them. Yun Che bared his teeth in annoyance and said softly, "Mo Li, kill him!"
Boom!!
Right in front of them, where there was apparently nothing, Mu Tianbei, who was about to catch up to Xia Qingyue and Yun Che, suddenly crashed into something extremely hard. He was knocked dizzy, spinning several times in the air. He steadied himself, shook his head, and when he looked ahead again, Xia Qingyue and Yun Che had disappeared. In front of him, a little girl in a cute red princess dress floated quietly.
Snowflakes fell heavily, filling every corner, but not a single flake landed on the little girl's body. Looking at her, Mu Tianbei was stunned for a long time, because the little girl was so exquisitely beautiful—far more than the finest porcelain doll crafted by the best artisans of the Cang Feng Empire. Such an exquisite little face, however, bore a coldness completely mismatched with her age and cute appearance.
She extended a finger more delicate than white snow, pointing at Mu Tianbei, her crystal-like eyes releasing a faint bloody light: "How do you want to die?" r1058
...
...