# Chapter 321: Ice Cloud Palace Master
A single sword strike blasted open the defensive barrier simultaneously erected by the Ice Cloud Seven Immortals. Yun Che clenched his teeth and, filled with burning rage, formally stepped into the Bing Yun Fairy Palace. At that moment, a furious shout descended from above: "Audacious wretch! You dare to trespass into our Ice Palace and destroy our gate... You will not be forgiven!"
A bone-chilling blizzard storm howled toward him, forcibly halting Yun Che's advance. Yun Che let out a great roar, swung his heavy sword in an arc, and instantly dispersed the ice storm, then slashed his sword at the figure rapidly descending from the air.
The person before him appeared to be in her forties or fifties. From her body radiated an oppressive aura that deeply pressured him... Her strength was greater than Fen Duanhun, greater than Xiao Juetian, and even greater than Ling Yuefeng! She was the strongest opponent Yun Che had ever encountered in the Cang Feng Empire! A peerless expert who had remained at the King Xuan Realm for a full forty years!
And this person could only be the Palace Master of Bing Yun Fairy Palace—Gong Yuxian!!
Yun Che's already blazing anger flared even more intensely. He flashed, splitting into four afterimages in midair, and simultaneously unleashed four Phoenix Breaks brimming with fury, mercilessly blasting toward Gong Yuxian... This Bing Yun Palace Master, whose strength dominated the world and before whom even the emperor had to defer with seventy percent respect and ninety percent fear.
Gong Yuxian's brows knitted tightly. She swung her arm, and a snow-white long silk sash danced through the air, dispersing all four Phoenix Breaks. With another wave of her arm, the white silk intertwined in midair, forming the shape of a snowflake, carrying heaven-covering might and ice-cold chill as it met Yun Che's heavy sword!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The power of the King Xuan Realm erupted upon collision, shaking the entire Bing Yun Fairy Palace into a subtle tremble. Three overlapping giant craters burst open on the ground, and the space above twisted and nearly collapsed. The Bing Yun disciples closest to the impact were sent flying by the residual waves of profound force, letting out panicked yet melodious cries.
Yun Che's body flipped and landed, his entire blood and energy churning violently. Before him, Gong Yuxian descended slowly, her face clearly marked by deep shock. Her gaze lingered briefly on Yun Che's face, then swept over the Dragon Gate in his hand. Her calm eyes released a frigid, cold light: "At such a young age, to possess such strength, and even wielding a King Xuan sword! Could it be that you are a successor of one of the Sacred Grounds?"
Gong Yuxian was a figure of great stature. Who would dare not answer her? But Yun Che acted as if he hadn't heard, his eyes like those of a fierce wolf, fixed intently on her as he rasped, "Gong Yuxian! Is it true that Chu Yuechan's profound arts were scrapped... and that she was expelled from the Ice Palace?! Speak!"
"Palace Master, he is Yun Che! He is not dead!" Chu Yueli shouted. Among those present, only she had seen Yun Che before.
"Yun Che!?" Gong Yuxian's brow twitched. All the Bing Yun disciples also showed shock and complex expressions on their faces... So this was Yun Che? The one who, with True Xuan Realm profound strength, had won first place in the ranking battles? Xia Qingyue's husband? The one who had impregnated Chu Yuechan? Who had caused turmoil in the Cang Feng Empire? And who had supposedly met his end at the Tian Jian Villa?
At seventeen, winning first place in the ranking battles, with True Xuan Realm strength comparable to Earth Xuan Realm... Such achievements were enough to command the respect of the entire Cang Feng Empire and earned the right for Gong Yuxian to take notice. But after exchanging only a few moves with Yun Che, Gong Yuxian's heart was churning with shock. Her profound strength was at Level 3 of the King Xuan Realm, yet she hadn't gained any advantage over Yun Che. Every swing of that King Xuan heavy sword pressed against her chest like a boulder, making it hard to breathe.
His strength was a hundred times greater than the rumors claimed!
It was probably no less than Xia Qingyue's current level!
A Yun Che like this could truly be called a world-shaking prodigy. No wonder even Chu Yuechan had been moved by him.
"So you are Yun Che." Gong Yuxian was both shocked and angry. The Bing Yun Fairy Palace's thousand-year reputation had been stained because of him, and they had been forced to close the palace also because of him! If not for the fact that Yun Che had supposedly already fallen, she would have left the Ice Palace herself to kill him. She furrowed her brows and said, "You're still alive? And you have the nerve to come to my Bing Yun Fairy Palace to lay blame? You caused Yuechan to violate the sect rules, destroyed my Ice Palace's thousand-year reputation..."
"Pah!" Yun Che roared angrily, "What do your Bing Yun Fairy Palace's damn sect rules have to do with me?! What does your thousand-year reputation have to do with me? In my eyes, your so-called sect rules are nothing but the most inhuman shackles in this world! And that so-called thousand-year reputation is a colossal joke! Chu Yuechan and I love each other, share hardships, and would live and die together... Our affair is something not even the Heavenly King himself could control! What right did you have to scrap her profound arts and expel her from the sect?!"
"How dare you!" Gong Yuxian was furious. She suppressed her anger and said, "Yuechan was my most prized direct disciple. I treated her like my own daughter. Her entire Ice Cloud Art was personally taught by me. Though I hated her for staining the sect's honor and wished I could personally destroy the bastard child in her womb, how could I bear to scrap her profound arts and expel her?! The Ice Cloud Art is a supreme ice-type profound art, chilling the body and heart. Once a woman cultivating the Ice Cloud Art becomes pregnant, within two months, the fetus in her womb will freeze to death! This Ice Extreme Snow Domain is freezing year-round, with extremely heavy cold energy—an excellent place for cultivating the Ice Cloud Art. But prolonged exposure to this excessive cold is also lethal to the fetus! Yuechan, for your sake... for the sake of the bastard seed you left in her body, on the spot scrapped her own profound arts and knelt to beg me to expel her from the Bing Yun Fairy Palace!"
"...!" Yun Che's mind roared and went completely blank. In that blank world, he slowly pictured his little fairy, usually as cold as ice, resolutely scrapping her own profound arts for the sake of their child, kneeling before Gong Yuxian and begging with tears...
Once, though he liked Chu Yuechan and was enchanted by her pure, cold temperament and feeling, he never thought he owed her anything. She had saved him, but in the Dragon God Trial Ground, he had fought desperately to protect her. Even their union was to save her life. But at this moment, he fully understood that he would never be able to forget Chu Yuechan for the rest of his life, and for his whole life, he could never let down her stubborn heart, harder than diamond and more transparent than crystal, hidden beneath her proud, snow-lotus-like exterior.
Yun Che's face began to twitch. Then, he laughed—a laugh both sorrowful and coldly mocking. His tone lowered, but the anger in his voice did not diminish in the slightest: "Gong Yuxian, let me ask you... At that time, was there really no method that could both protect the child in her womb and preserve her profound arts, so that she wouldn't have to leave the Bing Yun Fairy Palace?!"
Gong Yuxian's expression shifted. Facing Yun Che's gaze, as cold as ice blades, the words she was about to speak could not come out. She remained silent for a long time.
Yun Che said in a low voice, "If you temporarily seal her profound meridians with Purple Vein Heavenly Crystal and also protect the child in her womb with Purple Vein Heavenly Crystal, then neither the cold of the Ice Cloud Art nor the cold here could possibly harm the child! Purple Vein Heavenly Crystal is indeed extremely precious, but your Bing Yun Fairy Palace, with a thousand-year legacy, could not possibly be unable to produce enough Purple Vein Heavenly Crystal! You, Gong Yuxian, have lived half a lifetime, your realm at the peak of Cang Feng—you must not tell me you don't know such a method!!"
Yun Che's words struck Gong Yuxian's vital point. Her face remained calm, but facing Yun Che's furious glare, she could not speak.
"Palace Master, is this... true?" Chu Yueli asked. As she spoke, her hands unconsciously clenched.
"Alas!" Gong Yuxian let out a long sigh and said, "At that time, Yuechan suddenly scrapped her own profound arts. I had no time to stop her..."
"Bullshit!" Yun Che angrily interrupted Gong Yuxian's words: "Even if she suddenly scrapped her own profound arts and you had no time to stop her... then why did you allow her to leave the Bing Yun Fairy Palace?! Without her profound arts, how could she protect herself? Moreover, her profound arts had just been scrapped, her body would be weak for a long time, and she was pregnant! If you truly cared about her and regarded her as your own daughter, you should have kept her in the Ice Palace, used Purple Vein Heavenly Crystal to isolate the cold, and with your Ice Palace's protection, she would have been safe until she gave birth! But you chose to expel her! All your excuses are bullshit! What you truly care about is your so-called thousand-year reputation! Because only by expelling her from the Bing Yun Fairy Palace could your reputation be preserved! In the face of so-called reputation, everything else—even your so-called 'daughter'—can be ruthlessly discarded!"
"Nonsense!" Gong Yuxian said angrily, "Though Yuechan scrapped her own profound arts, her profound strength remained! With her King Xuan Realm profound strength, how many people in the entire Cang Feng Empire could harm her?!"
Yun Che grabbed Dragon Gate, releasing a violent aura around him: "I, Yun Che, repay kindness and settle grudges! If your Bing Yun Fairy Palace had treated Chu Yuechan well, kept her in the palace, and protected her as she gave birth to our child, I would have been grateful to your Bing Yun Fairy Palace. I wouldn't even have frowned if it meant risking my life for your Ice Palace! But unfortunately, you made a decision that I cannot help but resent! Gong Yuxian, you had better pray that when I find her, she and our child are safe and sound. Otherwise, even if you are the Bing Yun Palace Master, even if you were the Heavenly Queen Mother herself, I will take your life!!"
Every word Yun Che spoke was ferocious and pressing. Gong Yuxian's barely suppressed anger began to spiral out of control. She said in a low voice, "Regarding Yuechan's matter, though her punishment was not undeserved, in terms of human sentiment, my handling was indeed somewhat lacking. But that cannot be a reason for you to run wild in my Ice Palace! Moreover, it is you who owes my Ice Palace first! In the thousand-year history of my Ice Palace, no one has ever dared to be so arrogant. Today, if you do not give me a satisfactory explanation, you will not leave!"
"Explanation?" Yun Che sneered. "The one who owes an explanation is you, not me! And I never planned to leave immediately! Because I haven't yet made you taste the consequences of provoking me!!"
Yun Che's profound force aura exploded violently, blasting the freshly fallen snow into a flurry once again. He swung Dragon Gate and unleashed an 'Overlord's Wrath' straight at Gong Yuxian's face. The howling wind and a dragon's roar, as if from beyond the heavens, resounded throughout the entire Bing Yun Fairy Palace.
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