# Chapter 322: Words That Pierce the Soul
The wildness and pressure of this sword strike caused Gong Yuxian's brows to deeply furrow. Her body descended, landing on the ground. Her long silk ribbons danced, surrounding her in a frenzy of ice blossoms and swirling snow. An ice lotus bloomed heavenward amid the wind and snow...
"Crack!!"
Like a thunderbolt exploding, the violent energy burst forth like a surging tsunami. The ice layers even further below were violently lifted, blotting out all the sky within sight.
Yun Che and Gong Yuxian simultaneously retreated backward. The place where they had stood, for over three hundred zhang in all directions, had all its ice and snow reduced to the finest powder.
No one in the Cang Feng Kingdom dared to question Gong Yuxian's strength. Yet this momentary clash between Yun Che and Gong Yuxian had actually ended in a draw! This shocked every Bing Yun disciple beyond measure. And this single exchange only further ignited the fury of both Yun Che and Gong Yuxian. After a brief pause, Yun Che let out another explosive roar, swung Dragon Gate, and both his body and his sword blazed with scorching hot Phoenix Flame.
Phoenix fire scorched the sky, ice and snow blotted out the sun. Amid earth-shattering explosions, sword shadows and ribbon lights continuously collided, the terrifying sounds like the simultaneous roar of thunder and lightning.
Gong Yuxian's figure drifted and weaved through the snow and phoenix flames... This was the Bing Yun Fairy Palace's signature movement technique, the Ice Flurry Snow Dance Steps. Yun Che had personally experienced it during the ranking battles when he fought Xia Qingyue. When Xia Qingyue executed the Ice Flurry Snow Dance Steps, her posture was elegant and ethereal, like a fairy stepping on clouds—beautiful and mesmerizing. But beneath Gong Yuxian's feet, it was truly as unpredictable as a ghost's shadow! Yun Che countered with Star God Remnant Shadow... although it was only the third-level Star God Remnant Shadow, it was in no way inferior to Gong Yuxian's eighth-level Ice Flurry Snow Dance Steps.
In terms of movement technique, Gong Yuxian, who had immersed herself in the Ice Flurry Snow Dance Steps for nearly a century, found herself unable to gain any upper hand!
Behind Gong Yuxian, the phantom of an ice lotus began to bloom and gradually materialized. When she struck, each dance of her white ribbon released a hundred Ice Phoenix shadows... In the early stages of her exchange with Yun Che, she hadn't used her full power. It was only when she discovered she couldn't overcome him that she began to gradually increase her profound strength. But she was immediately shocked to find that every time she raised her power by one level, her opponent's strength also increased correspondingly, never allowing her to suppress him by even a fraction! When her ice dance transformed into the Ice Phoenix Dance, his heavy sword began to release dragon roars that shook the soul, shredding her Ice Phoenixes piece by piece.
In the blink of an eye, the two had already exchanged over a hundred moves, yet neither could gain the upper hand.
They seemed evenly matched.
But one of these two was the Ice Cloud Palace Master—famous for decades, renowned throughout the world, feared by all!
The other was merely a nineteen-year-old youth!
All the disciples of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace were struck speechless by boundless shock. Their perceptions were completely shattered by this battle.
"Ice Heaven Pivot!"
After a violent collision, the two separated by a great distance. Gong Yuxian stabilized her body before Yun Che. Her hands gathered together, and with a crackling sound, an ice coffin rapidly formed around Yun Che's body. The ice coffin was not thick, but it contained an extremely high density of Ice Cloud power. Once sealed inside, even a peer-level opponent would find it difficult to break free in a short time.
The Ice Heaven Pivot successfully trapped Yun Che. Gong Yuxian's expression relaxed slightly as she said sternly, "At your age and with your strength, you are comparable to the successors of the Four Sacred Grounds! Almost equal to Xia Qingyue of my Bing Yun Fairy Palace! For the Cang Feng Empire to produce a genius like you, I do not wish to personally destroy you. But your offense against my Bing Yun Fairy Palace is absolutely unforgivable!"
Yun Che paid her no heed. He smashed his sword against the ice coffin, producing a booming sound.
Gong Yuxian said coldly, "This is my Bing Yun Fairy Palace's strongest sealing technique—Ice Heaven Pivot. Once sealed within, it is absolutely impossible to break free in a short..."
With a cracking sound, a long fissure rapidly spread across the ice coffin, causing Gong Yuxian's voice to choke in her throat, her face filled with shock.
Yun Che grinned coldly and swung his second sword.
"Falling Moon and Sinking Star!"
Boom!!
With an explosive sound, the Ice Heaven Pivot completely burst apart. Amid the flying ice crystals, Yun Che's figure seemed to tear through space itself, rushing like a ghost before Gong Yuxian. Behind him, the shadow of a Celestial Wolf proudly emerged.
"Heavenly Wolf... Strike!"
The incredibly resilient Ice Heaven Pivot had been broken by Yun Che in just two strikes. Under tremendous shock, Gong Yuxian experienced a moment of distraction, and was then heavily struck in the chest by a wolf shadow containing the power to crush mountains.
"Pfft!!"
The power contained within the wolf shadow far exceeded Gong Yuxian's expectations. Her internal organs instantly shifted slightly, her blood flow became chaotic, and a mist of blood sprayed from her mouth. Her body staggered backward more than ten steps, a trail of blood at the corner of her mouth shocking to behold.
"Palace Master!"
"Palace Master!!"
The six Ice Cloud Fairies, their faces filled with alarm, quickly rushed over to guard in front of Gong Yuxian. Their ice spirits trembled, and a chilling cold emanated from them. But even more present was an extreme shock that they could not dispel... Although it was a sneak attack, he had actually injured Gong Yuxian!!
His combat power had infinitely shattered their imagination and understanding... That was at least the strength of the King Xuan Realm!
To have reached such a level before the age of twenty—his future achievements were simply unimaginable!
Yet Yun Che did not continue his attack. In the sight of all the Bing Yun disciples, he withdrew his sword stance, and even Dragon Gate disappeared from his hands.
"Gong Yuxian..." The anger in Yun Che's expression and eyes had vanished, replaced by a calm that should never appear in someone his age. It was as if he were not facing the Ice Cloud Palace Master, but a sinner awaiting judgment: "You cannot understand my anger, just as I cannot understand the meaning of Bing Yun Fairy Palace's rules and reputation to you. Everything you did to Chu Yuechan—perhaps from your standpoint, you did nothing wrong. But to me, making her leave the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, and thus carrying a pregnancy into unpredictable danger, is an unforgivable mistake! This sword strike is what you owe me!"
Gong Yuxian slowly suppressed her internal injuries and said sternly, "Your talent is astounding and unparalleled, but your temperament is extreme and arrogant, your heart narrow and selfish! Back then, I personally brought Yuechan back to the Bing Yun Fairy Palace. She was my last personal disciple! I poured most of my life's effort into her, and thus the far-famed Ice Chan Fairy was born! Whether she violated the sect's rules, defiled the palace's honor, or even if I had crippled her cultivation for no reason and then expelled her from the ice palace, I would owe her nothing at all! As for you... Hmph! You defiled my Bing Yun disciple and stained the thousand-year reputation of my ice palace. Even if I personally killed you, it would be more than justified! Why should I protect you and Yuechan's bastard child? Your accusations and your coming to demand justice are utterly preposterous!"
Yun Che slowly turned his head and said coldly, "You don't owe Chu Yuechan anything? Ha... No! You owe her! You owe her a great deal! If, back then, Chu Yuechan had not met you and been brought to Bing Yun Fairy Palace, she would have lived the life of a normal woman. With her peerless beauty, she could have found a man who would regard her as his entire life, experienced the most complete emotions, and had the most perfect life. But you—aside from giving her powerful strength—what else did you give her? Did she ever laugh, cry, or feel joy? Every day amidst ice and snow, every day immersed in Ice Cloud cultivation, and under the shackles of your sect's rules, she was never allowed to touch emotions... What you gave her was to turn her, a living, breathing person, into an ice sculpture with her emotions almost completely frozen!"
"You nearly destroyed her entire life!"
"Although she and I were only briefly acquainted, she was willing to betray the Bing Yun Fairy Palace she had lived in for decades for my sake. That was because during that time, I made her become a true woman again, no longer an emotionless ice sculpture sealed by Bing Yun!" Yun Che's voice was slow and cold. "Your Bing Yun Fairy Palace gathers talented and beautiful women from all over every year, bringing them into the ice palace and putting shackles on them for life. To perpetuate your ice palace's legacy, how many of the finest women have you buried the complete destiny they deserved? When I said your Bing Yun Fairy Palace's rules are the most inhumane shackles in the world, I didn't wrong you in the slightest! To countless people, the Bing Yun Fairy Palace is like a sacred ground, but in my eyes, it is nothing more than a living tomb that should not exist!"
"You... you... shut up!" Gong Yuxian roared, her face twitching—yes, twitching! Even Yun Che himself hadn't expected his words to provoke such a violent reaction from her. And those Bing Yun women were all stunned. No one had ever spoken such words to them before. Such slander, even insults to their sect, should have aroused their anger and rejection, but every word, every sentence, and every character penetrated their souls like a curse, pricking the emotions that lay dormant deep within them—emotions that could never truly disappear.
Yun Che glanced calmly at Gong Yuxian and continued, "You say I am selfish. I completely agree with that, because I am indeed a person who is selfish to the extreme! If I had to exchange the lives of ten thousand innocent, unrelated people to save Chu Yuechan's life, I would directly kill those ten thousand innocent people like a demon, without even a moment's hesitation! That is my selfishness! For Chu Yuechan, I can bear any nightmare or sin. But you... and the Bing Yun Fairy Palace... never will!"
Gong Yuxian: "..."
Yun Che turned his back and said indifferently, "Although I resent you for expelling Chu Yuechan from the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, I am also somewhat grateful. Because when I find her, she will be completely mine, Chu Yuechan with no connection to your Bing Yun Fairy Palace! She will no longer have to bear such heavy mental shackles because of you!"
After saying this, Yun Che lifted his foot and slowly walked toward the palace gate.
"Don't stop him!" Gong Yuxian reached out and grabbed Murong Qianxue and Jun Lianqie, who were about to give chase. With a pale face, she said, "You two... are no match for him. Let him go."
After saying these words, Gong Yuxian seemed to have exhausted all her strength. The internal injuries, which should not have been too severe, caused her to slowly collapse to the ground. Her eyes were completely vacant, and she could no longer hear the panicked cries around her.
In her mind, like a dream, the figure of a young man surfaced... He had melted her frozen heart with his deep affection. In him, she had found joy she had never experienced in the Bing Yun Fairy Palace. But she had not been as brave as Chu Yuechan... She retreated... severed ties... never saw him again... And then, at the edge of the Ice Extreme Snow Domain, where they had first met, she found his cold corpse, still exuding an aura of grief...
Eighty years had passed, but that beautiful dream had turned into the most piercing nightmare, countless times stabbing her soul, which she thought had been completely frozen and silenced.
Yun Che's words had violently awakened this nightmare she had been using all her strength to forget, making it surge and throb...
...