Chapter 385: Explanation
Gong Yuxian originally had anger in her eyes, but in an instant, her attention shifted to the "Ice God Divine Art." Yun Che immediately said, "Yes! Qingyue brought the disciple to the Ice God Palace, where I had the fortune to witness the Ice God Divine Art left by the Ice Cloud ancestors. After a day of contemplation, I have achieved some minor success."
A day of contemplation... some minor success...
In the thousand years of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, besides Xia Qingyue, no one had ever been able to master the Ice God Divine Art! And even with someone as talented and perceptive as Xia Qingyue, it had taken her several months just to reach the entry-level!
And Yun Che... had only taken a single day of contemplation!
Gong Yuxian was so shocked that she couldn't speak for a moment. At that time, a large number of Ice Cloud disciples came rushing from all directions, their snow-white robes fluttering like white butterflies gathering in flight... If it were sects like the Xiao Sect or the Fen Tian Gate, such a disturbance would create an imposing, pitch-black crowd that made people tremble with fear. But in the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, it was like a hundred flowers blooming, a beautiful sight that made Yun Che, as the culprit, feel no sense of crisis at all.
"Palace Master, Master, Senior Masters, Senior Uncles... what happened?" Xia Qingyue stepped with the Ice Feather Snow Dance Steps, bringing a gust of cold wind as she arrived beside Gong Yuxian. She glanced at Yun Che, then at Chu Yueli and the others' attire and frost-covered faces... and then at the Ice Cloud Cold Pool behind them. She immediately guessed what had happened.
"Hmph! Qingyue, today you should take a good look at this man you insisted on marrying. Under the cover of night, he came to this Ice Cloud Cold Pool to spy on our bathing! This is absolutely despicable and vile to the extreme!" Chu Yueli said, her brows tightly furrowed.
Although most of the Ice Cloud disciples had vaguely guessed what was happening, when they heard Chu Yueli say it directly, gasps of surprise still echoed from the girls, and their beautiful eyes widened in disbelief... Yun Che not only spied on their bathing, but had spied on six of the Ice Cloud Seven Immortals!
The girls' eyes were filled with shock, coldness, contempt, and even murderous intent. Yun Che felt more wronged than Dou E (and what was the situation with Dou E?), but he said helplessly and weakly, "I've said it many times, I really didn't do it on purpose. This is my first time here; I had no idea that behind the Ice Gate there was a cold pool."
Xia Qingyue bit her lips lightly and stepped forward, saying, "Master, and all the senior masters and uncles, although Yun Che can be reckless and unrestrained at times, I can guarantee that he is not the kind of despicable person who would deliberately spy on women bathing. I believe that Yun Che did it unintentionally. Please calm your anger, Master and all the senior masters and uncles."
"Even if he didn't do it on purpose, so what?" Murong Qianxue said angrily. "The fact remains that his eyes have defiled our bodies... and he also secretly learned our sect's Ice God Divine Art! Such an act is unforgivable."
"Enough." Gong Yuxian raised her hand and finally spoke. "Regarding the Ice God Divine Art, you don't need to be agitated. Didn't you all feel the aura of the 'Ice Cloud Soul Crystal' on Yun Che? I was originally going to announce this at tomorrow's sect meeting, but since things have come to this, I have to tell you in advance... As of today, Yun Che has officially become a disciple of our Bing Yun Fairy Palace, and also the first male disciple in history."
"Ah!?"
"This... Palace Master, are you sure what you said is true?"
"Our sect's first rule is to only accept female disciples with extremely high talent. Why would we accept a male disciple? Is it because of Qingyue?"
"Don't say any more, and don't make baseless speculations." Gong Yuxian said. "This is not my decision, but the decision of the Supreme Palace Master. The Supreme Palace Master did not do this on a whim, nor did she disdain the sect rules. She has a very important reason. What that reason is, I cannot tell you, and you should not ask further. I can only tell you that this reason is very likely related to the future of our Bing Yun Fairy Palace."
Although the Supreme Palace Master Feng Qianhui had not been involved in the palace's affairs for many years, she still held the highest authority in the Bing Yun Fairy Palace. What she decided, even if it went against the sect rules, naturally no one would oppose. But on everyone's face, there was deep shock and incomprehension.
Was the Bing Yun Fairy Palace really going to have a male disciple from now on?
"Since Yun Che has entered our Bing Yun Fairy Palace, he is naturally allowed to practice the Ice God Divine Art." Gong Yuxian turned around and swept her gaze over the Ice Cloud disciples who had come at the sound. "There is no major incident here. Everyone withdraw. Do not forget the main hall's sect meeting tomorrow at the tenth hour."
Under Gong Yuxian's command, the Ice Cloud disciples dispersed and returned to their residences. However, Chu Yueli and the others' anger would not dissipate so easily. Murong Qianxue pointed her sword at Yun Che and said coldly, "Although he is now a fellow disciple... what he did to us just now has nothing to do with whether he is an Ice Cloud disciple or not! Even if he is someone valued by the Supreme Palace Master, today he must give us sisters an explanation. Otherwise, we sisters will find it hard to have peace of mind in the future."
This kind of thing would be hard for any normal woman to accept, let alone the Ice Cloud Seven Immortals, who valued their purity and chastity above life itself. Xia Qingyue believed Yun Che had done it unintentionally, but even if unintentional, he had committed a huge mistake, offending six Ice Fairies at once. She could only plead for Yun Che again, "Master, Senior Masters, Senior Uncles, I know Yun Che has made a grave mistake this time, but I can guarantee that this was an unintentional error. Please, for the sake that he is my disciple... and my husband... forgive him this one unintentional mistake... or at least give him a light punishment..."
She turned her eyes to Yun Che and said in a very soft and urgent voice, "Hurry up and apologize to the six senior masters and uncles."
Yun Che looked innocent and muttered, "I already apologized, but it didn't work..."
"Enough!" Gong Yuxian spoke heavily, looking at Yun Che, at a loss. In the history of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, although they had occasionally received male guests, no male had ever stayed overnight in the Ice Palace. So there had never been an incident where a male's eyes defiled the body of an Ice Cloud disciple. Coupled with the Supreme Palace Master's regard for Yun Che and the words she had spoken today, Gong Yuxian was extremely troubled. As Murong Qianxue said, if there was no explanation today, they would certainly find it hard to have peace of mind. If Yun Che was to be punished, how should he be punished? If such a grave mistake was punished lightly, it would obviously be favoritism. If punished heavily... with Yun Che's fiery temperament and strength that even she could not suppress, it was impossible to predict what he would do.
"Yun Che!" Gong Yuxian said sternly. "I also believe that today's incident was an unintentional mistake on your part. But wrong is wrong, even if unintentional, a great wrong has been committed! The women of our Ice Palace value chastity more than life itself. This matter cannot simply be dropped... You don't need to atone with your life, but whether it's by bearing thorns to apologize or compensating in other ways, you must make amends that will gradually appease their anger! I believe that as Qingyue's husband and known as the number one person in Cang Feng, you will certainly have such responsibility!"
Yun Che took a slow deep breath, thought for a moment, and said, "Palace Master's lesson is well taken. The disciple has been defending his unintentional actions, but he has indeed harmed the six immortals... So, the disciple can, within a short time, open all the profound apertures of the six immortals and achieve the Celestial Spirit Divine Meridian... I wonder if such compensation would be sufficient?"
"What... did you say? Open all the profound apertures? Achieve the Celestial Spirit Divine Meridian?" Yun Che's words made Gong Yuxian's face fill with shock in an instant, almost thinking she had misheard.
"How is that possible! Palace Master, he is clearly talking nonsense! Profound apertures are extremely difficult to open after birth. Even the Ice Cloud ancestors only opened thirty-seven profound apertures. The Celestial Spirit Divine Meridian is even rarer, appearing once in a thousand years. How could he possibly do it? His words are simply deliberately mocking us!"
"No, that's not it!" Xia Qingyue immediately said, "The disciple can testify that Yun Che indeed has this ability! Because all the profound apertures on the disciple's body were opened by Yun Che! He is not lying."
"What?" Chu Yueli said with a shocked face. "Back then, that 'extraordinary person' you mentioned... could it be..."
"Yes! It was Yun Che." Xia Qingyue said seriously. "Please forgive your disciple for the deception back then. Because at that time, I had promised Yun Che not to reveal this matter. But the words that Yun Che can open profound apertures are absolutely true. My Celestial Spirit Divine Meridian was bestowed by him, and it only took three days."
Yun Che took over Xia Qingyue's words very directly, saying with a proud and arrogant look, "At that time, my profound strength and mental strength were low, so it took three days. Now... probably a quarter of an hour is enough."
In fact, with Yun Che's current strength and mental strength, using the cleansing power of the Heavenly Poison Pearl to open all the profound apertures for someone else, if all went smoothly, it would probably take only about three minutes. He said a quarter of an hour because he was afraid that saying anything too shocking would frighten them.
But even so, the words "a quarter of an hour" still shocked everyone to the point of disbelief.
Given Xia Qingyue's character, no one thought she would lie. And the fact that Xia Qingyue had suddenly had all her profound apertures opened within a few days and achieved the Celestial Spirit Divine Meridian was an undeniable truth. For a long time after that, the Ice Cloud Seven Immortals often talked about that extraordinary person with miraculous abilities and called him the "Peerless Sage." Before that, the highest level they had heard of was "one finger opening the profound," which could at most forcibly open three to five profound apertures for a profound practitioner. Any more than that was absolutely impossible; it had to be done through the practitioner's own hard work, various precious medicines, opportunities, and a lot of time, slowly opening them one by one.
They had never imagined that the "Peerless Sage" was not a reclusive senior who looked down on the world... but was actually the nineteen-year-old Yun Che!
Even the word "unbelievable" was not enough to describe it.
"Yun Che, are what you and Qingyue said... true?" Gong Yuxian still found it hard to believe.
"If you don't believe it, the disciple can now open all the profound apertures for one of the immortals. If I cannot do it within a quarter of an hour, I am willing to be sliced into pieces by the six immortals and will not resist or fight back!" Yun Che said with conviction, his face unchanged as he spoke these words.
——————
[Because he is about to step out of the country to show off, so in these few chapters before departure... first, some... feelings... feelings... feelings... well, first, a bunch of ambiguous situations! Anyway, ambiguous situations don't need love, don't cost money, and don't require responsibility!!]