Chapter 393: Heaven-Defying Fusion, Ice Flame (Part 2)
Xia Qingyue arrived before the stone door of the Ice God Hall and called out in a voice loud enough to penetrate through: "Yun Che, is it convenient for me to enter?"
After she spoke, she waited for a long time but received no response from inside. She focused her mind for a moment, but still heard no sound at all from within.
Could it be that he was no longer inside?
"Yun Che, are you in there?" Xia Qingyue called out again.
This time as well, there was still no reply.
Xia Qingyue extended her palm, and the light of the Ice Cloud Art shone upon the stone door. With a soft sound, the door slowly opened. Xia Qingyue took a step forward... Just one step, and the moment she stepped into the Ice God Hall, her body suddenly stiffened, and she stood frozen in place.
Yun Che had not left. For the past seven days, he had remained in this Ice God Hall. As the stone door opened, Xia Qingyue spotted him immediately. At this moment, Yun Che was sitting cross-legged on the ground, his eyes tightly shut, his hands spread out with palms facing upward. In his left hand, an Ice God tree shimmered with cold light, and in his right hand, a cluster of crimson flame swayed silently.
But what made Xia Qingyue freeze was none of these things—it was the air that rushed toward her...
The right side of her body felt as if it were in an icy hell, while the left side felt as if it were in a purgatory of flames... The empty Ice God Hall had been split into two distinct, completely non-interfering worlds!
Xia Qingyue's beautiful eyes trembled violently... What was happening?
In the same space, scorching heat and bitter cold would normally cancel each other out, reducing the intensity of both—just like fire and ice that nullify each other. This was the most basic common sense, clear even to a child. But what lay before Xia Qingyue was a scene that completely defied common sense! The cold on the right and the heat on the left showed absolutely no sign of cancellation, as if an insurmountable transparent barrier stood between them.
At that moment, Yun Che, who had been still, suddenly moved. Slowly, he brought his hands together, his movement agonizingly slow, as if every inch of motion consumed enormous power. As his arms moved, the Ice God tree and the Phoenix Flame also drew closer little by little until they finally touched.
There was no scene of the flame melting the ice or the ice suppressing the flame. What Xia Qingyue witnessed next was a sight that completely shattered her understanding and overturned the most fundamental logic... The Ice God tree and the Phoenix Flame were slowly merging with each other. The ice sank into the flame, and the flame sank into the ice. There was no repulsion, no cancellation—like two liquids of different colors permeating each other and then blending together seamlessly and intimately.
Ice and fire... had merged together!?
At the same time, the bitter cold and scorching heat that had originally occupied the two sides of the Ice God Hall also merged together... The intermingling of equally intense cold and heat should have balanced out to a normal temperature through mutual cancellation. But Xia Qingyue clearly felt that the space around her was simultaneously filled with extreme cold and extreme heat, wildly interweaving. The space twisted, and her entire body suffered terribly in this environment that completely defied logic. It was only when she used a full ninety percent of her Profound Force to protect herself that the discomfort eased slightly.
At this moment, the Ice God tree and Phoenix Flame in Yun Che's hands had completely fused. The ice-blue Ice God tree and the crimson Phoenix Flame had both vanished. In Yun Che's overlapping palms appeared a cluster of an eerie blue flame!
According to the color of Profound Fire, the weakest was orange flame, followed by red flame, then blue flame, and then purple flame. But the blue of the flame in Yun Che's hand was different from the bright blue of ordinary blue Profound Fire. It was a color Xia Qingyue was all too familiar with... ice blue!
An ice-colored flame!
The ice-blue flame flickered and danced in Yun Che's hands, and its movements grew increasingly intense. Yun Che's hands trembled violently, as if he were gradually losing control of the ice flame in his hands... Finally, Yun Che's body shook violently, his face turned pale, and a mist of blood sprayed from his mouth. The ice flame also fell from his hands, dropping onto the ground paved with Heaven Rock.
Xia Qingyue's breath caught. Her icy figure flickered, and she flashed to Yun Che's front. Just as she was about to speak, her gaze fell on the spot in front of Yun Che... and she froze again.
Right where the ice flame had fallen, a pit with a diameter of half a foot and a depth of about one foot had appeared on the ground. The pit was perfectly circular, and its interior was incredibly smooth, as polished as a mirror, as if meticulously crafted with exquisite skill!
But Xia Qingyue was absolutely certain that this pit had not been there before. The walls and floor here were all paved with Heaven Rock. Even the strongest person in Bing Yun Fairy Palace, the Supreme Elder Feng Qianhui, was absolutely incapable of damaging Heaven Rock. Yun Che's heavy sword had astonishing destructive power, especially when wielding a King Xuan heavy sword, yet even with ninety percent of his strength, he could not leave a single scratch on Heaven Rock.
But now, there was this shocking pit.
Could it be... that this was caused by that ice-colored flame?
Inside the pit, there was no trace of ice, nor any sign of being scorched!
"Haha... haha... hahahaha..."
Yun Che sat on the ground, ignoring the blood at the corner of his mouth, and laughed heartily: "Finally... succeeded... hahahaha..."
"What exactly... is this?" Xia Qingyue shifted her gaze to Yun Che's face, her expression filled with barely suppressed shock.
"It's a special kind of fire, but also a special kind of ice. It's a power born from defying the laws!" Yun Che wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his hand and grinned widely. "But right now, I've only just glimpsed the path. I can barely use it... and I still have to endure a massive backlash. But it at least proves that defying the rules of the elements is not impossible! And the power born from doing so is far more terrifying than I imagined."
"Do you mean... merging ice and fire? Is that really possible?" Xia Qingyue exclaimed in shock.
"I can, but others cannot." Yun Che said with a crooked grin. Although he had suffered a backlash, the successful fusion of ice and fire filled him with extreme excitement. He stood up and looked at Xia Qingyue, saying, "This is my secret. Don't tell anyone."
Xia Qingyue: "..."
"How many days have I been here?"
"Seven days."
"Seven days..." Yun Che tapped his chin with his hand, then suddenly remembered something. He quickly picked up his Sound Transmission Jade. Sure enough, there were several voice imprints left by Cang Yue and Cang Wanhe.
"There is only one final month left until the Heavenly Xuan Seven Nations Ranking Battle. From here to Shenhuang City, it will take at least ten days if we travel fast. You should start preparing." Xia Qingyue said. Although she was incredibly surprised in her heart, she did not bring up the matter of the ice flame again.
"Mm, I understand." Yun Che nodded. "Wait, you said 'you' should prepare... Do you mean that you won't be going with me?"
"The Palace Master has forbidden me from participating in this Heavenly Xuan Seven Nations Ranking Battle."
"Why?"
Xia Qingyue sighed softly and did not answer directly. "Come with me to see the Palace Master."
Following Xia Qingyue, they met with Gong Yuxian. Before Gong Yuxian could speak, Yun Che asked bluntly, "Palace Master, why won't you let Qingyue go with me to this Heavenly Xuan Seven Nations Ranking Battle? The age requirement for the Seven Nations Ranking Battle is eighteen to twenty-five. In the Cang Feng Kingdom, the person most qualified to represent Cang Feng is Qingyue."
Gong Yuxian had long anticipated this question. Her expression calm, she spoke slowly, "This is not my decision. It is the will of the Supreme Elder."
"Supreme Elder? What is the reason?" Yun Che pressed on.
Gong Yuxian gave him a deep look and said, "Yun Che, I know you have always wanted to know the real reason why the Supreme Elder broke the sect rules to allow you into Bing Yun Fairy Palace. I can tell you the answer now... Actually, the Supreme Elder did not lie that day. The only reason she wanted you to join Bing Yun Fairy Palace was your potential and your current strength. However, behind this reason, there is another extremely important cause: the Thousand-Year Calamity of our Bing Yun Fairy Palace."
"Thousand-Year Calamity?" Yun Che was startled.
"The Thousand-Year Calamity is a prophecy left by the founder of Bing Yun Fairy Palace. It foretold that a thousand years later, the palace would suffer a great catastrophe. Now, that thousand years have passed. The Supreme Elder has gradually sensed the approach of this calamity. To increase our chances of surviving this disaster, the Supreme Elder chose to let you join Bing Yun Fairy Palace, hoping to borrow your strength... After all, because of the relationship between Qingyue and Yuechan, you would probably not refuse."
Gong Yuxian's words left Yun Che slightly stunned. After a moment of silence, he suddenly said, "Then the reason the Supreme Elder won't let Qingyue participate in the Seven Nations Ranking Battle... could it be..."
"Because you carry the Phoenix bloodline, you have an unavoidable enmity with the Phoenix God Sect. Four months ago, you seriously injured and humiliated the Shenhuang Crown Prince, deepening that enmity further. So, this trip to Shenhuang City will inevitably be fraught with danger. There is even a possibility that you might fall there. Yet, you have no choice but to go. And if Qingyue goes with you, since you are husband and wife, if you encounter disaster, Qingyue will surely not stand idly by, thereby placing her in danger as well. Qingyue is the Young Palace Master of Bing Yun Fairy Palace and the future hope of our sect. She absolutely cannot come to harm! So..."
"I understand." Yun Che nodded. Hearing this, he fully understood Feng Qianhui's reason for not allowing Xia Qingyue to participate in the Seven Nations Ranking Battle... Even if Xia Qingyue's cultivation would surely shine brilliantly in the ranking battle, bringing glory to Bing Yun Fairy Palace across the seven nations, this trip might involve her in the enmity with the Phoenix God Sect because of him. The risks and dangers of going to Shenhuang Kingdom were very clear in his mind... If the entire Bing Yun Fairy Palace fell in the calamity, as long as there was still one Xia Qingyue, there would be infinite hope. But if something happened to Xia Qingyue... Bing Yun Fairy Palace absolutely could not accept that.
"The Palace Master's orders cannot be disobeyed. You must be careful in Shenhuang City." Xia Qingyue said softly.
"Don't worry. If I were so easy to get rid of, I wouldn't have survived until now." Yun Che said proudly. He performed a simple disciple's salute to Gong Yuxian and said, "Palace Master, since that's the case, I would like to leave Bing Yun Fairy Palace today. I'll first return to the Imperial City for a short while, and then head directly to the Shenhuang Empire."
"You want to go there early to scout out the movements of the Phoenix God Sect?" Gong Yuxian nodded in response. "That's fine. Being proactive is always better than being passive. When you reach Shenhuang City, be extremely careful in everything. Prioritize staying alive above all else. Don't forget, if the great calamity truly befalls Bing Yun Fairy Palace, we will still rely on your strength."
"Yes, I will not forget my identity as a disciple of Bing Yun Fairy Palace. These past few months, I have benefited greatly from the palace's grace. I will definitely return alive to repay the sect's kindness." Yun Che said solemnly.
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