Chapter 946: Cold Snow City
Before they knew it, the three had already flown over ten thousand li of snow domain. The Yin Xue Realm had no oceans, only an endless icy sea. Over this ten-thousand-li journey, the greatest impression the Yin Xue Realm left on Yun Che, aside from the Divine Realm aura that was entirely different from the Lan Ji Star, was a suffocating desolation.
The territory of the Yin Xue Realm was far larger than the Lan Ji Star, but both humans and profound beasts were exceedingly sparse.
"We're here." Mu Bingyun opened her eyes, which had been closed in restful meditation, and said softly.
The direction of flight suddenly turned downward. The sea of clouds parted, and immediately, a vast world shrouded in dreamlike icy mist unfolded before Yun Che's sight.
The temperature plummeted. The already extremely dense heaven-earth aura rapidly became even denser. Although they were tens of thousands of zhang high in the air, the colossal world below stretched beyond the horizon in a single glance. Within the icy mist, glaciers, ice cities, and ice plains were scattered like stars on a board, all cloaked in an icy pressure so majestic that Yun Che involuntarily held his breath.
Caw~~~~~~~~
A long, piercing cry shot straight up tens of thousands of zhang. A giant bird, several hundred zhang in length, flew toward them from within the icy mist. The oppressive pressure this bird brought as it approached made Yun Che's entire body stiffen... It was a pressure so immense that he could not comprehend it. He had no doubt that this bird could utterly erase him from existence in an instant.
However, the bird's aura bore no hostility. Instead, it altered its flight path to make way for them. That long cry seemed to be a greeting. In the next instant, Yun Che saw with shock that within the heaven-and-earth-encompassing icy mist, there were countless similar shadows. There were blue birds, white unicorns, all sorts of bizarre ice beasts he had never seen before... and even an ice dragon several thousand zhang long!
The profound beasts flying in the skies of this realm were, without exception, ice-type profound beasts, and every single one—even the weakest—made Yun Che's heart tremble with fear.
"This is the Binghuang Realm, the seat of the Bing Huang God Sect." Mu Bingyun narrated softly. "Our Bing Huang God Sect is probably different from the sects you know. The Binghuang Realm is about the size of the Tian Xuan Continent, but it has a population of less than two hundred million people."
"Two hundred million?" Yun Che asked in surprise. "Are all two hundred million people part of the Bing Huang God Sect?"
"No," Mu Bingyun shook her head. "From the Falling Snow Palace disciples to the overall sect master, the Bing Huang God Sect has ten million members in total. The rest are mostly profound practitioners of the Yin Xue Realm, with a smaller number being those who ascended from the lower realms. They reside permanently in the Binghuang Realm to cultivate, hoping to enter the Bing Huang God Sect, and they have started families and even established some small and large powers here. You could understand the Binghuang Realm as a special nation centered on the Bing Huang God Sect. The sect itself is at the core, while the surrounding areas are home to profound practitioners who have striven for generations to enter the Bing Huang God Sect."
At this moment, Mu Bingyun's gaze shifted slightly. "Sister..."
The icy mist gradually thinned. Gradually, within Yun Che's downward gaze, a blurred blue silhouette appeared. Yun Che recognized it at a glance—it was unmistakably a phoenix tail. However, completely unlike a flame phoenix, this phoenix tail shimmered with a cold, flowing blue light. Every single feather on that tail was a city, or an immensely colossal palace.
The overall shape of the Phoenix God Sect was that of an ice phoenix lying horizontally on the ground, stretching north to south for hundreds of thousands of li. With Yun Che's eyesight, even from such a high altitude, he could only barely make out the outline of a single tail feather.
Could it be that ice phoenixes are truly ice-attribute phoenixes?
At this moment, the speed of the ice sleigh beneath his feet suddenly increased, so fast that Yun Che instinctively closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the ice sleigh's speed abruptly slowed, and then it stopped completely.
Ding!
With a soft sound, the ice sleigh vanished. Yun Che's feet now stood on the hard, icy crystal ground.
Before him were buildings of immense height—some palaces, some towers—rising thousands of zhang high, with the shortest still nearly a hundred zhang. They were all built from ice crystals, reflecting a cold, piercing light. Here, the concentration and activity of ice elements reached their peak. From a distance, figures in white or blue clothes darted about rapidly, and shadows of various ice-type profound beasts and profound boats were visible from time to time.
At the farthest edge of his vision was a palace a thousand zhang tall, even larger than the entire Cangfeng Imperial City. One of the palaces...
"Yun Che, the matter of me detoxifying you and your cultivation of the Ice Phoenix God-Sealing Canon must never be told to anyone!"
"Master, rest assured with ten thousand hearts. I will never utter a single word."
Mu Bingyun nodded slightly, then leaped into the air. A flash of blue light, and she had completely vanished from sight.
"Really, why does Her Excellency treat him so well..." Mu Xiaolan muttered the words she had repeated countless times, her tone clearly tinged with jealousy.
"Ahem, little sister Mu..."
As soon as the words left Yun Che's mouth, Mu Xiaolan spun around like lightning and said with aggressive spirit, "What 'little sister Mu'! You must call me senior sister! Senior sister! Also, before I take you to Cold Snow City, you must remember firmly: you cannot run around on your own, you cannot speak recklessly, and you cannot look around carelessly! Especially since our Bing Huang God Sect has many female disciples. You, you, you... you absolutely must not do anything you shouldn't do. Otherwise... otherwise, don't say I didn't warn you."
"Do anything I shouldn't do? What does that mean?" Yun Che asked with an innocent expression.
"In short... you can only do what I tell you to do. If I don't tell you to do something, then you stand there obediently and don't do anything!" Mu Xiaolan said loudly.
"Got it," Yun Che replied rather weakly.
"Hmph, that's more like it." Seeing this "lecherous bad guy" behaving quite docilely under her reprimand, Mu Xiaolan nodded in satisfaction, then flew into the air. "Follow me."
Under Mu Xiaolan's guidance, Yun Che entered Cold Snow City, where the Cold Snow Hall was located, heading straight for the Cold Snow Main Hall. The palace he had first glimpsed upon arrival, rising a thousand zhang high, was the Cold Snow Main Hall.
North of the Cold Snow Main Hall were the one hundred and eight Cold Snow Halls. Each of these one hundred and eight halls was as large as a lower realm city.
Entering Cold Snow City, the atmosphere changed once again. An intensely high-level icy aura surged toward him, and the number of figures in sight increased. At this moment, Yun Che suddenly recalled a phrase Mo Li had said before. He gathered his energy slightly, letting his profound strength surge, and thrust his right arm forward fiercely.
Boom!!
With Yun Che's strength, in the Tian Xuan Continent and the Huan Yao Realm, such a strike would have caused a large-scale collapse of space. But now, as his profound force extended, a thunderous air blast rang out, yet the space... let alone collapsing, did not even show the slightest distortion or ripple.
Yun Che: "..."
Back then, Mo Li had said that the space laws of the Divine Realm were far superior to those of the Tian Xuan Continent. With his power, even at full strength, he couldn't cause the slightest damage to the Divine Realm's space. At the time, he had been somewhat dismissive. Now, he fully understood that Mo Li's words had not been exaggerated in the slightest.
The Divine Realm and the lower realms... were truly two entirely different planes.
"What are you doing?" The noise behind her made Mu Xiaolan turn around warily.
"Oh... I wanted to ask, what exactly is the 'Ice Phoenix Jade' that Fairy Mu mentioned earlier?" Yun Che asked.
"It's the identity token that proves you're a disciple of the Bing Huang God Sect!" Mu Xiaolan explained patiently. "The Ice Phoenix Jade differs depending on the disciple's level. The Falling Snow Palace ones are light blue, the Cold Snow Hall ones are ice blue, and ours in the Ice Phoenix Palace are sky blue!"
As she spoke, Mu Xiaolan pointed to the crystal jade near her left collarbone, emitting a dreamy blue glow. "See, this is it! The darker the color, the higher the level. It serves both as proof of identity and for storing items and transmitting sound. It can also absorb cold energy to assist in cultivation. The various teleportation arrays in the sect also require the Ice Phoenix Jade to activate. Different jades can activate different arrays. For example, the Cold Snow Hall jade you're about to receive can only activate the teleportation arrays of the Cold Snow Hall and the Falling Snow Palace. If you want to get to the Ice Phoenix Palace area, hmph, unless Master or I take you, there's no way."
Yun Che responded with an "Oh."
Just then, two female disciples of the Cold Snow Hall, dressed in white and with exceptionally delicate features, approached from the opposite direction. When they saw Mu Xiaolan, they quickly stepped forward and bowed respectfully. "Senior Sister Xiaolan."
"Strange, why are there so few people here today? Did something happen?" Mu Xiaolan asked them.
The woman on the right replied, "Senior Sister, today is the last day of this year's new disciple assessment for the Cold Snow Hall. The chief hall master has ordered that, except for disciples on duty, everyone else must remain in their respective halls and not move about casually without special reason."
"Oh, that's right!" Mu Xiaolan suddenly realized. "It should be around these days. I completely forgot."
"Senior Sister Xiaolan, who is this?" The woman on the right looked at Yun Che. His profound energy aura was only at the Sovereign Xuan Realm, and he had no Ice Phoenix Jade—a suspicious person who shouldn't appear here.
"He was brought back from the lower realm by my master. From now on, he'll be your junior brother," Mu Xiaolan explained casually, then waved at Yun Che. "Alright, let's hurry. I forgot that today is the new disciple assessment for the Cold Snow Hall. We need to get your Ice Phoenix Jade quickly and not disturb the hall masters while they're busy."
The two Cold Snow Hall women watched them leave, a flicker of surprise on their faces. Her Excellency Mu Xiaolan's master—the esteemed Ice Cloud Palace Master—had brought back someone from the lower realm who was only at the fifth level of the Sovereign Xuan Realm?
What?
Mu Xiaolan was a disciple of the Ice Phoenix Palace. In the hierarchically lower Cold Snow City, she could basically walk sideways. Every Cold Snow Hall disciple she encountered would immediately come forward to greet her.
To enter the Cold Snow Hall, entering the Divine Path was the most basic requirement. And reaching the Divine Origin Realm merely gave one the qualification to participate in the Cold Snow Hall assessment. Every year, countless cultivators who had achieved the Divine Origin Realm still lacked the qualifications to enter the Cold Snow Hall and could only remain in the Falling Snow Palace.
Thus, every person one encountered in this Cold Snow City exuded the aura of the Divine Path. Even those at the powerful Divine Origin Realm were among the elite. Any single one of them, if taken to the Lan Ji Star, would be an absolutely invincible existence.
Such was the terror of the Divine Realm.