Chapter 965: The World-Covering Voice
"After all, he did save your life, Master." Mu Bingyun said.
"But you've repaid him way, way too much!" Mu Xiaolan said unconvincedly. "As disciples, we're supposed to listen to our master, to respect and serve our master properly, but him..." Mu Xiaolan's voice trailed off, then she muttered, "It's like you're the one serving him."
Mu Bingyun shook her head with a light smile and said softly, "Yun Che becoming a disciple of the Ice Phoenix Palace is merely a temporary identity to facilitate his goals. You also know that three years from now, he will leave the Yin Xue Realm forever and return to his own Lan Ji Star. My care for him is not entirely because he saved my life, but because he deserves it—or rather, because our Bing Huang God Sect deserves to treat him this way."
"Huh?" Mu Xiaolan looked surprised.
"The flame poison I was afflicted with came from the dragon breath of an ancient horned dragon. Its toxicity was so fierce that even the Great Realm King had no solution. Yet Yun Che was able to purify it in just one month. Since he could save my life this time, if any important person in our sect is afflicted with a similar incurable poison in the future, he can likewise save them. Even if he is no longer in the Yin Xue Realm by then, we can still go to his star and seek his help."
This explanation finally made Mu Xiaolan start to understand her master's excessive favoritism toward Yun Che: "Oh! I see... When you put it that way, he really is quite impressive..."
"Yun Che himself is well aware of this, so he accepts everything with a clear conscience," Mu Bingyun said lightly.
"Clear conscience..." Remembering Yun Che's utterly "clear conscience" demeanor, Mu Xiaolan felt a burst of resentment and muttered a series of complaints only she could hear.
"Xiaolan," Mu Bingyun gave her a meaningful look, "Yun Che's appearance, temperament, and manner of conduct can be quite dangerous to women, especially to sheltered young girls. You will be in frequent contact with him from now on, so it's better to be a little careful."
This was the first time Mu Bingyun had ever said something "negative" about Yun Che. Mu Xiaolan's spirits immediately lifted, and she quickly responded, "Hmph! Although he's impressive in some ways, he's still a shameless, despicable man. I haven't forgotten that, so I'll definitely be careful."
"..." Seeing that Mu Xiaolan had completely misunderstood her meaning, Mu Bingyun did not explain further. She smiled and said, "Let's go."
——————————————————
The vast Ice Phoenix Palace was extremely quiet, like a completely independent, icy world isolated from the outside. Walking alone within it, Yun Che could almost hear the sound of his own blood flowing.
Yun Che randomly chose a living quarter. It was quite spacious inside, but also exceptionally simple and cold, with nothing that particularly sparked his curiosity or interest. The bed was the same ice-crystal cold bed as in the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, without even an ice-silk quilt to cover it.
Leaving the living quarter, Yun Che headed straight for the cultivation room above.
All the cultivation rooms were closed. Yun Che walked to the nearest cultivation room and placed his palm on the stone door. Immediately, the Ice Phoenix Emblem on his shoulder flashed, and the stone door also flickered with the same light before opening.
A wave of cold air hit him. The interior was a vast expanse of white. Yun Che stepped inside, and the stone door closed automatically behind him.
Once this cultivation room was opened by Yun Che's Ice Phoenix Emblem for the first time, it became bound to the emblem's aura. From then on, only he could open it. No other Ice Phoenix disciple could force their way in without permission... of course, the Palace Master was an exception.
Inside, it was literally a world of ice. It was even colder than outside, and the ice elements were denser. Countless ice spirits fluttered lightly like fireflies. Combined with the swirling ice mist, it painted a dreamlike scene.
What truly astonished Yun Che, however, was that this world stretched as far as the eye could see. He quickly released his spiritual sense, and it was only after extending it three hundred li that he finally touched the edge.
In other words, this cultivation room was a full three hundred li in length and width!
Yun Che finally understood the meaning of Mu Bingyun's words, "The internal space is far larger than it appears."
These cultivation rooms clearly employed advanced spatial laws, making the interior space a hundred times larger than it looked from the outside. The atmosphere and aura here were also completely different from the outside, making it a small world existing purely for cultivation.
As expected of the God Realm. Even a mere cultivation room was beyond the understanding and imagination of the lower realms.
The nearly harsh cold and the overly dense ice aura would be a considerable pressure for other profound practitioners, but they made Yun Che feel very comfortable. He gave up the idea of continuing to wander around the Ice Phoenix Palace, sat down cross-legged, calmed his mind, and began to recover his physical strength and profound energy using the aura here.
Yun Che's recovery ability had always been far beyond ordinary people. Even in the lower realm with its turbid and thin aura, he could fully recover from depleted profound energy or severe injuries in a short time. In this Divine Realm with its immensely rich heaven and earth aura, his recovery ability increased several times over. In just a few hundred breaths, all the soreness in his body disappeared. He felt as if he were soaking in warm water, with thousands of warm currents flowing into his body from all directions, nourishing his frame and rapidly restoring his depleted profound energy.
In a state of focused recovery, time passed unknowingly, and a day slipped by. This was also Yun Che's first day in the Divine Realm.
Adhering to the basic principle of "keeping a low profile" and carrying Xiao Yaohou's strict order to "absolutely not cause trouble," on his very first day in the Yin Xue Realm, Yun Che had caused a ruckus at Cold Snow Hall, crippled the chief supervisor's own nephew with an elbow strike, and crippled an official disciple who was supervising the examination with a single sword strike. Then, not only did he walk away unscathed, but he also became an official disciple of the Ice Phoenix Palace with profound power that had not even reached the Divine Path, breaking the entire history of the Bing Huang God Sect.
Thus, without a doubt, his name spread through Cold Snow Hall, through the Ice Phoenix Palace, and even reached the Ice Phoenix Temple.
In other words, Yun Che, who had muttered "keep a low profile" at least eight hundred times on the way here, had his name spread throughout the entire Ice Phoenix Realm on the very first day.
Opening his eyes in the cultivation room, Yun Che let out a long breath, feeling completely refreshed. In just one day, the side effects from forcefully using "Heaven-Shattering" had completely disappeared, and his physical strength and profound energy had fully recovered to 100%. This made him marvel inwardly for a long time. Compared to the aura here, the aura of Lan Ji Star could only be described as "turbid."
He was already starting to wonder if, when he eventually returned, he would need a considerable amount of time to readjust to Lan Ji Star's aura.
"Thirty months left," Yun Che muttered to himself. "Mo Li, I will definitely see you. Even if it is... a complete and final farewell."
Just as Yun Che was about to stand up, his chest suddenly tightened, his breath caught, and all the ice spirits and ice mist in the cultivation room froze in place.
A pressure that was not overly heavy, but vast, boundless, and as if the heavens were slowly tilting and collapsing, descended.
What... is this!?
Yun Che was shocked to the core. He had a feeling, from he knew not where, that this suddenly descending pressure seemed to be covering the entire world, covering all of space...
As this pressure descended, gradually, Yun Che couldn't even breathe, let alone move. His heartbeat nearly stopped entirely. He felt as if he were suddenly facing the immensity of the entire universe, and before it, he was merely a speck of dust, tiny to the point of near non-existence.
And Yun Che was by no means the only one facing this sky-covering pressure. The Ice Phoenix Palace, the Ice Phoenix Realm, the Yin Xue Realm... even all the Divine Realms of the entire Eastern Divine Region were enveloped.
At that moment, a vast, profound voice, as if from ancient times, resounded through endless space, ringing beside the ears of all profound practitioners in all star realms of the Eastern Divine Region:
"The Divine Realm has forty thousand realms, and the Eastern Divine Region alone occupies nine thousand. The Profound God Convention is a grand event in our Eastern Divine Region held once every three thousand years. However, due to many significant reasons, although only seven hundred years have passed since the last Profound God Convention, the new Profound God Convention is already imminent."
Under this voice, the entire Eastern Divine Region seemed to freeze, falling into complete silence. All profound practitioners raised their heads high, looking toward the sky. The stunned Yun Che also realized at this moment that this was a voice transmission covering the entire Eastern Divine Region!!
A single star realm was countless times larger than Lan Ji Star. Yet this voice transmission covered the entire Eastern Divine Region... and could even directly penetrate the special cultivation room he was in! What terrifying power! What terrifying realm!
The power levels of the Divine Realm could actually reach such an unimaginable degree! Was this truly the power that a "person" could possess?
Yun Che had always held a deep longing and reverence for the power of the Divine Path. But at this moment, for the first time in his life, he felt a sense of "fear" toward a level of power.
In both of his lives, he had faced countless opponents or enemies far stronger than himself, and he had defeated them one by one, surpassed them one by one. But before this power, he felt an unmistakable sense of "unattainability."
"This Profound God Convention has only ten years for preparation. Although it is hasty, its significance outweighs all previous conventions. Moreover, this Profound God Convention will be jointly hosted by the Fan Di Realm, the Zhou Tian Realm, the Yue Shen Realm, and the Xing Shen Realm."
These words—especially the three characters "Xing Shen Realm" (Star God Realm), which was where Mo Li's Star God resided—struck Yun Che the most. But they caused a wave of shock throughout the entire Eastern Divine Region.
In previous Profound God Conventions, they had always been hosted by the Zhou Tian Realm.
But this time, it was the Fan Di, Zhou Tian, Yue Shen, and Xing Shen—the four king realms of the Eastern Divine Region—jointly hosting!
This was absolutely the first time in the history of the Eastern Divine Region, unprecedented!
Just based on this, this Profound God Convention was definitely not ordinary.
"The preliminary selection for this Profound God Convention will be held within the inner world of the Zhou Tian Pearl. Thirty months from now will be the start of the Profound God Convention and the opening of the preliminaries. The three months prior will be the registration period, and the Zhou Tian Realm will be open to the Eastern Divine Region."
The realms of the Eastern Divine Region were shaken once again. Countless Divine Path practitioners—especially young practitioners—had a sudden, excited, and incredulous light burst into their eyes. The world-covering voice stated clearly: the preliminary venue this time was actually set inside the Zhou Tian Pearl!
The Zhou Tian Pearl was the only Xuantian Supreme Treasure to have appeared in the Divine Realm, a transcendent existence even in the ancient Divine Realm. If one could participate in this Profound God Convention, even without any ranking, just entering the Zhou Tian Pearl and absorbing the supreme treasure's aura would be an immeasurable benefit!
However, the excited atmosphere in the Eastern Divine Region did not last long. The next words were like a basin of cold water poured over them—and for Yun Che, it was an utterly unexpected, soul-crushing blow.
"During the Profound God Convention, the divine power of the Zhou Tian Pearl will envelop the entire Zhou Tian Divine Realm. Due to the limitations of preparation time and the Zhou Tian Pearl's divine power, the scale of this Profound God Convention will be vastly different from previous ones. Only those under sixty years of age and with divine power no weaker than the Divine Tribulation Realm may register for the preliminaries. Because the divine power of the Zhou Tian Pearl is beyond what mortal bodies can withstand, all those with profound power below the Divine Tribulation Realm will be unable to enter the Zhou Tian Realm by any means, and those already inside will be forcibly expelled."
——————————————