Chapter 984: Ice Spirit Battle
The Yinxue Realm King atop the glacial dragon had no aura emanating from her body, nor did she release any oppressive pressure, yet Yun Che distinctly felt his heart and soul crushed by thousands of mountains, his will and faith trembling in lowly fear.
This sensation was something Yun Che had never experienced before.
This was the pinnacle of the divine path—the power of the Divine Lord realm! At such a realm, she no longer needed to deliberately release her aura; merely existing there was enough to make all living beings kneel in fear and reverence.
Yun Che rose with the crowd, his heart surging without pause… For the first time, he felt his own insignificance so clearly. The Yinxue Realm King above was situated at the divine path, while he was a freak who defied all common sense." Mu Fengshan said.
Mu Bingyun gave an extremely indifferent smile, neither confirming nor denying.
The other thirty-five Ice Phoenix Palaces had already arrived above Minghan Heavenly Lake. At the First Palace, Mu Yizhou cast a glance at Yun Che sitting by the lake's edge, a scornful sneer flashing across his face before he could no longer be bothered to look at him again. He then followed the guidance of his Palace Master and slowly descended, letting his body sink bit by bit into Minghan Heavenly Lake.
The moment the tips of his toes touched the water of Minghan Heavenly Lake, a wave of cold air instantly surged upward, spreading throughout his entire body, as if he had been suddenly sealed into a legendary frozen hell. The profound energy around him also began to flow rapidly, like flames that had suddenly started to boil.
Ripples stirred one after another on Minghan Heavenly Lake, and the dancing ice spirits were startled and scattered far away. All the disciples of the Divine Sect and the Ice Phoenix Palaces outside the Thirty-Sixth Palace had already entered the lake. The terrifying cold made them feel as if they had fallen into an icy hell the moment they entered, suffering unbearably, yet their hearts were excited to the point of nearly bursting. Every single one immediately mobilized their will and profound energy to control and guide the cold energy.
Although they had only just entered, under the pure cold energy from Minghan Heavenly Lake, they could all feel their bodies and profound veins undergoing changes large enough to be clearly perceived.
Though they had long heard of the wonder of Minghan Heavenly Lake, experiencing it firsthand still felt like a joy in a dream. In their ecstasy, the pain brought by the extreme cold was something they endured willingly.
Compared to the Ice Phoenix Palace disciples, the expressions of the Divine Sect disciples were relatively calmer. The most eye-catching Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue both entered the lake without changing their expressions, their eyes as calm as still water.
Except for Mu Bingyun, Yun Che, and Mu Xiaolan, everyone else had already entered the lake. But the elders and palace masters did not immediately begin tempering their bodies with the lake water like the disciples. After waiting for a long time, their gazes all turned to Grand Elder Mu Huanzhi.
In particular, the thirty-ninth elder Mu Yunzhi’s breathing became somewhat irregular.
Grand Elder Mu Huanzhi himself was also burning with anxiety. Finally, steeled his heart and looked up, saying: "Sect Master, regarding the matter of the personal disciple..."
As soon as these words were spoken, a large number of Divine Sect disciples immediately opened their eyes, their gazes landing on Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue.
"Of course, this king has not forgotten."
From atop the glacial dragon came the voice of the Yinxue Realm King: "Since we have arrived at Minghan Heavenly Lake, the matter of this king's personal disciple will not require numerous tedious trials!"
A blue light suddenly shone down from above, forming a strange profound formation. Then a wave of lake water surged up and fell into the formation in the air.
At the lower end of the formation, the trapped lake water slowly dripped down, falling into the lake with a crisp "ding" sound, entirely unlike the dripping of water, clear and bright like the collision of ice crystals.
"Sect Master, what does this mean?" Mu Huanzhi asked in great confusion.
Mu Hanyi looked up, his usually calm and indifferent eyes blazing with intense heat.
"After three hours, the lake water in the formation will have completely dripped away. When it is gone, whoever has attracted the most ice spirits from the lake around them will be this king's next personal disciple!!"
A brief moment of stunned silence, then everyone immediately reacted. Mu Huanzhi shouted "The Sect Master is wise" with heartfelt admiration, then turned around like lightning and let out a thunderous roar: "Feixue!"
On the other side, Mu Yunzhi had already rushed above Mu Hanyi, sweeping out a palm to push away all the other disciples within a hundred zhang of Mu Hanyi: "Hanyi, start immediately!"
The ice spirits of Minghan Heavenly Lake were by no means ordinary ice spirits. Each one was formed from the cold energy of the lake, possessing high-level consciousness and nearly complete souls. For such ice spirits, even for profound practitioners who purely cultivated ice-based profound arts, it was extremely difficult not to be repelled by them, let alone to communicate with them.
Thus, this "trial" from the Yinxue Realm King, though seemingly very simple, was a comprehensive test of a person's physique, talent, law comprehension, and control ability.
The more one's body was in harmony with ice power, the more thorough one's understanding of ice laws, and the stronger one's ability to control ice power, then naturally, the less one would be repelled by the ice spirits of the lake. Subsequently, one could try to communicate with them and gradually attract them… If one's control over ice power was strong enough, they could even command these ice spirits for their own use.
In comparison, the corresponding profound cultivation level was not overly important.
Throughout history, when realm kings selected personal disciples, they did not place much importance on current cultivation level. Because temporary cultivation was only temporary cultivation; law comprehension and control ability determined the speed of cultivation and the upper limit one could achieve in the future!
This was also why Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue, though only mid-ranked in strength among the Divine Sect disciples, were the two most recognized as qualified to become the realm king's personal disciples.
However, on that note, people with such talent would naturally not have low cultivation levels among their peers. The same applied to Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue; their cultivation levels were unmatched among those of the same age in the entire Yinxue Realm. After all, talent and strength were inherently parallel.
Without needing Mu Yunzhi's reminder, a blue light was already shimmering on Mu Hanyi's body. Within a few breaths, he had pushed his ice power to the limit, spreading a dense, pure cold aura along with his spiritual power outward.
On the other side, Mu Feixue closed her beautiful eyes, her expression tranquil with a sanctity like a snow lotus. Thirty zhang ahead of her, an ice spirit that was about to fly away suddenly slowed down, then gradually stopped. After a long silence, it seemed to hesitate, then fluttered lightly and slowly toward Mu Feixue.
It was by no means only Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue attracting ice spirits. Nearly all the Divine Sect disciples were fully unleashing their profound and spiritual power… Though they knew their chances were slim, becoming the sect master's personal disciple would undoubtedly be a meteoric rise. Even if the hope was minuscule, they had to give it their all.
The lake water in the formation dripped down drop by drop, marking the passage of time. Above Minghan Heavenly Lake, a fierce battle for the lake's ice spirits began, utterly silent, utterly intense.
By the shore of Minghan Heavenly Lake, Yun Che's consciousness had completely sunk, perceiving nothing of the outside world. He was entirely unaware of the fierce struggle on the lake, nor did he know anything about the Yinxue Realm King's earlier words.
Under his five senses being ethereal and empty, the cold energy of the lake flowed into his body at a rate dozens of times faster than that of Mu Xiaolan beside him. Under the purest and cleanest cold energy, which also contained extremely high power laws, the profound energy within Yun Che's body drove the cold energy to circulate rapidly, and with each circulation, subtle changes quietly occurred.