Chapter 580: Return to the Ice Jade Palace

Chapter 580: Return to the Ice Jade Palace

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The wind howled ceaselessly, the snowstorm biting and relentless.

A portal opened amidst the blizzard.

Li Wei stepped out from within the swirling gateway.

Before the icy gale and frost could even draw near him, they dissolved into gentle breezes that softly caressed his form.

No matter how tempestuous the skies beyond might rage,

within three zhang around Li Wei, it was as warm as spring, tranquil and serene.

For a demigod wielding divine power, such feats came easily.

Yet most demigods would never squander their precious divine essence so lavishly.

To them, refining divine force was an arduous task indeed—

far more difficult than it was for true deities.

But for Li Wei, this expenditure was but a drop in the ocean.

He possessed the divine energy born from a burning star.

Even now, countless stars still blazed across the cosmos, continuously forging new divine essence,

endlessly replenishing his reserves.

His consumption of divine power lagged far behind its regeneration.

The City of Ice had long been frozen by the bitter winds, transformed into a sculpted realm of crystal and frost.

Li Wei swept his gaze across the entire cityscape—he saw no signs of life.

Turning toward the mountainside, he spotted movement at the military encampment halfway up;

and within the Ice Jade Palace, both Gusewei and Guze remained alive.

He exhaled deeply in relief.

Thankfully, they were all still breathing.

Li Wei feared arriving too late—that Gusewei and Guze might already have perished.

Even with omnipotent divine strength, resurrecting the dead was no simple matter.

Cheating death itself defied the natural order of existence.

Only one who commanded the corresponding Laws could achieve such a feat—

which inevitably entailed mastery over the Law of Death,

as well as the Law of Life.

Both these supreme Laws belonged among the highest truths,

already claimed and divided by mighty gods—obtaining dominion over them was harder than ascending to heaven.

Li Wei began walking uphill.

Each stride carried him a thousand meters forward.

In the blink of an eye, he stood inside the Ice Jade Palace.

Hardly had he materialized when a shadow leapt from the corner, lunging at him.

Boom!

The dark figure halted just a meter away, unable to touch Li Wei in the slightest.

He turned his head.

His attacker was a grotesque creature covered in purplish-black markings—an echo of what once must have been a woman.

As Li Wei prepared to strike down the monster, something flickered in his eyes.

Recognition dawned.

“You are… Monis?”

A fierce roar answered instead of words.

The beast launched repeated assaults upon him.

Staring at the creature before him, Li Wei understood—it truly was Monis, transformed.

She had utterly lost her sense of self, reduced to nothing more than instinct-driven monstrosity.

Why, though, was she here?

Her roars soon drew attention throughout the palace.

None dared approach except for one person.

Gusewei strode forth, clutching her staff of ice and snow, believing an enemy had breached their sanctuary.

When she beheld Li Wei standing calmly in the courtyard, she froze completely.

Instinctively covering her mouth with trembling hands, she dropped her staff without realizing.

With disbelief etched on her face, she whispered, “Li Wei... is it really you?”

Then, without hesitation, she ran straight toward him.

With a wave of his hand, Li Wei immobilized the monstrous form of Monis, freezing her mid-motion.

Gusewei threw herself into his arms, embracing him tightly, burying her face against his chest while tears streamed endlessly.

“Li Wei, you’ve really returned—I thought I’d never see you again.”

Li Wei held her close, gently patting her back in comfort. “It’s alright. I’m back.”

After speaking, he looked at her somewhat helplessly. “Running like that—you weren’t afraid of getting hurt?”

“I wasn’t,” Gusewei replied softly. “I was more afraid it was just another illusion.”

Hearing this, Li Wei said nothing further, only tightening his embrace.

“This time,” he murmured, “I won’t be leaving again.”

Accompanied by Gusewei, he made his way into the palace halls.

There, he finally reunited with Guze.

Guze had aged into middle years, having married and raised children of his own.

However, his wife was not present here.

Nearly twenty years had passed since Li Wei departed the City of Ice.

By now, Guze had ascended to become a Fifth-Tier Archmage.

His greatest aspiration in life remained reaching the Sixth Tier.

There was no longer any hope for him to become a legend.

All his achievements as a fifth-rank Archmage were made possible solely by the vast resources within the Ice Jade Palace.

It was Gusevi who had long since ascended to the legendary level of mage.

Now, she had even reached the higher echelons of legendary mastery.

Upon becoming a legendary mage, one's lifespan expanded dramatically.

Twenty years had passed without seeing her, yet Gusevi’s face showed little change.

If anything, she had grown more composed and serene, exuding an aura befitting a queen.

Yet in front of Levi, that regal presence vanished entirely, replaced by the demeanor of a young maiden in love.

Guz looked at Levi’s unchanged features with admiration.

“Levi, twenty years have gone by and you haven’t aged a day—it’s truly extraordinary.”

“But as your teacher—and also your brother-in-law—I must reprimand you for something: how could you let Vivi wait for you all these twenty years? That is absolutely unacceptable!”

Guz said with some irritation.

Over those two decades, he had often seen Gusevi sitting alone on the windowsill, gazing at the moon in longing.

Though Levi had now risen to demi-god status, Guz still regarded him as his student before him.

He quickly replied, “It’s all my fault, it’s all because of me. I shouldn’t have kept Vivi waiting so long.”

Gusevi embraced Levi tightly. “None of this is your fault. You surely had your own reasons out there.”

Levi briefly recounted to both Gusevi and Guz what had transpired during these years.

When they heard that Levi had secluded himself in the Astral Realm for eighteen years to ascend to demi-godhood,

both Gusevi and Guz wore expressions of shock.

Suddenly, Gusevi seemed somewhat disheartened.

Levi noticed the shift in her emotions and asked gently, “Vivi, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head slightly. “Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me. I know exactly what you’re thinking,” Levi said while looking directly into her eyes.

Her icy-blue pupils betrayed everything.

“Aren’t you worried that your strength won’t keep pace with mine?” Levi continued softly.

After hesitating momentarily, realizing her thoughts had been laid bare, Gusevi reluctantly nodded.

Levi smiled warmly, pulling her closer. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

“With your talent, ascending to demi-god status is only a matter of time. And besides, I’ll help you along the way.”

“Not just demi-god—eventually, even godhood itself can be yours.”

“I will always stand beside you.”

Seeing their affectionate exchange, Guz clicked his tongue playfully. “Alright then, stop feeding me such sweet nonsense right here.”

“You’ve already become a demi-god, so why not do something useful and help resolve Vivi’s current troubles?”

He went on to tell Levi everything that had happened in Frost City over recent years—

And the dire straits in which the city now found itself.

Once vibrant and full of life, Frost City had stood as the sole sanctuary amidst the frozen wastes of the Far North after the great magical catastrophe.

Until the arrival of the Demon God changed everything.

Levi looked surprised and asked, “So the Demon God has truly descended into the Prime Material Plane?”

Gusevi shook her head. “Probably not. At most, it would only be a fragment or avatar of the Demon God. The gods of this world would prevent its true form from entering.”

“If the real Demon God had come forth, the divine beings would have intervened long ago.”

“All this destruction we see—it was wrought by followers of the Demon God.”

According to Gusevi’s account,

the culprit behind turning Frost City into a frozen monument was Basam.

Wielding the power of the Ice Emperor, Basam conquered the entire Far North.

Marching southward, he left the ice fields behind and entered the Northern Wastes—

the domain of the orcs.

There, he performed the ritual for summoning the Demon God.

Frost City merely suffered collateral damage, reduced to its present state.

Fewer than one in ten residents survived.

Those remaining constantly faced harassment and attacks from corrupted creatures.

As for Monis, Levi learned from Gusevi why she remained within the Ice Jade Palace.

Although Monis had lost consciousness, her instincts weren’t purely driven toward killing.

Instead, they transformed into protecting the palace and safeguarding Gusevi.

Within the entire Ice Jade Palace, only Gusevi could approach Monis without being attacked.

Thus, Gusevi kept Monis in her courtyard as a personal guard.

Since transforming into a monster, Monis became exceptionally sensitive to demonic influences.

With her around, no corrupted creature could ever sneak into the palace undetected.

Over the years, she had shielded Gusevi from numerous dangers.

Even if she hadn't earned merit, she certainly deserved recognition for effort.

Now that Levi had arrived, there was no further need for Monis to serve as a sentinel.

He placed Monis in eternal stasis, hoping someday to find a way to restore her humanity.

Having achieved demi-god status,

Levi gained deeper insight upon witnessing Monis’ monstrous transformation.

He could sense faint fluctuations of law emanating from her body.

This indicated that corruption operated on the level of fundamental laws.

No wonder throughout history, no one had discovered how to reverse the process.

To alter something rooted in law required divine intervention; ordinary mortals simply lacked the means.

Even among deities, only those who commanded relevant aspects of law possessed such capability.

Not every god could undo the effects of corruption.

Undoubtedly, the deity governing the principle of "corruption" belonged to the Void Demons—the very Demon God behind them.

Perhaps it was the Void Emperor—or perhaps another Demon God altogether.

Li Wei now also knew the final fate of the demon-corrupted creatures.

From Sasha's divine flame enlightenment, he had glimpsed some of Sasha’s memories regarding cultivation.

Each time after reaping a world, Sasha would be rewarded with more "essence of faith."

The ultimate destiny of demon-corrupted beings was to become the “essence of faith” for deities.

How exactly they were transformed into essence of faith—Li Wei did not fully understand the process.

According to his insights, it should have something to do with the laws and powers mastered by demon gods.

Just like himself—he once grasped the rules of elemental fusion.

Extending further, that became the Law of Elemental Fusion.

The Law of Elemental Fusion was one of the primordial laws governing stars.

Therefore, upon ascending to godhood, stars could serve as his source of faith-essence.

He could obtain divine power through burning stars.

If demon gods also mastered such laws, then they too could burn demon-corrupted beings into divine energy or transform them into the universal currency among demigods—the essence of faith.

After returning to the Ice Jade Palace,

Li Wei recalled the vanished Snow Queen and the Hundred Blossoms Goddess.

Both were pseudo-deities who possessed certain traits of true gods—the ability to gather faith-based energies.

In the end, both met their fates being harvested by other gods as nourishment.

Without doubt, whether it was the Snow Queen or the Hundred Blossoms Goddess, they were merely seen by the gods as sources of "faith-essence," capable of being burned for divine strength.

There must still be many similar existences scattered across various worlds by the gods.

It was akin to planting crops.

Ordinary humans planted vegetation.

Gods cultivated pseudo-deities within worlds, using those realms as fields where faith-energy could accumulate.

Put bluntly—it was farming.

The Hundred Blossoms Goddess and the Snow Queen were special types of pseudo-deities raised in this manner.

Their ultimate value lay in being harvested by gods to become objects of faith, used to fuel divine flames and condense divine might.

Once, the Hundred Blossoms Goddess told Li Wei she would disappear.

Surely at that moment, she already understood her origin and impending fate.

Sometimes knowing too much is itself a misfortune.

Even the Snow Queen only realized her destiny at the very end.

Before that, all she felt was an instinctive fear toward the gods, unwilling to come near them.

That night, Li Wei stayed in the Ice Jade Palace, sharing warmth with Gusewei.

The next day, before dawn broke, sounds of battle erupted from the military camp halfway up the mountain slope.

Guz quickly grabbed a mage robe, pulling it on while running out barefoot, leading men down the mountainside to offer support.

Li Wei slowly opened his eyes, his gaze piercing walls and darkness to see what transpired below.

Beside him, Gusewei had long since awakened.

She tried to rise.

Li Wei pressed gently on her shoulder and said, “Sleep some more. I’ll return shortly.”

Gusewei looked deeply into his eyes for a few moments, then nodded and settled back down peacefully.

Li Wei stood and walked toward the door.

Stepping outside, he instantly teleported directly into the military encampment midway down the mountain.

Expending divine power, he activated the Sacred Flame Domain.

His domain covered the entire snow-capped peak.

All enemies caught within the range of the Sacred Flame Domain spontaneously combusted and perished.

Only survivors remained inside the camp, staring dumbfounded at piles of black ash, utterly bewildered about what had just occurred.

As Guz arrived at the entrance of the camp, he noticed the sounds of combat had ceased abruptly.

A chill ran down his spine—had everyone been killed?

In the next instant, he saw Li Wei walking calmly out from within the camp.

“Master Guz, you may go back,” Li Wei said. “All enemies have been dealt with.”

Shock flashed over Guz’s face.

“So fast?”

Was this the strength of a demigod?

Overwhelmed with astonishment, Guz couldn’t even perceive how Li Wei had moved—yet every enemy was dead?

Though trusting Li Wei’s words, Guz remained uneasy about the others in the camp.

Upon entering the camp, he learned that all the demon-corrupted creatures had suddenly burst into flames simultaneously, turning everything into heaps of dark ash.

Hearing this, Guz was equally astounded, unable to imagine such a scene.

By the time he returned to the camp gate,

he found Li Wei had already gone back.

Seeing Li Wei return mere minutes after leaving, Gusewei couldn’t help but sit up and ask anxiously, “What happened?”

Li Wei smiled gently and replied, “Everything has been resolved. Tonight there won’t be any more attacks from demon-corrupted beasts—we can sleep soundly.”

Earlier, his domain had enveloped the whole snowy mountain, killing every demon-corrupted creature within several thousand meters around.

When Gusewei heard that Li Wei had eliminated all threats in just a few short minutes, she was greatly surprised.

But thinking little of it, she assumed the enemies had gathered together, allowing Li Wei to destroy them all with a single strike.

Throwing off the covers, her cheeks flushed red, she called out, “Come back inside quickly—it’s cold out here!”

(End of Chapter)