Chapter 807: Frost Dragon

Chapter 807: The Frost Wyrm

“Crackle…”

The sound of ice scraping rang out as countless ice sculptures ahead began to stir, transforming into a vast, sprawling army of frost.

Countless heads turned, revealing crimson eyes, all filled with savage murderous intent.

The giant feet of the ice beast stamped on the ice, causing earth-shaking tremors.

“It really is trying to stop us from crossing.” Watching the massive army pressing toward them, Zhao Changhe’s expression turned odd: “Fifth Brother, I’d say your rush to come here was spot on… Judging by this situation, in just a few days, this Frost Wyrm will have completely broken free from its seal.”

Ying Wu’s own expression was even stranger. He had truly been driven by a reckless thirst for revenge, losing all reason and risking his life to enter—he really hadn’t known things would turn out like this.

If he had calmly waited until his cultivation was more advanced before seeking revenge, in a few days the Frost Wyrm would have broken free and rampaged, and it would have been too late. This time, his haste had been justified.

Ye Jiuyou’s ethereal expression also turned somewhat odd. Ying Wu might not know, but she and Zhao Changhe were both thinking of the same name.

Ye Wuming.

Ying Wu thought it was his own impatience and coincidence; Zhao Changhe had once thought so too, that many of his actions were his own decisions, without outside interference, and that coincidence merely proved his luck.

While some things were indeed a matter of luck, Zhao Changhe could now be almost certain that it was likely not coincidence, but rather that someone had tampered with the threads of causality, making it seem natural to follow one of countless possibilities. Even if it was luck, someone was using that luck to steer toward this outcome.

“What exactly are you up to…” Zhao Changhe took a deep breath, grinding his teeth, his grip on his blade tightening.

Whether to stop the Frost Wyrm from breaking its seal or to help Ying Wu, he would definitely do this—he couldn’t just turn back. Knowing there were signs of her meddling with causality, he still had to act. Was she pleased with herself?

But these things could have been said plainly. If she had spoken, would he have refused, given his nature? Why did she have to resort to such off-putting methods? What was wrong with her?

Could it be that she knew his desire was for her, and deliberately wanted to make him hate her?

Crazy.

“Clang!” Though his mind was churning, his hands never stopped.

The rampaging ice beast charging toward him was effortlessly cleaved into fragments with a single slash. Zhao Changhe’s wild blade swept through, cutting through the frost army like slicing vegetables, reaching the heart of the formation in the blink of an eye, leaving a trail of ice shards in the air.

“This Frost Wyrm has gone brain-dead from being trapped here so long… Did it really think such things could stop the current top of the Heavenly Ranking?” Ye Jiuyou commented while watching the screen, munching on melon seeds: “This man’s combat strength is growing stronger, but it seems he’s still stuck without breaking through to the second level of the Imperial Realm… Isn’t that a bit slow…”

Piaomiao looked surprised: “His cultivation core is actually blood-killing force?”

“You noticed? These monsters, revived by contamination with a kind of miasma-like force, might trouble others, but against him, Zhao Changhe, they’re just delivering themselves.” Ye Jiuyou laughed. “Look at that move, ‘Blood Fills the Mountains and Rivers’—even Lie himself couldn’t do better.”

Piaomiao nodded. No wonder Ying Wu had specifically invited Zhao Changhe for this task. Ying Wu must have sensed the situation inside from outside, and this job was best suited for Zhao Changhe. Even Ying Wu himself couldn’t perform as ferociously here; one slash from Zhao Changhe sent chunks flying, and the red eyes of those monsters scattered into nothing.

But this force, though very close to miasma, might not be the same thing. It wasn’t a tangible aura but an intangible, formless mental interference. That was why Ye Jiuyou called it “miasma-like.” Zhao Changhe might not have noticed the difference himself.

This was Piaomiao’s first time observing Zhao Changhe’s combat prowess. He was indeed strong—strong enough to have a place even in ancient times. In this new era, such strength truly deserved the top spot on the Heavenly Ranking.

But no matter how strong, he was only at the first level of the Imperial Realm. Such power was still insufficient against her and Ye Jiuyou. Even though she hadn’t fully recovered due to the incomplete unification of her soul with Cui Yuanyang, Zhao Changhe was unlikely to be her match. Moreover, his combat methods had been observed so closely that he posed even less of a threat.

The problem was… he was indeed, for the sake of his friends and for Cui Yuanyang, cutting through thorns and advancing into danger. The ice beasts couldn’t stop him, but they certainly distracted him, preventing him from evenly distributing his protective power. The wind and frost blades increasingly carved wounds all over his body. In just a few moments, visible frostbite marks had appeared on parts of his skin; even after leaving this place, he might need to cut away the damaged flesh for treatment.

Yet his expression never changed.

The favored one of the human path’s vital energy… indeed deserved it.

What Ye Jiuyou had said earlier to provoke him was correct: in theory, the favored one of the human path’s vital energy was also the favored one of her, Piaomiao. Before she had awakened, it was just an abstract concept. When that concept became concrete, it meant she, Piaomiao, should support this man.

Support? This man was now risking his life to kill her. Piaomiao shook her head slightly and pursed her lips without speaking.

She looked at Cui Yuanyang in her sea of consciousness. The young girl clenched her small fists nervously, watching Zhao Changhe charge toward the sealed land, her expression growing more entranced.

From the day they met until now, it had always been like this, never changing.

Only Ying Wu cast a sidelong glance at Zhao Changhe, his expression extremely odd… Didn’t you just tell me you didn’t like pretending to be weak or learning techniques to conceal your cultivation? Then what’s with this appearance of being at the first level of the Imperial Realm?

Zhao Changhe was transmitting his voice: “The Frost Wyrm has been trapped here so long it doesn’t know the heroes of the world. Let’s hide our strength first, then when we face it, we’ll strike and kill it.”

Ying Wu: “…”

It seemed he had forgotten that this guy had made his name by throwing lime powder.

“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t learn? How did you suddenly master it?”

“Space is hard to learn, but this? I just looked and learned.”

Ying Wu slapped a giant beast in front of him, shattering it, and imagined he was slapping Zhao Changhe—it made him feel a bit better.

The two advanced rapidly, and soon they reached the ice mountains ahead.

There wasn’t just one ice mountain; they were everywhere, massive and towering. If they had to search among the encircling peaks for a sealed location, it would take who knows how long. But with the map pointing directly to the seal’s position, they didn’t even need the time it takes to burn an incense stick. Breaking through the blockade of countless giant beasts, they directly saw a cave covered in icy mist within the mountain’s belly.

The cave exuded an even denser aura of ferocity and madness, so thick that even Zhao Changhe, who wielded miasma like an extension of his own will, couldn’t withstand it; his head ached as if splitting. Strangely, the icy chill wasn’t as intense as expected, as if something had neutralized it.

The frost creatures left behind were closing in, all howling in apparent agony and frenzy, creating an eerily bizarre scene.

“This isn’t miasma. I know miasma too well; the mental disorder caused by miasma isn’t like this…” Zhao Changhe held his head, speaking with difficulty. “This thing looks like miasma on the surface. I thought it was mixed with the cold aura that interfered with my judgment, but now that I’m closer, I’m more certain it’s not an aura. It seems to act directly on the mind… I don’t know what it is, but I suspect it’s beyond the scope of the Heavenly Dao—at least not within the scope of the Heavenly Book.”

Piaomiao was saying to Ye Jiuyou: “Are you sure… he’s only been cultivating for two and a half years? Such keen insight requires extremely rich experience and knowledge; talent can’t replace that—it takes time to accumulate.”

Ye Jiuyou smiled faintly: “His knowledge might even surpass yours… Because besides my page and the page floating in the sky, he has seven pages of the Heavenly Book. For any attribute related to this world, there’s nothing he hasn’t seen. If he says it’s not within the Heavenly Book’s scope, then it’s probably really not.”

“…He has seven pages of the Heavenly Book? How could Ye Wuming allow someone to have so many pages without killing him and taking the book?”

“How would I know…” Ye Jiuyou’s tone turned cool. “You might not know, but in this world, Ye Wuming has merged with the Heavenly Book. Theoretically, the Heavenly Book is her body. Having one or two pages might not mean much—like how I have one page, just fingering a single leaf. But you can imagine, the more complete the collection, the more it embodies her body. Yet she lets a man carry it around and fondle it freely. What do you think that means?”

Piaomiao: “?”

It sounded exactly like that kind of meaning.

Had the sun started rising from the west in this era after such a long slumber?

Leaving aside the women’s gossip, Ying Wu was saying to Zhao Changhe: “From my early encounters, I originally thought it was something like miasma invasion or the mental illusions of Mara. You specialize in miasma, and I prepared the Soul Chain for mental illusions. But now it turns out it’s neither, and spatial isolation is more useful. Coincidentally, you’ve already learned some space techniques—why not use them?”

Zhao Changhe: “…I can’t.”

“Who was it that just told me they’d basically mastered it?”

“…What my daughter taught me was killing techniques.”

“Where did you even get a daughter… Forget it, I’ll teach you.”

Indeed, Ying Wu was enduring here much more easily than Zhao Changhe… Since this was a passive mental interference existing in space, not an active spell targeting your sea of consciousness, as long as space was isolated, it couldn’t directly affect the mind, so there was no problem.

Zhao Changhe’s space techniques learned from Xinghe didn’t include this kind. Now, learning from Ying Wu, he found it very useful—forming a spatial barrier around himself could serve as combat protection in many situations. This level was far higher than body tempering or qi protection. No wonder Ying Wu, with his cultivation, remained unscathed in this icy environment where even Zhao Changhe was injured and freezing—it wasn’t just his immunity to mental interference; spatial isolation was indeed formidable.

And if you knew the trick, the energy cost wasn’t high. The biggest drawback was needing to devote significant focus to maintain it, but after training in multitasking for so long, that wasn’t too big a problem.

Zhao Changhe, already initiated into space, learned quickly. He rapidly isolated the space around his sea of consciousness, and the maddening whispers of the ancient god vanished instantly, bringing sudden silence to the world. Without further hesitation, the two entered the cave.

Inside, they found it wasn’t a cave but an abyss.

It was at least a thousand zhang deep, with ice walls everywhere. Light from an unknown source reflected dazzling, psychedelic colors, beautiful yet eerie, but the cold was much milder than outside.

Conversely, the maddening mental invasion grew stronger, far surpassing the outside.

Clearly, this was something suppressed by extreme cold, but the suppression was failing—the cold was weakening, and the mental invasion was worsening.

At the very bottom was a huge ice pool. Within the pool, jagged ice formations rose like chaotic rocks piercing the sky, or like crisscrossing chains, trapping a hornless ice dragon. Around the pool, faint traces of a tortoise-shell pattern appeared, but they were blurry, seemingly mostly pushed aside.

Xuanwu had sealed the Frost Wyrm here.

“Crack…” The sound of ice breaking rang out as the Frost Wyrm raised its head and roared.

In an instant, ice shards flew, and extreme cold surged again.

Even through his spatial barrier, Zhao Changhe could feel his thoughts slowing as if his soul were freezing. It seemed the Frost Wyrm’s active skills were far more extreme than the environmental cold outside.

He swiftly swung the Dragon Sparrow, cleaving through the chaotic ice spires, and from on high drove a single slash straight at the Frost Wyrm’s brow.

“Heh heh…” The Frost Wyrm suddenly shifted into human form, shedding the icy shackles. Its palm, formed of dark ice, seized the Dragon Sparrow’s blade, and the sword could not cut down, blocked solidly by that hand.

Ying Wu threw a punch from the side, seemingly unremarkable.

The Frost Wyrm uttered a soft “Eh?” and twisted its body; Ying Wu’s fist force grazed past. That seemingly ordinary force struck the ice wall by the pool, and a great hole appeared in the wall without a sound.

“Heroes of this age, you truly make me see you in a new light.” The Frost Wyrm’s human face bore a stern expression: “Are you two… Zhao Changhe and Ying Wu from the Chaos List?”

Zhao Changhe said, “Inside here, you can not only see the Chaos List but also haven’t gone mad?”

“Madness—such a thing may exist in any life, but never in a life of frost.” The Frost Wyrm said coldly, “Thus, some existence uses my life to fill the pit here.”

“Why speak so evasively of ‘some existence’? Isn’t it just a stinking blind man… except for being a bit good-looking…”

“Blind? She is not blind. Perhaps you and I speak of different persons; you will never know how terrifying she is.”

Zhao Changhe rubbed the back of his head, found no eyes there, and could only sigh: “Since it was the Black Tortoise who sealed you, the existence you speak of can only be Ye Wuming.”

“…” The Frost Wyrm’s expression turned strange: “So you’re saying Ye Wuming is good-looking.”

“Isn’t she?”

“Perhaps she is, but I never imagined anyone would describe her thus.” The Frost Wyrm seemed uninterested in judging others’ appearances, but as it spoke, a hint of ferocity crept into its eyes: “It’s a pity you are not Ye Wuming, nor the Vermilion Bird or Black Tortoise… Your arrival here provides excellent energy for me to break the final seal.”

Ying Wu said coldly, “So thirty-odd years ago, your release of Black Tortoise qi was not necessary to expel the seal, but deliberately to lure others here as your nourishment.”

“Isn’t that obvious?” The Frost Wyrm sneered: “Why would the release of Black Tortoise intent spill beyond the space? It was merely to attract some fools, done on purpose. Yes, you look familiar—one of those fools tricked back then, I recall. Someone I controlled to self-destruct, and someone shielded you, blown to pieces, at least six or seven dead. Those cultivators were quite strong; you must share some credit for my breaking free.”

Ying Wu’s face was expressionless, but his fists clenched with a cracking sound.

Zhao Changhe glanced at him, recalling long ago during the fight with Maitreya, when the Venerable Dorje self-destructed, and Ying Wu, as if foreseeing it, shielded everyone.

Back then, he said he had seen it before.

Ying Wu’s story, when told plainly, held no complex grudges—just a common tale of a secret realm treasure hunt ruined by an ancient soul, a story seen everywhere in the jianghu, seemingly unremarkable. But when such common tales happen to oneself, one knows the piercing hatred of watching sworn brothers die protecting you, their bones gone, a hatred that thirty years cannot extinguish.

Especially since it was not caused by the realm’s environment, but deliberately done, choosing the fastest and most brutal way to kill.

“Rumble!” As they spoke, the energy around the Frost Wyrm grew denser, the entire abyss trembled, and the already faint shadow of the Black Tortoise shell grew ever more invisible.

The seal was about to break completely.

“Your battle outside just now was also one of the foreign nourishments shaking the seal.” The Frost Wyrm laughed uproariously: “If you came for revenge, only to find your vengeful acts helped me break free, wouldn’t that be especially painful?”

Before the laughter faded, a broadsword slashed down from above: “What a pen holder, so full of yourself! Even tremblingly calling Ye Wuming ‘some existence’—you useless piece of trash, who do you think you are?”

“Clang!” The Frost Wyrm raised an arm to block, but found that the blade it had caught with one palm earlier now could not be stopped; the arm was deeply gashed.

Its heart leaped, and looking up, it saw Zhao Changhe’s bloodshot eyes, more ferocious than the maddened ice creatures here.

He had abandoned his spatial defense, gathered all his mind, and struck his strongest blow.

Ying Wu, about to go berserk himself, was stunned: “You’re not protecting against mental invasion?”

Zhao Changhe bared his teeth in a grin, his eyes growing even more savage: “When I kill, I don’t need it. Fifth Brother, provide long-range support—soon I won’t even recognize you…”

To protect against mental invasion, he had always had a crude method.

When the killing intent took over, no mental invasion worked, because at that moment, there was no thought but murder.

Heaven and earth had no self.

“…” Watching Zhao Changhe’s frenzied hacking, Ying Wu helplessly withdrew the ultimate technique he was about to unleash, stepped back several zhang, produced a copper coin, and suddenly shot it at the Frost Wyrm’s eye.

It had to be admitted that Zhao Changhe, abandoning defense and going berserk, was perhaps several times stronger than Ying Wu, who balanced offense and defense.

Night Youjiu, watching from afar, asked in puzzlement: “It’s just a favor—why is he fighting harder than Ying Wu?”

Piaomiao stared fixedly for a long while, but did not answer.