Chapter 1032: Divine Realm's First Fortune

"You... Arrrgh..." Mu Hanyi's struggling fingers were completely deformed, and his voice was so hoarse and weak it was barely audible. Though he had been poisoned for less than ten breaths, his body had entirely changed color, especially his eyes, which were as crimson as blood plasma.

"Thank you for bringing me here. You've given me both the opportunity and the reason to kill you, and now I can finally take this Qilin horn with a clear conscience. Humph, as thanks, I'll generously tell you two things."

"First," Yun Che narrowed his eyes, "Master bestowed Mu Feixue upon me for a special reason. Even if you truly became Master's personal disciple, she would never have given Feixue to you. Your claim that I stole your Feixue is simply absurd."

"Urgh... Ah!" Mu Hanyi's mouth gaped open, spilling crimson foam. All his teeth had long since dissolved from the potent poison.

"Second..." Yun Che crouched down, letting out a low, cold chuckle. "The Dragonfang poison you're afflicted with was personally given to me by Master before I departed. Guess why Master specifically sent me to the Ice Wind Empire alone, and why she gave me such a potent poison at that exact time?"

"..." Mu Hanyi's curled body suddenly stiffened. His discolored eyes expressed the most extreme terror and despair he had ever known.

"Hmph! You thought your performance was flawless, but Master is a Great Realm King of ten thousand years. Even someone as intelligent as I must be utterly obedient in front of her, daring not to harbor the slightest bit of cunning. What do your little schemes amount to in her eyes?"

"If I truly died here today, Master would absolutely not take you as her personal disciple, as you foolishly imagined. On the contrary, you would only suffer a far more agonizing death!"

Mu Hanyi's mouth trembled, opening and closing with difficulty, yet no sound escaped. His curled body had ceased struggling, now only wracked by occasional spasms.

"Dying from accidentally triggering a mechanism, a very good suggestion. And thank you for telling me that the profound formation sealing the Qilin horn can be unsealed with your blood. Otherwise, I would have had to expend considerable effort." Yun Che chuckled faintly.

"..." The poisonous aura swirled within the barrier. Mu Hanyi had lost all five senses and could no longer hear anything Yun Che said. After a violent convulsion, his body, saturated with poison, finally ceased all movement.

He lay dead, slain by the Dragonfang's essence.

Yun Che extended his left hand, releasing the power of the Sky Poison Pearl. It purified all the poison from Mu Hanyi's corpse, and then even cleansed the poisonous aura that had permeated the barrier, leaving no trace of the Dragonfang poison.

Standing up, Yun Che cast one last look at Mu Hanyi, who was now utterly still. He exhaled slowly, then murmured to himself, "He truly was a terrifying person."

He was reminded of Xuanyuan Wentian.

Undoubtedly, Xuanyuan Wentian was an extremely formidable individual, the only one who had repeatedly brought Yun Che close to death. Yet Mu Hanyi, at less than thirty years old, had already reached such a level of cunning and strategizing. If he had been born in the lower realms and given as much time as Xuanyuan Wentian, he would certainly have become even more terrifying.

Unfortunately, he no longer had that chance.

Yun Che completely understood why Mu Xuanyin had initially decided to take Mu Hanyi as her personal disciple. With his cunning and methods, he was indeed far more suited to be a high-ranking leader than the pure-hearted Mu Feixue.

However, since she had chosen Yun Che, Mu Hanyi's profound cunning naturally became a dangerous factor for Yun Che.

Her intention for Yun Che to come to the Ice Wind Empire was not just to test him on acquiring the Qilin horn. Another test was for him to resolve the potential threat of Mu Hanyi himself.

The surrounding sealing barrier's duration was unknown. Mu Hanyi's full-force attack had failed to create even a tiny crack in it, so Yun Che naturally saw no need to waste energy trying. He approached the barrier, took a deep breath, and extended both his left and right hands simultaneously.

His left hand glowed with ice, his right with flame.

Yun Che closed his eyes, his concentration swiftly becoming absolute. After a long period of stillness, the airflow within the barrier suddenly became turbulent. As the icy glow and fiery light intensified, the cold and heat, which should have consumed and neutralized each other, unnaturally intertwined and merged. Slowly, an aura that deviated from the laws of the Heavenly Way emerged.

After a long while, Yun Che opened his eyes. A glacial blue flame burned quietly in his palm.

His mastery of fire had been rapidly improving, and now, with the Ice Phoenix bloodline, the power of his ice flame—a fusion of fire and ice—had naturally increased greatly. Yun Che slowly raised the ice flame, murmuring, "This is nearly its limit... it should be enough!"

He pushed the ice flame forward, touching it to the barrier.

Without a sound, the isolation barrier in front, which even Mu Hanyi couldn't breach, rapidly melted into a large hole under the ice flame, like a thin sheet of ice touching a raging fire.

Power immediately dissipated rapidly from the sudden opening. The entire isolation barrier vibrated violently, then shattered with a cracking sound, disintegrating into fragments of power scattering everywhere.

Yun Che glanced around, contemplating which mechanism to throw Mu Hanyi's body onto. However, after brief consideration, he abandoned the idea. While Mu Hanyi could employ such a disguise, it wasn't suitable for Yun Che to use on him. Not only was Mu Hanyi intimately familiar with the mechanisms here, but his body was also severely corroded by the poison, making it impossible to convincingly fake a death by accidental trigger.

"Forget it, I'd better take his body out. Otherwise, with the missing Qilin horn, suspicion might truly fall on me. After all, I'm certainly the only person Mu Hanyi would willingly bring here."

Making Mu Hanyi and the Qilin horn disappear together, creating the illusion that Mu Hanyi had left with the horn, wouldn't be a bad idea... As for the reason, let them figure it out themselves.

Instead of immediately collecting Mu Hanyi's corpse, Yun Che turned and walked towards the shimmering piles of purple-veined divine crystals.

Purple stones, purple crystals, and purple jade were the common currency of the God Realm. Having just arrived, Yun Che naturally possessed pitifully little wealth. While at Ice Phoenix Palace, he received a monthly stipend of five thousand purple stones, but after becoming Mu Xuanyin's personal disciple, he received nothing.

This area was confirmed to be free of mechanisms or profound formations, so Yun Che confidently strode forward, unhesitatingly collecting the mountains of purple crystals and carefully sealed purple jade into the Sky Poison Pearl. Although he couldn't immediately ascertain the exact quantity, this was the treasure vault of an empire's royal family; it was certainly an immense fortune.

Yun Che then changed direction, sweeping all the jade boxes containing various precious pills and spiritual herbs into the Sky Poison Pearl.

This was merely a corner of the treasure vault, but Yun Che was not greedy. He stopped after collecting everything in this particular area. This was because profound formations and mechanisms were hidden throughout the vault, and accidentally triggering one due to greed would have unthinkable consequences.

With a large quantity of purple crystals and jade in his possession, Yun Che instantly felt the reassurance that wealth could provide. Returning to Mu Hanyi's side, Yun Che flicked a finger. Mu Hanyi's body immediately ruptured, scattering a few dark blood beads that then floated above Yun Che's fingertips.

Yun Che slowly approached the profound formation sealing the Qilin horn.

As a profound formation sealing a nation's sacred relic, it was naturally extremely resilient; even his fused ice flame might not be able to break it. Yun Che's gaze fell, examining the ice-blue Qilin horn once more. With a flick of his finger, the few blood beads from Mu Hanyi gently drifted down onto the sealing profound formation.

The blood beads touched the profound formation, flashing a faint red light for an instant before completely merging into it. Simultaneously, dull resonating sounds emanated from the formation, and a red mark appeared without warning. The entire seal, centered on this red mark, slowly began to open outwards.

When it was fully open, the Qilin horn, which had existed in the Ice Wind Empire for over eighty thousand years, lay before him, completely unhindered.

"It seems the Ice Wind Empire has truly high-level profound formation masters," Yun Che mused.

Yun Che sighed, floated upwards, then moved forward slowly and cautiously, his palm gently touching the Qilin horn.

It felt incredibly hard, yet had no temperature, not even the expected coldness. However, there was a faint, strange sensation, unlike anything he had felt before, as if from ancient times.

Now was certainly not the time to investigate this Qilin horn. With a slight pull of his palm, the Qilin horn, over three zhang tall, was instantly drawn into the Sky Poison Pearl.

The moment the Qilin horn entered the Sky Poison Pearl, a profound energy suddenly surged from below. Yun Che's brows twitched. "Oh no!"

*Clang!!!!!!!!!!*

Beneath where the Qilin horn had been, a profound light shot skyward, accompanied by a deafening clang. Almost simultaneously, the profound lights throughout the treasure vault flashed wildly. All the alarm formations lit up at once, emitting dazzling beams and blaring warning sounds audible for hundreds of miles.

"Damn it!" Yun Che's brow suddenly furrowed... Not only was the Qilin horn sealed by a profound formation, but another profound formation was hidden beneath it! The moment the Qilin horn was moved, this hidden formation would instantly activate, directly triggering all the other formations in the treasure vault.

Yun Che gritted his teeth firmly... The Ice Wind Imperial Family truly went to great lengths to protect this Qilin horn!

Undoubtedly, at this moment, not just the palace, but probably the entire Imperial City of Ice Wind had been alerted. The guards outside, numerous palace experts, and even Feng Huituo would rush here immediately.

"There should still be time!"

Mu Hanyi had mentioned that only he, Feng Huituo, and Feng Hange knew about the treasure vault's secret passage. The guards stationed closest outside the vault would only enter through the main entrance, giving Yun Che enough time to escape via the hidden passage.

Yun Che quickly calmed himself, then turned around, preparing to take Mu Hanyi's corpse.

But the moment he turned, his movements abruptly froze, and the hairs on his entire body stood on end.

Where his gaze landed, there was nothing but emptiness, only dark red bloodstains on the ground.

Mu Hanyi's corpse... was gone!

This shock was immense; a chill shot straight up Yun Che's spine.

"Who is it! Who's here!!"

If his corpse had been completely annihilated by the Dragonfang poison, there might have been a tiny, slim possibility. However, Yun Che had just used the Sky Poison Pearl to purify all the poison from his body to leave no trace of the Dragonfang's essence... so it was absolutely impossible for it to vanish into thin air!

And he had not detected the presence of anyone else, from beginning to end.

No one answered him. In the blaring treasure vault, even an echo couldn't be heard.

The guards outside could burst in at any moment. Yun Che gritted his teeth, activating his Illusory Glazed Thunder and rushing towards the entrance he had come through, following his remembered route at top speed.

The secret passage door was not closed. Yun Che plunged into the passage, his speed undiminished, his teeth still tightly clenched.

There was another person in the treasure vault! And a terrifying individual whose presence he couldn't detect at all!

If that person had been there the whole time, then everything he had done—including the purification by the Sky Poison Pearl and the ice flame—would have been witnessed!

Why was that person in the treasure vault... and why would they take Mu Hanyi's corpse!?

Who was it!!?