Chapter 1178: Qiankun Five Jades

Yun Che ascended rapidly, soon breaking out of the water. He instinctively looked up and immediately saw Mu Xuanyin's figure floating silently high above, her icy eyes radiating a chilling majesty.

Although he was prepared, Yun Che's heart still fluttered with panic. "Master..."

"Kneel!"

A cold command, filled with deep anger, rang out. Yun Che stiffened all over and instantly knelt down, saying shamefully, "Master, your disciple... knows his mistake."

"Know your mistake?" Mu Xuanyin scoffed coldly. A surge of pressure, laced with anger, swept over them like an overturning sea of ice, plunging the entire Heavenly Pool World into silence. "You know your mistake again and again, yet you err again and again. What good is knowing your mistake then? Have you ever truly taken my words to heart?"

"Master, I..."

"You needn't argue!" Mu Xuanyin was clearly genuinely angry. "Bingyun has informed me of everything you did in the God Realm of Absolute Beginning! When you left the Snow Song Realm, I repeatedly warned you never to make decisions on your own and to keep your presence as low-key as possible. Yet you... not only disobeyed but did the complete opposite, fully exposing yourself to everyone. Now, I fear no one in the entire Eastern Divine Region is unaware of Yun Che's name... You truly are quite impressive!"

"Had I known this, I would have... forcibly imprisoned you in the Ice Phoenix Palace rather than let you go to your death!"

Yun Che wanted to speak, but under Mu Xuanyin's anger and oppressive aura, he couldn't breathe, nor could he lift his head.

Mu Xuanyin's words and gaze were like countless icy needles, piercing Yun Che's very soul. "Is someone who once abandoned you truly so important to you?"

Yun Che bit his lip and spoke softly, "She... was once my master. She guided my profound way, saved my life, and changed my destiny... During my most painful, lonely, confused, helpless, and desperate times... she was always there, accompanying me..."

"Her kindness to me... is just like your kindness to me, Master... I can never betray it... for all eternity..."

Mu Xuanyin was momentarily stunned.

The world suddenly grew quiet.

Yun Che remained kneeling heavily on the ground, head bowed deeply, not daring to look up. Though Mu Xuanyin was awe-inspiringly cold and strict, revered and feared by everyone in the Snow Song Realm, Yun Che was well aware of how immensely kind she had been to him.

He had made many mistakes, even unforgivable ones. She was clearly furious, yet in the end, she always forgave him. Especially in the past two years, she had completely disregarded sect matters, guiding his cultivation day and night beside him... He was absolutely certain that this was something utterly incredible and incomprehensible within the Ice Phoenix Divine Sect's understanding.

And he, on his part, had never been able to repay her in the slightest, instead repeatedly provoking her anger and disappointing her.

Facing Mu Xuanyin now, his heart was filled with boundless shame... He felt he was no longer worthy of being her disciple, nor worthy of all the kindness she had shown him.

Above the surface of the pond, the ice spirits, long frozen in place, suddenly began to dance gently. The intense cold seemed to have dissipated slightly.

"Unfortunately, she doesn't even wish to see you!" Mu Xuanyin said coldly. "Since you're back, stay honestly within the Saint Palace. You are not to take half a step outside without my permission! After a few years, when the Eastern Divine Region has forgotten your existence, then go back to your Blue Pole Star!"

"...Master," Yun Che said, head still bowed, "Your disciple returned this time because I wish to find a way to become powerful quickly. After that, your disciple must return to... the Conferred God Battle."

Yun Che spoke very softly and slowly, every word tinged with guilt, yet exceptionally resolute.

"Oh... is that so?" Mu Xuanyin's icy brows furrowed slightly. "So you still haven't given up on seeing her, have you?"

"No..." Yun Che shook his head. "I don't just want to see her; I have some things I must tell her face-to-face. I want her to know... no matter what she encounters, I will face it with her."

"With... you!?" Mu Xuanyin's voice was cold and disdainful.

"Of course, I can't now. I don't even have the qualifications. If I force myself to be by her side, I would only be a burden. But I want her to know that I will become powerful for her. She wanted to use the Conferred God Battle to drive me away, but I... will use the Conferred God Battle to prove my determination to her!"

"Master..." Yun Che continued softly, "I only realized last night that I've been wrong all along, wrong from the very beginning."

"From the first day I arrived in the Snow Song Realm, I always told myself that my purpose for coming to the Divine Realm was to find her. I strove to become powerful also to find her. And in this process, I kept telling myself that finding her was my sole purpose for being in the Divine Realm, that I never belonged here, and that the Blue Pole Star was my only home... Perhaps this was because, in the face of the vast Divine Realm, I always felt a sense of inferiority, only thinking of returning permanently after achieving my wish."

"It was also under this self-suggestion that I never truly thought of establishing myself in the Divine Realm, much less reaching a height where all beings would look up to me, as I did on the Blue Pole Star."

"But I always forgot that the reason she had to leave me was precisely my own insignificance."

"If I could become powerful enough—powerful enough to be worthy of protecting her, fighting alongside her, shielding her from the storms... at least, powerful enough to ensure she wouldn't worry about me—then how could anyone forcibly take her away from me, and how could... even meeting her be so difficult?"

"What hindered me, what hindered her, was never the distance between the lower realm and the King Realm... but my own insignificance." Yun Che closed his eyes, his voice as ethereal as mist.

Mu Xuanyin listened quietly. Every word seemed to be Yun Che's soul speaking, yet her gaze remained unchanged. "So? Are you planning to use this Profound God Convention to prove something to her? To make her realize how devoted you are, to make her shed tears of gratitude?!"

"No... and for myself too," Yun Che said. "If I, having only been in the Divine Realm for a mere three years, can stand proud above others in this Conferred God Battle, then... what reason would I have not to continue becoming stronger!"

"The Evil God's Profound Veins, the power of the Heretic God, the Dragon God's body, the Sky Poison Pearl... In the Divine Realm, I always viewed these as hidden dangers buried within my body, unable to be detected by others. But... more than that, they are actually immense advantages bestowed upon me by heaven!"

Mu Xuanyin remained completely unmoved, letting out a cold scoff. "That truly is a 'great' realization. Unfortunately... I recall you are not to stay in the Divine Realm for more than five years. Three years have already passed, leaving only two. Even if you had ten times the advantages, what could you possibly accomplish in that time?"

"I will definitely return within two years."

"However, that doesn't mean I won't come back," Yun Che said, lifting his head at this point and looking directly into Mu Xuanyin's icy eyes. "Because the Blue Pole Star is no longer my only home and destination. Because of you, Master, I have become a person of the Divine Realm... At the very least, I belong to the Snow Song Realm."

"Both you, Master, and her are reasons for me to stay in the Divine Realm. They have been for a long time, I just didn't realize it myself. So... I will return from the Divine Realm to the Blue Pole Star, and I will also return from the Blue Pole Star to the Divine Realm. When I'm not strong enough, I want to remain by your side, Master, enjoying the protection of your wings. If one day I can become strong enough, as I wish, I want to protect you, Master, and the Snow Song Realm for all my life. Anyone who dares to harm you, Master, will be my lifelong enemy."

Their gazes met, but Mu Xuanyin suddenly averted her eyes, then turned completely away, saying coldly, "With a mere Divine Tribulation cultivation and constantly foolish actions, all you know is to spout grand words."

"You should worry more about protecting your own life. I haven't fallen so low as to need your protection!"

Yun Che was speechless.

Mu Xuanyin lifted her head and suddenly let out a soft sigh. "Mu Xuanyin... why do I have a disciple like you?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly raised her jade arm, flicked her snow-white sleeve back, and commanded, "Eat this!"

Before Yun Che's eyes, five distinct, unusual lights suddenly shone.

The source of these lights was a small, spherical pearl. The pearl was crystal clear, almost like glazed glass, yet it emitted a brilliance and aura entirely different from glass.

Red, green, white, blue, and cyan... the five colors sometimes overlapped, sometimes separated, shimmering in alternation. Their aura also constantly shifted, sometimes turbid, sometimes fresh, sometimes scorching, sometimes icy... but none were intense, yet miraculously, they were not at all overwhelmed by the extremely heavy cold air of the Netherfrost Heavenly Pool.

Yun Che slowly opened his eyes. "This, could it be..."

"The Five-Pronged Universe Pill!" Mu Xuanyin turned around at this moment, her face, beautiful as a fairy tale and cold as eternal snow, now restored to an expression of indifference. "Although your Sky Poison Pearl possesses powerful refining ability and can easily concoct countless pills, the Five-Pronged Universe Pill requires strong profound energy to guide and merge five different forces. It's not something your Sky Poison Pearl can achieve! It took even me a whole year to fuse it."

One of the things Yun Che sought upon his return this time was the Five-Pronged Universe Pill.

Back then, he had gathered all five materials for concocting the Five-Pronged Universe Pill, but Mu Xuanyin had taken them all, wanting him to naturally reach the Divine Tribulation Realm through his own cultivation. His return this time was precisely to retrieve these materials from Mu Xuanyin, obtain the refining method, and then use the Sky Poison Pearl to concoct the Five-Pronged Universe Pill.

It was only at this moment that he realized the Five-Pronged Universe Pill could not be concocted like regular pills at all, but instead required powerful profound energy to guide its fusion...

And even someone as powerful as Mu Xuanyin had actually taken a full year to fuse it.

Perhaps, this was the real reason Mu Xuanyin had taken all the materials in the first place.

She had expended a significant amount of profound energy and effort to fuse it, and now she directly produced it, clearly indicating... that it had been prepared for him all along.

His heart was gently touched by something soft, and a bittersweet sensation involuntarily gathered between Yun Che's eyebrows. "Master..."

"Stop talking nonsense, sit properly!" Mu Xuanyin, however, didn't give him a chance to speak, rebuking coldly. Her snowy figure flickered, and she was already in front of Yun Che. "Take out the 'Temporal Wheel Orb' you obtained in the God Realm of Absolute Beginning!"

"Ah... yes."

Yun Che quickly adjusted to a sitting posture, calmed his mind and breathing, then took out the "Temporal Wheel Orb" and placed it in Mu Xuanyin's jade-like hands.

Mu Xuanyin released a trace of profound energy from her palm, and the Temporal Wheel Orb shattered instantly. An invisible barrier immediately unfurled, enveloping both of them and separating them into two different worlds.

The Temporal Wheel barrier would last for one month.

During this month, outside the Temporal Wheel barrier, only a short hour would pass.