Chapter 1698: Instant Frozen Radiance

They had advanced in great numbers, but the engagement ended without a single confrontation. The Cangxue Ice Qilin Beast led the profound beasts grandly away. Upon receiving Mu Bingyun’s consent, it expressed profuse gratitude, shedding tears of thanks, wishing it could have prostrated itself until its head shattered.

After retreating some distance, the Cangxue Ice Qilin Beast suddenly accelerated, practically tumbling and crawling away, fearing Mu Bingyun would change her mind. Not a shred of its profound beast overlord’s might remained; only a profound fear so immense that its will had shattered multiple times, enough to ensure it would never dare to rebel again in its life.

“This trip was surprisingly uneventful and bloodless,” Mu Tanzhi said with relief. Like everyone else, the suppression in his heart had completely vanished.

Mu Bingyun, however, continued to gaze into the distance, murmuring, “Who could it be...?” She had asked the Cangxue Ice Qilin Beast who had forced it to act this way, and she had clearly seen the extreme terror it displayed when desperately denying any coercion. For a Divine Sovereign Profound Beast to show such an expression, it was likely due to coercion from a Divine Master. And the methods must have been extremely brutal, practically scaring the Cangxue Ice Qilin Beast out of its wits.

“There are two possibilities,” Mu Tanzhi said. “First, the Moon God Realm.”

Mu Bingyun’s icy eyes instantly turned cold. “Impossible,” she said coldly. “The Moon God Emperor publicly declared that the Snow Song Realm had shown her kindness, and no one was to vent their anger on us. This was merely to flaunt that she isn’t an ungrateful person... Heh, if she had sent someone to do this, she would have wished the entire Eastern Divine Region knew about it.”

“Then it must be the Flame God Realm King.” Mu Tanzhi glanced at Mu Bingyun’s expression and sighed softly.

The Flame God Realm King, Huo Poyun’s affection for Mu Feixue, had been known to both realms for a long time. In fact, with just a word from Mu Feixue, and given the Flame God Realm King’s formidable strength, he could easily suppress even if the profound beast overlords of both the Northern and Southern Regions rebelled simultaneously. However, favors, after all, must be repaid. And what the Flame God Realm King wished them to repay... everyone knew very clearly. Therefore, neither possibility was an answer Mu Bingyun wanted to hear.

“Return to the sect,” she murmured. Mu Bingyun rose into the air and flew away. This massive profound beast rebellion concluded with a result far better than expected, yet Mu Bingyun’s heart was not at ease.

The profound beast army retreated to their territory, and the people of the Ice Phoenix Divine Sect all departed. The boundless Snow Region became quiet once more. High in the distant sky, within a space no one had noticed, a faint light blue ice gleam suddenly flashed for an instant, like a twinkling star, then vanished, leaving no trace.

Chi Wuyao departed. The Yama Emperor, leading the Yama Devils behind him, politely escorted Chi Wuyao out of the Yama Devil Imperial Realm, watching her departure blankly.

Inside the Imperial Hall, Yun Che stood silently for a long, long time, his eyes closed. Earlier, his aura had connected to the dark yin energy of the Everlasting Darkness Bone Sea, the auras of Yama One and Yama Three had suppressed Chi Wuyao, and outside the hall, the Yama Emperor and several Yama Devils were poised to strike... He had pointed at Chi Wuyao, arrogantly asking her how she would resolve the situation. Undoubtedly, in this “confrontation” between him and Chi Wuyao, not only had Chi Wuyao successfully broken the stalemate, but he had been utterly defeated. He had even experienced an emotional breakdown in front of his “master,” whom he had thought lost but now regained.

Indeed, there is nothing more beautiful in the world than regaining something lost. Especially, the more painful and despairing it was to lose everything initially, the more profoundly this regained presence would impact his soul. Although, it was only a partial, and somewhat dreamlike and bizarre, regaining.

After standing still for a long time, Yun Che’s expression had returned to its usual indifference. Once his mind calmed, however, there was an even deeper confusion. In those years, she truly was his master... This, he no longer doubted. But his master’s body was fully Mu Xuanyin, and her will was primarily Mu Xuanyin’s. And Chi Wuyao... her more significant, more complete identity, was the Northern Realm Devil Queen.

“He Ling...” he asked somewhat lost. “Can I really... continue to see her as my master?”

“I... I don’t know.” What Yun Che couldn’t answer, He Ling was even less able to. Especially since He Ling had not been by Yun Che’s side during the years he spent day and night with his master, she hadn’t witnessed that most important period for them.

“Could what she said be true?” Yun Che asked again, his gaze distant. The feelings swirling in his heart, besides confusion, included a deep sense of insecurity about gains and losses.

“I will never let anyone hurt or betray you again. Anyone who deceives you, harms you, or wrongs you, no matter who they are, I will make them pay a thousand, ten thousand times the price.”

“Everything you desire, all the most beautiful things in the world, even if I have to seize them by force, I will give them all to you, to compensate you...”

Recalling these words whispered into his ear now, anyone would find it impossible to believe they came from Chi Wuyao’s mouth. It was like a mother’s unprincipled doting on her child, or a woman’s boundless infatuation with a man... Yet, neither sentiment should be present in Chi Wuyao. Because she was the Northern Realm Devil Queen, who ruled the Northern Realm as a devil, had become an Emperor of the Soul Stealing Realm, and was feared by the world!

“I don’t know,” He Ling still shook her head weakly, then softly replied, “But, my own feeling is... what she said to Master came from the bottom of her heart.”

“And Master has always spoiled you like this, right?” He Ling said softly.

Yun Che: “...” Yes, his master had always spoiled him like this. After he made such a huge mistake, she only verbally admonished him when he was brought back, and then instead poured all her time and effort into him alone. Other core disciples were only granted one day in the Abyssal Ice Sky Pool, yet she allowed him to be immersed in it year-round. For him, she could instantly turn hostile with the Sword Monarch, and in her fury, she recklessly severed her own arm due to Luo Guxie’s sneak attack. Even more, for him, she faced all the Divine Emperors of the three God Regions alone.

But that was Mu Xuanyin’s will. Chi Wuyao... the other side of his master, was she truly like that too?

“Furthermore,” He Ling continued softly, “although she is not the dominant will of Master, Master must not overlook one thing: she shares knowledge and feelings with Mu Xuanyin. All of Mu Xuanyin’s experiences with Master are her own experiences with Master, not a single bit less.”

“If Mu Xuanyin could love Master so much, why couldn’t Chi Wuyao?”

“No, it’s different.” Yun Che shook his head, his eyes still filled with an impenetrable confusion. “She rose from a mortal to become the Northern Realm Devil Queen step by step. Her experience, her schemes... especially her Devil Emperor’s soul, are far beyond what Mu Xuanyin possessed.”

“The Mu Xuanyin I was with was her entire soul. But Chi Wuyao... is only a very small part of her soul.”

“How could someone like her be the same as Mu Xuanyin? How could she truly develop such feelings for me... a person touched by a detached will?” Yun Che couldn’t fully convince himself, and perhaps no one else could believe it either. After all, if Chi Wuyao could so easily “fall,” how could she have become the Soul Stealing Devil Queen who overlooked the Northern Realm?

“I cannot answer Master’s question,” He Ling whispered, “just as I have never fully understood why Master Shen Xi would choose to devote herself to Master.”

Yun Che was slightly startled.

“However, Master’s words reminded me of a question I once asked Master Shen Xi years ago,” He Ling recounted, recalling. “At that time, I asked Master Shen Xi: The Dragon Emperor was the strongest in cultivation and status in the world, so noble and so devoted, why had Master never felt even a slight stirring of emotion for him? Was it that there was no romantic love in Master’s world?”

“Master Shen Xi replied then that she was not without romantic feelings. On the contrary, even the most heartless woman would have an unquenchable longing for such a beautiful thing as romantic love. It’s just that women are more willing to be conquered by men stronger than themselves, and this is especially true for women in high positions and those who are more powerful.”

“If one day, a man worthy of making her fall appeared in her life, she might even choose... to actively conquer him.”

Yun Che was slightly stunned, surprised that these words had come from Shen Xi.

“At the time, I couldn’t understand anything Master Shen Xi said. But...” He Ling’s voice softened, “Now I understand.”

“There are many powerful people in this world, but only Master is truly unique in the world, and indeed the only one worthy of Master Shen Xi,” He Ling said. “Yun Qianying is the same. She once disdained all men; even the powerful Southern Sea God Emperor and the deeply devoted Heavenly Wolf Xisu were merely tools in her eyes.”

“Yet, by Master’s side, in just a few years, she could change so quickly and so profoundly.”

“No, Chi Wuyao is different; she is completely unlike them.” He Ling’s words still made Yun Che shake his head. “Chi Wuyao is adept at using not only men’s power but also their emotions. She has experienced far too many men; even the Brahma Heaven God Emperor fell under her sway.”

“How could someone like her fall in love so easily and so completely?”

In her early days, although Chi Wuyao bore the Devil Emperor’s soul and gained increasingly powerful strength, she was alone, without any backing. So, she used men to ascend to power, conquering them while gradually seizing control of the forces and foundations under their command. Then, step by step, she rose from a mid-tier position to a high-tier one, and then to a King Realm. Finally, while conquering the Brahma Heaven God Emperor, she actually seized control of the entire Brahma Heaven God Realm through shocking methods, gradually transforming it into her own Soul Stealing Realm, and thus she was crowned Emperor. Not just in the Northern Divine Realm, but throughout the entire God Realm, it would be impossible to find another woman whose experiences could compare to hers. Even Qianye Ying’er, the most renowned Divine Daughter of the Brahma Heaven God Realm at the time, had her starting point on the shoulders of the Brahma Heaven God Realm.

He Ling remained silent for a while, then suddenly said, “Master, just now... when she embraced you, I noticed something very strange.”

Yun Che: “?”

“Chi Wuyao... she is... a virgin.”

Yun Che stiffened abruptly, and his voice burst out, “Impossible!” It was common knowledge in the Northern Divine Realm that Chi Wuyao had ascended to power step by step by seducing one man after another to become the Northern Realm Devil Queen. Even Qianye Ying’er knew this very clearly long before she entered the Northern Divine Realm.

“Although it contradicts the information we know, what I perceived is truly this way.” He Ling’s voice was very soft and gentle, but without hesitation. As Wood Spirits, a race created by the Life Creation God Li Sa, they are of the purest and cleanest nature, most sensitive to evil, and most drawn to purity. And the purest aspect of a woman’s body is her primordial yin aura. Upon close contact, He Ling could perceive it clearly.

Yun Che stood frozen there, speechless for a long time.

“Perhaps the real Chi Wuyao is not at all what we have heard, after all, rumors are just rumors and often untrustworthy.”

“Moreover, as Master said, truly understanding someone is very, very difficult. Master, do you truly understand... her?”

Yun Che closed his eyes, silently contemplating for a very long time in the quietness where no one dared to disturb him.