The girl's silver-white hair shimmered with a faint luminescence, like silk spread across the ocean. Her blue, ornate robes were imprinted with ice and snow patterns, and her apricot-yellow eyes reflected a cold, clear hue.
The Cold Jade Prism was also affected by the overflowing cold, freezing into a block of ice, which the girl cradled in her arms through her sleeves.
"You are... Qing Nü Fang?"
This posture of holding an ice block instead of a mirror, coupled with the signature white hair, awakened Tang Sui's soul-bound gaming DNA.
A life-saving shikigami, Qing Nü Fang!
Half-opening her apricot-yellow eyes, her gaze fell upon Tang Sui. Her lips parted, and a breath of snow wind, carrying tiny ice crystals, brushed against the person's cheek.
The sting was like that of ice blades, instantly creating tiny wounds on the tender skin. Scarlet blood immediately flowed from the cuts, staining the small snowflakes a vibrant red. Shang Yang, who had barely managed to half-open his eyes, turned pale, his eyes flashing with intense crimson: "You!"
The girl cradling the ice block didn't even glance at Shang Yang. Her eyelashes merely trembled, and the cold frost breath she exhaled seemed to be called back towards her.
[No need to panic, she is undergoing a recognition of ownership.]
The system's voice returned to its usual calm.
[Calm your snake uncle down, she isn't harming you. What your snake uncle needs to do now is to quickly find a place for you to advance.]
[The energy... is about to be suppressed...]
"What?" Tang Sui was stunned. Before she could delve into why Qing Nü Fang would recognize her as master without a word, another surge of coldness rose from her soul, like an ice plain tree growing in a frozen wasteland.
Branches, crystalline and transparent like ice, yet cold as snow, began to sprout and grow.
"Ugh!"
The bone-chilling cold that instantly spread from her dantian froze her blood and meridians, almost freezing her heart into ice and stopping its beat. Tang Sui's vision suddenly darkened, her mind went blank, and she nearly collapsed.
[Focus! Use your demonic energy, and devour it with all your might!]
The system roared sternly.
In the dark mental space, five masks suspended in the void collectively mobilized their demonic energy to protect Tang Sui's soul.
Tang Sui's muddled thoughts finally cleared a little.
Cold sweat trickled down her forehead, onto her cheeks, and then condensed into ice beads before falling onto the barrier, drawing Shang Yang's attention.
"Little cub, what's wrong?"
Tang Sui struggled to lift her head stiffly. Her face was pale blue, and a layer of frost had even formed on the side of her cheek. Her lips, frozen a purplish-black, trembled as she spoke in a voice as small as a mosquito: "...Leave..."
As if she were a chilled drink from a refrigerator, the coldness cooled her blood temperature.
The rapidly increasing cold energy emanating from Tang Sui made Shang Yang realize something.
His gaze flickered. His face turned ashen. He glared at Qing Nü Fang, who seemed like a lifeless ice and snow figurine. The crimson barrier expanded, forcefully suppressing the beam of light enveloping Qing Nü Fang with his immense demonic energy. Simultaneously, he unleashed the aura of a Great Demon, deterring others who glimpsed this anomaly and intended to investigate.
"I really owe you this!"
Shang Yang endured the freezing sensation on his hands, grabbed the collar of Tang Sui, who was shivering uncontrollably and unable to speak, and channeled his mighty crimson demonic energy from his palms. He connected with the demonic energy imprint beneath the city monument in the distant City of Slaughter, tearing through space to open a portal for teleportation.
Shang Yang's terrifying aura vanished from the sea area.
The sea soul beasts, who had been intimidated by Shang Yang's presence and dared not approach, cautiously drew closer, only to find an empty expanse.
"Sizzle—!"
A wave of heat, stirred by the sudden influx of energy, struck Qing Nü Fang's self-generated ice-blue barrier, creating a hissing sound of water meeting fire.
The intense heat energy enveloping her body caused Tang Sui's frozen limbs to warm up slightly.
Shang Yang, who was containing the underground magma with a demonic energy barrier, ascended to the surface with a dark expression to relay the order to evacuate the city center.
The extreme cold and heat energies enveloped Tang Sui from both within and without.
As time ticked by, Tang Sui was no longer content to merely be immersed in the magma. She even began to actively absorb it, adding her demonic energy to melt the extreme cold energy from Qing Nü Fang that was freezing her very soul. She didn't even know how much time had passed.
[Beep—Energy conversion complete! Eighth spirit ring about to condense!]
When Qing Nü Fang's form became transparent, dissolving into countless faint blue light particles that all surged towards Tang Sui, the system's voice sounded after a long absence.
Tang Sui, whose eyelashes were frozen with frost, suddenly opened her eyes, tilted her head back, her mouth agape, her eyes wide. In the depths of her pupils, a miniature Qing Nü Fang appeared.
"Hum—!"
A more intense pain shot from her dantian. However, Tang Sui was like a swan with its neck choked; no matter how painful or unbearable, she couldn't utter a sound.
For in the next second, ignoring the churning, boiling magma around her, transparent ice began to freeze upwards from Tang Sui's feet, even encasing the five pristine jade-white masks that circled her body, starting from their bases.
In just a few seconds, Tang Sui was completely encased in ice!
"Boom boom—!"
The ground of the City of Slaughter trembled violently once more.
Those who had been ordered to stay in their dwellings and not go out also felt the tremors from beneath the ground.
"Hiss..."
Some let out small gasps, white mist escaping from their mouths.
"Why do I suddenly feel... a bit cold?"
Someone, as usual cloaked in black robes, rubbed their goose-pimpled arms, looking confusedly at the wooden floor beneath their feet, then at the dark night sky outside.
Having stayed in the City of Slaughter for so long, they had never experienced winter.
A Hell Messenger, still holding the position of secretary, stood atop the eaves of a building, gazing towards the Obsidian Monument. He extended his hand, catching snowflakes that drifted down from the dull black sky in his pale palm.
The moment his palm touched the snowflakes, a soul-chilling cold permeated his skin, rapidly forming a layer of frost on his palm.
"This is... snow?"
The Hell Messenger, who hadn't seen falling snow for a thousand years, looked with mild curiosity at the unusual snowflakes.
Shang Yang, hovering at the tip of the Obsidian Monument, looked up at the snowflakes drifting from the night sky and frowned deeply.
As a fire-attribute cultivator, he instinctively detested this cold.
But his dislike was quickly replaced by worry. He lowered his head, gazing at the dark ground, his eyes seemingly piercing through the layer of hard obsidian he himself had laid, trying to glimpse Tang Sui, who was still advancing. A flicker of concern crossed his eyes.
Although this energy was indeed powerful, it was... utmost yin and utmost cold...
He surmised that the little cub would have a difficult time after this advancement.
—Author's Notes—
Congratulations on reaching one million words!
Mo Li will try to update earlier tomorrow!