by Mars Gravity
“The Profound God Convention’s preliminary selections, that will happen inside the Eternal Heaven Pearl, are in two years. Once you enter, anyone is able to benefit from its exclusive laws of power and today’s heavenly lake gathering will allow even more of you to qualify to enter the Eternal Heaven Pearl. Everyone’s constitution, innate talent, and comprehension is different. How much you all can gain from today’s event will depend on yourselves. Just remember that this kind of opportunity will not happen again in the future!”
When he finished his serious warning, Mu Huanzhi waved his hand.
With the divine hall at the front and the ice phoenix palaces behind them, they were uniformly lead by their respective elders and palace masters as they flew above the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake.
The closer they got to the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake, the more pure and dense the frost aura became. Mu Xiaolan’s cultivation was only at the middle stage of the Divine Origin Realm. Aside from Yun Che, her profound strength was the weakest amongst the bunch, so her resistance against cold energy was naturally also the worst. At this point, she had no choice but the circulate all of her profound energy in order to withstand the cold. However, at the same time, she was also incomparably excited to feel that her circulation of ice profound energy and the speed at which it recovered was several times greater than it was normally.
Mu Bingyun brought Yun Che and Mu Xiaolan to the very end of the procession but she did not fly the two over the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake. She had instead stopped at the lake’s edge.
“Xiaolan, Yun Che,” Mu Bingyun turned around and looked at Mu Xiaolan and Yun Che. Of the two, one was using all the profound energy in her body yet she still shivered from the cold. The other however, looked calm, as though nothing had happened to him. “Your cultivation levels are too low so forcibly entering the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake would do more harm than good. You two should stay here. The cold energy here is also borne from the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake. Immersing yourself in it and tempering your body with the cold energy is enough to greatly improve your control of ice profound arts. This will bring great benefits to your cultivation later on.”
“Yes, Master.”
Mu Xiaolan said without any objections. She was well aware of her own abilities and knew she wasn’t strong enough to soak in the heavenly lake’s water. Being able to soak in the cold energy here which contained extremely high ice laws was already good luck she wouldn’t even dare dream about.
She quietly sat down. After quickly breathing in lightly, she closed her eyes, not daring to waste any second she spent here.
With the heavenly lake’s water so close before his eyes, after a bout of hesitation, Yun Che still voiced out in the end, “Palace Master, I want to try…”
“Remember what you promised me earlier.” Mu Bingyun seemed to already know what he was about to say and directly interrupted him with a solemn face, “You will do whatever I tell you to do and are not allowed to do anything I don’t want you to do.”
Yun Che opened his mouth but could only nod in submission, “Yes.”
Right when he went to sit beside Mu Xiaolan, Mu Bingyun’s sound transmission suddenly sounded beside his ear.
“You have a strange constitution. You are able to forcibly cultivate the Ice Phoenix God Investiture Canon without needing the Ice Phoenix bloodline. The cold energy here also will not affect you at all so even though your profound strength is weak, the heavenly lake’s water should not be able to harm you. However, your reputation has already preceded you. If it is heard that your body at the Sovereign Profound Realm is able to successfully soak in the heavenly lake’s water, it will surely cause great waves once more. This will certainly bring you no benefits.”
“The sect master and I owe you so she might pick a day when she will allow you to come alone.”
“…” Yun Che lifted his head and looked at Mu Bingyun’s back figure, which had not turned around the entire time. His heart warmed and then he quickly calmed down and closed his eyes. He no longer cared about his surroundings as he began to focus his senses on feeling the pure, cold energy in this area and comprehending the ice laws within.
This was the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake. With Mu Bingyun at his side, Yun Che did not need to set up any defenses whatsoever. Soon enough, his consciousness had unwittingly submerged itself and he had even isolated all external sounds.
Mu Bingyun did not enter the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake and instead stood guard in front of the duo. At this time, Mu Sushan came over from behind them. His gaze shifted to Yun Che and amidst his shock, his footsteps halted before he exclaimed, “In a short three months, he has already reached the peak of the Sovereign Profound Realm. Moreover, his profound energy is this stable… Palace Master Bingyun, I seriously don’t know how exactly you’ve taught him to produce such results.”
Mu Bingyun shook her head, “That has nothing to do with me.”
“Haha, then this could only mean that this kid is a freak that goes against common sense,” Mu Sushan stated.
Mu Bingyun gave an incredibly indifferent smile but did not comment.
The other thirty five Ice Phoenix Palaces had already arrived above the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake. At the location of the first palace, Mu Yizhou glanced at Yun Che, who was sitting at the edge of the lake. After a disdainful mocking smile flashed on his face, he no longer bothered to look at him a second time. Following his palace master’s guidance, he then slowly descended, slowly lowering his body down to the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake.
The instant the tip of his foot touched the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake, a current of cold energy instantly burst forth, immediately spreading through every corner of his body. It was as though he had instantly been sealed into the ice hell of legends. The profound energy in his entire body seemed to suddenly boil like fire as it began to quickly circulate.
Ripples continuously came from the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake and the dancing ice spirits were scattered into the distance from their shock. Aside from the thirty sixth palace, all the divine hall and ice phoenix palace disciples were now submerged into the lake. Terrifying cold energy caused them to instantly drop into an ice prison the instant they entered. The pain was intolerable but their hearts were excited to the point that they were close to bursting. Each and every one of them immediately mobilized their thoughts and profound energy, trying to contain and guide the cold energy within them.
Even though they had just entered, they were able to sense the extremely distinct changes occurring to their bodies and profound veins brought about by the extremely pure cold energy from the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake.
Although they had long heard about the miraculous Heavenly Netherfrost Lake, they were still happy beyond their dreams after experiencing firsthand. In their joy, they gladly endured the pain brought about by the extreme cold.
Compared to the Ice Phoenix Palace disciples, the expressions of the divine hall disciples were relatively ordinary. There were no changes on the faces and expressions of Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue, who were the center of attention, when they submerged themselves into the lakewater.
Aside from Mu Bingyun, Yun Che, and Mu Xiaolan, everyone else had already entered the heavenly lake. However, the various elders and palace masters did not immediately enter the lake to temper their bodies. After waiting a long while, their gazes all turned to Great Elder Mu Huanzhi.
The breathing of Thirty-ninth Elder Mu Yunzhi was somewhat in disarray.
Great Elder Mu Huanzhi himself was also burning with anxiety. Then, he finally steeled his heart, lifted his head, and said, “Sect Master, about the direct disciple…”
Once these words came out, a majority of the divine hall disciples instantly opened their eyes and looked toward Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue.
“This king obviously has not forgotten.”
The Snow Song Realm King’s voice came from atop the enormous Frost Dragon, “Since we have already arrived at the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake, then the matter of this king’s
direct disciple selection does not need that many trials!”
A streak of blue light suddenly shone from up above and then formed into an oddly shaped profound formation. After that, a huge wave suddenly rose, landing onto the profound formation in the sky.
The enclosed lakewater slowly began to drip from the end of the profound formation, producing a crisp clinking sound that totally did not resemble the sound of dripping water. It was clear, like the collision of ice crystals.
“Sect Master, what is the meaning of this?” Mu Huanzhi was at a complete loss.
Mu Hanyi lifted his head as his usually limpid eyes released an intense fervor.
“The lake water in the formation will be depleted after six hours. Once it has all fallen, whoever attracts the most heavenly lake ice spirits will become this king’s next direct disciple!!”
After a brief period of being stunned, everyone immediately reacted. Mu Huanzhi cheerfully accepted it with a “Sect Master is wise” and then turned around lightning quick. He hollered with a thunderous voice, “Feixue!”
To the side, Mu Yunzhi also charged to Mu Hanyi from overhead. With a wave of her hand, she completely pushed aside all disciples that were within three hundred meters of Mu Hanyi. “Hanyi, begin now!”
Ice spirits of the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake were by no means ordinary ice spirits. Each and every one of them were formed by the heavenly lake’s cold energy and possessed high level consciousness and close to complete souls. Even if it was a profound practitioner that only cultivated ice profound arts, not being rejected by these kinds of ice spirits was already extremely hard, let alone communicating with them.
As a result, even though this “trial” that came from the Snow Song Realm King herself seemed to be extremely simple, it was an overall test of one’s constitution, innate talent, comprehension of laws, and control.
The more one’s body had an affinity with ice type powers, the more thorough one was in comprehending ice type laws, the greater control one had over ice type power, naturally meant that it was much more likely for them to not be rejected by the heavenly lake’s ice spirits. After that, they could then try to communicate with them and slowly attract them over… if one’s control of ice type powers was great enough, then they could even master these ice spirits and use them as their own.
In comparison, one’s cultivation in the profound way wasn’t really important in this trial.
Every time the Realm King selected a direct disciple, she had never placed any importance in their cultivation level at that time. This was because cultivation level at a certain time was just cultivation level at a certain time. Comprehension of laws and mastery of control was what decided cultivation speed and the limits one was capable of reaching in the future!
This was why Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue were publicly acknowledged as the most qualified two people to become the Realm King’s direct disciple despite only ranking in the middle in terms of strength.
That being said, those with high innate talent would never be low in cultivation compared to peers of the same age. It was also Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue who were unmatched in terms of cultivation when compared to peers of the same age in the entire Snow Song Realm. After all, innate talent and strength usually went hand in hand anyways.
Mu Hanyi didn’t need Mu Yunzhi’s reminder as his body was already drifting with blue light. After several breaths, he had already channeled his frost powers to their limits. The rich, pure cold energy carried his soul energy, spreading it toward his surroundings.
At the other side, Mu Feixue’s eyes were closed, her quiet expression possessing the purity of a snow lotus. Just a kilometer ahead of her, an ice spirit that was originally about to fly away suddenly slowed down. Then, it gradually stopped and after a long period of silence, it slowly flew toward Mu Feixue with some hesitation.
It was obviously not just Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue who were attracting ice spirits. Almost all of the divine hall disciples were doing their best to release both their profound energy and soul energy… Even though they knew their chances were uncertain, if they were able to become the sect master’s direct disciple, that was undoubtedly the same as reaching heaven in one step. Even if their chances were slim, they still wanted to do their best.
The lakewater in the profound formation continuously dripped, bringing on the passing of time. Above the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake, the fierce battle over the heavenly lake’s ice spirits began its first act. It was incomparably silent and incomparably intense.
At the edge of the heavenly lake, Yun Che’s consciousness had completely submerged inward. He was completely unaware of anything that was happening in the outside world, completely unaware of the fierce battle in the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake and was totally unaware of what the Snow Song Realm King had said previously.
Beneath his emptied out five senses, the rate in which the heavenly lake’s cold energy surged into his body was several tens of times faster than Mu Xiaolan beside him. Under the extremely pure and clean cold energy that contained extremely high level laws of power, the profound energy in Yun Che’s body quickly circulated the cold energy again and again, bringing about a quiet change every time.
Chapter 985: The Brink of the Divine Way
Ding… Ding… Ding…
The drops of water falling from the heavenly lake made the passing of time seem more fathomable. On the surface of the calm lake, the ice spirits that had been scared away originally were gradually calming down. Then, one by one, under the waves of calm energy that was generated with hard work, they were gradually approaching the different divine hall disciples in confusion and curiosity.
Attracting and controlling low level ice spirits were overly simple tasks to the divine hall disciples but due to the ice spirits within heavenly lake being too pure and their senses being too sharp, simply not being ostracized by them was already extremely difficult. Making contact and attracting them to one’s side, even if it were merely one ice spirit, were tasks far more difficult beyond their imagination.
Fifteen minutes passed… An hour passed… A divine hall disciple in the middle stage of the Divine Tribulation Realm finally managed to attract one ice spirit to his side. At this point, there were two ice spirits dancing around him. However their dancing was slow and the path of movement was constantly changing, as though they might leave at any time.
He let out a long sigh of relief as his concentration began to relax slightly. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the divine hall disciple closest to him only had one ice spirit dancing around. The person next to him had two ice spirits just like him. As his eyes swept around, he saw that there were people who already had three ice spirits.
His heart suddenly skipped a beat as his eyes saw Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue in the distance…
Beside the two of them, there were five ice spirits dancing around each of them. The ice spirits around them were much more lively and he could inadvertently feel the joy of these ice spirits.
The gap was too big… Not only were Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue the two best disciples of Ice Phoenix Divine Hall, they were far better than the rest. When talking about Ice Phoenix Divine Hall, anyone within the sect would only instantly think of Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue and not some other third person.
In this battle for the spot of direct disciple, everyone similarly only thought of Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue. The disciple ranked third in terms of talent… never even entered the picture.
He let out a deep sigh in his heart as he finally gave up. The two ice spirits that he had attracted with difficulty were being dispersed by him and he no longer cared about the ice spirits. Instead, he gathered his energy around his heart and began to use the cold energy of the lake’s water to refine his body and profound veins.
Nearly half of the divine hall disciples had completely given up at the hour mark. To chase after a glimpse of unlikely hope and wasting an hour of their time within the heavenly lake had already made them extremely regretful.
Two hours had pas
sed and eighty percent of the divine hall disciples had already completely given up. However, there were still several hundred disciples who were still trying fervently.
All the elders and palace masters were also quietly absorbing the heavenly lake’s cold energy. However, they were not like the various disciples who completely concentrated but instead left half of their consciousness outside, observing the actions of the various disciples at all times. It was especially so for the ice phoenix palace masters since the disciples of Ice Phoenix Palace were relatively weaker. As time passed by, they would not be able to withstand remaining within the heavenly lake.
At the same time, they were all observing the unprecedented battle of ice spirits. The main points of focus were undoubtedly Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue.
The results were also not surprising. The two of them had attracted the most ice spirits. After two hours had passed, they each had ten ice spirits around them and were evenly matched. Although the other disciples had done all that they could, the next best only had seven ice spirits around them. Below that, those who had five ice spirits were also few and far between and the gap between them could be easily seen.
Amongst the seventy-two elders, there were two people who were not within the heavenly lake but instead were high up in the air—Mu Huanzhi and Mu Yunzhi. Mu Feixue and Mu Hanyi; one of them was the granddaughter while the other was the disciple. They were definitely exceptionally concerned and did not even have the heart to enjoy the lake’s cold energy. Mu Huanzhi was still relatively calm while Mu Yunzhi’s eyes constantly shone and her aura did not calm down even for a second. Her hands were clenched tightly together,only occasionally relaxing. Only her mouth remained constantly shut as she didn’t dare to let out any noise that might disturb Mu Hanyi.
