A middle-aged man, clad in a majestic azure dragon robe, stood with an air of unparalleled nobility, his imperial crown radiating authority that shook the heavens. Bing Changkong, the reigning emperor of the Ice Mysterious Empire, had arrived.
Gasps echoed through the crowd. No one expected the emperor himself to intervene, let alone target the Twin Moon Fairy, Yan Yue Qi.
"Bing Changkong, a Fusion Realm powerhouse!" an ancient cultivator muttered, his voice thick with dread.
Everyone on the Ice Heaven Continent knew Bing Changkong had broken through to the Fusion Realm years ago, sparking a fierce struggle for the crown prince title within the empire. Yet here he was, confronting Yan Yue Qi.
To most, Yan Yue Qi was a towering figure, her strength awe-inspiring. But compared to Bing Changkong, a gap remained. Her Perfect Void Refinement cultivation paled against his Early Fusion Realm, and his five-thousand-year reign dwarfed her centuries of fame on the Golden List.
To the old monsters watching, Bing Changkong's name carried far greater weight.
The ancient feud between the Ice Mysterious Empire and the Evil Emperor was legendary, rooted in the Thunder Fire Mysterious Art. The empire had declared anyone wielding this art an enemy. When Yan Yue Qi unleashed her dual Strange Flames and lightning, whispers speculated whether the empire would act.
Now, the answer was clear—Bing Changkong himself had come.
As the previous emperors were in secluded cultivation, Bing Changkong was the empire's strongest force.
"Your Majesty, capture this woman, and the entire Yan Clan will pledge unwavering loyalty to the Ice Mysterious Empire!" Yan Wu Chen, teetering on despair, saw a glimmer of hope. He bowed deeply, pledging allegiance.
The elders' faces twisted with complexity. Under Yan Yue Qi's leadership, they'd never bowed so low. But with no turning back, they followed suit, saluting Bing Changkong.
Yan Yue Qi's lips curled into a faint, mocking smile, her eyes shimmering with thunder and flame.
"I'd seize the Evil Emperor's heir without your submission, but a loyal Eighth-Grade Power is a fine bonus," Bing Changkong said, flicking his sleeve with regal grace.
His smile froze.
"Who gave you the audacity to claim you can capture me?" Yan Yue Qi swallowed a spirit-restoring pill, her eyes blazing as she snarled.
Her defiant words sent shockwaves through the crowd. Facing a Fusion Realm emperor, Yan Yue Qi's boldness was breathtaking.
"Big Sister…" eyes sparkled, her body tensing, ready to act.
Bing Changkong laughed, fury turning to amusement. How long had it been since anyone dared disrespect him?
"Bold, even more than the Evil Emperor himself. This will be interesting!"
His words fell, and space froze. The temperature plummeted, snow blanketing a thousand miles.
Bing Changkong, like an ice emperor, stared coldly at Yan Yue Qi.
The crowd held their breath, sensing a cataclysmic battle looming.
Ten thousand miles away, in a desolate ancient forest, two spatial rifts tore open.
Lan Lian stumbled out, glaring at his pursuer. "Hundred Faces Fairy, don't push me to my limit!"
His heart churned with frustration. Strange Flames were rare, countable on one hand across the continent, yet he'd faced three top-ten flames in a single day. As an Ice and Wood cultivator, flames—especially Strange Flames—were his bane.
Worse, his pursuer's techniques were unpredictable, impossible to counter.
Qin Meng Ying, her face masked in ugliness, regarded him calmly. Fire, Darkness, and Thunder attributes swirled around her, her triple spiritual roots granting fearsome combat power.
"Blazing Fire Cage!"
Ignoring his protests, cyan flames erupted, forming a massive cage that descended, aiming to trap Lan Thanh Liet.
"Ice Shadow Flash!" Lan Thanh Liet gritted his teeth, his movement technique at full power. He left an afterimage, narrowly dodging the cage.
But in speed, Qin Meng Ying's Eight Desolations Heavenly Flame wings outmatched him. As he evaded, she appeared before him, her voice icy. "Thunder Hell Seal!"
A massive seal, forged of darkness and thunder, materialized in her hand, its aura like hell's lightning, radiating terrifying slaughter.
"No!" Lan Lian screamed, the seal slamming into his chest. A crushing, destructive force sent shivers through him.
Pfft!
His aged body spewed blood, hurled backward.
"Not badly hurt?" Qin Meng Ying frowned. Her Mid-Grade Spirit technique, Thunder Hell Seal, should have crippled him.
Then she saw it. Lan Lian's robes burned away, revealing a cracked, azure ice armor that had saved him.
"Thunder Shakes Nine Heavens!"
Giving him no respite, Qin Meng Ying summoned dark clouds. A colossal lightning bolt crashed toward Lan Thanh Liet.
"Wood Ice Slash!" He swung his Wood Ice Blade, meeting the lightning.
BOOM!
The forest collapsed, devastation spreading.
Lan Lian's arms went numb, blood spurting as his ice armor shattered completely.
"Thunder Hell Seal!" Qin Meng Ying pressed her assault, each move lethal, her hatred for the Lan Clan fueling her.
"You wretch, you've forced my hand!" Lan Thanh Liet, driven to madness, roared. His battle with Yan Yue Qi had drained him, and now Qin Meng Ying, at full strength, cornered him. Without risking everything, death awaited.
A translucent jade vial appeared, containing a sinister green liquid. Qin Meng Ying tensed, sensing danger.
Lan Lian swallowed the liquid, and a horrific transformation began. His body withered, countless vines sprouted from his flesh, piercing nearby ancient trees.
Before Qin Meng Ying's shrinking eyes, the trees withered to ash, their vitality fueling Lan Lian's depleted energy.
"You forced me to consume the Devouring Vine Tree's blood essence, turning me into this monster! But to kill you, it's worth it!" Lan Lian, covered in vines, growled like a beast.
"What a sinister technique!" Qin Meng Ying muttered. The Devouring Vine Tree drained life from other plants, and Lan Thanh Liet wielded its essence.
"Wood Net!" he roared, vines weaving a massive net across the sky, aiming to bind Qin Meng Ying.
"Fighting my Strange Flame with Wood? You're delusional," she sneered, soaring upward.
Her Eight Desolations Heavenly Flame wings, spanning hundreds of zhang, swept the Wood Net to ashes.
But from the burning vines, green droplets pierced her flames, landing on her body.
"Not good!" Qin Meng Ying's face paled. The droplets drained her spiritual energy at an alarming rate.
"Hahaha, fool! The Devouring Vine Tree's sap saps your energy. Weaken!" Lan Lian cackled, his Wood Net pressing forward.
As the sap drained her, Qin Meng Ying collapsed, exhausted.
Lan Lian's eyes gleamed with triumph, a savage grin spreading.
"How do you want to die, wretch?" he taunted, certain of victory.
"You forgot why they call me Hundred Faces?" Qin Meng Ying's weak voice turned eerie.
Lan Lian froze, unease creeping in.
Her Hundred Faces Heavenly Art, a High-Grade Spirit technique, allowed her to shift appearances. Each change boosted her spiritual energy absorption exponentially.
"Face Swap!"
Her ugly face darkened, morphing into a plain woman's. Before Lan Lian could react, it shifted again, becoming menacing.
In moments, her face cycled through beauty, charm, crudeness, and horror. With each shift, her energy surged.
"How… how is this possible?" Lan Lian roared, despairing as she returned to full strength.
"Time to die!" Qin Meng Ying soared, her graceful form radiant.
Thunder and flame merged, her Eight Desolations Heavenly Flame wings, laced with lightning, shattering space.
"Thunder Fire Mysterious Art? You too?" Lan Lian gaped. He hadn't known the Hundred Faces Fairy wielded it.
Ignoring his shock, Qin Meng Ying's wings swept, incinerating the forest and his vines.
"Fire Thunder Hell Seal!"
Her deadly technique, now infused with thunder and flame, spun in her palm, its killing intent palpable.
"Flee!" Lan Lian, terrified, retracted his vines and ran.
Whoosh!
Qin Meng Ying's wings beat, placing her above him. She slammed the seal down.
"Explode!"
In desperation, Lan Thanh Liet detonated his Wood Ice Blade.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The High-Grade Heavenly artifact's explosion was cataclysmic.
Qin Meng Ying shielded herself with her Eight Desolations Heavenly Flame, blocking the blast.
Lan Lian, mangled by the explosion, seized his chance. Driven by survival, he dove into the spatial rift caused by the blast, vanishing.
Qin Meng Ying sighed. As a grand elder of an Eighth-Grade Power, Lan Lian had countless tricks. Fleeing into a spatial rift, he was likely dead—nine chances out of ten.
Chasing him was foolish when Yan Yue Qi needed her aid.
"Fine. If that old dog survives, my scoundrel husband can finish him," she muttered, donning a veil and returning to the Yan Clan.
At the Yan Clan, Yan Yue Qi faced Bing Changkong's lofty demeanor, her eyes narrowing.
To everyone's confusion, she reached into the air.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The heavens quaked, spiritual energy exploding like fireworks, space shattering in layers.
In her delicate hand appeared a scepter, crackling with black and white lightning, radiating overwhelming power. A shockwave swept outward, centered on Yan Yue Qi.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Dark clouds enveloped the sky, countless lightning bolts converging, flashing as if heralding their emperor.
The scepter's domineering aura forced Bing Changkong back several steps, his composure crumbling. "A True-Grade artifact!?" he blurted, incredulous.