Chapter 697: Frozen

The Ice Phoenix’s beautifully lined ice wings flapped elegantly.

Another grand ice palace beneath i was pulled into the air and smashed into pieces.

The crystalline runes embedded inside the ice pillars were like the stars made of the Ice Emperor’s frost consciousness. As the frost palaces shattered, an entire sky of cold, starry light fell like a downpour of frost stars spilling from a flooded river of stars.

Lu Heng’s subordinates,lizardmen, and dragonmen were shocked beyond imagination when they saw the frost stars falling down from the cave’s ceiling.

They all scattered in an attempt to escape.

However, the frost stars numbered over tens of millions. They were touched by the frost stars no matter where they hid.

And so, many new ice sculptures were formed when the frost stars landed on their shoulders, heads and arms.

Except for Qing Luo, Hui Jia, Lu Heng, and a few other people, most of the martial practitioners on the ground had turned into ice.

When Lu Heng and the others recalled the many ice sculptures they saw everywhere within the frost palaces, their faces grew heavier and heavier.

It would appear that those ice sculptures were living beings just like their subordinates before they were touched by the frost runes and turned instantly into ice sculptures.

As more and more frost lights fell from the sky like fireflies, Lu Heng and the others could only defend themselves passively. They could no longer threaten the Ice Phoenix.

The Ice Phoenix let out a cry and overlooked Lu Heng’s group entirely. Its small, chilly eyes were focused completely onto Qin Lie.

“Puu!”

The Ice Phoenix’s large and elegant body turned into an icy beam that landed straight on the frost stream that was being transmitted to Qin Lie.

The ice river flowing out if the frozen giant’s eyes contained billions of sparkling icy lights, numerous ice fragments, and countless frost runes.

It was obviously the inheritance of absolute frost left behind by the Ice Emperor!

“Zzzt!”

The Ice Phoenix leaped into the strange ice river and rolled back and forth inside it, using it to wash its elegant body.

The countless ice dots looked like tiny frost stars. They seemed to seep from the ice river into the Ice Phoenix’s body and become a part of it.

It was intercepting the Ice Emperor’s inheritance flowing towards Qin Lie using a certain method.

Amazingly, the Ice Emperor’s inheritance and the many mysterious fragmented frost concepts inside the ice river didn’t reject the Ice Phoenix.

It was as if the Ice Phoenix had also accepted the Ice Emperor’s inheritance before and possessed an aura that won the Ice Emperor’s acknowledgement.

“Crackle!”

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The seven dazzling rays of godly light were rampaging throughout the frost palace earlier. When the Ice Phoenix had flown out on its own, they each dragged a long tail of fire as they flew, circled around once and came hunting after the Ice Phoenix once more.

The seven godly lights changed its energy patterns repeatedly like seven shackles of law. One could see many vague mysterious threads and nameless divine characters inside the godly lights. As a loud chant resounded inside the mountain, the supernatural abilities came together to form a strange sealing formation that was specifically targeted at the seven spirit bodies.

“The Graveyard of Gods is gone, you will not shackle me in the outside world!” The Ice Phoenix flapped its wings.

One ice tornado after another appeared from beneath Ice Phoenix’s wings. Fierce explosions erupted as the godly lights had been stopped in their tracks.

At the same time, an energy of absolute frost that resonated with the frost palaces themselves appeared surged from inside the Ice Phoenix’s body.

“Bang! Bang! Bang bang bang!”

Thunderous, gong-like booms appeared from deep inside the many palaces erected in the depths of Frost Island. The ice walls, translucent ice pillars, and strange ice sculptures that made up these palaces contained many ice threads, ice lights, and frost runes.

Thick frosty energy surged out from many ice caves and formed many cold streams that swept through the entire place.

The seven godly lights that had appeared from the Demon Sealing Tombstone were struck by the seals of the frost palaces left behind by the Ice Emperor. They actually let out brittle, cracking noises that sounded like they were about to be frozen.

The Demon Sealing Tombstone that was so powerful that the ice spirit could do nothing but run away in the Graveyard of Gods seemed to have lost much of its power after losing its platform. It felt like the Demon Sealing Tombstone would never be able to seal the ice spirit ever again.

This was especially true since the Ice Phoenix had gone to Frost Island following a mysterious feeling the moment it escaped the Graveyard of Gods.

The Frost Island contained a temporary imperial residence built for the Ice Emperor, one of the members of the renowned Five Progenitors and Three Emperors. Not only did the frost palaces beneath this island contain a lot of seals created by the Ice Emperor, it also contained an extremely small amount of frost power the Ice Emperor had left behind.

Here, the Ice Phoenix was stronger than usual, but the Demon Sealing Tombstone wasn’t able utilize the Graveyard of Gods to its own advantage.

Demon Sealing Tombstone had been getting weaker over time and became no longer able to harm the Ice Phoenix.

“Give me the other Ice Emperor inheritance you’ve gotten as well!” the Ice Phoenix cried out fiercely.

The ice river that should be flowing between Qin Lie’s brows was stopped because of the Ice Phoenix’s forceful interruption.

Following the Ice Phoenix’s cries, the Frost Concept Diagram hidden deep inside the Soul Suppressing Orb actually started moving bit by bit towards the outside world as if it was attracted by a certain kind of energy.

Qin Lie discovered that he was powerless to stop this.

He could only watch as the Frost Concept Diagram floated out of the second space, then the first space and finally out of the Soul Suppressing Orb.

The Frost Concept Diagram slowly flew out from between his brows.

Then, the Frost Concept Diagram abruptly turned into a white frosty stream that contained many icy threads moving about as though they were alive. It was as if these threads functioned to teach others the true essence of the power of absolute frost.

“It’s a core inheritance! No wonder the true essence of absolute frost imprinted inside the eyes of the Ice Emperor’s ice sculpture would abandon me and choose you as the source of its inheritance instead!” The Ice Phoenix immediately grew excited when it saw the white frosty stream flying out of Qin Lie’s forehead. Its elegant and beautiful body even rolled around once in the ice river, causing countless little icy specks of light to scatter everywhere.

These icy specks of light contained many small segments of mind imprints. As if they possessed a mind of their own, some of them returned to the ice river while the rest fell into the white frosty stream, attracted by the Frost Concept Diagram between Qin Lie’s brows.

Every time a bit of icy light entered the Frost Concept Diagram, Qin Lie’s body would shudder, and his eyes would shine with an odd light.

The icy lights contained many wisps of information, and although the transmission was intermittent they obviously contained the secrets of the power of frost. They spoke of the essential source of the world’s power of frost.

Unfortunately, since the Frost Concept Diagram had already left his Soul Suppressing Orb, the connection he shared with the diagram grew weaker and weaker. The amount of icy lights that were entering the diagram was also too small, so he was unable to gain any deeper comprehension towards the power of frost.

He also noticed that this entire place was now filled with those icy threads and frosty specks of light, and the Ice Phoenix kept growing stronger. Now, not only were the seven godly lights unable to seal the Ice Phoenix, even Lu Heng, Qing Luo, Hui Jia, and Bai Li were frozen into ice sculptures.

Now, he and the Ice Phoenix were the only two living beings left in the place.

Even those Silver Snakes of Profound Ice, Giant Frost Crystal Alligators and Dragon Pythons were all frozen and turned into ice sculptures once more.

“My ancestor’s closest friend was the Ice Emperor. I was blessed with the Ice Emperor’s secret teachings of frost in my blood and in my soul from the moment I was born!” The Ice Phoenix extended its wings proudly once it saw that victory was confirmed. It made all kinds of elegant poses inside the ice river and used the tiny specks of light to wash its wings. “I was caught and restricted inside the Forbidden Land of Ice since a young age. I have carried out my responsibility as the ice spirit to freeze the Graveyard of Gods with my power over absolute frost and prevent the ancient elite remains from losing their powers. I was responsible for preventing the bodies from ever rotting.”

“Through the Ice Emperor’s secret teachings imprinted into my blood and soul, and through my own countless years of cultivation inside the Forbidden Land of Ice, I ultimately became the most powerful spirit form of the seven spirits! I am also the smartest one of them all!”

“For ten thousand years, I tried all kinds of methods in attempt to escape that pitiful, dark, and starless place called the Forbidden Land of Ice! Unfortunately, the seals applied by those dastardly Heaven Fighting Race were so powerful and terrifying that I was never able to escape my torment despite my own struggles and the aid of many living beings who entered the Forbidden Land of Ice. I wasn’t able to display the beauty and glory of the Ice Phoenix Race to the whole world!”

“It was only after you, the person who held the key to the Graveyard of Gods, reached the Forbidden Land of Ice and entered the Land of Buried Gods that I was finally freed.”

“I should thank you, for I would not have been able to escape the seals of the Graveyard of Gods with my own strength, even if another thousand or ten thousand years were to pass by.”

“It is you who helped to free me!”

“And today, you’ve gifted what I needed most from a faraway place and brought me a part of the Ice Emperor’s core inheritance!”

“There’s no way I’m willing to kill you just based on the various aids you’ve provided me. I’ll freeze you forever and turn you into a memento of the beautiful memories I’ve had!”

Once the Ice Phoenix was done talking, it inhaled and swallowed the Frost Concept Diagram floating above Qin Lie’s brows as he expected it to do.

At the same time, hundreds of clouds of absolute frost surged in from all directions and wrapped around him completely while he wasn’t able to do anything.

Qin Lie instantly turned into one of the many ice sculptures in this place.

Encased in ice, Qin Lie discovered that his nerves, bones, blood and even his dantian’s spirit sea were completely frozen. His eyes were open before he was frozen, and he wasn’t even able to move his eyeballs.

Frost energy had even seeped into his mind consciousness.

Ice actually started to appear magically in his clear, pure Soul Lake. Even the True Soul submerged inside his Soul Lake was slowly being frozen.

The fact that his body, blood and True Soul were frozen made Qin Lie felt like he was already dead. But strangely enough, he was still able to think and see right in front of him since his eyes weren’t closed. He felt like a living dead person, and it was a relatively novel feeling.

After the Ice Phoenix had swallowed the Frost Concept Diagram, it quickly absorbed the ice river inside the giant ice sculpture bit by bit.

After acquiring the frost concept diagram and the secret inheritance inside the ice river, the Ice Phoenix grew more and more sparkly and translucent. It looked like a living ice crystal that was carefully sculpted into the most perfect piece of art. It was so beautiful that not a single flaw could be picked from its body. It was so beautiful that one could get drunk from its beauty.

He noticed that the seven godly lights that still persisted in their task to seal the Ice Phoenix actually became frozen too.

The seven godly lights turned into seven giant ice beams whose tiny ends were connected to the similarly frozen Demon Sealing Tombstone.

The frozen Demon Sealing Tombstone and the seven giant ice beams were turned into a wondrous sculpture inside the frost palace.

At first glance, the frozen Demon Sealing Tombstone suspended high in the air and the ice beams hanging off the tombstone’s body looked strangely natural for some reason.

The Ice Phoenix didn’t touch the frozen Demon Sealing Tombstone and the seven godly lights. Instead, it roamed around the frost palace, reformed the destroyed ice walls above the frost palaces and returned everything in this place to its former appearance with the power of frost.

The dragonmen, lizardmen, Lu Heng, Bai Li, and all others had also been turned into many sparkly ice sculptures.

Qin Lie was no different.

The Ice Phoenix didn’t bother with the ice sculptures. Once it was satisfied looking at the restored frost palaces, it flapped its wings and flew elegantly into a certain area deep inside the palace. It would appear that it was going to study the Frost Concept Diagram it just acquired from Qin Lie and the secrets of frost it just obtained.

The ice sculptures of all poses and postures were the only things standing inside the frost palaces now.

Some of these ice sculptures looked like they were about to fall to the ground. Some were lying on their sides. There were also some who were lying upside down. There were actually very few people like Qin Lie who remained completely upright.

Qin Lie had no choice but to stare straight in front of him and think inside his mind.

While the Ice Phoenix had gone into a palace to study the Frost Concept Diagram, he was thinking and observing the front.

He could only observe the front anyway.

Before him, he noticed that Lu Heng, Qing Luo, Bai Li and everyone else had their eyes open just like him.

However, he noticed that there were no emotions and no luster inside Qing Luo and Lu Heng’s eyes at all.

His Soul Lake and True Soul were both frozen. Although he was still able to think, he couldn’t probe outwards with his soul at all.

However, he still knew from Lu Heng, Qing Luo and all other people whose eyes were open that they couldn’t see anything.

Although these people had their eyes open, they were so utterly frozen that they might not even have their minds with them.

If his current condition were to be called a state of living death, then those people could probably be considered dead for real.

They couldn’t move, couldn’t think, and displayed neither life nor soul activity. There was a chance that these people might awake little by little if they were released from their frozen state later on.

But right now, they were no different from a dead person.

He might be the only “living dead” person among all other frozen martial practitioners who could still see with his eyes and think with his mind.

It was a pretty novel feeling.

With his eyes opened and his mind in deep thought, he wondered why he was different from everyone else.

He was frozen by absolute frost before back when he was at the land of frost. He cultivated the Frost Arts passed down by the Ice Emperor, and his body was once tempered by the same frost aura, so he should be somewhat resistant towards the frost power the Ice Phoenix had applied on him.

After all, while it was true that the power of frost inside the Ice Phoenix’s body partially came from its natural racial talent, the other part also came from the Ice Emperor.

Perhaps it was the frost power that came from the Ice Emperor that kept him, the one who cultivated the Ice Emperor’s Frost Arts, in such a state.

He gradually figured out the reason behind his condition.