"Guan Jinyue, take your people and leave the Northern Territory right now." The Bear King didn't spare them another glance, turning and dissolving into a flurry of snow that vanished into the air.
The dozen or so elite scouts on the ground were also swept up by a strange gust of wind and disappeared without a trace.
Only Chen Guan and Guan Jinyue remained on the snowy plain.
"That big boss is quite good-tempered," Chen Guan said with a soft laugh, looking in the direction the Bear King had vanished.
Baal's token had really come in handy.
"It's not that he's good-tempered—he doesn't want to gamble his entire clan's fate against a capricious demon god," Guan Jinyue replied, turning and walking toward the entrance of the massive ice cave.
"Let's go, before more trouble finds us."
Guan Jinyue led the way, and Chen Guan followed her into the enormous ice cave.
The entrance was wide enough for two trucks to pass side by side, with walls made entirely of deep blue, solid ice.
The deeper they went, the faster the temperature dropped.
The breath Chen Guan exhaled instantly condensed into white ice crystals that fell to the ground.
"This place is built quite grandly," Chen Guan remarked, breaking the silence in the tunnel as he examined the glowing ice walls around him.
"The demon clan's court has always been about ostentation. They think bigger means more royal dignity," Guan Jinyue said, walking ahead. Her footsteps echoed crisply on the icy floor.
Baal snorted inside Chen Guan's mind.
"These muscle-bound beasts with no brains love all this flashy nonsense."
Chen Guan ignored the complaint in his head and pointed at the massive totemic murals on the walls.
"What do these paintings depict?" he asked, gesturing at the fierce, clawing patterns.
"Those are the reproductive history and war records of the Ice Bear Clan," Guan Jinyue said, glancing at the carvings on the wall.
"They carve every battle they win on the walls—it's their most primal way of showing off."
"The First Bear King was a war fanatic. They say this Ice Crystal Sanctuary was built using the bones and blood of the defeated, mixed with the frozen layers of the Northern Territory."
Chen Guan paused to take another look at the wall. The First Bear King had a rather unique appearance.
"So this place must be heavy with resentment. What a shame," he said, raising his right hand to inspect it.
The black mark on his palm remained still and cold, with no sign of heat.
"Too much time has passed. The negative emotions of the dead were long ago frozen and scattered by the cold of the Ten Thousand Year Jade," Guan Jinyue replied, continuing forward. The thought of what awaited her ahead made her pace quicken.
They rounded a massive bend, and the space ahead suddenly opened up.
This was a domed hall the size of a football field, with no supporting pillars—carved entirely from a single, crystal-clear giant block of ice.
In the center of the hall stood a high, circular altar, on which rested an ice coffin emitting dense white mist.
The temperature here was dozens of degrees lower than outside, and the air was thick with visible frost.
"That's it," Guan Jinyue said, her breathing becoming rapid.
She hurried up the steps of the altar, ignoring the frost-covered ice steps and their slippery surface.
Chen Guan followed leisurely behind her. He could feel the emotional turmoil of the usually cold and distant woman ahead of him.
Guan Jinyue climbed the last step and stood before the ice coffin.
Inside lay a young girl in a white dress, her skin pale and translucent. Her features bore a resemblance to Guan Jinyue's, though softer and less sharp.
She lay there without even the faintest rise and fall of her chest, like an exquisite piece of art.
Guan Jinyue pressed her hands against the edges of the coffin lid. The icy mist crept up the back of her hands, forming white frost on her sleeves.
"Xiao Heng," she whispered a name.
Her face, always expressionless, crumbled completely in that moment. Her eyes reddened, warm tears slid down her cheeks, and fell onto the ice coffin.
The tears froze instantly into shimmering ice beads upon contact with the Ten Thousand Year Jade.
Chen Guan stood a few steps away on the altar platform, watching this scene without interrupting the rare reunion.
He saw Guan Jinyue take out the special container holding the soul. The faint light on its surface flickered in the intense cold.
"Big sister is here to take you home," Guan Jinyue said softly to the girl in the coffin, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
She had traveled everywhere for three years just to find this sleeping body.
She had risked everything to retrieve that lost sliver of soul, going deep into the deadly tower of the Demon Capital.
Now, she had finally assembled all the pieces.
"Do you need any help?" Chen Guan asked from a few steps away.
"No, it's fine. Sorry, I lost my composure today."
She steadied her uneven breath.
"It took me three years of waiting to retrieve this half-soul."
Guan Jinyue looked at the faintly glowing container in her hand.
"Three years is long enough for people to forget many important things."
"Remembering to come here and take her home already puts you ahead of most."
He offered this dry, awkward comfort as best he could.
As she touched the edge of the ice coffin, preparing to take the body, Baal's voice echoed in her mind: "Hey, little lady, are you just going to take her away like that?"
"Your spatial laws can't even create a stable physical storage space for the long term."
"If you bring her back to your leaky hideout, do you really think you'll be at peace? Don't make your Baal lord laugh."
Baal knew full well Guan Jinyue's situation.
"There will always be people—and even things not human—watching that place day and night, waiting for you to walk right into their trap."
Humans, demons, devils—Guan Jinyue had offended them all.
Only a kind demon like poor Baal would overlook her sins and generously forgive her grave disrespect.
But unfortunately, not everyone in the world had a magnanimous heart like Lord Baal's.
"Do I have any other choice?" Guan Jinyue gave a bitter laugh.
She knew it all too well.
If this world were a novel, she would probably be the villain who had committed every crime, waiting for the day the hero's sword pierced her chest.
Death was her destined end.
"Hehehe, I have a plan," Baal said, letting out an evil chuckle, oblivious to her pessimistic thoughts.
"That young man standing right in front of you—his purple-furred big cat has spatial abilities, doesn't it?"
"Your skill points went to teleportation and killing, but that purple cat is different. And that little leopard's spatial ability isn't the cheap kind found in mere storage rings."
"Its space comes with a complete, self-sustaining cycle and regulation system."
Baal had completely spilled the leopard's secrets.
It wasn't fair that Chen Guan always caused trouble for Baal—Lord Baal needed to save face too.
"The vitality-sealing power of the ten-thousand-year cold jade, combined with the natural law-nurturing environment within its space—this setup is simply a perfect match."
"Leave a person inside for a while, and it might just fatten up your little sister nice and plump."
Baal's laughter grew more and more unhinged.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
