Volume 4 Chapter 35 - Min Mountain Snow, Fire In Cauldron (2/2)

Yantai Guanjian looked curiously at her. “Why are you going to Ink Garden?”

“Since he has mentioned forcing the palace attendant to fight, and wrote a letter to Xie Changsheng, it means he has confidence in killing Palace Attendant Rong. He has already started to plan.” Jin Liuli’s crystal-like face reflected the cold light of the snowy peak. She said with some indescribable emotion, “Even I have no confidence in a fight to the death against an expert like Palace Attendant Rong. A realm four cultivator has confidence he can soon kill her. This leap in strength and the intervening process are precious cultivation experiences for me. I constantly feel that he is ahead of me. People that pressure me greatly are rare. I must make sure he really possesses the ability to kill Palace Attendant Rong before he truly forces her into a duel.”

Yantai Guanjian thought for a while and felt that Jin Liuli’s words were correct.

Ink Garden was cold, especially the small courtyard where Ding Ning and Zhangsun Qianxue lived. Nothing had changed after Ding Ning’s special talk with Zhangsun Qianxue and the air of this quiet courtyard was especially heavy… it even had an intangible hint of cold in the cruel summer day.

While it was slightly cool in the courtyard, it was like wind in Zhangsun Qianxue’s bedroom.

Thick layers of deep blue ice sheathed the doors, the windows and the curtains.

A blue-black sword of such deep color it did not appear to be something of the mortal realm floated in front of Zhangsun Qianxue.

So cold was the sword, that the ice energy evaporating outwards burned like blue-black flames in the air. Each thread of blue-black energy seemed to be a world of ice in a cultivator’s perception.

The ice energy flickering on the blue-black sword floated towards Zhangsun Qianxue’s body and turned into black threads when they neared.

Below these black threads, the deep red black ice worm was breathing in greedily. It also had a thick layer of ice and trembled all over. It appeared like it could not tolerate this heat and would be frozen over.

But as the fierce ice energy invaded, its body started to change minutely.

The smooth deep red surface started to dye with blue-black color and also grow rough. Two small bumps appeared on its round head. These small bumps were imperceptible to the naked eye, but it was extremely obvious in the perception of cultivators like Zhangsun Qianxue.

Sensing such a change, Zhangsun Qianxue felt a thread of joy in her calm mind.

The Nine Hell King Sword was made from the nether jade of the abyss. The nether jade was formed through the inner core of something called the nether fish. Even cultivators of her level could not refine this sword with her method, and needed Ding Ning’s paired cultivation as assistance.

Ordinary beings, even powerful beasts that lived in cold places, could not tolerate and contain the energy of the Nine Hell King Sword, unless their bodies already contained the abyss nether bloodline and were originally organisms that belonged to that kind of abyss.

Just like she had guessed at the start, the black ice worms of the Min Mountain Sword Sect had come from a similar abyss.

There was an abyss in Min Mountain?

Min Mountain or Nether (Ming) Mountain?

Did Min Mountain’s cold come from being too high, or the cold energy of the Nether Abyss?

As Zhangsun Qianxue felt joy for the change and growth of the black ice worm, she also thought of countless possibilities.

Outside Changling, beside the Wei River, there were some fisherman huts around a crossing.

This place was located on a hill. It was possible to clearly see the perimeter of Changling and the vast soaring structures, but it was outside of Changling.

In one of the huts close to the water, a thin woman in ordinary clothing was cooking fish soup.

There were not many pieces of wood in the fire basin under the metal pot but the flames were especially fierce. Each wisp of flame was clearly delineated like small swords. The powerful sword path contained in the ordinary.

She was Zhao Si.

The famed Zhao Sword Furnace heir had disappeared after the battle on the Wei River. The world’s attention had moved away from her. Because she had lost her lifebond sword.

A lifebond sword would gather an immeasurable amount of a cultivator’s life vitality. After many years of nourishment, it was more important than a cultivator’s arms. Once the sword was lost, a cultivator’s power would drop greatly.

Yet, at this moment, Zhao Si suddenly shook, looked away from her fish and towards the sky.

The fire in the fire basin surged, pushing the metal pot into the air.