The two weapons each hidden with Wind Concealment Divine Stones crossed one another, spurting forth spear-light and saber-light indistinguishable to the naked eye. The spear-light exploded inside the cave, bringing a sharpness too much for the eyes, unrecoverable.
Lin Yingmei made an ice-breaking shout, suddenly raising her spear to vertically slash. The newcomer waved her hand, and the formless weapon banged once again in a strike.
In a split second, the ice cave boomed.
The hurricane on the weapon dispersed instantly when it was struck by that impulse. Even the opponent's cloak fell apart in the blink of an eye, revealing a woman with a mature sex appeal like a fruit. Her purple hair was extremely breathtaking, and she had a pair of sharp, amber-colored pupils. A red armor tube top covered her towering chest, the surging of which would make women that saw jealous. Her snow-white and the snowy scene in the surroundings fused together, revealing a wide expanse, laying it bare.
The woman's hand clenched a very sharp long saber, the edge of which was clear just like crystal. The back of the blade was coiled with decorations like dragons yet not, like a phoenix yet not, sparkling as blood, circulating stars, making the starlight of the saber's blade very bright. The light rays were lustrous, and two Stars glimmered on the saber.
"Dragon Sparrow Dew Long Saber!!"1
The Fulfillment Star Lord of the Beautiful Beard Zhu Tong!2
Lin Yingmei's expression sunk, and her hands tightly gripped the Arctic Star Serpent Spear.
"The Arctic Star Serpent Spear? Unexpectedly, it is Majestic Star Panther Head Lin Chong!" The Fulfillment Star said pensively. Her expression was very motherly. "Is the Purple Thunder Monster not here? Your Servant urges you to leave Sun Binding Mountain with all possible haste!"
"Hmph." Lin Yingmei raised her spear, adopting an attack stance.
The Star General in front of her was not at all weak. On the contrary, she was worthy of Lin Yingmei facing her seriously.
The woman shook her head, clenching the Dragon Sparrow Dew Long Saber.
Just at this time, she suddenly heard a tender shout to the side.
"Aunt Manxiang!!"
The Fulfillment Star immediately halted her attack and looked over in that direction. With a glance, she was stunned.
She saw a figure clothed in a maid dress carrying a cute little girl towards them. The little girl was not just anyone, but Chise Sakura.
"Little Yi?" Lin Yingmei simultaneously spotted the Skilful Star.
"Yan Qing?!"
Manxiang was also very surprised to see Yan Yizhen. Originally at Kagoshima, Yan Yizhen's master had once saved Chise Sakura, so they could be considered familiar with one another.
Chise Sakura planted her head into Manxiang's billowing waves, rubbing her face among them in pleasure.
Seeing the foreheads of the two had a flickering Star Crest, Lin Yingmei's brow wrinkled even more deeply.
"That man also came?" Zhu Manxiang asked.
"Master did not come." Yan Yizhen indifferently replied. She walked to Lin Yingmei's side, calmly saying: "We have met before!"
"Eh?" Zhu Manxiang showed a puzzled expression: "What is this all about?"
"Why did you attack Yingmei?" Yan Yizhen clenched her fists, one leg forward, like a cheetah, her whole body stretched taut.
Fulfillment Star Zhu Manxiang broke into laughter: "If Your Servant had known you two were familiar, Your Servant actually would not have meddled in your business."
"Did Onee-chan come to Sun Binding Mountain for something? This place is very cold." Chise Sakura opened her innocent eyes. She was draped in a noble fur cloak, wore a blaze belt and still she was frozen somewhat peskily.
"We have come to search for a few things." Lin Yingmei replied, ice-cold.
Chise Sakura shivered again.
"Never thought that man unexpectedly was the Purple Thunder Monster. Truly completely different from the rumors, and he has two powerful Star Generals." The Dragon Sparrow Dew Long Saber was retracted. Zhu Manxiang kindly smiled, unlike an enemy, even more like an elder.
Lin Yingmei and Yan Yizhen glanced at each other, and they each lowered their attack stances.
"You must have come to look for Spirit Jades and such to upgrade your Star Weapons?" Zhu Manxiang calmly gazed at the two: "Although Sun Binding Mountain is extremely cold, it has very long been plundered clean by Ghost Martial Cultivators. You perhaps will be disappointed."
"That cannot be helped." Lin Yingmei twitched her lips.
"What does Little Sister wish to find. Maybe Your Servant can help you." In the rankings, Lin Yingmei was Zhu Manxiang's Elder Sister. However, she indeed actually gave Lin Yingmei that sort of elder feeling.
"Ice Kite Arctic Jade!"
Lin Yingmei had yet to reply when Yan Yizhen stole the chance to speak first.
"Ice Kite Arctic Jade, Your Servant actually has some. That is indeed a must for the Majestic Star to advance to Three Star Destined Weapon." Zhu Manxiang changed the topic: "But Your Servant once agreed to owe your Master a favor. To respond is still a must. This Ice Kite Arctic Jade will be a gift to you."
"You truly will gift it to Your Servant?" To give an opponent another layer of strength, from Lin Yingmei's perspective, this was a stupid thing to do, especially during the Star Duels.
Zhu Manxiang lightly smiled. It seemed she was unconcerned with the Star Duels. Two pieces of Ice Kite Arctic Jade fell before Lin Yingmei.
"Only one piece is enough." Lin Yingmei shook her head.
"Do not hesitate to take them. Your Servant does not wish to owe the man a favor."
"Then as you please." Lin Yingmei did not like to be long-winded. She waved a hand and retrieved the two pieces of Ice Kite Arctic Jade. With this, she lacked thirty liang of Silver Snow Sand to be able to upgrade her Star Weapon to Three Star.
Zhu Manxiang nodded her head.
…
It was bitterly cold, ice and frost everywhere, the north wind blowing a thousand li.
Cold.
Truly, this was cold.
Gazing at the scene in front of him, Su Xing only felt that his four limbs and all of his bones were cold. With great difficulty, he crossed the lava sea, and not more than one hundred meters after that, the scene in front of him immediately jumped from the extreme of hot fire to another extreme.
At this time, what appeared in front of Su Xing was the scene of a thousand li frozen over. As far as the eye could see, whatever his line of sight landed on, sparkling and pure ice dripped. He could not hear the slightest sound, as if the wind had been frozen solid. The entire world was in a frozen state, the grasses and trees transformed into translucent ice sculptures. Cold light twinkled, with a sort of indescribable aesthetic and terror. Outside this entrance, there was an ice stele.
It had been frozen with a layer one chi thick, yet the three characters under the stele were still clearly visible.
"The Quiet Path!"3
Quiet not just in name but in reality!
If it was said that Su Xing previously was still complaining about the lava sea being too hot, now he felt that compared to the Quiet Path in front of him, he would rather return to a place as damnable as the lava sea. That place simply was a paradise, completely without chilly winds and snow, but there was a bone-chilling cold drilling through his skin, intruding into his meridians, organs and mind. Su Xing only felt staying for long would turn himself into an ice sculpture.
Sensing that this was the Quiet Path's odd energy, Su Xing hastily operated the Soul Technique to make himself maintain a bottleneck state. Then, he put on the Arctic Star Pendant Ju Yueke sent him while also swallowing the Fire Spirit Magic Sarira. That bone-penetrating cold then finally ebbed.
"The Four Styles Path truly is too abnormal." Su Xing spat out a cloud of mist. He rubbed his hands. "I don't know how they made this sort of extreme environment."
"So pretty!"
Gongsun Huang left the Star Nest and sat on Su Xing's shoulder, showing an amazed expression.
"Indeed, it is very beautiful." Wu Xinjie also appeared. "Such an extreme actually is rare. We really should have had the Little Sisters come take a look."
"Wow, too pretty."
"Unexpectedly, there was even this sort of place. We did not cross the lava path in vain."
"However, why is it this cold!!"
Several shouts in the Quiet Path seemed very ear-piercing. Su Xing raised an eyebrow and saw many disciples had already passed the lava sea. Like him, they showed amazement when they saw a world completely made of ice. However, Liangshan's Star Cultivators forever lacked a sort of appreciative mood. Following the extreme cold of the Quiet Path intruding the bottom of their hearts, all of the disciples then began to complain and curse heaven.
Su Xing directly entered the Quiet Path.
"The materials to upgrade Yingmei and Little Yi's Star Weapons are required to be jades of extremely cold landscapes. This Quiet Path seems to have had several hundred years, so I wonder if there's anything they need." Su Xing muttered.
"Young Lord can go look. Such cold is actually rare." Wu Xinjie could not bear it, shivered and entered the Star Nest. Gongsun Huang sniffled.
"Little Huang, go rest in the Star Nest first." Su Xing smiled.
"En." Gongsun Huang customarily kissed Su Xing's cheek and also entered the Star Nest.
Su Xing raised a breath of air. Originally, he wanted to use Wandering The Clear Skies, but thinking this was too shocking, he used his flying sword. The Quiet Path was an extremely large canyon, limitless. There were even frozen towns, a world of ice and snow as far as the eye could see. Without a snowstorm, it was nevertheless even colder. The riding sword speed also basically could not accelerate. It seems this Four Styles School experience indeed was somewhat formidable, Su Xing pondered.
Su Xing unfolded his huge Divine Intent. The Quiet Path's air had been frozen solid, and his Divine Intent could only spread within the surrounding hundred meters. This was the greatest effect of his Divine Intent. If it was any other cultivator, they perhaps would have to thank the heavens to extend their Divine Intent across a ten meters. Su Xing began to use Divine Intent to scout the Quiet Path, to see whether or not there were any cold-type minerals and such.
Su Xing searched as he pleased, not at all carrying too great a hope.
"Eh?" His Divine Intent trembled, and Su Xing was amazed to spot an ice cliff.
"What is the matter, Young Lord?"
"I used Divine Intent to search just now and encountered something. It froze me for a moment." Su Xing showed bewilderment. To still be able to freeze his Divine Intent when he possessed the Arctic Star Pendant and Fire Spirit Magic Relix was somewhat formidable.
The riding sword descended, and Su Xing's Divine Intent rose. Two pieces of thumb-sized stones floated in front of him. The stones were pale, their appearances completely lacking anything special. They appeared very ordinary, but these stones emitted an extreme cold. His Divine Intent was somewhat suffering damage. Su Xing immediately placed the stones in his palm, deeply inhaling.
"So incredible!!"
Upon placing the stones in his hand, instantly, there was a deadly cold engulfed Su Xing's whole body. His consciousness instantly went blank, and he hastily imbued the Arctic Star Pendant and Fire Spirit Magic Relic with Star Energy in order to finally revive. That instant just now, he perhaps was about to suffer hidden damage. Clearly, it was more powerful than a few magic weapons and artifacts.
"This is Profound Silence Crystal!"4
Su Xing discerned the background of this thing in front of him, somewhat gawking. Those known as tool refinement masters naturally needed to know every sort of material like the back of their hand. Su Xing knew of this Profound Silence Crystal from "Heavenly Works Opening Objects."5 This was a type of extremely powerful cold-type ore. It could forge powerful ice type magic weapons, and this sort of stone could have a chance of forming only in extremely cold and windless environments. Furthermore, Profound Silence Crystal only needed a bit of refining to be able to be launched as a concealed weapon. Whatever ice it was, cultivators would be at a disadvantage should they touch it. In particular, it could instantly sever the Divine Intent of the cultivator being confronted. For this reason, it had been named Profound Silence Crystal.
Su Xing's premonitions were correct, as expected. Places like this Quiet Path could not possibly have nothing.
"Yingmei and Little Yi ought to be able to take if to refine their Star Weapons." Wu Xinjie surmised. The Third Star Ice Kite Arctic Jade was far from comparison to the Profound Silence Crystal. In addition, every grade for Star General Star Weapon promotion was very precious.
"En. I think it should work." Su Xing hooked his lips, his expression cheerful. He looked around the Quiet Path.
The ice plains were expansive, silent like pity.
It seemed there would be a great harvest from this accidental opening of the Four Styles Solitary Path.
Author’s Note:
Thanks for the 蒼穹 becoming second place to Maiden Mountain. Still owe three chapters. These days, it’s a habit for a chapter a day. The second day will have three chapters. I ought to stir myself. Over the next few days, I definitely must put forth more effort. Currently preparing a big plan. (Don’t roast me…)
