Useless keeper of the graves. Those words were extremely piercing to the ears of the grand elders. They also realized that the gravekeeper elder had been truly angered. It was said that if these grand elders were angered, they could cause the entire Dragon Phoenix Academy to shake. As for this gravekeeper elder, if he was angered, the entire dominion would shake. He was an existence at a completely different level.
“Gravekeeper elder, I’ll have someone investigate this properly,” the principal hurriedly said.
“There’s no need. I’ll personally investigate this,” said the gravekeeper elder with a wave of his hand. “I’m here today to tell all of you that you may find someone else to watch over the graves from now on.”
He then left. Not one of the grand elders dared to say anything. Neither did anyone dare to persuade him to stay. Looking at the gravekeeper elder’s bleak figure, they could sense his anger. If he was to unleash his anger, terrifying things would happen. The principal felt a heavy pressure on his shoulders.
Back when he had agreed to expel Xiang Shaoyun from the academy, he hadn’t felt such pressure. He had thought that the gravekeeper elder understood his position. After all, it had been proven that Xiang Shaoyun had killed Situ Yan. At the time, even the gravekeeper elder had tacitly agreed to his way of handling the matter.
But when something truly happened to Xiang Shaoyun, the gravekeeper elder was angered, and he thus decided to stop watching over the graves. What was he going to do, then?
“Who can tell me what happened?” asked a grand elder in a yellow robe.
The principal did not dare to hide anything and told the grand elders everything he knew.
“Hehe, it is true that humans and devils have never coexisted peacefully, but you can’t judge that the young man with boundless prospects is a devil just because he knows some devil abilities and was escorted by a devil. A lot of us have devil puppets. Some people have also attempted to refine devil cores and enhance their bodies with devil blood. None of that is new. Why did everyone judge that the young man was a devil? Looks like some people decided to do everything they could to achieve their goals, by fair means or foul,” said the handsome middle-aged man, sneering.
“That’s right. Even if a human is implicated by the devils, it is still not a sin punishable by death. Looks like our academy has developed some shameless elders. They deserved to die. What a pity that a young man who had fused nine different energies had perished just like that,” said the purple-haired old man with a sigh.
“He is the gravekeeper elder’s sole disciple. If something happened to him, I’m afraid…” a beautiful woman said.
The principal could no longer keep his calm and said, “I have been too neglectful. I’ll immediately have people investigate this and return Xiang Shaoyun his reputation.”
“Yes, we need to do something. We can’t disappoint the gravekeeper elder,” said the grand elder in a yellow robe with a sigh.
With what these grand elders had said, the principal no longer dared to be neglectful. He immediately sent someone to investigate the entire affair. At the same time, everyone related to Feng Huosuo, Shadowflash, and Situ Mingyu was dealt with. Some were suppressed, while some were expelled. He dealt with them swiftly and mercilessly, demonstrating the dignity of a principal. This was his way of making his stand clear to the gravekeeper elder.
…
The Heavenly Snow Mountain was the same as ever, covered in snow and surrounded by a boundless snowfield. About a month had passed since Xiang Shaoyun’s battle with the numerous cultivators.
During this period of time, the mountain was assaulted by a deadly snowstorm every single day. All the signs of battle from before had been covered up by thick snow. After Daoist Wudao was defeated by the ice dragon, he had not shown himself. Perhaps he was still looking for help to deal with the ice dragon and did not dare to come here by himself.
Of the numerous superpowers residing in the Northern Border, not one dared to provoke this ice dragon, which had been slumbering in the mountain for an unknown number of years. In the Northern Border, the ice dragon was taboo.
Within the ice cave, Money had entered a deep slumber. After he had accepted the ice dragon’s baptism, his entire body had undergone a transformation. Instead of breaking through, he had decided to enter a deep slumber. Only by doing so would he be able to maximize his gains.
Initially, he intended to beg the ice dragon to release his boss. But no matter how he pleaded, the ice dragon remained unmoved. Instead, the ice dragon threatened that if Money continued pestering him, he would destroy Xiang Shaoyun. That successfully shut Money’s mouth. Money then decided to enter slumber to avoid the issue. After all, he did not have the strength to save Xiang Shaoyun. The only thing he could do was pray that Xiang Shaoyun would get lucky.
Trapped in the block of ice, every part of Xiang Shaoyun had been frozen. If his soul hadn’t been preserved by the Nether Soul Dragon Headband, he would already be dead. Over the past month, he had maintained his consciousness. With the Nether Dragon Soul Curse, he slowly healed his soul. He also took the time to reflect on many things. He contemplated on the way to escape his predicament and on his future in the dominion. He placed more importance on his future, as without a solution, he would still be faced with countless enemies and end up dead even if he managed to escape.
As for the matter of escaping, even with his saint soul and his devilish energy, he still couldn’t break free from the block of ice. After all, the ice was formed by a God. Even if there was only a tiny fraction of godly energy in the ice, it was still sturdy enough to make him completely helpless against it.
If he still had his astral energy, he could try melting the ice with his flame energy. Or perhaps he could remove the ice energy with his profundity of ice. But with his astral energy cultivation crippled, he had to think of something else.
After spending an entire month in thought, he came up with a solution of breaking through the ice with the Nether Soul Dragon Headband’s power. If he poured all his devilish energy into the headband, he should be able to gather enough strength to break free of the ice. He was in no rush to execute his plan. Rather, he continued healing his soul. He would only decide on what to do after his soul was fully healed.
As for his future, he couldn’t think of anything no matter how hard he tried. His only option seemed to be to fully embrace his identity as a devil and become an Imperial Nether Clan prince. The humans were unlikely to accept him after this. In any case, his astral energy cultivation had already been crippled. Since he could no longer cultivate as a human, could he still call himself a human?
He was becoming more and more convinced that he should just become a devil. After all, his mother was an Imperial Nether Clan member, and it was his safest choice. But when he thought of his women, his child, and his brothers, he couldn’t fully turn himself into a devil. He still hoped that he could do something about his identity. At times, he even felt that he was better off remaining in this block of ice. It was during this time that a certain purple-haired young man arrived at the Heavenly Snow Mountain.
