Just what was it that made Sun Yige so desperate to die?
Ye Zichen closed his eyes. He still remembered his days as a college student. Their class president, Sun Yige, was a timid young woman.
When she spoke to people, she didn’t dare look them in the eye. If she was unfamiliar, she couldn’t even finish her sentence.
That was it!
With such a timid personality, it was only natural that her heart couldn’t bear all this pressure.
“What exactly is the Holy Maiden saying?” Li Hu’s eyes widened with curiosity.
A “Little Cutie?” Fighting for control of their body?
When they heard that, many of the spectators could tell that something was a bit off about their conversation.
Xue Mo and the others frowned too, then glanced instinctively at Ye Zichen.
“Whoops! I said a bit too much.” The Holy Maiden suddenly covered her mouth, but her eyes glinted with a hint of a smile. It was obvious that she wasn’t at all concerned. In fact, she might have even said all that intentionally for all to hear.
She blinked, then twisted her neck.
Radiant light flashed through those deep purple eyes. She gazed towards the not-too-distant Su Liu’er. “Let’s set aside that little accident just now and continue.”
“No problem.” Su Liu’er’s face was expressionless. She seemed calm and at ease. “This works out well. I was rather unsatisfied with our fight just now. I’m rather curious to know if the demons’ Holy Maiden lives up to her reputation or not. Are you as powerful as they say?”
She released the Breath of Ice.
As soon as that white, icy wind appeared, everyone, human, demon, and yao, retreated instinctively.
They had seen with their own eyes just how terrifying it was. The Breath of Ice had encased the entire arena earlier, but even now, the ice showed no signs of breaking.
“They’re at it again!” Li Hu’s jaw dropped so wide, you could fit a fist inside.
He took a few steps back. He didn’t quite know what to say. “Then aren’t we going to go through the wringer again too? Is this Divine Martial Academy doing to intervene or not? Why hasn’t anyone come out to stop them yet? It’s almost night time. Are we having the lot-drawing ceremony or not?”
Although that’s what he said, his body was honest. Even as he spoke, he retreated another hundred meters away. The others retreated frantically as well.
“Wait, where did Platoon Leader Ye go?” As they retreated, the Navigators’ Xu Brothers looked around and couldn’t help but ask. The rest of the retreating student societies stopped to look, only to see…
“Both of you, stop it! Ye Zichen had appeared right between Su Liu’er and the Holy Maiden.
When she saw him, Su Liu’er furrowed her brows, and the icy energy billowing off her mellowed somewhat. “Out of my way!”
Her tone was forceful, as if she were trying to say that, if Ye Zichen didn’t move, she’d attack him too.
“Big Sister Liu’er, don’t be angry. Can you stop the Breath of Ice, please? Or at least reduce it a little? I’m not a transcendent expert like you too; I can’t take the cold for long.” Ye Zichen laughed, but Su Liu’er showed no expression at all, nor did she comply.
As he drew close, Ye Zichen understood the full extent of the Breath of Ice’s terror for the first time. Fortunately, he’d put on his Swirling Flashplate Armor, and he’d formed a multi-layered barrier around himself, too.
Even so, as he stood beside Su Liu’er, the air was bone-chillingly cold.
Furthermore, he knew that Su Liu’er was still building up momentum. If this were earlier, when she’d unleashed those nine tornadoes, just how strong would she be? Just how cold would it be?
Yet back then, the Holy Maiden could all but disregard her attack. It was obvious that….
The Holy Maiden’s cultivation was unfathomably powerful, too.
The Breath of Ice gradually penetrated Ye Zichen’s defenses and reached his insides. Under the intense chill, his circulation slowed to a crawl, and his body gradually solidified.
“Big Sister Liu’er.” Ye Zichen struggled to speak.
Still, Su Liu’er just glowered coldly at him. “Out of my way.”
“Big Sister Liu’er!” Su Yan shouted anxiously from the distance.
Su Liu’er was looking away, but she sighed. When she looked at Ye Zichen, her gaze was unfathomable. Finally, she shook her head and withdrew the Breath of Ice.
As the chill faded, Ye Zichen’s situation improved somewhat. “Thank you, Big Sister Liu’er.”
“Hmph. There’s no need for you to thank me. If it weren’t for my little sister, you could freeze to death for all I care.”
She snorted aloofly, then paid him no further head.
Ye Zichen’s relationship with his older-sister-in-law was really confusing, like she couldn’t decide whether she loved or hated him.
Ye Zichen smiled sheepishly and rubbed his nose, then turned to face the Holy Maiden. He got his expression under control and said, “Holy Maiden of the Demons.”
Compared to Su Liu’er, she seemed rather friendly to him. She narrowed her eyes and withdrew her aura. A hint of a smile flashed through those purple eyes, and she beckoned to him in greeting. “Hi! To think we’d meet again so soon!”
When she said “again,” she was naturally referring to that time they bumped into each other in the lower realms, when she’d asked Ye Zichen to spare his demon captives.
“Can you please let this matter go? For my sake?” asked Ye Zichen, his voice low.
“Of course, that’s no problem at all. I didn’t want to make a fuss to begin with. It was that Fox Queen who insisted on making our Divine Demon General apologize. I’m not the unreasonable type, and if he were an ordinary demon, I’d let it go. But Divine Demon Generals represent our entire race’s dignity. If I let her force him to apologize, wouldn’t it seem like demons were weaker than yao? There’s no way I could agree to something like that, right?”
The Holy Maiden flashed him a warm, amiable smile, and her explanation sounded reasonable.
“Who cares if he’s a Divine Demon General? The person he hit was one of us. Am I just supposed to let this go?” snorted Su Liu’er.
“If he got hurt, he got hurt. If that yao got bullied, all I can say is, you people are too weak. If you’re convinced, how about you have him come back and fight for his own honor? He got bullied but ran crying to his elders for help. Do all yao act like this?” sneered the Holy Maiden.
“Could you please hold your tongue just a little?” Ye Zichen felt aggrieved.
“To tell the truth, you really shouldn’t have gotten involved in this.” The Holy Maiden’s warm smile suddenly darkened. “There are plenty of people here with higher cultivations, so why aren’t any of them intervening? Just now, the Fox Queen and I caused quite the commotion, but do you see anyone trying to stop us?
“It’s because they don’t want to get involved in this mess. Look at you! You could have stayed safely far away and uninvolved. Why did you have to steel yourself and get between us? Do you really think you’re qualified, or rather, do you really think you’re capable of settling this?”
“Of course I’m not qualified.” Ye Zichen was well aware of his position. He had no formal rank, and he wasn’t a Divine General or anything like that. He was just an ordinary participant from Skyspan Academy.
How could he possibly be qualified to intervene in a fight between the Queen of the Foxes and the Holy Maiden of the Demons?
But….
“You just said Sun Yige wanted to seize back control of her body, didn’t you? Then I have no choice but to get involved.”
