It was clearly a season of gentle warmth and blooming flowers, but one breath of Su Qingyan’s was enough to create a chilling winter.
All of Spirit City was encased in ice. It no longer seemed like a city once capable of housing human life. Rather, it seemed like an exquisitely carved ice sculpture.
In a sense, it was, and its sculptor was none other than the Fox Empress, Su Qingyan.
“What an intense chill.” Ye Zichen had several layers of divine power enveloping him, but he still couldn’t help but tremble. He’d experienced a chill like this before, when Su Liu’er had used her Breath of Ice.
The only difference was that Su Qingyan’s Breath of Ice was at least a thousand times stronger!
Snow scattered across the ground. Before long, dense layers of ice and snow formed on the ground and rooftops. Now, Su Qingyan’s snow-white tails blended in perfectly.
Su Hai’s smile gradually froze in place. He took in Su Qingyan’s harsh, sharp gaze. “Big Sister Qingyan, you…. Let’s meet again some other time, okay?”
“Villainous scum, die!” She waved her right arm. Su Hai had just opened a rift in the sky and was about to escape when she froze him into an ice statue, then slammed him hard into the ground. He instantly shattered into countless radiant ice crystals.
Ye Zichen couldn’t help but gulp. Jeez….
That was an instant kill!
“I’m afraid Empress Su Qingyan’s Breath of Ice has already achieved major success.” Great Emperor Chao Feng sighed with emotion.
Breath of Ice was a skill the ancestor of the Nine-tailed Fox Clan had created in the ancient era. It was on par with divine skills.
The reign of the Nine-tailed Fox Ancestor was a time of peak prosperity for their clan. The ancestor had single-handedly slaughtered a larger force of demons, killing ten Demon Gods in rapid succession and scaring the other demons so badly, they lost the will to fight. How had they done this? Simple: by relying on the Breath of Ice.
Afterward, the foxes had fallen from glory.
Ten million years.
Of all the foxes to live and die in that time, only Su Qingyan succeeded at cultivating it, bringing the fox clan back to prominence. Just a few hundred years later, the NIne-tailed Foxes were ranked among Saint Beasts once more.
This was where her title, the Fox Empress, came from!
After dealing with Su Hai, Su Qingyan didn’t let him. Countless icy winds rose up throughout Spirit City. Before long…
“Hmph, so this is where you’re hiding.” Su Qingyan stood in the sky, and a sharpened icicle appeared in her hands. She flung it, and it landed ten thousand miles away.
Cracks spread from the point of impact, shattering the frozen ground.
A tall, stalwart figure emerged from beneath the frozen ground: it was a slovenly-looking middle-aged man.
“The Lich Yao King!” The Great Emperors knit their brows. This was the very corpse refiner who’d escaped their grasp all those years ago, the man they remembered. Although he’d worn long robes then, which obscured his appearance, his figure and bearing were exactly the same.
“My perfect furnace!” After emerging from the ground, the Lich Yao King’s expression contorted in obvious distress. Su Qingyan had just killed Su Hai, one of the few quality furnaces he’d found after countless years of travelling far and wide and searching high and low. “Little girl, you ruined my cultivation furnace. I won’t just let this go!”
Crunch! Crunch!
Countless refined corpse puppets drilled through the ground, their eyes glowing an eerie green. They twisted their necks, then charged, teeth bȧrėd, at Su Qingyan. Combined, they were quite the spectacle: there had to be at least a million of them.
“Hmph.” Su Qingyan merely smiled coldly. Then, a chill hurtled towards the undead horde.
All of them were instantly frozen solid.
“You little wench!” The Yao Lich King stared, wide-eyed, at his frozen corpse puppets. He’d made all of them just now, with the resources and had, and they couldn’t be considered treasures.
But for her to freeze a million of them in a single breath meant this “little wench” was troublesome indeed!
Even if he sent forth his true masterpieces, they’d likely meet the same fate. But he’d poured his blood, sweat, and tears into his work. If Su Qingyan froze and ruined them, it would make his heart ache. “
“Not an easy opponent. I’d best flee!” A warrior was adaptable, and knew when to bend!
All those years ago, he’d fled in the face of these very great emperors. Now, he’d just have to do it again. This was nothing to write home about.
Although this was an excellent place to refine corpses, he’d already collected enough high-quality materials and absorbed enough essence of resentment.
Now, so long as he had enough time, he could refine a corpse king.
All of these people had to die, dammit.
“All of you, wait for this old yao!”
“You think you can run?” Su Qingyan waved her hand. The Lich Yao King’s expression turned grave. He gnashed his teeth, then flung out a corpse puppet.
Su Qingyan immediately froze it into an ice sculpture, then shattered it. The Lich Yao King gnashed his teeth and roared, “My treasure! I’ll get you for this! Just you wait!”
“Hmph. I’d like to see just how many corpses you can fling at us.” Endless streams of cold shot towards the Lich Yao King. By now, his face was ashen, and although he hated to part with them, he dared not hold back. He flung corpse puppet after corpse puppet behind him.
At first, he flung diviner-level puppets, but before long, he started throwing ruler-level puppets too.
“F*ck, little girl, this isn’t over!” Throwing puppet after puppet left the Lich Yao King’s heart aching. Throughout the process, he gnashed his teeth and hurled a relentless stream of corpses.
The corpses he’d already thrown represented ten thousand years of his blood, sweat, and tears.
It was gone!
All of them were gone!
But that chill was still relentlessly chasing after him. The Lich Yao King’s face was ashen and his eyes were bloodshot. “Just you wait!”
Riiiiip!
He tore off one of his own arms. Bloody mist sprayed out, alongside several vengeful spirits. Their resentment filled the surrounding air. Shockingly, it was enough to block the Breath of Ice. The Lich Yao King seized this opportunity to shatter part of the sky, open a rift, and disappear without a trace.
The sound of his infuriated roars lingered for a long time after. Empress Su Qingyan stood there for a while, gnashing her teeth hatefully.
“What were you doing just now? Why did you just stand there? Why didn’t you help?” She turned and yelled at the other great emperors, who suddenly found themselves feeling rather awkward. Su Qingyan had been so domineering that they really had just sat back and watched. It hadn’t even occurred to them to help out.
But now, hearing her put it that way, Bi’an couldn’t help but smile in embarrassment.
“All of you, look!” At that moment, Pu Jingwan stretched out her hand and pointed at the Lich Yao King’s severed arm. Shockingly, the vengeful spirits had started absorbing the resentment lingering in the air, forming vicious apparitions and charging at Su Qingyan with mournful shrieks. They attacked, teeth bȧrėd and claws sharp.
