Chapter 176: Just How Cold Is This Rim Of Dusk Cangshan Mountain?
Having finished questioning Ming Cangzhu and Jiang Yuejian, only Ming Chenxing remained.
Ming Zhaoshuang looked at him, and Ming Chenxing showed no intention of evading. He seemed to have anticipated this day long ago, his eyes, like cold beams, fixed on Ming Zhaoshuang.
He said, “I originally thought you would find the answer yourself.”
Ming Zhaoshuang retorted, “Since you know the answer, isn’t it better to just ask you directly?”
Ming Chenxing said, “Eldest Young Lady, how do you think I would know these things?”
After all, ever since he descended to the lower realm, except for the time he followed Ming Zhaoshuang, he had basically never used the sword techniques of Setting Sun Mountain Range, nor had he ever mentioned anything about Setting Sun Mountain Range to Ming Zhaoshuang.
Yet Ming Zhaoshuang had still sought him out.
Ming Zhaoshuang could not possibly tell Ming Chenxing that when she transmigrated, she had read the script designed by the Heavenly Dao for each of them. She only said, “You just need to tell me what my relationship with Setting Sun Mountain Range is.”
Her direct question left Ming Chenxing speechless.
He looked at Ming Zhaoshuang’s face, which bore a striking resemblance to two faces in his memory, her eyes, like frost, resembling his, and that little red mole, like a bright plum blossom, resembling hers.
She looked at him, her gaze unwavering.
Ming Chenxing was the son of the Great Elder of Setting Sun Mountain Range. He was sent to the lower realm at the age of ten. The other two had left Setting Sun Mountain Range early, and their memories of them had gradually blurred. He only mechanically reported Ming Zhaoshuang’s recent situation to Setting Sun Mountain Range.
He hadn’t felt Ming Zhaoshuang resembled those two before, but after her soul returned, Ming Chenxing repeatedly felt she must be their child.
Only such a child would be worthy of those two exceptionally brilliant individuals.
He met Ming Zhaoshuang’s gaze and started laughing.
“Eldest Young Lady, you are truly intelligent.”
Ming Zhaoshuang said, “You flatter me, you flatter me. I know I am very intelligent.”
Ming Chenxing was silent for a moment before saying to Ming Zhaoshuang, “Your relationship with Setting Sun Mountain Range is indeed not shallow. In fact, within the entire Setting Sun Mountain Range, besides the Palace Master, no one has a higher status than you.”
Ming Zhaoshuang thought to herself that in the script, she was already the Saintess, so naturally, no one had a higher status than her. She just needed a clear lineage, not these ambiguous conversations.
Ming Chenxing did not continue speaking. He only said, “Eldest Young Lady, you have already broken off your engagement with Qin Feilong. I will naturally tell you these matters when you reach the Deity Transformation stage.”
Knowing too early would not benefit Ming Zhaoshuang now.
Ming Zhaoshuang said, “Must it be Deity Transformation? Can I not know now, when I’m at Golden Core stage?”
Ming Zhaoshuang disliked this feeling of being kept in the dark. Since she wanted to know something, she had to know it completely. If it was just a casual “I’ll tell you later,” she would not give up.
Ming Chenxing said, “When the Palace Master instructed me, it was for Deity Transformation.”
Therefore, before Deity Transformation, he would not utter a single word. Ming Chenxing was a stubborn person who would not disobey the Palace Master’s orders.
With his persistence, Ming Zhaoshuang couldn’t press further.
However, after the three people left, Ming Zhaoshuang took out the Mountain River Brush and drew a formation in her courtyard.
The System found the formation pattern very familiar and asked, “Is this a Teleportation Array?”
Ming Zhaoshuang, without lifting her head, said, “Didn’t you say Wei Shuo drew a Teleportation Array in Setting Sun Mountain Range? I’ll directly teleport to Setting Sun Mountain Range to see.”
The System was shocked by her audacious act and said, “Are you crazy? The Upper Cultivation World requires at least Deity Transformation stage to start, and at a Great Sect like Setting Sun Mountain Range, ordinary disciples are already at Void Refinement stage!”
This was not an investigation for Ming Zhaoshuang; it was simply suicidal!
Ming Zhaoshuang said indifferently, “Mimi is a Mid-stage Mahayana cultivator and a Divine Beast. Plus, you are my cheat, I’m not scared at all.”
System: “…”
You’re not scared, but I am.
At first, the System was worried that Ming Zhaoshuang wouldn’t be able to “live her life to the fullest as long as she’s alive.”
Now, it realized it had worried for nothing. Ming Zhaoshuang didn’t value her own life at all!
The System was silent for a long time before saying, “Just leave me a breath.”
As long as she had a breath left, the System could save her.
However, the System truly feared that Ming Zhaoshuang could court death with just half a breath, without even the Heavenly Dao needing to act. This destined enemy of the Heavenly Dao would directly perish on her path of growth.
However, this was Ming Zhaoshuang’s chosen path, and the System had no right to interfere, so it could only say this.
Ming Zhaoshuang spent a day drawing the Teleportation Array for Setting Sun Mountain Range, but she didn’t activate it immediately, as for her, such a teleportation would consume too much of her soul power.
If she wanted to challenge Setting Sun Mountain Range, she would undoubtedly have to do it in her full might.
Ming Zhaoshuang gathered what she currently possessed: the ferocious beast Mimi, the Divine Artifact Fushuang, Shan He, the bracelet given to her by Feng Budu, the Heavenly Grade Spirit Tool Qingyin, the Heavenly Rank Spiritual Beasts Mengji and Bai Bai, the panda Fantuan, and the Gu Diao summoning talisman from Talisman Saint Wei Shuo.
And at least Heavenly Grade sword techniques and talisman formations.
With such resources, not to mention the lower realm, even the entire Upper Realm might not have someone as superior as her.
That’s why she dared to challenge it.
Frost and snow fell, the formation opened, and Ming Zhaoshuang’s figure was like a startling swan, with ice-like skin and jade-like bones.
The cold wind was biting, and the frost and snow were lonely.
Mountains stood tall, and flying catkins danced back and forth.
Setting Sun Mountain Range was just as she had seen it that day in the Heaven and Earth Yin Yang Formation: desolate and lonely, indifferent and cold. Apart from the silvery moonlight overhead, no other vibrant colors could be seen.
Ming Zhaoshuang held her sword, and even with her cultivation protecting her, she couldn’t help but be startled by the biting cold.
She muttered, “Seriously, how cold is Setting Sun Mountain Range?”
Since entering the cultivation world, Ming Zhaoshuang had been enveloped by spiritual energy, making it difficult for her to experience the inconvenience of seasonal temperature changes that mortals felt. However, the wind and frost of Setting Sun Mountain Range were so cold that it made her teeth chatter.
She was even wearing Qingyin!
The System said, “Setting Sun Mountain Range is one of the Pillars of Heaven. Its high altitude means low temperatures, so it’s normal for it to be cold. You could have guessed this from their headquarters being called Kunlun Palace.”
That’s why the System advised Ming Zhaoshuang not to teleport to Setting Sun Mountain Range casually. Even Deity Transformation stage cultivators needed to wear thermal underwear there in winter. Ming Zhaoshuang, being only at late Golden Core stage, how could she withstand this lingering frost.
Vast Kunlun, the highest point between heaven and earth, Ming Zhaoshuang naturally knew of it.
She exhaled a breath and mobilized more spiritual power to protect herself, lest she freeze to death due to the low temperature.
The surroundings were desolate. Ming Zhaoshuang didn’t know where to go and could only rely on luck, flying towards a certain direction.
After an unknown amount of time, the temperature around her gradually rose, and she no longer needed spiritual energy to protect herself.
It could even be described as somewhat warm.
Ming Zhaoshuang looked up again and found that what appeared before her eyes was not the extremely cold palace she had seen in the illusion before, but a steaming pool of water.
A pool of extremely vibrant blood.
The blood was like burning flames, igniting intense fighting spirit, and in this bone-chilling icy heaven and snowy land, it stood out exceptionally.
The surroundings were desolate, with only plum blossoms blooming by the blood pool.
The System exclaimed, “Why did Wei Shuo set the Teleportation Array here and not at Kunlun Palace!”
Ming Zhaoshuang squatted down, drew a Teleportation talisman on the Teleportation Array with the ice and snow, and then drew one on herself before walking towards the blood pool.
She asked, “Where is this place, and is there anything strange about it?”
With just a glance, Ming Zhaoshuang realized that the blood pool was abnormal. It was surrounded by sealing formations, emitting an ancient and mysterious aura that even Ming Zhaoshuang couldn’t understand.
Furthermore, in an environment with a temperature of who-knows-how-many degrees below zero, this pool had not frozen and was emitting wisps of steam, causing plum blossoms to bloom. This was inherently abnormal.
It seemed that although her landing spot was not Kunlun Palace, it might be even more important than Kunlun Palace.
Since the System had said so, it had no intention of hiding it from her. It said, “Didn’t I tell you before how Feng He underwent blood exchange and marrow cleansing to obtain her bloodline? This pool is where Feng He stayed for three years—Phoenix Pool.”
It was in this place that Feng He adapted to her Innate Dual Spiritual Root and began her journey as the Number One Person of the past ten thousand years.
