Chapter 442: Snow Phoenix Mountain, White Phoenix Forest, Five-Colored Magic Sound Rabbit, Play With Me

In the 297th year of Cai Qiu, the fifteenth day of the second month, daytime

Thirty li northeast of Qinghuacheng stood a towering mountain, named Snow Phoenix Mountain because a flock of Snow Phoenix avian cold beasts had long dwelled atop its peak.

Besides the Snow Phoenix flock, the mountain’s most famous feature was a unique vegetation known as Ice Sword Tree.

As the name suggests, the Ice Sword Tree had only one straight, upright, elliptical trunk resembling a blade, with no branches; its diameter was typically three to five meters, yet it could grow over a kilometer tall, and its outer surface, coated with ice spikes, emitted a piercing cold glow when struck by the winter sun, giving the impression of a colossal sword piercing the heavens—hence its name.

Snow Phoenix Mountain itself was only slightly over two hundred meters high, but because its slopes were densely covered with Ice Sword Trees, its visual height appeared five to six times greater.

The Snow Phoenix was a unique avian cold beast of Qinghuacheng, fond of perching atop Ice Sword Trees; its body was covered in snow-white feathers shaped like ice spikes, its beak curved into a sharp white hook, its belly bore two limbs ending in lethal, elongated talons.

Low-grade Snow Phoenixes had wingspans of six to ten meters; mid-grade, twenty-five to thirty meters; high-grade, when entering battle form, ranged from at least eighty meters to as much as one hundred twenty meters.

Interestingly, when perched atop Ice Sword Trees, Snow Phoenixes preferred to fully spread their wings, creating from afar the illusion that the tree and its wings formed the hilt of a giant sword.

“Only the Abyss could have wrought such peculiar vegetation—how could such a thing grow naturally? And these Snow Phoenixes, resting with wings fully spread? That defies all biological norms of flying creatures…”

The cold wind howled as Xia Hong stood atop a hundred-meter-tall Ice Sword Tree, left hand gripping Suixing Sword, right hand holding a Snow Phoenix corpse two meters long—its neck severed, beak chopped off, head hanging limp, clearly dead for some time.

Xia Hong gazed upward toward the mountain’s heights, filled with awe at the Abyss’s divine craftsmanship.

One Ice Sword Tree, ten, even a hundred—none were remarkable; but thousands upon thousands covering the entire mountain? The sight was staggering.

Snow Phoenix Mountain bristled with piercing swords of ice, like a perfectly shaped natural sword tomb—dangerous yet uniquely beautiful, evoking dread and an inexplicable yearning.

Suddenly, Xia Hong sensed several sharp gazes fixed upon him from the summit; his face instantly darkened with caution.

“Beast King… no, this danger—Beast King can’t produce this! Above Beast King must be the Five Radiance Realm—the Imperial-level cold beast!”

After staying in Qinghuacheng for nearly a month, Xia Hong had gathered useful information through indirect means, such as the classification of cold beasts and supernatural entities, even without openly asking questions.

“Imperial-level cold beasts, also called Five Radiance Realm, because upon reaching Imperial rank, they typically align with the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, earth—and their bodies contain both the core artifact from breaking through the Subjugation Stage and the key resources for Subjugation Stage cultivation.”

Xia Hong’s brow flickered; he gazed once more at the sky above Snow Phoenix Mountain, suppressed the greed in his pupils, and leapt down from the Ice Sword Tree onto the White Phoenix Forest below.

“Brother Hong is truly incredible—this high-grade Snow Phoenix flies as fast as a Subjugation-level beast; in Qinghuacheng, only the Four Commanders, two Deputy Governors, and my father could ever hunt one down. Now, Brother Hong joins them.”

As Xia Hong landed, Cai Mengya spotted the high-grade Snow Phoenix corpse in his hand and gasped in awe, her slender, alluring fox eyes fixed on him, her gaze shimmering with admiration, as if she’d already written “worship” across her face.

“Hahaha, Young Lady Mengya flatters me—after all, it’s only a high-grade cold beast. To dare challenge this prince? Not so easy!”

Xia Hong replied with pride, clearly relishing Cai Mengya’s adoring gaze; after a few hearty laughs, he continued: “But, Young Lady Mengya, you mentioned rabbit fur—what exactly is it? We’ve already penetrated halfway into Snow Phoenix Mountain, yet the rabbit fur beast hasn’t appeared. Push further, and it won’t be safe.”

As for chasing rabbit fur, the fault lay with Xia Hong himself.

Last month, upon arriving in Qinghuacheng, Cai Yunzhou hosted a banquet in his honor, inviting nearly every high-ranking official in the city, along with his own daughter, Cai Mengya, to personally attend.

His strength naturally warranted such treatment; Xia Hong felt no discomfort, but the banquet gradually took a strange turn.

Cai Mengya kept sending him covert glances throughout the feast—he couldn’t refuse, and to maintain his persona, he had to play along.

That one act of playing along became the start of trouble.

Cai Mengya was Cai Yunzhou’s youngest daughter, exceptionally gifted and deeply favored by her father, drawing many suitors—two of the Four Commanders among them, not to mention countless other young elites in the city.

As an outsider who immediately bonded with her, Xia Hong became the target of their envy; at the banquet, they began to challenge him relentlessly.

At first, Xia Hong had no intention of engaging—but his noble, prodigious, Subjugation-level persona was already set; constant retreats would raise suspicion, so he had no choice but to accept their provocations.

Cai Mengya happened to suggest hunting rabbit fur in the White Phoenix Forest; two Commanders led the charge, deploying a provocation tactic, using slightly humiliating words to taunt him, mocking his cowardice for daring not to enter the White Phoenix Forest.

“This prince, a scion of Great Qin, what place in this Cai Qiu could frighten me? Young Lady Mengya, rest assured—when you hunt rabbit fur next month, just send word to this prince!”

Thinking back on the persona he’d assumed at the banquet, Xia Hong couldn’t help but feel a strange expression cross his face.

After that banquet, he had firmly established his persona before Cai Yunzhou and all the Subjugation-level elites of Qinghuacheng.

A noble-born, prodigiously talented, Subjugation-level cultivator—but with low experience and intelligence, easily provoked, a fool…

As Xia Hong pondered, Cai Mengya’s eyes flickered; she turned to gaze into the depths of the White Phoenix Forest and smiled: “Brother Hong, don’t worry—the rabbit fur beast loves to feed on Snow Phoenixes. We’ve lured all the ones from the outer zones here, and slaughtered many already; the rabbit fur beast will appear soon!”

Hearing this, Xia Hong glanced sideways at Cai Mengya, his brow slightly furrowed, then turned to look ahead two kilometers, unable to suppress a look of astonishment.

A thousand-strong army clad in ten-thousand-forged iron armor was locked in combat with two to three hundred Snow Phoenixes soaring mid-air; though the soldiers lacked flight, over half wielded powerful bows, relentlessly shooting arrows skyward, while the rest, armed with spears and halberds, cooperated to drive the Snow Phoenixes into retreat, occasionally bringing down a few.

“The upper echelons of Cai Qiu are truly decadent to the extreme! Just the daughter of a governor—just for her own hunt—she can freely mobilize a thousand-strong command of the county guard…”

Thinking of this, Xia Hong’s gaze grew solemn; decadence was one thing, but from another angle, Cai Mengya’s actions indirectly proved Cai Qiu’s strength.

These soldiers all possessed Cold Resistance-level cultivation, uniformly clad in ten-thousand-forged iron armor; if the county guard was this strong, how powerful must the town guard and Silver Scale Armies be?

Crucially, even this level of military power wasn’t under high command authority; according to Xia Hong’s knowledge, though Cai Mengya was a descendant of the Fangbo lineage, Cai Qiu had at least hundreds of Cai clan members like her—even if she held relatively higher status, the implication was clear.

Shhh…

“Brother Hong, a Beast King-level Snow Phoenix is coming!”

A piercing shriek suddenly tore through the air above.

Without Cai Mengya’s warning, Xia Hong sensed it instantly; he whirled his head upward, pupils contracting sharply.

A colossal Snow Phoenix, nearly a hundred meters long, wings fully extended to four or five hundred meters, plunged downward like a dark cloud blotting out the winter sun, casting a vast shadow that instantly engulfed the entire army.

Clearly, this was a Beast King-level Snow Phoenix.

Hhhhh…

When still one li above ground, the Snow Phoenix suddenly retracted its wings and lunged, unleashing a powerful cold gust directly toward the earth.

Rustle-rustle-rustle…

The hundreds of arrows fired skyward by the county guard were instantly blown to the ground; their bodies were shoved backward, some soldiers toppled by the wind, the weakest among them—faces exposed—were instantly coated in frost; within three or four breaths, they froze solid and died.

And this cold gust was merely the Beast King-level Snow Phoenix’s first move.