Chapter 1545: Lv Qing'er's Breakthrough

This closed-door cultivation of Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge was longer than any before.

However, the benefits they obtained were unprecedentedly immense. In the void at the deepest part of the Heavenly Mirror Pagoda, within the crystal mountain, wave after wave of powerful energy fluctuations surged forth, stirring up energy storms in the void.

Inside the crystal mountain, they sat with eyes closed, immersed in the earth-shaking transformation that was remaking their very bodies.

Day after day passed.

Cultivators like the Fifth Mingxuan, Sacred Que'er, and Ning Ning had long since finished their cultivation, and in the end, only Li Luo, Jiang Jiang Qinge, and Lv Qing'er remained in a state of cultivation.

And when time pushed forward to the one-year mark, Lv Qing'er was the first to emerge from seclusion.

In the void, two figures stood with their hands clasped behind their backs. One was Dean Wang Xuanjin, and the other was a middle-aged man wearing a golden dragon robe. His face was resolute and steady, while between his brows emanated a heavy sense of authority. In his hand, he toyed with a jade pendant of a golden dragon biting its own tail, within which mysterious light occasionally flowed, radiating terrifying power.

"Mountain Lord Lv, Lv Qing'er's cultivation should be ending soon," Wang Xuanjin said with a smile, gazing at the three crystal mountains deep in the void.

As the Grand Dean of the Tianyuan Ancient Academy, Wang Xuanjin still held several degrees of courtesy toward the man before him.

Because this man was named Lv Sui, the current Mountain Lord of the Lv Branch of the Golden Dragon Mountain, and he himself was also a top-tier powerhouse at the Dual Crown King level.

Additionally, he was Lv Qing'er's father.

"This time Qing'er has benefited from the Academy Alliance's favor at the Heavenly Mirror Pagoda and obtained a great opportunity. This kindness, our Golden Dragon Mountain's Lv Branch will certainly keep forever in our hearts," Lv Sui said to Wang Xuanjin with a slight fist-palm salute, carrying a note of gratitude.

"Mountain Lord Lv is too courteous. This time our Heavenly Mirror Pagoda suffered an invasion by the Return Society, and in the end it was still your branch's Li Li Tianwang who lent a hand. So this opportunity is only right for Lv Qing'er," Wang Xuanjin said with a smile.

Among the many Li Tianwang factions in this world, the Academy Alliance and the Return Society possessed the strongest strength and the deepest foundations, and behind these two transcendent factions came the Golden Dragon Treasury, which had always maintained neutrality.

The Golden Dragon Treasury held the world's wealth, and within Golden Dragon Mountain there existed three Li Tianwang. In terms of strength, they far surpassed many Li Tianwang branches among the Ten Great Outer Shenzhou, after all, most of those Li Tianwang branches only had the foundation of a single Li Tianwang.

Lv Sui smiled slightly and said, "Over this past year, the open rivalry and covert struggle between the Academy Alliance and the Return Society has been the matter most closely watched by all factions across the Ten Great Outer Shenzhou."

"For this matter, we must thank Golden Dragon Mountain for their covert assistance. If not for the intelligence you provided, many of the Return Society's hidden strongholds would have been difficult for our Academy Alliance to uncover."

"The five Li Tianwang within the Academy Alliance specifically asked me to convey their thanks to Golden Dragon Mountain on their behalf," Wang Xuanjin said.

The Golden Dragon Treasury had always been neutral and would not participate in any faction's struggles, but they possessed the most acute intelligence network across the Ten Great Outer Shenzhou. In this contest between the Academy Alliance and the Return Society, Golden Dragon Mountain covertly provided some intelligence support, which allowed the Academy Alliance to achieve certain results.

Lv Sui waved his hand and said with a smile, "Our Golden Dragon Mountain does not participate in these struggles, but that Return Society is also going too far. My daughter has been wronged here, and as her father, naturally I cannot simply stand by."

Currently, Golden Dragon Mountain's turn had come for the Lv Branch to hold authority, and Lv Sui was the Mountain Lord of the Lv Branch, so this intelligence had only been transmitted to the Academy Alliance after receiving his nod.

Two powerhouses representing two top-tier Li Tianwang-level factions of the Ten Great Outer Shenzhou chatted and exchanged pleasantries here; every word and action of theirs was enough to exert a major influence on the situation.

However, while Lv Sui made small talk with Wang Xuanjin, his gaze also drifted, seemingly by chance, toward the other two crystal mountains deep in the void—or more precisely, toward the one sealing Li Luo.

"That young man is Li Li Tianwang's branch's Li Luo, isn't he?" Lv Sui asked, already knowing the answer.

Wang Xuanjin smiled and nodded.

"The people of Li Li Tianwang's branch and my Lv Li Tianwang's branch really do seem to be at odds with each other," Lv Sui said flatly.

Wang Xuanjin felt a bit helpless. The romantic entanglements among these three young people seemed quite tangled. Lv Qing'er clearly harbored feelings for Li Luo, yet Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge happened to be a young married couple.

Even Wang Xuanjin, a Three Crown King powerhouse, found it difficult to sort out the romantic complications of these youngsters.

Lv Sui clearly knew all this as well, so when he looked at Li Luo, dissatisfaction was hidden in his eyes. Of course... this dissatisfaction might not have been directed solely at Li Luo.

Some of it was directed at Li Taixuan.

Because Lv Sui understood in his heart that his wife, Yu Yu Hongxi, had once admired Li Taixuan, but later, upon discovering Li Taixuan's relationship with Dantai Lan, she had left in anger.

After that, Yu Yu Hongxi severed that thread of affection.

Speaking of which, his generation was actually a bit older than Li Taixuan's, but back then he had indeed been moved by the proud Yu Yu Hongxi, and so he had pursued her repeatedly.

In a certain sense, it was a bit like taking advantage of an opening.

Fortunately, after marriage the two of them had a fairly stable relationship, and the daughter they had was deeply loved by them both.

And now that his beloved daughter had grown up, what gave Lv Sui a headache was that the person she liked turned out to be Li Taixuan's son.

Did this Li Taixuan branch just provoke their family?

"Heh heh, the feelings of the young fade with the passing of years. What's more, Lv Qing'er may not need these things in the future. Mountain Lord Lv need not worry," Wang Xuanjin said soothingly. His reason for accompanying Lv Sui throughout the wait for Lv Qing'er to finish her cultivation was partly to keep an eye on Lv Sui, lest this doting father, in his anger, interfere with Li Luo's closed-door cultivation.

Fortunately, Lv Sui, as the Mountain Lord of the Lv Branch, still possessed considerable magnanimity. He merely vented a little of his dissatisfaction and did not truly lower himself to act against a junior like Li Luo.

Whooosh!

While the two were speaking, deep in the void, a bone-chilling cold suddenly raged out like a storm, and wherever the cold passed, even the air was condensed into ice crystals.

Lv Sui and Wang Xuanjin's eyes shifted, and they immediately looked toward one of the crystal mountains deep in the void.

At this moment, within that crystal mountain, vast and mighty ice-attribute power swept forth, transforming it into a giant mountain of ice crystals, after which cracks rapidly spread across it.

Boom!

The mountain of ice crystals instantly exploded, and waves of cold air surged outward.

The cold air condensed into a path of frost, extending through the void. The next moment, a graceful figure stepped out with jade feet as if made of ice and snow, stepping upon it, with ice lotuses blooming beneath her feet.

She was like a goddess of ice and snow, each step giving rise to a lotus, walking across the void.

It was Lv Qing'er.

However, the current her had undergone an almost heaven-and-earth-reversing change. Her waist-length black hair had now entirely turned an icy blue, and those lively, water-like eyes had completely transformed into a cold, emotionless Binghu, without the slightest ripple of feeling.

Her skin had become even more snowy white and smooth, and her beauty had grown more striking within the coldness, like a holy snow lotus blooming slowly atop an extremely cold snow mountain peak.

Boom!

At the same time, vast cold air shot skyward from above her head, and within the cold air, four platforms resembling ice crystals, Marquis Platforms, stood quietly.

Moreover, all four Marquis Platforms had ten pillars!

Unparalleled Dao Le Si Pin!

After a year of closed-door cultivation, Lv Qing'er's strength had clearly obtained a tremendous boost, leaping straight from Unparalleled Second Pin to the rank of Fourth Pin!

Moreover, on Lv Qing'er's smooth brow, there was a vertical mark of icy blue, from which a subtle, wondrous light emanated, adding several degrees of pure, icy beauty to her.

"Qing'er, congratulations."

Lv Sui gazed at this scene, sighed inwardly, then a smile surfaced on his face. With a single step, he appeared before Lv Qing'er.

"I've come to take you back to Golden Dragon Mountain," Lv Sui said gently.

However, facing her father's welcome, Lv Qing'er's beautiful face, filled with frost, showed no emotional fluctuation. She merely nodded slightly.

"Then shall we go?" Lü Sui asked.

Lü Qing'er stood in place, as if frozen for several breaths. Far behind her, deep within a crystal mountain, Li Luo, whose eyes had been tightly shut, seemed to tremble his eyelids slightly.

Lü Qing'er ultimately did not look back.

Instead, she lowered her head slightly and gazed at her own legs — a pair of slender legs like frost-white jade, as if exquisitely carved from snow, leaving one unable to find the slightest flaw.

At this moment, those long, slender legs were still sheathed in snow-white, glossy silk stockings; as the sheen flowed across them, they appeared all the more rounded and smooth.

In Lü Qing'er's Binghu-like eyes reflected those snow-white silk stockings, and the indifferent emotion within her told her that because someone's gaze had once always uncontrollably swept over, she had kept wearing them...

Now, was there still a need?

Lü Qing'er's slender jade hand waved lightly; cold energy circulated, and the snow-white silk stockings on her legs silently melted into snow-water. The snow-water flowed down along her skin, her legs bared, revealing an even more flawless, luminous sheen.

She gazed at her legs for a moment, then finally said with an indifferent expression: "Father, let's go."

Lü Sui nodded, cupped his hands in salute toward Wang Xuanjin, then the golden dragon jade ring in his hand erupted with golden light. Within the golden light, a massive golden dragon appeared — vivid and lifelike, radiating tremendous dragon's might, as if it were a living creature.

Then the golden dragon carried the two of them, directly shattering the void, and amid the melodious dragon's cry, vanished from sight.

Wang Xuanjin gazed at the spot where they had disappeared, shook his head helplessly, and muttered to himself: "Emotions sealed in ice so thoroughly — this Glacial Ice Holy Seed of Jinlong Mountain is truly about to ascend into a Primordial Seed."

Then his gaze turned toward the two remaining crystal giant mountains deep within the void.

"Next, it's just the two of you left."

"Judging by your stance, you really want to devour my Celestial Mirror Pagoda in one sitting?"

Wang Xuanjin smiled, then continued to guard this place.

Thus, another half year of time passed.

Deep within the void, the two crystal giant mountains finally erupted with earth-shattering commotion.