Chapter 292

At the top of the ice palace, a ball of blazing light—a dazzling blue light cluster—shot up into the sky.

Within the light cluster, a rapidly spinning silver ice storm emitted a piercing shriek; at its core something could be faintly seen, but its true nature could not be made out.

Several other deep‑blue light clusters flew up from the towering ice spires.

Inside each deep‑blue light cluster, a hundred zhang in diameter, could be seen an exquisitely crafted suit of armor, uniform in style but differing in detail; behind each suit of armor flickered the phantom silhouettes of various weapons—swords, spears, bows.

Several deep‑blue light clusters flew up into the high sky, encircling the light cluster that contained the silver ice storm.

Afterward, these light clusters violently trembled and spun rapidly, emitting in the void a series of sharp, piercing 'hissing' sounds.

You Cang's true form hovered a kilometer below these light clusters.

The enormous ice‑crystal warship glittered with dazzling gloomy light; every palace, every ice tree, all beams and tiles glowed brightly. Vast, ancient, solemn blue divine sigils poured forth from all parts of the great ship, continuously spraying cold light outward.

Hundreds of handsome men and women with human bodies and fish tails, holding tridents, hovered beside You Cang, their long tails swaying gently as they continuously sang melodious songs.

Amid their singing, vast sheets of cold light flickered, and a realm of ice and snow loomed faintly into view.

The hue of the several clusters of blue divine light grew deep and profound; the silver ice storm at the center rapidly expanded in volume, and the object at its core emitted threads of silver cold light that curled downward, enveloping You Cang's body.

You Cang's long tail trembled violently, and silvery‑blue scales appeared on the upper half of his fair human body.

Each scale flashed with a faint cold light; countless fine divine patterns and sigils emerged, flowing like water waves, intertwining as one, tightly wrapping You Cang's body.

In Sanlian City, Wu Tie suddenly knelt heavily on the ground, bowing before the unknowable, nameless demons lurking in the darkness.

He knocked his head to the ground, and Wu Tie uttered a strange incantation from his mouth.

The altar shuddered violently; several streaks of blood‑red lightning flashed across the high sky above Sanlian City. The banner trembled violently, You Cang's soul was sucked into the banner, and layers of thick mist rolled over him like waves.

Another long sword pierced the straw man's heart.

You Cang's soul jolted violently; obviously, his soul had grown much dimmer.

On the glacier, inside the great ship.

Hundreds of handsome men and women of the Ice Spirit Divine Race hastily chanted their incantations.

Strands of silver light continually poured into You Cang's body; within him, waves of Cold Qi surged forth like ripples, then quickly dissipated into the surrounding air.

The power of the great formation under Wu Tie's control, following the spatial link in the darkness, came slashing over.

A tremendous gash suddenly split open on You Cang's body, a sword mark so long it nearly cleaved him in two. Silver cold light wrapped the wound, a vast amount of Cold Qi poured in, and You Cang's body healed rapidly.

Within the banner, You Cang's soul dimmed slightly, then quickly brightened again.

Likewise, the Ice Spirit Race's chief divine artifact, following the link in the darkness, continuously poured streams of soul‑nourishing, soul‑strengthening power into You Cang's soul.

Wu Tie gravely wounded You Cang's soul, whereupon the Ice Spirit Divine Race's chief divine artifact immediately healed his soul.

Back and forth, You Cang's soul lingered between the brink of shattering and continual healing, bringing him an indescribable, immense soul‑wracking anguish and an almost crushed state of mind.

You Cang's soul howled and struggled within the soul‑scattering banner, while Wu Tie, commanding seven long swords, continually rained them down upon the banner.

Inside the great ship, a tall, imposing youth of the Ice Spirit Divine Race hovered before You Jieya, angrily reaching out to choke her neck: "You siblings, what have you done? Why was You Cang's soul captured by the enemy? A powerful foe capable of such terrifying soul‑sealing arts should have been eradicated at once—why didn't you report it promptly?"

You Jieya looked innocently at the youth: "Your Highness You Ruo, my previous request for a tactical strike deployment was precisely to exterminate them…"

Spreading her hands, You Jieya spoke hurriedly: "The reason my brother's soul was captured by the enemy must be…… Please check the previous records of the chief divine artifact's petitions—he used his own soul power as a key and applied for a release of the Heaven‑Earth Shackles."

You Ruo suddenly opened his mouth: "Ha, using one's own soul power as a key, borrowing the chief divine artifact's power to release the Heaven‑Earth Shackles?"

"You have discovered a terrifying foe that could pose a strategic threat to us…… and yet you dare to try to subjugate them?"

You Ruo glared angrily at You Jieya: "You, and that fool You Cang, your authority only allows you to request one‑thousandth of the chief divine artifact's striking power; such a level of power, facing those terrifying beings…… is utterly insufficient to protect you."

A flash of cold light crossed You Ruo's eyes; he harshly slapped You Jieya, sending her flying tens of meters away: "Foolish and greedy as you are, if you were not one of the consorts I have prepared, I would not……"

Before You Ruo finished speaking, You Jieya's body suddenly shuddered.

Her face twitched violently; she gasped heavily, like a drowning person flailing her arms, she grabbed wildly at You Ruo: "Your Highness, save me…… I……"

A faint shadow of the banner flashed above You Ruo's head; his body suddenly went limp and he collapsed heavily to the ground.

Then the banner's shadow swayed, turning into an extremely swift streak of illusory light that shot rapidly toward the vast Mu Dalu below.

You Ruo bellowed in fury: "This is not merely a soul attack…… there is also a blood‑line aura attack…… who else among the kin of You Cang and You Jieya is there?"

Generally, when enraged to the point of shouting, You Ruo waved the trident in his hand.

The entire glacier shuddered violently; vast sheets of blue light rose up, and the ten‑odd clusters of divine light hovering above the great ship spewed blinding radiance that could not be stared at. The massive glacier split off a tiny tributary, which, accompanied by a piercing roar, bombarded the fleeing banner's phantom transformed into a stream of light.

Although merely a minor tributary, it was still a colossal flood stretching tens of millions of li in length and thousands of li in width.

The raging torrent, carrying bone‑piercing cold, flashed forward and overtook the banner's stream of light, then engulfed it from above.

Suddenly, You Ruo slapped himself hard across the face.

"Disaster!" You Ruo cried out hoarsely, frantically thrashing his long, graceful, smooth fish tail: "Quickly shift the ice palace's spatial coordinates…… Damn it, they followed the auras of You Cang and You Jieya, pinpointing our exact location in space…… These soul attacks are nothing, but……"

On Mu Dalu, a mountain of unknown height—perhaps hundreds of thousands of li—suddenly split open.

From within the mountain flew out a bronze coffin, variegated and covered with countless scars, which burst forth; its lid slowly lifted, revealing a corpse‑filled giant, his whole body reeking of death, skin and bone, standing three thousand li tall, gaunt, with long arms whose dangling fingertips nearly touched the ground.

His two enormously long arms shot up, and a crude, ancient‑looking longbow, as if fashioned from withered branches, appeared in his hands.

The zombie giant lifted his head; his left and right eye sockets were pitch black, his eyeballs having burst at some unknown time, leaving only two deep hollows.

But his brow suddenly split open, and a pitch‑black vertical eye, exuding thick death‑energy, opened; a flicker of light and shadow passed within that vertical eye, and despite being separated by untold billions of li of void, the vertical eye—some tens of li high—reflected the phantom images of the ice palace and the glacier.

Even more, within the core pupil of that vertical eye, the silhouette of You Ruo appeared clearly.

The giant silently drew the longbow.

At his feet, at the base of the mountain, a river tens of thousands of li wide surged forth; the river, stretching millions of li, churned in the void and, in an instant, condensed into a water arrow thousands of li long, which was nocked onto the bow.

A flash of light in the high sky, an ancient bell appeared silently, and a touch of divine light was bestowed upon the water arrow.

Another flash of light, several broken, tattered great cauldrons appeared, and another layer of divine light was added.

Then came a great axe, a long sword, an imperial seal, and various bizarre, damaged oddities appearing in the void; layer upon layer of divine light was laid upon the water arrow, and in a snap of the fingers this wholly snow‑white water arrow was endowed with tens of thousands of layers of resplendent, variegated divine light.

Afterward, the earth and mountains beneath the giant's feet trembled; the ground split open a long fissure, and an extremely thick yellow‑brown mist spewed forth, swirling into a yellow‑brown dragon that attached itself to the water arrow.

The giant's body shuddered violently; from fingertips to toes, his withered‑bark‑like skin cracked open in deep fissures. Evidently, the giant's body could not withstand such terrifying divine‑light empowerment.

"Bang!"

A dull but not resonant bowstring vibration sound slowly spread out.

The giant drew his bow, released the arrow, and the arrow instantly vanished.

The giant grinned open his mouth, filthy blood slowly trickled from the corners of his mouth; he let out a weak, breathless roar into the void, then his body staggered backward and collapsed, plunging headfirst into a coffin riddled with wounds.

The coffin weakly closed its lid, the massive mountain swallowed the coffin, and the mountain slowly sealed shut.

From the great river whose waters had been instantly drained came a tremendous roar; rolling flood surged down from upstream, the turbulent, violent waters swept over the mountains and valleys on both banks, kicking up clouds of dust across the sky.

The glacier's branch just managed to catch up to the banner's phantom, then the glacier slammed down heavily.

As the banner's phantom, entwined with You Jieya's soul, was about to be struck by the glacier's branch, a tremendous boom rang out; the small branch of this glacier shattered explosively, bursting into countless tiny ice crystals that instantly scattered across a void spanning billions of li.

You Ruo stood above the massive ship, bellowing hoarsely.

The enormous glacier and the enormous ice-crystal warship emitted a piercing groan; the glacier flickered with a piercing azure light, struggling to adjust its trajectory in the void.

At the glacier's edge, vast expanses of collapsing giant icebergs exploded.

Inside the warship a deafening roar erupted; the energy cores of the entire glacier and the entire warship instantly reached the peak of their output, vigorous blue divine light swiftly shifted toward silver, and brilliant light filled the whole glacier.

Turn… for me…!

You Ruo bellowed hoarsely.

In the distance, the crystal star of the Celestial Crystal Divine Race, along with the god race's giant palace suffused with intense white light, and dozens of other various constructs, all kinds of mighty lifeforms surged upward into the sky.

They stood in the void, eyes wide—of many colors, sizes, varieties, more or less—ninety percent gloating, ten percent shocked and uneasy, watching the glacier and warship swiftly change course.

"Ice Spirit Divine Race… tsk tsk, is this… possessed?" On the crystal star of the Celestial Crystal Divine Race stood a seven-colored crystal giant a kilometer tall, arms crossed before its chest, laughing like thunder.

Behind him, a seven-colored crystal giant tens of meters shorter waved its right hand; a beam of seven-colored divine light shot from the crystal star, quickly forming a light curtain with a diameter of hundreds of millions of li, displaying in full detail what had just occurred on Mu Dalu.

"Wow!" On dozens of artificial constructs, thousands of mighty lifeforms exclaimed in admiration.

A handsome youth in a tall cap and flowing robes, his bearing carefree, snapped shut his folding fan, extended his right hand, and gave a thumbs-up toward the glacier warship: "You Ruo, you've got guts… you actually dared to leak your soul's aura and spatial coordinates… truly bold!"

You Ruo's face twisted with anger; he let out a low, hoarse roar, gripping his trident like a sailor steering a ship in a hurricane, he waved it with difficulty and great care.

The entire massive glacier and warship, following the motion of You Ruo's hands, slowly altered their flight path in the void.

Several clusters of blue divine light temporarily abandoned protecting You Cang's true form, spewing forth and infusing every part of the ice palace; with the aid of these powerful artifacts, the glacier carved an extremely turbulent arc through the void.

A loud 'Bang!'

A sword shadow wrapped in myriad layers of divine light pierced the glacier's tail.

The glacier stretching billions of li instantly dissipated one-third of its mass.

The glacier shuddered violently; the warship groaned under the strain, and on the warship, ice palaces collapsed one after another, while crowds of merfolk-like handsome men and beautiful women screamed as they fled the collapsing palaces.

A huge arrow lodged firmly in the shattered tail of the glacier, tens of thousands of layers of divine light flashing with dangerous radiance.

You Ruo let out a low, hoarse shout: "Help me, I owe him a favor!"

On dozens of constructs, the expressions of less than half of the mighty lifeforms remained unchanged, merely coldly regarding You Ruo.

The expressions of the other more than half of the mighty lifeforms twitched slightly, then they simultaneously chanted incantations, and various strange lights blossomed on their bodies.

Dozens of powerful divine lights tore through the void and struck the warship.

The huge arrow exploded with a boom.

The glacier shattered piece by piece, vaporized section by section, collapsed fragment by fragment.

The warship slid forward along the glacier at high speed, struggling to evade the terrifying power unleashed by the exploding giant arrow.

In the Triple Linked City, Wu Tie watched with delight as the true soul of You Jieya appeared upon the altar.

"Yo, you actually caught them? Looks like you're not too hard to deal with; I thought, having learned from that guy's precedent, you'd strengthen protection of your own soul."

Wu Tie laughed, and the banner swept the shrieking You Jieya into it.

A longsword came down heavily, piercing the heart of the second straw figure.

Violently trembling, on the glacier warship constantly cracking everywhere, You Jieya's true body suddenly split open at the chest, and copious blood gushed out.