Chapter 947: Frozen Solid

Qingque looked down at the surrounding Bubbles, then looked up at the ice‑blue wreckage above her head that was being orderly digested by the bubble swarm, and the logical‑processing thread in her brain briefly crashed.

She had seen these Bubbles before.

Just not long ago, to be precise, in the dream she had after she fainted.

In that dream she became a general, standing on a sea of Bubbles fighting a sky‑covering Shuhuo, and with a wave of her hand she could summon those Bubbles, which could dissolve anything they touched and transform it into new Bubbles.

She thought it was just a dream.

Dreaming can have any absurd setting; dreaming of becoming a general is nothing, she even dreamed she turned into a flying brocade carp flitting around the archives of Tai Bu Si, munching on scrolls.

But Bubbles appearing in reality is entirely different.

Qingque tentatively moved her fingertip.

She lightly flicked her fingertip to the right.

The string of Bubbles on the right that was circling her obediently drifted half a meter to the right, moving smoothly and naturally, as if pulled by an invisible thread.

She hooked her finger leftward again.

The row of Bubbles on the left also floated half a meter left.

Oh ho!

She let out a startled yet panicked sigh in her mind.

The excitement was because the ability was indeed pretty cool.

The panic was because she had no idea she possessed this ability!

When she faced that ice blade earlier, she was just desperately thinking "don't die, don't die, don't die," and then her body moved on its own; she didn't even see what she did, only recalling that she seemed to raise a hand and swing, then heard a huge bang, and when she opened her eyes the surroundings were filled with Bubbles.

That "my body moved on its own" feeling reminded her of the time she force‑kissed Fu Xuan in Shen Ce Fu, when her body also moved on its own.......

Yes, it was my body moving!

It wasn't because she wanted it!

So why does her body always move on its own at critical moments?

And why are the consequences always so absurd?

Qingque decided to temporarily set aside this philosophical question and focus on the more immediate matter, the Bubbles.

She began experimentally commanding the Bubbles to perform more complex actions.

First, she made them spin around her faster.

The bubble swarm obediently increased its rotation speed, turning from planetary orbit into a tornado.

Then she had them line up.

The Bubbles instantly broke from the circular formation, arranging in the air into a long, crooked yet overall straight line, like a string of transparent dumplings threaded on an invisible rope.

Then she—

A blade of ice‑blue sword light shot straight at her from the front!

Apparently Jing Liu didn't give her time to continue the experiment.

The Ice Sword thrust out in front of her, its tip tearing the air with a sharp whoosh.

This sword's speed surpassed all previous sword qi, so fast that when Qingque saw the blade light, the tip was already less than five meters away.

Qingque's eyes widened suddenly; she had just been happily playing with Bubbles, and in an instant a Sword Leader's tip rapidly enlarged in her view, an experience like practicing dog‑paddle in a pool when a massive great white shark bursts up from the bottom and opens its jaws.

Her finger instinctively swung forward, nearly flinging herself away.

The bubble swarm surged forward at three times the previous speed, stacking in front of her into three irregular layers of defensive formation.

The outermost layer consisted of huge Bubbles, each basin‑sized, their surfaces coated with thick ice crystals; the middle layer held medium‑sized Bubbles packed tightly, leaving only finger‑wide gaps; the innermost layer was made of small Bubbles, fist‑sized but most numerous, densely packed like a living foam shield.

The blade tip struck the first layer of Bubbles.

Then Qingque saw the jaw‑dropping scene.

That Ice Sword, the moment it touched the Bubble surface, began to be transformed.

The ice‑blue solid blade softened at the contact point at a visibly rapid rate, then re‑condensed into new Bubbles.

The process unfolded extremely smoothly, without any resistance, as if the Bubbles already knew how to handle the sword, merely waiting patiently for it to present itself.

And Jing Liu let go the moment the hilt was about to be completely swallowed.

Jing Liu quickly stepped back, watching their Ice Sword be fully transformed within the bubble swarm into a string of new white Bubbles, which then turned around and rejoined the swarm's formation, surging straight toward them.

Jing Liu's mouth corner dropped half a degree.

Heh.

The onrush of Bubbles resembled a floodgate opening, the white foam tide pushing forward along the street floor and both walls simultaneously.

Everything that touched the Bubbles—shattered ice, broken stone—was instantly transformed into new Bubbles.

With each object transformed, the number of Bubbles increased slightly, and the tide's scale grew a bit.

When it reached Jing Liu, the bubble tide had risen to nearly chest height, spreading to both sides and occupying the entire cross‑section of the street.

Meanwhile, Qingque stood behind the bubble tide, staring dumbfounded at everything.

She only wanted to block that blade of light.

She didn't expect the Bubbles to directly devour the sword.

Still not satisfied, now they even chased after the person themselves to swallow.

She looked down at her palm, spread her five fingers, and thought that the ability's dream setting seemed indeed like this: whatever it contacts gets transformed, the more it transforms the more Bubbles it creates, the more Bubbles the higher the conversion efficiency—a positive feedback loop, theoretically limited only by how much material can be transformed.

"Is this thing this powerful in reality too?"

Qingque asked herself the question in her mind, feeling utterly insecure.

Then she looked up at Jing Liu and added in her mind, "Sorry about that, your sword—I didn't mean to, it swallowed itself, don't be angry—"

Of course she didn't actually say it out loud.

Even if she had spoken, Jing Liu wouldn't hear.

Jing Liu watches the tide of Bubbles surging toward her with a devouring momentum, the Eye Mask still on her face, and the silver crescent pattern flashes within the azure Bubbles' glow.

She then stepped forward directly.

Just one step!

Click!

With the point where she stepped as the center, a layer of visible frost rapidly spreads outward, its radius covering the entire width of a street!

Every place the frost swept over was instantly covered with a layer of translucent white frost shell.

And the Bubbles were the same.

From the tip of the leading wave to the Tail of the last Bubbles, from those spreading on the wall to those pushing on the ground, all froze in place at the same instant.

They were frozen.

The Bubbles remain Bubbles; their shape hasn't changed, the thin ice on their surface hasn't changed, yet they simply do not move.

Moonlight passes through these frozen Bubbles, refracting countless slender cold-colored Light Pillars, illuminating the whole street like a massive crystal kaleidoscope.

Qingque tries to move her finger.

The Bubbles do not respond.

She moves her finger again, with a larger motion, even using her wrist.

The Bubbles still do not respond.

They hover in midair, like a group of floating organisms paused, obediently and quietly suspended in place, but no longer obey any command.

Jing Liu stands directly in front of the frozen Bubbles, less than an arm's length away from them.

She lifts her hand, passes through several floating frozen Bubbles before her, and her finger touches one of them.

The surface of the frozen Bubbles is extremely cold, yet it does not shatter, merely staying quietly in front of her fingertip.

She withdraws her hand, and the black Eye Mask on her face automatically falls off, which she casually catches in her hand.

White hair spreads from the imprint left by the Eye Mask, drifting lightly in a few strands in the night wind.