Chapter 971: Finding Jing Liu

Fu Xuan sat in the main seat.

Her back was straight, her legs together, her ankles, wrapped in white long socks, looked slender and proper.

The purple‑white ceremonial dress in the cold white light of the bridge seemed the only color with warmth, its neckline revealing shoulder‑neck skin that was pearly and warm.

One hand rested on the armrest, the fingertip of the other pressed against the Divination Eye on her forehead, its golden glimmer leaking through the fingers and making half her face appear bright and dim.

Her eyes were not looking out the window.

She was staring at the jade screen in front of her, larger than Yan Qing's head.

The screen replayed a very short clip, the result of enlarging the photo that Star had sent to the group after processing with the Exhaustive Observation Formation.

In the image, the side profile of gray‑white hair was isolated and overlaid with Qingque's portrait from the Tai Bu Si archive for comparison.

The comparison results flickered at the bottom of the screen, the match percentage oscillating at several key Nodes, yet the overall trend stayed steadily within the "highly matching" range.

Fu Xuan said nothing.

She swiped the jade screen downward, letting the enlarged side‑face picture fill the whole display.

The gray‑white hair strands, the arch of the brow, the shape of the chin—each detail made her conjecture in her mind clearer.

Yet she could not voice that conjecture now.

Xue Yi and Yan Qing standing nearby were still discussing the iceberg's size and Jing Liu's location, while the large screen behind showed Yukong and Han Ya's remote video call, and people from the Heavenly Ship Office and Cloud Cavalry were awaiting her orders.

She had to suppress everything that needed suppressing.

"Lord Fu Xuan."

Yukong's voice came through the right‑hand video feed, calm and steady: "The patrol fleet of the Heavenly Ship Office has completed a secondary verification of the area surrounding the blockade zone. Centered on this iceberg, from the Dan Ding Si branch bridge in the west to Dock No. 12 of the Star Chariot Sea in the east, all civilian structures along the route have suffered varying degrees of frost damage. Fortunately, the region was evacuated earlier, and no civilian casualties have been reported."

Yukong was wearing a shoulder‑exposed long sky ceremonial gown today, her teal hair cascading from one shoulder, and her Fox Ears twitched atop her head.

Behind her was the command center of the Heavenly Ship Office, several Light Screens lighting up in succession, displaying route data and weather cloud maps.

"Seventeen boundary markers in the blockade zone have cracked, all border light poles are out, and several narrow alleys near the perimeter have ice sheets slipping and injuring people, though the injuries are minor."

Yukong continued, speaking clearly and distinctly.

After listening, Fu Xuan nodded, "Order the engineering team of the Heavenly Ship Office to seal the outer walkway first, encircle the cracked areas with a cold‑resistance Lock formation; without my approval, no one may enter the core of the blockade zone!"

"It's already been dispatched," Yukong replied succinctly.

In another video feed, Han Ya remained silent.

She was half‑leaning on a black stone chair of the Ten Kings Office, her silvery‑light‑blue hair sliding from her shoulder, covering half of her pallid face.

Only after Yukong finished speaking did Han Ya lift her gray‑toned eyes and glance toward Fu Xuan.

"The Soul‑Binding Envoy of the Ten Kings Office has arrived at the perimeter."

Han Ya's voice was light, weary and drained from having expended much energy, "The dream‑divination result is vague; the spiritual wave frequencies ahead are chaotic, I cannot see the full picture inside, the only certainty is that an Abundance aura is waning."

"Waning?" Yan Qing snapped his head around, "That demonic‑yin body was… by Jing Liu—"

He swallowed his words halfway.

Because he recalled the formation Jing Liu had just created; if that demonic‑yin body had truly been dealt with, the interior of the entire iceberg should detect the residual Abundance debris left after life dissipated.

Yet the data Xue Yi recited earlier contained no mention of such information from start to finish.

Fu Xuan's fingertip trembled.

Only she knew that hand had exerted a few extra ounces on the armrest.

She closed her eyes briefly, suppressing the faint joy that rose from her heart, and when she opened them her pupils had returned to Calm.

"Lower the altitude."

Fu Xuan ordered the Cloud Cavalry helmsmen, "After locating Jing Liu, do not rush to attack; first issue a warning!"

The Star Chariot formation began to descend slowly.

Several light patrol boats flanked from both wings, while the flagship pushed forward along the ridge on the iceberg's north side.

The Lock formation at the bottom of the Star Chariot emitted a jet of air during descent, scattering loose ice shards from the iceberg, and the entire ice surface was dappled with the formation's lapis‑blue light.

The flagship's searchlight swept across the iceberg, its beam refracting cold light at various angles as it passed through ice pillars and shards, casting erratic white specks dancing back and forth in the night sky.

Yan Qing pressed his sword against his lower back, leaning forward, his amber eyes fixed unblinking on where the searchlight swept.

He did not know whether he now hoped to see Jing Liu or feared seeing Jing Liu.

That name had been etched in his mind since he was a child just learning the sword, the Five Braves of the Clouds, the millennial Sword Leader, and when General Jing Yuan occasionally mentioned it his tone carried a complexity he still could not decipher.

Now that person was outside the window, at some spot on the iceberg, bearing the demonic‑yin body, having returned to Luofu.

"Found it!" a Cloud Cavalry rider in the front seat shouted suddenly.

Everyone's gaze turned to the main screen at once.

The searchlight's beam rested on a protruding ice platform on the iceberg's north side, a slab jutting out from the mid‑height of the main peak, shaped like a frozen sword guard.

At the edge of the ice platform stood a white‑silhouetted figure, tall and slender, its robes fluttering in the extreme cold airflow.

Her back faced the direction of the Star Chariot formation, frost‑white hair cascading from her shoulders, the icy‑blue gradient shimmering under the lights like a frozen waterfall.

She simply stood there.

No movement at all.

Yet Yan Qing felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up one by one.

The Star Chariot was still at least a hundred yards from that ice platform, but the cold emanating from Jing Liu had already penetrated the hull, like an ice needle, steady on each person's throat.

"That must be the former Sword Leader of Luofu…" Yan Qing said, his voice light as if fearing a heavy word would disturb something.

Xue Yi offered no comment.

She merely loosened the lock chain from her sleeve by half an inch, the metal links clinking.

Then she stared at Jing Liu's silhouette, her lips pressed into a straight line.

Instinct told her the figure ahead was an extremely dangerous presence, dangerous enough that even her agile body began to raise its guard automatically.

Fu Xuan rose from the main seat.

Her figure on the bridge seemed especially petite, the heel of her shoe striking the floor with a crisp sound.

She quickly walked to near the forward window, and the golden light in the Divination Eye on her forehead was a bit brighter than before.

Watching Jing Liu's back, she fell silent for two seconds, then turned her head and gave an order to the communications console.