Chapter 989: Emergence

Yao Guang didn't show this worry on his face, only gave a light "hm", then continued walking forward.

The surrounding branches grew thicker, and in some places the raised burls resembled half a human face, dark‑red light seeping from those patterns, casting the path in vague shadows.

Qingque lowered her head to count the flower branches in her hand, just as she was about to speak, she suddenly shivered all over.

The chill came without warning, like someone had slipped a handful of crushed ice into the back of her collar, sliding down her spine.

She couldn't help but hug her arm with her free hand, palm pressed against the bicep, knuckles tucked into the cuff.

"Boss Yao, do you feel that sudden cold?" Qingque said, her voice tinged with a tight tremor.

Yao Guang raised an eyebrow slightly at her words, his gaze sweeping around.

The dark‑red branches intertwined silently, the red mist still rose slowly, without a single breeze.

She shook her head, saying, "I don't feel anything. Are you really that cold?"

Qingque hugged herself tighter, rubbing her upper arm.

The chill came fast and left fast, like tide washing over the backs of her feet then receding.

She released her arm, looking puzzled: "Eh, it's warm again. It was just a moment ago, like someone blew on the back of my neck, very strange."

Yao Guang extended his hand, gently tapping Qingque's forehead with the back of his hand.

His fingertips were slightly cool, resting on Qingque's skin for two seconds, then sliding to her cheek.

Qingque stiffened at the gesture, her eyes widened, and the area behind her ears heated up.

Yao Guang withdrew his hand, expression unchanged: "Skin temperature is normal, no heat. Nothing else abnormal on your body."

Qingque scratched her head, pulling a few gray‑white strands from the flower branches, moving a bit clumsily.

She gave a dry laugh: "Maybe this place has sudden cold and hot drafts, scared me, made me think I'd turn into a popsicle."

Yao Guang didn't ask further, just kept the matter silently in his mind.

She stepped forward again, the hem of her long skirt brushing the branch surface, a few thin veils fluttered lightly in the red mist.

Qingque followed, the small handful of flower branches in her hand swaying with her movement, a few broken leaves slipped through her fingers, drifting down into the abyss below.

Above Luofu, Fu Xuan still stood at the edge of the Star Chariot.

She stared at the ice plain below, which had returned to silence, her brows furrowing tighter.

Jing Liu's heavenly‑punishment‑like ice blade fell, the whole area refroze, the Bubbles that had been drifting in the sky seemed paused, each encased in thick frost, hanging in midair.

Moonlight shone down, the ice surface smooth as a mirror, all cracks filled by new ice; from afar it truly looked as if everything had returned to the way it was.

Yet Fu Xuan felt no hint of reassurance in her heart.

That breath rising from beneath the ice was too strong.

"Jing Liu." Fu Xuan lowered her voice, walking toward the bow.

She was about to say more, but her gaze first landed on Jing Liu's profile, the rest of the words stuck in her throat.

Jing Liu still wore a black Eye Mask, but the lower half of her face was drawn tight, her mouth a straight line.

Her hand rested on the Ice Sword's hilt, knuckles turning bluish‑white from the strain, tiny frost patterns crawling up her forearm from the hilt.

This heaviness differed completely from the calm before she drew the sword, resembling a hunter sensing the earthy scent before a storm.

Fu Xuan hadn't read more from her expression when a breath suddenly came from deep within the ice below.

The breath wasn't fierce, even a bit warm, as if an eye in the deep sea were slowly opening.

Fu Xuan felt her Divination Eye at the brow twitch sharply, the moon in her view wobbling.

She instinctively stepped back half a pace.

The ice surface beneath the Star Chariot began to tremble subtly.

Immediately, the frozen Bubbles lit up again!

At first only one or two, the white bubble walls emitted a faint blue glow, like waking from a long slumber.

Then the light seemed contagious, bubble after bubble lit up in succession, starting directly beneath the Star Chariot, spreading rapidly outward.

The Bubbles beneath the ice quivered gently under the frost shell, their soft bodies striking the ice wall from within.

Fu Xuan saw the nearest cluster of Bubbles suddenly expand, cracking the outer ice shell.

The cracks, fine as spiderwebs, spread across the whole ice surface in an instant.

The Bubbles didn't burst; instead they squeezed out through the cracks, shedding a thin golden light film.

The light film touched the surrounding ice, which instantly became transparent and softened, swelling new Bubbles.

The ice plains seemed subjected to an ultra‑efficient transmutation, melting and reshaping at a visible speed, turning into a sea of Bubbles that covered everything.

"That sword just now was useless...." Fu Xuan whispered, her voice spiraling in the wind.

She watched the Bubble sea expand continuously, her heart sinking instantly into a abyss.

Jing Liu's complexion grew even colder.

She slowly drew the Ice Sword, its frost‑white blade reflecting the swirling azure light below.

The sword seemed to hum, its tip trembling, shedding a few ultra‑thin frost petals.

She didn't draw the sword again, merely gazing at the ever‑rising Bubble sea, her lips forming a cold, hard curve.

"These things are devouring the freeze."

Jing Liu spoke, "There are more now than before; it has been waiting down there for a long time."

Fu Xuan clenched her teeth, turning to look toward Yan Qing.

The Cloud Cavalry had reformed their formation, several escort Star Chariots hovered in formation on both sides.

Yan Qing ran over holding a tablet, his complexion whiter than moonlight: "General, the concentration is still rising! Moreover, this time it's not emanating from the ice layer; the Bubbles themselves are emitting energy, turning the whole area into a source of contamination!"

Fu Xuan took the tablet; the exact figures were illegible, the red area nearly burning through the screen.

She inhaled deeply, handed the tablet back, and looked toward the distance.

The Bubble ocean kept expanding, the azure light surging, tinting half the night sky with a murky warm hue.

The light reflected on Fu Xuan's face, as if adding an inescapable gloom to her already solemn expression.

"Withdraw all Cloud Cavalry."

Fu Xuan's voice steadied over the wind, "Double the sealed area, have the Heavenly Ship Office respond on the perimeter, this thing is growing outward; it must not touch any other region!"

Before she finished speaking, a cracking ice sound suddenly came from below.

Everyone on the Star Chariot froze, and even the wind politely paused for a moment.

Immediately after, a second thunderous blast erupted; the ice surface rose high at the center, countless shards of ice shooting into the air like exploding glass, then fluttering down.

A crack surged from the apex of the bulge toward both sides, extending wildly into a bottomless depth, emitting a deep cyan glow so intense it was almost black.

Jing Liu stood at the bow, gripping the Ice Sword, their face beneath the black Eye Mask looking as if frozen by frost.

She had seen too much, but this time, even the breath leaking from the crack made her shiver slightly, as if some ancient presence were slowly raising its head from the earth.

Deep within the crack, the first thing to rise was Bubbles.

Countless azure Bubbles surged up from beneath the ice, not scattering but orderly converging upward, coalescing above the crack into a slowly rotating mist of light.

The center of the light mist suddenly collapsed silently, as if someone had crushed a heart within that sphere of light.

All the Bubbles simultaneously converged on the center, then in an instant burst into shards of light scattering across the sky.

The fragmented light did not fall to the ground; instead, it seemed drawn back, folding inward together, winding into an intensely bright cocoon of light.

When the light cocoon burst, there was no thunderous roar as expected.

The world, on the contrary, fell silent.

A maiden's silhouette emerged from the light cocoon.