Chapter 961: Heavenly Cold Venerable

Realm of Practicing the Dao!

After Yan Buji's recuperation was mostly complete, the laws flowing within his essence intertwined, and they resonated with the Extreme Desire Path carried by the primordial essence. Now Yan Buji's cultivation is complete; he has comprehended the principle of the Great Dao, using essence law to command the Extreme Desire Path, and thereafter controlling other Dao laws is easy.

Soon after.

Yan Buji's figure moved soundlessly across the snowy plain; his cultivation in the Realm of Practicing the Dao let him merge with the chill between heaven and earth, even the white breath he exhaled dissipated into nothing.

The Three Holy Envoys' search continued, but Yan Buji was no longer the sorry fleeing prey. He stood on an ice hill, his ashen-gray eyes reflecting the direction of the Heavenly Cold Palace in the distance.

"One hundred thousand years..." he murmured softly, and in a nearby market he found some secrets about the founding palace master of the Heavenly Cold Palace, the Heavenly Cold Venerable.

The Heavenly Cold Venerable had once participated in an earth-shaking battle a hundred thousand years ago, after which he vanished without a trace.

And what concerned Yan Buji most was the vague record in the rumors: "Heavenly Cold does not die, it merely slumbers..."

"Eternal sleep?" Yan Buji let out a cold laugh.

Who could plot the path to sainthood be an ordinary person?

He flashed his figure and rushed toward the most dangerous forbidden zone of the Northern River Ice Territory, the Ancient Cultivators' Battlefield—the site of that battle a hundred thousand years ago.

Although Yan Buji did not hope to find any clues there, what if?

The moment he stepped onto the battlefield, the bone-chilling cold intensified suddenly.

The ice layers here took on an eerie dark red, as if soaked in blood and frozen. The free spiritual power in the air raged in chaotic turmoil, and spatial rifts flickered into view from time to time.

Yan Buji proceeded cautiously; his cultivation in the Realm of Practicing the Dao allowed him to barely withstand this place's spatial turbulence.

Suddenly, he stopped; before him on the ice was thrust an ancient sword mottled with rust, its blade inscribed with two obscure ancient seal characters: "Slay Cold."

"This sword..." Yan Buji narrowed his eyes; it was clearly a treasure sword forged specifically against the Heavenly Cold Cultivation Method, apparently made by ancient sword cultivators condensing their own sword Dao principles into a sword pill, making it a kind of alternative magical treasure.

He reached out to touch the hilt, and a fragmentary scene suddenly surged into his mind:

Amidst swirling wind and snow, several figures surrounded a white-robed man; with a raise of his hand he froze a thousand li, and indeed it was the likeness of the Heavenly Cold Venerable!

The sword-wielder roared, "To exterminate this demon for the sake of all beings!" but was pierced through the chest by a bolt of black light...

The scene cut off abruptly. Yan Buji withdrew his hand, lost in thought.

"A demon? It seems this Heavenly Cold Venerable was no saint back then..."

Going deeper, the sight at the battlefield's center made Yan Buji's pupils contract—a hundred-zhang-tall ice crystal coffin stood upon the blood-red ice plain, its surface wrapped in dense black chains, each chain engraved with sealing sigils.

And even more astonishing, the coffin was empty.

"As expected..." Yan Buji gave a cold laugh.

The Heavenly Cold Venerable was not merely in seclusion; he was sealed here by an ancient mighty being. Now that the coffin has opened, it means the seal has been broken.

"It seems this Heavenly Cold Venerable's origin is even older than I imagined; however, even a Great Vehicle Stage cultivator living twelve million nine thousand six hundred years would be nearing his limit, and there were reports a hundred thousand years ago of him dominating the Northern River, plus his cultivation...."

Doesn't that mean the Heavenly Cold Venerable has lived at least two eras?

Could he have taken some longevity-extending precious medicine?

He carefully examined the coffin's interior and discovered a palm-sized black ice crystal in a corner.

This ice crystal was exactly like the one he had seen in the branch hall of the Dawn-Dusk Hall, except its aura was far older and purer.

"Now I understand..." Yan Buji suddenly realized.

The Heavenly Cold Venerable had been sealed for who knows how many years; his flesh had long rotted, yet he had entrusted his primordial spirit to this lump of primordial profound ice.

Now he has seized a body and been reborn, acting as the current palace master of the Heavenly Cold Palace, secretly gathering cultivators' essence blood and souls, attempting to restore his peak strength and assault the Holy Realm.

"No wonder they cultivated the Three Holy Envoys..." Yan Buji's eyes flashed with sharp light.

The Heavenly Cold Venerable needs three different ice-attribute Dao bodies as vessels; combining the strokes seen earlier, perhaps he aims to ultimately unify the Three Holy into one, achieving a perfect holy body.

Suddenly, he turned his head sharply; three familiar fluctuations of spiritual power were rapidly approaching!

"Ingrates won't disperse..." Yan Buji let out a cold snort and turned to flee.

His figure flickered in and out of the howling wind and snow; his cultivation in the Realm of Practicing the Dao let him perfectly blend into this icy world.

Each of Yan Buji's steps fell as if upon emptiness, leaving no trace. Beyond a hundred li behind him, the Three Holy Envoys' spiritual power fluctuations still raged in their search, but Yan Buji was no longer the panicked fleeing prey.

Even if he could not defeat three Union Dao Stage cultivators working together, evasion was never a problem.

"We must find a safe place..."

He scanned his surroundings and finally fixed on a distant, inconspicuous iceberg. Though the mountain seemed ordinary, with his Realm of Practicing the Dao perception he could sense that its interior was hollow, and inside lay a naturally formed ice cave.

"That's the place."

He flicked his form, turning into a wisp of gray mist that drifted toward the iceberg.

Upon nearing the mountain, he did not rush in directly; instead, he carefully circled it three times, confirming no tracking traces, before slipping into a narrow ice fissure.

The space inside the mountain was more spacious than imagined, the dome hung with crystal-clear ice spikes, the floor laid with a layer of fine ice crystals. Most remarkably, at the center lay a pool of unfrozen deep blue spring water, its surface drifting with faint spiritual qi.

"Mystic Ice Spiritual Spring?" Yan Buji's eyes lit up.

This spiritual spring not only contains incomparably pure ice-attribute spiritual power, but also has astonishing efficacy in healing wounds. More crucially, the spiritual power field naturally formed around the spring can perfectly conceal one's aura, undoubtedly providing an excellent environment for treatment.

Yan Buji knew the place's preciousness; he dared not delay, swiftly laying threefold seals at the cave mouth to ensure his safety and uninterrupted healing. Once everything was set, he let out a slight sigh of relief, then sat steadily beside the spring and began to calmly cultivate to heal his wounds.

As he regulated his breath, the spiritual power in the spring seemed to respond to a summons, gathering on its own like a thin stream that wrapped around him. These spiritual powers gradually coalesced into a layer of blue light cocoon, tightly enveloping Yan Buji.

Under the nourishment of that blue light cocoon, the ferocious horrible wound on Yan Buji's chest began to heal at a visible speed; the deep bone-exposed wound quickly grew new flesh, and even the deepest cold poison was gradually drawn out by the powerful spiritual power.