The Confluence of Ice and Fire

All gazes were intently fixed upon the arena’s projection in Zone 1.

That layer of enigmatic blue flame, swirling around Ji Xue and defying all conventional understanding, was more than just a shift in color and temperature; it seemed to pulsate with a life of its own.

With each silent, mesmerizing sway, rings of palpable cold radiated outwards.

In its wake, even the purple mist conjured by Hu Lan was instantly frozen, then shattered, dissolving into shimmering ice dust that drifted softly to the ground.

Upon the elevated stage, Ji Xue stood poised and still, enveloped within the heart of that otherworldly blue glow.

‘Finally… it is complete!’

For over a month, her efforts had not solely been concentrated on reclaiming Lin Mo from Liu Ruyan.

She had also diligently worked to refine the Profound Yin Qi that Lin Mo had bestowed upon her that fateful night.

An ineffable realization exploded within Ji Xue’s heart, burning more intensely than the flames coursing through her veins, yet simultaneously imbued with the profound, crystalline chill of ice.

Propelled by the domineering and peerless power of the Nine Heavens Phoenix Flame Art‘s fire seed, and crucially, aided by the pure and boundless Profound Yin Qi gifted by Lin Mo, the ultimate fusion was now complete.

During the days following her return to the Xuan Nv Sect, Pavilion Master Xian Chengyue had ceaselessly delved into the anomalous shifts within her spiritual power.

Confronted with this peculiar state—where ice and fire, though inherently antagonistic, sprang from a shared origin and coexisted—even Pavilion Master Xian Chengyue had been unable to devise a method that would allow them to fully merge without damaging the core.

Any forceful attempt at separation or suppression would prove futile; the two powers were inextricably intertwined, much like twin trees sharing a single root system.

Their roots were profoundly entangled, while their branches perpetually clashed, each vying for vital nutrients.

This impasse could only be broken from within.

Should these twin trees manage to stand tall and reach for the heavens together…

This would not be a mere combination, but a true nirvana!

A wholly new and unprecedented form had astonishingly emerged from the depths of her spiritual sea.

She distinctly ‘saw’ that within her dantian, the vast golden sea of fire no longer held a turbulent core of molten lava.

Instead, its heart had transformed into a profound, serene, yet infinitely destructive, deep blue fire seed.

This particular fire seed, encased as if within the heart of an ancient glacier, glowed with a faint, eerie light, emanating an extreme cold capable of withering all creation.

This deep blue represented an inverted form of flame, the ultimate power born from the extreme refinement of Profound Yin Qi.

It was the antithesis of searing heat, a force that froze the very essence of life and brought all things to a standstill.

Miraculously, this deep blue fire seed was not isolated.

Suspended at the heart of the fiery sea, countless crystalline ice veins radiated outwards from its core, akin to the intricate root system of a tree, delving deep into the once-blazing golden flames.

No longer were the golden-red and enigmatic blue distinctly separate entities.

Instead, they intertwined, each containing a part of the other, forging an unprecedented, self-sustaining, and perfectly cyclical equilibrium!

Spiritual Endowment: The Confluence of Ice and Fire!

Only at this precise moment could Ji Xue truly be said to have ascended to the Foundation Establishment stage.

A torrent of spiritual power, far mightier, purer, and more responsive than anything she had commanded before, instantly surged through her entire being.

The protective qi enveloping her body abruptly surged several feet outwards, and the chilling aura intensified tenfold!

The ground beneath her, along with the lingering vestiges of purple miasma, was instantly encased in a layer of profound, solid ice, easily a meter thick.

Ji Xue subtly raised her eyelids.

Deep within her phoenix eyes, golden-red and enigmatic blue light swirled with breathtaking speed, ultimately coalescing into an unparalleled majesty that seemed to disregard the heavens and earth, gazing down upon all living things.

Without any conscious effort, an aura of nobility and formidable power, stemming from the very depths of her soul and her royal bloodline, unfurled.

It was amplified by the stable essence of her Foundation Establishment realm and the nascent, dual nature of ice and fire.

“Pffft—!”

Her face flushed crimson, a sudden sweetness blooming in her throat.

She found herself forcibly spitting out a mouthful of blood, crushed by the unseen pressure.

Her body reeled back three steps, each one carving distinct cracks into the solid ice, leaving her utterly disheveled and vulnerable.

The sheer shock in her eyes had completely morphed into abject terror.

The hand clutching her blade trembled violently, and the sensation… it was akin to a lowly sparrow unwittingly rousing a slumbering phoenix!

Ji Xue’s form before her seemed to stretch infinitely tall, imbued with frigid flames that sent shivers through Hu Lan’s very soul.

“No—impossible! You’re cheating! You’ve resorted to dark arts!”

Hu Lan’s voice shrieked, sharp and grating, laced with hysterical madness.

“What demonic flame is this?! This is absolutely not the Nine Heavens Phoenix Flame Art! How could a royal cultivation technique possess such malevolent energy?!”

“Malevolent energy?” Ji Xue finally spoke, her voice clear and distant, like the cry of a phoenix emerging from ten thousand years of ice, resonating distinctly across the silent training grounds.

“A frog in a shallow well cannot fathom the height of the nine heavens; a summer insect cannot speak of ice, nor comprehend the boundless expanse of the ocean. This, Hu Lan, is simply another manifestation of the Nine Heavens Phoenix Flame Art.”

‘It is merely—’

‘A new form, brought forth by my husband and child.’

A faint smile touched her lips inwardly as she slowly raised a single finger.

There was no earth-shattering display of power, no intricate or complex movements.

She simply raised a finger.

Upon its tip, no scorching heat warped the air.

Instead, a delicate yet utterly condensed, deep blue flame flickered.

This tiny ember danced, radiating an absolute chill potent enough to freeze the very soul!

“Go.”

That wisp of enigmatic blue flame, akin to a soul-lantern drifting from the abyssal depths of the Nine Nethers, moved without a sound.

Yet, it carried an awe-inspiring majesty capable of freezing time and space as it slowly, inexorably drifted towards Hu Lan.

Its pace was anything but swift; indeed, it could be described as ponderously slow.

Yet, Hu Lan felt herself utterly ensnared by an invisible, terrifyingly potent field of frigid power.

Her very blood, her surging spiritual energy, and even her conscious thoughts seemed on the verge of freezing solid.

She yearned to scream, to teleport away, to unleash her most potent defensive spell…

But every nascent thought was instantly arrested, frozen solid within her sea of consciousness by the omnipresent, extreme cold.

Powerless, she could only watch as the blue flame, a harbinger of inevitable demise, drifted closer, inch by agonizing inch.

“No—!!!”

“Block it! Block it, damn it!”

Faced with the precipice of life and death, Hu Lan erupted with a primal, beast-like instinct for survival.

Forcibly biting the tip of her tongue, she spat a mouthful of vital blood onto the curved blade at her waist.

The curved blade instantly erupted with a blinding, greenish-black radiance, surging against the wind to transform into a colossal, ghastly shield, greenish-black and covered in ancient runes, that now stood formidable before her.

This was her ultimate life-saving trump card: a formidable magical artifact, fueled by her vital blood, boasting exceptionally strong defenses.

“Boom!!!”

That seemingly minuscule wisp of blue flame finally made contact with the surface of the greenish-black shield.

The earth-shattering explosion she anticipated never materialized.

The greenish-black radiance, upon the very instant of touching the enigmatic blue flame, solidified and extinguished.

Immediately, the thick shield, as if crafted from fragile glass colliding with diamond, emitted a crisp yet utterly despairing ‘crack’ sound.

Deep blue fissures, visible to the naked eye, erupted from the point of contact and rapidly spread outwards like an intricate spiderweb.

In the mere span of a single breath!

That ghastly shield, which had consumed Hu Lan’s vital blood and was potent enough to withstand a full-force strike from a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator, exploded with a deafening roar into countless fragments.

It shattered like an ice sculpture struck by an invisible giant hammer, all under Ji Xue’s gaze, which was as indifferent as snow, and amidst the terrifying, pin-drop silence that had fallen over the entire arena.

The fragments, before they could even scatter, were instantly frozen into fine dust by the pervasive, absolute sub-zero temperature in the air, dissipating without a trace.

With the shield’s obstruction gone, the wisp of enigmatic blue flame finally drifted unimpeded before Hu Lan.

Hu Lan’s pupils contracted to pinpricks, reflecting the flame that seemed capable of freezing the very soul.

She wanted to scream, but no sound escaped her throat.

Her spiritual energy, her blood, indeed, her very life force, were rapidly freezing.

The next second, that wisp of blue flame gently pressed against her forehead.

There was no crackling sound of fire burning.

Only a thick layer of profound ice, shimmering with an enigmatic blue light, began to spread from Hu Lan’s forehead.

Like the most virulent plague, it instantly surged outwards, creeping across her cheeks, her neck, covering her arms, her torso, her legs—

“End!”

The host abruptly ascended the stage, a sweep of their sleeve rescuing Hu Lan just as she was about to be completely encased in ice.

“I announce that in the first round, Ji Xue is victorious!”

It was over.

Only a deathly silence remained in the training grounds.

The wind swept through, yet it carried not a hint of warmth, only a bone-deep chill.

Ji Xue softly flicked her sleeve.

The thick profound ice that had covered half the arena instantly transformed into the finest crystalline dust.

Like delicate blue snow, it silently dissipated into the air, leaving not a single trace.

The arena in Yi-Domain, Zone 1 was once again pristine.

Only Ji Xue, clad in her luxurious palace attire, stood alone at the center of the stage.

The enigmatic blue flames around her slowly receded, eventually coalescing into a faint, almost imperceptible pale blue halo that encircled her, accentuating her noble and unparalleled figure.

She subtly lifted her head, her icy gaze slowly sweeping across the silent audience.

Ultimately, her gaze seemed to pierce through the dense crowd, landing precisely on a seated figure on the high platform—the position belonging to Nangong Xuan.

That single look, devoid of words, was sharper than any overt provocation.

It brimmed with unspoken messages: disdain, condescension, a declaration of war, and an announcement—that Ji Xue’s era had begun!

Let the world observe with cold eyes, or plot in shadows; that inconspicuous sparrow had utterly broken free from its cage, transforming into a soaring fire phoenix!

And this mysterious flame was the undeniable proof.

Now, this flame bore a new name: Moxue.

The name of her and her child.