483: The greater the risk, the higher the return.

Yao Delong, however, no longer gave her any room to hesitate or retreat!

Just as the lingering echoes of that seemingly rejecting 'No' had yet to fade!

With one step, he shattered the ice shards covering the hall! Inside his body, which was as vast and imposing as an ancient sacred mountain, the phantom of a strange wheel, illuminated by the glow of Chaos, suddenly manifested behind him!

An indescribable gravitational pull, woven from "Dao" and "Law," erupted with a roar!

This force seemed to trigger a resonance with the homologous Profound Yin Origin imprint within Leng Yuekui!

He ignored the terrifying chill before him, enough to freeze an entire region, and ignored the gaze filled with icicles! Yao Delong stood firm, just three steps away from that green jade dais!

Just three steps away from that pure and aloof Revered Master, who was like a cold moon on a solitary peak, revered and looked up to by countless Disciples...

At this distance, he could clearly see the few strands of hair like icy jade falling over Leng Yuekui's shoulders, and see the almost non-existent stiffness and tension in her ice-sculpted, cold jawline!

He looked deeply, with a gaze that pierced straight into the Soul's Origin, into the depths of Leng Yuekui's suddenly constricted, icy pupils!

His voice was low, carrying an unprecedented power of penetration, mixed with a questioning that was almost gentle yet lethally peeled away all the ice shells of her self-deception:

"Revered Master..."

"The first two times..."

"Once to fulfill my wish, and once to pass on techniques and protect my Dao..."

"You said it was responsibility."

His gaze seemed to traverse mountains and rivers frozen for eons, branding itself directly onto her wavering core!

"This time..."

"Your Disciple risks death to ask..."

"Setting aside 'responsibility,' ignoring 'identity,' was it only for me... Yao Delong... that a ripple was stirred in your 'heart's lake'?"

There was no anger, no pleading, no questioning.

There was only a calm that was palpitating... piercing through to the truth!

Those eyes were like two burning suns, reflecting the solitary ice peak within her heart... which had long since cracked in its deepest, unobserved depths, creating fissures that could never be mended!

What was flowing in those cracks?! Only she herself knew...

Rumble—!

It was as if an iceberg had collapsed deep within her Sea of Consciousness!

The memories, layered with Seals, belonging to the depths of the dark Secret Chamber in Luoxia Valley—the sensation of a scorching, muscular chest; the strange fusion of tyrannical Chaos light invading and melting through her body; the moment when she was cast to the peak, causing her Divine Soul to collapse and lose control... were like a fierce tornado, completely engulfing the rational ice dam she had struggled to build!

"Enough!"

A slightly hoarse syllable, filled with complex emotions, burst from Leng Yuekui's mouth!

It was not rage!

It was a... sudden decision made after the Chaos and struggle of being on the verge of collapse!

She waved her fair hand sharply into the Void Realm!

Hum—!!! A silent, mighty power descended! The entire massive and towering palace atop Luoxia Peak was suddenly completely enveloped by a deep blue barrier, emanating boundless, heavy cold breath, with billions of twinkling ice fragments flashing inside! The light instantly dimmed like an eternal night! The interior and exterior spaces were forcibly isolated!

Leng Yuekui stood up abruptly!

Her moon-white Dao robe with cloud and crane patterns fluttered without wind!

She stepped off the green jade dais, her figure moving like a teleportation, and arrived within three feet of Yao Delong!

A pair of Phoenix eyes, burning like icy spirits, stared fixedly at him!

Her jade finger pointed into the air!

"Follow me!" The voice was short and sharp!

The two figures vanished from the spot instantly!

Deep within Sunset Glow Hall! That Secret Chamber, inscribed with countless runes to stabilize space and isolate perception, cold and silent as ten-thousand-year black jade—the very place of their past "wish fulfillment" and "Dual Cultivation technique transfer"!

Cold air lingered incessantly above the cold jade bed!

Two figures with distinct auras suddenly materialized!

Leng Yuekui stood with her back to Yao Delong, her shoulders and back still straight and isolated like a cold blade, but the slight rise and fall of her silhouette betrayed the waves in her heart at this moment!

Her cold voice seemed to pierce through layers of cold jade, carrying a trace of imperceptible hoarseness and final compromise:

"...This matter... ends with your heart and mine!"

She paused for a moment, seemingly trying her best to steady the calm beneath her crumbling Dao Heart:

"The Dual Cultivation secret technique... is only to break through barriers and verify the Dao!"

"...Do not... let delusions gather dust!"

Only to break through barriers and verify the Dao!

Yao Delong curled the corners of his mouth into an arc that no one could see.

He took a deep breath, and the unique scent of coldness and hidden fragrance in the room instantly filled his lungs!

That was the unique, maddeningly intoxicating "cold and pure" scent that belonged to Leng Yuekui!

Oh Revered Master, Revered Master... You can deceive the people of the world... but you cannot deceive this body that has long since been branded with each other's imprints!

This time... your Disciple will let you know... what it truly means to... melt through an ice heart!

"Your Disciple will strictly obey Revered Master's decree!" He replied respectfully, but his figure had already suddenly closed in like an ancient Vicious Beast ready to strike!

His arms were like cast iron! Without a word, he wrapped them around that supple, narrow waist, filled with cold and sacred power, from behind!

A thick, scorching aura, like that of Purgatory Divine Copper, arrived with a roar, without reservation!

"Ah?!" Leng Yuekui was caught off guard by the attack, and her cold exclamation had barely escaped her lips before it was completely drowned out by the scorching, vigorous, and intense Yang Qi from behind!

It was more than a thousand times more tyrannical and domineering than last time?! The silent Profound Yin Origin within her body was like an iceberg thrown into the core of molten lava, erupting with an unimaginably craving force!

Rip!

That invaluable moon-white Dao robe with cloud and crane patterns, under the scorching Divine Power of Yao Delong that could melt gold, shattered inch by inch like tattered cloth!

It transformed into flying cloud-like ice butterflies filling the sky!

The clear light swayed!

A flawless bare back, with skin like icy jade and bones like jade, white as the first snow of the ages, yet instantly flushing with a heart-stopping rouge hue upon exposure to the air, was revealed in a stunning display!

"Yao Delong! You are presumptuous... Mmph, mmph..."

Leng Yuekui, filled with shame and anger, was about to circulate her Void Refining power to punish him, but was suddenly pulled by that powerful arm. In a dizzying spin, she was slammed down onto the cold jade bed!

A palm, scorching like it was forged from Purgatory Divine Copper, savagely pressed down on the wrists she tried to use to resist! The burning temperature almost branded itself into the depths of her Divine Soul!

Even more, a domineering and peerless scorching Yang Qi, carrying the mark of Chaos light, instantly broke through all her defenses! Following her lips, following the skin of her pressed-together chests...

"Mmph..." A muffled groan, suppressing extreme pain and an unfamiliar tremor, was tightly confined between Leng Yuekui's lips and teeth!

On her usually cold and aloof face, the last shred of reason completely collapsed!

Her cheeks instantly flushed with a stunning crimson color, and her eyes were completely swallowed by the surging, hazy mist of water!

The will of coldness and burning heat! The Dao Heart from the peak of a solitary mountain meeting the Divine Power of the earth's molten prison!

Under the guidance of the System and ancient secret techniques, and amidst the craving that had long been carved into their marrow, they began an intensity several times greater than before~!!

Who knows how many tides came and went!

Who knows how many times the sky tilted and the sea overturned!

Finally! When that notification sound, carrying the great power of the System, exploded deep within their intertwined Divine Souls!

[Ding! Resonance with target Leng Yuekui's dao rhyme completed! Perfect fit! Absorbed a massive amount of pure Profound Yin Origin power! yin yang points +130! Current freely distributable yin-yang value: 290 points!]