60: Chapter 60 Even when running away, one must uphold martial ethics

Bai Lian leaned in the crook of his arm, her body no longer trembling. Those eyes, which had regained their luster but were now filled with endless, complex emotions, were staring straight at him with a profound fear and anger that Lin Yun had never seen before.

That gaze seemed to want to peel back his golden pupils and see through the rotting core within.

Her gaze slowly drifted downward, landing on her own empty right hand.

Her fingertips still retained the cold touch of the soul sound bell, yet nothing remained there but a void.

Fragments of memory, like a bursting flood, washed away ten thousand years of deathly silence. Those days and nights of being controlled, the humiliation of being an exquisite marionette, every killing command she had numbly executed for the man before her... it turned out it wasn't loyalty, but shackles.

"Hah..."

A broken sound, like rusty iron sheets rubbing together, squeezed from her throat.

Lin Yun held her, his brows locked in a frown, his internal spiritual power surging quietly as he attempted to re-establish that fragile connection:

"Bai Lian, calm down. Your Divine Soul has just been freed from interference and is not yet stable..."

"Stable?"

Bai Lian suddenly laughed. The smile was twisted; her face, like a ten-thousand-year-old iceberg, cracked open with a hideous fissure,

"So it was you... Lin Yun."

She enunciated each word, every one of them laced with poison,

"You have been using the Heavenly Dao Contract to control me, treating me as your Puppet, your... stepping stone!"

She practically shrieked the last two words.

The resentment and anger of being toyed with, accumulated over ten thousand years, found an outlet to pour out at this moment.

Lin Yun's expression sank completely. The last trace of feigned gentleness in his golden pupils vanished, leaving only cold calculation and impatience.

"Recognizing reality is a good thing, Bai Lian. But some things are better left unknown."

Golden light flickered at his fingertips as he prepared to forcibly suppress her rampaging Divine Soul.

But Bai Lian was faster than him.

Or rather, faster than anyone.

She did not give anyone time to react, including Shen Xiao.

In those eyes, which had always been hollow and lifeless, a frantic flame of mutual destruction was now burning.

"Let's... die together!"

She suddenly raised both hands, not striking at Lin Yun, nor at Shen Xiao, but slamming a palm fiercely onto her own Dantian and Qi Sea!

"Pfft!"

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a dull, terrifying sound of flesh and Spiritual Root being shattered simultaneously.

Bai Lian's body arched violently, like a bow drawn to its limit.

With her Dantian as the center, countless glaring blood-red cracks instantly crawled over her skin, as if an exquisite piece of porcelain were shattering from within.

A chaotic, violent, destructive aura, enough to make space itself twist, erupted from within her like a volcano that had been suppressed for ten thousand years!

"She's going to detonate her Golden Core! No, she's detonating it along with her Nascent Soul and the broken Heavenly Dao Contract!"

Shen Xiao's pupils constricted sharply, and he roared hoarsely.

This woman was insane!

She didn't care at all if she could kill Lin Yun; she only wanted to drag this entire area, along with the "Karma" that controlled her and the secrets she knew, into the abyss of destruction!

"Go!"

Shen Xiao had no time to think; his body moved faster than his consciousness.

He grabbed Xia Lengbai's wrist, used the last of his remaining strength, and dove and rolled toward a narrow, naturally formed crevice covered in shadows beneath the ice cliff!

Xia Lengbai felt a burning, sharp pain in her wrist and an irresistible pulling force. The world spun around her, and in her ears were Shen Xiao's suppressed groans and the ear-piercing sound of ice rocks shattering.

Lin Yun's reaction was equally swift.

The moment Bai Lian's palm struck her Dantian, for the first time, an emotion called "shock and fury" appeared on his face.

A golden shield carved with complex demonic patterns instantly coalesced and expanded before him, while he retreated violently, attempting to put distance between them.

But Bai Lian's self-detonation ultimately did not fully go as planned.

The Heavenly Dao Contract deep in her bones, branded onto her Soul and the core of her Dantian, exerted a terrifying restrictive force at the final moment.

Like a beast whose neck was being forcibly strangled, the destructive power about to erupt was forcibly suppressed by more than half, only blowing a terrifying bloody hole in her Dantian.

Yet, even half the power was enough.

"BOOM!!!"

A deafening roar that could not be described in words finally exploded, followed by a shockwave that swept through everything.

At the location where Bai Lian had been, a terrifying ball of light exploded, mixed with fragments of flesh, golden contract shards, pitch-black Soul residue, and chaotic Qi.

The ball of light expanded, and wherever it passed, the ten-thousand-year-old black ice melted and evaporated like foam in the sun.

The entire ice cliff above, under the impact of this destructive force originating from within, groaned under the unbearable strain.

"Crack... rumble!"

The massive ice cliff, stretching for hundreds of zhang, began to crack and collapse from its base.

Countless massive black ice boulders, sharp-edged and the size of houses, carrying ten thousand tons of snow and ice dust, crashed down like the sky collapsing!

Dust and smoke shot into the sky, instantly swallowing the light of the golden shield Lin Yun had conjured, and completely cutting off the figures of Shen Xiao and Xia Lengbai as they tumbled down.

The world seemed to be split in two.

One half was the apocalyptic roar of falling boulders and swirling ice dust storms; the other half was the weightlessness and darkness brought by their rapid fall.

Shen Xiao felt his back slam hard against the hard ice wall, the sharp edges pressing into him until his bones felt like they were about to break.

Immediately after, Xia Lengbai's body slammed heavily onto his chest, causing his vision to go black and the taste of blood to rise in his throat.

Before he could even catch his breath, a teeth-grinding cracking sound came from above. An ice rock larger than a millstone whistled down, precisely—or perhaps unluckily—crashing onto his left leg!

"Argh!"

Shen Xiao let out a short, pained roar.

The moment the ice rock crashed down, he clearly heard the "crack" of his leg bone shattering.

Intense pain, like high-voltage electricity, shot from his left leg through his entire body, instantly draining the little strength he had left.

What was even more terrifying was that the wound previously temporarily sealed by the coagulating grass had burst open again under this violent impact. Black blood, mixed with the scorched marks of the Burning Heaven Pill Fire, gushed out, quickly soaking through his torn pant leg and spreading into a small, viscous patch of dark red on the cold ice surface beneath him.

The entrance to the Ice Cave was completely sealed off by more falling boulders and solid ice.

Only high above, from a place that might have been a crack or an ice fissure, a faint, almost invisible glimmer of deep blue light filtered in, like the last trace of life in the eyes of a dying person.

Deathly silence.

Apart from the sound of ice dust occasionally falling from above and Shen Xiao's own heavy, blood-scented breathing, there was no other sound.

Lin Yun was shut out, for now.

Xia Lengbai pushed herself up from Shen Xiao's chest, her face paler than the ice wall.

She looked at Shen Xiao's left leg immediately; the gruesome sight made her stomach churn.

Without hesitation, she knelt down, grabbed the edge of the ice rock pressing on his leg with both hands, and channeled her Ice Spiritual Power frantically. Thick frost condensed on her palms to increase friction, and she gritted her teeth, using all her strength to lift it upward.

The ice rock was heavy; her arms trembled, and the veins on her forehead bulged.

"Up...!"

The ice rock was moved slightly.

Shen Xiao took the opportunity to pull out his almost numb left leg.

The wound was exposed to the cold air, and black blood flowed faster. One could even see the bone-white fractured bone shards and the scorched, necrotic muscle tissue inside.

Xia Lengbai immediately tore off a piece of her still-intact sleeve, intending to bandage it for him.

"Don't waste time."

Shen Xiao raised his hand, his cold, blood-stained fingers gripping her wrist.

His voice was extremely hoarse, each word sounding as if it had been ground on sandpaper,

"Lin Yun will find this place soon. Those stones outside won't block him for long."

He caught his breath and looked at her with his pitch-black eyes in the dim light. There was no fear in them, only a near-cold clarity:

"He has one more thing in his hand, something more dangerous than the soul sound bell. We must... leave before he uses it, or be prepared."

Xia Lengbai's movements stopped. Looking at the corners of his mouth, which were twitching due to blood loss and intense pain, her heart felt as if it had been gripped by a cold hand.

More dangerous than the soul sound bell?

What could that be?

Shen Xiao did not explain further.

He let go of her hand and fumbled in his blood-stained bosom to retrieve the soul sound bell he had seized.

The surface of the bronze bell was covered with a thin layer of ice that Xia Lengbai had previously condensed to Seal it, and it glimmered coldly in the darkness.

He channeled the wisp of red-gold Burning Heaven Pill Fire Origin in his Dantian, which was so weak it felt like it could extinguish at any moment, carefully transferring it into his palm to melt the layer of ice.

"Ding..."

A low, suppressed hum, like a sigh, emanated from the bronze bell.

But this time, no ripples of Soul attack spread out.

The humming sound echoed in the cramped Ice Cave, gradually twisting and changing until it actually became a clear human voice. It was a recording of two conversations, sealed within the resonance of the bronze bell by some secret method.

The first segment was a cold, inhuman voice that seemed to be woven from countless threads of rules (Heavenly Dao projection):

"Don't pity that Gravekeeper. She is merely a stepping stone for you to ascend to the Dao. Once you consume her sacrifice, your Demon Emperor Bloodline can fully undergo Awakening. Only then will the 'pawn' on the chessboard truly become a 'general'."

Immediately following was Lin Yun's familiar voice, calm but carrying a trace of imperceptible greed and ruthlessness:

"I understand. Her ten thousand years of cultivation and the 'status' brought by her duties as a Gravekeeper are my best tonic. It's just... the sacrificial process requires completely stripping away her autonomous consciousness; will that cause abnormal reactions from other 'pieces' on the heavenly dao chessboard?"

The Heavenly Dao projection's voice carried a sense of absolute control:

"Abnormality is also a part of the chessboard. The greater the fluctuation, the deeper the Karma, and the sweeter the 'fruit' that is ultimately produced. Go and do it, my... 'Child of Destiny'."

The recording stopped abruptly there.

There was a deathly silence in the Ice Cave.

Xia Lengbai gripped the soul sound bell, which had become dim once again, her fingertips cold.

She understood; every word was like an ice pick stabbing into her heart.

Stepping stone... tonic... piece... fruit.

So she, Nangong Li, Bai Lian, and all the women attracted and plundered by the "Child of Destiny," ultimately meeting tragic ends, were merely fodder destined to be consumed on this cold chessboard.

And Shen Xiao, this cannon fodder who should have been the first to become a stepping stone, now handed the lever to pry open the chessboard into her hands.

Shen Xiao looked at her pale face and slightly trembling hands, pulling at the corners of his mouth in a faint smile mixed with blood and mockery:

"Take it. This is your bargaining chip for the future... to negotiate with Lin Yun, or with that 'Chess Player' high above. It is also your... right to choose."

Xia Lengbai looked up sharply at Shen Xiao.

His complexion had turned ashen, his lips devoid of color; only those eyes, in the dim light, remained astonishingly bright, reflecting her confused and uneasy face.

Choice.

To continue being a pawn, unable to control her own fate, and ultimately sacrificed?

Or... to grasp this lever stained with blood and calculation and try to overturn this damned chessboard?

She stared at him for a long time, so long that Shen Xiao thought she would hesitate, shrink back, or propose some conditions for a deal.

But she did not.

Xia Lengbai suddenly placed the cold soul sound bell gently on Shen Xiao's chest, pressing it close to his blood-stained lapel.

Then, she leaned down and gently pressed her forehead against Shen Xiao's equally cold, blood-stained forehead.

Their nose tips were almost touching.

She could smell the thick scent of blood in his breath and the burnt smell of his scorched skin.

She could also feel, through their skin-to-skin contact, the vitality within him, flickering like a candle in the wind, transmitted through the "Telepathic Symbiosis Technique," as well as the pain of burning heat and icy cold intertwined, brought about by the frantic erosion of the Blood Poison.

"You said just now that I still have a choice."

She spoke, her voice very soft, yet carrying a sense of determination as if cutting off all paths of retreat,

"I have made my choice now."

The choice she did not speak aloud was that she wanted him to live.

Even if it was only to verify the truth within this bronze bell, even if it was only to keep Lin Yun and the Heavenly Dao from getting their way, she wanted this detestable bastard who always used her as a tool to live.

She did not explain, only looked at him deeply, a gaze so complex that Shen Xiao could not fully decipher it for a moment.

Then, she pressed her hands lightly on both sides of Shen Xiao's body, and all the remaining Ice Spiritual Power in her Dantian gushed out without reservation.

It was no longer an attack, no longer a defense, but a kind of ultimate, gentle "cold" that sealed everything.

"Crack... crack, crack, crack..."

The subtle sounds of ice crystals forming merged into one.

With Shen Xiao's body as the center, pure white ice spread, piled up, and thickened as if it had a life of its own.

Starting from his limbs, it covered his torso, and finally his neck and cheeks... The ice layer perfectly encased every inch of him, leaving not a single gap, sealing him completely into a lifelike ice sculpture.

Through the crystalline ice layer, one could still see his final frozen expression; in his slightly widened eyes, there was a fleeting look of astonishment, which then returned to silence.

His heartbeat, breathing, and even the speed of the Blood Poison's erosion all neared a complete stop under this ultimate icy Seal.

This was feigned death, and it was also life-prolonging.

Xia Lengbai finished all this, staggered a step, and was almost exhausted.

She looked at the ice sculpture before her; Shen Xiao's face was blurred behind the ice.

She reached out, her fingertips gently brushing across the ice surface; the cold air was bone-chilling.

"I will not let you die."

She said softly to the ice sculpture, and also to herself,

"At least, not before me."

After speaking, she took a deep breath, bent down, and with those slender shoulders that had erupted with astonishing strength, steadily hoisted the heavy humanoid ice sculpture.

The edges of the ice sculpture pressed painfully into her, and the cold seeped through her clothes into her marrow, making her teeth chatter.

She took one last look at the entrance sealed off by boulders; that glimmer of light was her only guide.

She mobilized her remaining spiritual power, tapped her toes against the ice wall, and her figure, like a light swallow, climbed up along the steep ice wall, squeezing out through that deep crevice that could only allow one person to pass.

Outside the crevice was the bottom of a bottomless glacial rift where cold winds howled.

The deep blue ice walls reflected a glimmer of light from an unknown source, stretching her shadow into a long, twisted shape.

Carrying the ice sculpture on her back, Xia Lengbai took one unsteady step after another, treading on the crunching ten-thousand-year-old snow and broken ice, alone, staggering toward the darkness and cold deeper in the rift that seemed capable of devouring everything.