379: Icy energy!

Chapter 373: Frigid Protective Aura!

Lin Qinghan's eyes flashed with cold light, and her ten slender fingers unconsciously tightened their grip on the silk handkerchief.

She finally understood—in this world, the only one who could easily take that eunuch's life was the true Son of Heaven sitting in the Nine-Fold Palace.

At this thought, she suddenly released the handkerchief, and a captivating smile bloomed on her cherry lips.

Since the Crown Prince was indecisive, she would personally deliver herself, this delicious bait, into the hands of the person most capable of threatening that eunuch's life.

The Crown Prince merely regarded her as a plaything, hiding her in this villa and manor, claiming it was for her safety, but how could Lin Qinghan be a weak woman content to be a caged canary?

How could she possibly be confined to this small space her entire life, watching that old eunuch faction run rampant and act with impunity in the capital?

When her wishes were fulfilled in the future, she would surely make that old eunuch pay for his blood debt, to comfort her father's spirit in Heaven.

Lin Qinghan leaned against the carved wooden screen, her fingertips lightly touching the jasmine by her temple, and when her cherry lips parted, her voice was as melodious as a nightingale's song: "Sir Yuan, my rouge and powder have run out recently, may I..."

Her eyes brimming, she was about to use the excuse of buying cosmetics to have her trusted maid sneak into the capital to deliver a message.

However, before her words had finished, the half-lowered Xiangfei bamboo curtain suddenly moved without wind, and a chilling Aura, carrying ice shards, pierced through the summer heat.

The copper wind chimes hanging under the corridor instantly became covered in white frost, emitting a faint, mournful chime.

The pomegranate tree in the courtyard shivered under the cold wind, its originally vibrant petals, wrapped in ice crystals, rustling down.

Under the scorching sun, that bone-chilling coldness, like a December frost blade, swept over, instantly freezing the hot air.

Heatwaves and cold currents intertwined, forming bizarre frost patterns on the bluestone slabs, emitting faint "crackling" sounds.

With crisp "crackling" sounds, the ice and frost patterns spread into the room at a visible speed.

The brocade robes of several Brocade Guards under the corridor turned white with frost, and ice beads condensed on their eyelashes; even the white mist they exhaled condensed into tiny ice particles in the air.

The warm scent of sandalwood in the room was instantly sucked away, and Yuan Gan's knuckles, holding the teacup, suddenly turned white.

His intuition, honed by years of living in a world of blood and strife, made him instinctively lean back, and the embroidered spring saber at his waist "clanged," revealing three inches of cold light, the blade whistling as it cut through the air.

He spun around abruptly, shielding Lin Qinghan behind him, his black arrow-sleeves sweeping the teacup off the table; the scalding tea water splashed onto the frost flowers, and the steaming mist instantly diffused.

"Protect Miss Lin!"

Yuan Gan's furious roar made the window paper rustle, his back already soaked with cold sweat.

This eerie coldness, wrapped in a dense Evil Qi, was certainly not something an ordinary Jianghu expert could unleash.

It was more like the legendary "Extreme Cold Palm"—the peerless secret technique of that old eunuch, the Eastern Depot Director!

That was a vicious Cultivation Technique that could freeze a living person into an ice sculpture even in the dog days of summer!

Impossible!

Yuan Gan's hands, with veins bulging, gripped the embroidered spring saber tightly, his knuckles continuously making muffled sounds from the excessive force.

The sandalwood door, frozen into an ice sculpture, was emitting an ear-splitting crunch, and spiderweb-like cracks spread from the door seam outwards.

Strands of cold air, carrying tiny ice crystals, shot up into the sky, reflecting an eerie, dark blue glow under the scorching sun.

The bone-chilling coldness crept up Yuan Gan's boot soles along the cracks in the bluestone, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

The veins on Yuan Gan's hand holding the saber bulged, yet it trembled slightly—that was a Martial Artist's instinctive reaction to a fatal crisis.

This inexplicably bone-deep fear, like a persistent illness, spread throughout his entire body.

A suppressed growl escaped Yuan Gan's throat; this feeling of facing death was not pleasant.

The cold sweat-soaked clothes on his back clung to his skin, yet it was not as intense as the chill rising from his heart at this moment.

It was a great fear he had never experienced, even after years of living on the edge of a blade.

"There must be an inside man!"

Yuan Gan suddenly exerted force, the blade instantly cutting through the stagnant air, and the ice shards condensed on the blade fell off.

If it weren't for a traitor among the Brocade Guards, or an informant from the Crown Prince's mansion leaking information, the damn Eastern Depot would never have been able to track down Lin Qinghan's hidden location.

Yuan Gan felt his insides burning with regret, which surged like a tide.

He should have stuck to his guns—he shouldn't have listened to the Crown Prince's absurd command in the first place!

The Crown Prince, infatuated with beauty, insisted on placing Miss Lin in this villa, only a hundred li from the capital.

He spoke of "close proximity" and "convenience for care," but in the end, it was merely to satisfy his own selfish desires!

Yuan Gan clenched his fists tightly, his fingernails digging deep into his palms, yet he felt no pain.

As the Brocade Guard Commander, he should have insisted on sending Lin Qinghan a thousand li away to Huanan.

But that moment of weakness... Yuan Gan's throat bobbed, swallowing a mouthful of bitterness.

He knew better than anyone that what he truly feared was facing that old Devil Head from the Eastern Depot alone.

Among the Brocade Guards, besides his mentor, the Commander, no one could face this terrifying old eunuch alone.

Yuan Gan's towering back blocked most of the cold, yet Lin Qinghan behind him still felt a chill throughout her body.

Her hands twisted the moon-white soft satin sleeves, her pale knuckles pressing deep creases into the fabric.

Her trembling pupils beneath her eyelashes reflected the cold light of breaking ice shards.

And beneath Lin Qinghan's outwardly flustered appearance, a burning intensity, enough to scorch the bone-chilling cold, blazed deep within her eyes.

Had her meticulously planned scheme finally succeeded?

The stinging pain of Lin Qinghan's fingernails digging deep into her palms could not mask the surging ecstasy in her heart.

She lowered her gaze, hiding the uncontrollable curve of her lips.

These thirty-seven days and nights of Hibernation, those feigned affections and tender moments before the Crown Prince's bed.

The humiliating tears swallowed with a handkerchief in the dead of night, all now transformed into a burning flame of revenge in her chest.

The Eastern Depot's hounds were indeed incredibly resourceful, managing to find even such a secret place.

Her teeth bit deeply into her lower lip, and the taste of blood spread on her tongue, yet Lin Qinghan smiled even more wantonly.

When she stepped over the corpses of these pawns and returned to the imperial palace, she would surely make that old eunuch of the Eastern Depot witness with his own eyes in Jinluan Hall how the daughter of the Lin family, whom he had crushed, would use the Emperor's power to tear open his facade of absolute authority.

She would make him offer the most crimson sacrifice for her father's wronged soul, in torment where he could neither live nor die.

Boom!

The frozen door was violently kicked open, and three white-robed saber wielders stepped in, treading on shattered ice shards.

With each step they took, the ice beneath their feet emitted an ear-splitting crack, and cold air condensed into frost around them.

Yuan Gan's eye twitched violently—the elite Brocade Guards outside the door had all turned into ice sculptures.

They remained in their drawing-saber poses, their faces still frozen in pre-death horror, reflecting an eerie glow in the sunlight.

"It's you!" Yuan Gan gritted these words through clenched teeth.

He was all too familiar with the three individuals before him; they were the three most capable vicious dogs of that old Devil Head from the Eastern Depot.

Cao Yi, Cao Er, and Cao San, among the thirteen adopted sons.

While the Eastern Depot Director lived in seclusion, it was these three adopted sons who wielded the power of life and death in the Eastern Depot, controlling the imperial prison's interrogations, truly wielding immense power over the court.

"Yuan Gan!" Cao Yi, the leader, roared, his voice like an ice blade scraping bone: "You, as the Brocade Guard Commander, dare to lay hands on our Eastern Depot people."

"Subordinates defying superiors, going against His Majesty's decree, are you Brocade Guards trying to rebel?"

Cao Er chimed in sinisterly: "When we report to His Majesty... none of you Brocade Guards, from top to bottom, will survive!"

"And that old man Commander Shen Wanbao, he should also step down and make way for the worthy."

The third one revealed a playful and cruel smile: "Yuan Gan, if you kneel and beg for mercy now, perhaps... Godfather might leave you a complete corpse?"

"Hehehehe..."

With that, the three of them simultaneously let out a spine-chilling cold laugh.

Outside the door, a sudden, uniform sound of footsteps approached; over a dozen Eastern Depot eunuchs, like stars surrounding the moon, slowly entered, escorting a black-robed elder.

Wherever the black-robed elder passed, even the moisture in the air condensed into frost.

Yuan Gan's pupils suddenly constricted; his entire body's blood seemed to instantly freeze.

Indeed, that old Devil Head had come in person!

The most powerful eunuch in the world today, Eastern Depot Director Lu Xuan, thus abruptly appeared before them.

His hair was white as snow, but his face showed no signs of age; only his sinister eyes exuded a chilling, cold light.

His black brocade robe gently fluttered in the cold air, and his entire being resembled an Asura who had walked out of the Nine Nether Hell.

Lu Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze, like a knife, scraped over Yuan Gan's entire body.

There was no angry roar, no intimidation, just a silent stare, yet it made Yuan Gan feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave, even his breathing becoming difficult.

"Die!"

Yuan Gan's roar shattered the ice shards on the eaves; the embroidered spring saber in his hand suddenly erupted with a three-foot azure glow.

In an instant, his muscles swelled like iron, and his black tight-fitting suit crackled as it stretched.

His body, which had doubled in size, actually caused the floorboards to crack inch by inch.

The surging Profound Protective True Qi from his Dantian flowed through his Meridians into the saber, and the azure Qi wave rising from the blade swept the indoor furnishings flying.

Dust rustled down from the beams, landing on the bulging, Dragon-like veins of his neck.

This was precisely the Profound Protective Body, a secret technique passed down through the Xuanwu Commander lineage of the Brocade Guards!

As Yuan Gan launched himself upward from the tips of his toes, his spine emitted a crisp crackling sound like popping beans.

His swollen muscles stretched his skin to an ancient greenish color, and even his brow bones protruded with sharp lines.

At this moment, Yuan Gan was like a Heavenly God descending, surrounded by a solidified azure Protective Aura.

When this Cultivation Technique was Cultivated to Major Achievement, it could forge an Indestructible Body of Diamond, making it difficult for ordinary swords and blades to cause any harm.

His right arm, holding the saber, rippled like a living thing, and as the blade light sliced through the stagnant cold air, it left behind a shimmering azure afterimage of the saber mark in mid-air.

"Old eunuch, prepare to die!"

The saber wind, solidified with killing intent, caused the ice wall opposite to "crack" and shatter; Yuan Gan's enormous body, carrying the momentum of wind and thunder, struck downwards.

The rapidly expanding azure blade, before even reaching its target, had already shattered the ice shards within three feet of the door into dust.

Bloodthirsty flames danced in his pupils, completely disregarding the tearing pain caused by his swollen muscles.

It was too late to escape now; he might as well fight this old eunuch to the death.

A chilling white mist suddenly surged around Lu Xuan, and a nearly liquid white Protective Aura flowed into a shield; wherever it passed, the air emitted an ear-splitting ice-cracking sound.

Fine frost flowers floated on the surface of the white Protective Aura shield, and even the light was refracted into an eerie, cold blue glow.

Even those standing ten paces away could feel the bone-chilling coldness, seeping through the seams of their clothes and into their marrow.

Yuan Gan, with the surging Aura of the Profound Protective Body, slashed down from mid-air; the azure light, carrying the roar of splitting mountains and cracking stones, heavily struck the chilling white mist.

The moment the two forces collided, even heaven and earth seemed to freeze.

Immediately after, an explosion that shattered glazed tiles erupted, and the shockwave swept through like a violent hurricane.

The beams and pillars of the entire house groaned in their death throes; carved window lattices and sandalwood screens turned into a sky full of flying wood chips in the air current.

In the dust-shrouded ruins, the Eastern Depot's underlings were like withered leaves swept away by a gale.

Except for the three adopted sons, Cao Yi, who could maintain their footing, the others successively smashed through the courtyard wall, falling miserably onto the still damp mud ground.

Some lay incapacitated with blood spilling from their mouths and noses, while others were flung several zhang by the air current; shouts and the thud of heavy objects falling mingled together.

At the center of the storm, three maidservants formed a wall of flesh and blood, allowing the flying gravel to cut their skin and the cold wind to crack their lips, yet they still tightly shielded Lin Qinghan in the center.

When the dust had settled slightly, Lin Qinghan pushed aside the blood-stained sleeves of the maidservants.

She gazed at the chaotic battlefield before her, the fire of revenge dancing in her eyes, more scorching than the blazing sun above her head.

Father, did he die at the hands of such an old monster?

Lin Qinghan's pupils constricted; she looked at the scene before her in disbelief.

That old Devil Head Lu Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, not even a ripple in his robes.

It was as if the world-destroying blow just now was merely a gentle breeze.

In contrast, Yuan Gan's embroidered spring saber let out a crisp "crack" and shattered inch by inch before everyone's eyes.

Before the blade fragments could even hit the ground, they were frozen into clear ice crystals by the extreme cold Qi, sparkling with a desolate light in the sunlight.

Pfft!

Yuan Gan suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood; the blood beads solidified into ice even in mid-air.

His bare upper body, with bulging muscles, was now constantly steaming with bone-chilling white vapor, as if his entire being was being frozen from the inside out.

Although the Profound Protective Body was known as the Indestructible Body of Diamond, impervious to swords and blades, it ultimately could not withstand this pervasive extreme cold True Qi.

The coldness, like a persistent illness, drilled into his Meridians through his pores, freezing even his internal organs!

"Frigid Protective Aura..."

Yuan Gan knelt on one knee, his teeth chattering: "You actually cultivated the Frigid Force Protective Aura... to the Transcendent realm..."

If it had been any other expert, Yuan Gan might not have been defeated so quickly.

However, Lu Xuan's Frigid Protective Aura was precisely the natural nemesis of his hard Cultivation Technique.

One thing overcomes another; this is the ultimate principle of martial arts.

A cold light flashed in Lu Xuan's eyes, too lazy to waste more words.

He merely flicked his large sleeve, and a solidified white Protective Wind roared out; wherever it passed, even the air condensed into tiny ice crystals.

"You..."

Yuan Gan struggled to raise his right hand, only to see his fingertips instantly covered in a layer of white frost.

The bone-chilling coldness spread rapidly up his arm, and in the blink of an eye, it encased his entire body in a crystalline layer of ice.

Under the sunlight, this human-shaped ice sculpture reflected a desolate and beautiful light, and water droplets continuously slid off the ice's surface, gathering into a cold pond on the ground.

At this rate of melting, it would take at least half an hour for the ice to thaw.

Unfortunately—by then, Yuan Gan's internal organs would have been completely eroded by the cold Qi, and not even a Grand Unity Golden Immortal could save him.