176: Chapter 176 Xiao Ruoxue's Compromise

The main hall was deathly silent.

Xiao Ruoxue's breathing stalled for half a beat.

She stared into Su Yun's dark, deep eyes, trying to find a trace of a bluff within them.

There was none, only an abyss like a bottomless pit.

Three years of Lifespan. This was the most lethal secret in the depths of her heart. Even the Xiao Family Old Ancestor had not detected it.

"Deceptive words to mislead the public," Xiao Ruoxue's voice was cold and hard.

Her right hand suddenly exerted force, the knuckles gripping the Ice-blue Immortal Sword bulging.

The remaining Extreme Cold Immortal Power within her body formed a violent torrent, surging along her Meridians toward the scabbard.

The moisture in the surrounding air instantly desublimated, and countless sharp ice cones took shape in the Void Realm, their tips all pointing at Su Yun.

She wanted to cut out the tongue of this arrogant man.

Su Yun did not retreat.

The two fingers pressed against the hilt did not even increase their pressure.

In the depths of his Sea of Consciousness, the map of mountains and rivers erupted with a blinding golden light.

The Lower Realm Heavenly Dao Origin transformed into a miniature devouring black hole, precisely covering Su Yun's fingertips.

*Sizzle.*

The moment they made contact, the Half-step Immortal King Law that Xiao Ruoxue was so proud of met the devouring power at Su Yun's fingertips and immediately dissipated in defeat.

There was no energy confrontation; all the Extreme Cold Immortal Power was roughly pulled into Su Yun's body along the blade of the sword.

Inside the map of mountains and rivers.

The Taiyi Old Ancestor, sitting cross-legged under the Spiritual Qi waterfall, suddenly snapped his eyes open. His withered face was filled with wild joy.

"Fragments of the Great Dao of Extreme Cold! Incredibly pure!" The Old Ancestor spread his arms and laughed toward the sky, "The Master is out 'restocking' again! Little ones, suck it in!"

A large group of Taiyi Holy Land elites greedily divided up this influx of high-level Law.

In the outside world.

Xiao Ruoxue's expression changed abruptly.

She felt her connection with the Great Dao of Frost being forcibly severed by a pair of invisible hands.

A century's worth of accumulated cultivation turned into an uncontrolled turbulent flow before this domineering devouring force.

Not only could she not draw her sword, she couldn't even cut off the output of immortal power.

Her legs went soft, and her figure became unstable. She fell forward as if she had lost gravity.

Su Yun reached out and caught her, his arm encircling Xiao Ruoxue's slender waist and pulling her into his embrace.

The sensation of extreme cold penetrated his thin white clothes.

He looked down at the pale Immortal Lady in his arms, who had even lost the strength to struggle.

"This is the confidence of a Half-step Immortal King?" Su Yun's tone was calm.

Xiao Ruoxue bit her lower lip hard until blood seeped out, the flames of humiliation flickering violently in her ice-blue eyes.

Zi Yun stood a few steps away. Looking at their pressed bodies, there was no jealousy in her eyes; instead, a morbid excitement surged.

She pulled up the light purple gauze that had slipped from her shoulder and stepped closer across the crushed ice on the floor.

"Sister Ruoxue, do you understand now?"

Zi Yun laughed. Her voice was sweet, but every word was like a knife to the heart.

"That bit of fragmented Law of yours is nothing more than a snack my husband can swallow at will."

Xiao Ruoxue turned her head and glared at Zi Yun.

"You knew all along," Xiao Ruoxue's voice was dry. "You used his hand to empty the inner treasury and destroy the Xiao Family Foundation."

"Foundation? Does the Xiao Family still have a Foundation?"

Zi Yun's smile faded as she leaned down to look Xiao Ruoxue in the eye.

"Three days ago, I forcibly used the Supreme-grade Immortal Vein to alter the astral tracks. Do you think the Old Ancestor is really in death seclusion and knows nothing?"

Xiao Ruoxue's pupils contracted sharply.

"The astral tracks involve the barrier between two worlds. If the Old Ancestor wanted to stop me, I wouldn't even have been able to step onto the Ascension Platform."

Zi Yun stood straight and pointed toward the ancestral hall.

"The Old Ancestor is playing dead. He saw the Heavenly Dao rank that Husband carries. He is using my hand to trade the entire heritage of the Xiao Family for a sliver of Husband's protection."

These words directly shattered Xiao Ruoxue's understanding.

The silence of the Family's highest will finally had its most rational explanation.

It wasn't an illusionary bewitchment, nor was the Goddess insane.

It was that the entire Xiao Family was bowing their heads to this youth from the Lower Realm.

Su Yun let go.

Losing her support, Xiao Ruoxue slumped onto the white marble floor tiles that were covered in a mixture of icy water and ten-thousand-year-old medicinal dregs.

Su Yun turned and walked back to the large armchair carved from Mind-Concentrating Cold Jade. He flicked his robes and sat down.

"You can see through my dao injury." Xiao Ruoxue looked up, her gaze locked onto Su Yun. "Can you cure it?"

"Not only can I cure it."

Su Yun leaned against the back of the chair, his knuckles casually tapping the armrest.

"I can use a complete Origin to reshape your Law circuits for you, allowing you to fully complete your fragmented Dao."

Xiao Ruoxue's chest heaved violently.

Three years of Lifespan, Ten Thousand Ices Devouring the Heart.

This was the scythe of the Reaper hanging over her head.

"The conditions," she spat out two words.

"Be my cultivation vessel," Su Yun said without any emotion.

"In your dreams!"

Xiao Ruoxue braced her hands against the ground.

Her pure and elegant face lost all composure due to her rage.

"You can refuse."

Su Yun stopped tapping the armrest.

"I heard that person named Ye Wuhun is very interested in the women of the Xiao Family's direct line."

Su Yun stated casually.

"In three months, if you have become an ice sculpture, Ye Wuhun of Tianshu Palace will annex the Xiao Family, and Zi Yun will be packaged and sent to Tianshu Palace."

"As for your remains, perhaps he will take them to practice some kind of Dual Cultivation evil technique. The Family behind you, your clansmen, will all become mud under others' feet."

Xiao Ruoxue trembled all over. This strike hit her right where it hurt.

Su Yun leaned forward, his pressure descending sharply.

"Die, or live. Choose."

Only the drip-drop sound of icy water falling remained in the hall.

Xiao Ruoxue froze in place.

Dignity, life and death, Family.

These three shackles tightly strangled her neck, making it hard to breathe.

She recalled the Soul-tearing icy pain during her seclusion.

She recalled the fear and despair in her clansmen's eyes when she emerged.

Struggle, extreme struggle.

A long time passed.

She closed her eyes, and a single tear slid down from the corner of her eye, hitting the cold floor.

"How do we treat it?" Her voice was raspy, revealing a complete compromise.

"Dispel all immortal power defenses around your body," Su Yun stood up, "take off your dharma robes, and walk over."

Xiao Ruoxue snapped her eyes open.

"Fragmented Law and complete Origin are mutually exclusive; any immortal power obstruction will cause the circuit to collapse on the spot." Su Yun left no room for negotiation.

Zi Yun chuckled and turned to walk into the shadows in the depths of the hall.

As she retreated, an extremely eerie purple light flashed in the depths of her eyes.

A sliver of mental suggestion targeted at her Divine Soul defenses quietly merged into the remaining seductive medicinal fragrance in the hall.

Xiao Ruoxue stood in the puddle.

Her hands trembled as she raised them to the belt of her ice-blue dress.

She untied it layer by layer.

The magnificent dharma robes condensed from Law lost their power support and dissipated into a sky full of ice-blue specks of light.

Only a close-fitting snow-white light gauze remained, her full curves faintly visible beneath it.

She was barefoot, stepping through the bone-chilling icy water.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

She stopped in front of Su Yun.

Her cold face bore the determination of someone burning their bridges, her eyes tightly shut.

Her body could not stop trembling from extreme tension and humiliation.

Su Yun looked down at this beautiful face.

He raised his right hand.

The warm tip of his index finger lightly touched the center of Xiao Ruoxue's bone-chilling forehead.

The moment they touched—

Boom!

The Heavenly Dao Origin lurking within the map of mountains and rivers followed his fingertip, turning into an extremely domineering scorching warm current that forcefully blasted open Xiao Ruoxue's sealed Sea of Consciousness and rushed straight into her limbs and bones.

Her withered Meridians, which had been tortured by extreme cold for a century, were for the first time exposed to such a burning, aggressive, high-dimensional life force.

That shudder originating from the depths of her Soul instantly shattered all of Xiao Ruoxue's psychological defenses.

"Ah..."

This high-and-mighty iceberg Immortal Lady tilted back her snow-white neck, and an irrepressible, soft, and lingering cry escaped from the depths of her throat.