Secret changes at Zhangbing Palace, severing ties is imminent

The woman in the ice dress slumped beneath the ice wall, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, her face as pale as paper. Her gaze toward Nightmare was filled with shock and disbelief. As a Core Disciple of the Ice Soul Immortal Palace, she had cultivated the Profound Ice Path of Forgetting Emotion to the Soul Transformation Realm, boasting that she rarely met an opponent among her peers. Relying on the extreme environment here, she was even capable of contending against a Mid-stage Dao Replenishing Cultivator.

However, this man in black robes before her hadn't even truly made a move. With merely an intangible Domain power, he had easily dismantled her full-force attack and severely wounded her with a single strike!

What kind of terrifying strength was this? Late-Stage Transformation Spirit? Or perhaps... had he touched the Realm of Law?

Hearing Nightmare's icy inquiry, especially the name "Su Wanqing," the woman's ice-blue pupils contracted sharply. A flicker of extreme complexity flashed through them—fear, pity, and even more so... an indescribable terror.

She forcibly suppressed the roiling Qi and blood within her body, along with her constantly dissipating magic power, and gritted her teeth: "You... you are looking for Junior Sister Su? What is your relationship with her?"

"Answer This Sovereign's question." Nightmare's voice carried not a hint of warmth. The Annihilation Domain around him slightly contracted, and that heart-stopping Aura of the end of all things made the woman feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar, her Divine Soul trembling.

She did not doubt for a moment that if she hesitated or concealed anything further, she would be reduced to dust in the next instant, completely returning to annihilation.

"I will speak!" the woman said with difficulty, her voice trembling slightly. "The Immortal Palace... the Immortal Palace has indeed suffered a calamity!"

She took a deep breath of cold air and said quickly: "A few months ago, violent energy fluctuations suddenly erupted from the place where the Palace Master, Fairy Leng Yue, was in seclusion. The entire Small World shook incessantly, and the world boundaries were damaged in many places—this crack you see is one of them! The Palace Master... she seems to have encountered a mishap while cultivating, suffered a backlash, and was seriously injured!"

Nightmare's gaze narrowed slightly. Fairy Leng Yue was injured? That was an unexpected stroke of luck, and perhaps the reason why the Immortal Palace had been sealed off.

"And then? What of Su Wanqing?"

A bitter expression appeared on the woman's face: "After the Palace Master was severely injured, Senior Sister 'Frost Surpassing' seized the opportunity to make a move. She united with several Elders, placed the Palace Master under house arrest, and seized control of the Immortal Palace."

"Senior Sister Frost Surpassing?" Nightmare committed the name to memory.

"Senior Sister has always coveted the position of Palace Master. Moreover, her cultivation of the Profound Ice Path of Forgetting Emotion has reached a Bottleneck, and she urgently needs... urgently needs a perfect 'dao seed' to help her break through, sever the final emotion, and achieve the Dao of Ruthlessness." At this point, the woman's gaze toward Nightmare became even more complex. "And Junior Sister Su... her Profound Yin Body is a perfect match for the Supreme Art of Forgetting Emotion brought back by the Palace Master. Her progress has been rapid, her dao foundation is pure, and her emotions are untainted... she is exactly the best dao seed that Senior Sister dreams of!"

A terrifying, sharp glint erupted in Nightmare's eyes! The surrounding Power of Annihilation nearly boiled out of control!

"What are they planning to do to Su Wanqing?!"

Shaken to the core by this Killing Intent, the woman hurriedly said: "Senior Sister has already decided that in three days, at the 'Hour of Extreme Yin,' on the 'Emotion-Severing Platform,' she will personally... personally execute Junior Sister Su. Using her extreme emotions and life as a sacrificial offering, she will temper her own Dao Heart and complete the final Emotion-Severing Dao validation!"

Emotion-Severing Dao validation! Using Su Wanqing as a sacrifice!

Boom!

A terrifying Aura, impossible to describe, suddenly erupted from Nightmare's body! The ten-thousand-year black ice beneath his feet cracked and groaned, instantly covered in fissures. The thick blue cold mist around him was violently pushed away, forming a massive vacuum zone!

The woman was pressed directly to the ground by this Aura, and even breathing became extremely difficult, leaving only boundless fear in her eyes!

She finally understood that this man before her had a relationship with Su Wanqing that was anything but ordinary! His rage was enough to incinerate this entire ice field!

"What a fine Ice Soul Immortal Palace! What a fine Emotion-Severing Dao validation!" Nightmare's voice was as cold as the wind from the Nine Heavens, filled with monstrous Killing Intent. "This Sovereign would like to see how you intend to sever this emotion!"

His gaze was like a blade as it landed on the woman: "Where is the Emotion-Severing Platform? Tell me the layout of the Immortal Palace and the situation of the guards, one by one! If there is a single word of falsehood, your Divine Soul will be extinguished!"

The woman dared not conceal anything now. The instinct for survival made her spill everything she knew like beans from a bamboo tube:

"The core of the Immortal Palace's Small World is the 'Ice Soul Main Hall,' and the Emotion-Severing Platform is located at the Peak of the 'Ruthless Peak' behind the main hall! Senior Sister Frost Surpassing is currently presiding over the main hall. She is at the Late-Stage Transformation Spirit cultivation level, and she has two Mid-stage Dao Replenishing Elders supporting her: the Law Elder 'Cold Prison' and the Scripture Elder 'Ice Heart'."

"There are patrols of Disciples at the Late Nascent Soul Stage or even Great Perfection at every key passage in the palace, and the 'Great Array of Ten Thousand Ice Souls' has been set up. Once fully activated, its power is immense... Oh, right, because the world boundary is damaged, Senior Sister has diverted a large number of personnel to stabilize the boundary and guard the Palace Master, so the internal defenses are actually slightly emptier than before... There is a relatively hidden 'Cold Marrow Path' leading to the Emotion-Severing Platform, which might allow you to avoid most of the visible sentries..."

She even condensed the rough map of the interior of the Immortal Palace and the information on several key paths into an ice crystal using Divine Thought and handed it to Nightmare with trembling hands.

Nightmare took the ice crystal, and a sweep of his Divine Sense confirmed the information was correct. [Rule fragment] vibrated slightly, having already begun to deduce and analyze the optimal infiltration route and timing for the strike.

"Why are you being so cooperative?" Nightmare looked at the woman with cold eyes.

The woman gave a miserable smile: "Senior Sister has acted against the will of heaven, placed the Palace Master under house arrest, and harmed fellow Disciples... This has long since caused many Disciples in the palace to be secretly dissatisfied. It is just that she is powerful and ruthless, so no one dared to resist. Junior Sister Su... she is a very good person, and I do not want to see her meet such an end... I only ask that if the Senior can... can quell the chaos, please... please spare a shred of the Immortal Palace's Legacy..."

Her words carried sincere helplessness and supplication.

Nightmare looked at her deeply and said no more. He raised his hand and cast a rune containing the life force of annihilation into the woman's body, temporarily stabilizing her dissipating cultivation and injuries.

"Wait here. If what you said is true, This Sovereign can spare your life."

Before the words had faded, Nightmare's figure had already turned into a void streamer, rushing without hesitation toward that constantly twisting and fracturing mirror-like spatial crack!

The closer he got, the more terrifying the chaotic and violent spatial tearing force became! It was enough to tear the physical body of a Soul Transformation Cultivator into pieces!

But the Annihilation Domain around Nightmare suddenly expanded. All the chaotic spatial forces that invaded, as soon as they entered the range of the Domain, were like falling into a state of absolute "Nothingness," forcibly smoothed out, annihilated, and returned to the void!

Just like that, bracing himself against the spatial storm capable of destroying a world, he stepped into that hideous crack!

His figure was instantly swallowed and disappeared into the violent Spatial Turbulence!

The woman stared at this scene, dumbfounded, with stormy waves churning in her heart. Forcibly crossing an unstable Small World crack? What kind of heaven-defying means was this?!

She looked at the constantly twisting crack and prayed silently. Perhaps... the calamity of the Immortal Palace had truly found a turning point?

...

After a period of dizziness and surreal spatial transformation.

Nightmare's feet landed on solid and cold ground.

The Annihilation Domain around his body slowly retracted, annihilating the last trace of the invading spatial ripples.

He looked up; before him was no longer the bottom of the Ice Desolation Valley.

This was a world of carved ice and jade.

The sky was a permanent ice blue, with fine, pure-Qi-containing ice crystals drifting down. In the distance were towering palaces built of cold ice and some kind of blue crystal—magnificent structures with carved railings and painted beams, yet exuding an extreme chill that kept people at a distance.

The air was filled with incomparably dense Taiyin cold Qi, several times purer than the Eternal Ice Field outside, but for Cultivators of ice-attribute techniques, this place was undoubtedly a blessed land.

This was the Small World where the Ice Soul Immortal Palace was located!

Nightmare was currently in a dense forest made of ice-blue jade trees, in a relatively remote location. [Rule fragment] power spread out, instantly aligning with the map provided by the woman in his mind.

"Cold Marrow Forest... not far from the entrance to the Cold Marrow Path."

He converged all his Aura, his figure blending into the shadows of the environment, and followed the map's instructions, sneaking silently in one direction.

Along the way, he could feel several powerful Divine Senses sweeping over the sky and main passages from time to time. The patrolling Disciple squads had a stern Aura, and the defenses were indeed strict. But as the woman had said, the defensive forces in many areas seemed not to be at full capacity, appearing somewhat empty.

Relying on [Rule fragment]'s extreme perception of energy and the perfect concealment of his own Aura by the Annihilation Domain, he easily avoided all visible sentries and hidden posts, moving like an invisible ghost through this crystal world.

Soon, he arrived at a hidden crevice in the mountain wall, covered by a frozen waterfall—the entrance to the Cold Marrow Path.

Without the slightest hesitation, he slipped inside.

The path inside was winding and tortuous, and the cold was even more intense, but it was indeed as the woman had said, the guards were extremely few. Occasionally encountering one or two on-duty Disciples, he sensed them in advance and subdued them instantly with lightning speed. The Power of Annihilation invaded their Divine Souls, causing them to fall into a deep coma without harming their lives.

What he needed now was speed and stealth, not slaughter.

The journey was without surprise or danger. Passing through the Cold Marrow Path, the exit led directly to the mountainside of Ruthless Peak.

Nightmare hid behind a huge ice rock and looked upward.

A solitary, arrogant, and straight-as-a-sword ice Peak pierced into the ice-blue firmament. At the Peak, a huge circular platform made of transparent cold ice was clearly visible—the Emotion-Severing Platform!

Around the Emotion-Severing Platform stood twelve huge ice pillars, engraved with runes of being emotionless and desireless, and freezing emotions. At this moment, dozens of Disciples with powerful Auras were guarding around the platform, the lowest being at the Late Nascent Soul Stage.

And in the center of the Emotion-Severing Platform, a slender figure was kneeling there.

She wore a thin white plain dress, her black hair hanging down like a waterfall, her figure graceful. Even just seeing her back, Nightmare recognized her at a glance—

It was Su Wanqing!

Her body was bound by invisible Restrictions, unable to move. She could only lift her head slightly, looking at the ice-blue sky. Her profile was pale and calm, only those eyes that had once been lively were now like two pools of stagnant water, having lost all their luster, leaving only endless emptiness and despair, as well as a trace of unwillingness and longing deeply hidden in the depths of her eyes, about to be completely erased.

Nightmare's heart felt as if it were being fiercely gripped by an invisible hand!

Although he had already anticipated it, seeing her like this with his own eyes, that rage capable of burning the heavens almost shattered his reason!

Just at this moment, three extremely powerful Auras rushed over from the direction of the main hall on the other side of the Peak and landed on the Emotion-Severing Platform.

The leader was a woman wearing a luxurious ice phoenix gown, with a cold and arrogant face and eyes as sharp as knives. Her Aura was majestic, reaching the Peak of Late-Stage Transformation Spirit; she was the Senior Sister who now controlled the Immortal Palace—Frost Surpassing!

Behind her followed two old women. One had a livid complexion and held an ice staff; she was the Law Elder, Cold Prison. The other was expressionless, her eyes as calm as an ancient well; she was the Scripture Elder, Ice Heart. Both were at the Mid-stage Dao Replenishing cultivation level.

Frost Surpassing landed in front of Su Wanqing, looking down at her from above, her cold voice resounding across the Peak:

"The time is approaching. Junior Sister Su, do you know why you were chosen as the dao seed?"

Su Wanqing's eyes were hollow, and she had no reaction.

Frost Surpassing didn't care and continued to speak coldly: "Because you are pure of heart and emotion! Your Profound Yin Body makes your emotions pure and intense! Only by severing emotions as extreme as yours can I verify the supreme Realm of my Dao of Ruthlessness! This is your honor!"

"If you want to blame someone, blame your Master, Leng Yue, for being incompetent and unable to protect you! And even more so... blame that 'Demonic Lord' you are always thinking about in your heart! It is precisely this attachment that makes you the most perfect dao seed!" Frost Surpassing's tone carried a hint of mockery and pleasure.

In Su Wanqing's deadened eyes, upon hearing the words "Demonic Lord," there was an extremely weak flicker, and then they returned to dead silence. Only at the corner of her eye did a crystal-clear teardrop slide down silently, freezing into an ice crystal before it could even fall.

"Hmph, useless emotions." Frost Surpassing snorted coldly and looked up at the sky. "The Hour of Extreme Yin is approaching. Prepare for the execution!"

The two Elders took a step forward, their hand seals guiding the energy. The twelve ice pillars around the Emotion-Severing Platform suddenly lit up, shooting out countless cold rune chains that wrapped toward Su Wanqing, beginning to extract the Profound Yin power and life essence from her body, as well as that... power of emotion that had been induced to the extreme!

Su Wanqing's body began to tremble slightly, a look of extreme pain appearing on her face, but she gritted her teeth, refusing to make a sound.

Frost Surpassing slowly raised her hand. A transparent long sword formed entirely from the Laws of extreme cold ice appeared in her hand. The sword tip pointed directly at Su Wanqing's heart, and the terrifying power of Law began to condense!

"With your emotion, I verify my Dao! Sever!"

A flash of ruthlessness and fanaticism crossed her eyes, and the ice sword stabbed down fiercely!

Just at this critical moment—

"Do you think you are worthy of severing This Sovereign's emotion?"

A cold, calm, yet voice filled with monstrous Killing Intent and supreme majesty, like thunder from the Nine Heavens, suddenly exploded across the entire Ruthless Peak!

Boom!

A pitch-black Annihilation Finger Force that devoured all light seemed to cross space, arriving first despite being launched later, and struck the Law ice sword with incomparable precision!

Crack!

In Frost Surpassing's disbelieving gaze, her ice sword, condensed from pure Law and indestructible, shattered into countless powders like fragile glass, annihilating and disappearing!

At the same time, a figure in black robes, as if tearing through the void, appeared out of thin air on the Emotion-Severing Platform, blocking in front of Su Wanqing.

He was shrouded in an intangible Annihilation Domain, and all the rune chains wrapping toward Su Wanqing snapped and dissipated the moment they approached him!

He slowly turned around and looked at the woman on the ground whose tear tracks were already dry, and who was looking at him with a completely dazed, disbelieving look, as if in a dream.

His voice was still cold, but it seemed to carry a hint of barely perceptible tenderness.

"This Sovereign has arrived."