120: Chapter 120 Turning Around and Going to Leng Ning Shuang, Xiao Nianyin Really Wants to Kill Xu Ruyu

Deep within Ningyin Hall, in the Secret Cultivation Chamber.

The walls, built of Ten-thousand-year-old cold jade, emitted a faint blue glow, and ice-blue runes flowed slowly like living things, dropping the indoor temperature to an extreme cold where breath turned to ice.

This was the top-secret place where successive Sect Masters of the Hehuan Sect went into seclusion to Cultivate and comprehend the Great Dao, a place ordinary Disciples had no chance of stepping into in their entire lives.

At this moment, Xiao Nianyin, sitting cross-legged on a Mystic ice cushion in the center of the secret chamber, was closing her eyes to regulate her breathing.

Her plain white, patternless Sect Master robes were spotless, and her waist-length black hair was simply tied up with a single Ice-crystal jade hairpin, with a few strands falling over her shoulders.

Her appearance had recovered by eighty or ninety percent; although not yet reaching the world-toppling beauty of her Peak, she had regained that cold, ethereal, and unattainable temperament.

However, upon closer observation, one would find that the aura faintly emanating from her was not purely cold.

The Mystic Maidens Sun-Stealing Art—one of the oldest and most domineering sect-guarding secret scriptures of the Hehuan Sect—was quietly operating.

This Cultivation Technique actually followed a path of supreme Yang and extreme rigidity, emphasizing "outwardly appearing as pure ice, while inwardly harboring true fire; using the form of a Mystic Maiden to steal the supreme Yang of heaven and earth."

Upon reaching Major Achievement, one appears holy and cold, but the true essence within the body is as blazing as fire and incomparably domineering, capable of incinerating all things while also nourishing oneself to achieve the supreme Mystic Yin Dao Body.

At this moment, Xiao Nianyin's skin faintly revealed a jade-like luster, and ice-blue spiritual energy flowed slowly over her body, forming a holy and cold external appearance. But

if someone with sharp Divine Sense perceived carefully, they would detect that beneath that layer of ice, there seemed to be an undercurrent of magma, scorching and violent.

Deep within her eyes, what occasionally flashed through was not pure chill, but a deeper, more subtle blazing golden light that vanished in an instant.

That was a characteristic that inadvertently leaked out when the Mystic Maidens Sun-Stealing Art was cultivated to a profound Realm, with the inner Yang essence contained within.

“Disciple Leng Ningshuang has come as ordered to seek an audience with the Sect Master.”

Outside the secret chamber door, a voice as cold as snow rang out, breaking the silence of the room.

Xiao Nianyin slowly opened her eyes, and the flash of blazing gold in her gaze instantly retracted, returning to a deep coldness like an ancient frozen pond.

“Come in.”

The heavy cold jade door slid open silently.

Dressed in white, Leng Ningshuang entered with her head lowered, stopping three steps away from Xiao Nianyin and bowing in greeting.

Her posture was as upright as a green pine in the snow, her white clothes whiter than snow and spotless. She was the undisputed number one of the Hehuan Sect's younger generation, with a Late Golden Core Stage cultivation, and her Mystic Ice Heavenly Maiden Art had already reached the threshold of the seventh level, “Heavenly Maidens Descent.”

Despite her firm will, being suddenly summoned to this Sect Master's secret chamber, which was never open to outsiders, she could not hide a trace of imperceptible nervousness.

More so, there was deep-seated expectation and... doubt.

“Sect Master.” Her voice was clear and cold, like ice and jade clashing. She called her “Sect Master” rather than “Revered Master.”

This was a regret and obsession she had held in her heart for many years.

Since joining the sect, she had regarded Xiao Nianyin as her model for cultivation and had repeatedly begged to be taken under her wing, but she had never been granted permission.

Now that Xiao Nianyin had made an exception and taken Xu Ruyu as her Personal Disciple, it had caused quite a stir within the sect. Although Leng Ningshuang didn't show it, how could she not have regrets in her heart?

Now, why would this Sect Master, who had never looked upon her with favor, suddenly summon her for a private audience?

“Mhm.” Xiao Nianyin's voice was colder than the cold jade of the secret chamber, yet it strangely carried a trace of imperceptible magnetic warmth. “Come forward.”

Leng Ningshuang stepped forward as told, getting closer. The spiritual energy of the Mystic Ice Heavenly Maiden Art within her instinctively accelerated its circulation to resist the pressure of the intertwined ice and fire emanating from Xiao Nianyin. At the same time, her doubts deepened—

Over the past few days, the atmosphere in Ningyin Hall had been clearly off.

Xu Ruyu was gone.

The person whom the Sect Master had insisted on taking as a Personal Disciple against all opposition, even making the Three-Month Agreement, seemed to have vanished from Ningyin Hall overnight.

Some Disciples whispered that they saw Xu Ruyu leaving the Main Hall in the early morning and moving to Tingzhu Peak in the back mountain, yet the Sect Master had offered not a single word of explanation.

What puzzled Leng Ningshuang even more was the Sect Master's attitude toward Xu Ruyu.

Previously, on the Law Execution Platform, the Sect Master was clearly protecting Xu Ruyu.

Even though he had contradicted her in public and acted out of line, the Sect Master still gave him the opportunity of the Three-Month Agreement, which was already extreme favoritism. But why did everything seem to change in just a few days?

And she herself, as Xu Ruyu's greatest opponent in the Three-Month Agreement, was now being summoned privately by the Sect Master...

This was not logical.

“Circulate the seventh level Mind-Cultivation Technique of your Mystic Ice Heavenly Maiden Art, ‘Heavenly Maidens Descent,’ and show me all of your understanding of ‘Heavenly Maiden without blemish, ice heart reflecting the world.’”

Xiao Nianyin spoke indifferently, interrupting Leng Ningshuang's thoughts.

Leng Ningshuang did not dare to delay, immediately sitting cross-legged on the spot, closing her eyes to concentrate, and pushing her Cultivation Technique with all her might.

In an instant, extremely pure icy spiritual energy surged from her Dantian, turning into layers of solid-looking frost-white halos that rippled out with her as the center.

The temperature in the secret chamber dropped further, and countless tiny, diamond-like hexagonal ice crystals condensed in the air, slowly drifting down.

Under the reflection of the ice crystals and spiritual light, her figure appeared increasingly holy, distant, and untainted by dust, as if a phantom of a Heavenly Maiden was about to descend from the Nine Heavens.

Xiao Nianyin watched quietly, and beneath her frozen expression, that flash of blazing golden light passed through her eyes once again.

She could see that Leng Ningshuang's Foundation for the Mystic Ice Heavenly Maiden Art was extremely solid, her ice heart was pure, and her spiritual energy was refined and cold; she had already grasped the true meaning of “Heavenly Maiden without blemish.” Among Cultivators of the same generation, she had indeed reached the Peak.

But this was still not enough.

Far from enough.

“Heavenly Maidens Descent... Heh.” Xiao Nianyin suddenly chuckled softly. The laughter was extremely cold, yet somehow carried a scorching tone. “Do you think a ‘Heavenly Maiden’ is truly emotionless? That ‘without blemish’ means complete emptiness?”

Leng Ningshuang's technique circulation faltered slightly, and the speed at which the ice crystals fell around her slowed down.

She opened her eyes, a hint of confusion flashing in her ice-blue gaze.

Her understanding all along had been exactly that.

A Heavenly Maiden resides high in the Nine Heavens, looking down upon the Mortal World, her heart like an ice crystal, untainted by dust, without desire or demand—only then is she “without blemish.”

“Wrong.” Xiao Nianyin's voice suddenly turned sharp, and a wisp of ice-blue and gold spiritual energy jumped violently at her fingertip. “Being emotionless is but an appearance. A true ‘Heavenly Maiden’s’ heart is not ice, and her emotions are not absent.”

She raised her hand, and that strange wisp of spiritual energy slowly traced in the air, actually presenting two completely opposite images of ice crystals condensing and flames leaping at the same time, yet weirdly coexisting in harmony.

“Above the Nine Heavens, there is also thunderous wrath and the grace of sweet rain.” Xiao Nianyin stared at that wisp of spiritual energy as if explaining some fundamental principle of heaven and earth. “‘Heavenly Maidens Descent’ means descending into the vast Mortal World and reflecting the myriad states of the world. An ‘Ice Heart’ is not a dead heart, but... a mirror.”

“A mirror?” Leng Ningshuang repeated in a murmur, a firm perception in her heart beginning to waver.