Chapter Six: Breaking the Seal

Outside the Frozen City, Chi Yuan had been sitting cross-legged for more than two days. The cold-induced injuries on his body had long since been dispelled through his cultivation. Exhaling a deep, turbid breath, Chi Yuan rose, brushing the dirt from his clothes, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the city shrouded in white mist.

“It’s getting late. It seems that young lady won’t be coming. Let’s go and break that seal,” he said coolly.

“Oh, really, you wastrel! If the world knew Frostbane was to be destroyed by your hand, imagine how many would die of outrage,” Xiaoyuan replied, her tone thick with complaint.

Chi Yuan merely laughed at this, channeled his energy into his feet, and leapt in the direction of the Frozen City.

High above the city, Chi Yuan hovered before a mass of thunderclouds, sword in hand. With the experience of last time, he planned to cut directly at the seal this time, without bothering with the scorpion demon.

“A Heavenly Sword Bone—so you found it after all, girl.” An ancient voice resounded.

Xiaoyuan did not answer.

“Senior, since the master of the Soul-Capturing Bell hasn’t appeared yet, I’m afraid I must apologize,” Chi Yuan said solemnly.

A long sigh answered him. “I see. It seems I have reached my end as well. Do it, before this bitter cold brings further calamity to the world.”

With that, Chi Yuan poured all his energy into his sword. Wuya instantly blazed with golden light.

A tremendous boom echoed from within the city.

“Not good! The scorpion demon!” Chi Yuan immediately ceased his attack, the golden light on Wuya dissipating, and plunged into the white mist.

Inside, he swept out a cutting arc of sword energy, dispelling the fog ahead. Suddenly, the scorpion demon burst forth from the ice, but it was not alone—a figure in red followed close behind.

Recognizing the familiar silhouette, Chi Yuan hesitated. The woman’s expression was grim, her hands weaving incantations as the fierce, cold wind tossed her hair and sleeves into disarray. The scorpion demon emitted a strange, drawn-out screech, filled with both rage and panic. Its massive pincers flailed, its long tail swept wildly. The woman in red darted through the wind, evading with agility, yet her focus never wavered from her spellwork.

Just as Chi Yuan moved to help, the Soul-Capturing Bell hovering above the scorpion demon began to vibrate with a deep hum. The demon howled in pain, its pincers pounding the ground and sending waves of force in all directions.

“Go above!” the woman called, her voice cold and clear.

The words jolted Chi Yuan to realization: with both items present, the seal could be broken!

Seizing the moment as the scorpion demon was held at bay, Chi Yuan rode his sword straight up toward the thunderclouds. At that moment, the tail of the cloud above Frostbane began to whirl, strong currents of lightning flashing through it. The seal slowly emerged—a hexagonal array of frozen crystals.

As the seal expanded outward, the thunderclouds churned and rumbled. At each of the six points of the array, a chunk of mysterious black ice formed, drawing down six bolts of thunder. The lightning struck the black ice, and in a flash, each block radiated golden light as the thunder’s power amassed within, poised to erupt. Six pillars of lightning shot skyward and, with a series of sharp cracks, shattered the black ice into thousands of blades that hovered within the array.

The seal rose, and with it, the gathering of heavenly thunder.

Bolts of lightning tore through the sky, the countless ice blades orbiting Frostbane at the center, weaving a curtain of lightning. The air twisted and warped between the extremes of searing heat from the thunder and the numbing chill emanating from Frostbane, the explosions deafening.

“Cut it open!” Xiaoyuan shouted.

At her call, Chi Yuan gathered his energy into his palms. Thick spiritual power surged from the hilt into the blade, Wuya shining even brighter. Sword energy surged forth, Chi Yuan gripping the hilt with both hands and striking at the array: “Break!”

A gash split the curtain of lightning, half the ice blades shattering instantly. A smile just crept onto Chi Yuan’s lips when fresh bolts of golden lightning fell, the network of light weaving the curtain anew. Within the array, Frostbane emitted a flash of white light, and the cold grew fiercer. The tiny sparks of lightning in the air suddenly coalesced into crackling ice blades.

“Can you do it? I can’t hold out much longer!” The woman in red bit her fingertip, letting a drop of dark blood fall onto the Soul-Capturing Bell. The blood spread rapidly along the bell’s eerie grooves; the bell spun, growing several times larger, flooding the scene with red light and pinning down the Emperor Scorpion.

“Again!” Xiaoyuan leapt, transforming into a streak of light that merged with Wuya. A fierce sword aura roared forth, golden light illuminating all it touched, and an immense sword shadow appeared before Chi Yuan.

“Wuya revealed, a rain of swords descends!”

A majestic voice rang from Wuya itself. Within the array, Frostbane’s chill subsided, its light dimmed, and it emitted a low hum.

Chi Yuan raised Wuya high above his head, the massive sword shadow suspended over the array. He poured all his spiritual energy into the blade, veins bulging on his hands as he brought the sword down with full force.

“Break for me!”

Sword energy surged like a tidal wave, vaporizing every ice blade in its path. Thunder roared, the swirling clouds gathering the energies of heaven and earth into a monstrous orb, bristling with ice spikes. The sword shadow cleaved the orb, splitting it apart with a thunderous detonation that sent countless bolts of golden lightning streaking toward Chi Yuan.

Xiaoyuan emerged from Wuya, calling forth the sword shadow to shield herself. A golden glow shone on her brow, and her entire form became translucent, taking on the shape of a spirit.

Seeing this, Chi Yuan channeled all his remaining power into Wuya, holding the blade horizontally to defend. The sword shadow followed the blade, lying across the sky, blocking more than a hundred bolts of golden lightning.

Xiaoyuan raised her hand, seeming to grasp the sword shadow across the void. With every swing of her arm, the immense shadow cleaved the lightning apart. Releasing her grip, she traced a sigil in the air with her fingertip. The dark-gold symbol grew, joining with the sword shadow, the two stretching and expanding until they formed a vast screen of light that enveloped all three within.

“Gather!”

Xiaoyuan clenched her fingers, and the light screen shrank violently, drawing the remaining golden lightning to itself. Powerful currents battered the barrier, but it only trembled slightly, dispersing and absorbing the thunder’s might. Rather than cracking, its golden radiance only grew brighter.

“Disperse!”

The instant Xiaoyuan opened her hand, the energy amassed in the screen, together with Wuya’s power, burst forth, colliding headlong with the raging lightning and erupting into blazing thunderfire. In moments, the thunderclouds were torn asunder, leaving only devastation in their wake. Here and there, faint sparks still flickered; the lingering aura of ice and thunder filled the air, as if the echoes of battle still resounded.

The hexagonal array of frozen crystals was utterly shattered. Only in its center, half-buried in black ice, did Frostbane remain, still emanating a biting chill. The sword glowed with a deep blue light, its blade tightly encircled by a powerful streak of blue-violet lightning.

“This is the true seat of the seal,” Chi Yuan said with a long sigh. “Come, let’s break it.”

He was about to step forward when the woman in red said, “The Soul-Capturing Bell is still here—can you undo it?”

Only then did Chi Yuan recall the bell still bound the Emperor Scorpion. By now, the demon was fully enraged, wildly flailing its pincers and tail, stirring the bell to a fresh chorus of hums.

“Then let’s deal with the Emperor Scorpion first.” With that, Chi Yuan turned and leapt down, forming a sword with his hand to strike—when a current of palm force swept toward him, three leaf-shaped blades flying at his face. He twisted aside, batting them away with his palm.