Chapter 1
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The Fall of the North Sea Ice Palace
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A man covered head to toe in blood trudged across a field of pure white snow and arrived at a cave.
Whiiiii!
A piercing cold wind howled fiercely, but despite wearing only thin training robes, he showed no sign of feeling the cold.
On the contrary, ignoring all that, only his two eyes blazed with ferocious killing intent—enough to make any ordinary person collapse in shock.
“…….”
After staring into the cave for a long while, a sharp glint flashed in the man's eyes.
“You were here after all, Ice Palace Lord.”
As if in response to his words, a figure emerged from within the cave.
The one called the Ice Palace Lord was a middle-aged man draped in a pure white robe adorned with ornate patterns.
“......You've finally chased me all the way here, Heavenly Collapse Fist Emperor.”
The leader of the Martial Alliance and the supreme master of the era. The man was none other than the Heavenly Collapse Fist Emperor.
“The North Sea Ice Palace ends here. Surrender now, and I'll at least let your lineage continue.”
“…….”
“The North Sea Ice Palace no longer has the strength to stop the Central Plains Guardian Corps. Let's not create any more needless sacrifices.”
The Ice Palace Lord spoke.
“Truly worthy of the supreme master. To defeat the North Wind Brigade so quickly and come here.”
“It wasn't easy. I pushed myself a bit to chase you down, Ice Palace Lord.”
Contrary to his words, the Ice Palace Lord knew he was unharmed. All the blood on his body belonged to the North Wind Brigade.
“You truly intend to subjugate all the Outer Realm Evil Forces?”
“Did you think we'd keep suffering your invasions forever?”
The Ice Palace Lord cried out in protest.
“Do you say that even after seeing the harsh environment of the North Sea? We only wanted the warm central plains!”
“That greed has cost countless civilians their lives.”
The central plains martial world, long tormented by the frequent incursions of the Outer Realm Evil Forces, had made a fateful decision.
The Martial Alliance was formed, uniting the righteous and the scholarly, and with the Heavenly Collapse Fist Emperor at its helm, they subjugated the Outer Realm Evil Forces one by one.
And the last one was the North Sea Ice Palace.
“You've killed countless North Sea folk too!”
Suddenly, the Ice Palace Lord stomped hard on one side of the floor.
Boom!
At the same time, the cave began to shake violently.
“What have you done?”
He frowned and asked, but the Ice Palace Lord did not respond.
It was then.
Boom!
An iron gate suddenly descended, sealing the cave entrance.
“......!”
“This iron gate is made of millennial cold iron over five inches thick. Even you won't break through it easily.”
His martial arts, hailed as the supreme under heaven, had already transcended the mortal realm, making him no different from the Grim Reaper to the Outer Realm Evil Forces.
Thus, deeming a direct confrontation hopeless, the Ice Palace Lord had lured him here.
“You think that can trap this Alliance Leader?”
“Of course not. The gate's only purpose is to keep you from escaping.”
“You plan to face me alone?”
“I acknowledge your martial prowess is awe-inspiring in its perfection. Even this palace lord wouldn't last a hundred exchanges against you. But......”
The Ice Palace Lord drew something from his bosom. It was a pure white orb the size of an adult's fist.
Mysteriously, a faint white mist emanated from the orb.
“......!”
His face involuntarily hardened.
“You've realized what it is.”
It was none other than the North Sea's treasure, the Ice Essence.
Pure yin energy accumulated over ten thousand years of time, typically forming no larger than an adult's thumb.
So how immense must the yin energy be to create something of that size?
“Impressive, isn't it? Even as palace lord, suppressing its aura to keep it from leaking is a struggle.”
The reason the Heavenly Collapse Fist Emperor hadn't sensed the Ice Essence's spirit energy was that the Ice Palace Lord had been expending all his internal energy to contain it until now.
The Ice Palace Lord slowly withdrew the internal energy enveloping the Ice Essence. At once, its yin energy invaded his body at terrifying speed.
“Ugh!”
Despite the immense pain, he merely furrowed his brow and calmly accepted the yin energy.
“A pity. If I'd had a bit more time, I could have absorbed this Ice Essence's power.”
“Even you couldn't fully claim that much power.”
“I never thought I could absorb it all either. But if I'd made even a portion my own...... a day like today wouldn't have come.”
“......”
The Heavenly Collapse Fist Emperor could not deny it. The gap between them was clear, but if the Ice Palace Lord had absorbed even a thread of that yin energy, victory would not have been assured.
“What do you plan to do with that?”
A strange smile curled on the Ice Palace Lord's lips.
“No......!”
He rushed desperately toward the Ice Palace Lord.
“Come with me, Heavenly Collapse Fist Emperor.”
His form shot right up to the Ice Palace Lord's face.
At that instant.
As if waiting, the Ice Essence exploded, and pure white yin energy burst forth in all directions.
Shuuuuuuu!
The terrifying yin energy engulfed the Heavenly Collapse Fist Emperor and the Ice Palace Lord, soon filling the entire cave.
* * *
“Ugh!”
He regained consciousness amid an overwhelming chill.
“Where am I?”
It was too dark to see properly. Normally, with his eyesight, he could see as clearly as daylight even in pitch blackness, so this was strange.
“How did this happen......”
He was clearly lying down. But he couldn't even twitch a finger.
“What in the world?”
Forcing his hazy mind to recall, he pieced together his last memory.
“Ah, the Ice Palace Lord detonated the Ice Essence......”
The Ice Essence's power was indeed formidable, freezing his body solid in an instant.
However, he was no pushover either. He immediately protected his heart meridian with his secret ultimate art, the Pure Yang Infinite Art.
Then began the protracted battle. The Ice Essence's yin energy kept invading, while the Pure Yang Infinite Art's yang energy defended against it.
But in the end, the Ice Essence's yin energy overwhelmed his internal energy.
“Ah!”
He had lost consciousness upon feeling the yin energy finally breach his defenses and infiltrate his heart meridian.
“I thought I was done for, but apparently not.”
He didn't know how, but he had escaped that yin hell for now. He could breathe a sigh of relief, but the crisis wasn't over.
The yin energy filling his entire body still threatened his life.
“At least it's a relief that no more yin energy is infiltrating.”
Suppressing the urge to move, he lay still and examined his body.
“My condition......!”
The yin energy saturation was a problem, but most of his meridians were nearly sealed.
Moreover, his dantian held not his vast internal energy, but a foreign yin-based energy—and not much of it.
“Is it from prolonged exposure to the yin energy?”
It was an exceedingly pure yin art. Clearly cultivated through a profound manual.
“I can't make sense of it. No, more importantly, why can't I feel the Pure Yang Infinite Art at all? Did it dissipate fighting the yin energy?”
But as a master of deep cultivation, he closed his eyes gently and strove to remain calm.
“The Pure Yang Infinite Art is the strongest pure yang art under heaven. It wouldn't vanish so easily. It's just suppressed by the yin energy, unable to assert itself for now.”
The problem was, he couldn't use the Pure Yang Infinite Art right now.
“Forget the Pure Yang Infinite Art—even with my meridians constricted, I can't circulate the energy I have.”
If he circulated it slowly, he might absorb some of the pervasive yin energy, but the amount would be negligible, and he'd freeze solid before then.
He gave a bitter smile.
“So I die like this after all?”
A sigh escaped him in this hopeless situation. But he quickly steeled himself.
“No, not yet.”
He still had a mission entrusted to him. As long as he drew breath, he couldn't abandon it.
“What about the Nine Yin Immortal Art?”
The Nine Yin Immortal Art was the counterpart to his Pure Yang Infinite Art, the purest yin-based ultimate art.
Its power was presumed to surpass even the Pure Yang Infinite Art, though unverified.
Due to its fatal flaw: an absurdly slow cultivation speed.
“But now, the situation is different.”
His body brimmed with pure yin energy. Cultivating the Nine Yin Immortal Art with it would yield twice the result with half the effort.
Mysteriously, his three primary meridians were still somewhat open. The Nine Yin Immortal Art could be cultivated through them alone.
However, like the Pure Yang Infinite Art, the Nine Yin Immortal Art seemed shattered by the massive yin energy, undetectable anywhere in his body.
“No matter. I'll remake it.”
Though his body screamed in protest, he forced himself into a cross-legged position and recalled the Nine Yin Immortal Art's formulas.
Soon, a small cluster of energy formed at his dantian. It gradually grew.
But disappointment soon set in.
“Too slow, even slower than expected. And with the major meridians blocked, even the Nine Yin Immortal Art can't do anything.”
He pondered again.
“I need to control the yin energy somehow. First, with the dantian's energy......”
As if sensing his intent.
The dormant energy suddenly began to stir.
“Huh?”
Though slowly, it began circulating through his major meridians.
The frustration of its sluggish passage through narrowed channels was fleeting. The energy moved naturally along paths unknown to him.
“What art is this......?”
In this urgent moment, devising a way to use it mattered more than understanding it.
“The Nine Yin Immortal Art and this yin art have many similarities. How can I combine them?”
Time was short. He had to find a way with this.
“Hurry.”
The extreme situation plunged him into a trance-like state.
In his mind, the two arts deconstructed, merged, and separated repeatedly.
And finally, he attained an insight worth its weight in gold.
No time to hesitate. He began cultivating, and the nascent Nine Yin Immortal Art and yin art fused in an instant.
Soon, the massive yin energy around his dantian began transforming into a new energy. Denser and purer than any yin energy.
“This energy shall be called the Nine Yin Primordial True Qi.”
Now came the real challenge.
He created lesser dantians at his key vital points. Centering on them, he began absorbing all the surrounding yin energy.
“This way, there's no need for the lower dantian's true qi to rise.”
Including his lower dantian, he gathered Nine Yin Primordial True Qi into nine dantians.
Before long, all the yin energy filling his body had transformed.
“Good.”
The lesser dantians were temporary. Left as is, they would eventually dissipate.
“Now, restore the meridians to normal.”
The nine streams of Nine Yin Primordial True Qi charged forth like tanks. The three primary meridians widened to accommodate the vast energy.
Coincidentally, there were exactly nine blocked major meridians. The energy slammed into them all at once.
Kwaaaang!
“Urk!”
The pain was brief. Soon, a refreshing coolness permeated his body.
“Finally, I did it.”
Relief was short-lived.
With his tension released, he couldn't resist the onrushing sleep demon and fell into a deep slumber.