Quick Travel to the Clouds

Chapter 727 Hidden Mission 13

The Yinming Market had been open for a month, and Yun Chu and Yue Ze would visit it every day.

Yun Chu, holding the appraisal device, wandered among the stalls, while Yue Ze Zhenjun followed closely behind her, his gaze calmly scanning the surroundings, as if he were watching out for her.

"True Lord, look at this!" Yun Chu held up a jade slip that glowed with a faint blue light and transmitted her voice, "It is a fragment of an ancient ice-type cultivation technique. Although it only contains 30% of the content, it should be of great help to your cultivation."

As Yue Ze Zhenjun approached, a hint of surprise flashed in his icy blue eyes, before he regained his composure. "How did you know I needed this?"

Yun Chu smiled and said, "When you were repairing the Ice Soul Sword, I heard you mention the bottleneck of the Frost Technique, so I made a note of it. Although this jade slip is incomplete, it may give you some inspiration."

After a moment of silence, True Monarch Yueze reached out and took the jade slip. His fingertips inadvertently touched Yun Chu's hand, and both of them trembled slightly. "Thank you," he said softly, his voice as clear and cold as an icy spring, but no longer as aloof as before.

After the Yinming Market ended, Yun Chu and True Lord Yue Ze set off again for training. Before their departure, Yun Chu specially prepared ample supplies for the two of them, including her specially made Fire Spirit Pills and some spiritual fruits containing fire spiritual power.

“True Lord, I propose that we go to the Frost Rift Valley in the Northern Territory for training,” Yun Chu pointed to a mark on the map, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. “It is rich in Ice Soul Jade, which will greatly benefit your cultivation. Moreover, I have heard that there is an ancient ruin deep in the rift valley, where you may be able to find some materials for refining weapons.”

Yueze Zhenjun stared at the map, his icy blue eyes reflecting the candlelight, appearing deep and mysterious. He looked up at Yun Chu, seeing the expectation in her eyes, and finally nodded slightly: "Alright."

Yun Chu immediately beamed with joy: "Great! I'll go prepare right away."

"Wait a minute." True Monarch Yueze took out an exquisite jade box from his storage ring. "This is the Warm Sun Pearl I bought at the market. It can resist extreme cold. Take it with you. The cold air in the Rift Valley is too dangerous for a cultivator with a fire spirit root like you."

Yun Chu accepted the jade box, a warm feeling welling up in her heart.

Deep within the rift valley, the chilling aura of millennia-old icy ice was enough to freeze the soul of even a Golden Core cultivator. The moment Yun Chu stepped into the rift valley, she felt a bone-chilling cold penetrate to her very marrow, and she instinctively wrapped her robes tighter around herself.

"Stay close to me." Yue Ze Zhenjun's voice came through the cold wind. He reached out and gently took Yun Chu's wrist. Although the hand was icy cold, it gave Yun Chu a strange sense of security.

a few hours later

"True Lord, look over there!" Yun Chu pointed to a mineral vein shimmering with blue light in the distance, "That's the Ice Soul Jade!"

True Monarch Yueze nodded, and the two walked towards the mine together. Along the way, Yun Chu's spiritual energy was greatly depleted, her face gradually turned pale, and her breathing became rapid.

Noticing her abnormality, True Monarch Yueze approached silently, and a pure and gentle Nascent Soul Ice Spirit Power flowed into her body, precisely dispelling the cold and stabilizing her meridians. It was even more effective than her own Fire Spirit Power.

"Thank you, True Lord," Yun Chu said gratefully, her cheeks flushed from the cold, but regained their color thanks to Yue Ze's spiritual power.

"No need to be polite." True Monarch Yueze withdrew his hand, but his gaze remained on her. "Your fire spirit root is incompatible with the environment here, so you need to be extra careful."

"Ah."

While collecting the Ice Soul Jade, True Monarch Yueze silently set up an ice crystal barrier for Yun Chu to isolate her from wind, snow, and divine sense.

The barrier was crystal clear, like a small crystal palace, keeping out the raging wind and snow.

"True Lord, your ice crystal barrier is truly exquisite!" Yun Chu exclaimed. "It's much more stable than what I learned in the sect."

"Ice-based techniques emphasize stillness and stability. If you are interested, I can teach you some basics."

Yun Chu looked up: "Really? That's great! I've always wanted to learn more about ice-based techniques, which might help me better understand the principle of yin and yang balance."

Yue Ze Zhenjun nodded slightly, a hint of gentleness flashing in his icy blue eyes: "I will explain it to you during the rest period."

"it is good."

After collecting the Ice Soul Jade, the two continued their journey deeper into the rift valley.

Danger lurked deep within the rift valley. The deeper they went, the colder it became, as if the air itself had solidified into ice crystals. The two had been training here for over twenty days, their teamwork growing ever more seamless.

On one occasion, the two encountered a pack of Ice Soul Wolves, mutated and corrupted by Yin energy. The wolf king among them had reached the Nascent Soul stage. The wolves had blood-red eyes, frost dripping from their fangs, and emitted chilling howls.

"Yun Chu, step back!" True Monarch Yue Ze blocked her way, his ice-blue longsword gleaming coldly.

Yun Chu quickly formed a hand seal, and a wall of fire rose in front of the two of them: "True Lord, I will cover you! You unleash your wide-range freezing technique, and I will protect your rear!"

Yueze Zhenjun turned and glanced at her, his eyes filled with both worry and trust. He nodded: "Be careful."

In the midst of the fierce battle, Yun Chu, to protect Yue Ze who was unleashing a wide-ranging freezing technique, took a sneak attack head-on. A deep, bone-revealing wound was torn open on her shoulder, and blood stained her clothes. The demonic wolf was too fast; she didn't even have time to completely dodge.

"Yun Chu!" For the first time, Yue Ze Zhenjun's voice lost its composure, filled with unprecedented panic.

Seeing Yun Chu injured, Yue Ze Zhenjun's icy blue pupils suddenly contracted, and a terrifying killing intent, even more chilling than the cold wind of the rift valley, soared into the sky! The icy blue spiritual power around him instantly surged, forming a huge vortex of ice crystals.

"Freeze for ten thousand miles!" he shouted, and the area within a ten-mile radius instantly turned into an absolute zero ice and snow hell, freezing all the demon wolves and ice rocks into dust in an instant!

He teleported to Yun Chu's side and carefully stopped her bleeding and treated her wounds. His movements were incredibly gentle, but his eyes, which were fixed on her pale face, were churning with an unprecedented dark storm.

"Bear with it." Yue Ze Zhenjun's voice trembled slightly. He took out a bottle of ice-blue liquid and gently applied it to Yun Chu's wound. The liquid melted upon contact with the skin, bringing a cool sensation and relieving the pain.

Yun Chu smiled and said, "True Lord, I'm fine. It's just a minor injury..."

"Don't speak." Yueze Zhenjun interrupted her, gently brushing away the strands of hair on her forehead that were damp with sweat. "You're always so stubborn."

True Monarch Yueze knelt on one knee, his palm glowing with a shimmering spiritual light, slowly healing the gruesome wound on Yun Chu's shoulder blade. Yun Chu's breathing gradually became steady, her eyelashes casting dappled shadows in the firelight, making her complexion appear somewhat translucent.

"Does it still hurt?" He hovered his fingertips three inches above the wound, his voice softer than melting snow.

Yun Chu shook her head slightly. As her hair brushed against his wrist, Yue Ze Zhenjun suddenly closed his five fingers—this subconscious action startled even himself.

The lingering warmth in his palm was like an inextinguishable firefly, burning his chest.

As the last wisp of spiritual energy seeped into his meridians, he finally pulled the person into his arms.

Yun Chu's back pressed against his chest, so thin that you could feel the outline of her shoulder blades.

A crisp sound of shattering ice came from afar, and True Monarch Yueze immediately activated his protective aura, which even kept the mountain wind at bay for about ten feet.

Yun Chu unconsciously curled up towards the heat source in his arms. He stiffened for a moment, then finally rested his chin lightly against the top of her head.

Moonlight spilled across the snowfield, illuminating the turbulent undercurrents in Yue Ze's eyes. He stared at the pale blue veins on Yun Chu's neck, recalling the glaring crimson of blood from earlier that day.

If his freezing of ten thousand miles were a breath faster, if his divine sense could cover an even wider area... his knuckles clenched until they turned white, and the Xuanbing Sword hummed in its sheath.

The Dao heart, cultivated for decades, cracked at this moment, and a strange emotion, along with icy spiritual power, rampaged through the meridians—so this was what lingering fear felt like.

"Not enough." He crushed those two words in his mind.

The simple path he once pursued suddenly seemed pale; now he only wanted to forge the hardest black iron in the Three Realms into armor and refine the spiritual veins of the Thirty-Six Heavens into a barrier.

Yun Chu let out a soft hum in his dream. He immediately suppressed all his aura, even his heartbeat slowed down.

Amidst the hooting of the owl, Yue Ze lowered his eyes, concealing the thick, dark glint in his pupils: since Heaven has allowed her to intrude into his snowstorm, then from now on, no demons or monsters will be allowed to approach her again.