Please, Your Holiness, Accept Heaven's Mandate, Wield Divine Authority, Receive the Crown—Ye Xian Is Crowned Pope!

"Now, in the entire Heaven Dou Imperial Family, besides me, Xue Beng, who else can inherit the throne?"

He paced to the window, gazing at the oppressive leaden clouds over the imperial palace, a savage curve rising at the corner of his mouth.

"Once I sit in that position... Hmph!"

The vortex of power within the Heaven Dou Imperial Family became even more perilous and murky with the Crown Prince's fall and the New Pope's rise.

News of Ye Xian, Spirit Hall's New Pope, being crowned swept through every corner of the continent like the fiercest hurricane.

Every faction, friend or foe, great or small, repeatedly pondered that name as cold and merciless as ice—Ye Xian.

The continent's gaze involuntarily turned toward Spirit City, where the coronation ceremony would soon be held.

The three-day deadline arrived in the blink of an eye.

Spirit City, Papal Palace.

The magnificent main hall, once frozen over, had now taken on a new appearance.

The massive dark-blue iceberg covering it had long since been removed by Ye Xian with supreme power.

Only countless ice cracks of varying depth remained across the palace's surface, like mysterious runes silently recounting the earth-shattering battle of several days ago and the birth of the new sovereign.

Rather than diminishing its majesty, those cracks added an austere bearing of rebirth after enduring calamity and bathing in ice.

The hall's dome was lofty and vast, and the enormous Angel Mural remained.

Yet the flowing golden radiance of the past had been replaced by a deeper ice-blue glow.

Sunlight passed through specially made dome windows inlaid with Ice Crystal, refracting countless brilliant yet frigid specks of light like ice prisms.

It illuminated the entire hall as though it stood at the heart of a ten-thousand-year ice cavern—sacred and chillingly murderous.

The enormous Cold Jade Marrow Throne stood atop the high steps.

No longer purple-gold, it was now entirely a deep, pure ice-blue.

Mysterious ice patterns, sharing the same origin as Ye Xian's Frost King Sword, were naturally inscribed upon it.

The throne's armrests resembled the heads of two coiled Ice Dragons, their eyes set with two dark-blue gemstones that radiated extreme cold, as though they might come alive at any moment and devour anyone they chose.

The atmosphere in the hall was solemn. The figures standing sternly along both sides were no longer the Red-Robed Bishops and ordinary elders of old.

They represented Spirit Hall's true foundation and greatest fighting strength—the Seven Great Enshrined Elders!

Qian Daoliu held the Angel Sword and stood before the throne to its left, golden Holy Light flowing around him.

He carefully avoided the dark-blue frigid domain emanating from the throne, creating a sharply defined dividing line between light and darkness.

Golden Crocodile, Azure Luan, Lion, Light Feather, Qian Jun, and Jiang Mo stood in rows along either side of the steps, each radiating the powerful presence of a Titled Douluo.

Yet they tacitly restrained their sharpness, directing all their awe and submission toward the Cold Jade Throne.

Their very existence was the firmest foundation of the new sovereign's authority.

Below them stood Spirit Hall's upper ranks, newly reorganized and purged.

Yue Guan and Gui Mei stood at the very front. Though Yue Guan wore splendid formal attire, his face remained pale and his aura unstable.

Gui Mei, meanwhile, seemed to blend into the shadows, his head lowered obediently.

Behind them were the Red-Robed Bishops, the Commander of the City Guard, the Hall Masters...

Everyone wore brand-new ceremonial robes embroidered with the Frost King Sword Emblem, holding their breath in concentration.

Outside the palace gates, on the plaza, the Palace Knight Division and Spirit Master Legion formed dense, orderly ranks, their weapons and armor reflecting the icy gleam of Ice Crystal.

Farther away stood guest envoys and representatives from the continent's various factions, who had come to witness the ceremony with differing intentions.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, the Star Luo Empire, the Lower Four Sects...

Their gazes passed through the open palace gates, landing with awe and complicated emotions upon the figure seated high upon the Cold Jade Throne.

The time had come.

"Welcome, Your Holiness the Pope—!"

The grand and solemn proclamation rang through the skies like a horn across the Ice Plain!

At that very moment, everyone within the hall deeply lowered their heads.

On the plaza outside, tens of thousands of Spirit Masters and knights dropped to one knee in perfect unison, the clashing of their armor merging into a murderous metallic tide.

"Greetings, Your Holiness the Pope!"

The mountain-shaking roar, like a tangible shockwave, slammed against the walls of the Papal Palace.

Ye Xian's figure appeared soundlessly before the Cold Jade Throne.

He did not wear elaborate papal coronation robes. He was still dressed in fitted black attire that outlined his upright frame, towering like an icy peak.

Only the item he held in his hand symbolized supreme authority—a scepter.

The scepter was carved entirely from the purest Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice, its shaft entwined with lifelike Ice Dragons.

An Ice Dragon head reared proudly at its peak, holding a diamond-shaped crystal that flowed with a deep ice-blue radiance in its jaws.

The instant the scepter appeared, the temperature throughout the hall plummeted once again.

Ye Xian's gaze calmly swept over the prostrate masses.

It passed over the solemn Enshrined Elders before finally settling on Qian Daoliu, the Great Enshrined Elder.

Qian Daoliu took a deep breath and suppressed the instinctive trepidation in his heart before absolute power.

With both hands, he raised a tray fashioned from Millennium Cold Marrow Jade, its surface covered in dense, sacred golden patterns.

Upon the tray was not a traditional triple crown, but an Ice Crystal Crown of incomparably simple design that nevertheless emitted terrifying pressure!

The crown seemed to be perfectly assembled from countless tiny Ice Crystal facets, reflecting a dark-blue icy radiance.

At the front of the crown was set a pigeon-egg-sized, ice-blue diamond gemstone that radiated extreme cold and kingly majesty.

Its light echoed the crystal atop the scepter in Ye Xian's hand.

"Please, Your Holiness, accept Heaven's mandate, wield Divine Authority, and receive the crown!"

Qian Daoliu's voice was solemn and dignified, carrying the weight of history passed down through the ages.

Holding the jade tray aloft with both hands, he ascended the steps representing supreme authority one step at a time.

With every step, the Angel Holy Light surrounding him collided and merged with the frigid domain radiating from the throne, producing faint yet heart-palpitating energy shrieks.

At last, he stopped before Ye Xian and bowed slightly.

Ye Xian extended his hand, his fingertips touching the Ice Crystal Crown.

Buzzz—!

An indescribable, absolute chill erupted from the Ice Crystal Crown, instantly sweeping through the entire Papal Palace and even reaching the plaza outside.

Countless envoys and representatives attending the ceremony could not stop themselves from shivering. Those with weaker cultivation turned deathly pale, nearly fainting.

Expressionless, Ye Xian steadily placed the Ice Crystal Crown upon his head.

The moment the Ice Crystal Crown settled into place.

Rumble—!

The entire Papal Palace shook violently.

The ice cracks that had lain dormant across the palace's exterior suddenly burst forth with dazzling dark-blue light.

Countless fine ice patterns seemed to come alive, spreading downward from the palace walls, dome, and pillars before rapidly connecting into a vast and intricate Frost Array.

At the heart of the array stood the Cold Jade Throne!

A vast, ancient domain power fully unfolded with Ye Xian at its center.

Frost King Sword Domain—Coronation Form.

Within this domain, Ye Xian was the absolute ruler.

His aura rose without limit, as though he had merged with the earth beneath his feet and the heavens overhead.

The Frost Scepter in Ye Xian's hand shone brilliantly, the crystal at its peak and the crown's gemstone reflecting each other.

They cast him as a sovereign descending from a divine throne of ice.