Inside the Extreme Ice Temple, there was none of the howling cold wind from outside, yet chill still wreathed the air. Layer upon layer of ice patterns wound along the palace walls, spreading outward, and every inch of ice brick flowed with a gentle yet biting cold light, illuminating the hall like a glazed immortal realm, yet suffused with an eternal, unmelted clarity.
In the main hall, several ice pillars carved with divine ice birds stood tall. Above their tops floated condensed, undispersing ice-soul orbs, their soft light spilling onto the floor and scattering into cold shards of radiance.
Hua Rong, dressed in a long glazed gown, sat upright upon an ice dais. The dress was an extremely pale ice blue, its hem adorned with fine tassels of ice crystal.
With every movement, the tassels swayed lightly, striking together with a faint yet icy sound, like pearls and jade falling onto a platter of ice.
Her figure was slender and graceful, her shoulders as if carved, her waist bound like plain silk. Her temperament was otherworldly, like an immortal banished from the Nine Heavens, untouched by the slightest smoke and fire of the mortal world. Yet between her brows and eyes, there was also a cold, noble aloofness that kept others a thousand miles away. Around her lingered the faint aura of laws woven from ice and time, and even the surrounding air, because of her presence, became quiet and solemn.
At this moment, her eyes were lowered as she patiently explained a cultivation mental art to the petite young girl standing before her. The girl was small and delicate, with a round, adorable face and a pair of clear, lively almond eyes. Her whole body carried an air of sweet, soft innocence. She was Hua Rong's disciple, Xiao Die.