Wedding Invitation

"Ice Saint is getting married?" In the dim, frigid hall, a spine-chilling voice suddenly rang out.

"Why is that guy still so restless?" His tone carried some impatience, but even more amusement.

He was, after all, a top-tier Venerable, worth paying a little attention to. Though to him, he could be wiped out with a wave of the hand.

Yet throughout Hun Miesheng's life, there had not been many geniuses like Ice Saint. Even among the Ancient Races, he would have ranked among the very best.

What was even stranger was that his past was shrouded in mystery. The only concrete information that could be found concerned events after he had become a Dou Zong.

Before that, not even the Soul Hall's intelligence network had any information on him. That was what surprised Hun Miesheng.

If not for the fact that this man possessed no Dou Di Bloodline whatsoever, he would have suspected him to be some hidden card prepared by another Ancient Race.

The other was that Medicine Venerable. His alchemy abilities had indeed lived up to his reputation.

Even within the Yao Clan, famed for its alchemists, he would have ranked among the top three. And he had achieved that with merely the cultivation of a peak Venerable.

From that perspective, he had already surpassed everyone in the Yao Clan. Who knew whether those old, stubborn fools in the Yao Clan regretted it now.

"But... a hundred years? His strength...?" Xiao Han did not know whether he should have felt honored. By chance, his information had caught the Soul Hall Master's attention. Once his curiosity had been piqued, he had continued following it up until now.

It was precisely because of this that the Soul Hall Master had begun to doubt Xiao Han's true strength.

Still, such doubts were only natural. By now, many people had already been intimidated by the name Ice Saint once bore.

One had to know that the founding of Langya Pavilion had not been peaceful. Ice Saint's reputation had been forged through those very battles.

One Hall, One Tower, Two Sects, Three Valleys, Four Pavilions—the first two forces were too immense, so Xiao Han had not dared to challenge them.

The Pavilion Master of Starfall Pavilion was Medicine Venerable. Making an enemy of the Continent's Number One Alchemist would have been more trouble than it was worth, so he had not gone there either.

Other than that, he had fought the Sect Masters, Valley Masters, and Pavilion Masters of the Heavenly Underworld Sect, Ice River Valley, Burning Flame Valley, and the other three pavilions of the Four Directions Pavilion besides Starfall Pavilion. He had won every battle decisively.

Fortunately, these had all been private affairs. Otherwise, certain old monsters might have been drawn out.

But among all the upper-tier factions of the Central Plains, this was no secret.

To achieve such a level of power as a Dou Zun Peak was truly terrifying.

The two most famous battles were those against the former Valley Master of Ice River Valley—Cold Sky Venerable, a Dou Zun Peak—and the former Valley Master of Burning Flame Valley—the present Fire Cloud Old Ancestor.

There was no need to mention the former. Cold Sky Venerable had been beaten into complete despair by Xiao Han and died in depression only a few years later, allowing his useless disciple, Ice Venerable, to inherit the position of Valley Master.

The latter battle was the key to establishing Xiao Han's title. Although Fire Cloud Old Ancestor had already been a Half-Saint at the time, the battle-crazed man had suppressed his cultivation to the level of a peak Dou Zun and fought Xiao Han on equal footing.

In the end, he shocked every expert in the Central Plains. Burning Flame Valley's inherited Strange Fire—the Nine Dragons Thunder Flame, ranked twelfth on the Strange Fire Ranking, a powerful flame painstakingly nurtured by generations of Valley Masters—had been directly frozen by Xiao Han's Dou Qi during the battle.

Dou Qi so cold that it could even freeze a Strange Fire—the title of Ice Saint spread throughout the Central Plains from that day onward.

It could be said that his fame had been built entirely by stepping on Burning Flame Valley.

As a result, the relationship between Langya Pavilion and Burning Flame Valley was exceedingly hostile. Though they had not yet gone to war, they were not far from it.

Whenever disciples of the two sides encountered each other outside, they either glared coldly at one another or started fighting outright. It was only that no lives had been lost.

On Langya Pavilion disciples' ranking of most hated factions, Burning Flame Valley stood second only to the Heavenly Underworld Sect.

Xiao Han had been fortunate to encounter an upright expert like Fire Cloud Old Ancestor. Otherwise, he might very well have been crushed by someone with superior cultivation and killed outright.

This had also led to a certain phenomenon: after those two battles, many cultivators of ice-attributed Dou Qi had directly joined Langya Pavilion.

Besides that, Xiao Han was also on good terms with the master of the mysterious Sound Valley—Heavenly Sound Old Man.

There was also a joke about this. Someone once asked Ice Saint why he had not gone to challenge the Flower Sect.

He had answered, "I don't like fighting women."

The result was fierce condemnation from the Flower Sect. The Flower Sect's Supreme Elder had nearly come to pay him a personal visit. Because of that single remark, Langya Pavilion disciples could not hold their heads up outside for quite some time.

Yi Huang within the pavilion had also given Xiao Han the cold shoulder for a long while.

Thus, to the many factions of the Central Plains, Ice Saint was practically invincible, and they subconsciously regarded him as one of their own generation.

But they had forgotten that Ice Saint had only been a junior back then. With talent as formidable as his, how could he have made no breakthrough at all over the past hundred years?

Therefore, factions such as the Pill Tower and Burning Flame Valley had all guessed that Xiao Han's strength had improved. They simply did not know by how much, and had been waiting for some fool to test him.

"Perhaps this is a good opportunity!" Hun Miesheng stroked his chin and laughed sinisterly.

His laughter echoed through the hall, lingering for a long time without fading.

At the headquarters of the Heavenly Underworld Sect, within the Sect Master's hall.

As he examined the invitation in his hand, Heavenly Underworld Son, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Underworld Sect, fell into deep thought. The other elders also looked at one another in silence.

There was no other reason—it was simply that this invitation had arrived far too ominously. Not only did they have no idea how it had appeared on his desk, it was also an invitation to Ice Saint's wedding.

Who was Ice Saint? He feared neither heaven nor earth. He had practically fought every major faction in the entire Central Plains.

And the relationship between the Heavenly Underworld Sect and his Langya Pavilion was naturally far from good. They even bore a blood-deep grudge against one another.

But why had he sent an invitation to the Heavenly Underworld Sect? Was he not afraid that their subordinates would start fighting?

"What do you all think of this invitation?" After failing to reach an answer through his own thoughts, Heavenly Underworld Son began asking the assembled luminaries.

The many elders were utterly baffled as well. Given the enmity between them and Langya Pavilion, there was simply no way for them to reconcile. Could this mean they were expected to make peace?

The atmosphere fell silent for a moment.

"Sect Master, should we ask the ancestor for guidance?" At last, an elder spoke up.

"Mm..." Heavenly Underworld Son pondered for a long while before making the decision. "I'll go consult the ancestor now."

"You're saying this invitation wasn't personally delivered by a disciple of Langya Pavilion?" Heavenly Underworld Old Demon asked with a look of astonishment.

"That's right," Heavenly Underworld Son confirmed.

"It seems someone is using our Heavenly Underworld Sect as a weapon!" Heavenly Underworld Old Demon said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean, Ancestor?" Heavenly Underworld Son looked confused.

"How exactly did you become Sect Master?" Heavenly Underworld Old Demon looked at Heavenly Underworld Son with utter contempt.

"What is the relationship between us and Langya Pavilion? With Ice Saint's character, why would he send us an invitation?"

He looked thoroughly disappointed.

But... hm? Heavenly Underworld Old Demon suddenly noticed something unusual. If he had not possessed the cultivation of a high-level Half-Saint, he truly would not have detected it.

From Heavenly Underworld Son's perspective, his ancestor merely fell silent, frowned, and then suddenly revealed a delighted expression.

"Prepare a lavish gift. This ancestor will arrive on time to offer them congratulations."

"Yes." Though still confused, Heavenly Underworld Son naturally had to obey once his ancestor had spoken.