The waters of the icy pool were a deep, shadowy blue, as still as a lifeless mirror, yet they radiated a chill even more piercing than the surrounding ice cavern. This was no mere cold; it held the power of a law that could freeze space and time and extinguish life. Even an ordinary Void Insight cultivator would likely hesitate to touch these waters.
Ye Chen stood beside the pool, chaotic light swirling within his Dual Pupils as his gaze pierced the deep blue that seemed capable of swallowing light and reached straight to the bottom.
The bottom was neither mud nor rock, but a flat surface paved with a strange substance that was neither ice nor jade. At its center lay something utterly still—a coffin roughly ten feet long, carved entirely from transparent ice.
The ice coffin was crystal clear, revealing a hazy figure lying inside. The figure was not corporeal, but seemed formed from countless tiny points of ice-blue light. Her indistinct outline suggested a woman. Her features were impossible to discern, yet she naturally exuded a cold, aloof, supreme majesty, as though she reigned above all ice.
The aura, more elusive, ancient, and dangerous than that of the ice soul spirit, emanated from this coffin—from the figure within. Like a slumbering heart, it pulsed slowly and powerfully, each beat drawing the extreme cold law throughout the pool, and even the entire cavern, into resonance.
"Neither a remnant soul nor a fragment of will..." Ye Chen's gaze sharpened slightly. "More like a strand of... undying Dao imprint? Or perhaps, after some mighty ancient cultivator fell, their lifetime of cultivation merged with the source of the Great Dao of Ice and gave birth here to... an innate ice spirit?"
He sensed the resonance of the Nameless Fragment and the Black Iron Piece against his chest. It pointed not only toward the black crystal suspended at the center of the pool, but also formed an exceedingly subtle connection with the ice coffin below. The being within seemed to have some connection to the fragment's origin.
"Interesting." The corner of Ye Chen's mouth lifted. The Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cavern had certainly not disappointed him.
He did not rashly plunge into the water. This deep-blue icy pool was no ordinary thing; the extreme cold law within had already taken material form. Forcing his way inside, even with his cultivation, would provoke a violent reaction and disturb the being sleeping in the coffin.
His target was the black crystal.
Ye Chen raised his hand and gently grasped toward the black crystal suspended at the pool's center.
Bzzz!
The black crystal shuddered violently. The ancient dark-gold markings on its surface erupted with dazzling light, resisting Ye Chen's pull. At the same time, the entire pool seemed enraged. Its deep-blue waters churned wildly, unleashing an even more terrifying chill that sought to freeze everything!
The ice coffin below also trembled slightly. The lashes of the hazy woman within seemed to flutter, as though she were about to awaken!
"Be still."
Ye Chen uttered a word of power. An ancient rune formed from primordial chaos purple qi appeared out of thin air and branded itself upon the void. The rune revolved, radiating supreme might that could anchor heaven and earth and still the myriad Daos.
The churning waters instantly calmed. As though pressed down by an invisible hand, the erupting chill swiftly subsided. The black crystal's resistance abruptly weakened as well.
Ye Chen curled his fingers slightly. The black crystal became a streak of light, broke through the water's obstruction, and landed securely in his palm.
It was heavy in his hand and piercingly cold. The aura within was ancient and chaotic, yet pointed straight to the source, far denser than that of the previous two fragments! The moment it reached his hand, it resonated even more violently with the fragment and iron piece against Ye Chen's chest. Their light intertwined, like parts separated for countless years finally reunited, impatient to become whole again!
Yet the instant the crystal left the center of the pool—
"Ah..."
A faint, lingering sigh drifted from the ice coffin below, as though it had crossed the space and time of countless ages.
The transparent coffin's lid quietly slid open a crack. Denser, purer ice-blue radiance spilled through the gap, illuminating the entire dark cavern as brightly as day. The woman formed from points of light slowly sat up within the coffin.
Her features remained indistinct, but her eyes, formed from pure ice-blue laws, seemed to hold the birth and death of the starry rivers of all the heavens. With the weary desolation of one who had looked down upon countless ages, she gazed quietly at Ye Chen beside the pool.
There was no killing intent, no anger, only a calm whose depths could not be fathomed, and a trace of... scrutiny beyond words.
"One of a later age..." An ethereal, chilly voice, like ice crystals striking one another, sounded directly within Ye Chen's sea of consciousness. "You... are not a being of this realm."
Ye Chen's heart stirred. Had she seen through his origins at a glance? The innate ice spirit formed from this strand of Dao imprint possessed an exceedingly lofty source!
"And if I am? And if I'm not?" Ye Chen's expression remained unchanged as he met her gaze.
The ice spirit woman did not answer. Her gaze settled on the three resonating objects in Ye Chen's hand, especially the newly acquired black crystal.
"So... you are gathering the fragments of 'it'..." Her voice held a trace of realization and an exceedingly complex emotion: remembrance, perhaps regret, or perhaps... a barely perceptible hint of anticipation.
"'It'?" Ye Chen seized upon the crucial detail. "You know where this fragment came from?"
The ice spirit woman fell silent for a moment. Her body of light swayed slightly within the coffin, as though she were recalling something from an unimaginably distant past.
"It is... the legacy of a failure." Her voice carried the chill of countless ages. "A wretch who tried to break out of the cage, only to be shattered to pieces in the end, even the traces of their existence... mostly erased."
Her gaze returned to Ye Chen, her ice-blue eyes seeming intent on seeing through him. "You bear the primordial within you and transcend this realm's laws. You are a variable... but are you also... a new hope?"
Waves surged through Ye Chen's heart! Not only had she seen through his origins, she could even sense his primordial immortal body? She had even mentioned a "cage" and "hope"!
"A cage? Hope? Just what do you know?" Ye Chen pressed. This concerned the secret of transcendence that the Ye Clan had sought for countless epochs. He had to uncover it.
But the ice spirit woman slowly shook her head, her figure beginning to turn insubstantial. "I am only a strand of undying Dao imprint. The memories I carry have long since become incomplete... All I know is that gathering every piece of 'it' may lift a corner of the veil over the truth, but it may also... bring greater despair."
Her gaze seemed to pierce the cavern and reach into the infinitely distant void. "The waters of this universe run... far deeper than you imagine. Those true 'Keepers' will not permit any variable to exist..."
Her voice faded, and her figure grew ever fainter. At last, she lay back down in the ice coffin. The lid slowly closed, and the spilling ice-blue radiance swiftly withdrew. That terrifying aura sank into silence once more, as though everything that had just happened had been an illusion.
Only her final words remained, piercing deep into Ye Chen's mind like shards of ice.
Keepers? Greater despair?
Ye Chen stood where he was, holding the three burning-hot fragments, his gaze as deep as an abyss.
He felt as though he had touched the edge of an unimaginably vast chess game shrouded in endless mist. And this fragment was one of the crucial keys to entering that game.
After a long silence, he lowered his gaze to the three fragments in his hand. Their light was gradually settling, but their connection had grown tighter.
"No matter what, I must keep walking this path."
He lingered no longer, turning to leave the cavern and its icy pool.
Whether truth or despair lay ahead, he would press forward without retreat.
For he was Ye Chen, the hope the Ye Clan had awaited for countless epochs, the one destined to shatter every shackle!
When his figure vanished at the end of the passage, the ice coffin beneath the pool trembled slightly once more, and a barely audible whisper emerged:
"The primordial... has finally... appeared again...?"
Bearing the silence of countless ages, the voice quietly dissipated into the icy air.
Before you continue