Sunset Forest

Snow Empress did not reply. She simply stepped forward and walked into the canyon.

Her soul power formed an invisible barrier around the three of them, silently dispersing the toxic mist of the Ninefold Jade-Scaled Flower whenever it drew near.

The three passed through the canyon entrance and followed a narrow stone path inward.

Vegetation gradually grew more abundant on the rock walls flanking the path, and its colors began to diversify.

At first, there were only ordinary mosses and ferns. Farther in, vines bearing pale blue flowers and low shrubs laden with red berries appeared.

Those plants had thick, fleshy leaves and vivid colors, a world apart from the blackened, twisted trees outside the canyon.

The stone path rounded its final bend, and the canyon opened fully before them.

It was not large, surrounded by towering rock walls covered in vegetation of every color.

Red, blue, purple, gold-patches and clusters nestled in the cracks, as though someone had scattered an entire box of colorful gemstones across the rock walls.

The toxic mist above the canyon actually thinned here, like an overturned bowl that held this little world snugly within it without cutting it off entirely from the outside.

And in the deepest part of the canyon, a lake lay still.

The lake was not large, roughly three hundred meters across, yet it was divided into two sharply distinct halves.

One half was icy white, its surface coated in a thin layer of ice, with silvery light flowing slowly beneath.

The other half was fiery red, its surface rippling with fine waves of heat, the water beneath the color of molten copper.

There was no clear boundary between the two halves. Ice and fire devoured one another and yielded in turn where they met, sending up a haze of white mist.

The white mist rose into the air, only to be pressed down by the toxic mist above the canyon and fall back onto the lake, repeating the cycle endlessly.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Zhang Lan stood at the canyon entrance, gazing at the sharply divided lake. The soul power vortex in his dantian suddenly spun faster for several turns, as though it had sensed something.

The Star of Eden's gravitational field trembled slightly at that moment, and a faint speck of blue light appeared at the staff's tip.

Zhang Lan's gaze passed over the lake and settled deep beneath its center. Something there was drawing his gravitational perception-something heavy and dense, buried beneath the meeting point of ice and fire.

Ice Empress stood beside him with her arms folded across her chest, her emerald gown stirred by the white mist rising from the lake.

She looked at the lake, then at the vegetation on the canyon walls, which had clearly been tended by someone, and curled her lip.

"Looks like whoever claimed this place knows a thing or two about growing plants."

Just then, a voice rang out.

"S-stop right there!"

The voice trembled a little, as though its owner had mustered every scrap of courage to shout.

"Outsiders aren't welcome here!"

The three turned toward the voice.

The speaker was a large pink flower.

Her flower head was enormous, with layer upon layer of petals. A faint pink glow radiated from her entire body, and lustrous motes of light drifted slowly deep among her stamens.

Her stem was as thick as an arm and rooted deep in the soil beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Several thick green leaves sprouted from it, faint streams of light moving through their veins.

An Aromatic Silk Beauty.

Though her voice was loud, she clearly lacked confidence.

Zhang Lan could sense the large flower's spiritual power probing cautiously toward them, then recoiling sharply the moment it touched Snow Empress's aura.

That cultivation of nearly seven hundred thousand years was, to a hundred-thousand-year plant-type soul beast, like an ant looking up at the clouds in the sky.

Yet she still did not back down. Her flower head leaned slightly forward, her petals spread as wide as possible as she assumed a defensive posture.

"This place belongs to that lord."

"Leave at once, or bear the consequences!"

Snow Empress looked at the large pink flower, the faintest trace of a smile rising at the corner of her mouth.

There was no warmth in that smile, only amusement.

"A mere hundred-thousand-year plant-type soul beast dares bar this empress's way?"

Her tone was calm, even gentle, but the crushing pressure of her lofty superiority poured out without restraint.

The Aromatic Silk Beauty's petals visibly shuddered. Several of her outer petals drew inward, as though struck by a cold wind.

Still, she forced herself to hold her ground, her flower head facing Snow Empress, the motes among her stamens flickering much faster than before.

Then another voice rang out.

"Youyou, why waste words on them?"

A fiery red plant poked her head out from the side.

Her leaves flared like flames, their edges slightly curled. Scorching heat radiated from her entire body, making the surrounding air shimmer.

She was only about half as tall as the Aromatic Silk Beauty, but her bearing was fiercer. With her leaves spread, she resembled a bird with its feathers bristling.

An Infernal Delicate Apricot.

"If that lord didn't send them, just attack!"

Snow Empress raised an eyebrow slightly.

She had seen plenty of soul beasts.

In the Far North, hundred-thousand-year plant-type soul beasts did not even qualify to approach her territory.

Yet here in Sunset Forest, someone actually dared utter the word "attack" to her face.

The enemy not only refused to surrender, but dared launch an attack against her?

Such insolence.

She gave a cold snort, soul power gathering furiously in her palm.

The temperature plummeted. A layer of white frost rapidly formed over the colorful vegetation on the canyon walls, and the small puddles underfoot froze into solid lumps of ice in an instant.

A crystal-clear ice sword took shape in her hand. Its blade was completely transparent, with delicate patterns of ice flowing within. Its tip pointed at the ground, cold air spilling silently from its edge.

The Infernal Delicate Apricot's leaves abruptly contracted for a moment.

Her fire attribute could barely raise its head before Snow Empress's chill. The ring of scorching heat around her was compressed into a thin layer hugging the ground.

Yet she still held her ground, her fiery red leaves stretched taut like a fully drawn bow.

Beside her, the Aromatic Silk Beauty said quietly:

"Apricot, maybe... maybe we should talk this over..."

"Talk over what?"

The Infernal Delicate Apricot's voice was sharp and clear.

"That lord told us before he left."

"No one gets in except the person he chose!"

"Have you forgotten?"

Snow Empress did not rush to attack.

She turned her head and glanced at Zhang Lan, her meaning plain:

You decide.

Zhang Lan nodded.

Having received his signal, Snow Empress said no more.

She raised the ice sword in her hand and gave it a casual swing.

There were no dazzling lights, no exaggerated movements-just a simple swing.

A strand of sword energy shot from the blade, fine as silk and swift as streaming light, heading straight for the Aromatic Silk Beauty and the Infernal Delicate Apricot.

Wherever the sword energy passed, the air froze instantly, and a thin layer of frost formed on the ground.

The frost mark extended in a straight line, like an invisible knife scoring the surface of the ice.

The Aromatic Silk Beauty and the Infernal Delicate Apricot did not even have a chance to dodge.

The sword energy swept across the flower head. The Aromatic Silk Beauty let out a brief scream, and most of the lustrous glow coating her pink petals instantly faded.

The edges of her petals curled, like an eggplant struck by frost.