Yu Sicheng's residence stood beside South Pool, one of Great Ming's eight pools, broad and deep as a small lake.
The thick, solid ice broke with a thunderous crash under the impact. Shards flew, cold water surged in waves, and scattered snow billowed like smoke. Yu Sicheng held the chi's tail firmly, his next fist already clenched inside his sleeve... but the next moment, the blood-drenched scales in his hand suddenly grew faintly insubstantial.
The two men and the chi plunged into the lake with a crash. Yu Sicheng tightened his grip again, only to find his arms empty.
Amid the churning ice water, the youth and the Black Chi vanished into thin air. Only countless bubbles and chips of ice floated swiftly upward, like a snowfall turned upside down.
His gold-and-purple robe drifted down underwater as Yu Sicheng's body slowly stilled.
He leaped lightly back onto the bank. Water could not penetrate his treasured robe and streamed down its hem around his feet. He lowered his eyes to the enormous hole in the ice, where only large chunks of ice still rocked on the surface.
The Jiaozhu Powder they had swallowed at the start of the fight had truly taken effect. The Mirage Realm had admitted them.
Yu Sicheng raised a hand to touch the wound at his throat, still bleeding without pause, and said coolly, "Courting death."
The gold-and-purple robe dissolved and vanished in the distorted light. The surrounding water suddenly grew utterly still, as though they had plunged into a realm undisturbed for a thousand years. For a time, only their bodies disturbed it.
The Black Chi did not pause, continuing to wind deeper down. Without distinguishing directions, the chi simply swam elsewhere as fast as possible. There was not a sound here, and the