Perfected Qingxuan's gaze flickered slightly, a barely perceptible ripple appearing in his timeless calm. But he quickly suppressed it, his voice remaining indifferent. "The past is gone. I have come today for the Source of Chaos. Step aside, I will not harm you."
The Demon Venerable shook his head. "I can't. I have to keep my promises."
" Snow Empress?" Perfected Qingxuan's gaze passed over the Demon Venerable and landed on the golden figure halfway up the mountain. A complex expression flickered in his eyes for a moment. "She was trained by me, I know her. Her body can't withstand the complete seal. Whether you protect her or shield her from others, she ultimately can't hold out until the seal is complete. Snow Empress, don't you understand?"
The last sentence was spoken to the mountainside. Though the voice was soft, it clearly reached Snow Empress's ears.
Snow Empress paused for a moment. She had completed the twelfth seal, and golden runes were densely Entanglement around the black stone, suppressing most of the Source of Chaos's turmoil. However, her body was also on the verge of exhaustion, her vision was blurring, her internal organs were in excruciating pain, and every breath carried the smell of blood.
She looked up at the moon-white figure on the mountaintop. She knew that figure all too well. From as far back as she could remember, it was this person who taught her cultivation, taught her principles, and taught her how to distinguish between good and evil. She once revered him like a god, until she discovered something she shouldn't have.
"Master," Snow Empress's voice was soft, yet chillingly calm, "I know about the Chaos Pearl from back then."
Perfected Qingxuan's body trembled almost imperceptibly.
"I know that two of the three fragments are in the Council of Elders's private treasury. I know that you tacitly approved of it. I know that your seclusion these past years wasn't entirely for comprehending the Great Dao, but rather for refining the power of one of the fragments. Master, you want to use the Power of Chaos to break through the bottleneck beyond the Nascent Soul stage, right?"
The desolate mountain was deathly silent. Poison Elder, Fire Barbarian, and Shadow Phantom Demon exchanged bewildered glances upon hearing these words, clearly unaware of such secrets within the Heavenly Dao Alliance. The Demon Venerable slowly lowered his crossed swords, a smile reappearing on his lips, this time carrying an air of "See? I told you so."
Perfected Qingxuan remained silent for a long time. Then he sighed, a sigh filled with extremely deep and heavy emotions, as if something that had been suppressed for nearly a hundred years had finally been unearthed.
" Snow Empress, you're right. I am indeed doing that. But you must understand, I've cultivated for nearly a thousand years, and been stuck at the bottleneck of the Spirit Transformation Stage for three hundred years, unable to make any progress. Do you know what that feels like? It's like groping along the walls of a pitch-black room for three hundred years, never finding the exit. The Power of Chaos is certainly dangerous, but it's also the only thing that gives me a glimmer of hope."
"So you're going to risk the lives of the entire continent?" The Snow Empress's voice finally trembled slightly. "You should know better than anyone that once the seal on the Source of Chaos fails, Demonic Qi will spread throughout the entire Eight Desolations. At that time, it won't be a matter of repairing a single boundary. The catastrophe of a thousand years ago will repeat itself."
Perfected Qingxuan's expression darkened. "I know what I'm doing. I only need a small portion of the Power of Chaos; as for the rest, I will naturally reseal it. Snow Empress, in your current physical condition, sealing the Source of Chaos will take at least three days, but you can't hold on for three days. Let me do it."
"No." Snow Empress's answer was crisp and decisive.
" Snow Empress!" Perfected Qingxuan's voice deepened, and the oppressive aura of a Spirit Transformation Stage cultivator suddenly spread out, causing the entire desolate mountain to tremble slightly, and rocks to tumble down with a crash. "Don't be so stubborn! Do you think you can complete the seal with your meager remaining Spiritual Power? You're courting death!"
"I know." Snow Empress raised her head, looking directly into her master's eyes. A trace of golden blood still clung to the corner of her mouth, but her eyes shone with an astonishing light. "I know I can't hold on for three days. But I also know that if I give it to you, you will be unable to resist absorbing its power. You haven't made any progress in three hundred years; I understand how intense that yearning is. So I cannot give it to you. Even if it means death, I will seal it away in front of you."
Perfected Qingxuan's chest heaved violently. A rare expression of near-anger appeared on his aged face, but there was something deeper mixed in with that anger—he had taught the Snow Empress for three hundred years, and she had always been obedient and well-behaved, never contradicting him like this before.
The Demon Venerable suddenly spoke, " Snow Empress, how is your sealing progressing?"
The twelfth floor is complete. Twenty-one more floors are needed.
"Twenty-one layers..." The Demon Venerable calculated silently for a moment, then said in a low voice, "That's indeed too late. Your sealing technique has thirty-three layers; at your current speed, three days would be considered fast. But this Xuan Zi won't really give you three days."
Snow Empress gritted her teeth. "Then what's your plan?"
The Demon Venerable suddenly turned around and looked at the Snow Empress. Despite the distance of hundreds of feet and the dust and rubble covering the mountain, his gaze seemed to penetrate all obstacles and landed directly on her face. There was a moment of hesitation in his dark eyes, but it quickly turned into determination.
" Snow Empress, I'll help you."
"You just said you would protect me."
"Not enough." The Demon Venerable shook his head. "The protectors can't stop this old man in the Spirit Transformation Stage. I mean, I'll directly help you seal the Source of Chaos. I saw the Xuan Zi use your thirty-three-layer sealing technique once back in the Wuji Grotto-Heaven, and I remembered thirty percent of it. You teach me, and I'll fill in the gaps. With the two of us sealing together, the time will be reduced by more than half. You can still hold out for a day and a half, that's enough."
Perfected Qingxuan suddenly looked up. " Little Zun, you—"
"Old man," the Demon Venerable turned to look at him, a strange chuckle suddenly creeping into his voice, "Haven't you always wanted to know what I realized back in the Wuji Grotto-Heaven? Well, I'll tell you now. What I realized was—some things power can't give you. You can cultivate for a thousand years and still not let go of that obsession, but after fighting with myself, I figured it out. Power can be cultivated again, but if you can't let go of your obsession, you're no longer human."
After saying this, he flashed and landed three feet away from the Snow Empress. He stretched out his right hand, palm up, fingers spread. "Come, tell me the secret to the sealing seal. Don't dawdle, we don't have much time."
Snow Empress was stunned. She looked at the Demon Venerable's face so close to hers, his handsome but pale face bearing an expression of seriousness she had never seen before. She suddenly remembered that the last time they met, they were fighting to the death, and he had almost driven her to the brink of despair over the Chaos Pearl. And now, this man was standing right beside her, his right hand outstretched, the wound on his shoulder still bleeding, the green mist on the claw marks on his back still lingering, yet he said he would help her seal the Source of Chaos.
"Why are you helping me?" Snow Empress asked in a low voice.