Purging the Far North's Corruption: Beneath the Rift

During that trip to the Blacksmith Village, he personally delivered the Immortal Mark Iron Hammer to Old Chen.

The old man complained that the hammer was too heavy, but after swinging it a couple of times, he didn't let go.

I keep it by my pillow every day, and even when I turn over in my sleep, I touch the hemp rope pattern on the hammer handle.

Nan Feng stayed in the village for one night, helping Tie Zhu straighten out the last few joints of that Soul Power training method.

They also gave Old Chen three jars of strong liquor and placed them under the stove.

Old Chen stood at the village entrance to see him off. He was over seventy years old, but his back was straighter than Tie Zhu. He shouted at Nan Feng's back.

"Bring your granddaughter-in-law next time you come back! Don't always wander around alone!"

Nan Feng didn't turn her head, but raised her hand and waved. The red ribbon on her left wrist fluttered in the wind.

Seven days after Bibi Dong's resurrection, Nan Feng returned to Heaven Dou City.

Ye Lingling stayed in the city to organize the pharmacopoeia. Before leaving, Nan Feng called Bibi Dong out of the Tower Spirit Space and asked her to learn the basics of Soul Power conditioning from Ye Lingling.

Bibi Dong stood next to Ye Lingling, dressed in plain white, her hair casually tied up with a wooden hairpin. Her submissive demeanor left Ye Lingling stunned for several seconds before she realized who this was.

"She used to be the Pope." Ye Lingling's tone was very flat, Nan Feng could tell there was something stuck in her throat.

"Now it's my turn to water the flowers."

Nan Feng left after speaking, not giving Ye Lingling a chance to ask further questions.

Heading north from Heaven Dou City, he used the Shrinking the Ground to an Inch.

With each step, he left a trail of afterimages on the official road. The Soul Master caravans by the roadside only saw a streak of cyan-gold light gliding past the edge of their vision, unable to even make out the faces.

In just three days, he jumped from the foot of the imperial city to the edge of the Far North permafrost.

The biting wind from the icy plain crashed against him, carrying a cold, fishy smell, like rust soaking in ice water. Nan Feng stood still in the wind, his breath condensing into white mist. He tightened his collar.

The hairband on her left wrist snapped loudly in the wind. Old Huai's voice emerged from the Tower Spirit Space.

"Thirty miles further north, the aura is even stronger. That girl, Ice Empress, is losing her essence at an increasingly rapid pace. If you had arrived six months later, she might have already fallen below the 400,000-year threshold."

Nan Feng didn't reply, but quickened her pace.

The snow-covered wasteland was barren, with hardly any trace of Soul Beast. Occasionally, a few Icefield Wolf would peek out from behind snowdrifts, sniffing the Primordial World Immortal Power emanating from him.

It didn't even dare to bark; it tucked its tail between its legs and ran away.

Nan Feng used his Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light to scan the depths of the Far North.

The aura of Ice Empress flickered dimly like a lamp running out of oil in the deepest part of the ice field. Beside it was another aura, clear, quiet, and as steady as the deep water beneath a thousand-year-old layer of ice.

It's the Snow Empress.

Both are present.

Nan Feng withdrew his spiritual light and headed towards the Ice Valley.

The entrance to the Ice Valley was different from when he first came. Nan Feng stood next to the icy rock at the valley entrance where he used to sit and drink, and frowned slightly.

The once smooth, mirror-like ice surface of the ice wall is now cracked with a fine, spiderweb-like pattern. A dark purple hue seeps from within the cracks, exuding Abyssal Aura.

That stuff seeped out from the ice cracks, like a gust of wind leaking through a window crack in winter, Sisi, continuous stream.

Nan Feng reached out and pressed his hand against the ice wall. The first level of the tower lit up, and gentle Immortal Power seeped into the ice, sealing the crack.

But Nan Feng knew this was only a temporary fix. Without resolving the source problem inside Ice Valley, any attempt to seal off the outside would be futile.

"Come in when you're here."

A voice echoed from the depths of the Ice Valley. It was clean, with a touch of the hard, crisp quality characteristic of the Far North.

Snow Empress.

The Nan Feng followed the sound deeper inside. The Ice Valley was warmer than outside, with the ice walls on both sides blocking most of the cold wind. The snow at the bottom of the valley was compacted, making a sound when you stepped on it.

After walking about two hundred steps, an ice platform appeared ahead.

Snow Empress stood in the center of the ice platform, her long silver-white hair cascading down to her waist, dressed in a plain white dress, her face the same color as the surrounding ice walls.

Not far behind her, on the ice platform, was a cocoon of emerald green light. The surface of the cocoon flickered, shrinking each time it dimmed, like a living heart that had stopped beating.

"She has sealed herself away." Snow Empress turned slightly to show Nan Feng the cocoon of light.

"The Abyssal Aura seeped in from the northern fissure, seeping into the Ice Empress's very essence along the Far North earth's veins. She couldn't suppress it herself, and didn't want me to expend my essence to bear it for her, so she sealed herself in a cocoon and began to grind herself down. It's been almost half a year now."

Nan Feng squatted down and scanned the cocoon of Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light appraisal light.

The essence of Ice Empress was shrouded in a layer of dark purple turbidity, like a tumor growing in a blood vessel, which blocked the circulation of ice-attribute Soul Power.

What's more troublesome is that the turbid energy is still penetrating deeper and has already bitten into the most core primordial crystal of the Ice Empress.

She managed to suppress it with her last bit of consciousness, preventing it from spreading.

"That stupid scorpion."

Nan Feng cursed, stood up, and dusted the ice shards off his hands.

"What's the point of sealing it in a cocoon? The Abyssal Aura's nature is parasitic and corrosive; the tighter you seal it, the more it penetrates. She's lucky she didn't kill herself after six months of this."

Snow Empress glanced at him.

Do you have a solution?

"Yes." Nan Feng placed his left hand on the surface of the light cocoon, and the Purification Power of the eighth layer of the tower flowed into the light cocoon through his palm.

"I tried it on Bibi Dong once before. Purification is a process of replacement, squeezing the Abyss turbidity out of her essence little by little and filling it in with Immortal Power."

"I burned off the stale air on the spot to prevent any future problems. It might hurt a little during the process. Just tell her not to bite her tongue."

The Snow Empress remained silent for two breaths, then walked to the other side of the cocoon and sat cross-legged, placing one hand on the cocoon wall as her icy white Soul Power seeped into it.

"I'll protect her soul; you make your move."

Nan Feng nodded. He pressed his palm down, channeling the Purification Power into the cocoon of light.

Ice Empress's instinctive reaction was ten times more intense Bibi Dong's. The light cocoon deflected a green shockwave, and Nan Feng was pushed back half a step, his feet carving two furrows on the ice.

A crack appeared on the surface of the cocoon, and a semi-transparent Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion phantom emerged from the crack, its pincers aimed directly at Nan Feng's face.

Nan Feng dodged it by tilting his head. The scorpion's stinger grazed his ear and embedded itself in the ice wall behind him, tearing off a large chunk.

"Don't move! Me!" Nan Feng shouted at Guangjian, pressing down with the power of Tower Suppression right hand to pin the scorpion's claws against the ice wall, rendering it immobile.

The cocoon trembled twice. The scorpion's phantom retreated, and a muffled, nasal female voice came from the crevice.

"You should have said so earlier... I thought it was something crawling out of the Abyss again..."

Do you think someone who crawls out of the Abyss will help you Purification?

Nan Feng didn't bother arguing with her and poured the Purification Power back in. This time, Ice Empress cooperated, and the turbid energy in her source was gradually squeezed out by the Immortal Power.

With each wisp of dark purple mist that Nan Feng expelled, a cluster of immortal fire would flick from his fingertip, instantly burning it to ashes without leaving a trace.

The stale air from the burning emitted a sour and fishy stench that lingered in the Ice Valley for the time it takes to eat a meal before dissipating.

The Snow Empress remained silent, one hand resting steadily on the cocoon wall, her Soul Power protecting the Ice Empress's primordial crystal from any tremor.

Two hours passed.

The cracks on the surface of the cocoon had all healed, and a bright green light shone through, thirty percent brighter than before. Nan Feng withdrew his hand and took two steps back.

The fabric on my back was soaked with sweat and froze solid in the cold wind of the Far North.

The cocoon of light split open from the middle, Ice Empress rolled out from inside, transforming into human form and collapsing on the ice platform, panting.

His short, emerald-green hair clung wetly to his face, which was deathly pale, and his lips were completely bloodless.

Those scorpion eyes were frighteningly bright, staring wide-eyed at Nan Feng.

"Come here," she said.

Nan Feng walked over and squatted down.

Ice Empress raised a hand, his fingers still trembling, and poked his arm.

"Do you know how stifled I've been, holed up in my cocoon for the past six months? Do you know how cold it is for the Snow Di Tian in the Far North, standing guard outside every day? Do you know—"

"I don't know," Nan Feng said.

Ice Empress choked.

"I just revived Bibi Dong, my dad just finished forging the hammer in the Blacksmith Village, and a ton of things are waiting for me in Heaven Dou City. I'm late, my bad."

Nan Feng took out a bowl of spiritual spring water diluted with the Three Lights Divine Water from the Tower Spirit Space and held it to her lips.

"Drink it. Your essence has been eroded for half a year, and even if you replenish it with Immortal Power, it will take two days to recover."

Ice Empress glared at him for three seconds, then opened her mouth, bit the rim of the bowl, and gulped it down. After finishing, she tossed the bowl aside and grabbed Nan Feng by the collar.

"If you come late again next time, I'll erect a monument at the Far North crevice that says, ' Nan Feng and dogs are not allowed.'"

Nan Feng let her tug at him, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Okay. When you erect the monument, remember to make the 'dog' character smaller, to save face for Shifang."

Ice Empress couldn't hold back and burst out laughing, which then aggravated the pain in her recently repaired core.

Snow Empress stood up beside her, walked over and put her hand on Ice Empress's shoulder.

"Stop messing around. The source just returned; if it explodes again, I won't protect you."

Ice Empress shrank back, loosened his grip on Nan Feng's collar, and muttered under his breath, "Who's making a scene?"

Snow Empress smiled slightly from an angle where Nan Feng couldn't see.

Nan Feng stood up, patted the ice shards off his backside, and glanced into the depths of the Ice Valley.

Deep inside the Ice Valley was a crack, from which dark purple turbid air was billowing out, nearly twice as wide as when he first came. He walked over and squatted in front of the crack, probing it with his Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light, exploring it for about a hundred feet into the depths.

The murky air below was as thick as ink and was still churning.

"This crack must be sealed." Nan Feng stood up and turned to look at Ice Empress and Snow Empress.

"The Ice Empress's essence was eroded because this crack wasn't sealed. Last time, I only sealed the Abyssal Outer Domain Gate at Jialing Pass; the crack in this branch in the Far North is too large. The leaking air is enough to hollow out the Soul Beast of an entire Ice Valley. If it's not sealed, you two will fall victim to it again sooner or later."

Ice Empress leaned on Snow Empress's shoulder, her face still pale, but her spirits had clearly returned, and she hummed softly.

"Then go ahead and seal it. Don't you have a tower?"

Nan Feng ignored her sarcastic remarks, flipped his palm, and a phantom of a nine-story Bronze Tower emerged from his hand, its azure-gold Immortal Mark shining brightly in the wind and snow.

He lifted the tower and pressed it upwards towards the crack—

"Town."

The tower's shadow fell. The turbid air in the crack emitted a sharp screech, and the dark purple mist was forced down three feet by the azure -Golden Immortal light.

But Nan Feng sensed something was wrong with the recoil coming from the bottom of the tower. Something was pushing upwards from deep within the crack, arching upwards with such force that the tower itself was shaking.

Old Huai's voice rose.

"There's something down there! Something alive!"

Nan Feng stared into the depths of the crack. A pair of dark red eyes opened in the turbid air, meeting his gaze across the hundred-foot-long black mist.

The thing grinned, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Master of the Tower... you've finally arrived."

The Ice Empress and the Snow Empress stood up at the same time. The Snow Empress unleashed her Heavenly Snow Woman Martial Soul, filling the entire Ice Valley with extreme cold. The Ice Empress gritted her teeth and summoned the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, its tail raised high.

"What is this?!"

Nan Feng stared into those dark red eyes. The red ribbon on her left wrist fluttered, and all nine floors of the tower lit up simultaneously.

He exhaled a puff of white breath, his voice as calm as the surface of ice.

"The watchdog of the Abyssal Outer Domain. The one my ancestor didn't manage to kill all back then."

Deep within the crack, those dark red eyes blinked again.