A single "Long time no see"
melted the last traces of stagnation in the frozen world.
"Brother Zhexian!"
Skydream Ice Worm transformed into a streak of light and plunged into Li Zhexian's brow.
"It's good to have you back."
The graceful figure outlined by wind and snow circled around Li Zhexian, dancing lightly, before breaking apart into shimmering crystals that returned to his body.
Li Zhexian caught Little Yazi as it leapt toward him, then raised his eyes to meet the Ice Empress's gaze. Without prior agreement, they both inclined their heads to each other.
They froze for a moment.
Then—
they both laughed.
The group stepped through the boundless wind and snow, familiarly entering the Ice Crystal Palace.
After the initial laughter of reunion gradually subsided,
the smile at the corner of Li Zhexian's lips slowly faded.
"Brother Tian Meng, Senior Snow Empress…" he spoke softly.
"My Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones have all disappeared."
"Is this the price of rebirth?"
To Li Zhexian,
the Sword Dao was the foundation upon which he established his path.
Yet Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones were also gifts of heaven and earth.
If either were lost,
his combat strength would inevitably be greatly reduced.
"They have not disappeared."
Within his spiritual sea, the Snow Empress pondered before speaking:
"The wonder of the Ten Thousand Mirage Beast lies in the fact that its hundred-thousand-year rebirth is not repetition, but an evolution of life's very essence."
"With each rebirth, aptitude and potential leap forward, and all Spirit Abilities from past lives will likewise reappear."
Skydream Ice Worm added excitedly:
"Brother Zhexian, reclaiming your true self was the hardest trial—and you've already passed it!"
"You dissolved your body, but those powers—your Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones—did not vanish!"
"Instead, they merged into your body in a deeper, more fundamental form!"
Seeing that Li Zhexian still looked puzzled,
he continued explaining:
"In other words—
your Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones are still there."
"They simply no longer manifest externally, yet you can sense them with ease."
"They're like inner 'seeds' now, waiting for you to perceive and excavate them anew."
"Perhaps…"
"all the mysteries hidden within you will awaken completely."
"Everything that has always belonged to you will return in a far stronger form."
Li Zhexian listened quietly, the confusion on his face gradually replaced by contemplation.
He lowered his gaze to the Qinglian Sword resting across his knees, now restored to crystalline clarity, its blade reflecting the faint spiritual light in his eyes.
The power hadn't vanished—it had merely sunk deeper.
He wrapped his hand around the hilt.
The Qinglian Sword let out a soft, resonant hum.
A sense of soul-deep resonance arose unbidden.
No matter.
As long as the sword remained, the Dao remained.
He, Li Zhexian, did not fear tempering or refinement—
He only feared letting sharpness sleep forever within its sheath.
Beneath a towering ice-crystal tree laden with rime—
Li Zhexian sat cross-legged with eyes closed.
It was as though he had merged with the desolation of the Extreme North itself.
His mind became like that of an ice fisherman chiseling through frozen depths,
diving inward, searching the deepest layers of his spirit.
Within the starry sky of his consciousness,
there had once been nine brilliant sword marks engraved.
Now—
six had returned to their rightful places:
The Star Sword Intent hung like an inverted Milky Way;
the Blazing Frost Sword Intent was as if ice and fire shared one furnace;
the Clear Wind Sword Intent eroded all things without form…
Three remained—
still silent, lying beyond the far shore of his sea of consciousness.
With a pure heart, Li Zhexian used his own Sword Dao as a guide,
knocking upon his true self,
retrieving the imprints that had been lost.
A hundred meters away from the ice-crystal tree,
the Ice Empress watched the silent youth beneath it, her brows knitted.
"Excavating oneself…"
"That's hardly an easy thing to do."
The Snow Empress, having returned to Li Zhexian's spiritual sea and reassembled her spirit-soul body,
gently soothed the wriggling Little Yazi in her arms.
Her voice was as soft as snow touching the ground.
"Since his memories have already returned,"
"for Li Zhexian, it is like walking the path to heaven once more."
"The difference is…"
"He has tempered his heart in the mortal world.
His understanding of the Sword Dao has shed its superficial brilliance and grown far more solid."
"He can do it."
The Ice Empress paused slightly, unable to resist glancing sideways at the Snow Empress.
Given the Snow Empress's aloof pride,
even when facing the heavenly tribulation in the past, her confidence in herself had never seemed so… utterly unreserved.
"Great minds think alike," Skydream Ice Worm said with a grin. "The Snow Empress and I are thinking the same thing."
...
Time flowed on quietly.
Auroras painted the ice plains in dreamlike colors.
Shua—
A faint sound rang out.
Before the delighted gazes of Skydream Ice Worm, the Snow Empress, and the Ice Empress,
the sword intents that had been circulating around Li Zhexian—star, blazing frost, and the rest—were suddenly replaced by three far more extreme concepts.
A blood-red radiance seeped from his body.
The moment snowflakes fell, they were cleaved apart by that crimson edge, pulverized into ice dust too fine for the naked eye to see.
The Sword Intent of Slaughter revived.
All color around Li Zhexian gradually faded.
Ice and snow lost their luster, turning pale and corpse-like.
A power that withered all things spread outward; even the howling polar wind, once drawn into this domain, was reduced to deathly silence.
The Sword Intent of Death returned.
Then, a glassy, crystalline glow flowed across Li Zhexian's body.
Snowflakes descended—
yet automatically veered away three feet from him.
Not a leaf touched his form.
Even the domineering Sword Intent of Slaughter and Sword Intent of Death were purified.
At last—
Li Zhexian's remaining three sword intents were fully recovered.
All nine sword intents returned, circulating endlessly around him.
In an instant—
The nine-colored radiance no longer remained separate, but overlapped and stacked together, forming a slowly rotating nine-colored Sword Intent Lotus.
As the lotus petals opened and closed—
Stars flickered, blazing frost intertwined, clear winds flowed… spatial ripples spread, countless phenomena unfolding, protecting Li Zhexian at the lotus's heart.
Above his head, the towering ice-crystal tree laden with rime was nourished by the surging sword intent and began to bloom with countless "flowers" formed entirely from condensed sword qi.
Each sword-flower was unique in form:
some shimmered like stars, others wove frost and flame, still others took shape like solidified wind… each containing a distinct Sword Dao essence.
They bloomed silently across the branches,
transforming the entire ice tree into a peerless Tree of Sword Intent.
The Snow Empress's slender hand clenched unconsciously.
Sword intent condensing into substance and giving birth to myriad flowers—
such a realm of Sword Dao lay beyond her ability to fathom.
The Ice Empress's expression grew grave.
The sword-intent flowers looked dazzling,
yet every petal carried a supreme sharpness that stabbed painfully at her spiritual perception.
She had a premonition that even a single one would be difficult for her to withstand.
"Sword Dao that reaches the divine!"
"This is the Sword Dao reaching the divine realm!"
No sooner had Skydream Ice Worm cried out in excitement—
Zheng—!
A sword cry suddenly exploded through the air.
The nine-colored sword-intent lotus abruptly contracted, transforming into streams of radiant light that shot into Li Zhexian's Great Vertebra.
In an instant,
his twelve-segment spine seemed to turn into a peerless divine sword.
A resplendent sword qi of transcendent sharpness surged skyward from the Great Vertebra, piercing straight through the clouds.
The twelve segments of the spinal sword bone pierced directly toward the spirit platform.
Nine segments were already imbued with vast sword intent.
The Heaven-Piercing Sword Bone…
returned!
Yet the transformation was not over.
The sword qi that linked heaven and earth did not disperse outward; instead, it reversed and poured back into his body.
The sword bone hummed and trembled.
The deepest wellspring of vitality was fully awakened.
Marrow seas boiled, and creation was reborn.
Vast blood essence surged forth, turning into roaring rivers like the Yangtze, thundering through his limbs and meridians.
Each surge brought power akin to shedding one's mortal shell.
Under the joint tempering of endless blood essence and annihilating sword qi,
his flesh and bones glowed with a warm yet indestructible glassy radiance—flawless and pure, like an exiled immortal descending upon the mortal world.
The Flawless Glazed Body…
returned!