Ice Crystal Corridor was deserted except for two figures.
The long, monotonous, and lonely journey was agonizing!
The torment from the depths of one's heart could easily drive one mad.
You didn't know how long you'd walked, or how far you'd gone.
Every glance revealed the same scenery.
You might even think it was all an illusion.
It was terrifying.
This tranquility was like a nightmare.
Shui Bing'er's mental strength was relatively weaker.
Even the Purple-Backed Ice Centipede, a 100,000-year-old soul beast, was left with a deep psychological trauma after traversing this place, and it even became a nightmare it dared not face.
This long ice crystal cave was truly maddening.
If it weren't for the Purple-Backed Ice Centipede's unwavering assurance that there would be an end, Ma Hongjun would have considered giving up.
Beneath the desolation lay a restless calm, and the demons within were already festering.
Each day's journey through the same scenes was a form of mental torture. The demons grew stronger with each day's mental setbacks.
In this unchanging place, they tried to find something different.
With each blink, they hoped for different scenery ahead.
But it seemed that everything around them, except for the people beside them, was still.
The people beside them had become their only source of emotional support.
Conversation had run dry;
they needed to do something to break the silence, to let each other know they were still alive, not in a dream.
Shui Bing'er's eyes were unfocused as she leaned on Ma Hongjun's shoulder, breathing on him, her breath sweet and fragrant.
The warm breath whistling in his ear instantly made Ma Hongjun's calm heart pound.
His body, like a walking corpse, reacted differently.
This deathly environment still held some hope.
It seemed like things could be a little more interesting.
Slowly, on the icy road, a beautiful woman accompanied him!
Once the barrier was broken down, this desolate journey became much more interesting.
There's a way to treat pain called distraction.
Ma Hongjun and Shui Bing'er were using this method.
Traveling in such an environment was torture, a torment for the spirit.
So they shifted their attention to each other.
It was a very effective method.
Actually, Ma Hongjun had considered this before, and Shui Bing'er probably had too.
Undeniably, in this environment, even complete strangers, let alone two
people who already harbored feelings for each other, would inevitably experience something under such mental torment. This
applies to couples, whether male-male, male-male, female-female, or even different species!
It's entirely conceivable; in this situation, it's as if the whole world has shrunk to just the two of them.
Previously, Shui Bing'er was still conflicted about Ma Hongjun and Tianmeng's conversation—whether she accepted one or two, she accepted them all. She
still had a kind of emotional fastidiousness towards Ma Hongjun.
However, as her spirit weakened and she teetered on the brink of collapse, only Ma Hongjun was by her side.
This boy who had entered her heart became her sole pillar of support.
Therefore, the questions of whether she had accepted him or not were now forgotten.
She only knew that here, at this moment, the only person beside her
was him!
Here, only him.
In this vast, empty, and long ice cave, she wanted a shoulder to lean on.
She wanted something to fill that emptiness!
After the estrangement was broken down, the road ahead was no longer so mentally agonizing.
Although the environment remained the same, the passage of time and the number of years were unknown.
They had only one direction: forward!
But the initial world was like this.
The Tao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things.
This principle tells us that with one comes two, three…
Therefore, through the accumulation of numbers, Ma Hongjun and Shui Bing'er traversed their lives—a long yet short, profound yet hazy period.
Long because this time was difficult to endure, short because during this long period, they seemed to have only done one thing.
Profound because their relationship was established here, and hazy because this time was too absurd and confusing, like a dream.
In short, this unforgettable journey to the ice cave for the two of them had become the past!
When Ma Hongjun and Shui Bing'er opened their eyes again in confusion…
A special beam of light shone down,
ending their dream they didn't want to wake from.
Sunlight refracted through the body of the Ice Crystal Phoenix, creating a unique radiance, and rainbows formed amidst the drifting snowflakes.
After enduring wind and rain, they finally saw a rainbow.
The sudden burst of light made them uncomfortable.
At this moment, they were like a couple who couldn't bear the light.
They blindfolded each other to help them adjust to the light.
Ma Hongjun helped Shui Bing'er adjust her clothes,
then carried her on his back towards the Ice Crystal Phoenix sculpture.
"Give me some strength!" Shui Bing'er patted Ma Hongjun's shoulder, her voice soft.
This long journey through the ice cave had taken a toll on her spirit and body. For
this final stretch, Shui Bing'er wanted to walk out on her own.
Ma Hongjun summoned the Martial God Spear; his fifth spirit ring shone, green patterns lit up, and a ball of green light appeared, flowing into Shui Bing'er's body. The
weakened Shui Bing'er immediately regained some strength.
She seemed to sense something and summoned her Ice Phoenix Martial Soul.
A pair of ice wings unfolded perfectly, and under the rainbow's reflection, she looked like a fairy.
A colossal phoenix statue, completely encased in ice crystals, stood before a vast hall.
It was impossible to tell whether it was a real phoenix corpse or an ice sculpture.
However, Shui Bing'er, possessed by the phoenix, looked just like this ice crystal phoenix, except the ice crystal phoenix possessed a touch of divine spirit, while Shui Bing'er was full of spiritual energy.
Ma Hongjun wasn't in a hurry; he walked behind Shui Bing'er,
silently watching her .
This was an opportunity that belonged to her.
Ma Hongjun, on the other hand, had already obtained his own opportunity during his journey.
Ma Hongjun thought of a love quote from his past life:
"You are responsible for protecting the world, and I am responsible for protecting you!"
Shui Bing'er was now just like Huo Wu.
And Ma Hongjun's approach corresponded to this love quote:
"You obtain the Fire God's inheritance, and I obtain you."
"You obtain the Phoenix's inheritance, and I obtain you."
Indeed, the moment he saw the ice crystal phoenix statue, Ma Hongjun felt a sacred aura emanating from his Martial God Spear Martial Soul.
The feeling was similar to that of the Evil God Statue and the Throne of the Fire God's Legacy.
This was the inheritance site of the Phoenix God.
Unlike the Fire Domain, which was a meticulously constructed inheritance site by the Fire God,
this place was like an eye left by the Phoenix God on the Douluo Continent.
No wonder it was so difficult to get here.
Fortunately, Shui Bing'er was with Ma Hongjun.
Otherwise, either of them, regardless of who they were, wouldn't be able to reach this place alone.
And even if they did, their spirits would probably have collapsed.
At this moment, Ma Hongjun admired the Purple-Backed Ice Centipede. Only a soul beast that had cultivated for over ten thousand years and could endure loneliness could traverse such a place. Feeling
the snowflakes falling on his body, he felt warmth instead of coldness.
Ma Hongjun looked up at the sky, as if waking from a dream.
This was a celestial abyss!
Or
rather, a celestial well! He could see the faint sunlight shining down.
Shui Bing'er's body floated up, gradually becoming ethereal.
She flew towards the Ice Crystal Phoenix and actually merged into it.
However, at the moment she merged into the Ice Crystal Phoenix, the phoenix's eyes moved!
(End of Chapter)