GA: Chapter 133: The Glacial Phoenix Blooms — Haicheng Encased in Ice!
Every mutated sea creature in Haicheng went still at the same moment. A soul-crushing pressure bore down on all of them simultaneously — and countless creatures began to tremble uncontrollably, fear surfacing in their eyes.
"Screech!"
Before any of them could react, a second overwhelming pressure followed right behind the first. A radiant ice-blue figure swept through the sky above, and the temperature of Haicheng began dropping at a visible rate.
Crack.
Crack.
...
Ice-blue light surged across the ground.
In an instant, towering pillars of ice erupted in every direction. The mutated sea creatures on the streets were frozen into ice sculptures before they could mount even the faintest resistance.
"This is..."
"Chen Bing has arrived."
Qin Tian felt the absolute cold settle over everything, and despite himself, the corner of his mouth curved upward.
His own fire was too destructive — ill-suited for large-scale deployment. Unleashed without restraint, the survivors would be just as likely to die in the flames as the creatures would.
Chen Bing's ability had none of that drawback.
As long as the ice sculptures remained intact, the lives preserved within them wouldn't die — they would only drift into a dreamless sleep.
Chen Bing could dispel her own ability at will. There was no risk of harming the surviving civilians.
"I'll take it from here."
Chen Bing stood atop an enormous, radiant ice-blue phoenix, her voice perfectly steady.
"Screech!"
With a single beat of its wings, the Glacial Phoenix beneath her sent boundless cold sweeping across every inch of Haicheng.
Wherever it passed — towering buildings, mutated sea creatures, surviving civilians — everything was transformed into ice sculpture in the span of a heartbeat. A handful struggled for a moment, but none escaped the frost in the end.
Ten-odd minutes later, the entire city of Haicheng had become a world of ice and silence. Viewed from above, it looked like an enormous ice-blue gemstone embedded in the earth.
Radiant. Sacred.
Shatter.
As the last remaining area was claimed by the cold, the Glacial Phoenix beneath Chen Bing broke apart — dissolving into countless motes of light. Chen Bing herself went pale and dropped from the sky.
But she never reached the ground. A soft pair of arms caught her.
"Look at you. What was the point of pushing yourself this hard?"
"Do you have any idea how large Haicheng is?"
"Even with a second awakening and an Imperial Arm, freezing the entire city was never supposed to be possible."
"Those pills can restore your energy and spiritual reserves, but you can't just take them like candy."
"Couldn't you have waited for me?"
Huo Yu looked down at Chen Bing in her arms with helpless exasperation. Freezing the entire city — and doing it indiscriminately, everything and everyone all at once.
Did she think she was the Goddess of Ice?
Without her second awakening, without the Imperial Arm's assistance, without the pills keeping her reserves topped up, none of it would have been achievable.
"It was the fastest way."
Chen Bing spoke from within Huo Yu's arms, her tone utterly calm.
She could have taken it slowly — sealing one zone at a time, moving in stages. But that would have been too slow. More people would have died in the gaps.
Better to freeze everything at once without hesitation and selectively thaw survivors afterward.
All it cost her was some spiritual energy and stamina.
"How long were you watching?"
Something occurred to her. Chen Bing gave Huo Yu a faintly suspicious look.
Her strength and Huo Yu's were comparable — with Qin Tian the strongest of the three, and thanks to the Flame Dragon Steed's speed, he'd arrived roughly half an hour ahead of her.
But between herself and Huo Yu, there should have been no gap. Even if she was being generous toward herself, she wouldn't have arrived more than a few minutes earlier.
And Hangzhou was closer to Haicheng than Tianhai was.
Not to mention — Huo Yu had caught her at almost the exact moment her spiritual energy gave out.
"Less than ten minutes."
Huo Yu answered straightforwardly.
"You'd already frozen half the city by the time I got here. I just wanted to see if you'd actually pull off the whole thing."
"I have to say — genuinely impressive."
"Though I still can't believe you managed to choke down those pills. That takes real willpower."
That part, Huo Yu was sincerely in awe of.
In all the time since she'd received them, she hadn't touched a single one — except for the pills that enhanced cultivation speed or sharpened the five senses. Everything else? Absolutely not.
They tasted horrible. Honestly comparable to the flavor of the Flare-Flare Fruit on its worst day.
"If you were in my position, you'd have done the same."
Chen Bing spoke without inflection.
She knew Huo Yu's character well enough. Even as she complained about the taste, if their positions had been swapped — she would have done exactly the same thing.
Meanwhile, as Chen Bing and Huo Yu exchanged words, outside the walls of Haicheng—
The military forces and ability users who had come from surrounding cities to provide support stared at the city, now completely encased in ice, their eyes flickering with something between disbelief and awe.
This was... somewhat different from the situation report they'd been given.
"Receiving orders — the immediate crisis in Haicheng has been resolved. All living things have been frozen and rendered unconscious by Comrade Chen Bing's ability."
"One group will begin reconstruction of the defensive walls and restore the fortifications."
"Another group will conduct a sweep of Haicheng to ensure no stragglers have been missed."
"The remaining personnel will wait for Comrade Qin Tian — he is en route with a group of survivors he retrieved. They are to be escorted to the safe zone immediately."
Less than a minute after those words were spoken, Qin Tian and the others emerged from the frozen city.
"They're in your hands."
"Understood."
Qin Tian didn't linger for conversation. Even with Haicheng frozen by Chen Bing's ability, the crisis wasn't truly over.
Compared to the sea creatures — terrifying in number but modest in individual strength — it was the enormous shadow from the video, the one that had shattered Haicheng's defenses in a single blow, that truly warranted their full attention.
The soldiers and Bureau members looked at the blood soaking the survivors' clothing and the missing limbs on some of them, and couldn't suppress a quiet sigh.
Who could have imagined that in the span of a single night, a city as stable and peaceful as Haicheng would be reduced to this.
Though there was one exception standing among the survivors who seemed entirely unscathed.
They simply assumed Ye Changtian had been lucky — fortunate enough to avoid the mutated creatures entirely.
"ROARRR!"
Deep beneath the ocean's surface, the enormous dark shape swung its tentacles in sweeping arcs. Something seemed to have caught its interest — a golden gleam of excitement flickered in those vast, ancient pupils.
It shifted, turning its bulk toward Haicheng, and began moving closer.
At that same moment, Qin Tian, Huo Yu, and Chen Bing all seemed to sense something simultaneously. Their expressions grew heavy.
"That thing. It's coming."
Qin Tian stared out toward the ocean and spoke with quiet gravity.
"That presence is revolting. It feels like meeting something that exists specifically to be my enemy."
"No. I'm killing it today. If I don't, I'll lose my mind."
Huo Yu dropped down beside Qin Tian with Chen Bing still in her arms, her mood shifting toward something restless and irritable.
She couldn't explain it — but instinctively, that presence made her skin crawl. Something about it disgusted her at a fundamental level. And alongside that disgust was an inexplicable, overwhelming desire to destroy it.