pjbooks Chapter 134 Resurrection
Chapter 134 Resurrection
The temperature of the spherical space plummeted the instant the icy blue crystal shattered.
The moment the silver-haired girl opened her eyes, all the suspended ice crystals in the entire void froze simultaneously. Her pupils were ice-blue, exactly the same as those of the Ice Profound Immortal Emperor, but purer, more ancient, and closer to some ineffable essence. For the first second after opening her eyes, they were empty; thirty thousand years of slumber had left her consciousness stuck in the distant past, like a machine that hadn't been used for too long, needing time to restart.
The next second, her pupils focused.
In the third second, she saw Jiang Chen.
"You..." Her lips moved, uttering a hoarse, almost inaudible syllable. Having not spoken for thirty thousand years, her vocal cords were so stiff they could barely vibrate, yet her voice still managed to escape from that body frozen for so long, carrying a crisp sound like ice cracking, "...not Bing Xuan."
"Ancestor Bingxuan has fallen." Jiang Chen knelt down on one knee, his right hand resting on the ice-blue ring on her left ring finger. True essence surged from his fingertip, resonating with the remaining will within the ring. In that instant, his consciousness was pulled into an extremely ancient spiritual space.
The image flashed in the void.
Thirty thousand years ago, the Ice Profound Immortal Emperor stood atop the highest point of the Antarctic ice sheet, his hands clasped behind his back, his long, silvery-white hair fluttering wildly in the frigid winds of the polar night. Floating before him were two enormous, ice-blue crystals, each containing two sleeping maidens. A faint smile played on his lips, as if he were bidding a final farewell to these two unseen juniors.
"You were possessed by fragments of chaos, and should have been devoured by the will of chaos within three days. I used the power of ice to freeze you deep within the ice, allowing the power of ice to slowly seep into your souls, suppressing the erosion of the will of chaos." His voice was soft, yet clearly pierced through the crystalline ice, landing deep within the sleeping consciousness of the two girls. "How long this process will take, I don't know. Perhaps three thousand years, perhaps thirty thousand years, perhaps there will never be a result. But if one day, someone comes to Antarctica with the Primordial Sword, breaks the ice, and awakens you, then it means—"
He paused for a moment, and the smile on his lips deepened.
"—The fragments of chaos have been completely purified. You are no longer half-human, half-chaos beings. You are human."
The fragments of memory dissipated. Jiang Chen opened his eyes and looked at the silver-haired girl in front of him who had just awakened from a 30,000-year slumber. Her eyes had become clear from their emptiness, and his face, the six-colored flame pattern on the palm of his right hand, and the Primordial Sword floating beside him were reflected in the depths of her icy blue pupils.
"Ancestor Bingxuan said you are human." Jiang Chen stood up, sheathed the Primordial Sword in his palm, and looked at her. "What are your names?"
The silver-haired girl remained silent for a long time. She looked down at her hands, at the slowly rotating ball of icy blue light in her palms—a remnant left after the Chaos Spiritual Root had been purified by the power of Ice Profound, possessing both the purity of the Chaos Origin and the coldness of the Ice Profound Power. Her lips moved slightly, as if recalling a name that had been forgotten for thirty thousand years.
"Bing... Bingli." Her voice was still trembling when she said those two words, but it was much steadyer than before. "The name given to me by the Ice Profound Ancestor. He said that I am a piece of glass born from ice."
Jiang Chen nodded, his gaze shifting to the melting, icy blue crystal on his right.
Most of the ice layer on the crystal's surface had peeled away, revealing the complete figure of the black-haired girl inside. Her face was even more striking than Bing Li's, with an innate air of heroism that hadn't faded even in her slumber. Her left hand was still pressed against the inner wall of the crystal, her fingers slightly bent, as if trying to push open this cage. The white light in her right palm grew brighter and more intense as the crystal melted, as if sensing the outside world and awakening from its long hibernation.
The moment the crystal shattered completely, the black-haired girl opened her eyes.
Her pupils were black, pure black, without any other color, like two bottomless ancient wells. But unlike the Demon Ancestor's chaotic black pupils that devoured everything—deep within her black pupils, a faint, icy blue light flickered. That was the mark that the power of ice magic had planted deep within her soul, and even after thirty thousand years, that light had not been extinguished.
Her gaze swept over Jiang Chen, over the Primordial Sword, over Bing Li, and finally landed on the ice layer on the spherical dome that had been repaired by the Primordial Sword intent. She remained silent for a long time, so long that Bing Li thought she was still not fully awakened by the erosion of the Chaos Fragments.
Then she spoke. Her voice was colder and harder than Bing Li's, like the cracking sound of ice breaking under heavy pressure.
"Xuanming. That's the name given to me by the Ice Ancestor. He said, Xuan is the color of the sky, and Ming is the abyss of night. I am ice born from the darkness."
Jiang Chen looked at the two girls who had awakened from 30,000 years ago, at the remnants of the chaotic spiritual roots in their palms that had been purified by the power of ice and mystery, and at the bewilderment and determination in their eyes that had transcended the long years, and remained silent for a moment.
"Before his death, Ancestor Bingxuan said that you are two fragments, but also two people. Your spiritual roots are chaotic spiritual roots, but they have been purified by the power of Bingxuan. The chaotic power within you now is not the same as the chaotic power of the Demon Ancestor. Your power is the Bingxuan Chaos, which Ancestor tailored for you over 30,000 years."
He raised his right hand, and the Primordial Sword emerged from his palm, its six stars on the hilt slowly rotating. The ice-blue star suddenly lit up at that moment, resonating strongly with the ice-blue light in Bing Li and Xuan Ming's palms.
"From this moment forward, you are students of Qingyun Academy. You will inherit the legacy of Ancestor Bingxuan."
The blizzard on the Antarctic ice sheet resumed falling on the third day after Bingli and Xuanming awoke.
This time, however, the wind and snow were no longer the eternal rulers of Antarctica. Before leaving the spherical space, Jiang Chen used his Primordial Sword Intent to carve a thousand-mile-long, icy-blue sword mark across the Antarctic ice sheet. The sword mark stretched from the ruins of the Ice Profound Immortal Emperor all the way to the coastline, cleaving the entire continent in two. Fine icy-blue runes flowed along the edges of the sword mark, each rune breathing and pulsating slowly, forever leaving the will of the Ice Profound Immortal Emperor, dormant for thirty thousand years, on this icy plain.
"From today onwards, the area within a thousand miles of the Antarctic ice sheet will be designated as a special protected area of Qingyun Academy." Jiang Chen stood at the edge of the ice mark, watching the icy blue sword light that stretched across the sky and earth slowly disappear into the clouds in the blizzard. His voice was calm yet firm. "The remains of Ancestor Bingxuan will be buried here."
Bingli stood half a step behind him, her long, silvery-white hair swaying gently in the polar night wind. She was wrapped in a thick, bright orange down jacket borrowed from the research station, which looked like a moving flame in the eternal darkness. She looked down at the icy-blue light in her palm, which glowed faintly in the polar night, casting a play of light and shadow on her face.
"Thirty thousand years ago, Ancestor Bingxuan stood here and sealed Xuanming and me into the ice. He said that if someone came to rescue us one day, it would mean that the fragments of chaos had been completely purified." She raised her head, her icy blue pupils fixed on Jiang Chen's back, her voice soft yet exceptionally clear, "You are that person. You are Ancestor Bingxuan's successor?"
"I am a seventh-generation disciple of the Qingyun Sect." Jiang Chen turned around and looked at her. "Ancestor Bingxuan was one of the founding ancestors of the Qingyun Sect. His Dao Fruit has been integrated into the Primordial Sword, and his legacy will be inherited by you."
Bing Li remained silent for a moment. Then she knelt down on one knee, placed her right hand on her chest, and performed an extremely ancient salute—the etiquette of disciples paying respects to their masters in the ancient times of the cultivation world, which had been lost for tens of thousands of years when Jiang Chen transmigrated to the cultivation world.
"Bingli greets Senior Brother."
Xuanming stood behind her, not kneeling. She simply raised her right hand, fingers spread, and the icy blue light in her palm suddenly shone brightly in the blizzard, repelling all the wind and snow within a hundred paces. Deep within her black pupils, that single point of icy blue light flickered for a moment.
"Senior brother." She said one word, her voice colder than Bing Li's, but the weight in that word was no less than Bing Li's.
Jiang Chen looked at them, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Let's go. Back to the academy."
When the special plane took off from the Antarctic research station, the polar night had lasted for four whole months. Bingli and Xuanming sat in the back of the cabin, looking through the porthole at the white continent below being divided by icy blue sword marks, silent as two ice sculptures. In their 30,000-year slumber, they had lost too much—family, friends, sect, and an era. But they had gained something else: a place they could return to.
The Spirit Gathering Array of Qingyun Academy automatically adjusted its operating parameters the moment the special plane landed at Jiangzhou Airport. The Primordial Sword Intent sensed the approaching Ice Profound Power, and the ice-blue star at the core of the array suddenly lit up, dyeing the entire academy's light shield from pale gold to a two-tone blend of ice blue and pale gold.
Wang Kai stood at the main entrance of the academy, looking up at the changing light shield above him, his mouth agape in an "O" shape. Shen Qingxue stood beside him, her icy blue eyes reflecting the flowing icy blue runes on the light shield, a complex emotion flashing deep within her pupils—her ice-type spiritual power was resonating with that icy mystic power, their frequencies perfectly synchronized.
"The two people Brother Chen brought back share the same origin as your ice-type spiritual power," Wang Kai said, turning to look at Shen Qingxue. "And they're more than one level stronger than you."
"I know." Shen Qingxue withdrew her gaze and looked at her right palm. The icy blue spiritual power flowed between her fingers, several times more solid than it had been three months ago, but in the face of the icy Xuan power pressing down from the sky, it was like a drop of water in the face of an entire ocean. "The icy Xuan power that the Ice Xuan Immortal Emperor refined over 30,000 years, my cultivation is not even worthy of carrying his shoes."
"So what do you plan to do?"
Shen Qingxue did not answer. She clenched her fist, and icy blue spiritual energy exploded between her fingers, causing several cracks to appear on a bluestone slab beneath her feet.
By the time the chartered plane landed at Jiangzhou Airport, it was completely dark. Jiang Chen was the first to step off the gangway. He had changed back into his dark blue Jiangzhou College uniform, the hem of which fluttered gently in the night breeze. His right hand was in his pocket, and his left hand held an insulated bag—containing freeze-dried Antarctic krill that Zhou Mu, the station chief of the Antarctic research station, had given him, saying that his mother might like to make soup with it.
Bingli and Xuanming followed behind him. They had changed out of the antique robes from 30,000 years ago and into the windbreakers and hiking boots that the research station had temporarily provided. Bingli's long, silver-white hair was tied into a low ponytail with a black elastic band, hanging down her back, the ends swaying gently in the night breeze. Xuanming's black hair was loose, the ends almost reaching her waist, gleaming coldly under the streetlights.
Shen Qingxue was the first to come forward. She walked up to Bing Li, stopped, and looked directly into Bing Li's equally icy blue eyes. After a moment of silence, she reached out her hand.
"Shen Qingxue. Instructor of the Physical Cultivation Class at Qingyun Academy. Ice-type Awakener, S-rank."
Bing Li looked down at the hand extended in front of her, remained silent for a moment, and then extended her hand as well. The moment their hands clasped together, two icy blue powers lit up simultaneously—when Shen Qingxue's ice-type spiritual power came into contact with the ice-type profound power in Bing Li's palm, it did not repel or suppress it, but rather merged naturally like two rivers from the same source flowing into the same sea.
"Bing Li. Chaotic Spiritual Root, Ice Profound Chaos." Bing Li released her hand, looking at the wisp of ice-blue light still flowing in Shen Qingxue's palm, and the corners of her mouth slightly turned up. "Your ice-type spiritual power is quite pure. But in Antarctica, you won't last a single breath."
Shen Qingxue wasn't angry. She simply withdrew her hand, watching the wisp of icy blue light slowly dissipate in her palm, then raised her head to look into Bing Li's icy blue pupils, which were colder, deeper, and more ancient than her own.
"Then teach me."
Bingli looked at her, the smile on her lips deepening. "Okay."