Chapter 1227 Silence

Luo Li clearly felt that the turbulent conflict in his body suddenly subsided, and was replaced by a bottomless, almost dead torrent of sadness.

The chaotic power she brought in was still carefully guarding his precarious balance, but her heart was also aching violently because of the faint emotion transmitted across the icy abyss.

Finally, a very subtle change appeared on Su Qingyue's icy face.

Her gaze lingered on the condensed shadow for a moment, and a complex and indistinguishable glimmer flashed across the depths of her ice-blue eyes.

Was it a remembrance? A sigh? Or perhaps a touch of affection for this stubborn remnant soul?

No one knows.

Immediately, the slight ripple was covered by a deeper coldness.

At this moment, the dark blue ice crystal trembled slightly again.

The curled-up, blurry female figure at the core of the ice crystal seemed to have exhausted all her strength as she tried to sit up very slowly, bit by bit.

Her movements were so difficult that every slight movement caused the edge of the shadow to ripple violently like water waves, as if it would collapse in the next second.

But she persisted stubbornly, facing the direction of Di Xuanming.

Finally, she raised her face.

Although it was still blurry, as if separated by a layer of flowing ice water, the position of those eyes seemed to have condensed the last light of the remnant soul, penetrating the barrier of ice and looking straight at Di Xuanming.

No sound, no words.

There was only a clearer and more turbulent torrent of emotions that surged across the icy abyss.

It was a deep longing, a piercing guilt, an endless sadness, the heartbreak of seeing one's closest relatives grow up but fall into a vortex of pain, and the persistence of a remnant soul burning out its last bit of strength in the eternal silence and ice to confirm his existence.

The emotion was so strong, so pure.

It ignored the dangerous power in Di Xuanming's body, ignored Luo Li's protection, and even ignored Su Qingyue's vast icy pressure. It was like the gentlest knife and the heaviest hammer, smashing hard into Di Xuanming's heart.

The corners of Emperor Xuanming's eyes turned slightly red, his tall body shook violently, his knees softened, and he actually knelt heavily on one knee towards the direction of the abyss.

Ice chips flew everywhere, and spider-web-like cracks appeared on the hard black ice platform caused by his kneeling.

Luo Li stood beside him and did not help him.

She knew that any touch at this moment would be a disturbance.

She just stood there quietly, her eyes slightly red, the power of chaos transformed into the softest barrier, silently isolating her from any disturbance that might be caused to her by the outside world, and silently enduring the great sadness transmitted from the other side of the ice abyss.

Su Qingyue watched the scene quietly.

She was not urging, nor was she impatient, but her plain white dress seemed to be stained with an indescribable loneliness under the deadly ice-blue light of the Soul Condensing Abyss.

She looked at Di Xuanming's back, and saw the shadow in the ice crystal fluctuate more violently because of his sadness, almost disintegrating, but then stubbornly re-condensing, persistently "looking" at him.

Time, in this frozen space and time, seems to have meaning.

After an unknown amount of time, Di Xuanming stared at the shadow, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out.

The shadow in the ice crystals seemed to understand his silence.

The blurry outline raised its hand extremely slowly.

No, it can't even be called a hand, it's just a more concentrated ball of light and shadow.

The light and shadow moved very hard and tremblingly towards Di Xuanming.

Crossing the hundred-foot ice abyss, crossing the boundary between life and death, and crossing the long time.

A mother's most instinctive and desired touch to her lost children.

Di Xuanming's body tensed up instantly, he held his breath, his red eyes fixed on the approaching light and shadow, as if he wanted to carve it into the depths of his soul.

The light and shadow extended extremely slowly, and each advance made the shadow itself dimmer.

Just as it was about to touch the edge of the ice crystal, as if it was about to actually break out of the dark blue cage,

The light and shadow suddenly shook violently, like a candle in the wind, and most of it suddenly dissipated.

The shadow let out an invisible wail, and its entire outline instantly became thin and transparent, almost disappearing completely.

“No——!” Di Xuanming growled and subconsciously rushed forward regardless of the consequences.

"Don't move!" Luo Li and Su Qingyue's voices sounded almost at the same time, with unquestionable severity!

A point of extreme ice-blue cold light instantly condensed at Su Qingyue's fingertips, pointing at the dark blue ice crystal in the distance.

A pure and vast icy force with absolute protective will was instantly injected into the ice crystal.

A faint light flashed on the surface of the ice crystal, and the shadow that was on the verge of collapse seemed to be gently supported by an invisible force. It stopped dissipating and struggled to re-condense bit by bit, but it was dimmer and more illusory than before. It curled up back into the depths of the ice crystal, and the outstretched light and shadow completely dissipated.

"Her remaining soul is too weak to withstand any violent emotional fluctuations, much less the approach of the chaotic aura within you." Su Qingyue's voice was colder than the icy cold of the Soul Condensing Abyss, carrying a nearly cruel clarity. "You don't have much time. The rules of the Soul Condensing Abyss cannot be broken. You must leave in half an hour."

Her words were like ice water poured over his head, instantly freezing all of Di Xuanming's impulses and grief, leaving only the bone-chilling reality.

He knelt on the ice, looking at the shadow in the ice crystal that had become blurred and fragile again, as if it had fallen into a deep sleep. A huge feeling of powerlessness overwhelmed him.

He opened his mouth, and finally, only a broken syllable came out from the depths of his throat:

"…good…"

He no longer tried to get closer, no longer tried to touch.

He just knelt there, ice and fire reaching a temporary truce within him, both reveling in this wordless reunion.

Luo Li stood behind him, feeling the deep and silent sadness emanating from him, and sighed silently.

She looked at Su Qingyue with a complicated expression: "Saint, he... just wants to see his mother."

Su Qingyue did not answer.

She just stared quietly at the dark blue ice crystal, at the faint light and shadow inside. Deep in her ice-blue eyes, it seemed as if a glacier that had existed for thousands of years was slowly moving, and finally returned to a bottomless silence.

Her fingertips curled up almost imperceptibly.

The deathly silence of the Soul Condensing Abyss once again enveloped it, as if the silent mourning had never occurred. Only the shattered spiderweb patterns on the black ice platform and the still-undried blood-ice fragments on Emperor Xuanming's body silently spoke of the thrilling events that had just occurred.

Di Xuanming was still kneeling on one knee, his back straight, like a statue that had been repeatedly tempered by ice and fire and then forcibly cooled.

His eyes were fixed on the dark blue ice crystal in the abyss. The shadow inside had returned to its silent state and curled up, dimmer than before, as if the last bit of strength of its remaining soul had been exhausted.

The overwhelming sadness and powerlessness weighed heavily on his heart, like the icy abyss itself, almost suffocating him. But he did not try to get closer, nor did he lose control.

Su Qingyue's words, as cold as a knife, and the sight of his mother's remaining soul instantly disintegrating, were like the cruelest shackles, locking up all his foolish thoughts.

Luo Li's hand was still gently pressing on his back. The pure power of chaos was like a trickle of warm current, silently guiding the balance in his body that was on the brink of destruction, while carefully isolating his soul from the even more terrifying coldness in the depths of the Soul Condensing Abyss.

She looked at Di Xuanming's almost frozen back, her eyes filled with pity and worry.

She knew full well that the pain he was enduring now was a thousand times greater than the previous clash of power. It was the emptiness and coldness of having his heart gouged out.

Time, in this frozen space, passes at an almost cruel slowness.

The boundary of half an hour is like an ice blade hanging overhead.

Su Qingyue stood quietly by the side, her plain white dress blending in with the icy blue silence.

No emotion could be seen on her frozen face, except for her deep ice-blue eyes. Occasionally, when she glanced at the dark blue ice crystal and Emperor Xuanming, a very subtle and elusive ripple would pass through her, like an undercurrent flowing deep in the glacier.

The protective cold light that had just condensed on her fingertips had long since dissipated, returning to its absolute coldness and control.

At the last moment when the invisible hourglass was about to run out, Su Qingyue's cold voice sounded again, breaking the stagnant air:

"The time has come."

Four words, like a verdict.

Emperor Xuanming's body trembled almost imperceptibly.

He slowly withdrew his gaze, supported himself on his knees and tried to stand up, but his body was stiff and numb due to the long-term tension and huge emotional exhaustion, and he staggered.

Luo Li quickly grabbed his arm and felt something bitingly cold and hard. It was a body mixed with ice and embers of fire.

She channeled a gentler force, keeping him steady.

Emperor Xuanming took a deep breath, and the cold air he inhaled was like an ice needle that pierced his lungs again.

He forced himself to suppress the fishy sweetness in his throat and shook his head slightly at Luo Li, indicating that he was okay.

He took one last look at the ice crystals in the abyss. That look contained too many unspeakable complex emotions, and eventually turned into bottomless silence.

He turned around and never looked back.

Su Qingyue didn't look at them again. She took the lead and silently floated towards the dark blue and winding ice crystal corridor they came from.

The white skirt was like an icy spirit guiding the way, sinking back into the entrance that swallowed the light.

Luo Li supported Di Xuanming and followed closely behind.

Stepping into the ice crystal corridor again, the extreme coldness that was enough to freeze the soul surged over again.

However, this time, the reaction within Emperor Xuanming was completely different. The bloodline originating from the Frozen Throne, after resonating with his mother's residual soul in the depths of the Soul Condensing Abyss, seemed to have undergone a subtle change.

It was no longer just violent power, but also had a hint of calmness. The influx of this cold power from the same origin did not trigger a crazy counterattack of the black and red flames like before.

The bloodline belonging to the Di family in Di Xuanming's body seemed to be infected by the great sadness transmitted from the abyss. The violent hostility weakened a lot, and it showed a tired dormancy.

Ice and fire still intertwined and collided deep within his spiritual veins, bringing tearing pain, but the intensity of the destructive conflict had strangely decreased.