"Scavenger".
These three words, like the coldest curse, lingered in Su Nian's mind, dispelling all her weariness and pain, leaving only a chilling sense of crisis, as if she were being targeted by a hunter from a higher dimension. Carrying Xie Chen on her back, she trudged through the darkness of the Eternal Night Forest, each step feeling as if she were stepping on a blade, or on the second hand of a countdown.
The light of the "Concealment" ice talisman was dimmer than before, its effectiveness continuously weakening. She dared not stop for a moment, nor even expend any more energy to condense "Moonlight Dew," using all her energy to travel and to squeeze the last bit of potential from this broken body.
The surrounding scenery began to change. The towering ancient trees gradually became sparse and shorter, their branches twisting into even more bizarre shapes, as if in fear of something. The thick layer of fallen leaves on the ground was replaced by hard, frost-covered black frozen earth, and the decaying smell in the air was replaced by a pure, soul-chilling cold. The floating, eerie blue and pale green lights almost disappeared, leaving only eternal, suffocating darkness.
The temperature was plummeting. Su Nian's breath instantly turned into white mist, which then condensed into tiny ice crystals. Her thin clothing offered no protection against the bone-chilling cold, and her body trembled uncontrollably, her teeth chattering. Even her soul seemed to be frozen by the omnipresent cold.
Strangely, the icy mark deep within her soul, and the dark golden crack between Xie Chen's brows on her back, emitted a faint sense of... comfort in this environment, as if she had returned to some primordial environment.
She knew she was nearing her destination.
Finally, after passing through a stone forest composed of black ice spikes that pointed like swords to the sky, the scene before her made Su Nian stop involuntarily and gasp for breath (even though the cold air stung her lungs).
Ahead, the earth seemed to have been cleaved open by an invisible giant axe, revealing a vast, bottomless chasm of immeasurable width. The chasm's edges were sheer, black ice walls, and looking down, there was only absolute blackness that swallowed all light. There was no sound of wind, no sound of water, no sign of life, only an ancient, deathly silence, as if even time itself had been frozen.
This is the "Silent Ice Abyss".
The destination guided by ice core fragments.
However, unlike the shelter one might imagine, the atmosphere here, besides extreme cold and deathly silence, also carried a chilling sense of desolation and...ominousness, as if it originated from the ends of the earth.
Su Nian could feel that the "Concealment" ice talisman completely lost its luster when she stepped into this area, turning into ordinary ice shards and dissipating from between her fingers. It wasn't that the energy was exhausted, but rather that some rule of this place seemed to reject all external, non-original concealment effects.
They were exposed.
She gripped the last remaining "One Strike" ice talisman tightly, as if grasping at her last straw. She carefully placed Xie Chen behind a sheltered, relatively flat black rock, using her body to shield him, her eyes scanning the surroundings warily, especially the dark rift that seemed capable of swallowing everything.
Where do the "cleaners" of the Main God Space come from?
Time ticked by in the deathly silence. Each second felt like an eternity. The extreme cold relentlessly eroded Su Nian's body; her consciousness began to blur due to the low temperature and blood loss, and her eyelids felt as heavy as lead. She could only rely on her stubborn will to stare intently into the darkness.
Just as she was about to give up and her consciousness was about to sink into darkness—
An anomaly has occurred!
But it didn't come from the outside, but from Xie Chen behind her!
His body suddenly convulsed violently, and the dark gold crack between his brows burst forth with an unprecedented, dazzling light, like the sun! A vast and chaotic torrent of memories uncontrollably spread outwards from him, as if to stain this silent, icy abyss with his colors!
Su Nian was caught in the sudden mental shockwave, and her already fragile consciousness was instantly engulfed in it!
She "saw"... no longer fragmented pieces, but a relatively complete scene from ten thousand years ago:
A magnificent celestial palace floats above a sea of clouds, where the stars seem within reach.
• Side by side: She (the Ice Soul Saintess) and he (the Star Immortal Lord) stand on the Star Gazing Platform, overlooking all living beings. Their eyes meet with an unspoken understanding and deep affection.
• The sudden “divine punishment”: It was not thunder and lightning, but a silent, silver torrent composed of countless cold data streams. Wherever it passed, the laws collapsed and all things returned to nothingness.
A fierce resistance ensued: The Immortal Lord burned his very essence, drawing upon the power of the celestial stars to create a barrier, protecting her and the crumbling Immortal Palace behind him. The Holy Maiden poured out her Ice Soul Source, freezing time and space in an attempt to slow the erosion of the silver torrent.
A desperate choice: the barrier was about to shatter. The Immortal Lord turned back, gazing deeply at her, his eyes filled with reluctance, resolve, and… endless entrustment. Then, he detonated nearly all of the primordial stars. The massive explosion temporarily repelled the silver torrent, but it also tore space apart, engulfing most of his soul and power within it, sealing him as he fell (forming the underground seal of this vampire world). In his final moments, he sent a small fragment of his most vital soul, along with her icy soul imprint, to a distant dimension where the power of the main god space was relatively weak…
• The Supreme God's "Recycling": A cold system notification sounded before her (the Saintess's) consciousness dissipated: "...High-dimensional energy body (Immortal Lord) shattered...Initiating fragment recycling program...Associated individual detected (Saintess)...Memory seal...Executor number 088 bound..."
This sealed truth, the truth of their shared demise, is like the sharpest blade, ruthlessly slicing open Su Nian's soul! It turns out… their enemy from the very beginning was the Main God Space! The so-called missions and contracts were nothing more than a meticulously planned, cruel exploitation and soul harvesting scheme targeting the losers!
"Ugh—!"
The intense pain and anger almost made Su Nian scream! At that moment, at the center of that torrent of memories, Xie Chen's body floated up, and two lines of tears, like melting stars, flowed from his tightly closed eyes.
A faint yet incredibly clear consciousness, carrying millennia of longing and endless weariness, pierced through the chaotic memories and resounded directly deep within Su Nian's soul:
"Nian...I'm sorry...I've kept you...waiting..."
It's him!
It was the real him! Under the dual stimulation of memory resonance and the icy abyss environment, he briefly and completely broke through the suppression of darkness and the mark of the main god, and regained consciousness!
Tears streamed down Su Nian's face as she wanted to rush over and hug him.
However, at that very moment—
Buzz!
A pure silver beam of light, extremely abrupt and completely out of place in the desolate environment of this icy abyss, like a sword of judgment from beyond the heavens, tore through the dense darkness above the icy abyss without warning and crashed down precisely towards Xie Chen, who was suspended in mid-air!
Within the pillar of light, no energy fluctuations could be felt; there was only an absolute, cold force of rules representing "erasure" and "correction"!
"The Cleaner!" It's here! And it's directly targeting Xie Chen, who has just regained consciousness and is in a very unstable state! The Main God Space wants to "clean up" him, this "key variable," along with this "severely off track" world node, before he completely slips out of control!
"No--!!!"
Su Nian's eyes were bloodshot, and she had almost no time to think! Only one thought remained in her mind—to protect him! Even if it meant giving up everything!
She suddenly hurled the "One Strike" ice talisman she had been clutching tightly at the silver pillar of light with all her might! At the same time, she burned all the remaining essence of her ice spirit and soul power, even at the cost of aggravating the unhealed cracks on her soul ice crystal, transforming into a tiny yet resolute azure figure, rushing towards Xie Chen without hesitation, wanting to use everything she had to shield him from this destructive blow!
The ice talisman exploded the moment it came into contact with the silver pillar of light, transforming into a massive ice crystal barrier that stretched across the heavens and earth, radiating all the Yin-type icy power from the ice core fragments! This was the last strength of the Ice and Snow Holy Land!
Boom—!!!
An indescribable roar exploded in the silent icy abyss! A frenzied interplay of ghostly blue and silvery light erupted and annihilated! The ice crystal barrier crumbled and melted at a visible speed!
Su Nian's figure, like a moth drawn to a flame, crashed into the core area of the energy annihilation and was instantly swallowed up by the blinding light!
"read--!!!"
Xie Chen let out a heart-wrenching scream, his eyes, which had just regained their clarity, filled with endless panic and despair! He struggled, trying to rush towards the destructive light, but was held firmly in place by the remaining turbulent energy, and could only watch helplessly...
The light slowly faded away.
At the edge of the icy abyss, only Xie Chen remained, suspended in mid-air, his face as pale as paper.
And...below, empty black rocks, as if no one had ever existed.
Su Nian... disappeared.
Along with her aura, her soul fluctuations, everything about her... seemed to be completely annihilated under the "cleaner" pillar of light that represented the will of the main god.
Xie Chen stared blankly at the void, his blood-red eyes (which had now returned to their star-like color) gradually dimming until they turned into a deathly silence, a despair deeper than an icy abyss...
He slowly raised his hand, as if trying to grasp something, but only grasped a handful of cold, annihilating air.
The dark gold crack between his brows quietly closed, leaving only a faint mark, like a tear stain.
He won.
He found himself again.
The price is... eternal loss.
(End of Chapter 70)
---
Next Chapter Preview: Su Nian, in an attempt to save Xie Chen, appears to perish under the light of the "Scavenger"! Xie Chen fully awakens, only to fall into even deeper despair! What does the direct intervention of the Main God Space mean? Does the "Silent Ice Abyss" still hold untold secrets? Without Su Nian, where will Xie Chen go? Is the story truly over? Or... is there still a glimmer of unexpected hope amidst this desperate situation?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com