In an instant, she had made her decision. "Liu Ji, do you know your crime?" Ning Xuefei's voice suddenly turned icy. She circulated her inner energy, and an unparalleled pressure erupted from her enchanting, jade body. The temperature of the entire Xuan Frost Hall seemed to plummet by dozens of degrees. The thin gauze dress clinging to her body moved without any wind, its hem and sleeves fluttering. Her tall, full bosom rose and fell slightly, appearing even more turbulent, the two crimson points at their peaks faintly visible. A subtle, somewhat sweet and peculiar body fragrance also spread with the rise of her aura, and inhaling it brought a thrilling, tingling sensation.
Liu Ji's face changed drastically as he sensed the killing intent from Ning Xuefei. He shrieked, "Y-Your Majesty! W-what are you doing?! I am a trusted confidant of the Divine Emperor! He will know of everything that has happened here! If you dare to harm me, you are opposing the Divine Emperor! Opposing the Wei clan!"
As he shrieked with a bravado that belied his fear, he secretly circulated all the inner power in his body while desperately retreating backward, trying to create distance.
A cold light flashed in Ning Xuefei's phoenix eyes. She wasted no more words. With a light wave of her jade hand, she revealed a wrist as white and lustrous as frost. A bolt of ice-blue sword energy, as sharp as a blade, materialized out of thin air. This sword energy was not a physical sword but was condensed from the pure and cold energy of her [Xuahua Divine Art], crystal clear, like the inverted Milky Way from the nine heavens, and it slashed wildly towards Liu Ji and his few remaining black-armored guards.
Her power was far beyond what Liu Ji could have imagined. Wherever the ice-blue sword energy passed, the air itself seemed to freeze and tear, making a "crackling" sound. Thick frost formed on the ground, and even the churning water in the distant Yin-Yang Pool seemed to pause for a moment.
"Form a formation! Protect me!" Liu Ji was terrified. He had long known that Ning Xuefei was the second most powerful martial artist in the world, a peerless expert second only to the Divine Emperor, but he had never imagined her strength had reached such a terrifying level. As he screamed, he pulled out a simple, ancient bronze small shield from his robes and frantically infusing his inner energy into it, trying to block the attack.
The few remaining black-armored guards were also loyal. They roared, raising their specially made war blades, crossing them to block, trying to buy their master a sliver of a chance to survive.
However, in the face of Ning Xuefei's furious strike, everything was futile.
"Boom!" The ice-blue sword energy was unstoppable, instantly slicing the few black-armored guards and their blades in two. Their heavy armor was as thin as paper before the sword energy. Blood sprayed out, but upon contact with the dissipating coldness of the sword energy, it quickly froze into ice beads, creating a bizarre and brutal scene.
The bronze small shield in Liu Ji's hand also cracked all over the moment it touched the sword energy and shattered with a "bang"! He himself was stuck as if by a heavy hammer, screaming as he was sent flying backward, slamming hard against the stone wall in the distance, spitting out a large mouthful of blood. Ning Xuefei did not pause after her strike. She pressed forward step by step, her lotus steps light, her silver high heels tapping out a crisp rhythm. The thin gauze dress swayed elegantly with her movements, and beneath the high-slit skirt, her long, beautiful legs, wrapped in flesh-colored, transparent stockings, flashed in and out of view. The exquisite lace at the top of the stockings, with the tightening and relaxing of her thigh, creating sexy shallow marks on her plump leg flesh. Her round, large, and pink buttocks swayed from side to side as she walked, creating astonishing waves of flesh.
"Ning Xuefei! You've gone mad! I am the Emperor's man! Are... are you trying to rebel?!" Liu Ji struggled to get up from the ground, groaning.
Ning Xuefei's beautiful eyes shifted, and she gave a cold sneer. Between her five fingers, several crystal-clear ice lotus formed out of thin air. The lotus flowers, as if they had come to life, transformed into several streams of light. With sharp, whistling sounds, they sealed off all of Liu Ji's escape routes from different angles and shot towards him.
Seeing this, Liu Ji's soul almost left his body. He let out a strange cry, poured all his inner energy into his palms, and shot out several black palm prints, trying to block them. At the same time, his obese body displayed an astonishing agility as he dodged left and right, trying to avoid the fatal attack.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!" The ice crystal lotuses spun as they cut through the air. The moment Liu Ji's black palm prints touched the lotuses, they were shredded and frozen.
Although he tried his best to dodge, two of the lotuses still grazed his body, leaving two bone-deep wounds on his shoulder and ribs. The cold air invaded his body, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
"Ahhh! Spare me! Your Majesty, spare me!" Overcome by the pain, Liu Ji could no longer care about his status as the Divine Emperor's confidant. He rolled pathetically on the ground, begging, "I was wrong! I beg Your Majesty, for the Divine Emperor's sake, spare this dog's life! I know many secrets, about the Divine Emperor, about the Immortal Palace. I can tell you everything! Just spare me..."
Ning Xuefei looked at Liu Ji, who was begging on the ground like a stray dog. Filled with deep loathing for Wei Wuyuan's lackey, there was not a trace of pity in her phoenix eyes. She said coldly, "Secrets? I am not interested in your secrets."
Before her words faded, her figure flickered, and she appeared before Liu Ji as if by teleportation. Liu Ji looked up in terror, only to see sword energy sweeping across him. Liu Ji and the few remaining black-armored guards beside him couldn't even let out a complete scream before they were instantly cut into several pieces by the unmatched sword energy. Blood and flesh scattered in all direction, and in the blink of an eye, they lay dead on the spot.
Ning Xuefei took a deep breath. Having dealt with Wei Wuyin's lackey, her gaze fell upon the Yin-Yang Pool, which still churned restlessly, emitting strange energy fluctuations.
In the pool water, two figures were faintly visible within the blue glow. One of them was Hu Hong. As for this young man who lusted after her, Ning Xuefei wouldn't have bothered with him at all if not for the possibility that he might provide some intelligence about the "Qinghua" artifact, making him marginally useful. Now, seeing him floating in the pool with his life hanging in the balance, she initially had no intention of saving him.
However, at this moment, the pool water seemed to be stirred by an invisible force. Countless tiny, cyan-gold specks of light surged from the bottom, swirling around the two figures to form a slowly rotating energy vortex. A familiar yet somewhat strange energy fluctuation from a secret treasure emanated clearly from the center of the vortex, intertwined with a faint resonance connected to her own bloodline. "This... this is..." Ning Xuefei felt that this energy fluctuation was extremely similar to the Ning Clan's supreme secret treasure, "Qinghua," but it also seemed to have undergone some changes she couldn't comprehend.
She no longer hesitated. With a graceful wave of her jade hand, a gentle but irresistible force erupted from her palm. The pool water churned, and the two figures were lifted from the Yin-Yang Pool and gently placed onto the jade ground beside it. Ning Xuefei stepped forward. She saw that Hu Hong's eyes were tightly shut, his complexion alternating between purple and bright red. His body was surrounded by an immensely powerful, yet violent and chaotic, cyan-gold energy. The unique aura of the "Qinghua" secret treasure after being forcibly activated. This vast energy, far exceeding his own cultivation, rampaged uncontrollably within him, making it unbearable and plunging him into a deep coma. As for the other person... when her gaze fell upon the black-clad youth, her heart sank.
The youth was covered in wounds. A deep gash on his back, revealing bone, had nearly split him in two, and a large part of his chest was caved in, clearly having suffered a fatal blow. His face was as pale as paper, his breath as faint as a dying candle's flame. He was also severely injured and unconscious.
If not for Long Yue using a secret black technique to protect his heart at the critical moment when Liu Ji launched his deadly sneak attack, he would have surely died on the spot, his body already cold.
Ning Xuefei sensed a strange shift in the aura and energy between the two. It seemed the "Qinghua" energy, which had originally been inside the black-clad youth, was now, under the pool water's influence, had been absorbed by Hu Hong. The "Qinghua" energy within Hu Hong had reached an astonishing level of concentration.
Her heart filled with doubt, she extended a slender finger to Hu Hong's pulse. A sweep of her divine sense immediately revealed that the source of the activated "Qinghua" secret treasure energy within Hu Hong had been transferred from the black-clad youth beside him.
How could this person have "Qinghua" energy? And what had just happened in the pool? Ning Xuefei's heart was filled with confusion and shock. She knew that the Ning Clan's "Qinghua" treasure was passed down to a single successor each generation, inextricably linked to their bloodline. Furthermore, due to the turmoil 18 years ago, she was probably the only person in the world who knew of its whereabouts.
Her brows furrowed tightly as a thought struck her, causing her heart to tremble. Her eyes glanced at an object partially exposed on the black-clad youth's chest, revealed by the soaking clothes and the previous struggle.
It was a smooth jade pendant with cloud patterns, strung on a red thread. It depicted a fairy-like figure surrounded by two clusters of clouds. Ning Xuefei recognized it with a familiarity that reached her very bones. This was the protective amulet she had personally carved for her ill-fated child all those years ago, the one she had placed around his neck with her own hands! On the jade pendant, there still remained the unique bloodline mark she had set with her own vital essence back then!
The moment she clearly saw the jade pendant, she was struck as if by lightning. Her beautiful body trembled violently, her phoenix-like eyes flew open, filled with disbelief, shock, and wild joy! "This... this jade pendant... it's Xing'er's! It really is my Xing'er!"
Her voice trembled, barely able to form complete syllables. Reaching out with a trembling hand, she gently brushed aside the youth's damp, black hair, revealing a young face that, despite being covered in blood and wounds, showed vaguely familiar features.
He looked so much like him! Too much like him! The brows, the nose. They all bore the resemblance of her and that man!
Combined with the faint yet incomparably pure Ning Clan bloodline resonance within him, and this unique jade pendant...
"Xing'er... it's really you... my child... you're not dead... you're really not dead!" Overwhelmed with shock, Ning Xuefei could no longer control her emotions. Tears streamed from her beautiful eyes like pearls from a broken string, falling onto the youth's cold, pale face. She carefully cradled the youth in her arms, feeling her son's faint heartbeat and breath. Her heart was filled with both relief and endless fear and anger.
She glanced at Hu Hong, who remained unconscious with the "Qinghua" energy still restlessly churning within him. Her expression was incredibly complex. Although this youth had accidentally taken most of the "Qinghua" power that should have belonged to Xing'er, the situation was urgent, and she had no time to hold him accountable.
"Xing'er, Mother will definitely save you! I definitely will!"
Ning Xuefei took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the turmoil in her heart. This was not a place to linger; she had to leave with her son as soon as possible to heal him. Holding the critically injured Mo Xingyun in one arm, she grabbed the still unconscious Hu Hong with the other. After all, he held the secret of "Qinghua" and could not be left behind. The [Xuanhua Divine Art] activated again, and her body was enveloped in a layer of hazy, blue light.
In the next moment, her sensual and bewitching figure transformed into a streak of light, rapidly ascending and leaving the deep and mysterious Xuan Frost Hall.
*****
Read 25+ chapters ahead at:
Patreon: CliffTrevor
patreon.com/CliffTrevor