Chapter 1357: [10Year] The ice cracks, the snow melts
The ice cracked!
Everyone looked over at the sound and watched the ice by the sh.o.r.e slowly crack apart. Boom boom BOOM came the noises as it split from inside out. The sight stunned them. Ice Sea"s ice had lasted for thousands of years. No one had ever heard of it cracking. Countless people had tried chiseling past it to no avail!
Many experts of Mysterious Continent had battled the sea and used countless powerful forces to strike its surface, but the solid sheet of ice remained unharmed!
Today…
What was going on?
Han Yunxi"s Phoenix power hadn"t even reached tenth rank. Moreover, her energy hadn"t been directed at the surface of the ice. More than half of it went to the coastline and its cliff instead. Could there be some secret between Phoenix power and the Ice Sea?
"Han Xiang, what"s going on?" Han Chen suddenly snapped.
Everyone was shocked, including Han Xiang herself. She had never heard Han Chen sound so harsh, much less see him look so angry. This anger of his permeated with an emotionless killing intent!
"Father…I, I don"t know, I…" Han Xiang did know, but she was afraid to explain! After witnessing Han Yunxi"s Phoenix power, she only had doubts towards the He Clan. Now the ice cracking made her realize that He Xiaotian not only intended to destroy Great Qin"s Northern Li, but bury her with them!
He Xiaotian wasn"t sincere in his cooperation, but was simply using her!
Six months earlier, she had found him and vowed to win against Han Yunxi so that the Wolf Clan would definitely join hands with the He Clan. As terms, she requested He Xiaotian to come to Ice Sea and help her guard against Long Feiye and even Han Chen from changing his mind. If Han Chen decided otherwise, he would be killed at Ice Sea so that the Wolf Clan knew nothing of the matter. Who expected He Xiaotian to hide so deep? He harbored ambitions of fighting Cloud Realm Continent"s Great Qin! He Xiaotian knew very much about Great Qin and had thoroughly investigated Long Feiye and Han Yunxi. He wanted her to provoke Han Yunxi into destroying the southern coast of the Ice Sea. She never understood why he wanted that. After all, this Ice Sea wasn"t a true ocean, but a large piece of xuan ice. Even if the sea dike broke, it wouldn"t affect Mysterious Continent"s border in the north. She didn"t relent on the issue and pestered him for 10 whole days before He Xiaotian told her that he had a way to melt the Ice Sea"s xuan ice.
He Xiaotian wanted to seize this chance to kill Long Feiye and Han Yunxi. He wanted the Ice Sea"s ice to flood the entirety of Northern Li. If the sovereign of Great Qin perished, its country would be in trouble! The He Clan wanted to enter Cloud Realm Continent!
The northern border of Mysterious Continent had experts as numerous as the clouds. Its southern end was dominated by the Wolf Sect and Shangguan Clans. The He Clan was reduced to the western borders and constantly suppressed by various clans of the north, making it impossible to expand their power that way. Thus, the He Clan had been focusing their efforts southward in the past few years while wis.h.i.+ng to work with the Wolf Sect to chase off Shangguan Clan.
Han Xiang always a.s.sumed that He Xiaotian"s ambitions only included the Mysterious Continent"s western and southern borders. Who knew he was so power-hungry! He actually had his eye on Cloud Realm Continent! Yet what puzzled her most was how He Xiaotian had the ability to move the Ice Sea.
She asked him some more, but He Xiaotian refused to reveal a thing. He only told her that as long as she provoked Han Yunxi into destroying the Ice Sea coast and killed the woman, then there would be a share of Cloud Realm Continent for her in the future!
It was much too tempting!
Killing Han Yunxi was originally part of her plan. Make her angry enough to destroy the coastline was perfectly viable during a duel. She agreed without a thought, while the He Clan Head followed her all the way to Ice Sea. He kept watch on the far sh.o.r.e. But when He Xiang witnessed Han Yunxi"s Phoenix power, she realized something was wrong! She began to suspect that the He Clan long knew of Han Yunxi"s true strength and hid it from her on purpose! Currently, she was staring at the ice cracks and was more certain than ever that He Xiaotian was only using her to lure out Phoenix power before leaving her for dead under Han Yunxi"s hands!
"Speak!" Han Chen demanded.
"Father, I…I…" Han Xiang was fl.u.s.tered. With the situation like this, how could she dare to admit collaborating with He Xiaotian? But if she didn"t speak, how could she explain her claims that the He Clan "had a conspiracy?"
On the side, the ice split faster and faster like cracks across a mirror. It spread in all directions and sped up, gradually becoming unstoppable. Han Xiang was still stammering as the booms resounded louder and more urgently. Everyone couldn"t help looking back at the Ice Sea, only to see its entire surface covered in scarily dense cracks! The entire coastline was also slowly splitting apart with the ice.
The golden-eyed mastiffs around them screeched before fleeing.
"Is the Ice Sea going to melt? Will there be a flood?" Gu Qishao muttered to himself.
His words were a reminder to those present!
After all, the water after melting might not gush out of the Ice Sea, but there were a thousand years of acc.u.mulated snow on its surface, many of which had turned into mountains! It was impossible to estimate the volume of such snow, which would greatly increase the total volume of water in the Ice Sea! With such a huge hole in its surface and more cracks to come, if the Ice Sea really split apart, all of its water would rush into Northern Li"s gra.s.slands! At the very least, Northern Li"s northern regions would be turned into an ocean! It and the Wintercrow meadows were home to more than 100,000 herdsmen and lots of stationed troops!
Things had gotten serious!
Although there were still things they didn"t understand, everyone more or less realized that Han Xiang"s "He Clan conspiracy" had to be related to this. Long Feiye had no time to attend to Yan"er"s abnormalities and a.s.sumed she was just frightened. He handed her to Gu Qishao and said coldly, "Take Yan"er and Rui"er away!"
Then he turned to Jin Zi and said, "Scatter! Tell all the herdsmen to retreat south of the snowy mountains! The sooner the better!"
Jin Zi nodded without hestiation. "This subordinate obeys!"
Of all the tigers that Jin Zi could harness, the poison white tiger Big White was most unique, but even it was nothing before the might of Mysterious Continent"s martial arts forces. Only the strange beasts of Black Forest were capable of standing against them! Mu Linger didn"t want to leave at all, but she"d be useless if she stayed. Afraid to say much, she glanced at her sister and brother-in-law before decisively following Jin Zi.
Tang Li only gaped until Ning Jing kicked him. "Go help, what are you s.p.a.cing out for?"
Tang Li only muttered, "Help…help who?"
"Help Jin Zi! Hurry!" Ning Jing was very anxious. If the Ice Sea really poured into Northern Li, it would be a terrifying disaster!
Tang Li naturally knew he was useless if he stayed behind, so what he should do was help Jin Zi. But seeing the endless cracks of the Ice Sea and its booming noises gave his heart a feeling of unspeakable fear. He looked at Ning Jing and murmured, "Then what about…my big bro and sister-in-law?"
Ning Jing was quieted by his words. Any fool knew a vicious battle was inevitable! Han Xiang"s He Clan must be lurking nearby. Since they were strong enough to crack the Ice Sea, they must be impressive figures! Perhaps even Han Chen would be in trouble! Furthermore, Han Chen and Long Feiye had used up much of their true qi to save Gu Beiyue. They were still recovering!
Ning Jing didn"t know what to say. At this moment, Long Feiye looked back at them and said coldly, "Tang Li, why are you leaving yet?"
"Big bro, I won"t—"
"Leave instantly," Long Feiye cut him off. "Go help Jin Zi! He"ll go south, you go west. Go to the Wintercrow gra.s.slands!" So speaking, he tossed a command token at him. "Seeing this token is the same as seeing me. Hurry!"
Tang Li gritted his teeth and pulled Ning Jing after him as he jumped onto a horse.
Gu Qishao held Yan"er in one arm and Rui"er with his hand, but he had yet to leave. Long Feiye glared at him before he departed without another word. In the chaos, he hadn"t even noticed Yan"er"s odd behavior. As for Rui"er, he kept looking back as he ran, not wanting to leave at all. But his imperial uncle was urging him on so he had to follow.
Meanwhile, Han Xiang was still stammering. Han Chen was about to take action when Han Yunxi suddenly rushed forward and raised her hand to give her a sound slap that send Han Xiang careening to the ground.
"Just what"s going on? Are you talking or not? Where"s the He Clan people? What do they want to do?"
Han Xiang"s face had almost turned lopsided from the slap. She hadn"t expected this and her temper flared, but seeing Han Yunxi rush over frightened her rage out of her. She quickly crawled aside and threw herself at Han Chen"s leg. "Father, I was forced! He Xiaotian made me provoke big sister to destroy the coastline. I…I don"t know what they want to do! I really don"t! They…they"re right at the Ice Sea! Father, you…go ask them, hurry! Daughter was forced, I really don"t know anything!"
Han Chen was about to ask further when Han Xiang added, "Father, right right, they"re in the center of the Ice Sea, they must have done something there! Hurry and stop them!"
Han Chen"s brows knitted tightly, cold as an inviolable G.o.d. He had likely never looked so serious in his life. The Ice Sea cracking and melting sea water was a predictable consequence. It was always an enigmatic place filled with unexplained mysteries. Heaven knows what might happen after this! What sort of disasters would befall Cloud Realm and Mysterious Continent? Without a word, Han Chen flew towards the center of Ice Sea without asking Han Xiang anything else. Only He Xiaotian would know the answer.
Seeing this, Long Feiye and Han Yunxi hurried after him with no time to question Han Xiang. No matter what the He Clan was planning, the most important thing now was to stop them! If He Xiaotian was alone, then they could still halt his scheme! Although Han Chen and Long Feiye were still recovering, the two of them combined with Han Yunxi had three people"s strength. If they couldn"t defeat the man, they could at least impede him and buy time.
Seeing the trio leave, Han Xiang finally climbed to her feet, still fl.u.s.tered. After some hesitation, she was about to chase after them when someone called, "Eldest Miss Han, please wait!"
Han Xiang turned back only to see a white-robed maiden. Her clothes were white as snow and her aura was like a fairy, but unfortunately her face was covered with a mask that hid her true features. Han Xiang"s sharp eyes immediately picked out all the wrinkles on her chin.
She was puzzled. This woman didn"t look old, but why was her chin so wrinkly? Why did she wear a mask? Had her face been ruined beyond help, making it impossible to face others?