Volume 1, Chapter 142 – The Defeated Empress Lingshuang

Beyond the Nine Heavens, at the heart of the battlefield.

Their first true clash gradually subsided.

The energy storm, a million li in diameter, slowly dispersed, revealing the two figures still facing each other beyond it.

Several strands of Empress Lingshuang’s hair had been grazed by the stray chaos sword qi, vanishing soundlessly against her ice-blue palace robes.

Disbelief now mingled with the fighting spirit in her eyes.

She had used seventy percent of her strength in that last attack, combined with the power of her heaven-rank mid-grade Ice Soul Pearl. The result should have been devastating.

Yet her opponent had not even used an artifact.

She had initially assumed Gu Han cultivated some secret art that concealed her cultivation.

But now it was clear that Gu Han was stronger than she was, and might already have reached mid-stage Immortal Ascension!

At the thought, her expression grew increasingly grim.

Gu Han had no idea what Empress Lingshuang was thinking.

Her moon-white palace robes remained immaculate, without so much as a strand of hair out of place.

Only a hint of surprise flickered in the depths of her calm eyes.

Empress Lingshuang was even stronger than she had expected.

Her comprehension and application of the laws of ice, in particular, had reached the pinnacle.

Had Gu Han not cultivated the Chaos Scripture, she might truly have found herself at a disadvantage.

As the two women assessed each other,

Empress Lingshuang’s gaze was involuntarily drawn to the Linked Hearts Bracelet on Gu Han’s wrist.

She and Empress Qingxuan had been rivals for tens of thousands of years. Naturally, she recognized Empress Qingxuan’s possessions.

Yet the bracelet was now on Gu Han’s wrist.

Could Qingxuan have already fought Gu Han and lost?

How else could the bracelet have ended up in Gu Han’s possession?

If she defeated Gu Han, wouldn’t that be the same as defeating that hateful woman Qingxuan?

At the thought, an almost manic smile appeared on Empress Lingshuang’s face.

“Good! Very good!”

As the words left her lips, she curled her right hand around empty air.

“Clang!”

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A clear, piercing sword cry that seemed capable of severing the galaxy rang throughout the starry sky!

A longsword as translucent as jade, with countless crystalline stars seemingly flowing within its blade, slowly emerged from her palm.

The sword was four feet and three inches long. Its guard resembled an ice phoenix with its wings spread wide, while intricate frost Dao patterns were naturally etched into the blade.

The instant the sword appeared, the temperature of the surrounding starry sky plummeted once more!

Even the distant stars, still trembling from the previous shock waves, rapidly began to form thick layers of ice across their surfaces!

The moment the sword appeared, Gu Han clearly sensed a change.

Empress Lingshuang’s aura surged again, unmistakably reaching mid-stage Immortal Ascension.

“Mid-stage Immortal Ascension? And that sword…”

Seeing Empress Lingshuang suddenly go all out, Gu Han’s expression turned solemn.

She had seen heaven-rank supreme-grade flying swords before. Her own Deputy Palace Master and Grand Elder both wielded weapons of that rank.

Yet she could sense that the sword in Empress Lingshuang’s hand was of an even higher grade!

Moreover, Empress Lingshuang’s current realm was not early-stage Immortal Ascension, as the System had claimed.

Had she been concealing her true strength all along?

“System, what’s going on with her? And what grade is that sword?”

Gu Han immediately contacted the System.

[Ding! Scanning and analyzing…]

[Target: Empress Lingshuang]

[True Realm: Consummate early-stage Immortal Ascension]

[Current Realm: Mid-stage Immortal Ascension, temporarily elevated through the Soul-Burning Art. Cost: One thousand years of lifespan.]

[Target Weapon: Frostheaven Sword]

[Grade Assessment: Heaven-rank supreme-grade. After being infused with Eternal Ice Crystal and Star Tears, it underwent a mutation. Its power approaches that of a quasi-immortal artifact.]

[Traits: Absolute freezing; amplification of laws.]

The System’s rapid electronic voice echoed through Gu Han’s mind, carrying a rare note of gravity.

[Host! Something seems to have provoked this woman, which is why she resorted to a forbidden technique!]

[And there’s something unusual about that sword too. It may not be a quasi-immortal artifact yet, but it has already reached the threshold!]

“Provoked? A forbidden technique? A sword approaching the level of a quasi-immortal artifact?”

A glint flashed in Gu Han’s eyes.

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No wonder Qingxuan had said this woman was difficult to deal with. She truly was a battle maniac, willing to sacrifice her own lifespan just for a fight!

“Gu Han!”

Frostheaven in hand, Empress Lingshuang’s voice rang through the starry sky.

“You are the first person to force this Empress to use the Soul-Burning Art!”

“Today, this Empress would like to see whether you can remain so composed.”

Before her voice had faded, she moved!

She slashed out with her sword!

There were no elaborate techniques, no grand display.

There was only a streak of blue sword light, pure and cold beyond measure, erupting from Frostheaven’s tip!

At first, the sword light was no more than a slender line. But the instant it left the blade, it abruptly expanded!

It transformed into an ice-blue torrent stretching across the galaxy!

Everything in its path froze!

Stars ceased revolving, space solidified like iron, and even the passage of time slowed!

This was the strongest attack Empress Lingshuang could unleash in her current state!

“It seems I can no longer afford to hold back.”

Faced with Empress Lingshuang’s fighting spirit, now at a fever pitch,

Gu Han knew that the profound wonders of the laws of chaos and her cultivation alone were no longer enough for her to handle this attack with ease.

With a thought,

“Clang…”

A toll that seemed to come from the dawn of creation, laden with supreme Dao Resonance powerful enough to suppress the ages, quietly spread around her.

A small dark-gold bell, ancient and weighty in design,

slowly emerged from her sleeve and hovered three feet above her head.

Donghuang Bell (Replica)!

A quasi-immortal artifact!

Though she had only begun refining it, and though it was merely a replica,

the moment it truly manifested in this starry sky…

“Hum!”

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An ancient, boundless, supremely exalted, and terrifying Dao Resonance that seemed to stand above all creation erupted with overwhelming force!

Empress Lingshuang’s sword strike, powerful enough to freeze the galaxy, visibly slowed the instant the bell appeared!

It was as if it had plunged into an invisible, intangible expanse of viscous spacetime, heavy beyond imagination!

“What is that?!”

Empress Lingshuang’s pupils abruptly contracted as she stared at the slowly rotating dark-gold bell above Gu Han’s head.

For the first time, undisguised horror appeared on her face!

What grade of artifact was this?!

Heaven-rank supreme-grade? No!

Frostheaven Sword was already an anomaly among heaven-rank supreme-grade weapons, its power approaching that of a quasi-immortal artifact!

Yet in the presence of this bell, the hum Frostheaven Sword emitted of its own accord carried a faint tremor of… submission?!

“Could it be a quasi-immortal artifact?!”

But she had never heard of such a powerful quasi-immortal artifact appearing on the Canglan Continent!

“Gu Han! You…!”

Empress Lingshuang was both shocked and furious. The fighting spirit and confidence that had risen to their peak after she used the Soul-Burning Art and summoned Frostheaven Sword

now began to crack!

She had not hesitated to burn away a thousand years of her lifespan, use a forbidden technique, and wield Frostheaven Sword, whose power approached that of a quasi-immortal artifact, all to defeat Gu Han.

Gu Han’s cultivation was already above hers, yet now she had even produced a quasi-immortal artifact?!

No wonder even that woman Qingxuan had lost!

Gu Han naturally had no idea Empress Lingshuang’s imagination had already run this wild. Otherwise, she would have been utterly speechless.

Watching Empress Lingshuang’s expression shift unpredictably, she slowly spoke.

“Fellow Daoist Lingshuang.”

“This bell is called Donghuang. It is an artifact meant to safeguard my Dao, and I had not intended to use it lightly.”

“But since your fighting spirit burns so fiercely that you do not hesitate to burn your own soul, I… must also meet you with my full strength.”

The instant her words fell,

the vast, pure spiritual power within Gu Han surged like a breached river of stars, pouring violently into the Donghuang Bell above her head!

“Dong!”

Driven by Gu Han at full power for the first time, the Donghuang Bell gave its first true toll!

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The sound was not piercing. Instead, it carried a profound, ancient weight capable of suppressing the ages!

Almost tangible dark-gold sound waves swept outward in every direction, expanding in a sphere!

Wherever the waves passed,

the slowed torrent of sword light bore the brunt of their force!

It was as though struck head-on by a hammer of incalculable weight. Unable to endure even a single breath, the torrent shattered and disintegrated with a deafening crash!

Empress Lingshuang’s expression changed, and she abruptly retreated several steps.

Yet after destroying the sword light, the dark-gold sound wave had not exhausted its momentum. It continued sweeping toward her!

Wherever it passed, the starry sky “solidified” and the laws “bowed,” as if it meant to suppress and seal her along with everything else!

“Frostheaven! Protect me!”

Empress Lingshuang shouted. Frostheaven Sword flared brilliantly in her hand, transforming into a curtain of light that enveloped her!

At the same time, she rapidly retreated, attempting to evade the sound wave’s frontal impact.

However…

“Hum…”

The Donghuang Bell trembled faintly once more.

A second sound wave, though released later, overtook the first, intertwining and overlapping with it!

Its power instantly multiplied severalfold!

“Crack!”

The curtain of light lasted only half a breath before cracks spread across it and it shattered with a violent crash!

Empress Lingshuang’s face turned deathly pale, and a flash of horror and… unwillingness passed through her eyes!

She had exhausted every method at her disposal and had even resorted to a secret art, yet a single bell summoned by her opponent had driven her to such desperate straits.

Was she going to perish here today?

Or suffer grievous injuries and lose all dignity?

No! She was the ruler of the Northern Region!

How could she surrender here?!

An even more resolute, even more frenzied determination ignited in her eyes!

She was preparing to make one final gamble!