22 Chapter 5: ?????

"Woh, Master, this realm feels so similar to the Palace!" Once the three girls and Xu entered the secret realm, jointly controlled by both the Palace and the Sword Region, Lingxi flail around like a little kid, jumping into piles of snows and rolled around. However, the snow and snowflakes did not stick to her dress and clothing as she played with it. Behind her, Xu was still in a conversation with Che while her two other sisters were in their own thoughts.

"Ling'er, let's go." After finishing her small talk with Che, Xu leads the team off in a different direction from the other forces and Che. After their talk last night, Che was officially on Xu's blacklist. She did not want to interact with him anymore unless it was beneficial to the Palace. Though his offer in the deal sound tempting for the Palace with every disciple gaining Heavenly Spiritual God Veins, there is no free lunch in this world. She cannot accept his offer because he wants a lot of things important to her and the Palace.

For getting Heavenly God's Spiritual Veins, the Palace must give away ten Netherworld Udumbara Flowers, twenty Sovereign Profound Cores, and fifty kilograms of Purple Veined Divine Crystals. These three items themselves are ultra-rare even for a Sacred Ground-level like the Palace, not to say the ridiculous requested amounts. Che might as well say he was joking with the Palace. In addition, he wants permanent permission to enter the Palace whenever he wants to meet with Lingxi and Qingyue.

'Such a foolish junior, if this were not the Palace you are dealing with, any strong forces would have enslaved you regardless whether you speak the truth.' She did not regret declining the offer and cutting off any relationship the junior wanted to establish with the Palace through her. Moreover, she did not like his forced righteous demeanors and lecherous eyes. With that, she throws away any thoughts regarding this matter to the back of mind and focused on the exploration. In this short two-day exploration, she hopes to find some valuable treasures, she wants to give them to Qingyue who missed this opportunity, and to her master. This reminded her of the water bead she found in her youth.

Back in the day, she participated in the Blue Wind Ranking Tournament and entered the still contested secret realm. She and her other senior sisters were ambushed by those crazed sword fanatics. She got lost and encountered an Earth Profound Beast. Despite being in the same Realm, the beast was unnaturally strong, overpowering her in not only physical strength but also in understanding and using Ice profound energy. She survived the encounter thanks to her one-time profound artefact 'Mother's Love,' the blue ribbon on her head untangled itself from her hair and tangled the beast.

With the beast's movement sealed, his fate was also sealed when she penetrated its skull and cause it to die a painless death. In addition to the beast's core, she found a water bead-like object. After their battle, she sustained multiple new heavy injuries, adding them to the juries she got from the ambushed, she collapsed in exhaustion and pains. Unwilling to accept her death, she ate the bead, rich with yin energies, hoping for a miracle.

'I made the right bet back then, if I did not eat the heavenly treasure, we would have lost to those warmongers, two-faces bastards, sword fanatics, perverts, and hot-head lizards...'

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In an unnamed mountain range filled with bamboo trees and dried leaves, a young girl was sitting and drinking a cup of tea in front of a small hut. She wore a modest white dress with a sky-blue ribbon tied to her braided hair. Around the girl, little ice lotuses and ice flowers sprouts and blossoms with beautiful sky-blue petals. This scenery along with the girl's beauty was like a dream. The girl gently places the teacup down on the wooden table while lightly clean her lips with a blue piece of cloth. Besides the girl, a pot with a tiny pink plant sprouted. She caresses the sprouted softly and watered it with energy riches water she could produce with her profound strength.

"Grow faster, my little tree, I need you to bless me and master when you grow up." She paused at the mention of her master. The figure of a matured and dense woman came to her mind. She missed this person greatly; her frozen heart would thaw itself and beat so hard when she dreamed of this person in her nights of sleep. 'I missed you, Master. I wanted to see you and your smiles. I want to spend time with you and looking at the celestial stars in the night sky together. I want to be with you, not as your disciple or junior sister, but as simply Qingyue. I want to be your Cultivation partner. Please wait for me and do not worry too much, or I will not be able to face you calmly and collectedly this time without crying.'

After drinking the tea and watering the plant, she got up from her seat and floated into the sky like a fairy. Without any strong wind-resistant or gravitational pull, she flew into a direction and disappears into the horizon. After a while, wild and intense profound energies clashes could be heard with crisp and clear noise from that horizon. It was like the clashes of a winter goddess and summer titan. One moment, the surrounding mountains and valleys would be covered in frost and snow, the next moment, all the snow would evaporate with smokes in heat distortions.

Nine hours later, it seems that the winter goddess prevails over her opposition, bringing peace and resolution to the area. The entirety of the battle area and the surrounding regions were covered in powerful ice and snow. All the scared profound beasts and surroundings villagers bow to the new ruler of the mountain range with deep respect, befitting an Overlord who just liberated them from tyranny. Yet, the goddess left the mortals without any words and disappeared into the sky, like a shooting star returning to heaven, fast and beautiful.

'I wonder if I am strong enough now and worthy of being your cultivation partner? One thing I learned while adventuring in this cruel world is that if Qing'er wants to be with Master, Qing'er need to be strong and be more assertive of my feelings toward you. I will train hard, so no one can be more worthy of you than me, and hopefully binds our fate together as one in the stars of destiny.'