68: A final, poignant song of ice, sealing the heavens with a single thought!

"Hum—!"

The fragments of the profound ice mirror clattered to the ground.

The crisp sound echoed throughout the deathly silent Ice Soul Palace, yet it could not suppress the mouthful of stagnant blood rolling up from Ning Yudie's throat.

The black blood, laced with ice shards, sprayed onto the mirror-like profound ice floor, as jarring as splashed ink.

The hideous black scar running across her back burned like a branded, ugly poisonous Dragon; the scorching pain penetrated her bone marrow and went even deeper into her Divine Soul.

Along the edges of that peach-blossom-like burn, one could vaguely see Jade Peach Blossom Mark light patterns—sharing the same Origin as the infant's mark—flickering and eroding, like maggots attached to bone!

"Medicine... Medicine pattern? Chaos Ice Soul Sacred Body?!"

Ning Yudie's knuckles turned white as she gripped the edge of the ice table.

Her ice-blue pupils distorted and trembled wildly from the excruciating pain and extreme resentment, reflecting her own disheveled figure at this moment, "The child born of mere mixed blood... How dare he! How dare he possess such great fortune to backlash against this seat!!"

She suddenly looked up, peering through the remaining crystal mirror surface toward the Thatched Cottage.

Her gaze seemed to pierce through the Void Realm barrier, locking firmly onto the infant wrapped in starlight, and the man beside the infant—Jiang Linfeng—whose aura, though slightly withered, held a latent Chaos fury like a volcanic eruption ready to burst!

Inside the Thatched Cottage.

In the center where the starlight descended, the infant Jiang Xuanchen was still sleeping soundly, having completely absorbed the aura of the Chaos Star Fire, as if he had just burped comfortably.

The ice-blue star patterns on his little face flowed more smoothly and naturally.

That "dessert" which devoured the power of the Soul-Extinguishing Needle gave his life force an extra layer of harmony and dominance.

However, this brief tranquility lasted only for a breath.

Jiang Linfeng had already withdrawn the hand he had placed on Su Ningxue's abdomen.

He stood up slowly, not even looking at his son with such astonishing destructive power.

His gaze was like two bolts of Chaos Tribulation Lightning piercing through the Nine Heavens and Nether Prison, sharp, cold, and carrying a majestic pressure capable of crushing billions of stars, precisely pinning down a single point in the void—the depths of the spatial rift where Ning Yudie's Ice Soul Palace was located!

That last-minute sneak attack, the cold, jealous, and purely destructive Origin aura belonging to Ning Yudie that was coiled around the Soul-Extinguishing Needle, was as clear as a beacon in the darkness to his perception!

"Ning—Yu—Die!"

The three words sounded as if they had been chiseled out of ten-thousand-year profound ice, and every syllable contained terrifying killing intent capable of freezing the Void Realm!

An invisible storm suddenly whipped up inside the Thatched Cottage!

The spatial structure, already fragile from being frozen, let out a wail on the verge of collapse!

Luo Yan's expression changed drastically.

Without hesitation, she activated the Jade Peach Blossom Mark again.

The gentle green Divine light instantly transformed into a tough barrier, enveloping herself, the unconscious Su Ningxue, the sleeping Star Universe, and little Xuanchen.

Xi Youqin was forced back repeatedly by this sudden pressure that felt as if it would crush her very Soul; she only managed to steady herself by thrusting the cyan light sword she had conjured deep into the ice layer on the floor, her eyes filled with shock!

"Crack, crack..."

The profound ice walls, several feet thick, shattered inch by inch under this silent pressure!

At the edges of the massive hole pierced through the dome, the space twisted even more violently, and the starlight became chaotic!

Ice Soul Palace.

Ning Yudie, who was suffering from the burning Soul pain and monstrous hatred, trembled violently the moment those three words of her true name echoed in her mind!

"Pfft!"

Another mouthful of blood sprayed out!

That gaze!

That Chaos gaze that had pierced through countless spatial barriers to lock onto her true body!

It carried a purely cold, emotionless will of judgment!

It was like an invisible giant hammer smashing heavily onto her Divine Soul!

It was ten thousand times more terrifying than the burning pain on her back!

She clearly "saw" that deep within those Chaos eyes, what burned was not anger, but an indifferent killing intent that looked down upon an ant and pronounced its fate!

"Not good!"

A sense of unprecedented fatal crisis poured over her head like ice water!

Ning Yudie no longer had any hesitation; her ice-blue pupils instantly surged with crazy determination.

Her hands moved rapidly like butterflies through flowers, outlining complex, ancient dark blue Divine seals.

The pure Ice Soul Origin she had cultivated for ten thousand years poured out like a floodgate opening!

"Ice Soul as the guide, eternal slumber! Divine Soul Space-Splitting Escape!"

Her shrill incantation echoed through the palace.

Her figure instantly became transparent and blurry.

The sturdy profound ice floor beneath her feet suddenly arched upward and shattered; countless thick profound ice chains condensed out of thin air, wrapping around her broken body like an angry Dragon emerging from an abyss.

A will of escape, abandoning everything and burning bridges, tore through the Void Realm!

Thatched Cottage.

"Want to leave?!"

Jiang Linfeng's mouth curled into an extremely cold arc.

He made no extra movements, not even raising a hand, just—a thought!

Boom!!!

Above the entire Ziyun City, within a radius of ten thousand zhang!

All spatial Laws were instantly rewritten and taken over by a supreme, indescribable will!

The Thatched Cottage, the Luo Mansion, and even the rolling mountains and rushing rivers outside Ziyun City seemed to be forcibly stripped from the normal flow of time and space by an invisible, giant Chaos palm at this moment!

Had time frozen? No! It was the sky above this area that had been completely "encapsulated"!

Above the firmament, the originally scattered starlight suddenly solidified, froze, and was then forcibly constrained, pulled, intertwined, and woven!

A vast prison constructed of pure Chaos Laws and solidified starlight formed instantly!

On the walls of the cage, gray Chaos Qi flowed, and countless tiny star fragments floated within it; every circulation emitted a terrifying aura capable of imprisoning a True God and suppressing all Dao!

At this moment, the entire Ziyun City became an isolated island floating in a vast cage!

This was—Sealing the Firmament with a Single Thought!

"Lock!"

Jiang Linfeng spoke coldly again.

Hum!!!

The firmament prison vibrated violently!

A dark golden Divine chain composed of countless Chaos Talismanic Incantations and solidified starlight, as thick as a mountain, ignored all spatial barriers and shot out from the core of the cage at a speed that surpassed thought!

Its target was the faint spatial ripple caused by the direction of Ning Yudie's escape!

"No!!!!"

Inside the rift of the Ice Soul Palace, Ning Yudie, who had just activated the forbidden escape technique and was about to merge into the spatial turbulence, let out a shrill, desperate scream!

She clearly perceived that the Chaos will contained in that chain was pure, domineering, and crushed everything!

Her Divine Soul Space-Splitting Escape was enough to tear through the barriers of an ordinary Small World, but in the face of this high-level Chaos sealing, it was like glass hitting a sacred mountain!

Ridiculous! Pathetic!

The dark golden chain, like a dragon or snake, pierced into the spatial rift like lightning!

Boom!!!

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

There was only a "solidification" and "severing" at the level of Laws!

The moment the chain hit, Ning Yudie's broken, ethereal figure, like an ice snake struck at its seven inches, suddenly stalled!

The profound ice chains wrapped around her body shattered inch by inch!

The Ice Soul Incarnation she used to escape like a cicada shedding its skin, which carried most of her Divine Soul Origin and substitute Talismanic Incantation, could not even last a ten-thousandth of a breath; under the impact of the dark golden chain's Chaos Divine Power, it silently annihilated into the most basic ice-type particles and dissipated completely!

"Ah—!! Jiang! Lin! Feng!"

A scream filled with extreme resentment and the pain of a torn Divine Soul echoed through the spatial rift!

This scream did not originate from the Incarnation, but was the shriek of Ning Yudie's remaining true body's Divine Soul under the intense pain and fear!

Her escape technique was completely interrupted, and her true body suffered unprecedented backlash and heavy damage!

Even more fatally, the dark golden chain did not stop after shattering her Incarnation; like a maggot attached to bone, it followed the most essential Origin connection, crossed layers of obstacles, and fiercely "pinned" toward her true Divine Soul, which was hidden in the deepest part of the rift with a weakened aura!

She could clearly feel that her entire Divine Soul was locked by a cold chain!

It was as if she could be dragged out of this spatial nest she had managed for ten thousand years at any moment and dragged into that desperate Chaos cage!

The scorching Jade Peach Blossom Mark on her back, under the heavy damage to her Divine Soul, suddenly increased the pain by a hundredfold!

Ning Yudie's consciousness was instantly submerged by boundless pain and darkness, with only the bone-eroding resentment and unprecedented, abyss-like fear firmly branded into her remaining Divine Thought.

She exhausted her last bit of clarity, burned her last bit of Divine Soul essence and blood, and activated the ultimate Restriction buried in the palace.

The entire Ice Soul Palace shook violently and compressed, turning into a speck of cold light dust, forcibly cutting off most of the connection with the dark golden chain.

Like a lizard breaking its tail to survive, it fled wildly toward the deeper, more dangerous, and chaotic spatial turbulence!

The dark golden chain pursued in the Void Realm for a while, but finally stopped under Jiang Linfeng's thought, because it had already captured a vital trace of Ning Yudie's most essential Divine Soul essence and blood, which carried the curse brand, as well as the approximate spatial coordinates of her hiding place!

The goal had been achieved.

Inside the Thatched Cottage.

Everything happened extremely quickly.

For Luo Yan and Xi Youqin, they only felt a domineering will that far exceeded their understanding, one that made their Souls freeze, instantly envelop the world, followed by a scream full of fear and resentment from the depths of the void, and then the spatial disturbance subsided.

Jiang Linfeng stood in place, his aura already steady, but the cold killing intent remaining in the depths of his deep eyes still made the temperature in the Thatched Cottage terrifyingly low.

He slowly withdrew his gaze.

[Ding! Ning Yudie's Soul-Extinguishing Needle sneak attack failed! Her true body has suffered backlash from the host's Chaos Sacred Power and the [Medicine Spirit Curse (Peach Blossom Mark)]! Her Origin is heavily damaged! Her substitute Divine Soul Incarnation has been completely obliterated! Her spatial nest has been exposed!]

[Warning: The target has escaped into the deep spatial turbulence, tracking lock is temporarily interrupted, but her key Divine Soul brand coordinates have been obtained.]

The System's prompt was cold and accurate, but Jiang Linfeng felt no ripples.

He leaned down and carefully picked up the sleeping Jiang Xuanchen in the swaddling clothes.

The little body nestled in his father's arms with a natural sense of closeness, and the Chaos cold current gently surrounded the father and son.

Jiang Linfeng stretched out his finger and gently wiped away the non-existent milk stain from his son's mouth.

Then, he turned to Luo Yan, his voice low but unquestionable: "Take her back to the room and take good care of her. Xuanchen is unharmed; I will find a way to deal with Su Ningxue's injuries."

"Mm."

Luo Yan nodded heavily and immediately directed the terrified Xi Youqin beside her, "Youqin, hurry, help me support Sister Ningxue!"

The two carefully lifted the unconscious Su Ningxue.

Jiang Linfeng held Jiang Xuanchen, his gaze sweeping over the messy ice cave, the huge hole in the dome, and the Chaos starlight cage outside that was slowly dissipating but still heart-stopping.

There was no joy of victory in his eyes, only a cold firmness like an eternal sacred mountain.

"Medicine Spirit Curse..."

He looked down at the Chaos Ice Lotus mark on his son's chest that was slowly rotating, with the Jade Peach Blossom Mark in the center becoming clearer, and a flash of understanding that outsiders could hardly detect crossed his eyes.

He held the child and strode toward the broken corridor outside.

His voice was low but clearly echoed in the shattered courtyard:

"Pass the order."

"From today on, anyone who is an enemy of my Jiang Clan, peeks in the dark, or harms my wife and children..."

His footsteps paused, and he looked into the depths of the firmament, which had returned to calm but had an exceptionally bright starry sky.

"...In all the heavens and myriad worlds, there will be no place for you! To the ends of the earth, body and Soul shall be annihilated; this is the fixed fate!"

Every word was like a chisel, booming into the river of fate!

Holding his young son, Jiang Linfeng's figure in the cold, broken moonlight was like an Emperor returning to his throne.

Behind him were the broken Thatched Cottage, his sleeping wife and daughter, and a broken root of a peach tree that had quietly sprouted a little green bud amidst the messy ice crystals and scorched earth.