563: War breaks out in the northern regions

The person was dressed in black with a blurred face, radiating a coldness more piercing than the winter nights of the Northern Region.

"Who goes there? The Hanming Sacred Sect is conducting business; get lost immediately!"

The Disciple shouted sharply, his hand already resting on the hilt of the blade at his waist.

The answer he received was Di Juetian's icy eyes.

He didn't need words at all; with a slight movement of his mind—

Buzz!

The horrified expressions on the faces of the two Law Realm Disciples froze. Their bodies remained in a forward-leaning, guarded posture as they turned into two sculptures covered in thick blue ice, their life force severed.

Only Zhu Jin, whom they had been supporting and who was bleary-eyed from drink, remained. Because of Di Juetian's deliberate control, he only felt an irresistible chill instantly invade his entire body, and his drunkenness was mostly scared away in an instant!

"He—" The word 'help' hadn't even left his mouth before Di Juetian's figure appeared before him like a ghost.

A long sword appeared silently in Di Juetian's hand, and the sword light flashed!

Zhu Jin's pupils dilated suddenly, filled with unbelievable terror, as his head flew high into the air.

Di Juetian didn't even look at the corpse on the ground. He casually took out a waist token and tossed it ten meters away from Zhu Jin's headless body before his figure merged back into the shadows of the wind and snow.

Only two ice sculptures in different poses and a headless corpse remained in the alley, along with that waist token on the ground, silently declaring the killer's identity.

A few days later, the news spread like a plague, shaking the entire Hanling Continent.

Hanming Sacred Sect Grand Elder Zhu Hong personally saw the remains of his beloved grandson Zhu Jin and the two Disciples being sent back. In particular, Zhu Jin's head, frozen in extreme terror, deeply stung Zhu Hong's heart.

"Jin'er!!!" A heart-wrenching roar echoed through the main hall. A violent Saint Domain Realm pressure erupted uncontrollably, shaking the solid profound jade floor of the hall until cracks appeared!

Zhu Hong's hair and beard bristled, his eyes blood-red as he stared fixedly at the waist token presented by a Disciple. It was a waist token belonging to the Profound Ice Divine Palace.

"Profound! Ice! Divine! Palace!" Zhu Hong spat out each word, squeezed through his teeth, carrying monstrous hatred and killing intent.

"Good! Very good! To kill my grandson, do they really think my Hanming Sacred Sect has no one?! Pass down my Elder's Order: Any Hanming Disciple who encounters someone from the Profound Ice Divine Palace outside—kill them without mercy! All trade routes and mineral veins related to the Profound Ice Divine Palace are to be fully suppressed by this old man! This enmity is irreconcilable!"

The entire Hanming Sacred Sect began to operate at high speed due to the Grand Elder's fury. Friction and conflicts against the Profound Ice Divine Palace escalated abruptly, and several small-scale bloody battles had already broken out in the border regions.

Cold Prison Continent, the largest city under the jurisdiction of the Profound Ice Divine Palace—profound ice City.

Deep within the City Lord's Manor, inside an extremely luxurious warm pavilion, an erotic warm fragrance permeated the air, completely at odds with the severe cold outside.

Ling Hao, the most beloved young son of the Profound Ice Divine Palace's Palace Master Ling Jue, was lazily reclining on a soft couch covered in sable fur.

His face was handsome to the point of being demonic, but his eyes carried an unsettling gloom and cruelty.

His fingers flirtatiously hooked the chin of a trembling young girl kneeling before the couch; her eyes were full of desperate tears.

"Tsk, why are you crying? Being noticed by this Young Master is your good fortune."

Ling Hao's voice carried a morbid tenderness, but his fingers were as cold as a venomous snake.

"Don't worry, this Young Master will be very gentle..."

His perverted hobbies had long since cast a shadow of fear over profound ice City and countless surrounding families.

Outside the pavilion, in a corner of the shadows.

Di Juetian stood still like an ice sculpture, his Heavenly Eye penetrating the walls to take in all of Ling Hao's nauseating words and deeds inside the pavilion.

He also clearly saw the positions of the guards, both in the open and in the dark, around the warm pavilion. Two sixth-layer Profound Venerable Realm Elders were meditating in the adjacent quiet room, and four high-stage Law Realm guards stood at the entrance of the pavilion.

"Scum, death is too good for you." The cold light in Di Juetian's eyes grew even more intense.

His thoughts turned rapidly; he not only wanted to kill Ling Hao but also wanted to make the scene look as if Ling Hao had been assassinated by a surprise attack from a Hanming expert!

He took a deep breath, pushing his Extreme Cold Ice God Body to its limit. The silver-blue divine patterns beneath his skin glowed, and his entire aura became ethereal and uncertain, as if merging into one with this world of ice and snow.

"Now!"

Di Juetian moved!

His body was like a drop of water merging into space, instantly appearing inside the warm pavilion at the exact moment Ling Hao had his back to the window, leaning down toward the girl!

His speed was so fast it surpassed the Divine Thought perception of the Profound Venerable Elders!

"Who?!"

The two Profound Venerable Elders in the adjacent room sensed him almost the moment Di Juetian appeared. They shouted sharply, their figures shooting toward the warm pavilion like lightning!

But Di Juetian's movements were faster!

The ice emperor sword unsheathed silently, breathing out a dazzling cold light, as if concentrating the ultimate sharpness of ten thousand years of profound ice!

A single sword thrust!

Chila!

The sword light containing terrifying cold energy instantly sliced Ling Hao in half at the waist!

The lewd smile on Ling Hao's face instantly turned into extreme pain and horror. He felt his lower body lose all sensation in an instant as a Soul-chilling cold spread frantically!

"Ah—!" A shrill scream had just burst from his throat.

Di Juetian flipped his wrist, and the ice emperor sword traced a lethal arc, resolutely slashing toward Ling Hao's head!

"Thief, how dare you!"

The two Profound Venerable Elders who burst through the door were filled with rage. One struck out with a massive palm print containing the power of profound ice, cold and eerie, aimed directly at Di Juetian's back; the other summoned a small ice crystal shield, attempting to block the sword light aimed at Ling Hao's head.

However, it was as if Di Juetian had eyes in the back of his head.

His sword strike toward Ling Hao didn't change at all; he merely tilted his body slightly at the critical moment.

Boom!

The massive profound ice palm print brushed past Di Juetian's clothes and slammed into the pavilion's ice wall, exploding into a shower of ice shards.

Simultaneously, the ice emperor sword slashed through without any hindrance!

Puchi!

A handsome head, frozen in terror, flew up. Scalding blood sprayed across the pure white sable fur, a shocking sight.

Di Juetian didn't even look at the result. Before the two Profound Venerable Elders' attacks could land again, his figure suddenly crashed backward!

Bang! The solid profound ice window was smashed to pieces by him. He quickly rushed out of the window and vanished into the world, while a waist token fell outside the window.

"A token of the Hanming Sacred Sect?!"

The two Elders paused, looking with a mix of shock and fury at the fallen token and the black shadow rapidly disappearing outside the window, then at Ling Hao's headless corpse and the girl who had fainted from fright!

"HAN! MING! SA! CRED! Sect!"

Not long after, a shrill, venomous roar rose into the sky, carrying the pain of losing a son and boundless killing intent, instantly sweeping through the entire city!

The figure of Profound Ice Divine Palace's Palace Master Ling Jue appeared above the ruins of the pavilion. Seeing his beloved son's tragic state, his eyes turned blood-red instantly, and the cold aura he radiated caused the falling snowflakes within a hundred feet to freeze in mid-air!

"Pass down my Palace Master's Order!"

Ling Jue's voice was like a cold wind from the nine netherworlds, chilling to the bone.

"The Hanming Sacred Sect has killed my beloved son; this enmity is irreconcilable! From this day forth, my Profound Ice Divine Palace and the Hanming Sacred Sect are at full-scale war! It will be a fight to the death! Any Hanming Disciple who steps foot into my Cold Prison Continent—kill them without mercy! Destroy all their strongholds!"

The news spread like a prairie fire, instantly igniting the Northern Region.

The venom and suspicion accumulated between the two great Sects for a long time were completely detonated like a powder keg by the two assassinations and frame-ups meticulously planned by Di Juetian!

And the instigator of it all, Di Juetian, had already distanced himself from the center of the storm.

He stood atop a high, lonely snow peak, gazing at the spiritual light of slaughter and the rolling beacon smoke rising from the border between the Hanling and Cold Prison Continents. A sharp, blade-like curve hooked the corner of his cold mouth.

The cold wind whipped his pitch-black robes, making them snap loudly.

"Burn, burn even brighter..."