CHAPTER 38: DIVINE BEAST

That seal... the one who placed it was undoubtedly stronger than she was. A faint chill crept along her spine at the realization. That fact alone stayed her hand. Though curiosity gnawed at her, she dared not tamper with the envelope—fearing that whoever had etched that mark might sense her interference and bring disaster not only upon her, but upon the entire sect.

To leave behind such a profound mark and then disappear without a trace... just who was his mother?

A deepening frown tugged at her lips as she clasped her hands behind her back.

I only hope... that taking him in as my disciple isn’t a choice I’ll come to regret, she thought, unease glinting in her eyes.

Yet the memory of his gaze—so full of silent resolve, buried grief, and the restraint of someone who had suffered much—stirred something within her heart.

"I’ll protect you for as long as I can," she whispered, her voice soft and reflective. "Just as my master once protected me."

Her eyes drifted toward the vast, open skies stretching beyond the cultivation peak.

"...It’s time to leave the sect," she said aloud, her tone a quiet blend of determination and nostalgia.

When was the last time I left these grounds? she wondered. Years had passed. Perhaps decades. But now, for the sake of her disciple, she would step beyond the mountain walls. She would fulfill his unspoken wish with her own hands.

With a flick of her sleeve, she took to the skies—her robes trailing like threads of starlight as she soared above the sect’s cloud-draped peaks.

"I’ll begin at Frozen Mist Vale," she murmured mid-flight, eyes fixed on the distant horizon, glinting with icy light. "That’s where I once found the Heavenly-Frost Jade Sword."

Even at her current speed, the journey took nearly two full days. The vale was over ten thousand miles away—hidden deep within one of the world’s most perilous and secluded domains.

As she descended into the snow-blanketed region, an icy wind greeted her like an old adversary. The very air crackled with spiritual frost, and the surrounding mountains groaned with ancient silence.

She landed atop a jagged crag of glacial crystal, her gaze sweeping across the frozen expanse. Before her loomed the entrance to an ancient cavern, long sealed by enchanted frost. She remembered this place well—years ago, she had carved her way through a nest of Tyrant Yetis here, beasts born of avalanches and blood.

At the core of that savage trial had lain the real reward: a blade submerged in the Ice Essence Lake. Once ordinary, the sword had been honed by millennia of pure elemental frost energy—evolving into a naturally formed spiritual artifact: the Heavenly-Frost Jade Sword. A peak Heaven-grade treasure, born not from man’s hands but from the breath of nature itself.

Her eyes narrowed as the snow began to stir once again.

"If memory serves... that damn Ice-Cold Heart Python still prowls these lands."

The memory was still vivid.

Back then, she had been far weaker—only at the Spirit Lord Realm. When the beast had awakened, its very aura sent tremors through her core. She had been forced to retreat, utterly overwhelmed by its might.

"Let’s see who’s stronger now," she muttered, her voice colder than the wind. "That Divine Beast once made me run. This time, I’ll repay the favor with interest."

As if in answer to her killing intent, the valley trembled beneath her feet.

At the cavern’s deepest point awaited the beast’s lair—the Ice Soul Heart Pit. There, the ancient serpent slumbered: a creature born of pure frost Qi. Its cultivation had reached the third stage of the Divine Realm—a level that had claimed the lives of Saints with ease.

Back then, Mu Qin had been a mere Spirit Lord.

But now? Now she stood deep within the Divine Realm herself.

As she stepped beyond the enchanted frost barriers and into the cavern’s frozen heart, a pressure pressed against her skin. The Ice Soul Heart Pit was a realm of eternal frost, where even time seemed to halt, and space itself winced beneath the cold.

The mist parted.

Before her uncoiled a massive, serpentine form—its body as wide as an ancient oak, shimmering in a translucent hue of white and pale blue. Jagged crystal spines jutted from its back, and its gaze burned with an icy, malevolent sentience.

The Jade Moon Python.

No... it was more than the beast she once escaped. It had evolved—devouring spirit beasts, refining its bloodline—becoming a true tyrant of the frost.

As the creature raised its massive head, the ice beneath her feet cracked.

"Human..."

The voice didn’t echo through the air. It thundered directly into her soul.

"You dare return?"

Mu Qin’s expression remained composed.

Her robes rippled in the frigid wind as she slowly raised her hand.

A single black petal bloomed in the air—and from its heart, a sword emerged.

Slender and gleaming, the blade was forged from a rare black metal that shimmered faintly with purple hues. Etched with dark lotus patterns glowing from within, the weapon pulsed with a void-born power that whispered of death and silence.

The Void Lotus Sword—a Divine-rank treasure, and the very symbol of her legacy as the Void Lotus Empress.

At its emergence, the entire cavern stilled.

The winds froze.

The ice-covered walls shuddered.

Even the mighty Jade Moon Python dipped its head slightly—whether from recognition or wary caution, she couldn’t say.

But she gave it no time to ponder.

She moved.

A surge of void energy erupted as she vanished, reappearing in a streak of black lightning. Her blade arced upward in a fluid crescent, violet light flowing along its edge—silent, almost ethereal—yet the sheer force behind it split a wall of enchanted frost cleanly in half.

The serpent roared, its colossal body recoiling as it exhaled a wave of freezing breath. Ice surged in all directions, a tidal wave of death that threatened to swallow the cavern whole.

Mu Qin’s figure shimmered and blurred. She danced through the storm with ghostly precision, her Heavenly Veil Steps shielding her from the worst of the onslaught. Wherever her feet kissed the air, lotus petals of void Qi blossomed and dissolved—leaving behind only silence and cold mist.

Then came the serpent’s tail.

It whipped through the cave like a falling mountain, smashing through pillars of ice as it hurtled toward her.