Chapter 473 446: A Battle Ten Years Later

On Yongmei Street, inside the Fenghua Building.

The hand Ye Sheng used to hold the Ice Mirror suddenly trembled. The other prodigy from Yu State, who was engaged in an ice-technique duel with him, was startled to see his hand shake and exclaimed, "Brother Ye, what's wrong…?"

A faint, excited flush crossed Ye Sheng's face. He raised his hand and with a flick, the Ice Mirror in his grasp shattered, exploding into thousands of icicles. Like countless golden suns bursting through the clouds, they scattered from the top floor of the Fenghua Building.

In an instant, the very air seemed to freeze solid.

Every spectator present found their faces covered in a layer of white frost, their breaths turning to ice.

"Hey!" someone exclaimed, and a shard of ice fell to the ground in front of them.

TING! DING! DONG! Countless ice flowers rained down from the sky, piling up around the Fenghua Building and transforming the entire structure into a fantastical, dream-like edifice of ice and snow.

The spectators all gasped in astonishment. His opponent immediately withdrew his hand, a look of dejection on his face as he admitted his inferiority.

But at this moment, Ye Sheng threw his head back and laughed, his voice filled with excitement. "Fellow Daoists, Lu Bell has appeared at Thunder Strike Ridge! I intend to go and test my skills against him. Please, feel free to continue as you wish, but I must take my leave today!"

With those words, he rose to his full height.

Just as he was about to leave everyone behind and depart alone, how could the numerous Cultivators in the Fenghua Building possibly let him?

Of course, it wasn't that they wanted to stop Ye Sheng from going.

Rather, they all clamored that if Young Master Ye was leaving, he shouldn't forget his fellow Daoists.

Naturally, the others in the building had also heard the words spreading from Yongmei Street outside: "Lu Bell is the Black Heart Demon Saber."

This inevitably stirred their thoughts, and someone asked directly, "The Celestial Pride Lu Bell has a moniker like Black Heart Demon Saber? Brother Ye… could it be that you've met Lu Bell before?"

Ye Sheng let out a long laugh, flicked his sleeve to push open a half-open, carved window beside him, and in the next instant, his figure transformed into a rainbow streak and shot out.

The rainbow streak soared across the sky, offering no answer to their questions.

Of course, Ye Sheng wouldn't tell anyone that back in Bright Moon Square in Pinglan City, he had been subtly outmaneuvered by the mysterious Lu Bell.

Although their clash at the time had been brief, Ye Sheng would never forget the taste of that defeat! And then there was the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map, a painting infinitely close to becoming a Spiritual Artifact, which he had intended to claim but which Lu Bell had snatched away.

For a long time, this incident had been a Heart Demon for Ye Sheng.

Later, he bid farewell to his master and left Pinglan City, in large part because this unresolved Heart Demon prevented him from breaking through Qi Refining and entering the Divinity Transformation Stage.

If not for a chance opportunity to enter a Spirit Realm Secret Realm, then Refining a Golden Core and breaking through to Divinity Transformation, how could the Ye Sheng of today even exist?

Lu Bell's arrival today was perfect. The grudges of the past could all be settled this day!

The rainbow streak cut across the sky, flying over Qingshi City.

Now that Ye Sheng was on the Celestial Pride List, he could obtain a special Identity Token in most cities of the Great Zhou that exempted him from flight restrictions.

However, not all of the other prodigies who had been discussing the Dao with him in the Fenghua Building had such a privilege. Most could only leap from the building, fly at a low altitude, or simply use their Lightweight Skill to race across the ground.

But none of them forgot to chase in the direction Ye Sheng had gone!

Such a commotion naturally attracted more and more attention. From the sides of the street, voices called out, "What's happening?"

"Fellow Daoist, where are you headed?"

...

"To see the battle between Ye Celestial Pride and Lu Celestial Pride!"

"To Thunder Strike Ridge!"

...

As more and more people joined the crowd, many were keenly aware that they were too slow. By the time they sluggishly ran to their destination, the battle between Ye Celestial Pride and Lu Celestial Pride would likely have been long over—a very real possibility.

Thus, a large portion of the crowd began to fall behind.

But just then, a tall Puppet Carriage, shimmering with a silvery flow of light, suddenly drove up from the street ahead.

A young woman in colorful clothes stood on the Puppet Carriage, holding the whip and reins, shouting, "Ultra-high-speed Puppet Carriage, heading out to watch the battle of the Celestial Prides!"

"A speed of eight thousand li per hour! We'll be at Thunder Strike Ridge in a flash!"

"A battle of Celestial Prides! Miss it and it's gone! This is an opportunity that can't be missed, it won't come again!"

"Get on board, quick! Seats are limited!"

"Twenty Primordial Pearls per person! Hurry, hurry, we leave when we're full!"

...

Whoa, this series of shouts—the timing was nothing short of perfect.

Twenty Primordial Pearls for a single seat was a price most people were naturally unwilling to pay. Many also didn't believe the Puppet Carriage could be that fast. But in a city this large, there were always those who weren't fast enough, who were bold and willing to take a gamble. Gritting their teeth, they pulled out twenty Primordial Pearls and leaped aboard the Puppet Carriage.

The vast, surging crowd rushed out of Qingshi City.

Qingshi City had a plain name, but it was actually a County City, the same level as Pinglan City.

No shortage of experts in the city were also alerted by this grand spectacle.

Inside the Lantern Hanging Department, someone shot up at the news. "Lu Bell is here? The audacity! Does he truly think the Court's arrest warrant is nothing?"

By the time Ye Sheng crossed through layers of thunder and passed countless lightning strikes to reach the depths of Thunder Strike Ridge, right before the Spirit Realm Secret Realm Light Gate, he arrived just in time to see a black-clothed youth confronting several Cultivators.

To call it a confrontation wasn't entirely accurate. In truth, it was a one-sided domination.

The black-clothed youth stood before the gate of light with one hand behind his back, the other casually striking out with his palm from a distance.

The youth's Palm Technique looked simple, but it actually possessed all sorts of incomprehensible, miraculous power.

Against these seemingly light, distant palm strikes, several Late-Stage Qi Refining Great Perfection Cultivators—including an Innate Third Transformation Martial Artist—unleashed their attacks. Some used both Magical Artifacts and Magic, while others erupted with Qi Blood like a volcanic shockwave, all of them charging the black-clothed youth.

But under the black-clothed youth's seemingly ordinary Palm Technique, all of these attacks vanished like mud oxen into the sea, not a single one having any effect.

What was most terrifying was that these Magical Artifacts and attacks would freeze mid-air, then fly back to strike their own masters.

A counterattack, returned with double the force!

Miserable screams rang out before the Secret Realm Light Gate. One after another, the Cultivators were sent flying, crashing to the ground injured and spitting blood, with broken arms and legs.

One of the Martial Artists, furious and unwilling to accept defeat, weakly demanded, "Lu Bell, you're insane! We have no grudge against you, so why must you stop us from entering the Spirit Realm Secret Realm? Obstructing our opportunity is no different from murder! You bully the weak and act so perversely—aren't you afraid of being struck by heavenly lightning?"

The words had barely left his mouth when a bolt of lightning descended from the sky. The black-clothed youth simply raised a hand and caught it, crushing it in his palm as if it were a wad of cotton.

Holding the lightning in his hand with electric serpents coiling around his arm, the black-clothed youth wore a scornful smile. His bearing was that of a god or a demon.

The handful of Cultivators lying before the gate of light stared, stunned. Some no longer dared to challenge him; despite their grievous injuries, they endured the pain and began to quietly retreat.

Seeing this from afar, Ye Sheng felt a surge of frustration rise in his heart.

He arrived like a descending white rainbow, his challenging shout falling from the sky. "Lu Bell! It's been ten years, yet you're still so violent, brutal, and unrestrained! Do you really think you can slaughter everyone in the world as if they were mere stray dogs? Did you not kill enough in Pinglan City ten years ago?"

The amount of information in this declaration left the injured Cultivators on the ground both joyful and worried. One cried out in pleasant surprise, "Ye Celestial Pride, save us!"

Others remained silent, continuing their quiet retreat.

As Ye Sheng's rainbow streak descended, Song Ciwan snuffed out the lightning in her hand as if extinguishing a floating wisp of ash.

She stood solemnly in her black clothes and said only four words, "Ye Sheng, you've come."

Ye Sheng landed on the strange, purplish-blue ground of Thunder Strike Ridge and said, "Yes. I've come to see if my Daoist Skills are still as powerless against you as they were back then!"

As he landed, frost bloomed from beneath his feet.

In an instant, a world of ice and snow seemed to spread out from him as its center, rapidly expanding for a hundred li across the entire mountain like ink bleeding into water.

A bone-chilling cold, one that could freeze the very soul, radiated outward at the same time.

The injured Cultivators could not withstand such a freeze. In a mere moment, they were all turned into ice sculptures right before Song Ciwan's eyes.

Even with Song Ciwan's reaction speed, she couldn't do anything for them in time.

Song Ciwan's expression immediately turned a little grave.

'Back then, Ye Sheng wasn't skilled in Ice Technique! He most likely learned this kind of technique in the Spirit Realm Secret Realm.'