「Within the Yun Mansion.」

Inside a tall, luxurious building, glazed tiles cast a dazzling light while gold and silver glittered brilliantly. All sorts of strange ornaments were on display; though their purpose was unclear, their exquisite craftsmanship immediately marked them as extraordinary.

Zhao Rui had been tossed onto the room’s bluestone floor. He lay face down, his nose pressed flat, unable to move.

"The Matriarch is divinely powerful!"

The group of middle-aged women in the room watched Zhao Rui with curiosity. One with a feisty personality walked right up, extended a delicate foot, and gave him a light kick.

She giggled. "Matriarch, if Ling’Er were to see this, wouldn’t her heart just ache for him?"

"He looks so handsome and talented, and his strength is quite impressive. Matriarch, even I am starting to feel sorry for him!"

After speaking, a young madam actually reached out and slapped Zhao Rui on the backside before pulling him to his feet.

’Damn it. Since you turned me over, I’ll let the whole "groping" thing slide!’

Now that he was turned over, Zhao Rui could finally get a clear look at his surroundings and the people in the room.

The most conspicuous person in the entire room was, naturally, the white-haired old woman seated on the main, throne-like chair in the center.

Looking at her decrepit, withered appearance, Zhao Rui found it difficult to reconcile this image with the powerful middle-aged woman from before.

’Why didn’t I copy that Martial Art for restoring youth? This Nine Nether Profound True Water Scripture... just from the name, you can tell it has nothing to do with rejuvenation.’

Zhao Rui’s gaze shifted to the others in the room.

They all had the appearance of young madams, dressed in tops and skirts of rather deep colors. They were draped in pearls and jade, and their waist pendants tinkled with every movement.

While their faces differed, they all shared a unique temperament, a blend of heroic spirit and mature allure.

Zhao Rui recognized a few of them as the middle-aged women who had chased him earlier.

"Matriarch... Huh? You captured him?"

As he was observing his surroundings, a familiar voice rang out. It was none other than Mo Ling’Er.

Mo Ling’Er, her expression slightly complicated, strode quickly over to Zhao Rui.

The guilt in her eyes vanished the moment she saw his icy glare. Her temper flared, and she grabbed him by the nose.

Giving it a hard tug, she huffed, "Look who’s fallen into my hands now!"

Unable to speak or move, Zhao Rui could only glare at her intently.

"I was kind enough to invite you as a guest, yet you ran off without a word. You even injured my aunts."

Mo Ling’Er was quick to pin the blame on Zhao Rui, seizing the moral high ground.

She conveniently forgot to mention that she had deceived him in the first place.

Since Zhao Rui couldn’t argue back, he just watched her one-sided speech with a cold stare.

Perhaps feeling a pang of guilt, or maybe just finding his silent defiance boring, Mo Ling’Er turned to the Matriarch. "Matriarch, he... he’s sort of a friend of mine..."

"His temper is foul and his disposition is too rash. He needs to be tempered."

After speaking, the Yun Mansion Matriarch waved her hand. A blast of cold air enveloped Zhao Rui, instantly freezing him into a solid ice sculpture.

"Take him away."

"Matriarch!"

"Hm?"

Although the Yun Mansion Matriarch doted on Mo Ling’Er, her authority was absolute. She would never allow anyone to challenge her dignity.

At this, Mo Ling’Er had no choice but to fall silent.

A few guards quickly appeared and carried away the ice block that was Zhao Rui.

"Ling’Er, the Matriarch is doing this for your own good. A man with too much pride is difficult to control."

"That’s right, Ling’Er. Listen to the Matriarch. Men just need a firm hand, and they’ll behave."

"Alright."

Mo Ling’Er could only sigh in resignation.

’Oh, well. I don’t even know if I can ever go back. If I really can’t... then I’ll just have him stay here and keep me company forever.’

Mo Ling’Er thought faintly.

「In the Cold Cell Prison.」

Frozen into a block of ice, Zhao Rui stood quietly in the corner of a prison cell.

He looked just like an ice sculpture from a winter festival.

There were many others like him in the prison, all frozen into ice sculptures.

However, there were also many who hadn’t been turned into ice sculptures and remained in their cells as "living" prisoners.

"Uncle Master, that Old Witch captured this one too. He must be an expert."

In one of the cells, a young man with tattered clothes and messy, filthy hair glanced in Zhao Rui’s direction before turning to someone else in his cell.

"What good is being an expert? He still ended up captured in here like the rest of us."

From a dark corner of the cell, a middle-aged man’s voice slowly drifted out.

"But, the more people there are, the greater the hope of getting out," the young man said, his fighting spirit undiminished.

The middle-aged man just shook his head, ignoring him.

"Uncle Master, we have to keep talking, or we’ll forget how," the young man rambled.

"Mute my ass! You’re the loudest damn person in this entire prison! When I get out of here, the first person I’m gonna kill is you!"

Not far from the young man, a burly giant well over two meters tall, his face a ferocious mask, snapped impatiently at him. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Brother Poison Viper, if you manage to get out, I’ll be really happy for you."

"We’ve been in here together for so long. I don’t believe you’d really kill me, Brother Poison Viper. When we get out, I’ll definitely come visit your village and check out the local culture."

"Damn it!"

The giant of a man spat on the ground, clamped his hands over his ears, and turned his back.

"Brother Poison Viper, don’t ignore me! You said you have a sister, is she going to come rescue us? I don’t think she should. Even if she came, she wouldn’t be able to beat that Old Witch..."

The young man’s incessant chatter echoed through the cells, bringing a sliver of life to the cold, deathly silent prison.

Listening to the young man’s chatter, Zhao Rui felt his own skin crawl.

He was only frozen in ice; he could still hear everything.

’Having to spend my days in the same place as someone like this is going to be its own form of torture.’

Zhao Rui sighed. Focusing his mind, he began trying to break the power of the Nine Nether Profound True Water Scripture that was suppressing his body.

It was a form of Martial Arts completely different from his own Cold Ice True Qi.

Cold Ice True Qi primarily used a special Cultivation Technique to generate extremely cold, ice-attribute True Qi to freeze things.

This Technique, however, not only possessed an ice attribute but also a Cold and Mysterious strength. Anything within the Technique’s range, be it a Divine Soul or a physical body, would be affected.

Its greater function was to generate the Nine Nether Profound True Water, which possessed an extremely corrosive yin power.

It was incredibly powerful and had a massive range.

This extremely yin-cold Technique was currently corroding Zhao Rui’s Divine Soul and True Qi.

Fortunately, Zhao Rui possessed Cold Ice True Qi and had a foundation of profound True Essence, so he was unharmed for the moment.

’If I don’t copy this now, when will I get another chance!’

This was the kind of powerful Martial Art Zhao Rui loved most—one that operated on its own without the enemy needing to actively maintain it.

That way, he could copy it in secret without anyone noticing.

It was just like when he had copied the Mirage Finger.

In the dungeon, where day and night were indistinguishable, there were no sounds other than the chattering youth’s occasional, crazed muttering.

Zhao Rui silently resisted the corrosion of the Nine Nether Profound True Water Scripture, and at the same time, the copy-progress bar began to fill up on its own.

...

「Blue Star Huaxia!」

"A huge underwater passage has appeared over in East Woguo. They say it leads to an Otherworld."

"They’ve already set up a no-fly zone there. No one is allowed to pass."

"Those Eastern Woren are so arrogant! What gives them the right to control it?"

"It’s not that they want to, they have no choice. The passage is right off their coast, and they say it’s still expanding. A giant creature even came out of it and swallowed a cruise ship in a single bite!"

"What is happening to the world? First, the Martial Dao revival, then the Gui Xu invasion, then Spiritual Qi appears, and now a passage to an Otherworld... Are normal people even supposed to survive this!?"

Both online and in private conversations, discussions about the bizarre passage near East Woguo never ceased.

The Court had, of course, sent people to contact the East Japan side and had learned some of the details.

But how could mere human strength contend with such a force of nature?

They could only wait and see.

Meanwhile, in the Central Asian States, a man clad in animal skins and covered in tattoos frowned at a map on the wall.

"My sister took this route. Her final destination is most likely the Gui Xu Passage."

"She plans to return to Gui Xu?" a middle-aged man in the seat of honor asked, his eyes sharp.

"Father, I’m afraid she only passed through here by a strange twist of fate. She would never want to become the Yun Mansion’s Young Venerable."

"The area outside the passage is not Gui Xu territory. I’m afraid..."

"Manghuang people..."

"Yes."

The entire felt tent was instantly plunged into silence.