Godslayer: Reincarnated with SSS Rank Cultivation System-Chapter 158: Forbidden Love
Xiao Lingyun tried to move, forcing his frail body to rise from the cold ground, but he knew it was pointless. His old and weakened limbs refused to obey, weighed down not only by his own exhaustion but also by the suffocating aura radiating from Ling Shuangqian. It felt as though an entire mountain pressed down on his chest, crushing his breath with an unseen force.
When... when did she become this strong? His heart pounded wildly. Her presence, once familiar, now felt foreign. The pressure rolling off her was dangerously close to the Heavenly Ascension stage. Yet when he had last seen her, four hundred years ago, she had still been a rookie in the Nascent Soul stage.
Even then, her beauty had remained unchanged. It was as though she had been frozen in time, her features perfectly preserved in an icy stillness. That was the power of ice cultivators — their cold energy locked their bodies in a state of ageless beauty. They seemed untouched by the years, their faces unmarked by time, their youthful radiance lingering far longer than that of ordinary cultivators.
But that eternal beauty came at a price. When their spiritual energy could no longer be contained, when their icy power began to slip away, their bodies would wither rapidly. Some aged in mere months, their once-perfect features fading like frost in the morning sun. The strongest among them, those who pushed their cultivation to its limits, often collapsed in an instant. Decades — even centuries — of frozen perfection crumbled to dust in the blink of an eye.
How long do you have left... Ling Shuangqian? Xiao Lingyun wondered bitterly. Those who climbed the highest often fell the hardest, and with power like hers... her fall would come swiftly.
"Did you come to kill Wen Ran so he can't break this prison?" Xiao Lingyun's voice trembled, not from weakness this time, but from the weight of his own suspicions.
"Don't worry," her soft voice broke through his suspicions, carrying a calmness that only made him more uneasy. "I'm not here to hurt him." Her gaze lingered on Wen Ran for a moment longer before she turned back to Xiao Lingyun. "I'm here to leave him this."
With a graceful movement of her hand, she reached into her spirit pouch, searching for a brief moment. From its depths, she withdrew a small crystal-blue book. The book radiated a deep, chilling aura, and if one stared at it for too long, they would start to feel their soul freezing — it was far too powerful for mortal eyes to gaze upon directly.
Xiao Lingyun's eyes widened in disbelief. "The secret manual of the Immortal Ice Palace?" His voice wavered, unsure whether she was mocking him or if this was something far more serious.
"Why would my disciple need a Yin energy cultivation manual when he possesses strong Yang energy running through his veins?" He couldn't understand what was happening.
Ling Shuangqian's lips curled in a faint smile — soft, yet strangely unreadable. "I suppose even you don't know much about your own disciple... or his hidden talents."
Before the old man could react, a thin ice wall began to manifest in the air — no thicker than paper, yet cold enough to chill the surrounding air. The frost seemed to spread effortlessly, and within the frozen sheet, light twisted and danced, forming an image.
Xiao Lingyun's breath hitched as he watched Wen Ran's figure emerge within the frozen surface. The image showed Wen Ran fighting skeletons, his frost energy weaving into a movement technique while his fire blazed fiercely, reducing enemies to ashes. The old man's eyes widened further in disbelief.
It's him... That brat... His mind raced. But how? When did he...?
Read latest chapters at freёweɓnovel.com Only.
He couldn't deny the truth — there was no reason for Ling Shuangqian to lie about something like this.
That brat has a lot of explaining to do later... haha... Despite his confusion, Xiao Lingyun found himself smiling faintly. Wen Ran never ceased to surprise him, and for once, the surprises were turning out to be good ones.
Her steps were silent as she knelt beside him, lowering the manual beside his resting hand. As she moved, her hair spilled over her shoulder, falling like a curtain of silver against her face. With delicate fingers, she brushed her hair behind her ear — a simple, thoughtless gesture — yet it struck Xiao Lingyun like a hammer to the chest.
For a heartbeat, the past returned in vivid detail. The warmth of her smile, the faint scent of her skin — memories he thought he'd buried surged back to life, leaving him breathless. In that moment, Xiao Lingyun remembered what once captivated him — not just her beauty, but the warmth she once held in her heart, warmth now long buried beneath layers of frost.
Neither of them spoke. The silence stretched between them, carrying the weight of everything that had been left unsaid.
Finally, Ling Shuangqian turned away. The air warmed slightly as her icy presence began to withdraw, yet before she stepped beyond the cave's shadow, she paused and glanced back with a teasing smile Xiao Lingyun had never seen before — a rare glimpse of something mischievous hidden beneath her usual stoic mask.
"I'm glad I could see you again, brother Xiao Lingyun," she said softly. "Until next time... and don't treat your disciple so poorly. Give him a proper fire manual to study from — the poor kid had to create his own technique just to survive and bring you back that Ice Spirit Lotus."
With those final words, she vanished like a whisper in the wind, her presence fading as if she'd never been there at all.
Xiao Lingyun sat in silence for a long time, his gaze falling to the crystal-blue manual resting by his side. His fingers trembled slightly as he reached for it, yet his mind remained elsewhere — stuck in the distant past and the bitter reminder of what once was... and what could never be again.
"You always leave me like this, Ling Shuangqian..." His voice carried a hint of longing, yet beneath it lay the bitter acceptance of a truth he had known for far too long.
They never had a chance...
