Chapter 163: Nether Ice Body?
Chapter 163: Nether Ice Body?
An outsider stepping into the cavern would have found the hot spring completely vanished, its surface frozen into a solid, jagged mirror. On the shore of the frozen spring lay a massive, glowing chunk of primal ice, encasing a pair of tangled lovers inside a seamless, terrifying carbonite cocoon. The Ice Jade Pool was left in literal, frozen silence. Deprived of the heat that had kept it contained, the floating, primordial ice trembled. It drifted slowly toward the spot where the coupled lovers were frozen solid.
Far above the Ice Jade Pool, a father and daughter pair of Immortal Cultivators searched the mountain in growing confusion. The Emperor stared down at his Teleport Tracking Array Disk, then turned to Su Youming.
"Youming, I thought you added your Gu to Xue Wuxia's tea? I saw her drink it. Did something go wrong?"
The Holy Maiden, Su Youming—now dressed in a seductive, red-and-gold cheongsam—held up her palm. A glowing green magic circle flared as she cast a Greater Life Utility spell to communicate with the parasite inside the Ice Palace Sect Master.
Her brows furrowed. "My Golden Silkworm Gu is indeed alive on this mountain, and it did enter her body. What is strange is that the Gu seems completely confused about its host. The connection is there, but I cannot manipulate it to kill or control her. This has never happened to me before."
The Emperor scanned the rocky terrain. He, too, had lost the Sect Master's exact location, as if something powerful was suddenly shielding her from magical detection. "Can you at least confirm if she is still alive? The Gu seems to have triggered her Ice Phoenix Body and Bloodline. I still need that bloodline; she cannot die yet."
Su Youming nodded confidently. "If she were dead, my Golden Silkworm would die with her. She is alive, but..." She hesitated, the words heavy on her tongue. "If we do not find her soon, and another man takes her virginity before you do, the Golden Silkworm Gu will rewrite its loyalty. From that moment on, it will only respond to that man's essence."
The Emperor shook his head, dismissing the thought firmly. "Xue Wuxia cannot cure herself with just any man. Constitutions like the Pure Yang Body are increasingly rare in this era. The only two known holders are Loki Sky and Hao Hun. Hao Hun is currently occupied with Xia Sha. Unless she stumbled upon Loki Sky by pure chance on this mountain, it is impossible. Still... we must quicken our pace. My Mundane Divination just warned me to search faster."
Su Youming waved her hand, manifesting a life-element green magic circle. "Come forth, my Gu Mother... Call Summons!"
With a low, resonant buzz, a bull-sized insect emerged from the summoning circle. Its bulbous, shiny black carapace was laced with faint golden patterns—a 4th Circle Metal Devouring Beetle.
"Gu Mother, sense this robe belonging to Xue Wuxia," Su Youming commanded. "Spawn your beetles and track her whereabouts."
The Gu Mother lowered its head, pressuring its antennae against the fabric as its life aura identified the target. Then, the massive creature violently shook its body. Hundreds of palm-sized Metal Devouring Gu insects rapidly gestated, bursting forth and growing to full size in seconds.
The Emperor watched, a mixture of disgust and awe washing over him. The Gu Mother itself was not formidable in direct combat, but it could birth a deadly army capable of overwhelming anything under the 7th Circle in minutes. Its true value, however, lay in tracking, espionage, and infiltration—a perfect utility summon his daughter had contracted when she turned eighteen. It felt as though Mount Olympus itself, the heavenly domain of the gods his Daemon showed him in dreams, had sent this talented Gu Beastmaster to him exactly when he needed her most.
The Gu Mother vibrated violently, broadcasting commands to her offspring. The swarm immediately scurried, burrowed, and took flight, scattering into the mountain to fulfill their directive.
Su Youming stroked the large, metallic shell of her summon and turned to her father. "Sect Master, they should locate her within an hour or two at most."
With nothing left to do but wait, the two cultivators sat cross-legged on the nearby boulders and entered a deep meditation.
Meanwhile, I found myself trapped inside my own mind—specifically, within the mental space of my Death magic core. I had completely blacked out from the sheer intensity of the aphrodisiac overdose I had stupidly taken.
I floated naked inside the core, but I wasn't alone.
Deep within my Life magic core resided my domineering Vital Shared Fate Gu, the beautiful black-and-white spider I had inherited from the Primal Life during the Royal Realm adventure with Lana. But here, inside my Death core, sat its mirror image: a massive Vital Fate Gu spider with completely reversed colors—stark white and pitch black.
Like its counterpart, this twin spider lay lazily across a complex Web of Fate. Because I currently had no access to my Life, Fire, or Air mana, I couldn't communicate with, command, or interact with it. It seemed to be a conjoined twin to my original Shared Fate Gu, and it was likely the very reason I could seamlessly switch between these two magic cores. I felt a pang of regret for never entering my Death core to inspect it before now; I simply hadn't expected anything to be hiding inside it.
Then, my attention shifted to the newest addition in my Death core: a cocooned ball of Nine Nether Body energy. I must have captured it during my encounter with Xia Sha this morning. It turned out I hadn't stolen her constitution; I had merely drained the volatile excess that was causing her body to fail, leaving her in perfect balance while my opportunistic Vital Shared Fate Gu claimed the leftover underworld mana for itself.
I looked at the emotionless, unmoving spider. "Well, thanks for not harming the women I sleep with. Small miracles, I guess."
Even in this mental state, I could feel my physical body burning up, flooded with fluids from overstimulated desires. Too bad I’m not awake to actually enjoy finishing inside her, I thought bitterly.
Crack! Crack!
The inner chamber of my Death core's mental space suddenly fractured. A violent, cataclysmic cold energy—far too massive to be anything safe—rushed through the cracks. It instantly flash-froze me, the spider, and the cocooned Yin nether energy. Everything plunged into absolute darkness, and my consciousness shattered.
Outside the mental realm, inside the glowing ice cocoon, things were reaching a boiling point.
Though frozen solid while deeply entwined and kissing his lover, the man's Pure Yang Body began to overload. He steamed and smoked from the sheer heat of his constitution, making the thick ice surrounding them tremble.
Crack! Fwoosh!
Fissures spiderwebbed through the powerful Yin ice created by Xue Wuxia's rampaging bloodline. Plumes of hot steam escaped the cracks, becoming the sole source of heat in the frozen cavern. But this sudden spike in temperature was exactly what drew the floating Primordial Ice toward them.
The ice rumbled. Trapped within the frozen chrysalis, the man fought against the paralysis. His body trembled slightly inside the woman beneath him, his essence releasing deep within her womb as his physical vessel failed to contain the overflowing power of three high-grade aphrodisiac pills. His body didn't cool down; instead, it surged with ecstatic release, forcing more fluids into her.
Then, the anomaly occurred.
Buzz!
The Primordial Ice violently bored into his back, racing straight toward his Death magic core where the supercharged Yang fire was trying to expand.
Bang!
A muffled explosion echoed from the man's chest. His heart ruptured, completely freezing him solid as his vital signs dropped to zero. He died on the spot.
When I finally recovered—having been violently pulled back from the brink of permanent death by my Summons Rebirth ability—my thoughts panicked.
The previously contained Nine Nether Body energy was aggressively invading my physical form. Ignoring the bitter, agonizing bite of the rampaging ice element, I immediately began refining and absorbing the Nether Yin energy before it could collide with my Pure Yang Body and kill me a second time.
Unbeknownst to me, choosing to refine the Nine Nether Body was the single thread keeping me alive. The process accidentally acted as a vacuum, pulling in the Ice Phoenix Body constitution that was currently overflowing from Xue Wuxia into my system via our sexual connection. Without this precise refinement, the simultaneous introduction of the Ice Phoenix aura and the Pure Yang Body would have caused a fatal internal explosion. I was surviving entirely on dumb luck, fate, and absolute chaos.
While I was deeply focused on suppressing the warring constitutions in my blood, my Vital Fate Gu Spider went to work. Another consciousness had invaded my body, attempting to launch a soul attack while I was compromised.
The unconscious soul of Xue Wuxia was currently floating inside a highly aggressive, light-blue intangible Ice Phoenix—the literal manifestation of her bloodline. My Shared Fate Spider ambushed it without warning. Countless Webs of Fate shot out, entwining and cocooning the raging phoenix, slowly sapping its will to fight. Recognizing that Xue Wuxia’s soul couldn't safely remain separated from her body for long, the Gu harmlessly ejected her spirit back to her physical frame.
With the spirit of the Ice Phoenix bloodline thoroughly suppressed, the remaining energy from the Ice Phoenix Body was swallowed whole by my meditating form. My Fate Spider returned to its motionless state, having successfully sealed and shielded my Pure Yang Body to buy me the time I needed to finish the refinement.
Had it been a second? An hour? Or had days blurred past?
Finally, the crucible ended. I finished forming a second body constitution, one that now lay side-by-side in near-perfect unity with my Pure Yang Body.
When I opened my spiritual vision to inspect my internal realm, I was stunned by the transformations inside my Death magic core. Grey death mana had completely fused with pale-blue ice mana in an eerie, grave, yet harmonious mixture. Instantly, the knowledge flooded my mind: I had unlocked a brand-new constitution. I would call it The Nether Ice Body—the perfect dark compliment to my Pure Yang Body.
Every drop of blood, muscle, organ, and bone in my body now teemed with a potent blend of Yang life-force, beautifully tempered by the freezing cold essence of the underworld's Yin.
Awesome. It seems I’m officially a dual-element Death and Ice Beastmaster now. And my body is finally thawed.
With a single thought, I snapped my consciousness back to reality.
Thump. Thump.
As awareness rushed into my physical senses, I found myself in the hot spring, holding a naked Xue Wuxia bent over the edge in a doggystyle position, our bodies continuing the act by pure primal instinct. My right arm held her waist firmly, while my left hand eagerly gripped her firm, C-cup chest. Her head was turned back toward me, her lips meeting mine in a passion-filled kiss. Her bliss hadn't faded in the slightest.
Realizing I had missed the majority of the encounter while unconscious, I slowed my movements to a more deliberate, passionate rhythm. She immediately noticed that my maddened desire was finally under control.
As I continued to thrust deeply into her, she smiled up at me, her voice thick with exhaustion. "Hao Hun... I'm glad you saved me. But I'm even more glad we can finally stop. Ah... I'm cumming."
I pushed flush against her, depositing my warm essence deep within her womb. The moment I did, a profound sensation washed over us. A powerful Summoner Link snapped into place between our souls; I could physically feel the profound relief and rhythmic pulsing of her heart and body.
Gathering her exhausted form into my arms, I held her close so we could rest. She leaned against me, whispering what I already knew. "I already knew about you and Wan Meidi. So when I felt the soul contract being offered through our connection, I accepted it."
Nodding, I channeled my newly altered bluish-grey mana, manifesting a vibrant magic circle beneath us. "Why are you still calling me Hao Hun? Here, let me heal your body... Strong-Heal Summons!"
The soothing magical energy washed over her. The lingering soreness from our frantic coupling and the sharp pains of her first time instantly vanished.
She leaned deeper into my chest as we soaked in the warm water of the rejuvenated hot spring, a mischievous glint flashing in her heterochromic blue and gold eyes.
"You have a portion of my Ice Phoenix Body inside you now," she murmured. "Explaining our bond is much easier if we operate as a couple. Besides, even though I know your true identity is Loki Sky, I just like you better as Hao Hun. Is that alright?"
It was clear she had a distinct distaste for Western men, or perhaps she simply preferred the persona I wore around her.
"Fine by me," I replied, my eyes narrowing as my heightened senses picked up vibrations from the upper tunnels. "But we have company coming. You need to escape immediately. First, let me take this."
I placed my palm directly over her heart, right against her breast. Channeling my mana, I smoothly extracted a specialized talisman from her skin.
Sealed inside the paper was the glowing image of the captured Golden Silkworm Gu. I smiled, tucking it away.
Xue Wuxia leaned up, pressing one last, lingering kiss to my lips before her body dissolved into light, teleporting safely away from the Ice Jade Pool.
Once she vanished, I adjusted my clothes and casually leaned against the stone edge of the spring. The distinct sound of footsteps echoed clearly from the cave entrance.
Time to bullshit my way out of this.