Chapter 1 How Can She Still Be Chasing Me?

"How can she still be chasing me so relentlessly?" Ye Chuxiao continued his difficult descent, but as the water pressure increased and the frigid air from the bottom rose, his movements began to show obvious stiffness and slowness.

"The Transfiguration Great Art can only transform into animals, not sand, stones, or plants; otherwise, there wouldn't be so much trouble." Ye Chuxiao lamented in his heart, feeling helpless.

The Transfiguration Great Art, in the end, is not a true escape technique like the Seventy-Two Transformations. It is actually a disguise, requiring Ye Chuxiao to use his clothes as a price for the disguise, which becomes the evidence.

Strictly speaking, it is only Ye Chuxiao's clothes that are transformed, not himself. He puts himself into the transformed shell.

Ye Chuxiao found it increasingly difficult to descend, but the princess remained free and agile in the water.

She seemed to naturally love water. The water pressure and cold air of the Snow Peak Hot Spring had a much smaller impact on her.

Finally, she and Ye Chuxiao were on the same water line, one person and one 'fish', facing each other at the bottom of the Snow Peak Hot Spring.

A pure and sweet smile appeared on the princess's face. The dimples at the corners of her mouth, even at the bottom of this deep pool, were as bright as sunshine.

At this moment, in Ye Chuxiao's heart, she had a code name: Snow Pear!

Of course, if one's gaze impolitely looked downwards, the name Snow Pear seemed to underestimate her a bit.

As a civilized person, Ye Chuxiao's gaze remained fixed on the area above her neck.

A ripple of snow-white water spread out, and the princess had already parted the water and was reaching for Ye Chuxiao.

Ye Chuxiao looked at the princess's movements, which were exquisite but not very skilled, and felt disdain.

"You think you can catch me like this? You're ten thousand years too early!" Ye Chuxiao flicked his tail, easily dodging the princess's grasp, and with a reverse dash, nimbly bumped aside the two great mountains blocking his path, slipped out of the princess's arms, and quickly floated upwards with her behind him.

"Before she gets out of the water, I need to escape the scene... but the prerequisite is that there's no one guarding the shore," Ye Chuxiao thought with a glimmer of hope.

Having been easily outmaneuvered and seemingly teased by Ye Chuxiao, the princess pouted, her cheeks puffing out slightly.

She waved her hands, and ripples spread out in circles at the bottom of the water.

Then Ye Chuxiao felt himself trapped in a vortex, making it difficult to borrow strength for natural swimming.

"Can't trap me! Watch me, Fish and Blade as One!" Ye Chuxiao used his fish body as a blade, wielding the aura of death. The Eternal Life Blade slashed out, tearing a crack in the water, even creating a vacuum in a small area of several meters.

Ye Chuxiao quickly leaped through the vacuum, jumped out of the vortex, and continued upwards.

Even if the princess was simple-minded, she realized something was wrong at this point. She didn't bother chasing Ye Chuxiao and instead put on a white dress.

This dress must have had the ability to repel water, so even underwater, it didn't cling tightly to her body, but still had a fluffy feel, covering her perfect curves and giving the princess another kind of beauty, like jasmine after the rain.

"I've been exposed! But as long as I'm not caught in the act, I'll be fine. Ji Xiang deliberately framed me. Even if he knows I was soaking in the Snow Peak Hot Spring, he won't dare to come out and accuse me afterwards." Ye Chuxiao had already prepared himself mentally when he wielded the blade.

The white fish broke the surface of the water.

Above the water, however, was already a web of interweaving talisman lights.

Ye Chuxiao's worries had become reality.

How could the princess travel alone?

On the shore, there were also nannies and maids responsible for guarding her, and they were not to be trifled with either.

They had prepared themselves when they noticed unusual folds and ripples appearing in the water.

They didn't jump into the water because the princess hadn't sent any distress signals, and from the clear surface of the water, they could still see relatively clearly that the princess had always been in a dominant position.

These maids and nannies, who had been specially trained for guard duty, although their methods were more inclined towards defense and trapping the enemy, had combined to form a talisman array that covered the entire surface of the hot spring pool.

If Ye Chuxiao wanted to tear this net apart, it would be somewhat beyond his ability in his current state.

If he revealed his original form and took out his treasured blade, his attack power would be sufficient, but he would also expose himself.

The aura of death spread even more intensely around Ye Chuxiao.

At this moment, besides directly transmigrating, Ye Chuxiao had two choices: swing his blade upwards and take a gamble, to see if he could tear apart the talisman array;

and return to the pool, using the Eternal Life Blade to chop out an underwater vacuum and dive deep enough to avoid this encirclement.

In an instant, Ye Chuxiao chose the latter.

He weaved through the water, as fast as lightning, completely ignoring the princess's interception in the water and easily shaking her off.

He descended to a depth of sixty meters again.

Ye Chuxiao wielded his blade again in his fish form.

The aura of death transformed into a blade of light, splitting the water.

Compared to the previous time, although the aura of death surrounding Ye Chuxiao had increased, the length of the vacuum he created had decreased to about seven or eight meters.

He continued to descend, wielding his blade continuously.

One slash after another, before the aura of death was briefly exhausted, Ye Chuxiao finally descended to a depth of more than one hundred meters.

Looking upwards from here, he could no longer feel the light falling from above.

The cold air in the water even 'pressured' Ye Chuxiao through the vacuum.

He could feel that the source of the aura of death was no longer the princess and her maids and nannies, but this deep, dark, cold... even somewhat desperate environment.

"This feels like I've come to another realm."

"Perhaps this Snow Peak pool has always existed, only covered by snow. The starlight and moonlight thawed the surface layer of water, giving the originally extremely cold water a warm, hot attribute," Ye Chuxiao guessed in his heart, but continued to wield his blade as a fish.

He couldn't stop at this moment. Once he stopped, the terrifying cold and pressure would completely submerge him along with the water.

In this environment that could absolutely freeze, congeal, and seal him, even the Resurrection from Death of the Nine Deaths Demonic Art would be useless.

If he reached a truly dangerous moment, Ye Chuxiao could only seize the opportunity to activate the golden clock with Dao rhythm and transmigrate through time and space to escape.

However, such a hasty transmigration would easily leave many hidden dangers, and it should not be done unless absolutely necessary.

Looking back slightly, the princess had stopped chasing him, hovering about eighty meters below the surface, flapping her hands and glaring angrily as Ye Chuxiao's departing figure disappeared into the darkness.

"I've finally gotten rid of this clingy princess!"

"Seriously, is it worth chasing me so relentlessly just for a few glances at her privately hidden big breasted pig and little sea grass?" Ye Chuxiao thought unhappily.

Ying Shu spat in her heart, feeling that because of Ye Chuxiao, her moral integrity seemed to have been lowered a notch.

Of course, this was just her assumption.

Ye Chuxiao guaranteed that Ying Shu was much more unrestrained than she thought.

With the typical tourist mentality of "I'm already here," Ye Chuxiao continued to wield his blade, relying on the endurance of the aura of death, constantly descending.

A good Eternal Life Blade was being used by Ye Chuxiao as an 'ice pick'. When he descended to about one hundred and fifty meters, Ye Chuxiao canceled the transformation, and wearing only shorts, quickly wielded his blade with one hand.

With the other hand he quickly took out clothes from his storage ring, put them on, and grasped the treasured blade in his hand, increasing the force of his swing.

The surrounding cold became heavier.

Even the vacuum created by the Eternal Life Blade was congealing under the cold.

This coldness had surpassed ordinary coldness, reaching another extraordinary level.

Even Ye Chuxiao's soul keenly sensed this icy coldness, which made his thoughts stiffen.

Finally, Ye Chuxiao saw the bottom of the pool, a bed of bluish-purple fine sand and stones. At first glance, they all looked the same.

But on closer inspection, one could see that they were still different.

"Frigid Jade, Frigid Iron, Yin Ice Stone, Frigid Dew Sand... As expected of the secret realm of the Great Heng Royal Estate, it's really wealthy," Ying Shu said with a slight sigh as she saw all this through Ye Chuxiao's eyes.

She didn't care about these 'treasures'.

As the Immaculate Celestial Maiden of the Original Teachings, she possessed an equally immeasurable amount of resources and wealth.

"Where there is extreme cold, there must be something extremely hot. That's the real treasure of this place. If you can withstand it, look for it; it might be helpful to you," Ying Shu said to Ye Chuxiao.

Ye Chuxiao didn't get distracted to reply. He had become a blade-wielding machine.

Under the pressure of the omnipresent cold and pressure, his mastery of swordsmanship had almost reached another level.

The experience and skills he had accumulated from his exchange with Yan Po a few days ago, and from watching Yan Po practice swordsmanship by tracing back through space and time with the aura of the Dao, had now been completely transformed into real 'answers', integrated into Ye Chuxiao's swordsmanship instinct.

The Eternal Life Blade has specific sword moves, but when Ye Chuxiao used them in the past, they always lacked true meaning, no different from ordinary sword moves.

But now, with a focused mind and a large amount of aura of death to use, he finally unleashed the true first move of the Eternal Life Blade.

"Yin and Yang are Clearly Divided!"

As the blade fell, Ye Chuxiao opened up a passage directly to the bottom of the pool, and the surrounding aura of cold was transformed by him into a frozen 'bridge' with his sword.

Life and death, water and vacuum, were clearly divided by this slash.

In addition to wielding the aura of death, "Yin and Yang are Clearly Divided," as the first move of the Eternal Life Blade, possessed an almost rule-like ability to cut.

"This one move can both kill the enemy instantly, severing life and death with a single slash, and save and heal people, cutting off everything harmful to the body, severing it."

"It has surpassed the ordinary 'physical' blade, but it is not like the Intent Realm cultivator who directly replaces the will of Heaven with their own will. It is merely the intent of a single slash, but with this intent, it judges life and death." Ye Chuxiao had a sense of understanding, but now was not the time to continue comprehending, so he could only suppress the throbbing in his heart.

On the other side, Ying Shu, imprisoned on the fifth floor of the dungeon, saw Ye Chuxiao unleash the first move of the Eternal Life Blade, and the light in her eyes flickered uncertainly.

"He's already started using the true first move of the Eternal Life Blade!"

"He's getting more and more delicious!"

"Wait a little longer... wait until he uses the second move, the third move, at most wait until he cultivates to the Wisdom Realm, then eat him!"

"Otherwise, it's too dangerous!" Ying Shu slightly curved her lips, her mood seemed to improve a lot, and the gloom from being tricked by Jin Buyi also dissipated somewhat.

Having mastered the first move of the Eternal Life Blade, Yin and Yang are Clearly Divided, wielding the blade became much easier for Ye Chuxiao.

The aura of death and the vacuum formed by the blade seemed to form a simple cycle.

And Ye Chuxiao's cheat-level spiritual root allowed him to convert a large amount of heaven and earth energy for his own use at any time, even in such harsh environments, never worrying about the problem of endurance.

This continuous blade-wielding by Ye Chuxiao provided the foundation for everything.

Otherwise, even if there was more aura of death to use, if the basic energy structure that made up the slash had flaws, Ye Chuxiao would still have to choose to retreat with regret.

Parting the water, a huge fiery-red mineral appeared dozens of meters ahead. In this extremely cold pool, it still emitted astonishing heat, so that the surrounding Yin and cold spiritual materials were destroyed and shattered.

"Yuan Yang Ore! This is a good thing."

"With such a large amount, you can completely forge a good blade with it, and refine a treasure armor. There will even be leftover scraps that can be used to make some special magical treasures, such as Life-Extending Lamps, Demon-Expelling Rings, Yuan Yang Flying Swords, Yang-Locking Beads, and so on."

"Especially the Yang-Locking Beads, which are good things for you men. As long as you embed them on the spearhead, you can freely control the time, length, strength, and even arc, making you a man among men. No matter what kind of woman, as long as she tries it once with you, she will develop a taste for it and never look at other men again." Ying Shu's voice was full of mischief and temptation.

Ye Chuxiao's face was stern: "I don't know what you're talking about, nonsense... Do I need to use that?"

"Without the Yang-Locking Bead, I'm still a man among men."

Then he added: "However, I have a friend named Zhao Sibai, who has many wives and concubines at home and often suffers from the illness of widowhood. Perhaps he can use it, so... pass on the refining method of the Yang-Locking Bead to me later."

After saying that, Ye Chuxiao quickly moved towards the Yuan Yang Ore.

Regardless of what he refines in the future, getting the ore is what really matters.

As he wielded his blade to approach the ore, when he was still a dozen meters away from the ore, Ye Chuxiao no longer had to struggle to resist the Yin and cold in the water; he only needed to wield his blade to resist the powerful water pressure.

This was much easier.

After all, the water pressure was just an incidental threat. The real threat in the depths of the pool was still the omnipresent Yin cold that could freeze the soul.

With his palm against the Yuan Yang Ore, Ye Chuxiao could clearly feel the warmth and scalding heat transmitted from the ore.

Its heat was not strong, but it was continuous and almost inexhaustible.

"With it, I can definitely refine a good blade. There's a special weapon-forging platform on the Ark of Creation. Perhaps next time I board the ship, I need to unlock that place," Ye Chuxiao thought.

Then, with a thought, he cleared out some useless cheap items from his storage ring, allowing them to freeze and shatter in the cold water.

After making a lot of space, he put the Yuan Yang Ore into the storage ring.

Along with it, a large number of surrounding Yin and cold materials were also swept into the storage ring.

These materials were arranged around the Yuan Yang Ore to effectively isolate its aura and prevent it from affecting the other items Ye Chuxiao kept in the storage ring.

When the huge Yuan Yang Ore was taken away by Ye Chuxiao,

a large pit appeared in the place where the Yuan Yang Ore had been.

And in the pit, a three-legged, round-mouthed, blue cauldron, painted with the water veins of the Seven Provinces and resembling dragon patterns, appeared before Ye Chuxiao's eyes.

And the half-cauldron of purple 'liquid' inside the blue cauldron looked particularly familiar to Ye Chuxiao.

"That's... the Yunmeng Cauldron?"

"And in the cauldron, is that Dao rhythm? Half a cauldron of Dao rhythm?"

"How many strands is that?" Ye Chuxiao was stunned.

At the same time, alarm bells rang in his heart.

The aura of death, which had already formed a balance with the surrounding environment, began to rise crazily after the appearance of the Yunmeng Cauldron, reaching the maximum that Ye Chuxiao could control in an instant.