With a thunderous sound from the heavens, Murong Xue slowly exhaled a breath of frosty air.
The former cult elder felt that terrifying pressure, and even the air around where Murong Xue stood began to condense into ice.
Facing that sense of oppression, the cult elder showed no fear.
Instead, a look of fanaticism gleamed in his eyes.
Seeing the space around her body begin to freeze, his entire frame started trembling with excitement.
“This is Ascension! This is the state of Ascension, it is! It’s a realm completely different from the ancestor back in our sect!”
Murong Xue’s gaze was icy cold, as if looking at a corpse.
She looked down at the elder, who was crying out like a clown in midair.
His withered, wooden figure now seemed incredibly gaunt.
“Haha! I’ve spent my entire life searching, only to witness this at the end. I’ve spent my whole life groveling, just to barely reach the Nascent Soul stage…”
The cult elder bitterly regretted living his entire life so cautiously.
Whenever he saw someone stronger than himself, he would flee.
Without experiencing the pressure of life and death, how could he comprehend this?
It was only now, with his lifespan nearly at an end, that he grasped a sliver of it.
“Haha, if only I had understood sooner, if only a little sooner…!”
The more the cult elder spoke, the more agitated he became.
Suddenly, he turned sharply and looked at Lin Xinyi, who was standing on the viewing platform.
His eyes were filled with hatred and resentment, and he also hated himself for not having sensed it until now.
“It’s all because of you, little brat! You saw through my disguise! If I had sneaked into this Hidden Immortal Sect, I might have had a chance to advance to Ascension!!”
Lin Xinyi looked at the furious gaze directed at her, and she felt nothing less than anger in her own heart.
She had planned everything all day, only for this old bastard to use it as his stepping stone.
“Pah, you’re just bad. Don’t blame others. You old fart, I’ll destroy you soon!”
Lin Xinyi’s mood was also extremely irritable.
Facing this sudden appearance of a cult cultivator, she was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained her composure and cursed back.
“Heh, I never planned on going back alive anyway…”
The moment he finished speaking, the elders on the viewing platform immediately leaped into the air, surrounding him.
The remaining few elders maintained the barrier around the Celestial Altar to protect the disciples.
“Remember this, the one who kills you today is an elder of the Demon Sect!!”
After saying this, he charged straight at Lin Xinyi.
Facing the elders’ obstruction, the cult elder’s eyes seemed fixated on taking Lin Xinyi down, completely ignoring the attacks coming at him from behind.
“Damn it, why is he coming for me?!”
As soon as Lin Xinyi saw him charging at her, she quickly mobilized her spiritual energy to resist.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she channeled the energy, another taste of blood filled her mouth.
Her body hadn’t recovered yet.
Using so much spiritual energy caused a slight rupture in her meridians.
But Lin Xinyi had no choice now; she could only form hand seals.
“Little brat, come down with me!!”
After the cult elder had charged a short distance, several elders reacted first, quickly summoning their magical artifacts to block him.
But although this cult elder appeared withered like wood, he was surprisingly agile.
Not only did he deflect all their attacks, but the demonic aura around him also swelled twice as much.
As a late Nascent Soul cultivator, none of the elders present—who were also at Nascent Soul—could stop him.
“Elder Lin, dodge!”
“Form the formation quickly!”
“Damn it, that old man is too fast!”
………
Lin Xinyi watched him get closer and closer, a hint of panic flashing in her eyes.
Given her current physical condition, she probably wouldn’t be able to block even one blow; she’d be annihilated in an instant.
[Incantation: Demonic Avatar]
“Blame yourself for seeing through my disguise!”
As soon as the cult elder finished speaking, demonic energy coiled around him, forming a massive blood shadow.
He struck out with a palm, sending a surging wave of demonic energy crashing down on Lin Xinyi on the viewing platform.
“Damn it!”
Lin Xinyi never expected her carefully calculated plan to end up exposing a real cult member.
Not only had she failed to ruin Bai Qianqian’s reputation, but she herself was now in danger.
Lin Xinyi’s weak body was barely able to stand.
Faced with an attack even stronger than her peak state, she felt as if all the blood in her body had congealed.
“Damn it, has Bai Qianqian won this life again…”
As his palm struck, the railings around the viewing platform began to collapse from the ferocious attack, and even the nearby barrier started to warp.
Blood flowed from Lin Xinyi’s mouth, and the terrifying spiritual energy began to surround her.
But how could her broken body withstand this?
“Am I going to die here…”
Lin Xinyi’s mind was chaotic.
But when a single snowflake gently landed on her shoulder, she was completely stunned by the spectacular sight before her.
Countless snowflakes were falling from the sky.
And the figure standing high above like a sovereign, coldly surveying everything around her, with ice-blue hair flowing behind her as if it were coated in frost.
Lin Xinyi’s earlier worries suddenly seemed unnecessary.
“Elder Lin, why didn’t you dodge?”
Murong Xue’s calm voice reached her ears, yet the latter wasn’t moving her lips.
The cult elder who had been charging at her was now gradually being covered in frost.
Everything around was coated in a layer of frost.
But in this space, only Lin Xinyi was unaffected.
She stared wide-eyed at this astonishing scene.
[Realm: Frost]
“Even if you couldn’t withstand that attack, you still had the strength to avoid it…”
Murong Xue’s form vanished in midair.
When she reappeared, she was already standing beside Lin Xinyi.
Lin Xinyi hadn’t even reacted.
Even the attacks in this space were slowly being frozen in place by the frost.
“I…”
“Forget it. After all, uncovering this cult spy was your credit, Elder Lin…”
Murong Xue didn’t press further.
She simply took a slow step forward, and in an instant, frost blanketed the world between heaven and earth.
Everything was covered in a layer of ice.
This was the realm realized through the path of Ascension.
Lin Xinyi had witnessed such a marvel once before.
This was the state a cultivator in Ascension exhibited.
And she was seeing it again in this life after rebirth.
‘Truly enviable… to comprehend such a realm.’
In her previous lives, Lin Xinyi had also reached the Ascension stage.
But in the end, she had only borrowed someone else’s state.
What she had been able to display back then was nowhere near as powerful or beautiful as this.
Countless ice crystals gathered in the air, forming a massive curtain.
Murong Xue slowly stepped forward, treading on the empty air before her.
Even though there was nothing underfoot, water condensed out of nowhere.
And so, this late Nascent Soul cultivator began to crack like a piece of porcelain.
Murong Xue walked up to him and lightly touched his body with her fingertip.
It then began to shatter like broken ice.
“Hahaha!!! To comprehend frost, leaving the world without warmth!! This is Ascension! This is Ascension!!”
As his body shattered, the cult elder regained his senses.
Seeing his own body slowly breaking apart, he showed no fear, but instead laughed more manically.
Murong Xue had wanted to capture him for interrogation, but seeing his frenzied state, she understood.
For a Nascent Soul cultivator whose lifespan was nearly over, he had no intention of surviving.
Rather than leaving an unstable element, it was better to end it decisively.
“Perish.”
Murong Xue casually walked past him, and his body completely disintegrated.
Even the massive blood shadow behind him dissipated at that moment.
The Ascension stage was an insurmountable gap for a Nascent Soul cultivator.
With the cult elder dead, Murong Xue released her realm.
The world between heaven and earth instantly returned to its original colors.
The faint blue frost covering everyone also vanished.
The elders who had been trapped were now able to move again, breathing heavily with lingering fear.
The disciples, however, hadn’t sensed anything.
They only saw the cult cultivator in the sky say a few words before turning into a pile of broken ice.
“We really have Elder Lin’s sharp eyes to thank this time…”
Before Lin Xinyi could recover from Murong Xue’s decisive actions, the latter was beside her again.
Soon, the elders who had been setting up the formation in the air also flew down.
“Haha, none of us could find any results, but Elder Lin spotted it at a glance~”
“That’s right. I never expected the infiltrator to be a late Nascent Soul cultivator. If it weren’t for the Sect Leader being here, we would have suffered heavy losses again!”
“Elder Lin usually keeps a low profile, but today, you’ve made a great contribution!”
…
Lin Xinyi watched the people gradually gathering around her.
She didn’t look pleased, but instead let out a bitter laugh and dealt with them casually.
Her plan to frame Bai Qianqian hadn’t developed as she intended at all.
‘Where did this old man come from? And why was he sitting on the same level as Bai Qianqian?!’
Lin Xinyi was extremely frustrated.
But since the venue hadn’t suffered much damage, and the first-place contestant was still advancing, the sect selection didn’t stop because of this.
“No, this can’t end like this…”
The more Lin Xinyi thought, the more irritated she became.
She turned her head and found that Bai Qianqian had already walked down the Heart-Questioning Stairs, settling her result at the 50th floor.
Seeing that she was about to leave, Lin Xinyi immediately pushed past the elders surrounding her and pointed directly at Bai Qianqian.
“Everyone, don’t let your guard down too soon. Even though we caught that cult elder, how can we be sure only one person infiltrated us?!”
A faint smile curled at the corner of Lin Xinyi’s mouth.
That earlier incident was just a coincidence that let her get away.
But Bai Qianqian still had the ink jade on her.
If she pointed the finger now, framing her as a spy, and then personally searched for that item, the girl wouldn’t be able to defend herself.
“That white-haired disciple trying to leave! I find her very suspicious!!”
As soon as Lin Xinyi’s accusation was voiced, the elders who had been relaxed instantly went on alert, looking down at the area below.
Lin Xinyi’s voice wasn’t loud, but after the mist barrier had been dispelled, it could be heard clearly throughout the venue.
Murong Xue, who had been about to leave to deal with the remains of the cult elder, stopped upon hearing Lin Xinyi’s words.
Bai Qianqian, who was at the center of the Celestial Altar and was just about to leave, also paused when she heard Lin Xinyi’s voice.
“Qianqian, throw that ink jade away! That good teacher of yours wants to frame you!”
“Ah, should I throw it away…”
Luo Qingyao was the first to notice Lin Xinyi’s intention and quickly warned her.
Hearing this, Bai Qianqian looked at the jade piece in her hand, a hint of reluctance in her eyes.
“But this was a gift from my master…”
“Don’t worry about that, just throw it away!”
…
“What’s happening?”
Lin Xinyi