Su Yan's room was bitterly cold, wisps of white mist drifting through the air, plainly visible to the eye.
This was a specially constructed cellar for Su Yan's use, since her cultivation required an ice bed as a medium, and the bone-piercing chill it emanated was not something just anyone could endure. So once the people from Lingxiao Pavilion had arrived here, Yang Kai had gone out of his way to build a room that belonged to Su Yan alone.
Now, in that room, the two sat facing each other upon the Eternal Ice Bed. Their pure True Yuan merged together seamlessly, flowing ceaselessly as one, threads of radiant light blooming across their bodies from time to time, flickering in and out of visibility.
As the True Yuan circulated between them, a certain welcome change seemed to take hold.
Tiny motes of luminescence drifted from both their bodies, and before long they filled the entire room, transforming the drab, frigid space into something dazzling and colorful.
The glow spread wider and wider until, gradually, their True Yuan intertwined, their minds linked, their divine senses fused—as though the two had become a single, indivisible existence.
A resonant dragon's roar suddenly rang out. The next instant, a colossal, fearsome, majestic dragon's head materialized behind Yang Kai.
It swayed and detached itself from his body, its entire form rendered in brilliant gold, tossing its head and whipping its tail as it surged upward.
At the same time, a crisp phoenix cry echoed through the air.
Behind Su Yan, an ice phoenix appeared, its body crystalline and snow-white.
The noble, graceful ice phoenix gave chase to the majestic golden dragon, the two spiraling around each other as they ascended into the highest reaches of the sky.
Wind rose and clouds churned. The dragon's thunderous bellow and the phoenix's piercing cry instantly whipped the heavens and earth into a frenzy.
Tremendous, irresistible waves of energy rippled outward. Two forces of entirely opposite natures twined together, yet they felt remarkably harmonious—complementing one another, enhancing one another in a subtle dance.
The entire estate erupted into commotion. Countless people rushed outside and stood gazing, slack-jawed, at the golden dragon and ice phoenix dominating the sky above.
No one could understand why such a celestial phenomenon had appeared.
"I've seen this before..." someone murmured in a daze.
Indeed they had. The disciples of the Wind and Rain Tower, the Blood Battle Gang, and Lingxiao Pavilion were no strangers to this spectacle. Five or six years ago, above the Blood Battle Gang's mining district, a dragon-shaped and phoenix-sealed phenomenon had soared into the heavens as the Inheritance Grotto-heaven opened its gates. The three sects had pooled their elite disciples and sent them inside to seek fortune.
Though every sect's disciples had reaped significant rewards, in the end no one ever learned who had ultimately obtained the inheritance of the dragon and phoenix seals.
Now, witnessing this familiar scene once more, long-dormant memories came flooding back.
Clearly, the one who had received that inheritance had now achieved a breakthrough in cultivation, triggering this celestial phenomenon once again.
For reasons they couldn't quite explain, all three sects' disciples immediately thought of Yang Kai—as if it were only natural that he would have been the one to claim the final inheritance.
A closer look at where the golden dragon and ice phoenix had burst forth, and everyone understood at once.
Just as they had suspected, the final inheritance from all those years ago had indeed gone to Yang Kai.
A wave of excitement swept through the crowd. Though none of them had received the inheritance themselves, the reappearance of this phenomenon meant Yang Kai's strength had grown once more. And if he grew stronger, it meant the estate had a future.
In these chaotic times, having a capable leader naturally meant one could survive longer—especially when that leader was so generous with his subordinates.
"Dragon and phoenix together—a most auspicious omen." Meng Wuya pushed open a window, glanced at the golden dragon soaring and the ice phoenix wheeling overhead, and remarked with a smile.
Ling Taixu stroked his beard, nodding gently, his face radiating satisfaction and joy.
Outside the estate, Shan Qingluo and Biluo stood watching in silence. Suddenly, the queen's lips curved into a bewitching smile. "Biluo, that little rascal is definitely behind all this. Believe it or not?"
Biluo nodded unconsciously, glanced at Shan Qingluo, and said softly, "My lady, if you truly wish it, then just leave the Holy Land. Once you enter, the Evil Lord won't be able to lay a hand on you."
Shan Qingluo shook her head. "I stay out not because I fear the Evil Lord, but because I don't want to harm him."
"Harm him?" Biluo looked puzzled. She didn't know about the tyrannical nature of Shan Qingluo's Bewitching Widow physique, and she couldn't understand why her lady had been lingering outside the estate for months on end rather than going inside to be with that rascal.
Her lady clearly cared for him deeply—Biluo had seen the sorrowful look on Shan Qingluo's face far too many times.
"The closer he is to me, the faster he'll die." Shan Qingluo smiled bitterly.
Even just staying outside the estate, the Love Seed within her grew at a terrifying pace. Again and again, the bewitching queen felt an irresistible impulse surge through her—to charge into Yang Kai's estate and stay by his side.
But every single time, she forced it down with sheer willpower.
"I don't understand." Biluo shook her head and sighed softly. She hated seeing her beloved, admired queen reduced to this.
"You wouldn't understand. This is the fate of my Bewitching Queen bloodline." Shan Qingluo's seductive eyes turned faintly melancholy.
A hundred li away, in Zhongdu.
Even from that great distance, the dragon-and-phoenix celestial phenomenon was clearly visible to those there.
The five Evil Kings wore expressions of casual amusement. While the phenomenon had caught them off guard, they didn't consider it particularly significant. Only the Evil Lord, Yang Bo, gazed intently toward the direction of Battle City, a deep wariness settling over his features.