“Who is Long Chen?! Hurry up and come out!”

Suddenly, heaven and earth began to shiver. A jade-white hand appeared up in the sky and tore open a crack in the void, and a woman walked out of that crack.

This woman appeared extremely young and had a slender figure. She wore snow-white robes, truly looking like a high god up above others.

There weren’t any fluctuations coming from her body, but as soon as she appeared, it was as if the entire world had become encased in ice. The ordinary disciples began to shiver, their teeth clacking.

Even the Xiantian experts felt chilly and had no choice but to circulate their qi with their power in order to defend against the chill. Each one of them looked at that woman with shock.

This woman was extremely beautiful, but her face didn’t have the slightest expression. She was like some goddess of ice and snow, so cold that others didn’t dare approach.

As soon as she appeared, her eyes scanned the people below. She quickly noticed Long Chen, and her eyes brightened.

She disappeared from the sky, appeared in front of Long Chen. She hastily asked, “Where is Ye Zhiqiu? Quick, tell me.”

Long Chen was completely startled. He didn’t know this woman’s intentions, and so he hesitated. “My friend already died. Does senior need something?”

“Quickly bring out her corpse. I need to see if her soul star has scattered. Quickly!” she demanded urgently.

Long Chen’s heart shook. He thought of a certain possibility and hastily looked towards Chu Yao. She waved her hand and a large, wooden coffin appeared in front of her.

The wooden coffin automatically opened, revealing Ye Zhiqiu who lay inside. Her face was pale-white, but that final smile of hers still remained.

Seeing that smile, Long Chen felt a wave of emotion and couldn’t hold back his tears. That smile was Ye Zhiqiu’s final gift to him.

Tang Wan-er and Chu Yao also had tears streaming down their face. The death of one of their sisters who had fought side by side with them made them feel as if knives were stabbing their hearts.

That mysterious woman hastily pressed a finger to the space between Ye Zhiqiu’s eyebrows, and suddenly, a rune shaped like a snow lotus lit up.

“Her soul star still hasn’t shattered! I made it just in time.” A gratified smile appeared on that icy woman’s face.

She waved her hand, and a crystalline ice coffin enveloped Ye Zhiqiu before she was put away by the woman.

“Senior…?” Long Chen hastily cried out. He still didn’t know what intentions this woman had. He couldn’t just let her take away Ye Zhiqiu.

“This woman’s soul star will be very useful to my disciples. I’ll be taking this corpse,” she said icily.

“What?!”

Guo Ran and the others all raged. She wanted Ye Zhiqiu’s corpse to use as a cultivation tool?! That was absolutely intolerable!

“Hand back my friend’s corpse!”

Long Chen instantly summoned his divine ring and battle armor. A blue flame spear appeared in his hand.

Guo Ran, Gu Yang, and the others also surrounded this woman. As long as Long Chen gave the order, they would immediately attack.

That mysterious woman smiled mockingly at being surrounded by them. She icily said, “Don’t think a few babies like you can do anything. If I want to leave, then even if everyone here tried to stop me, you would all be killed with a wave of my hand. It’d be best for you not to overestimate yourselves.”

“Long Chen, don’t be reckless. This senior is very powerful.” Shui Wuhen hastily tried to stop him. Even she felt an incredible pressure from this woman. She couldn’t help being horrified. Why had such a person appeared here?

“I don’t care if she’s a senior or not. I also don’t care how high her cultivation base is. If you want to bring away my companion, you’ll have to take my life first.” Long Chen icily glared at that woman, his aura growing stronger and stronger.

Although he knew this woman was terrifying, so terrifying that even Shui Wuhen was intimidated by her, Long Chen definitely wouldn’t allow her to just bring away Ye Zhiqiu. So no matter how strong she was, he still needed to fight with his full strength, even if it meant a battle to the death.

That was the essence of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. Ever since Long Chen had understood that, he had sworn never to yield. Wasn’t the worst case just death?

“Your actions right now are very stupid,” said the mysterious woman.

“You’re absolutely right. We’re all just this stupid. It’s precisely because we’re stupid that we can fight together even unto death,” said Long Chen icily. His two stars circulated with their full power. Since his chances of survival were already so remote, he might as well give it a try.

Seeing Long Chen gathering all his power, that mysterious woman’s icy expression gradually became a smile, a bit of admiration appearing in her eyes.

Just how many years had it been since someone had dared face her like this? Let alone a Tendon Transformation rookie like Long Chen, even someone on Shui Wuhen’s level didn’t dare face her directly.

But Long Chen still gathered all his power, not giving up despite knowing how many times stronger she was, despite knowing he was facing someone he could not possibly defeat. That required more than just courage.

“Good, very good. It’s no wonder you were able to subdue an Earth Flame in your realm. It seems it wasn’t necessarily a coincidence.” The mysterious woman nodded, no longer appearing as icy as before. Instead, she seemed like a benevolent elder, causing everyone to be dumbfounded.

“All of you really are excellent disciples. The reason why experts are called experts isn’t just because of how strong they are, but because they have a powerful courage. One of the traits an expert must have is to be able to fight against other experts, experts who might even be stronger than them, without withdrawing, without being terrified, and without giving up. You’ve all done well.

“Long Chen, you don’t need to be worried. I was testing you just now. I don’t have any malicious intentions. I crossed seventeen prefectures all to bring back Ye Zhiqiu.

“I’ve already seen the scenes of your battle within the secret realm. Ye Zhiqiu possesses an extremely rare celestial ice body, and she is perfectly suited to my sect’s cultivation techniques. I came here today to bring her back to my sect to cultivate,” said the mysterious woman.

“Then, you mean that Zhiqiu, she can be…” Long Chen’s eyes brightened with emotion, his voice trembling slightly.

The mysterious woman nodded. “Her soul star hasn’t dissipated yet. When I bring her back, I will use a Xuan Ice Pool to baptize her. That will let her completely shed her old self and reform her physical body. At that time, she will be revived.”

“Really?!” Chu Yao and Tang Wan-er both cheered, hugging Long Chen and crying tears of joy. There was no better news than this to them.

A companion’s death would bring endless pain to those who remained. That kind of pain could make a person wish they were dead as well. That was also why they loathed fighting so much.

But cultivation was simply like that. If you didn’t kill others, others would kill you. Furthermore, there was no retreat possible. That was something all cultivators were helpless about.

“Many thanks, senior.” Long Chen hastily bowed to the mysterious woman.

“In truth, you don’t have to thank me. We only encountered each other due to coincidence. I will be bringing away Zhiqiu, but it will take a while in order for her to revive.

“There’s one thing I should warn you of. Once she undergoes the baptism of the Chilling Ice Ancient Pool, she will become completely transformed, and her physical body will reach a flawless level. If you don’t work hard, you’ll only ever be able to look up to her,” said the mysterious woman.

“Don’t worry, senior, such a thing definitely won’t happen,” promised Long Chen.

“Alright, then I’ll leave now. If there comes a day when you reach that realm, you will naturally come to know who I am, so there’s no need for me to tell you my name.

“But if you aren’t able to reach that level, then we will be people in two different worlds, so telling you my name would also be useless.”

After saying that, this mysterious woman took a single step and appeared in the sky. Cutting a line with her hand, a crack appeared in the void and she stepped through, disappearing from their gazes.

Even once that mysterious woman left, everyone present still felt as if they were dreaming. To be able to wave her hand and tear apart the void, just what level of expert was this? They had never even heard of such a realm.

Yin Qing’s expression was exceedingly ugly. She icily glared at Long Chen and warned, “Just wait, Long Chen. This matter won’t end so easily. You should know, an ancient family’s prestige is not something someone like you can tarnish.”

“Hurry up and scram. Don’t you see my boss is too lazy to even acknowledge you?” said Guo Ran disdainfully. To such a lofty and arrogant person, you couldn’t give the slightest bit of face. The best way to handle them was to ruthlessly give them a slap in the face.

The more face you gave them, the more unbridled they would be.

Although Yin Wushuang was basically dead thanks to Long Chen, that didn’t relieve any of the hatred in their hearts.

Right now, there was hope for Ye Zhiqiu reviving, but the others who had died would never live again.

Lu Fang-er’s corpse might be intact still, but the Wind Spirit Pavilion’s poisonous arrows were specialized towards soul cultivators. Her soul had already dissipated, and even a god wouldn’t be able to revive her.

As for Guan Wennan and the other 108th monastery’s disciples, they were all dead due to Yin Wushuang’s schemes. So seeing that Yin Qing dared try to threaten them at this point, Guo Ran was just a bit off from completely exploding and unleashing a real batch of obscenities.

Yin Qing almost coughed up blood from rage. Clenching her teeth, she finally left with her people. Once the Yin family left, those various Righteous sects’ members who had been brought here by Sha Qitian also said their goodbyes.

Sha Qitian had been executed, and their previous investments were now essentially gone and wasted.

Most importantly, with Sha Qitian’s death, the compensation he had promised them was also gone. Staying any longer wouldn’t bring any benefits, so they could only leave dejectedly.

It could be said that their core strength had been greatly injured now. Their elite disciples had almost all been killed. They could only wait and patiently gather more disciples, raising them into elites.

However, what they didn’t know was, a hundred years from now, when they and their new disciples waited for the Jiuli secret realm to open, they would all be dumbfounded because the Jiuli secret realm would not open. It would forever disappear from this world.

Once those various sect leaders and Elders left, the only ones remaining were the members from the monasteries, as well as those from the Huayun Sect, Mo Gate, and the Skywood Palace’s Li Qiuyue.

Shui Wuhen swept her gaze over these people and then icily said, “Now it’s time for us to properly settle our accounts.”