Volume 4: Super-Tier Awakening & The Ancient Capital Calamity
Chapter 319
Discussing the Ice Element with Mu Ningxue
Deep in the dead of night, the skies over the island city were draped in a thin layer of silk-like white mist. Silver moonlight cascaded from the zenith down onto the mirror-like surface of the sea, casting myriad shimmering, prismatic reflections. Up on the open-air terrace on the thirty-sixth floor of the towering navigation spire, the ocean breeze roared past, carrying the briny scent of the deep sea and the biting chill characteristic of the northern waters.
Lin Feng stood quietly beside the transparent tempered glass railing, his deep gaze fixed upon the distant horizon where sea and sky melted into one. Behind him, light footsteps sounded softly, resembling withered leaves fluttering down onto a tender lawn. A tall, ethereal figure clad in pristine white garments slowly approached.
Mu Ningxue stood beside Lin Feng. The howling night wind fluttered her long, lustrous silver hair, causing it to dance gracefully within the illusory expanse. Her exquisite, flawless features appeared even more melancholic and aloof under the moonlight, resembling a supreme masterpiece sculpted from glacial jade in the mortal realm. Yet, upon closer inspection, rare ripples stirred within her phoenix eyes, clear as autumn pools.
“The wind is strong out here. Why haven’t you rested yet?” Lin Feng turned his head, the corners of his lips curving upward into a warm smile, his gaze holding a profound gentleness reserved solely for this young woman.
Mu Ningxue shook her head gently, her long, curled eyelashes fluttering slightly. Her voice was clear yet carried the natural chill of ice and snow: “I couldn’t sleep. The Ice Crystal Killer Palace within my body has been acting up a bit over the last few days. The killing intent and frigid poison in my meridians started stirring again, like an endless curse...”
Hearing this, Lin Feng’s expression instantly turned solemn. He understood better than anyone the torment Mu Ningxue endured, stemming from both her clan and her unique constitution. Born with heaven-defying ice element talent, she simultaneously had to bear the terrifying backlash of her frosty bloodline. For all these years, she had fought the bone-piercing agony entirely alone, using iron-willed resolve to force herself to the peak of the young mage generation, even as every inch of her meridians bled internally.
Lin Feng did not utter another word. He took a deep breath, slowly lifting his right hand before his chest.
“Ningxue, look at this.”
Lin Feng’s pupils flashed with a brilliant azure radiance. Instantly, from the palm of his hand, a surge of ancient, utmost pure energy began to condense. There was no violent roar of wind and thunder, nor the suffocating weight of flames—only absolute stillness, a primordial chill that seemed to have existed since the primordial dawn of the prehistoric era.
Drip...
A six-petaled azure-snow lotus blossom burst into bloom right within Lin Feng’s palm. Each petal was as transparent as glazed crystal, reflecting the silver moonlight into countless mystical hues. The most distinctive feature was the aura radiating from this lotus—it bore no trace of the slaughter or destruction commonly found in high-tier ice magic. Instead, it exuded a pure majesty, the nurturing vitality of Primordial Absolute Ice.
Mu Ningxue, standing merely half a step away, suddenly froze. Her lovely eyes widened to their limit, her long eyelashes trembling violently, and boundless astonishment clearly etched across her eternally tranquil features.
“Ice... Ice Element?!” Mu Ningxue’s voice trembled uncontrollably, an unprecedented shock crashing straight into her mind. She stared at the ice lotus in Lin Feng’s hand, then lifted her gaze to look deep into his eyes, her breathing suddenly turning ragged.
“You... you awakened an additional Ice Element when stepping into the Super Tier? Impossible... Clearly, before this, you...”
Everyone knew that Lin Feng possessed terrifying and overwhelmingly dominant magic elements, ranging from Lightning, Fire, and Spatial to the Summoning Element. His combat prowess far surpassed the limits of his peers, serving as the nightmare of countless great sea monsters and older-generation powerhouses. Yet, no one had ever heard of Lin Feng wielding the Ice Element—let alone an Ice Element so powerful, profound, and primitive that it caused her own frost soul to tremble in absolute submission!
Lin Feng smiled gently, curving his five fingers slightly. The ice lotus floated suspended in mid-air, radiating invigoratingly cool wisps of breath that enveloped the two of them. He took a step forward, shortening the distance between them to mere inches. The warm breath of the man brushed against the snow-white skin of Mu Ningxue’s cheek, carrying a hypnotic pull that caused her heart to skip a beat.
“From now on, you no longer have to bear the bitter cold and loneliness of the Ice Crystal Killer Palace all by yourself.” Lin Feng spoke, every warm word ringing out clearly amidst the dark night, piercing straight through the thickest defensive frost in Mu Ningxue’s soul: “My ice was not born to slaughter or freeze the world, but to warm and accompany you. Whenever the freezing backlash acts up, I will be right here to bear it with you.”
Boom!
That sincere, unadorned confession—heavy as Mount Tai—struck like a bolt of lightning straight into the long-frozen heart of the empire’s coldest prodigy. The wall of ice that Mu Ningxue had personally erected to protect herself through all those lonely years instantly cracked, then collapsed entirely in the blink of an eye.
The corners of Mu Ningxue’s eyes suddenly stung. A warm current involuntarily welled up, rolling down her porcelain-white cheeks, only for the droplets to instantly crystallize into tiny, glittering ice beads under the moonlight before hitting the ground. Throughout her entire life, no one had ever spoken such words to her. People looked at her with awe, envy, or covetous desire for her talent, yet no one truly cared about the bleeding wounds hidden deep within her body and soul. Only Lin Feng—this man who always stood at the absolute peak—used the most domineering yet tender method to step straight into her inner sanctuary.
Gone was her usual haughty, distant veneer; Mu Ningxue now resembled a fragile young maiden who had finally found a peaceful harbor after weathering a ferocious storm. She took half a step closer, extending her small, delicate yet freezing hands to gently cover the hand Lin Feng used to hold the ice lotus.
The warmth from Lin Feng’s palm transferred over, diffusing into every fiber and every frozen meridian of her body. This seemingly simple touch triggered a massive, resonant shockwave across her soul.
Hum... hum... hum...
The Ice Crystal Killer Palace hidden deep within Mu Ningxue’s spiritual sea suddenly emitted deep, resonant echoes. It was no longer the agonizing roar of backlash as usual, but a satisfied sigh, a miraculous harmony. The lingering toxic chill accumulated in her body over the years reacted as though encountering its natural nemesis, beginning to melt and undergo thorough cleansing under the enshrifting embrace of Lin Feng’s Primordial Absolute Ice energy.
The bone-deep agony that once tortured her during every dead-of-night hour vanished entirely. In its place, warmth and exhilaration spread throughout her entire body, causing Mu Ningxue’s pale complexion to rapidly flush with a healthy, stunningly radiant glow.
She raised her head, her tear-filled phoenix eyes gazing straight into Lin Feng. Within that gaze, all disguise was gone, replaced solely by sincerity, utter surrender, and a love running deep into her very bones.
Lin Feng lowered his head, looking with profound affection at the exquisite face pressed right before his chest. He reached out, gently wrapping his arms around Mu Ningxue’s slender, graceful waist, drawing her flush against his solid chest. Mu Ningxue offered no resistance; instead, she leaned her head against Lin Feng’s shoulder, closing her eyes and relaxing her body completely to bask in the absolute safety this man provided.
At this moment, the two streams of Ice Element mana within their bodies completely fused into one. The ice lotus in mid-air scattered sparkling shards of light resembling a meteor shower, enveloping the two figures on the thirty-sixth-floor terrace. Amidst the howling ocean night wind, time seemed to stand still; the outside world ceased to exist, leaving only the warmth of two hearts beating to a single rhythm.
They simply stood thus beside the glass railing, leaning against each other beneath the silver moonlight, savoring the most peaceful, sacred, and deeply bonded moment since setting foot upon this path of mages fraught with thorns and bloodshed.
However, such stillness and sweetness were naturally luxuries for those standing at the pinnacle of power and might.
Just as the romantic atmosphere reached its peak, their noses mere fractions of an inch apart...
RING! RING! RING! RING!
A deafening, harsh, and utterly urgent alarm pierced right through the tranquil night!
Lin Feng frowned, lowering his gaze to his waist. There, the General-tier magic transceiver—a specialized communication device reserved strictly for wartime or national-level disasters—was flashing frantically with a blinding, dazzling red light.
Red alert status!
Mu Ningxue snapped back to reality from the sweet intoxication, hurriedly stepping back a pace. Her cheeks flushed with shyness, but her gaze swiftly recovered the sharpness of an ice-element queen. Looking at the transceiver on Lin Feng’s waist, her voice turned grave: “This alert level... something massive must have happened along the southern coastline.”
Lin Feng let out a sigh, the gentleness in his gaze instantly replaced by a razor-sharp, chilling edge. Reaching out, he snatched the magic transceiver from his waist and pressed hard on the activation button.
Instantly, from the transceiver’s speaker, a panicked, fractured, and breathless voice of a high-ranking officer rang out, cutting straight through the howling wind outside:
“Re... Reporting to Grand Marshal Lin Feng! Emergency! Extreme emergency!”
“The defense line at the Seventh Coastline of Black Dragon Bay has... has fallen!”
“Tens of thousands of deep-sea demon beasts of Commander-tier along with three Lord-tier chieftains are swarming ashore! The alliance’s magic defense barrier completely collapsed in less than fifteen minutes! Please... I beg you to dispatch reinforcements immediately!”
Click... click... click...
The signal was suddenly cut off entirely amid a harsh burst of static, leaving the terrace immersed in a suffocating silence.
Lin Feng gripped the transceiver so tightly that his knuckles cracked audibly. Lifting his head, he stared toward the southern horizon, where billowing plumes of black smoke were mingling with the crimson lightning of war.
Mu Ningxue stepped forward, her silver hair fluttering in the wind, her gaze fixed resolutely upon him: “I’m going with you.”