Chapter 523 - 41: Song Changsheng vs. Xia Qingxue 2

Song Changsheng’s heart leaped in his chest.

Then, Xia Qingxue thrust her hand out and slammed it onto the ring. A wave of coldness spread out, kicking up flurries of snow. The Array Patterns Song Changsheng had just inscribed were instantly revealed.

She then clenched her palm into a fist and smashed it down. The Array Patterns Song Changsheng had laid out shattered inch by inch, eventually dissipating into nothing.

"Fellow Daoist Song, a trick you’ve used once won’t work a second time," Xia Qingxue said calmly as she stood up.

"I know the principle, I just wanted to give it a try," Song Changsheng replied with a bitter smile.

"Let’s fight head-on, Fellow Daoist Song. We will decide the ownership of Tuo Province," Xia Qingxue said faintly.

"Alright, let’s fight!" Battle intent surged from Song Changsheng. His blood rushed, and the muscles under his clothes bulged. With a wave of his hand, the Earth Core Cold Flame wrapped around him, forming a suit of Flame Armor.

BOOM—

Song Changsheng stomped his foot, leaving a large crater in the ring, and shot toward Xia Qingxue like a streak of light.

With the poise of a seasoned master, Xia Qingxue clasped her hands behind her back. Two streams of pure white cold energy, like two white Flood Dragons, emanated a piercing chill as they rushed toward Song Changsheng.

BOOM—

Veins bulged on his arms. A flurry of punches rained down, instantly blasting the two white Flood Dragons to pieces.

Song Changsheng then quickly closed the distance, his fist creating a sonic boom as it shot toward Xia Qingxue’s chest.

"Frost... Descend!"

Xia Qingxue whispered softly. Her pupils and hair rapidly lost their color, turning a dazzling silver-white. Endless frost and snow drifted down from the heavens.

The surroundings instantly turned into a vast expanse of white. Time itself seemed to freeze at this moment.

The ring was covered in Ice Crystals, and Song Changsheng was enveloped by endless cold energy.

Cold.

A bone-chilling cold.

A cold that seeped into the soul.

Frost crept across the surface of Song Changsheng’s body.

His Spiritual Power stagnated in his Meridians, completely unable to circulate.

The armor formed by the Earth Core Cold Flame had already been extinguished. The Earth Core Cold Flame was itself a flame of Extreme Cold, yet it was frozen and put out, showing just how domineering this cold energy was.

If not for his powerful physique and surging blood qi protecting him, Song Changsheng would have already turned into an ice sculpture. Even so, if he couldn’t find a way to counter this, the fate of the Book Language Sword would be his own.

Song Changsheng’s mind raced. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and his thoughts returned to a dozen years ago.

Back then, for the sake of a Heart Protection Pill, he had unintentionally offended the Gu Master Feng Wuming and had a Poisonous Insect planted inside him. At that time, he had relied on the Primordial Qi accumulated in his body to refine the Poisonous Insect to death right inside himself.

’Could I draw on that experience this time?’

’No, that won’t work. If I do that, I’ll die before I can even disperse the cold.’ Song Changsheng’s very soul was trembling, but his thoughts remained clear.

’That’s right, I can go one step further!’

With the help of the Star Infusion, Song Changsheng had already opened his Middle Dantian ahead of schedule, which was like dipping a toe into the Purple Mansion Stage. He now wanted to take it a step further: to forge a Purple Mansion Melting Furnace within his Middle Dantian.

Of course, he didn’t have the materials on hand to forge a true Purple Mansion, but he could use his Primordial Qi to first create a phantom of the Purple Mansion Melting Furnace to resist this tyrannical cold.

The theory was sound. It was time to put it into practice.

Song Changsheng forced himself to calm down and began to mobilize the Primordial Qi stored in his Lower Dantian.

A wisp of gray mist was seen traveling up from his Lower Dantian and rushing into his Middle Dantian.

"AHHH—"

Pain.

An incredibly intense pain.

Sweat beaded on Song Changsheng’s forehead. His teeth were chattering, and he couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or the pain.

Under his guidance, the Primordial Qi coursed through his Middle Dantian, eventually coalescing into the phantom of a massive, three-legged, two-handled furnace. This was the prototype of Song Changsheng’s future Purple Mansion.

’It’s not enough. I need a fire seed. I need a fire seed to ignite the Purple Mansion,’ Song Changsheng thought with a slight frown.

This "Purple Mansion" of his was just a phantom, not a real one. To use it to resist the encroaching cold, he had to ignite it with a fire seed.

’Right, the Earth Core Cold Flame.’

With a thought from Song Changsheng, the Yin Yang Spirit-Slaying Gourd flew to his side. A dark blue flame floated out of the gourd’s mouth. Upon contact with the surrounding cold energy, it let out a series of crackles and pops.

He carefully enveloped it with Spiritual Power and guided it into his Middle Dantian.

"AHHH—"

Song Changsheng let out a bloodcurdling scream. He felt a fire raging inside him, threatening to consume his body at any moment.

But then, he felt an extreme cold, as if his very Divine Soul was about to be frozen solid.

He gritted his teeth, enduring the excruciating pain as he guided the fire seed into the Purple Mansion.

BOOM—

The dark blue flame flared. The Purple Mansion Melting Furnace was instantly ignited, and all the cold energy that had invaded Song Changsheng’s body was refined by the furnace.

’I’m warming up.’ Song Changsheng felt a pleasant warmth spread through him. The Purple Mansion Melting Furnace continuously absorbed the surrounding cold and Spiritual Qi, converting it into a ceaseless flow of Mana that nourished his body. He felt as if he possessed infinite power.

’Is this Mana?’

Feeling the new energy born within him, Song Changsheng was overjoyed. From this moment on, the Spiritual Power in his body would slowly transform into Mana.

This was a powerful energy completely different from Spiritual Power. Even without using Primordial Qi, he could now activate Little Divine Techniques.

"Mountain-Flipping Seal."

Looking at the world of ice and snow before him, Song Changsheng whispered. He turned his palm over, and a large, pitch-black seal materialized above it. At the same time, manifestations of majestic mountains and surging rivers appeared around him.

"Break!"

The great seal crashed down, and the world constructed of ice and snow instantly shattered into pieces.

*PTUI*

With her Divine Technique broken, Xia Qingxue immediately spat out a mouthful of blood. Specks of it splattered onto her ethereal dress, like beautiful plum blossoms.

Her silver-white pupils and hair gradually returned to their original color.

’So this is Mana... It feels so powerful.’ Song Changsheng stared at his palm in disbelief.

The power of the Mountain-Flipping Seal when activated with Mana was on a completely different level from when it was activated with Primordial Qi. It was several times stronger, at least. Otherwise, he couldn’t have broken Xia Qingxue’s Divine Technique so easily.

"How did you do that?"

Xia Qingxue wiped the blood from her lips, her voice cold as she asked.

She could clearly sense the change in Song Changsheng’s strength from before to now. This change had likely just occurred.

But she had not fully mastered the Divine Technique, Ice and Snow Dominator, so she wasn’t clear on what had happened during that time.

"Just a bit of luck," Song Changsheng said with his usual humility, though in this situation, it sounded a bit disingenuous.

But Xia Qingxue didn’t care. She only knew that Song Changsheng’s strength had broken through once again, and that she had lost this battle.

"I have lost." With those words, Xia Qingxue turned and walked off the ring.

Seeing this, the viewing platform instantly erupted in an uproar. The vast majority of people had no idea what had happened in that brief moment.

They had only seen the ring turn pure white and the two fighters disappear. When their figures reappeared, Xia Qingxue was spitting blood, and then she personally admitted defeat and left the ring.

They were completely in the dark about what had transpired.

"It’s happening again! What the hell is with this Song Changsheng? It’s always like this, his opponents are defeated without anyone knowing how."

"Even the Direct Lineage disciple of a Golden Core Master lost. This Song Changsheng is truly terrifying."

"Doesn’t this make Song Changsheng the number one expert of the younger generation in the Daqi Cultivation World?" someone said thoughtfully.

"Nonsense! My sect’s eldest senior brother can definitely put up a fight against him," someone immediately jumped up to retort.

"My sect’s second senior sister can also fight him!"

The viewing platform was instantly thrown into chaos, filled with the ceaseless sounds of arguments.

But this chaos did not reach the judges’ seats. Bai Yan and Bai Zimo exchanged a look, and both saw the shock in the other’s eyes.

Others couldn’t see it, but it couldn’t be hidden from them. From Song Changsheng’s final strike, they had detected a familiar power—Mana, and a vast amount of it at that!

’This boy absolutely cannot be allowed to live!’

’This boy will definitely become a great figure in the future!’

In that instant, two completely different thoughts emerged in the minds of Bai Zimo and Bai Yan...

...