Chapter 2161: The Ascended Warden

“I am Xie Ai of Snow Country, styled ‘Winter Emperor’. I am the reincarnation body of the Frost Immortal Monarch, Xu Qiu Ci, Your Majesty, Ancestor Emperor!” Xie Ai stood on the ice bridge, utterly certain of her identity.

Guan Dao Quan slightly turned his body, allowing Hong Jun Yan on the throne to face Xie Ai.

“You are not,” Hong Jun Yan said indifferently.

“I loyally serve the current Saint King! My Snow Country’s Saintly Son of Heaven possesses both civil and martial virtues and loves his people as his children. Since ascending the throne, he has been diligent and hardworking, repeatedly thwarting the schemes of great powers and preserving the territory of the Snow Domain. He encourages refinement and governance, greatly developing the Snow Domain. He establishes schools and benefits merchants, allowing the people to rest and recuperate, deeply winning the hearts of the people!

She pointed forward with a halberd: “Just because of you, this old, undead thing, Jieshuang, has returned, and the great Son of Heaven actually has to kneel and become a minister, surrendering everything! What qualifications do you have? When the world was in great chaos, you weren't there; those heroic lords and wise kings, you avoided the edge; you evaded for three thousand eight hundred years. It wasn't you who protected Snow Country, it wasn't you who developed Snow Country. How can you say Snow Country is yours?”

“Ancestor Emperor, why speak such words!?” Winter Emperor’s words held surprise: “Just because I resist you? Why should I not resist?

I am not disloyal, I am loyal to the current king! If the lord is humiliated, the minister dies. How can I endure? Of course, I rebelled against you!”

She spoke passionately, raising both hands on the ice bridge, appealing to the ten thousand people: “All subjects of Snow Country, let your voices be heard!

It is time to make a choice. Is it to follow the contemporary Snow King who truly holds you in his heart, or to follow this old corpse that crawled out from the coffin?!”

“Ancestor Emperor, do not listen to this person’s provocation! I have no relation with her. Our hearts welcome back the Grand Ancestor; the sun and moon bear witness.”

Before the throne, Hong Xing Jian knelt directly on both knees, firmly clarifying: “Descendant Hong Xing Jian is willing to be Your Majesty’s vanguard!”

Hong Jun Yan did not look at his descendant, only at Xie Ai.

Winter Emperor still wore that beautiful and fragile face, but her temperament was completely different. She raised her hand and pointed at Hong Xing Jian, with a look of anger at his lack of ambition: “Ah, you, Hong Xing Jian, you are truly meaningless, truly useless ah. I so loyally and devotedly support you, yet you straighten your back, be firm just once, and loudly speak the resentment in your heart, why not? Are you still worried that no one in the entire court of civil and military officials supports you? All these years, you have been a monarch in vain!”

Hong Xing Jian knelt upright, raising his finger to the sky: “Descendant kneels to ancestor, minister kneels to king. Xing Jian’s heart holds absolutely no resentment! Snow Country can only achieve hegemony under your leadership. She is provoking and sowing discord, with malicious intent!”

“My Majesty, is it not the time for you to point at rivers and mountains, praising and criticizing the world?” Winter Emperor shook her head: “You are now even unwilling to honor me as ‘Winter Emperor’, which makes this old minister feel cold!”

Hong Xing Jian still wanted to explain more.

Hong Jun Yan had already said lightly: “Xing Jian, you are very smart, and also very cautious. But can you trust your ancestor a little? I would not, because of a fake’s few words, harbor suspicion. Stand up, you are also Snow Country’s Son of Heaven, you should not be kneeling.”

“Although Your Majesty does not doubt this minister, this minister fears the common people may be deceived—Ancestor Emperor’s teaching is correct, please allow Xing Jian to serve before the king.” Hong Xing Jian stood up, respectfully standing aside.

“Fake goods?” Winter Emperor’s tone held some real dissatisfaction: “My identity is confirmed by Fu Zhen Jun. My Snow Country’s Ancestor Emperor, you have only been in contact with me for how long, and how much evidence could you possibly have, yet you deny me like this? Whether it is Xu Qiu Ci or Xie Ai, neither has seen Your Majesty before; are you actually so arbitrary?”

“To deny you is not an easy thing.” On the Eternal Saint Winter Peak, Fu Huan finally said: “I witnessed Xu Qiu Ci’s growth and death. She indeed conducted research on reincarnation in her lifetime and indeed advanced to a very critical step—so when you deliberately displayed Xie Ai’s abnormality, leading Dan Tai Fei to chase and kill you, and continuously verifying Xu Qiu Ci’s reincarnation identity, I was willing to investigate further.

I so hoped you were Xu Qiu Ci’s reincarnation; I so hoped she succeeded!

That not only means the return of Snow Country’s strong one, not only means I am reunited with a trustworthy comrade—not only that, it means she truly made reincarnation possible, she interfered with the Source Sea, changed the fundamental of the cultivation world, and will eventually influence the pattern of the entire present world!”

He cast a disappointed gaze from that unchanging peak: “But in the end, you are not her.”

“How can you tell?” Winter Emperor asked lightly.

“You indeed understand the Rindong Immortal Technique very well; your immortal technique attainment was already evident in the recent changes. You also understand Xu Qiu Ci’s life, are clear about many of her private matters, and even completely replicated Xu Qiu Ci’s way of thinking. Even I could not distinguish true from false. So I was willing to hope for the slightest possibility, so I often asked myself—is it truly possible?”

Fu Huan sighed lightly: “But Xu Qiu Ci would not betray Snow Country.”

“Uh, this is indeed a good way to judge. People’s words, actions, expressions, writings, all can be lies, but choices will not deceive…” Winter Emperor said: “So you have only just now confirmed that I am not Xu Qiu Ci’s reincarnation, eh?”

Fu Huan responded seriously: “Your performance was flawless; your understanding of Xu Qiu Ci was second only to Xu Qiu Ci herself. I believe you must have put in a lot of effort for this. I was always unable to completely deny you. Of course, suspicion always existed.

After all, reincarnation is something that has never had a precedent. I have also never seen the possibility of success.”

“In this way, I feel much better in my heart. At least my performance had no problems—regardless, I have to thank you.” Winter Emperor said coldly but politely: “The identity of Xu Qiu Ci’s reincarnation was, after all, recognized by many because of your acknowledgment.

You’re welcome,” Fu Huan also responded very politely: “You indeed did many things that Xu Qiu Ci’s reincarnation should do and made contributions to Snow Country.”

“This is my honor,” Winter Emperor said.

Compared to Xu Wang and Wang Xi Xu, who were still reflected in the Thunder Sea, and Wei Qing Peng and Meng Ling Xiao, who were flying towards the extreme polar sky pavilion preparing to fight to the death, these two were truly excessively polite.

Other True Monarchs were almost fighting their brains out; if they continued chatting, they might even compare birth dates.

“So who exactly are you?” Guan Dao Quan directly stopped their small talk: “A Jing person? A Jing person? A Qin person?”

“Your range of suspicion is this broad?” Winter Emperor stirred her hand and bowed humbly: “Then let me reintroduce myself—I am Ning Dao Ru of Qin Country.”

“Ning Dao Ru?”

All who heard this name were utterly bewildered.

In the annals of Qin Country, no such person was recorded.

Jiang Wang had familiarly read “History Knife Chiseled Sea” and was also very familiar with “Qin Summary”. He would have a reaction to what he heard, like Wei Shu. He had never seen the name Ning Dao Ru in history books either.

Being able to disguise as Winter Emperor, she must have at least Yan Dao strength. Being able to understand Xu Qiu Ci’s life so well and successfully make it difficult for Fu Huan to distinguish true from false, the resources that person could mobilize were also terrifyingly many. Such a person could not possibly be unknown.

The world has never had nameless Yan Dao!

Unless, like Meng Tian Hai, they forcefully erased their name from the river of time with world-shaking means.

But Qin Country, from the day of its founding, has been the focus of the present world. For many years, all countries have recorded history. If you erase things others remember, how can you hide your name? Moreover, even Meng Tian Hai from fifty-four thousand years ago was not found out by Chen Pu and Zuo Qiu Wu?

The traces along the way can naturally piece together the outline of a life.

If Winter Emperor was speaking her true name now, there should be some clues.

Hong Jun Yan looked towards Fu Huan, who also slightly shook his head.

“I have never known of this person in Qin Country,” Fu Huan said: “Over there is a disciple of Si Ma Heng; we might as well ask him—Zhong Ge Yuan! Do you know who Ning Dao Ru is? Can you introduce her a bit for us?”

Zhong Xuan stood gracefully on the roof, one hand holding a knife-pen, the other a bamboo slip, looking very much like a famous scholar.

Hearing Fu Huan’s words, he only said: “I am ashamed. This Zhong has disgraced my master’s name.”

His eyes, however, looked towards Winter Emperor, indicating his attitude with his actions—to maintain consistency with Jiang Ge Yuan, be absolutely neutral, and absolutely not speak lightly.

Although Fu Huan asked him to check history, he would not speak unless Winter Emperor nodded.

Winter Emperor said lightly: “If you can explain a little, this humble self does not mind.”

Zhong Xuan then directly said: “History has no record; there is no such person.”

“This is where you are wrong.” Fu Huan looked back at Winter Emperor: “Since you are unwilling to say, why use a false name?”

Winter Emperor said: “No, I indeed am Ning Dao Ru, but also indeed ‘history has no record’—in such a tense moment, are you all interested in my story?”

A shallow smile appeared on her face: “You are all great figures whose names are recorded in history. Ning Dao Ru is just an unknown person left out of history.

You might as well tell it,” Hong Jun Yan said: “If my hegemony will ultimately come to nothing, I should at least know who changed it.”

This Winter Emperor also seemed not in a hurry, just standing on this unfinished half ice bridge, calmly narrating: “I was born in Dao Calendar 119, and achieved dao in Dao Calendar 733. That year happened to be the year the Flying Sword era began. History never had such a short era; this era itself was also like the Flying Sword, appearing and vanishing suddenly. It was short as if it ended in the blink of an eye, yet it was imprinted on this world, naming the 107 years it experienced as an era.

I should be an annotation to this era. Because my first battle after achieving dao was against the only I Sword Kui. With my miserable defeat, I verified the sharpness of the Flying Sword.”

She looked towards Zhong Xuan: “History books should have records? Dao Calendar 733, the Flying Sword path consecutively produced True Monarchs; the Flying Sword Three Absolutes dominated the world. Only I Sword Kui defeated three True Monarchs with his sword within one year. Among them, two have names and surnames; only one was hidden.”

Zhong Xuan nodded solemnly: “Indeed, there is such a record.”

He had researched this history.

Only I Sword Kui’s disciples had notes passed down, among which there was such a record—Only I Sword Kui once said, “My sword defeated three True Monarchs, announced in history, and the Flying Sword from then on dominated the world.”

But the names of those three True Monarchs somehow did not match.

He once thought it was a mistake, or a pen error, or just Only I Sword Kui casually said a virtual number.

Now Winter Emperor restored that history. Of course, whether it was credible history still needed to be cross-verified with multiple historical materials after returning.

Winter Emperor continued: “After my defeat, I asked Only I Sword Kui not to spread my name because I was cut and my dao extinguished, and Qin Country at that time faced internal troubles and external threats, unable to bear more risks. Oh, at that time, my identity was Great Qin’s ‘Upper Birth Prison Official’, in charge of Great Qin’s Town Prison Division.

The reputation of Great Qin’s Town Prison Division is known to all.

The Upper Birth Prison Official was then Great Qin’s shadow strong one.

If Ning Dao Ru held this identity at that time, it is understandable that her true name was not recorded in history.

Zhong Xuan said intently: “Around Dao Calendar 733, Qin Country’s Town Prison Division did not experience any significant performance impact. The Prison Official at that time should have been a person named ‘Snake Head’.”

“Not bad for Si Ma Heng’s direct disciple!” After Xu Wang was reflected into the Thunder Sea, he also seemed too lazy to come out again and thus applauded and praised from within: “You know more about Qin Country’s history than even this marquis. This marquis doesn’t even remember these.”

“‘Snake Head’ is also ‘Dao’,” Winter Emperor said: “That was precisely my alias. As for the Town Prison Division not being much affected… that shows they did their work quite well.”

“What happened later?” Meng Ling Xiao listened very seriously: “How did you become like this now?”

Winter Emperor said: “My dao was extinguished, my cultivation became empty, the Town Prison Division could no longer be in charge, and my lifespan rapidly withered.

Helplessly, with the help of Gong Yang Xian Long, I froze my remnant body and slowed down the speed of lifespan withering, but it was just barely lingering. After all, he did not have Three Nine Cold Cicadas either and could not maintain lifespan while hibernating.”

Gong Yang Xian Long was precisely the founder of Qin Country’s Gong Yang clan.

“He said he would help me think of a way, and I temporarily took it as hope,” Winter Emperor continued to narrate: “I gradually lost consciousness, and then it was a long sleep. Until thirty years ago, Fan Si Nian awakened me. Only then did I know I was still alive.”

She looked at Hong Jun Yan: “In a sense, how am I not Xu Qiu Ci? The hibernation she did not have time to experience, I experienced.”

Jiang Zhen Ren’s eyelid twitched slightly; this game actually still had Fan Si Nian’s participation!

Also… Qin Country even built the Great Wall in Yu Abyss; this game is absolutely not decided by a few people, it must be the will throughout the entire Great Qin Empire.

Hong Jun Yan’s pupil flame lightly jumped: “So as early as Dao Calendar 733, the immortal technique of Three Nine Cold Cicadas had already leaked?”

“I do not know the exact time!” Winter Emperor said: “After all, Gong Yang Xian Long is already dead in Yu Abyss; I cannot ask him when he helped me extend my lifespan. But after waking up, Fan Si Nian gave me a lot of intelligence about Xu Qiu Ci, allowing me to weave a myth of Xu Qiu Ci’s reincarnation. The detail of that intelligence was shockingly comprehensive—

Ancestor Emperor Your Majesty, you are now very dangerous.” She sighed lightly: “In this Snow Country, up and down, do you know how many pairs of Qin people’s eyes there are? You closed the country, but you have no secrets.”

“That is to say, you started preparing Xu Qiu Ci’s identity thirty years ago. And Qin Country perhaps started planning today’s change as early as Dao Calendar 733? This is indeed shocking and makes me uneasy.” Hong Jun Yan said he was uneasy, but his voice was still very flat: “What happened later?

Perhaps earlier than you estimated, or later, who knows? I was only responsible for one link,” Winter Emperor said lightly: “Later things were very simple. The Imperial Medical Bureau continued Gong Yang Xian Long’s work and repaired my injuries; Fan Si Nian erased all history about Ning Dao Ru, fortunately, I had previously served in the Town Prison Division, and a long time had passed, making this matter feasible; Xu Wang seized Xu Qiu Ci’s causes and conditions and added them to this body; Wang Xi Xu helped to transplant flowers and graft wood, guiding the heavenly mechanisms…

Plus my own little effort, I once again achieved dao. Winter Emperor was thus born.”

As Winter Emperor spoke, she lifted her chamois boots and continued on her previous path, connecting her ice and snow bridge: “I have been so honest, can I exchange for honesty? Snow Country’s Ancestor Emperor Your Majesty, if the tricks I played with Rindong Immortal Technique all failed, and this Nine Nether Profound Ice actually cannot freeze you, then don’t just stand there stiffly—don’t let me rejoice in vain, okay?”

“But there is still one thing I don’t understand.” Hong Jun Yan said slowly and methodically: “Ning Dao Ru, since you are not the true Xu Qiu Ci’s reincarnation, why did you not stop the Cold Cicada Winter Festival Immortal Array? Instead, you pushed the Extreme Frost Coffin and welcomed me back?”

“Do you want to hear the truth or the lie?” Winter Emperor asked.

Hong Jun Yan said: “Listening to both brings enlightenment; I want to hear both.”

“Originally, this phrase is used like this…” Winter Emperor shook her head: “The truth is, I know you, Hong Jun Yan, are not a simple character and must have backup plans. Wang Xi Xu also calculated that your Cold Cicada Winter Festival Immortal Array has counter-trap measures.

If I acted rashly, I might walk into a trap. By continuing to support you and adding a little ingredient to your return process to influence your dao body, there was a greater possibility of success—or of course, it has probably failed now too.”

“The lie is that our Great Qin Empire, with its military might, is unwilling to bully the weak. We just want to defeat you at your strongest moment, let you display everything, and let you lose convincingly!”

“To deliver my defeat when I am at my strongest?” Hong Jun Yan slowly chewed on this sentence, and the flame in his pupils flickered for a moment, then settled: “Then, I shall grant your wish.”

The Nine Nether Profound Ice that firmly froze him flew out like stars at this moment.

The throne that locked him directly melted into golden liquid, dripping down the long sky.

He simply stood up, standing there, yet already possessing infinite majesty and surging power.

The Flat Heaven Crown seemed to be level with the sky!

All the tricks Winter Emperor played during his return process were successful, but they could not truly influence Hong Jun Yan.

It was like a drop of ink that could change the color of a cup of water, but not influence a sea.

Only at this moment did Hong Jun Yan display his full strength; this piece of snow domain could not accommodate him. Merely the spreading aura made people unable to breathe; the stronger they were, the more they knew his strength, and the more powerful they were, the more oppressed they felt!

Great light filled heaven and earth.

The star array covering the sky directly collapsed.

Snow Country’s night was restored to brightness!

At such a moment, Winter Emperor looked towards Jiang Wang, as if he were her only acquaintance, and said with a doubtful tone: “Jiang Ge Yuan, I just now said that the latter half of that sentence was a lie, right?”

Jiang Wang hesitated and said: “It seems….”

A hand appeared in his vision, a hand that grasped the universe and controlled the eight handles, the hand of an emperor. This hand simply grasped.

Time and space were displaced, and sights were twisted.

This hand was unexpectedly infinitely large, and Winter Emperor was unexpectedly infinitely small.

Her dao, her power, her flesh… in this hand that seemed to encompass heaven and earth, nearly infinitely collapsed.

Right in front of Jiang Wang, Winter Emperor’s powerful dao body was directly pinched flat!

“…Is it.” Jiang Wang forcibly uttered this sentence, silently pushed Tai Xu Pavilion, and retreated several hundred zhang.

The ancient pavilion stood as if alone in the world, that green shirt like a corner of a distant sky cloud.

Heaven was overturned and earth was upside down; clouds rolled and relaxed.

“You have made many preparations in the snow plains. You perhaps still have many trump cards, but I do not want to see anymore.”

Hong Jun Yan pinched and shattered Winter Emperor, indifferently lifting his eyes and looking towards the two reflections in the Thunder Sea.

The thunder clouds that had not dispersed for thousands of years, the sea of thunder light that forever violently shone, began to freeze and frost because of his gaze. Lightning became jumping shapes, frozen in thick ice layers.

Strong as Wang Xi Xu, who could escape the chop in the river of fate, he still had to rewrite the article and leap out of the Thunder Sea ahead of time!

Strong as the general supervisor of causes and conditions, Xu Wang, he also could not eliminate the cause and condition of this one glance and had to drive the immortal palace, breaking the ice to come out. He wanted to inspect Hong Jun Yan’s strength; now he saw clearly!

More powerful than imagined, more majestic than legends.

In the glorious era when the Dao Calendar first began, the existence standing at the highest place in the present world still possessed invincible might. His palm shook the snow plains, and his eyes intimidated heaven and earth.

The so-called “Absolute Peak” is to walk to the ultimate high place of this world.

Every Absolute Peak cultivator has touched the limit of the present world.

They ascended the peak through one or several paths, their directions different, their paths different, but their final height was similar—heaven is so high, it cannot be higher unless you break through heaven.

So the leap above Absolute Peak is so difficult. That is against the shackles of the entire world.

But is Absolute Peak equal to Absolute Peak?

The fall of countless Yan Dao throughout eternity all describes the difference in strength at the Absolute Peak.

The present world not only has the peak of the extraordinary, the limit height of power essence, but also vast mountains and rivers, boundless vastness.

The “quality” of power cannot be further elevated, but the “quantity” of power still has many possibilities.

So Meng Tian Hai, who had accumulated fifty-four thousand years, in the end tried to prove dao with power because, purely from power, he indeed surpassed all Yan Dao, ancient and modern.

To use simple and easy-to-understand words as an analogy—under the same height, which mountain is more majestic depends on which mountain has a broader area. The strength and weakness of Absolute Peak cultivators can also be analogized like this.

And transcendence has already broken the limit. It is not for comparison in this dimension.

Hong Jun Yan and Winter Emperor indeed had no difference in height, but in thickness and breadth, there was indeed a huge gap.

Why were Qin Country’s plans one after another, yet Hong Jun Yan was always so calm?

Because of power.

Snow Country’s biggest trump card is his peak combat power, which once faced Jing Tai Zu in a frontal decisive battle!

This kind of power can guarantee that Snow Country will not be easily taken by any side, and can ensure that any force that wants to annex Snow Country will pay a huge price!

This is enough.

The Great Qin Empire, of course, has the power to crush Snow Country, even facing such a Hong Jun Yan. The opening of Yu Abyss also indeed makes the flying land become neighbors, and the Qin people can send troops in full force—but what time is it now?

The Divine Xiao War is imminent; the world prepares for war!

Currently, there is a clear consensus—“A hegemonic country does not attack.”

Actually, not only hegemonic countries. Wei, Song, Sheng, the Northwest Five Countries Alliance, and the like are also tacitly not starting military action during this period because they are the backbone forces of the human race.

Qi attacking Xia, Mu attacking Sheng, even a great war between Jing and Mu—these grand wars are absolutely not feasible at present.

This is the timing Fu Huan chose.

Hong Jun Yan indeed has the qualification to say he does not need to see any more of the Qin people’s trump cards.

He has such strength; Snow Country can stand steadily here.

This is the overall situation of the present world, the fundamental of the human race. No matter what conspiracy is designed, as long as it cannot easily overturn Hong Jun Yan, it is all useless.

Just like Jiang Wang and Zhong Xuan, representing Tai Xu Pavilion, standing here, no waves can truly involve them. Because the Tai Xu Ge Yuan, pushed out by all sides, is itself the embodiment of this tacit understanding.

So Fu Huan has always been calm, and Hong Jun Yan still had the leisure to listen to stories.

When he listened to Qin Country’s design, he then formally displayed his power and announced the end of this game.

And Ning Dao Ru—was the price of offense.