Yun Che smirked.
This was the first time he had truly activated Hyōrinmaru's Bankai in battle. Two months ago, Kuroyuki—the spirit of Hyōrinmaru—had finally entrusted him with her true power. Thanks to his mastery of the system and extensive knowledge of Bleach's inner mechanics, Yun Che had achieved Shikai and Bankai mastery within just three days of intense, focused training.
But raw power was never the challenge—control was.
Hyourinmaru's true Bankai form was overwhelmingly destructive. Left unchecked, it could easily devastate an entire region in ice. Thus, Yun Che spent the remaining days learning how to mask and restrict its output. At present, both Shirayuki and Kuroyuki—his twin Ice Zanpakutō spirits—operated at a mere 10% of their maximum power. All this time, Xia Qingyue had been dueling a fraction of their strength… and she didn't even know it.
As for Daiguren Hyōrinmaru, it was only partially matured. While Yun Che's body was strong enough at nineteen years of age to host a full Bankai, the process required synchronization between his soul and Kuroyuki's power. The massive, crystalline ice petals that floated behind him weren't just for show—they were part of the adaptation process.
Each petal marked a stage in that adaptation.
When the last petal finally shed, his body would fully harmonize with Hyōrinmaru's power, unlocking the true form of his Bankai. Complete mastery. In that state, he wouldn't just wield ice—he would command it. He could mold it into any shape he wished: armor, weapons, dragons, constructs. He could recreate his unawakened forms, manifest beasts of frost, or armor himself in forms limited only by his imagination.
But time was the key.
Each petal took one hour to fall. Twelve petals—twelve hours of continuous Bankai transformation as Daiguren Hyourinmaru. Should he cancel the form before then, the process would reset, and he would have to start again from zero.
This limitation made things difficult. Without the Heretic Seed of Water, maintaining Ice Bankai for that long would place an immense strain on his body. But once he obtained the Seed, his body would become completely immune to cold. The sensation of frost would vanish, and with it, the toll that came with Hyōrinmaru's devastating presence.
That would be the day he completed the evolution of Hyōrinmaru.
But for now, even at ten percent... it was more than enough.
-----------------
Ling Yuefeng gritted his teeth.
This Yun Che… he had gravely underestimated him. So had everyone else. His father, the other sects, even the entire arena. What they thought was a mere True Profound Realm cultivator—someone who should have been easily outmatched—was instead a hidden storm wrapped in mortal flesh. The moment Yun Che effortlessly defeated his first opponent, ripples of doubt began to spread. But no one was prepared for what came next.
One by one, Yun Che overwhelmed the top disciples of the major sects. He didn't pick the fights—they did. They looked down on him, they provoked him, and they paid the price in full.
His power crushed the pride of the Burning Heaven Clan that night.
They thought him insignificant—a stray cultivator barely worth their scorn. But they were wrong. Yun Che's defiance shattered not just their arrogance, but the very foundation of their belief in superiority. The ego of Ling Yuefeng's father, once proud and untouchable, cracked under the weight of reality. Even the princess they had once regarded as a weakling, a mere ornament, revealed a truth that turned the Heavenly Sword Villa's pride into dust.
She awakened something.
A being—an aura—so vast and ancient that it reduced the Villa's strongest master nothing more than echoes of legends. In her presence, he was an ant under the shadow of a mountain.
As if that wasn't enough, Yun Che didn't stop there.
With unshakable calm, he conjured twin blades of fire—burning, divine, and alive. Against them, Ling Yun stood tall… only to be utterly broken. His treasured sword was shattered before his eyes, his body brought low, his pride ground into the earth beneath Yun Che's feet.
Then came the sword.
The pristine white blade—elegant yet terrifying in its purity—emerged not alone, but as a gateway. Then, another sword. From it, he summoned a creature out of myth: an Ice Qilin, ancient and divine, born of winter's will and legend's breath. Through another blade, it emerged like a guardian spirit bound to his soul. Its chilling presence blanketed the arena, and those who still doubted… fell silent.
But Yun Che went further still.
He did not just summon the Qilin—he became one with it. A feat so unheard of it erased all previous notions of what cultivation meant. This wasn't just power—it was ascension. He stood now beyond the realm of mere disciples and sect warriors. A single man who wielded the elements, crushed bloodlines, humbled clans, and beckoned fear in the hearts of even the oldest cultivators.
He merged with it.
That act alone drew the eyes of every greedy heart in the arena. Whispers buzzed among representatives of major sects. Some eyed the Qilin as a prize to claim. Others coveted the white sword, believing it a divine weapon ripe for the taking.
Ling Yuefeng only shook his head in silent pity.
Fools.
So he gave his sons a warning.
"Don't pick a fight with him. Not unless you want to bury our sect alongside the others."
Ling Jie, ever earnest, didn't need to be told twice. He had long regarded Yun Che as a brother, even calling him "boss" with a light in his eyes. But Ling Yun—he was different. He couldn't let go. The sting of rejection festered in his pride. He had failed to win the woman he desired, and now he watched helplessly as she soared to impossible heights beside the man he hated.
=======================
"What kind of form is that?!" Xue Ling shouted, unable to believe her eyes.
Yun Che's figure had transformed—no longer fully human, but something in between. Towering with crystalline wings, his limbs part-dragon, and encased in glacial armor, he had become a living embodiment of ice. A dragon and a man, fused as one. Even Lin Yueru, usually composed and graceful, stood frozen with her mouth agape.
"This power…" she whispered under her breath, struggling to keep calm. "Is this why you vanished all those months ago?" Her eyes narrowed, lips trembling. "With this strength… he could reclaim the Jin Province from the Wu Family in a single day."
Cang Yue's brows rose in disbelief, her heart pounding. "Another Bankai?" she murmured. "How many of those does he have?!"
Off to the side, Mai and Yuanba stood utterly stunned. Their jaws slackened, struggling to keep up with the scope of Yun Che's ever-evolving arsenal.
"He's… a jack of all trades," Mai muttered.
"A monster, brother-in-law really is a monster." Yuanba added, though his tone held only awe.
Nemu, eyes shining with curiosity, turned to her older sister. "Nee-sama… is this Kuroyuki-san's power?"
Retsu gave a small nod, her arms crossed, her voice calm yet proud. "Yes. This is the Daiguren Hyōrinmaru—Yuu-kun's Hyourinmaru Bankai," she answered in fluent Japanese, her tone reverent.
"Wait," Mio blinked. "So Shirayuki-san hasn't activated hers yet?"
"No," Retsu replied softly, her eyes still fixed on the sky. "Yuu-kun never has. But… I think today, he's ready to field test it."
"What… are you?" Those were the only words that could escape Xia Qingyue's lips as Yun Che slowly ascended to her level in the sky.
Before her stood a being she had never imagined—half human, half dragon, encased in ice and power. The wings that flared from his back glistened like glass spun from the coldest winter storms. His armored limbs gleamed with deadly elegance. Even his sword had transformed—the hilt once shaped like a four-pointed star now gleamed as an eight-pointed starburst, echoing with divine resonance.
The crowd had fallen into stunned silence. No one could explain what had just occurred. Some stared in awe. Others trembled. It was as if a deity had descended.
"There's no need for you to know," Yun Che said flatly, his voice echoing with power—and then he charged.
Their blades met in a clash that sent waves of frost rippling through the air. Yun Che's strikes were no longer simply powerful—they were overwhelming. Each swing of his Bankai-carved sword forced Qingyue on the defensive. Even cloaked in her divine Winter Fairy form, she could feel the weight behind each blow.
She retaliated with a whip of her ethereal ribbon, but Yun Che caught it mid-air with his dragon-clawed left hand. The claw pulsed with frozen light as it locked onto the ribbon like a vice.
Yun Che smiled—and with a flick of his sword, he sliced the very air, unleashing a crescent wave of glacial energy. Qingyue dodged, but above her, a storm of ice lotuses bloomed into the sky in defense.
Yet Yun Che wasn't done.
With a sweep of his arm, he summoned not one, but a dozen Ice Qilin dragons, all roaring as they tore through the air toward her. Each collided with her lotuses—freezing them, shattering them, breaking the storm of defense she had worked so hard to maintain.
He closed the distance in an instant, slamming his massive sword toward her and bringing his clawed ice-encased leg up in a brutal arcing kick.
"It's stronger," her instincts screamed. Her Winter Fairy form could no longer fully negate the force behind his haki-infused attacks. It was different—he was manipulating the impact, transferring it through the lotus shields themselves. The force of the blow traveled like a ghost through her defenses and struck her intangible form directly.
Even untouchable, she felt it.
Xia Qingyue summoned her strength, her ribbon glowing with a frigid, divine light. With grace and fury entwined, she raised it high and launched herself forward, appearing before Yun Che in a blink. With a cry, she brought the ribbon down in a punishing arc.
Yun Che's wings flared wide in defense, their crystalline structure catching the blow with a resounding crash. The impact sent tremors through his entire form. A shockwave burst from the clash—and then Yun Che was hurled downward like a falling star, crashing into the arena floor with the force of a meteor strike. Ice and stone exploded in every direction.
From the rubble, Yun Che rose, the ice coating his limbs cracking slightly under the strain. He grunted. That strike had been no joke—he could feel the lingering sting of it through his shielded body. More than that, he realized something vital: he still wasn't fully attuned to his Bankai. The weight of the armor, the magnitude of its power—his movements were sluggish, heavy, like dragging glaciers with every step.
High above, Qingyue raised her ribbon once more. A gleam of power shimmered at its edge before she slashed the air. A massive arc of sword-shaped ice howled toward him like a guillotine of winter. Yun Che instinctively raised his ice-forged wing again. The frozen wave struck with brutal precision, cracks spiderwebbing along the wing's surface.
"Not bad," Yun Che muttered, a smirk forming on his lips.
Then he exploded forward.
They met again in the sky with a clash that split the clouds. Sword to ribbon, claw to frost. Yun Che noticed something strange as their weapons collided—Xia Qingyue was beginning to draw more power from within herself. It's like the power of her Nine Profound Exquisite Body is being drawn out. Her strikes grew faster, heavier, sharper. Her ribbon lashed across his wings, managing to chip through the enchanted ice bit by bit.
The two of them danced across the sky, colliding from one floating boulder of ice to the next. Each platform exploded upon impact as they struck, rebounded, and surged again like celestial beasts locked in an eternal chase.
Below, the arena crowd had erupted into frenzied awe.
"Unbelievable!"
"They're not even human anymore!"
"To witness such a battle… this is history in the making!"
Cheers roared from all corners as the two warriors became blurs of motion, light, and elemental fury—a spectacle of power that defied the very heavens.
Suddenly, the very air shifted.
The Ice Storm Domain surrounding them surged, its power pushed to the brink. The winds howled louder, spiraling out of control as Xia Qingyue poured more of her essence into it. Yun Che's eyes narrowed—he sensed a change.
She was gone from his sight.
Behind me!
In the blink of an eye, Xia Qingyue appeared at his back like a ghost in the storm. Her form shimmered with blinding frostlight as she lunged forward with blinding speed. Her ribbon glowed, and then—slash—her strike landed cleanly.
Yun Che's right wing was severed at the base, the icy limb spinning through the air before shattering into glimmering shards.
"She managed to slice it off!" someone from the crowd shouted, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Whatever that form is—she's got this now! He's not untouchable!"
Back in the sky, Yun Che hovered silently, glancing at where the wing had been. He exhaled—not in pain, but in contemplation. Then, without a word, frost began to swirl around him. Ice condensed instantly around his shoulder, forming new armor, new feathers, new structure. Within seconds, the wing was reborn—restored as if it had never been lost.
Xia Qingyue's eyes widened in shock. Gasps rang out across the arena.
"H-How is that possible?!"
Yun Che turned his head, meeting her gaze with a calm, knowing smirk. "Look around you," he said coolly, gesturing to the world of white that surrounded them. "Ice and snow are everywhere. Even your storm is feeding it."
He extended his newly-regenerated wing, letting it glimmer under the stormy sky.
"As long as there's water in the atmosphere... this form can regenerate indefinitely."
Xia Qingyue took a half-step back, her lips parting slightly. "What…?"
"You heard me," Yun Che said, the smirk on his face widening. "You can chip it, slice it, freeze it… as many times as you want. I'll just rebuild it."
"Besides," Yun Che muttered, ice mist curling from his breath, "I haven't fully grasped this power yet. There are still techniques I can't execute… and this form—" he flexed his ice-armored limbs, "—it's beginning to tax me."
But then his tone sharpened. "It's about time we ended this."
Without warning, he launched forward, his form a blur of glacial fury. This time, his movements were no longer sluggish. The earlier clumsiness—the heavy drag of unfamiliar ice and dragon weight—had vanished. Each step across the air, each beat of his wings, was controlled and fluid.
Xia Qingyue's eyes narrowed. He's adapting.
Earlier, she had easily countered him when he was still adjusting to the Bankai form. But now? Now he was balanced. Grounded. Stable. Her strongest strikes no longer shattered his wings—they regenerated before her very eyes. Every blast of power she launched was simply absorbed, the damage dispersed and reforged.
He's using me, she realized. Using my domain to temper that form… and my attacks to refine it.
Yun Che reappeared right before her, faster than expected.
"This domain is getting annoying," he said coldly. "Your Winter Fairy form is constantly supplying snow and ice… but you're feeding me more than you're weakening me. Maybe it's time to cut the supply off."
He raised Hyōrinmaru overhead.
In a flash, Qingyue whipped her ribbon around, condensing it into a radiant ice shield—layers of lotus patterns spiraling forward. She met his strike head-on.
But she wasn't ready.
The tip of Hyōrinmaru pierced through the lotus shield like paper. Her eyes widened as the sacred defense she trusted was impaled with ease.
"Ryūsenka." (Dragon Hailstorm)
The words slipped from Yun Che's lips like a death sentence.
At that moment, the entire arena seemed to hold its breath.
A massive eruption of ice exploded from the point of impact. The force tore forward, a glittering burst of glacial bloom that encased Xia Qingyue in an expanding prism of frozen starlight. Petals of frost spiraled outward as the shockwave rang through the air, encasing her entire form in a crystalline sarcophagus.
Silence fell over the storm.
Only the falling snow dared to move.
The arena fell into a surreal stillness. The air, once thick with frost and whirling snow, was now eerily calm. Yun Che's final strike had cleaved through the very heart of Xia Qingyue's Storm Domain, severing the endless supply of snow and cold that fueled her Winter Fairy form. The blizzard dissipated. And with it, the biting aura of winter retreated, restoring the natural clarity of the sky above.
But the damage was done.
The once-pristine arena was now a frozen graveyard—blanketed in snow, fractured stone, and jagged shards of ice. A crater nearly five hundred meters wide told the story of a battle that had far surpassed mortal standards.
Then, a soundless hush swept across the arena.
All eyes locked onto the center, where Xia Qingyue's form had vanished within the elegant and devastating bloom of Ryūsenka. The crystalline petals spiraled outward in slow motion, like a divine snowstorm set against time. Beautiful. Terrifying. Absolute.
In the spectator zone of Frozen Cloud Asgard, disciples and elders alike stood motionless—frozen not by the cold, but by disbelief.
"No…" Chu Yueli whispered, her voice trembling. "Qingyue… was frozen?"
"That's… impossible," gasped Mu Lanyi, her voice barely audible. "Her Winter Fairy form is supposed to be invulnerable to ice…"
They had trained for decades to understand every nuance of ice. They lived it, breathed it, revered it. And yet, what they had just witnessed transcended comprehension. This wasn't elemental ice. It was divine frost—an ancient, overwhelming power that had frozen an Ice Fairy herself.
Chu Yueli's composure cracked like thin frost under pressure. Her lips parted, but she could not find the words. The top fairies clutched their robes as if to shield themselves from a chill that no longer existed.
On her high seat, Gong Yuxian remained still, eyes locked on the battlefield. Her expression was unreadable, but the white of her knuckles stood out where her hands gripped the armrest. One of the technique's Yun Che's dragon forms—Ryūsenka—had done what no one thought possible.
But Yun Che didn't relax. He narrowed his eyes.
Something was wrong.
The Ryūsenka structure cracked—not from external force, but from within. Yun Che's smirk returned, tempered by understanding. "So… it wasn't fully formed after all," he muttered. "Crude ice won't hold her…"
From the heart of the frost flower, snow began to gather, spiraling inward toward a single point. Around Xia Qingyue's Ice Phoenix Ribbon, the snow formed a long, rippling tail—dense and precise, not wild like before. A single sweep cleaved through the petals of Ryūsenka, dismantling it from within like a scalpel parting paper.
The divine frost shattered with a resounding chime.
And from within emerged Xia Qingyue, her expression calm, her form untouched—but changed.
In her hand, the Ice Phoenix Ribbon shimmered, now refined and focused, trailing a blade-like arc of snow that extended nearly a hundred meters. Power radiated from it—no longer scattered and domain-wide, but controlled, weaponized.
Yun Che barely had time to test her recovery.
He sent an Ice Qilin hurtling toward her, a beast forged of concentrated frost and divine might. But with a single, fluid motion, Qingyue raised the snow-laced ribbon and cleaved it in half.
The Qilin shattered like glass against a storm.
The audience gasped.
Frozen Cloud Asgard's disciples had no words. Their top contender—Xia Qingyue—had not fallen.
Xia Qingyue whipped her ribbon in a sweeping arc, launching it toward Yun Che like a serpent of snow and steel. The massive trail snaked through the sky, intent on binding him mid-air.
But Yun Che raised his sword with calm finality.
A pulse of chilling energy erupted from the blade, freezing the snow ribbon mid-flight. The cold spread instantly, traveling back along the snowy path like a silver wildfire—until it reached Qingyue herself.
She gasped as her own snow turned against her, encasing her in solid ice.
The arena fell silent.
Then, like a heartbeat in the storm, the snow began to spiral inward.
Suddenly—
Crack!
The ice exploded outward, snow converging around her before she erupted from within, her Ice Phoenix Ribbon thrashing like a divine serpent reborn. She hovered mid-air, fierce and radiant, but her breath was heavier than before.
Across from her, Yun Che stood unfazed, lowering his sword slightly. A smirk tugged at his lips.
"I'd love to keep fighting you… but this form is starting to take a toll on my body," he admitted casually. "Most of my current techniques are crude. You escaped them because I'm still getting used to it. They barely have any energy in it"
Xia Qingyue's eyes widened.
"Crude?!" Her heart skipped a beat. All of that… the dragons, the regeneration, the sheer force—was just a poor attempt? A beginner's attempt?
All this time, he still wasn't serious?
But Yun Che wasn't finished.
He raised his sword high above him, its white hilt gleaming with a subtle blue light. The air shifted. The chill deepened.
"Tensō Jūrin." (Subjugation of the Heavens.)
It was spoken softly, but the effect was cataclysmic.
The skies above darkened in an instant. The winds died for a heartbeat—and then howled back with a vengeance. Clouds churned violently, spiraling around a forming eye of the storm, blotting out the sun.
Not just above the arena. Not just around the stage.
The entire Heavenly Sword Villa was engulfed.
A storm of such scale that even the elders rose to their feet in disbelief.
"It's… it's not her storm," Ling Yuefeng gasped, clutching the edge of his seat. Ling Yun was unable to believe his eyes. He began to wonder if losing his Sky Profound Realm weapons was mercy enough.
"No… it's his!" He shouted, pointing toward Yun Che.
Frozen Cloud Asgard's disciples reeled as they realized the bitter truth.
The storm did not answer to the Winter Fairy.
It bowed to Yun Che.
Xia Qingyue hovered in midair, her snowstorm domain now swallowed by something far more ancient, far more primal. Her eyes, filled with both awe and dread, locked onto Yun Che. That power isn't just ice. It's the sky itself submitting… to him.
"You were good to last this long," Yun Che declared, voice calm and resonant across the shattered, snow-drenched arena. "I could've ended this at any time… but I needed to test things—and you were the perfect opponent. Consider it an honor."
He raised Hyōrinmaru toward the heavens.
A crack of thunder echoed through the storm above as the blade surged with ice energy, its brilliance momentarily blinding. He stabbed it toward the swirling vortex overhead.
An immense beam of crystalline energy shot upward into the heart of the sky.
BOOM!
The eye of the storm cracked open—an enormous rift splitting the heavens—and from it, snow began to fall.
But this was no ordinary snow.
Each flake shimmered with ethereal beauty, like crystalline sakura petals drifting in slow motion.
Xia Qingyue braced herself, channeling her Ice Phoenix Ribbon to repel the descending blizzard. Her domain surged in resistance—but the moment her snow touched Yun Che's… it dissolved.
"What—?!" She raised her arms as the snow landed upon her skin.
Bloom.
A single snowflake touched her shoulder. An ice flower instantly bloomed.
Bloom.
Another on her ribbon—frozen in place.
Bloom. Bloom. Bloom.
Her arms, legs, chest. Her divine robe. Her hair.
Everywhere.
The crowd watch in dread as the snowflakes even froze the barrier. Yun Che manipulated the snowflakes to fall only on the arena. None of them even fell on the audience. However, it was messy. The entire arena covered in ice flowers. Even the barriers.
Dozens of ice flowers spread like creeping vines, elegant and merciless. Each petal glittered like divine frost, binding her motion, eating away her resistance.
"Rascal! This is too much! Let her concede!" Little Fairy cried out through the spirit link.
Yun Che didn't move. He watched in silence as the technique unfolded.
Xia Qingyue's voice trembled as her strength waned. "What is this?!"
"Hyōten Hyakkasō," Yun Che responded. "Or in your words… Frozen Heavens Hundred Flower Funeral."
His tone was solemn now, not boastful.
"It's a technique that rains enchanted snow. When the flakes touch you, they bloom. One snowflake, one flower. When the final—the hundredth—petal falls, the life of the one it touches… ends."
The arena held its breath.
"Qingyue!!" Chu Yueli's scream pierced through the chaos as she stood up, her hands trembling. She wanted to rush to the stage—but the wall of ice and power surrounding it was immovable.
"This is too much! Stop the match!" Gong Yuxian shouted.
But it was too late.
The tower formed.
An elegant, spiraling prison of translucent ice flowers, each more beautiful—and deadly—than the last. They wrapped around Xia Qingyue like a sacred tomb of snow and silence.
Whumph.
The last ice flower bloomed—right above her chest.
The entire tower shimmered, glowing with an eerie light.
Silence.
The type of silence that screamed louder than any cry.
A thousand eyes were locked on the spiraling tower of crystalline blossoms. A beautiful prison of deathless frost stood tall at the center of the arena—a monument to one man's overwhelming power and the frozen pride of a sect.
Frozen Cloud Asgard had fallen silent.
The petals no longer bloomed. The snow no longer fell. The battle was over.
"Qingyue…" Chu Yueli dropped to her knees. Her lips quivered, breath shallow, eyes locked in horror. "She's… she's not—she can't be—"
"She's not dead," Gong Yuxian finally said, her voice cold, hoarse, but firm. "She's alive… barely."
All eyes turned to her, yet even she could not hide the tension coiling in her hands. Her fingernails had dug so deep into the armrest that the wood had cracked.
"But…" Jun Lianqie whispered. "She can't move. She's… completely sealed."
"Does this mean…" Murong Qianxue murmured.
"Yes," Gong Yuxian said with painful finality. "We've lost."
It was a declaration heavier than a mountain.
A sword to their pride.
Their strongest disciple—Xia Qingyue, the Fairy of the Frozen Moon, the future of their sect—had been frozen by ice stronger than her own. Not shattered. Not defeated in battle. But sealed. Rendered immobile and helpless before a crowd of countless witnesses.
"A technique that can bloom over the Winter Fairy… no, consume her."
Chu Yueli's expression turned ashen. "What kind of monster have we let grow in this world?"
The younger disciples stood frozen in fear, their faces pale with disbelief. Some couldn't even comprehend what had happened. Their strongest technique, the pride of their sect—crushed. Their future, frozen like a statue.
"We couldn't stop it," Mu Lanyi murmured. "Even if we begged. Even if we screamed. We could do nothing but watch as the flowers bloomed."
"Ten… twenty… fifty…" another whispered. "A hundred."
Each petal was like a blade to the heart.
And Yun Che—he stood tall, unbothered by the crowd or the cold, his white-blue blade humming in silence, still pointed at the sky. He made no move to destroy her, no move to unseal her. His message was clear:
"Sorry about that but you did good, Qingyue." Yun Che turned his wing back towards the tower. "There are limits."
"Prepare the emergency thawing formation," Gong Yuxian finally ordered. "And someone notify the villa medics. If we wait too long… even ice that does not kill, can still destroy."
The elder disciples bowed and rushed to obey, their bodies moving, but their hearts weighed down.
As they moved to retrieve their frozen pride, one truth echoed in all their minds:
They didn't just lose a battle. They lost certainty.
They lost dominance.
And worse… they now feared their own element.
However…
A faint ripple of spiritual energy stirred within the icy tower.
"Master…" came a soft, yet defiant voice within Chu Yueli's soul link.
Chu Yueli's breath caught in her throat. Her eyes snapped wide as she turned toward the frozen tower of flowers, paling further. "Qingyue?!"
All around her, disciples of Frozen Cloud Asgard gasped. Gong Yuxian, silent until now, sharply turned her head. The other top fairies leaned forward, sensing something stir within the frozen core.
"This ice… is too strong," Xia Qingyue's voice echoed again, weak, but resolute. "I have one last Frozen End technique. The last one that I cultivated… one last gambit. I have to use it."
"No… you don't mean that, do you?" Chu Yueli's face turned white. Her voice quivered. "No, Qingyue… That is suicide! Your body can't handle it! You've already used all three foundation techniques of the Frozen End Arts as a Sky Profound Realm! You're holding yourself together through sheer will!"
Her hands trembled. "You're already beyond your limits. You used the merged Frozen Cloud Arts, the Illusory Mirror, and Frozen End Coffin and Storm. You're the only one in a thousand years who could even attempt to cultivate the Frozen End Arts and managed to do so—and now you want to… to break yourself just to strike back?! You know what happened if you go beyond the foundation realm with a weak body like this?!"
"I won't concede!" Qingyue's mental voice cracked, rage and shame pouring through their link like a storm tearing through serenity. "Not against him! I won't—!"
Chu Yueli flinched. That voice—it wasn't the soft-spoken Qingyue she knew. It was something raw. Unfiltered.
"If you use it… if you try to unleash the Fourth Realm of the Frozen End Art, you'll trap him in it too! Both of you will be frozen for years! Decades! Maybe even forever! You'll create an eternal prison of ice with your own life as the core!"
But she already knew it was too late.
Her Qingyue—the one they all raised, the one they built their hopes on—had made her decision.
"I. Don't. Care!!" Qingyue's mental roar thundered through the link, shaking Chu Yueli to the core. "If I have to burn my soul to do it… I will not lose to him!!"
Chu Yueli clutched the armrest, knuckles white, tears welling up in her eyes. "You fool… You foolish child…"
The audience still watched in eerie silence, unaware of the storm that was beginning to pulse from within the ice flower tower.
But Gong Yuxian sensed it.
She stood up.
Yun Che turned sharply as the tower of ice flowers began to tremble, not with decay—but with awakening.
"Frozen End Art, Fourth Realm…"
Xia Qingyue's voice echoed, ethereal and resolute.
"Tree of Frozen End!"
A haunting azure glow bloomed from the ice petals—no longer simply cold, but something far more terrifying. It was not frost. It was cessation. A chill that defied flame, devoured energy, and denied even the passage of time.
Yun Che's expression darkened. His instincts screamed.
===================
[Ding… Warning… Warning…]
[Frozen End Divine Tree activation imminent]
===================
The petals didn't scatter.
They folded inward—spiraling into a core of silence that swallowed even the wind.
What had been a beautiful tomb of frozen blossoms… was becoming something far more dangerous.
A domain.
A final, forbidden one.
And then—it broke through.
With a sound like shattering starlight, a colossal tree of shimmering ice erupted from the heart of the arena. Its trunk twisted skyward, translucent and ancient, its branches splayed like a frozen constellation. Each leaf, a jagged blade of divine frost. Each breath beneath it, thinner than the last.
The crowd gasped as the entire battlefield was consumed. The light from above dimmed. The world inside… sealed.
And worst of all—
Xia Qingyue and Yun Che were gone.
The Tree of Frozen End now stood alone—ominous, serene, and merciless.
A stunned silence gripped the entire arena.
The sky, which had moments ago rumbled with Yun Che's divine storm, now stood frozen—literally. The roiling clouds halted mid-motion. Even the snowflakes drifting from above had stopped, suspended like tiny pearls of time itself.
Then, a deafening crack echoed across the world.
From the center of the arena, where the tower of ice flowers once stood, an immense, crystalline structure erupted upward—a colossal tree of pure frozen essence, its bark glimmering with runes of ancient cold, its leaves sharp as frozen blades and shimmering like starlight.
Each branch extended in silent majesty, reaching toward the heavens as if challenging the very sky.
The audience gasped in unison.
"The… Tree of Frozen End…?" Gong Yuxian's voice trembled for the first time in a century.
"It exists…" Ling Yuefeng spoke. "That's not a technique. That's… a frozen heavenly law…"
The arena had disappeared beneath it. The ground was gone, replaced by a frozen field of lotus petals feeding into the roots of the tree, each glowing with a blue so deep it felt eternal.
And Yun Che… was gone.
So was Xia Qingyue.
A tense stillness blanketed the entire arena—not just from the overwhelming might of the Tree of Frozen End, but from the knowledge that the battle had not truly ended.
"They vanished!" Cang Yue's voice pierced through the murmurs, her eyes scanning wildly for any sign of Yun Che.
But Retsu stood calm. Her eyes, deep and unshaken, never left the enormous frozen construct. "No… they're inside," she said, voice hushed but certain. "Very much alive."
Mio narrowed her eyes, sensing the faintest pulse of Yun Che's essence still resonating beneath the layers of frozen domain. "She turned the battlefield inward," she muttered. "They're still fighting."
Jasmine floated silently beside Retsu's head, arms crossed. Her face was grim, eyes fixed on the towering tree. "The Fourth Realm… Tree of Frozen End... considered the first true technique of the Ice Phoenix God Investiture Canon. A sealed dimension formed from pure profound ice. Not even divine perception can see through it. Yun Che is in there—and so is she."
Nemu, usually quiet and unreadable, spoke softly: "She really did it… She really used that technique. The one Frozen Cloud Asgard could never master until now…"
Retsu turned toward Jasmine. "Can we break it?"
"No," Jasmine replied bluntly. "Not even if we all struck it together. That tree is sustained by her will and her cultivation. Only when she ends it—willingly—will the domain collapse."
"So…" Mio looked up, eyes narrowing.
Jasmine nodded. "Yes. The final match… is still happening. Inside that tree. A place even we cannot reach."
The four of them—Retsu, Mio, Nemu, and Jasmine—fell silent.
Watching.
Waiting.
Because when the Tree of Frozen End falls…
Only one of them will walk out.
==================================================
Yun Che hovered in silence, Daiguren Hyōrinmaru still encasing his body, its frozen wings lightly beating against the weightless air. He floated amidst an endless void—an eternal dimension of suspended frost.
All around him, fragments of ancient ice drifted like shattered mirrors of time. The snow didn't fall. It hovered. Frozen mid-descent, as though the laws of gravity and motion had been erased.
It was beautiful. It was haunting.
It was dead silent.
Yun Che narrowed his eyes. His breath left shallow trails of mist.
"System," he said aloud, his voice muted by the stillness.
"Where am I?"
=======================
[Ding]
[You are currently within the Forbidden Domain: Tree of Frozen End. A sealed sub-dimensional plane constructed by the Fourth Realm of the Frozen End Arts. Conventional exit is not possible unless the domain master is defeated… or withdraws.]
=======================
Then, through the shimmering veil of frost and silence, Yun Che saw her.
Xia Qingyue.
Back in her original form.
No Winter Fairy transformation. No divine glow.
Just her—face uncovered, veil gone.
"Qingyue…" Yun Che muttered as he descended slowly, his icy wings fluttering like ghostly embers. His boots landed soundlessly on the frozen ground.
She said nothing.
He glanced around, assessing the dimension—the suspended snow, the dense silence, the unnatural stillness.
"So… you activated the Tree of Frozen End to pull me into a sealed dimension," he muttered. "A realm you could control."
Still no response.
He frowned. "What was your plan? This dimension drains you rapidly. With your cultivation in the Sky Profound Realm, you can't hold it for more than two minutes. Even if I sat still and waited, it would collapse on its own. You'd be crippled. You know that, don't you?"
Still silence.
"Shirayuki and Kuroyuki can manipulate this space at will. You didn't just drag me in—you dragged us both into their domain. You're being pulled apart from the inside out, Qingyue. What were you thinking?" He exhaled sharply, frustration clear. "Activating a forbidden realm your body and mind can barely sustain… all for what?"
Then, her voice.
Sharp. Snapping through the cold like a whip.
"Will you be quiet for once!?"
He blinked. Stunned.
She stood firm now, biting her lip, fists clenched as her breath misted violently into the frozen air. Her voice trembled, not from weakness—but fury. Humiliation. Pain.
"Why… Why am I always so small in your eyes?" Her voice cracked. "Do you think this was easy for this Qingyue?! She pushed everything into this. Everything! And all you've done is berate her."
Then it came—an eruption of her power.
A luminous torrent of Ice Phoenix energy exploded from her being. The ice spirits that had vanished now circled her once more, radiant and defiant. Behind her, a colossal ice phoenix began to form—petal by petal—each one trembling with a power that refused to die.
In front of her, the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon floated into position, shaping into a graceful but deadly "S" curve. The air around it bent with an ominous force. Every inch of that ribbon now radiated a pressure so dense, so final, Yun Che instinctively gripped his sword tighter.
"This Qingyue pulled you here," she said, voice cold and clear, "so I could defeat you with the last of my strength."
One final strike.
A desperate, beautiful, catastrophic strike.
"Qingyue is also going to give it her all," she declared, her voice echoing through the sealed domain like a vow etched in frost. "Every ounce of power I have… everything I am. This final move—there is no defense against it."
Around her, the frozen dimension responded. The very fabric of the sealed realm began to tremble, as if acknowledging her resolve.
The Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon twisted into the air, absorbing the chilling essence of the domain itself. Snow, frost, spirit energy, even her breath—everything was pulled into that final weapon. The power that surged into it was overwhelming, unnatural. If she released it, the sealed dimension would shatter. So would she.
But she didn't care.
She was willing to break herself for this one moment. This one chance to prove she could stand equal with him.
"Very well…" Yun Che said, his voice steady.
The armor of Daiguren Hyōrinmaru covering his body cracked—then disintegrated into shimmering blue fragments. His form returned to its base state, but the blade of Hyōrinmaru did not vanish. It hovered silently behind him, a phantom weapon of absolute stillness.
Then—with a gust of wind and a soft hum—Shirayuki flew towards his hand once more. Silent, perfect, sharp.
Xia Qingyue didn't wait.
She raised her ribbon high.
It blazed with sacred light, and then—
She struck.
A colossal Ice Phoenix, forged from the will of a dying dimension and the spirit of a girl who refused to surrender, shrieked into existence. Its wings shattered the sky above the sealed domain. Its cry silenced everything.
It dove for Yun Che like the judgment of the heavens itself.
The final blow.
"I'm already straining myself using the full power of my previous sword," Yun Che muttered, his breath frosting in the air. "Now, this might hurt a bit."
His gaze locked with hers.
"You want a final strike?" he said, his voice deep, cold, resolute. "Then allow me to show you—Shirayuki's final form."
He raised his blade, and a whisper passed from his lips:
"Bankai."
In that instant, the world froze.
A pillar of crystalline mist erupted around him, spiraling upward and engulfing the sealed domain. The light within the dimension dimmed, swallowed by the creeping, silver-blue frost. The temperature dropped not just to freezing—but to absolute zero. Even light itself seemed to slow down.
The massive ice phoenix vaporized into small snowflakes in just moments.
Snowflakes crystallized mid-air and shattered from the sheer cold. A storm of deathly silence began to bloom.
Yun Che's body transformed.
His robes lengthened into a white, ankle-length kimono laced with silver embroidery, trimmed with shimmering ice. Translucent pauldrons rested on his shoulders, etched with the veins of frost. Flowing icy ribbons extended from his back, coiling and twisting in the still air like living spirits. His boots gleamed like sculpted crystal, and an ornate half-crown of ice curled around the back of his head like a divine coronet.
His hair, now cascading past his knees, glimmered like moonlight on transparent snow and ice. His irises turned pure crystal white, with a hint of purple—devoid of heat, mercy, or emotion. At the center of his chest, an ice flower bloomed. Shirayuki, still in her elegant form, gleamed with transparent crystal-like purity in his hand.
He looked less like a man and more like a myth—an Ice Sovereign descended from a higher plane.
Xia Qingyue froze.
Not from fear.
But from awe.
His beauty… his power… the sheer presence he radiated…
If a man could be this divine—this breathtaking—then what was she even fighting against?
He raised his white blade.
"Hakka no Togame—White Haze Punishment."
A wave of frost exploded forward—silent, smooth, and inevitable.
Qingyue gasped as her ice phoenix dissolved mid-flight. Her ribbon unraveled, broke in millions of pieces, and all the power she had gathered disintegrated into glimmering dust.
Then she felt it.
A terrible stillness.
Her body began to freeze—not by touch, not by pressure, but by dominion. Her profound energy vanished into nothingness, swallowed by the law of absolute zero. Even her breath crystallized before leaving her lips.
She realized the truth.
"This Qingyue… never stood a chance. From the very beginning…" she whispered, her voice trembling, barely audible under the storm of collapsing ice and silence.
She wasn't speaking to him. She wasn't speaking to anyone. It was a confession… to herself.
This was no longer a duel of strength. It had never been.
It was a battle of mercy—and Yun Che had chosen to spare her.
He never activated his golden transformation. Never used the godlike spells during the wedding. He had let her strike with everything she had. And when she did—
He answered her final strike with one Bankai.
And that… was more than enough.
As the power of Hakka no Togame surged through the sealed dimension, something inside her cracked—not her bones, nor her flesh...
But her Ice Heart.
The source of her composure. Her pride. Her final pillar of strength…
Shattered.
She gasped as the spiritual rupture echoed through her body. Her snow arts flickered into fragments. Her balance faltered. Her body, once sculpted from perfect icy poise, became vulnerable—frighteningly mortal.
And then—
A sharp sound like breaking crystal rang out through the void.
The Tree of Frozen End cracked.
Veins of white-blue light splintered through its colossal trunk. The sky above trembled. The frozen stars within the dimension dimmed, then died.
The domain… could no longer sustain the power that had been unleashed.
A moment later, with a sound like the heavens themselves weeping—
It shattered.
The sacred dimension collapsed, ice petals disintegrating midair, swallowed into a vortex of blinding blue.