Starting as the young master of a medicine shop, he practiced swordsmanship for twenty years.

Chapter 373 Frosty Qi!

A cold glint flashed in Lin Qinghan's eyes, and her ten slender fingers unconsciously tightened their grip on the handkerchief in her hand.

She finally realized that the only one in the entire world who could easily take the life of that castrated dog was the true dragon emperor sitting in the nine-layered palace.

Thinking of this, she suddenly loosened her handkerchief, and a bewitching smile bloomed on her cherry lips.

Since the Crown Prince was indecisive, she would personally deliver herself, this delicious bait, into the hands of the person most capable of threatening the life of that eunuch.

The Crown Prince only regarded her as a plaything in his palm, hiding her in this villa, claiming it was to protect her. But how could Lin Qinghan be a weak woman who would willingly be a caged canary?

How could she possibly be confined to this tiny place for the rest of her life, watching helplessly as that eunuch traitor lorded it over the capital and went unpunished?

When her wish is fulfilled in the future, she will make that old eunuch pay for his crimes in blood, to comfort her father's spirit in heaven.
Lin Qinghan leaned against the carved lattice fan, her fingertips lightly touching the jasmine blossoms at her temple. As her cherry lips parted, her voice, as melodious as a nightingale's song, 'Lord Yuan, I've recently run out of rouge and powder, may I...?'

Her eyes sparkled as she planned to use the guise of buying cosmetics to send her trusted maid into the capital to deliver a message.

Before the last note had even faded, the half-hanging bamboo curtain suddenly moved without any wind, carrying icy chill that pierced through the sweltering summer heat.

The bronze wind chimes hanging under the eaves were instantly covered with white frost and emitted a faint, mournful sound.

The pomegranate tree in the courtyard trembled in the cold wind, and its originally delicate petals, covered with ice crystals, fell down in a flurry.

Under the blazing sun, the biting cold was like a frost knife in the dead of winter, instantly freezing the scorching air.

The heatwave and the cold current intertwined, condensing strange frost flowers on the bluestone slabs and making a faint "crackling" sound.

With a crisp "crackling" sound, the frost patterns were spreading into the room at a visible speed.

The brocade robes of several Imperial Guards under the eaves were frosted with white, and ice beads clung to their eyelashes. Even the white mist they exhaled condensed into tiny ice particles in the air.

The warmth of the sandalwood incense in the room was instantly drained away, and Yuan Qian's knuckles holding the teacup suddenly turned white.

His intuition, honed by years of bloodshed and carnage, made him instinctively lean back, and the Embroidered Spring Blade at his waist flashed with a three-inch cold light, the blade whistling as it scraped against the air.

He suddenly spun around to shield Lin Qinghan behind him, his black arrow-sleeved sleeve sweeping away the teacups on the table. The scalding tea splashed onto the frost flowers, and the rising steam instantly spread out.

"Protect Miss Lin!"

Yuan Qian's roar shook the window paper, and his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

This eerie chill, carrying a heavy aura of malevolence, was something no ordinary martial arts master could wield.

It's just like the legendary old eunuch, the Eastern Depot's chief eunuch's peerless secret technique, "Extreme Cold Palm"!

That's a ruthless skill that can freeze a living person into an ice sculpture in the sweltering heat of summer!
impossible!
Yuan Qian's hands, with bulging veins, gripped the Embroidered Spring Blade tightly, his knuckles making muffled thuds from the excessive force.

The sandalwood door, frozen into an ice sculpture, was making a teeth-grinding cracking sound, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading outwards from the cracks.

Wisps of cold air, carrying tiny ice crystals, shot into the sky, refracting an eerie, ghostly blue halo under the blazing sun.

A bone-chilling cold crept up Yuan Qian's boots through the cracks in the blue bricks, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

The veins on the back of Yuan Qian's hand, which was gripping the knife, bulged, yet he couldn't stop trembling slightly—that was a martial artist's instinctive reaction to a deadly crisis.

This inexplicable, bone-chilling fear, like a malignant tumor, spread throughout his entire body.

A suppressed growl escaped Yuan Qian's throat; facing death head-on was not an easy feeling.

His back was soaked with cold sweat, clinging to his skin, but it couldn't compare to the chill that was rising from the bottom of his heart.

That was a fear I had never experienced in all my years of living on the edge.

There must be a mole inside!

Yuan Qian exerted force suddenly, and the blade instantly sliced ​​through the stagnant air, causing the ice shards that had formed on the blade to fall off.

If it weren't for a traitor within the Embroidered Uniform Guard, or a leak from the Crown Prince's spies...

Given the secrecy surrounding Lin Qinghan's hiding place, those damned bastards from the Eastern Depot would never be able to find her by following any clues.

At this moment, Yuan Qian felt as if his insides were burning, and regret surged into his heart like a tidal wave.

He should have stood by his own opinion long ago—he shouldn't have listened to the Crown Prince's absurd order in the first place!

The crown prince, captivated by beauty, insisted on settling Miss Lin in this secluded courtyard, only a hundred miles from the capital.

All that talk about "being close to the water tower" and "being able to take care of others" is ultimately just to satisfy his own selfish desires!
Yuan Qian clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms, yet he felt no pain whatsoever.

As the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he should have insisted on sending Lin Qinghan to Huanan, a thousand miles away.

But in that moment of weakness... Yuan Qian swallowed hard, his throat bobbing.

He knew better than anyone that what he truly feared was facing that old devil from the Eastern Depot alone.

Within the Embroidered Uniform Guard, apart from his own mentor, the Commander, no one could face this terrifying old eunuch alone.

Yuan Qian's towering figure blocked most of the chill, but Lin Qinghan behind him still felt cold all over.

She twisted the sleeves of her moon-white satin dress with both hands, her pale knuckles pressing deep wrinkles into the fabric.

The trembling pupils beneath the eyelashes reflected the cold light of shattered icicles.

Beneath Lin Qinghan's panicked exterior, deep within her eyes burned a heat strong enough to scorch away the icy chill.

Did your carefully crafted scheme finally succeed?

The stinging pain from Lin Qinghan's fingernails digging deep into her palms could not conceal the surging joy in her heart.

She lowered her eyes to hide the barely suppressed smile on her lips.

Those thirty-seven days and nights of hibernation, those feigned tenderness at the Crown Prince's bedside.

The humiliating tears swallowed in the dead of night, biting down on a handkerchief, have now transformed into a raging fire of revenge burning in my chest.

The henchmen of the Eastern Depot are indeed incredibly resourceful; they even managed to find such a hidden place.

Her pearly teeth sank deep into her lower lip, the taste of blood spreading on her tongue, yet Lin Qinghan laughed even more unrestrainedly.

When she returns to the palace stepping over the corpses of these henchmen, she will make sure that old eunuch from the Eastern Depot witnesses it with his own eyes in front of the Golden Palace.

How will the Lin family daughter, whom he crushed, use the emperor's power to tear off his mask of absolute authority?

Let him, in the torment of being unable to live or die, offer the most crimson sacrifice to his father's wronged soul.

Boom!

The frozen door was kicked open with brute force, and three white-robed swordsmen strode in, stepping over the ice shards scattered on the ground.

With each step they took, the ice beneath their feet cracked with a sickening sound, and the cold air condensed into frost around them.

Yuan Qian's eyes twitched violently—the elite Imperial Guards outside the door had now turned into ice sculptures.

They remained in the position of drawing their swords, their faces frozen in the horror of impending death, reflecting an eerie halo in the sunlight.

"It's you guys!" Yuan Qian gritted his teeth and squeezed out these words.

He was very familiar with the three people in front of him; they were the three most capable henchmen of the old devil of the Eastern Depot.

Cao Yi, Cao Er, and Cao San are three of the thirteen adopted sons.

While the head of the Eastern Depot lived a secluded life, these three adopted sons held the power of life and death in the Eastern Depot and controlled the interrogation and torture in the imperial prison, making them extremely powerful.

"Yuan Qian!" Cao Yi, the leader, shouted sharply, his voice like an ice blade scraping bone: "As the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, how dare you lay a hand on our Eastern Depot!" "Insubordination, defying the Emperor's decree, is your Embroidered Uniform Guard plotting a rebellion?"

Cao Er said ominously, "Once we report to the Emperor... none of you Jinyiwei will survive!"

"And that old geezer Shen Wanbao, he should step down and make way for a more capable person."

The third brother revealed a mocking and cruel smile: "Yuan Qian, if you kneel down and beg for mercy now, perhaps... your godfather can still leave with a whole corpse?"

"Hehehe..."

After saying that, the three of them simultaneously let out a chilling laugh.

Suddenly, the sound of orderly footsteps came from outside the door. A dozen or so agents from the Eastern Depot, like stars surrounding the moon, escorted an old man in a black robe as he slowly entered.

Wherever the old man in black robes passed, even the moisture in the air condensed into frost.

Yuan Qian's pupils suddenly contracted, and his blood seemed to freeze instantly.

As expected, that old devil himself has come!
Lu Xuan, the most powerful eunuch in the land and the head of the Eastern Depot, suddenly appeared before us.

His hair was as white as snow, but his face showed no signs of aging; only his sinister eyes shone with a chilling light.

The black brocade robe fluttered slightly in the cold air, making him look like a demon emerging from the deepest hell.

Lu Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes like knives, scraping across Yuan Qian's entire body.

There were no angry shouts, no threats, just a quiet gaze, yet it made Yuan Qian feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave, making even breathing difficult.

"Die!"

Yuan Qian's roar shattered the icicles on the eaves, and the Embroidered Spring Blade in his hand suddenly burst forth with a three-foot-long green light.

In an instant, his muscles bulged as if filled with iron, and his black outfit crackled loudly as it was stretched.

Its body, which had doubled in size, caused the floorboards to crack inch by inch.

The surging Xuan Gang True Qi in his dantian flowed into the blade through his meridians, and the blue Qi waves rising from the blade caused the furnishings in the room to fly backward.

Dust clung to the beams, settling on the bulging veins in his neck, which throbbed like a coiled dragon.

This is the Xuan Gang Body, a secret technique passed down by the Xuanwu Zhenfu Envoy lineage within the Embroidered Uniform Guard!
As Yuan Qian leaped into the air with his toes touching the ground, a cracking sound came from his spine.

His bulging muscles stretched his skin to a bluish-gray hue, and even his brow bones developed prominent ridges.

At this moment, Yuan Qian was like a god descending to earth, his body surrounded by solidified azure energy.

When this technique is mastered, it can forge an indestructible body, making one impervious to ordinary swords and blades.

The muscles in his right arm, which held the knife, writhed as if alive. When the blade slashed through the stagnant cold air, it left a shimmering blue afterimage in mid-air.

"You old eunuch, prepare to die!"

The killing intent coalesced into a blade of wind that shattered the ice wall opposite, and Yuan Qian's enormous body, carrying the force of wind and thunder, slashed down.
Before the blade of the surging green light even reached him, it had already shattered the icicles within three feet of the door into dust.

His pupils burned with a bloodthirsty fire, completely ignoring the tearing pain caused by his bulging muscles.

It's too late to run away now, so we might as well fight this old eunuch to the death.

A chilling white mist suddenly rose around Lu Xuan, and a nearly liquid white aura flowed to form a shield, causing the air to crack with a piercing sound wherever it passed.

The surface of the white protective shield was covered with fine frost flowers, and even the light was refracted into a cold, eerie blue glow.

Even those standing ten steps away could feel the bone-chilling cold seeping into their marrow through the gaps in their clothing.

Yuan Qian, with the surging momentum of his Xuan Gang Body, slashed down from the sky. The azure light, accompanied by the roar of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, crashed heavily onto that mass of chilling white energy.

The moment the two forces collided, even heaven and earth seemed to freeze.

Immediately afterwards, a loud explosion shattered the glazed tiles, and the shockwave swept through like a violent hurricane.

The beams and pillars of the entire house groaned in despair, and the carved window frames and sandalwood screens turned into a shower of wood chips in the shockwave.

Amidst the smoke-filled ruins, the henchmen of the Eastern Depot lay like withered leaves swept away by a raging wind.

Apart from Cao Yi and his three adopted sons who managed to keep their balance, the rest of them crashed through the courtyard wall and fell awkwardly onto the still damp mud.

Some people collapsed, bleeding from their mouths and noses, while others were thrown several meters away by the blast wave. Screams and the sound of heavy objects hitting the ground mingled together.

At the eye of the storm, three maids formed an impenetrable wall with their own flesh and blood, enduring the flying pebbles that cut their skin and the cold wind that cracked their lips, yet they still held Lin Qinghan firmly in the center.

Once the dust had settled slightly, Lin Qinghan brushed aside the maid's blood-stained sleeve.

Looking at the devastated battlefield before her, the flames of revenge burning in her eyes were more scorching than the blazing sun overhead.

Father, did you die at the hands of this old monster?

Lin Qinghan's pupils shrank suddenly as she stared at the scene before her in disbelief.

The old demon Lu Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, his clothes not even moving.

It was as if that earth-shattering blow was nothing more than a gentle breeze.

In contrast, Yuan Qian's embroidered spring knife shattered with a crisp "crack" right before everyone's eyes.

Before the blade fragments even hit the ground, they were frozen into glistening ice crystals by the extreme cold, shimmering with a chilling light in the sunlight.

puff!
Yuan Qian suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, which froze into ice while still in the air.

His bare upper body was bulging with muscles, yet it was constantly emitting piercing white steam, as if his entire body was being frozen from the inside out.

Although the Xuan Gang Body is known as indestructible and impervious to swords and blades, it is ultimately no match for this all-pervasive, extremely cold true energy.

The cold air, like a bone-deep infection, seeped into the meridians through the pores, freezing even the internal organs!

"Icy Qi..."

Yuan Qian knelt on one knee, his teeth chattering: "You actually cultivated the Frost Qi to... the pinnacle..."

If it had been other experts, perhaps Yuan Qian wouldn't have been defeated so quickly.

Unfortunately, Lu Xuan's icy aura was the natural nemesis of his external martial arts skills.

There is a counter to everything; this is the fundamental principle of martial arts.

A cold glint flashed in Lu Xuan's eyes, and he was too lazy to waste any more words.

With a flick of his sleeve, a tangible white gale swept out, causing even the air to condense into tiny ice crystals wherever it passed.

"you"

Yuan Qian struggled to raise his right hand, only to find his fingertips instantly covered with a layer of white frost.

The biting cold spread rapidly up his arm, instantly encasing him in a layer of crystal-clear ice.

Under the sunlight, the human-shaped ice sculpture reflects a poignant light, and water droplets continuously slide off the surface of the ice, forming a pool of cold water on the ground.

At this rate of melting, it will take at least half an hour for the ice to melt.

Unfortunately—by then, Yuan Qian's internal organs had long been completely eroded by the cold air, and even a Great Immortal could not save him.

(End of this chapter)