On the Dragon-Slaying Platform, I was executed and became Yang Jian's brother-in-law.

Deep within the Pangu Temple,

This is the absolute private space belonging to the Twelve Ancestral Witches. Apart from themselves, even the Great Witches dare not set foot here casually. As for Xuanming's side hall, because she cultivates the law of ice, it is shrouded in a thin layer of white frost all year round, and even the air seems to be frozen, exuding a coldness that keeps strangers away.

Su Bai (Zhu Jiuyin) concealed his aura, like a ghost walking through the cracks of time, and silently pushed open the heavy stone door.

"Squeak—"

The stone door opened, and a chilling aura mixed with the smell of blood rushed out.

Su Bai frowned, his unease growing stronger. Just now, when they were practicing the grand formation, he clearly sensed the weakness in Xuanming's aura; that feeling was definitely not feigned.

"Xuanming?"

Su Bai called out tentatively, his voice echoing in the empty side hall, but no one answered.

Nobody here?

Su Bai was somewhat surprised. Where did this girl go instead of healing her injuries?

He stepped into the hall. The furnishings inside were extremely simple, even rudimentary. Apart from a few jade beds used for cultivation, there were nothing else, as desolate as its owner.

However, when Su Bai passed through the front hall and went around a screen made of ice crystals, the scene in front of him made him stop in his tracks.

This is a huge natural ice cave, which is obviously where Xuanming usually uses for seclusion.

At this moment, Xuanming was not inside.

But on the huge, ancient ice platform in the center of the ice cave, there stands an unfinished ice sculpture.

Su Bai took a closer look, and his pupils contracted slightly.

It wasn't flowers, birds, insects, or fish, nor was it mountains or rivers.

That was a giant dragon, winding and coiling, its head raised as if about to roar—the Candle Dragon!

Although only seven-tenths complete, with the dragon's tail and some claws still rough blocks of ice, the spirit of the dragon's head and body was incredibly lifelike. Especially the eyes; although they hadn't been finished yet, the arrogant sense of dominating the world and controlling time was portrayed perfectly.

"this……"

Su Bai was stunned. He had seen Xuanming's carvings in the Ruins of Return. At that time, she mostly carved inanimate objects to practice, and occasionally carved him only to repay a favor.

But now that she's out, why is she still carving?

Su Bai's gaze shifted downwards, and he noticed dozens of broken ice sculptures scattered around the ice platform.

Some had broken dragon horns, some were missing dragon claws, and some were discarded because their scales weren't carved perfectly. But without exception, these "discarded" items were all carved in the true form of Zhu Jiuyin!

"So many?"

Su Bai casually picked up a piece of "discarded" dragon head from the ground, his fingers gently stroking its cold edges.

The moment the fingertips touched it, a familiar, faintly bloody primal energy emanated from the ice sculpture.

"The power of origin?!"

Su Bai's expression changed drastically.

He suddenly raised his head, looked at the unfinished statue standing on the platform, and then at the debris scattered all over the ground.

These ice sculptures are not just carved from black ice.

With each cut and each stroke, Xuanming infused her most precious Ancestral Witch essence!

"Is she insane?!"

Su Bai was utterly shocked.

With the decisive battle between the Lich King and the Demon King imminent, the Twelve Heavenly Gods and Demons Formation is already a bottomless pit in terms of its drain on vital energy. Instead of thinking about how to nourish her body, she's wasting such precious vital energy on these ice lumps?

This is like a soldier about to go to battle who, instead of sharpening his sword or sleeping on the eve of the decisive battle, draws his own blood to paint a portrait!

And the drawing depicts... comrades-in-arms?

Something's not right.

Su Bai tossed aside the scrap he was holding and turned his gaze deeper into the ice cave. There, a narrow passage faintly emanated an even stronger aura of primal energy.

Without hesitation, he strode inside.

As they went deeper, the surrounding temperature dropped, but Su Bai's heart sank heavier and heavier.

When he walked out of the passage and arrived at the bottom of the ice cave, he was completely stunned.

This place... is practically a "Candle Dragon Museum"!

Hundreds of statues!

Hundreds of ice sculptures of various shapes and sizes are arranged in a staggered manner in this huge underground ice cave.

Some are churning in the clouds, some are slumbering, and some are howling at the sky.

There is even a statue depicting the back of a man in black carrying an injured girl as he struggles to move forward on the Northern Snow Plains!

Each ice sculpture is crystal clear, shimmering with a deep blue aura. This is because each one contains a wisp of Xuanming's primordial essence, allowing them to remain unmelted for millennia and possessing a trace of spirituality.

As Su Bai walked among the ice sculptures, looking at each and every one of himself, he felt a chill run down his spine, and a strange, inexplicable feeling welled up inside him.

Shocked? Moved?

Or perhaps... horror?

How much effort must have been put into this? How much of the essence must have been consumed?

"She carved in the Ruins of Return, saying it was to repay a favor and to find peace of mind."

Su Bai stood before the most exquisitely carved "Candle Dragon Coiling Pillar" muttering to himself, "But now that we're back, she's still doing this... and using her own essence to do it..."

This can no longer be explained by "practice".

This is clearly an obsession! A deep-seated, almost pathological obsession!

"You...how did you get in?!"

Just as Su Bai was staring blankly at the room full of "himself", a voice full of panic and trembling suddenly rang out at the entrance of the ice cave.

Su Bai turned around.

Xuanming was standing there.

She was carrying a bucket of "Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow" that she had just retrieved from the frigid lands of the Northern Sea, and her body still carried the scent of lingering snow and wind.

But at this moment, the Ice Ancestral Witch, who usually remained unfazed even when Mount Tai collapsed before her, dropped the ice bucket in her hand with a "clatter" to the ground.

Her usually cool and aloof face instantly flushed crimson, even her neck turning bright red. The expression was like that of a girl who had hidden her diary under her bed, only to discover it being read aloud by the boy she secretly admired!

Society is dead!

This is absolutely a social disaster!

At this moment, Xuanming wished he could activate the laws of space to teleport himself to the outside of chaos, or simply seal the entrance with ice and perish together with Su Bai!

"Um...I..."

Xuanming was at a loss, his eyes darting around. He wanted to explain something, but he found that the ice sculptures all over the room were irrefutable evidence that he couldn't deny.

She instinctively rushed over, trying to block Su Bai's view or put away the ice sculptures.

"Don't block it, I can see everything."

Seeing her flustered appearance, Su Bai's anger and worry dissipated for some reason, replaced by a sense of helplessness.

He sighed, pointed to the ice sculptures around him that emanated primal energy, and his tone became serious:

"Xuanming, shouldn't you give me an explanation?"

"The Lich War is approaching, and Brother Dijiang is urging us to practice formations every day, practically splitting every ounce of his strength in two. And you, on the other hand!"

Su Bai walked up to her, staring intently into her eyes. "Instead of properly nourishing your body, you're hiding here, wasting such precious primordial energy, just to make these...ice blocks?!"

"Is this why your injuries haven't fully healed and why your aura is weak when the great formation is activated?"

Faced with Su Bai's questioning, Xuan Ming lowered his head, his fingers twisting the hem of his clothes tightly, like a child who had done something wrong.

But soon, her stubbornness resurfaced.

"Who...who said this is a waste?"

Xuanming raised his head, his face still flushed, but his eyes hardened (he was being stubborn), "I'm cultivating! I'm perfecting my Great Dao!"

"Cultivation?" Su Bai laughed in exasperation. "Your cultivation method is sculpting me?"

"Is that not allowed?"

Xuanming, with his neck stiff, launched into a rambling monologue, "I discovered this when I was in the Ruins of Return: carving can calm my mind and allow me to reach the pinnacle of my micro-management of the laws of ice!"

"Only by infusing the ice sculpture with my essence, imbuing the inanimate with spirit, can I truly comprehend the essence of 'creation' and 'destruction'! This will greatly help improve my combat power!"

This reason... though far-fetched, is barely plausible if applied to a fanatical seeker of enlightenment.

Su Bai narrowed his eyes, looking her up and down: "Fine, even if it's for cultivation. What else could you carve? Carve a flower, a bird, or even Brother Dijiang."

"Why did you carve me? And why did you carve so many of me?"

Su Bai pointed at the ice sculpture of "Candle Dragon Carrying a Person," a half-smile playing on his lips, "Is this also for cultivation?"

Xuanming felt uneasy under his gaze, his eyes darting away, but he still gritted his teeth and gave a reason that he had rehearsed countless times in his mind:

"That's because... I'm not very familiar with other people!"

"Not familiar?" Su Bai raised an eyebrow.

"That's right!" Xuanming said matter-of-factly, "As you know, I usually live a secluded life, and apart from you, I haven't really looked at the other Ancestral Witches in detail! If I don't carve you, who else should I carve?"

"Besides..."

Xuanming took a deep breath, pointed at the complex structure of the Candle Dragon's body, and began to spout nonsense with a straight face:

"Your true form is the Candle Dragon. Its structure is the most complex, and its lines are the most fluid."

"Look at the patterns on these dragon scales, each one has eighty-one variations; the flowing whiskers require mastery of the wind; and the texture of these dragon horns..."

Xuanming walked up to an ice sculpture, pointed to the details on it, and analyzed it with great seriousness:

"Carving these details is an extreme test of my microscopic control over the cold! If I can carve every single one of your dragon scales perfectly, my 'Absolute Zero' will reach another level, directly freezing the primordial spirit of a demon!"

"So, I chose you as my model purely because your physical form is difficult to master and challenging! It will also enhance my control over ice and snow!"

After saying all that, Xuanming felt a cold sweat breaking out on his back.

She secretly glanced at Su Bai, feeling uneasy: Would he believe such a ridiculous reason?

Su Bai listened in silence.

He looked at Xuanming's expression that said, "I'm very serious, I'll do anything to become stronger," and then at the incredibly detailed dragon scale ice sculptures.

Although I still felt something was off, I had a feeling that this girl was hiding something.

However, it must be admitted that Xuanming's reason actually forms a closed loop in logic!

After all, she's a well-known martial arts fanatic and cold-faced person. It seems... in line with her character that she would do some strange special training to improve her strength?

"Alright."

Su Bai rubbed his temples, ultimately choosing to believe (or rather, too lazy to expose him), "As long as it's not for... cough cough, as long as it's for cultivation, that's fine."

"However, this will not be repeated."

Su Bai's face hardened, and she warned sternly, "You're not allowed to use your source energy for carving anymore! If you cause trouble during the great battle due to a depletion of your source energy, don't blame me for showing no brotherly affection and putting you in solitary confinement!"

Hearing that Su Bai didn't press the matter further and hadn't discovered her little secret, Xuan Ming breathed a long sigh of relief.

"understood."

She responded softly, but in her heart she was thinking:

They won't let me use the original carving?

Then I'll carve it secretly; anyway, you can't come into this ice cave a second time.

Watching Su Bai turn and leave, Xuan Ming stroked the horns of the ice dragon beside him. The panic in his eyes dissipated, replaced by a faint, gentle look tinged with a hint of secret joy.

fool.

If it weren't to etch you into my heart, who would bother to count how many dragon scales you have?