Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
Mu Tingying had learned the truth not long ago.
Nanrong Ni had planned to join the Mu Clan around two years ago. The only condition they asked for was the Ice Crystal Bow, as only by acquiring the Mu Clan’s magic weapon would they be confident that the Mu Clan would not set them up.
Disgraced by having a family member closely related to the Black Vatican!
Losing her unequaled status!
Losing the cultivation she had acquired from ten years of hard work and the precious magic armor!
Losing her most trustworthy friend!
Mu Tingying felt like it was the happiest moment ever, even more perfect than having the best dream possible. She could finally experience the feeling of being overwhelmed with joy, as the person she hated the most ended up in such a miserable situation!
Oh, if Mu Ningxue’s face ended up turning ugly after losing the Ice Crystal Bow, today would be the best day of her entire life! She actually hoped it would happen, since the woman would have to go through the excruciating pain of having something being torn out of her soul…
“Enough with the struggling, just accept it! Even though you’ve lost everything, you can still use your good looks to earn the compassion of a simple-minded man, and let him guarantee you a comfortable life,” Nanrong Ni said calmly.
The comforting words sounded extremely ear-piercing to Mu Ningxue.
She had been suspicious of Nanrong Ni for some time. She tried to keep her distance after returning to the national team, yet she still underestimated Nanrong Ni. Underneath her gentle appearance was a vicious heart even worse than Mu Tingying’s!
It turned out that Nan Rongni had always been seeking Ningxue’s strongest weapon. The words she spoke even hinted at her jealousy of Ningxue’s beauty. What impressed Mu Ningxue the most was that even though Nan Rongni was even more jealous of her than Mu Tingying, she was still able to pretend to be her best friend, as if she was really concerned about her…
Mu Ningxue was horrified when she recalled how the woman had treated her over the past few years!
“I almost forgot, there’s still a man who cares a lot about you, but it won’t make any difference, even if he’s here. He’s just a little Mage that is slightly luckier than other people. How could he possibly stand a chance against the enormous Mu Clan? Besides, you aren’t the person he cares the most for. It’s the girl in a wheelchair. I really don’t understand how you can be so friendly toward her. Why don’t you look at yourself with those eyes full of hatred, the same way you’re looking at me?” Nanrong Ni’s words were like a long, poisonous spike, stabbing at the most vulnerable part of Mu Ningxue’s heart!
It was true that Mu Ningxue was thinking of Mo Fan for an instant, as she was filled with grief after being confronted by this group of people.
However, even the slightest glimpse of hope had been shattered into pieces by Nanrong Ni!
That being said, Mu Ningxue was not the kind of person who would fall to the ground, bury her face in her hands, and burst into tears after losing everything she could rely on.
She did not shed even a single tear. Her sharp gaze showed that her icy heart would only become firmer when she lost everything!
It was meaningless to talk further. If the two women were aiming to take everything from her, she had all more the reason to not give up easily!
As the final thread of friendship was cut in half, she no longer carried any burden on her shoulders. All she had was a firm, resolute heart!
A heart would burn fiercer as it grew colder!
The angrier she was, the calmer she would be!
There was one thing that Pan Xi, who had explained the truth behind the Ice Crystal Bow, was unaware of. Unlike the other bearers of the pieces of the Ice Crystal Bow, she had been tortured by the Ice Incubus every day and night after she received the Ice Crystal Bow from her mother, as she never stopped trying to merge her soul with the Ice Crystal Bow!
It was an oath she had sworn when her mother grabbed Ningyue’s hands by her sickbed, prior to her death. Because of it, Ningyue’s soul had to suffer the torture of being frozen every day!
Her hatred for her mother was actually greater than her love. Her mother did not give her anything, apart from the pain she had to endure on the path of cultivation.
But today, she finally understood the reason behind it, why she had to do it despite the excruciating pain she had to endure every day.
It was the only way to ensure that the unequaled power would actually belong to her!
“Bow!”
Extreme anger had frozen her to the bones.
The Ice Crystal Bow rose from deep within Mu Ningxue’s soul. Ice crystals began to fill the sky above Venice.
These were the tears her soul had shed in sorrow. She would rather turn them into a weapon representing her unyielding spirit than let them fall from her lonely eyes!
The two women were of no importance to her!
Snow started falling rapidly, freezing the intertwining canals of Venice, the ancient buildings, and the humid sea breeze. It also froze the world, so cruel that she simply had the urge to freeze everything in it!
“Didn’t you promise that she can’t use the Ice Crystal Bow!?” Mu Tingying suddenly screamed out in terror.
The Mu Clan did not dare to provoke Mu Ningxue easily, as she now possessed the strongest magic weapon in the history of the clan. However, even with the guardian of the Ice Crystal Bow here, Mu Ningxue still managed to summon the utmost terrifying weapon!
“How…how is this… how is this possible!?” Pan Xi stood there agape. The man who assumed the matter would be settled easily was having a hard time accepting the truth.
He was the guardian of the Ice Crystal Bow, the person most familiar with the Ice Crystal Bow in the entire Mu Clan. Under his will, any incomplete Ice Crystal Bow must obey his order…
-Unless, the Ice Crystal Bow has thoroughly merged with Mu Ningxue’s soul…-
But wouldn’t that mean the Ice Crystal Bow had acknowledged Mu Ningxue as its master? How could an incomplete bow possibly acknowledge a person as its master?
“Damn it, her soul has merged with the Ice Crystal Bow, unbeknownst to us. It must be that b**ch!” Pan Xi snapped furiously.
The only person that would ask Mu Ningxue to take such a risk would be her mother. Pan Xi assumed her mother would never let Mu Ningxue do something so insane. After all, once the person’s soul had merged with a piece of the Ice Crystal Bow, or an incomplete Ice Crystal Bow, the only way to take it out was by killing the person!
Wasn’t Mu Ningxue’s mother worried that her daughter might end up as a sacrifice? Or perhaps she was determined to oppose the Mu Clan until the very end, and let her daughter take over after she passed away.
Such a cruel mother!
“Mu Ningxue, so what if you can use it? Do you really want to go up against the entire Mu Clan? Look at you, and think about your family!” Pan Xi straightened up and yelled at her.
The snow was hitting Pan Xi and the other four disciplinary Mages like fierce beasts ramming into them. They could not move any closer to Mu Ningxue.
The power was simply too strong, so strong that a spectacular, icy tornado had already appeared in the sky and was looming over Venice, a freezing rain pouring down on the little city!
—
Think about her family? Mu Ningxue uttered a hollow laugh.
Would they even spare her family after they were done destroying her? Weren’t the things they did to her family cruel enough?
Instead of continuing to live in shame, wouldn’t it make more sense to stand and fight back? She finally understood the anger and resentment her mother had prior to her death. Her mother only told her she must grow stronger, so that no one could play her like a fiddle…
In the past, she had put so much effort into becoming stronger mainly to obey her mother’s last words, but now, she realized everything was for her own sake!
If she already had nothing to lose, what difference would it make if she decided to take on the entire Mu Clan? At least she still had a target to hate, to defeat, and to trample to the ground into pieces!
It would all start from this arrow…
No matter how difficult the journey ahead would be, she, Mu Ningxue had sworn to take down the Mu Clan!
—
Mu Ningxue grasped the Ice Crystal Bow tightly. It was a curse, but the only power she could rely on now!
The bow was made of pure crystal, not even the slightest impurity visible, yet it was easier for a purer object to be altered. The Ice Crystal Bow was changing according to Mu Ningxue’s feelings. She was pure, all that was in her thoughts was utmost anger. The bow suddenly turned bright red, like the color of blood about to erupt in flames!
Streams of black energy gathered and turned silver-white instantly, brilliant like a white rose, ice-cold like frost whiskers…
Mu Ningxue slowly leaned backward, pointing the tip of the arrow on her curled finger at Venice’s sky…
The icy storm sent the arrow flying, soaring above the lines of buildings and into the sky above the city!
The sky was clear, apart from the great icy storm looming over Venice. The arrow pierced through the blue sky, and despite its icy glow, it was like a signal used to declare war. It represented the woman’s wrath as the overwhelming energy froze everything within its range!
The sea in the distance had turned into an icy mirror, with snowflakes drifting in the air. It was like the final drop of tears that the Goddess of Ice had shed after bidding farewell to the world she no longer loved. The tear turned into ice, and as it fell onto the city, it brought winter to Venice…
——
Everything on the bridge was still as a painting, only Mu Ningxue’s heels were tapping softly on the ice crystals covering the stone.
She slowly walked up to Pan Xi and took the remaining pieces of the Ice Crystal Bow from him.
Pan Xi was still awake. As a matter of fact, everyone that was frozen was still conscious. They were able to see, but they could not move.
Mu Ningxue did not kill them. She only took what belonged to her.
She wrapped the pieces with her sleeves. She was cold, like a reticent empress. She did not even bother looking at Mu Tingying and Nanrong Ni.
Turning around, Mu Ningxue walked past the disciplinary Mages, the Mages responsible for maintaining order in Venice, and slowly disappeared into the distance under the gazes of the crowd that had gathered…
She was like a solitary ice rose, who had frozen herself, making it extremely difficult to touch the pistil of her heart!