The Immortal Seeker: Legend of Bronze Mirror-Chapter 898 - 416: Xu Qingzhu’s Choice

Within the Pure Yang Universe Map, at the Zhong Mountain Dao Field.

Xu Qingzhu is in a secluded room meditating, comprehending the true essence of the "Innate Freeze Extinction" pathway imparted by her father. Around her, the air condenses into fine ice crystals, each resembling a miniature frozen world, emanating an absolute chill.

Suddenly, her spirit quivers as a thread of fate connected to the Heavenly River Dao Sect pulses violently and painfully, like a string about to snap.

She abruptly opens her eyes, and in her cool gaze, the disastrous scene of dark clouds looming over the sect gates and a shattered galaxy is instantly reflected.

"The sect is in danger!" Xu Qingzhu stands up abruptly, the Frozen Extremity Path Rhyme around her uncontrollably erupts, transforming the secluded room into an ice cave, its walls covered in thick mystic ice.

Without any hesitation, her figure flashes and she appears in the Stargazing Hall where Feng Wu resides.

"Mother, the sect is on the brink of disaster, I must return!" Xu Qingzhu's voice is clear and cold, yet carries a hint of barely contained urgency.

Feng Wu gazes at her, a complex expression flickers in her eyes. She sighs softly, "Qingzhu, this is the thought transmitted from your father just now."

As she speaks, her fingertip lightly touches Xu Qingzhu's forehead, imbuing it with a gentle glow containing Xu Qing's will.

"Qingzhu, this is destiny, it is also calamity. If you stay in the Pure Yang Heavenly Realm, with this realm's Qi Fortune and the mark of your father's Dao Fruit, you will safely remain unharmed and immortal. But if you insist on going, ahead of you lies dire peril, a path of nine deaths and one life, and even... the danger of Dao fall."

Her father's voice calm and indifferent, devoid of any emotion, seemed to be stating a fact unrelated to himself. Yet beneath this calmness, it hid a deeper meaning allowing her to choose her fate, and a barely detectable trace of a father's concern.

Xu Qingzhu's delicate figure slightly trembles, and she falls silent.

She knows, her father has attained immortality, his words binding law. His warning is not alarmist, but the clearest insight into future destiny.

To stay is absolute safety. Her path will be smooth, under her father's protection, with limitless achievements in the future.

To go, though, is to step into a killing trap set by a higher existence, a futile fight, a moth flying into flame.

The hall remains silent, only Feng Wu's gentle eyes, mixed with worry, quietly watching her.

After a long while, Xu Qingzhu slowly lifts her head, her clear gaze now devoid of urgency or hesitation, only an unprecedented clarity and determination.

"Mother," she bows deeply to Feng Wu, "please tell father, I understand his intention. But I must go."

Feng Wu softly asks, "Why? Don't you know, your father, though he is immortal, has expended considerable Origin opening up a new universe, and is in a critical period of recovery during deep sleep. He cannot easily use his true power as it would affect the universe's foundation. His warning to you was his utmost limit."

"I know." Xu Qingzhu's lips curve into a cool yet incredibly resolute smile, "Father gave me the choice, which is his greatest trust. If I choose comfort, I may preserve my form and spirit, but my Dao Heart would then be shadowed by a crack, born forever irreparable."

She straightens, her gaze seemingly penetrating the barriers of the Pure Yang Heavenly Realm, looking toward the distant, suffering sect.

"What do we, Seekers, seek? It is clarity and a clear conscience. The Heavenly River Dao Sect has taught me, it holds my mentors and fellow disciples. Now they are trapped in dire straits, if I sit and do nothing for my own safety, what Dao am I cultivating? What heart am I honing?"

Her voice grows louder, firmer, the Frozen Extremity Path Rhyme surrounding her becomes purer and sharper under this decisive will.

"This world never lacks wise people who act in self-preservation and weigh pros and cons. But if everyone acts thus, when darkness descends, who will light the first lamp?"

"There must be some who do what others deem 'foolish', 'unwise', 'actions against impossibility'. Perhaps they fail, perhaps they fall, but it is these 'acts against impossibility' that bring hope to mankind, and possibility for the Great Dao to advance. This is my Dao!"

Feng Wu listens silently, worry in her eyes gradually transforming into gratification and pride. In her daughter, she sees the shadow of Xu Qing from years past.

"Go," Feng Wu steps forward, adjusting the strands of hair around her daughter's temples, "Go and do what you believe is right. Your father... will be proud of you."

"Thank you, Mother." Xu Qingzhu bows again, turns resolutely, transforming into a stream of ice-blue light, rushing out through the boundaries of the Pure Yang Universe Map toward the perilous Taixu Universe.

...

Deep within Taixu, at the core of the Primordial Universe.

The sleeping Xu Qing, within his Dao Thought, stirs with a faint ripple.

He "sees" his daughter's resolute back, "hears" her resolute Dao Heart declaration.

A long sigh, filled with gratification and reflection, echoes in the chaos.

"Oh, stubborn child... stubborn child..."

In his Dao Thought, there is no blame, no disappointment, only endless praise and a father's indescribable fondness.

"Indeed the daughter of Xu Qing..."

"The path of a Seeker is not merely astuteness in calculation. True strength lies in daring to draw swords in adversity, defying the current, protecting the Dao within one's heart. Without such an ethos, no matter one's talent, ultimately they are but a transient on the path of the Great Dao."

"Qingzhu, you made your choice. Then as your father, I shall safeguard this last breath of life for you."

The Dao Thought slightly moves, a barely detectable breath of "Life" containing the essence of his Chaos Birth and Death Dao Fruit, crosses endless space, silently infusing into the depths of Xu Qingzhu's True Spirit, becoming a protective imprint even she remains unaware of.

...

In front of the Heavenly River Dao Sect's mountain gate.

"Boom!"

With the final loud explosion, the brilliant starry river light band of the "Tianhe Inversion" grand formation finally shattered completely under an incomparably thick beam of gray divine light!

The starry brilliance shattered like a rain of broken glass, scattering everywhere, each drop carrying the lament of the Heavenly River disciples.

"Pfft!"

Sect Master Su Qinghe spat out a mouthful of fresh blood wildly, the Heavenly River Order in his hand shattering inch by inch. He fell heavily onto the plaza before the mountain gate like a kite with a broken string, his aura dwindling to the extreme.

The five elders of Heavenly River were even more miserable. Great Elder Guo Taiyue's protective dharma treasure, the "Mystic Water Turtle Shell," was forcibly shattered, and half of his body was corroded to a bloody and mangled state by the divine light. Elder Zhong's lifebound flying sword was broken into several pieces, his primordial spirit injured, making him already unconscious.

As for Chong Shan, once the spirited chief disciple, he was now covered in blood, one arm missing, and being tightly bound by pitch-black chains by two elders of the Supreme Dao Sect, his divine form shattered, at death's door.

The team from the Pure Yang Dao Sect that came to assist was intercepted halfway by the Supreme Dao Sect's ambush and now suffered heavy casualties, barely managing to protect themselves.

The entire Heavenly River Dao Sect was in a state as precarious as eggs at the edge of destruction.

Emotionless Daoist descended slowly from the warship, his expression blank. Behind him, countless cultivators of the Supreme Dao Sect surged forward like a tide, their eyes filled with greed and bloodlust.

"Su Qinghe, I'll give you one last chance: surrender, or die." Emotionless Daoist spoke coldly from above.

Su Qinghe struggled to lift his head, his eyes filled with indomitable fury: "In our Heavenly River Dao Sect, there are only disciples who die standing, not cowards who live on their knees! If you have the skills, slaughter us to the last one!"

"Very well." Killing intent flashed in Emotionless Daoist's eyes as he slowly raised his hand.

At this moment of despair, when death was about to descend.

An indescribable, absolute chill capable of freezing time and space arrived without warning!

It wasn't a drop in temperature but a change in the laws.

Emotionless Daoist's raised hand froze in mid-air. The grins on the faces of those charging cultivators from the Supreme Dao Sect froze, their figures like a paused scene, maintaining the forward charge posture, motionless.

Even the gray divine light that traversed heaven and earth seemed like a frozen waterfall, suspended in the air, its destructive Dao Rhyme covered by a thin layer of ice, ceasing its flow.

The wind stopped, the clouds halted, sounds vanished, even the light seemed to thicken and slow.

The time and space surrounding the Heavenly River Dao Sect were completely frozen at this moment!

An ice-blue figure, like a goddess walking out from ancient glaciers, quietly appeared before the mountain gate of the Heavenly River Dao Sect.

Her white attire outshone the snow, her black hair fluttered, her face cold like the moon, and within her eyes lay an absolute stillness capable of withering all things.

"Sa...Saintess?" Su Qinghe arduously lifted his head, his murky eyes reflecting the familiar yet unfamiliar figure, filled with disbelief and shock.

All surviving disciples of the Heavenly River, upon seeing that figure, in hearts long filled with despair, felt as if they saw the first rising ray of dawn on an eternal night ice field!

"It's Saintess Qingzhu!"

"The Saintess has returned!"

Xu Qingzhu ignored the exclamations of the crowd. She simply gazed quietly at the scene before her, at the Emotionless Daoist frozen in midair, and the countless ferocious faces behind him.

She slowly raised her hand, from her fingertip a wisp of ghostly blue cold air, seemingly capable of freezing the soul, gently drifted out.

However, this seemingly casual gesture instantly made her already pale face even paler, a rill of crimson blood gently trickling from her mouth.

To freeze a vast expanse of time and space with one's own power, to contend against the "Supreme Cold God Light" imbued with the will of three great figures from the Ancient Heavenly Realm, even if she had received the true inheritance of the Frozen Extremity Path, the cost was far beyond imagination.

But she showed no sign of retreat.

"Does the Supreme Dao Sect believe our sect has nobody?"

Her voice was icy, like the sharpest icicle, piercing into the divine souls of every frozen enemy.

At this moment, every disciple of the Heavenly River Dao Sect, looking at the figure standing alone between heaven and earth, turning the tide with her own might, saw the last vestiges of doubt and confusion in their hearts disappear entirely.

Awe, admiration, and a heartfelt recognition surged like a tide in their hearts.

She was no longer merely the daughter of a Daoist Monarch.

She was the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly River Dao Sect, the Nine Heavens Goddess who brought hope amidst despair.