Spirit Realm

Chapter 703: Compromise

The Ice Phoenix swore and harshly ridiculed Qin Lie. Her voice grew shriller and shriller until it sounded like a cold wind’s roar in the end.

She slowly started to lose control of her emotions.

But Qin Lie was unmoved by this.

He sat upright on the floor, took out pieces of dried spirit beast meat and chewed on them quietly. His expression was so calm it was scary.

Earlier, he had used the power of his bloodline fiercely and violently to resist against the Ice Phoenix’s absolute frost breath, summoning the “blaze” divine characters.

He needed to consume a lot of flesh to replenish this energy.

To him, the flesh of spirit beasts was the best kind of nourishment that would allow him to swiftly restore his physical strength.

He didn’t know what he was going to face later, but he knew that Frost Island wouldn’t be peaceful no matter what. Compared to the powerful evil spirits of the Ruined Lands, his strength was as insignificant as a speck of dust. That was why he needed to keep himself in the best possible condition.

While consuming the pieces of dried meat, Qin Lie also cast a glance at the shattered ice sculptures spread all over the ground.

When he was battling the Ice Phoenix, the dragonmen, lizardmen and Lu Heng’s subordinates were caught by the energy storm. Plenty of people had died horribly because of that.

Thankfully, the frozen Lu Heng, Qing Luo, Hui Jia and Bai Li weren’t caught in the crossfire due to his cautiousness.

Lu Heng, Bai Li, Hui Jia, and Qing Luo all owed him more or less some favors, so he was confident that he could leave Frost Island unobstructed with them as witnesses and La Pu backing him up outside.

That was why he could still keep his calm.

The Ice Phoenix continued to howl fiercely.

Despite swearing and ridiculing Qin Lie for a period of time, she didn’t notice any changes of emotions on his face. As the sounds of shattering ice and rock resounded all over the frost palaces more and more rapidly, her anxiety had heightened too.

Her swears abruptly came to a stop.

In the end, a dejected and helpless expression appeared on her exquisite but frigid little face, “What in the Spirit Realm do you want?” she asked again.

Her demeanor was obviously a lot less aggressive, and she showed the proper attitude of inquiry this time.

When she realized that she was at a dead end, that the situation was worsening and that this human brat was completely impervious to her demands, she ultimately decided to make a compromise.

“I don’t need you to become my spirit pet. I can… refrain from sealing you with the Demon Sealing Tombstone too.” Qin Lie looked up and said slowly, “But I need you to tell me everything you know about the Graveyard of Gods. I also want to know if the girl whose body was possessed by you is still alive. Also, I want you to return everything that rightfully belongs to me. Once you’ve fulfilled all these requirements, then you may leave whenever you want to. I won’t lift a finger to stop you.”

“But before that, I must have a way to control you and ensure that you obey our agreement!” Qin Lie said in an uncompromising tone.

The Ice Phoenix fell silent.

Dozens of seconds later, the Ice Phoenix suddenly said in a chilly tone, “I almost forgot the most important thing of this agreement—can you really help me? If you won’t use the Demon Sealing Tombstone to seal me, then how are you going to stop those people outside from capturing me? How are you going to stop them from turning me into their spirit pet? What ability do you possess that may aid me in averting this disaster?”

“You planned to possess me, conceal your soul inside me, and leave by emulating my aura earlier, haven’t you?” Qin Lie asked.

“That’s right.” The Ice Phoenix snorted.

“How would you deal with your true body after your soul has left it?” Qin Lie asked again.

“I’ve already obtained the ability to transform. If I were to move away from this human body, dress it up with some clothes, conceal the phoenix markings engraved on its skin and conceal all of my original aura with a secret art, then I can turn my true body into a cold and lifeless human corpse,” The Ice Phoenix said cunningly. “Once I’ve taken over your body, I would control you and leave Frost Island with my true body. It may be unusual, but it isn’t especially uncommon for you lowly human beings and your special fetishes.”

She had through this through from the beginning.

If Qin Lie was careless enough to open his mind to her at the time, she would’ve been able to take over him without any difficulties.

She would then be able to transform herself into Qin Lie and calmly leave Frost Island while carrying her true human body.

Once she left this region, her soul would reenter her true body, and she would become herself once more. She would be able to begin a whole new life.

When even more time had passed, she would be able to cover up the unique aura every spirit beast possessed and cultivate at any part of the Land of Chaos as a human girl.

“Truly intelligent. I am impressed. I am truly impressed,” Qin Lie praised her from the bottom of his heart.

“Can you help me or not? The frost palaces’ defensive formations would hold for another fifteen minutes at best! If you can’t help me then stop wasting my time!” the Ice Phoenix said irritatedly.

“Please use your special method to cover up your aura first. This is so that you may transform your true body into a normal human girl’s corpse. Then, have your soul leave your true body and open up without any resistance. I will seal your soul temporarily in a container,” Qin Lie said unhurriedly and calmly. “This way, I’ll be able to bring your… corpse... away just as you had planned earlier with the pretense that I have a twisted mind. I’ll be able to bring your soul and your true body out of Frost Island like this.”

Back when he was at Flame Volcano, he was able to create a seal of lightning inside the Soul Suppressing Orb that could prevent half of Xue Li’s soul from escaping.

At the time, Xue Li was at the Nirvana Realm and could be considered rather powerful.

The Qin Lie from back then was incomparable to the current one. Back then, his understanding of thunder and lightning energy was weak, and he was only at the second stage of Heavenly Thunder Eradication too.

If he could seal away half of Xue Li’s soul back then, then he could seal away the Ice Phoenix’s soul using the Soul Suppressing Orb just the same, if not better.

“You have a special spirit artifact that can seal away the soul? Would I be unable to escape once I get inside? Would I be refined into a mindless entity that had lost all of its memories if I enter it? Would I be stuck in a confused state forever?” The Ice Phoenix fired out a series of questions.

“You’ll come out exactly the way you come in. You won’t experience any change whatsoever,” Qin Lie guaranteed.

“How can I trust you?” the Ice Phoenix ultimately asked.

“You can choose not to.” Qin Lie shrugged with a relaxed expression on his face while he flung back the exact same words the Ice Phoenix said earlier right back at her. “Your choice.”

An internal struggle broke out inside the Ice Phoenix’s mind. She hesitated painfully and couldn’t come to a decision for a time.

She didn’t know if Qin Lie was lying to her.

She was worried that her defenseless soul would be destroyed by Qin Lie’s thunder the second it left her true body.

She had noticed that Qin Lie possessed a mighty thunder spirit art, and thunder was the bane of all souls.

The anxiety Qin Lie suffered earlier had befallen her now.

“Crack crack crack!”

The tough ice wall defenses outside were being blasted by all kinds of violent attacks.

They both could hear the sounds of ice walls being smashed into pieces.

These noises were like drum beats that pounded again and again at the Ice Phoenix’s heart.

Tremendous waves of pressure assaulted her like tides.

“From the sound of it, the defenses might not even hold for fifteen minutes. Once the frost palaces’ defenses are destroyed, and the people who had wounded you grievously come in, you will undoubtedly be captured alive and turned into a spirit pet,” Qin Lie said indifferently. “When that happens, I will no longer be able to help you. It will be too late for regrets then.”

His words finally shattered the final line of defense in the Ice Phoenix’s heart. She gritted her teeth and yelled, “I’ll make a gamble then!”

Qin Lie nodded and urged, “Then be quick! We don’t have time to waste!”

“Ssss!” The Ice Phoenix sucked in a mouthful of cold air.

Countless tiny frost lights gathered into an extraordinary stream of light and entered her nostrils.

She stripped a female martial practitioner of a white-colored martial practitioner uniform. Her naked, translucent body was shaking non-stop.

Wisps of icy luster sparkled from Ice Phoenix’s body.

The exquisite and mysterious phoenix markings on her body actually started vanishing in large patches as if an invisible eraser was wiping them from existence.

A dozen or so seconds later, not a trace of the bright markings could be seen on her naked body.

She grabbed the white-colored martial practitioner uniform and wrapped it around her naked body. She instantly transformed into a flawless, white-dressed beauty.

As the light of astonishment appeared in Qin Lie’s eyes, a ball of icy light rose above her head. Frigid streams flowed inside the light, and a lively phoenix elegantly extended its wings and danced in midair. The frigid streams circulated around the phoenix and slowly rose towards the sky.

Qin Lie didn’t sense any strong defiance from the phoenix’s soul inside that ball of light.

She was completely defenseless right now.

Gradually, the ball of icy light that contained her soul and thoughts finally arrived at Qin Lie’s chest area.

Right now, Qin Lie could instantly circulate Heavenly Thunder Eradication to the max and instantly destroy her soul into nothingness if he wanted to.

Qin Lie’s eyes sparkled with electricity as he stared coldly at the icy ball of light before him. He made sure that his powers were brimming to the point of near release, and he dared not let his guard down for even a second.

“Boom boom boom!”

Roars of thunder resounded continuously from his body, causing the Ice Phoenix’s tiny soul to feel worried and anxious.

She knew too that any abnormal reaction from her soul would cause Qin Lie to confront her with the most violent of thunderous energy.

That was why she made sure to exert every bit of effort in controlling herself. This was to avoid causing a misunderstanding that would result in her destruction.

She observed Qin Lie carefully.

“Enter my glabella!” Qin Lie suddenly exclaimed.

She subconsciously stared at the space between Qin Lie’s eyes.

A wisp of dark light appeared from between Qin Lie’s brows, and a pitch black orb the size of a rice suddenly appeared from it like a third eye.

She immediately understood that that was the spirit artifact Qin Lie was going to use to seal her soul.

After one last moment of hesitation, she ultimately entered the Soul Suppressing Orb as a ray of icy light under Qin Lie’s urging gaze.

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