From beneath ten thousand feet of profound ice, an ancient wail echoed from the depths of the ice abyss.
Ling Tian's fingertips danced with Flame Dragon Fire, illuminating the path ahead.
"Brother Ling Tian, it seems we've arrived."
Su Meier's profound ice pendant at her neck hummed, projecting a qingqiu totem onto the ice wall.
The two stopped at the edge of an ice cliff, where countless icy tentacles of profound chilling Qi solidified below, sending shivers down their spines.
A crimson-gold flame ignited between Ling Tian's brows, and through the cold mist, a majestic palace lay dormant at the bottom of the ice abyss.
"Flame Dragon! Burning Body!"
"Qingqiu Profound Ice Art!"
The two activated their protective Talismanic Incantation and leaped into the ice abyss.
Su Meier's nine tails unfurled like snow lotuses, and profound ice Qi formed a jade plate to support her feet.
Ling Tian was encircled by the Flame Dragon, treading on a wave of flames, like a crimson fire meteor.
Upon landing, the sight before them was even more astonishing.
A thousand layers of ice steps spiraled up from the abyss, carved from ice and jade, with ancient qingqiu Clan totems etched into their surfaces.
Eighteen crystal ice pillars supported the dome, and profound iron chains reflected a cold light.
The palace doors were inlaid with ten-thousand-year-old cold jade, its surface adorned with qingqiu runes.
"This is... the Qingqiu empress's Burial Soul Hall!"
Su Meier's voice trembled slightly.
Ling Tian clasped her trembling hand, and the Flame Dragon Fire conveyed warmth.
"Don't be afraid, I'm here."
As the two drew closer to the palace, Ling Tian even felt a trace of coldness, and the Flame Dragon Breath within him began to stir restlessly.
Stepping onto the plaza, the Flame Dragon Soul spontaneously flew out, transforming into a hundred-meter-long Flame Dragon.
"Roar—"
A Dragon roar shattered the profound ice, revealing the intertwined ice phoenix carvings on the door.
The ice phoenix opened its eyes and spewed out extreme yin cold Qi.
"Flame Dragon Armor!"
Ling Tian's arms were instantly covered in Dragon scales, protected by Dragon flames!
He crossed his arms to block the ice breath, and crimson-gold blood dripped, scorching small marks onto the ice surface.
"Quick!"
The veins on Ling Tian's neck bulged, and the shadow of a Flame Dragon appeared behind him.
At this moment, Su Meier bit her tongue, and her essence blood sprayed onto the door knocker.
The ice crystal door knocker transformed into twin fox heads, and then Su Meier brought out the damaged emperor seal; the twin fox heads held the emperor seal and embedded it into the groove.
"Rumble!"
The ice abyss trembled violently.
The blue light spilling from the door crack enveloped Su Meier.
However, Ling Tian was thrown back by the recoil, crashing heavily into an ice-sculpted Asura statue behind him.
"Pfft!!"
Ling Tian spat out a mouthful of blood!
"Get in quickly!" He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse, "I'll guard you!"
The palace doors slowly closed.
As the light dissipated, Su Meier clearly saw the interior structure of the hall.
Countless ice stalactites hung from the dome, reflecting a cold light.
Thirty-six ice pillars reached the sky, with flowing fox fire sealed within them.
The fox fire permeated through the ice layers, interweaving in the center of the grand hall to form the ethereal image of a Nine-tailed Sky Fox.
Qingqiu runes were carved into the surrounding ice walls, emanating the pure radiance of moonlight.
An ice coffin was suspended at the far end of the grand hall, behind what should have been the throne.
"Dong!"
"Dong!"
"Dong!"
The bell chimes were ethereal, and the nine-layered barrier opened.
As the ice lid fell, the one lying in the ice coffin was none other than the first Qingqiu empress!
"Qingqiu, Su Meier, greets Your Majesty."
Su Meier knelt down.
"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
She kowtowed three times to the ice coffin, tears streaming down her face.
She began to recount the final elegy of the Qingqiu Clan, her voice choked with sobs.
Suddenly, a gentle force lifted Su Meier to her feet.
The empress's remnant Divine Soul condensed above the ice coffin.
"Meier, my child, you have suffered..." The empress's voice was extremely gentle.
Su Meier rushed to the ice coffin, her cries shaking the heavens.
The empress's remnant Divine Soul listened quietly, without speaking.
After a long while, Su Meier finally composed herself, looking at the empress's remnant Divine Soul, a blush rising on her cheeks.
"My child, you who possess the Bloodline of the Nine-tailed Sky Fox, are you willing to accept the trial of my Qingqiu Legacy?"
"Meier is willing!"
Su Meier nodded heavily.
"The trial consists of two stages: first, inquiring of the heart, and second, inquiring of emotions. Those who pass will receive the complete Qingqiu emperor seal Legacy..."
"What if I don't pass?"
"Eternal slumber in an illusion..."
The empress's remnant Divine Soul's voice drifted lightly.
Su Meier did not hesitate at all: "Your Majesty, please begin!"
The blood debt of the Qingqiu Clan must be repaid by someone.
"Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden casts the spiritual platform, a mirror for ten thousand generations to trace Reincarnation, inquire of the heart, inquire of emotions, command!"
As the Sanskrit incantation ended, the scene shifted... ice crystals shattered, and a young fox whimpered.
A snow-white cub was curled in her arms, its forehead bearing an unformed qingqiu fox pattern glowing with a faint blue light.
The bell of the royal city chimed in the distance, and the breeze carried a strong smell of char.
"Young Clan Chief, hurry!"
A blood-soaked woman suddenly lunged from behind a broken wall, using her back to block a poisonous arrow that pierced through the air.
Su Meier recognized her as the wet nurse who had raised her.
The poisonous arrow pierced through the woman's chest, along with the ice lotus emblem pinned to her chest.
"Take the children to the underground palace..." The woman used her blood to condense a Talismanic Incantation in the air.
Suddenly, the young fox in Su Meier's arms felt heavy as a thousand pounds.
She looked down and found that the cub's hind leg was pinned by a Netherworld Soul-Locking Nail.
Eight ice mirrors rose from all directions, reflecting a hellish scene:
In the East Mirror, a young fox girl was pressed against a Pill Furnace by a Cultivator, her milk teeth forcibly pulled out: "Young fox teeth are excellent Materials for refining Youth-Retaining Pills!"
In the West Mirror, the Ninth Elder was pierced through his shoulder blades by Netherworld iron chains, yet he still roared: "Young Clan Chief, hurry!"
In the North Mirror, twelve Qingqiu priests sat around a Rebirth Array, self-immolating their Divine Souls to activate forbidden arts... "Please, Young Clan Chief, catch this wisp of life fire!"
The Grand Priest's burning arm pointed to the sky.
"The royal city may burn, but the Legacy must not be extinguished!"
Su Meier staggered back, bumping into the corpse of a Qingqiu maiden, who still clutched a broken ice sword... The phantom of Granny Suxin suddenly emerged from the ashes, her withered hand holding half a scroll of the "Qingqiu Medical Codex":
"This old woman has tried seven hundred and twenty prescriptions and finally found a way to remove the Soul-Devouring Gu..."
Before she finished speaking, a bloody hole burst open in her back, and a Soul-Hooking Rope from the Heavenly Demon Palace Cultivator pierced her heart.
"Young Clan Chief... protect..."
The tattered pages of the medical codex flew, each page seemingly reflecting the smiling faces of Qingqiu children.
"Sister... you said you would take me to see the snow of Kunlun..." The young fox in her arms suddenly spoke in human tongue.
Before she could finish, the young fox suddenly let out a shriek, and the Netherworld ghost fire climbed up Su Meier's wrist along the Soul-Locking Nail.
"Severing delusive thoughts, cutting off emotional ties, only then can one attain the emotionless Dao."
A voice flowed in the fire.
The Ninth Elder's remnant Divine Soul, dragging chains, broke through the air: "Woman's kindness! If it weren't for you swapping the array core! How could the city-protecting array collapse!"
Su Meier trembled as she touched her chest, her fingertips brushing against a Qingqiu Clan emblem made of ice crystal—it was given to her by her grandmother during her coming-of-age ceremony.
The scene that now appeared in the Clan emblem suffocated her:
She saw herself hiding behind the altar, secretly replacing the thousand-year-old ice marrow in the array core, just to extend the life of her seriously ill younger brother.
"So... I was the culprit..." She knelt on the ground, her nine tails scorching black in the ghost fire.
The Grand Priest's finger was three inches from her glabella: "Catch the life fire! Qingqiu needs you!"
The Rebirth Array began to dim.
"Young Clan Chief!"
The twelve priests turned to ashes simultaneously, their final roars shattering the ice mirrors.
"Qingqiu needs a leader! Not a penitent! And certainly not an evaders!"
At this moment, the young fox in her arms suddenly let out a sinister laugh, and the Netherworld ghost fire had spread to Su Meier's chest.
She seemed to see the hundred thousand fox souls drifting over the ruins of the royal city, each soul's forehead glowing with a faint life fire.
"Everyone..."
Tears fell to the ground.
Su Meier made her choice.
She bit her tongue, and her essence blood drew the thirteenth array pattern of the Rebirth Forbidden Art in the air:
"With my nine tails as fuel, burn away the sins of this life! With my soul, exchange for their Reincarnation!"
As the incantation fell, her nine tails burst, and her tail bones erupted with ice-blue life fire.
The wet nurse's ice lotus emblem transformed into ice armor, the Ninth Elder's iron chains condensed into starlight surrounding the young fox, and the embers of the twelve priests condensed into fire seeds and were cast into the array core.
When the empress's phantom emerged from the raging flames, Su Meier was pressing the last wisp of life fire into the heart of the young fox in her arms.
"Inquiring of the heart, what is the meaning?"
Su Meier picked up the young fox, which was no longer being corroded by the ghost fire, and let him suck her bleeding fingertips.
"The heart is in the tears of all beings, in the hands of the survivors, and in..."
She looked into the distance, "...in the first cry of every Qingqiu citizen in their next life."
"Only with everyone can there be Qingqiu. To sever the heart and live alone is not my Dao!"
The empress's illusion shattered in response, transforming into a shower of stars that merged into her glabella.
The Legacy crown descended from the sky, and Su Meier seemed to hear the whispers of a hundred thousand fox souls.
She touched the sky crown, as if touching the warmth of the ice lotus emblem, the calluses on the Ninth Elder's hands, the ice dust on her sister's sword... She slowly closed her eyes.
Inquiring of the heart, without regret.