As a Tiandao Imperial Weapon, Qingci’s capacity to withstand blows was naturally immense. Ye Yu did not expect to fell her so easily, so without pause he produced two Taishang Edict Talismans invoking the Celestial Realm’s extreme fires, intending to subject Qingci to an ordeal of ice and flame and temper her vicious spirit.
To his surprise, Qingci’s adaptability proved far greater than he had imagined. A white light flickered at her chest, and in the next instant the ice encasing her shattered. Ye Yu flicked the talismans away, and a scorching blaze of Celestial extreme fire burst forth. Golden flames immediately engulfed Qingci’s slight frame. Even from a distance, Ye Yu could feel the incomparable searing heat.
But with a sharp inhalation, the golden flames visibly weakened—and soon vanished entirely. Qingci reappeared, unharmed, though her body now gleamed entirely gold and her expression was grave. Yet the white light before ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ her grew even stronger. The all-white Qiankun Wangsheng Chi (Qiankun Resurrection Ruler) materialized once more, its fine Dao script clear to see.
As Qingci gripped the jade ruler, torrents of golden fire surged into it, and her body returned to its normal hue, her heavy blush as conspicuous as ever.
“Despicable! You freeze me, then burn me? You never wanted to play!” she roared. “Then die!”
With that, she swung the Qiankun Resurrection Ruler in a wide arc. In an instant, a surging aura of death spread forth. Ye Yu’s body withered like a flower drained of life, and within two breaths he utterly vanished, as though he had never existed.
Yet Qingci showed no triumph; instead, she frowned. Something was wrong. Before she could ponder further, the surroundings shifted drastically. The once-bright Celestial Realm became an abyssal void, and a pair of icy, colossal eyes hovered overhead. Qingci reached to resist—but her hands found only emptiness. The Qiankun Resurrection Ruler had vanished without trace. No matter how she searched, she could not sense its presence.
Panic seized her mind. Fear sprouted wildly in her thoughts, shattering her composure. She tried to retreat but could not move—black chains had bound her at unknown moments, suspending her in midair like the immortals once made into kites. The sensation of helplessness was unbearable. Qingci’s blush dissolved into fragmented patches, but her eyes glinted with mockery.
“A fine illusion—but far too unreal. How could I ever be flown as a kite?”
She closed her eyes, and her form began to fracture—and with her, the surrounding void splintered.
In moments, everything returned to normal. The Celestial Realm was bright once more, and the Qiankun Resurrection Ruler lay before her. Yet the chains remained. On the ground beneath her feet gleamed a near-invisible array: the Underworld Sky-Binding Array, drawn from the Shengui Zhentu (Spirit-Ghost Array Diagram). Though it might not imprison Qingci forever, just a few breaths’ time would suffice.
Ye Yu flickered into view before her. Under Qingci’s watchful gaze, he grasped the Qiankun Resurrection Ruler. He had intended to depart at once—but a Tiandao Imperial Weapon would not be subdued so easily. The ruler trembled violently in his hand, its power nearly unmanageable.
“Testing my strength?” Ye Yu’s eyes glowed red as he unleashed the Tianyao World-Annihilation Technique. A towering Dharma form soared skyward, and in his fist the Qiankun Resurrection Ruler felt no larger than an ant. “How can an ant shake a great tree?”
In moments he crushed it firmly, then poured his immortal power into it to refine it. Qingci struggled again, but Ye Yu simply tossed another Taishang Edict Talisman. “If ice and fire can’t harm you, then thunder will.” He called down countless bolts of lightning—not to kill, but to prevent further interference. Qingci was engulfed in the tempest as Ye Yu concentrated on refining the Tiandao Imperial Weapon.
After half an hour of intense effort, Ye Yu at last transformed the Qiankun Resurrection Ruler into his own Immortal Artifact. Qingci, her spirit beaten by thunder, could not tend to her vanished soul essence; without her artifact’s spiritual guidance, the ruler was as hollow as a body without a soul.
When it was over, Ye Yu exhaled in relief and dispersed the thunder. The artifact’s spirit, Qingci, collapsed onto a cloud of auspicious mist, her form flickering with residual lightning. Truly, she had been stunned.
Ye Yu smiled and sat cross-legged to recover his spent immortal power. The battle had cost him greatly, but at last he had succeeded.
Half a day later, Ye Yu flew through the sky, flanked by Acacia and Qingci, who glanced about playfully. Laughter tinkled like silver bells. Notably, Qingci’s strange blush had completely faded, and she appeared far more pleasing to the eye. In truth, those red patches had never been hatred or obsession—they were simply a little effect she had given herself. As a Tiandao Imperial Weapon caught unawares by the Celestial Realm’s calamity, she had once been unable to move freely for ten thousand years in an immortal mountain. Bored and lonely, she had tried to amuse herself by forcing her cheeks to flush, imitating a mortal’s makeup. When her power returned, immortals had either recoiled in fear or scorned her, deepening her isolation and hardening her heart over the ages.
