The Legend of the Princess' Counterattack

Chapter 601: Cold Pond Changes

The Cangwu Mountains in the far north are covered with snow all year round, and only the deep ice pond glows with a faint blue light under the moonlight. Yun Yao stands barefoot by the pond, her black hair hanging down like black satin, swaying gently in the night breeze. Her fingertips slide across the water, and ice crystals condense into a butterfly shape along her fingertips, which merge into her brows in an instant. The pain of spiritual body tempering surges like a tide, but is soothed by the faint smile at the corner of her lips - this is her daily homework for the three years of seclusion.

"Host, the progress of the soul refining is 87%. Please keep your mind steady." The mechanical voice of the system rang in the sea of consciousness. Yun Yao closed her eyes and concentrated, allowing the cold pond's spiritual power to wash over her meridians. Suddenly, the moonlight reflected on the water surface twisted strangely, and tiny blood-colored lines spread from the bottom of the pond like living things, outlining complex spells on the ice surface. The system's voice suddenly became sharp: "Warning! The coordinates of the Burning Heaven Palace's 'Soul Chasing Compass' have been detected, and the positioning will be completed in thirty breaths!"

Yun Yao opened her eyes suddenly, and the ice crystals on her fingertips shattered. She saw the blood-colored lines in the center of the cold pond converging at a speed visible to the naked eye, forming a virtual image of a compass, and the jumping sparks on the needle pointed directly at her position. "System, activate the shielding barrier!" Before she finished speaking, the system interface deep in the sea of consciousness suddenly flashed red, and the task bar expanded in response. The golden handwriting of [Ancient Secrets] was particularly dazzling against the blood-colored background: "Find the secret room of the Burning Heaven Palace and unlock the fragments of the 'Burning Heart Mirror'. Remaining time: 72 hours."

At the same time, three miles away on the edge of the cliff, Chu Mochen's Xuanbing sword was against a protruding rock. The moonlight illuminated the bloodstains on his snow-white clothes. Three charred bodies fell in a fan shape at his feet, and the remaining burning patterns on the Taoist robes were faintly visible in the night. He squatted down and ran his fingertips across the scorch marks between the corpses' eyebrows - the spiral burn marks were the "Soul Burning Curse" unique to the dead soldiers of the Burning Heaven Palace. His sword eyebrows suddenly frowned, and he suddenly looked up in the direction of the cold pond, only to see that the dark blue water of the pond was now glowing with a strange red glow.

"Yao'er!" Chu Mochen tapped the ground with his toes, turning into a shadow and darting towards the cold pond. When he arrived, he saw Yun Yao gathering fire on her fingertips, laying down layers of barriers beside the pond. The phantom of the blood-colored compass had solidified for the most part, with the needle only three inches away from her forehead. "Use 'Cicada's Shell' to cover up your aura!" Before he finished speaking, he had already thrown out three silver jade slips, which burst into dazzling silver light the moment they landed, completely covering up the auras of the two.

Yun Yao took the opportunity to call back the spirit butterflies, and the blue butterflies spun around her body, slowing down the erosion of the blood-colored lines. She looked at Chu Mochen and saw that his palm was still stained with charred debris. She was shocked: "Are they the assassins of the Burning Heaven Palace?" Chu Mochen nodded, and his fingertips stroked the cloud pattern on the hilt: "Three, all in the Mahayana stage. It seems that they have been lying in ambush nearby and waited for me to leave before taking action."

The system's alarm suddenly became intermittent: "The Soul-Chasing Compass... comes from ancient times... The host's spiritual vein fluctuations... resonate with the fragments of the Burning Heart Mirror..." Yun Yao frowned, and suddenly remembered the bronze compass she found at the bottom of the cold pond three years ago. At that time, the patterns on it were still blurry, but now it was faintly hot in the depths of her sea of consciousness. She looked down at her palm, and the pale golden spiritual vein patterns were resonating with the blood-colored spells on the water. This feeling was like something was forcibly awakening a certain power in her body.

"We must leave immediately." Chu Mochen suddenly grabbed her wrist, and his body temperature came through his sleeves, with an unusual burning sensation. Yun Yao then noticed the cold sweat on his forehead and the suppressed pain in his eyes - it was the substitute calamity array pattern at work. For three years, whenever she used powerful spiritual power, the substitute calamity array pattern in Chu Mochen's body would automatically bear the backlash for her. At this moment, the pressure of the Soul Chasing Compass was indirectly acting on him through the resonance of the spiritual veins.

"Let's go to the Xingyun Merchant Alliance first." Yun Yao made a prompt decision and pinched the magic formula with her fingertips. The cold pond water suddenly boiled and turned into a huge ice curtain to block the blood-colored compass. She took out a jade slip engraved with the pattern of Xingyun. It was the token that the owner of Xingyun Pavilion secretly left for her three years ago. "The system said that the fragments of the Burning Heart Mirror are related to me, and Xingyun Pavilion, as a neutral merchant alliance, may be able to find more clues."

Chu Mochen suddenly stared at her forehead, with surprise flashing in his eyes: "Your spirit butterfly mark... has become darker." Yun Yao reached out to touch her forehead, and indeed felt the butterfly mark getting hot, and the edge of the blue spirit butterfly's wings was faintly shining with golden light. This was the second change that the spirit butterfly had undergone since she first saw the bronze compass at the bottom of the cold pond three years ago. She suddenly remembered that the system master had said that the spirit butterfly was the inheritance token of the Yunhua Sect, and the Burning Heaven Palace had been hunting down the remnants of the Yunhua Sect...

The needle of the blood-colored compass suddenly let out a piercing scream, and was about to break through the ice curtain. Yun Yao no longer hesitated, and took Chu Mochen's hand and stepped into the teleportation array. The cold pond water exploded behind them, and the blood-colored compass finally fully appeared, but it let out an unwilling whine the moment it touched their afterimages. At the bottom of the cold pond, a bronze compass engraved with the word "Yun" was slowly turning, and the needle in the center of the compass pointed to the direction where Yun Yao left.

After the light of the teleportation array disappeared, the cold pond returned to calm. The moonlight once again shone on the ice, but no one noticed that a new crack was quietly spreading on the rock at the bottom of the pond. Deep in the crack, half a bronze mirror fragment engraved with spells could be vaguely seen - it was one of the fragments of the Burning Heart Mirror.

The Starfall Merchant Alliance is located in the Starfall Plain east of the Cangwu Mountains. When Yun Yao and Chu Mochen arrived through the teleportation array, the sky was just turning pale. The star pattern barrier outside the Merchant Alliance flickered with light. Yun Yao took out the Starfall Jade Slip, and a silver passage immediately emerged from the barrier. "Be careful, there are a lot of new faces in the Merchant Alliance recently." Chu Mochen warned in a low voice, his hand on the hilt of the sword, his eyes swept over the several hidden figures on the street corner - the charred lines on their bodies were exactly the same as the previous Burning Heaven Palace dead soldiers.

Yun Yao quietly activated her spiritual pupil technique, her sight penetrated the crowd, and found that there were at least twenty obscure auras locking onto the entrance of the Merchant Alliance. She calmly pressed Chu Mochen's hand back to his waist, and her fingertips quickly drew three hidden patterns on his palm - this was the code they created, meaning "the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light, so let's avoid the sharp edge for now." Chu Mochen understood and immediately took her into an alley. After turning seven or eight corners, they stopped in front of a wooden door engraved with star patterns.

"Knock, knock, knock." Yun Yao knocked on the door in a specific rhythm, and the door opened, revealing an old man in a gray robe. When the old man saw the meteorite jade slip in her palm, his pupils shrank suddenly: "Miss Yun, the Pavilion Master has been waiting for a long time, please follow me."

In the secret room of the Xingyun Pavilion deep in the Merchant Alliance, the gilded candlesticks at the four corners emit soft light. As soon as Yun Yao stepped through the threshold, she was greeted by a familiar spiritual power fluctuation - it was the breath she felt at the bottom of the cold pond three years ago, the same as the bronze compass. Pavilion Master Ye Wuhen stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back. He turned around when he heard the footsteps. His eyes lingered on the spiritual butterfly mark on Yun Yao's forehead for a moment, and suddenly smiled bitterly: "It seems that the soul-chasing compass of the Burning Heaven Palace has found you after all."

"The Pavilion Master summoned me late at night, so I guess it's not just for the sake of greeting." Yun Yao went straight to the point, her fingertips stroking the storage bag on her waist, "I received a system prompt in Hantan that the fragments of the Burning Heart Mirror are related to the Yunhua Sect, and Xingyun Pavilion... should know something."

Ye Wuhen's eyes suddenly became heavy. He took out a green jade slip. The golden lines flowing on the surface of the jade slip were exactly the same as the spiritual vein mark deep in Yun Yao's sea of consciousness: "Three hundred years ago, when the Yunhua Sect was destroyed, my master risked his life to grab half of the fragment of the Burning Heart Mirror. Before he died, he said that the fragment recorded the key to the Burning Heaven Palace's resurrection of the Burning Heaven Ancestor, and the core of activating the formation is the Yunhua Sect's 'Heavenly Dao Questioning Heart Sutra' spiritual vein."

Yun Yao took the jade slip, and just as her fingertips touched the lines, a golden light suddenly exploded in her sea of consciousness. She saw countless scenes flashing by: the burning Yunhua Sect Hall, her mother holding her in her arms and rushing towards the teleportation array, the elders of the Burning Heaven Hall wearing red copper masks behind her, and... the bronze compass with the word "Yun" engraved on it at the bottom of the cold pond. "Is this... a memory fragment?" She exclaimed, the golden lines on the jade slip were resonating with the spiritual veins in her body, and those sealed memories were awakening little by little.

Chu Mochen suddenly pressed her shoulders and said in a low voice: "Yao'er, your spiritual veins are boiling." Yun Yao then discovered that her palms were glowing with an almost transparent golden color, and the spiritual vein lines were moving on her skin like living things. The jade slip in Ye Wuhen's hand had now completely merged into her palm.

"As expected." Ye Wuhen sighed, "The Yunhua Sect's spiritual vein is the key to the Burning Heart Mirror. When the Yunhua Sect Master teleported you to the lower world, he must have planted a sensing mark of the fragments in your body. Now that the Burning Heaven Palace has activated the Soul Chasing Compass, it is not only to hunt you down, but also to activate the mark in your body and find the location of the remaining fragments."

Yun Yao suddenly remembered the task [Ancient Secrets] that the system had added, and immediately opened the system interface, only to find that the task countdown had changed from seventy-two hours to forty-eight hours, and below the task description, there was an additional line of bloody small words: "The Burning Heaven Palace has collected five fragments, the host's spiritual vein is the key to the sixth, and the seventh... is deep in the host's sea of consciousness."

"What?" She cried out in surprise. Chu Mochen and Ye Wuhen looked at her at the same time. Yun Yao took a deep breath and informed the two of the changes in the system interface. Ye Wuhen's face suddenly became solemn: "If the Burning Heaven Palace collects all seven fragments, once the Burning Heaven Patriarch is resurrected, the entire cultivation world will be reduced to purgatory. And the spiritual vein in your body is the key, they will definitely do whatever it takes-"

"So we have to find the remaining fragments first, especially the one deep in my sea of consciousness." Yun Yao interrupted him, his eyes fell on his palm, where the golden lines of the jade slip still remained, "Master Ye, when the Yunhua Sect was destroyed, were there any other clues besides this jade slip? For example... the bronze compass?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Wuhen's eyes flashed with surprise: "You actually know about the bronze compass? Yes, it is a token left by the first ancestor of the Yunhua Sect. There are two of them. One is in your mother's hand, and the other... is said to be in the main altar of the Burning Heaven Palace. But since the demise of the Yunhua Sect, the whereabouts of the two compasses are unknown."

Yun Yao thought of the bronze compass at the bottom of the cold pond. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly heard a violent vibration coming from above the secret room. After a loud bang, cracks appeared on the star pattern barrier on the ceiling, and three charred figures broke through the ceiling, holding red-glowing long swords pointing directly at Yun Yao's eyebrows.

"Be careful!" Chu Mochen instantly blocked her with his sword, and the Xuanbing Sword and the Fentian Sword collided, making a sharp sound of metal. Yun Yao took the opportunity to retreat, but found that five more figures were surrounding her from all directions. They were the assassins of the Fentian Palace who had ambushed outside the Chamber of Commerce.

"Yun Yao, hand over your spiritual veins and I will spare your body." The leading assassin took off his mask, revealing the hideous burning pattern on his left face. He was the leader of the Burning Heaven Palace who escaped from the cold pond three years ago. The long sword in his hand suddenly grew three inches, and the blood flame on the tip of the sword was exactly the same as the blood-colored pattern of the Soul-Chasing Compass.

Yun Yao suddenly felt a sharp pain in her sea of consciousness, and the system's alarm sounded again: "The soul-chasing compass has been located! The host's spiritual vein has been locked, and it is recommended to immediately...ah!" The system interface suddenly flashed with snowflakes, and the mechanical sound stopped abruptly. She was startled, knowing that it was the secret technique of the Burning Heaven Palace that was interfering with the system. She immediately pinched the magic formula, and the spirit butterfly mark on her forehead suddenly lit up. The blue light butterfly turned into a sharp blade and faced the blood flame that was coming towards her.

"Be careful, they are using the Burning Sky Blood Flame!" Ye Wuhen exclaimed, and at the same time threw out the Xingyun Pavilion's mountain protection formation flag, laying down layers of star pattern barriers around the secret room. Chu Mochen's Xuanbing Sword was now dyed red by the blood flame. He bit his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of blood on the sword. The ice-blue sword light suddenly surged: "Yao'er, go get the Xingyun Order in the Pavilion Master's hand! That is the key to open the Yunhua Sect's secret vault!"

Yun Yao then remembered that Ye Wuhen had mentioned that her mother had left behind the Starfall Order, which was now in Ye Wuhen's hand. She dodged two blood flames and grabbed the Starfall Order. Suddenly, countless images flashed through her mind - the image of her mother in the secret room of the Starfall Pavilion, and... the complete appearance of the bronze compass at the bottom of the cold pond.

"So that's it!" She suddenly understood that the Starfall Token was not only a token of the Merchant Alliance, but also the key to activate the bronze compass. When she pressed the Starfall Token against the star pattern on the wall of the secret room, the ground suddenly cracked, revealing a staircase leading underground. At the end of the staircase, a faintly glowing bronze compass could be vaguely seen.

"Chu Mochen, let's go!" Yun Yao grabbed his hand and jumped into the dungeon without paying attention to the assassins chasing after him. Ye Wuhen tried his best to stop them from behind, his voice filled with anxiety: "There is a Yunhua Sect's protective barrier in the dungeon, they can't get in, but you only have half an hour! After half an hour, the power of the Soul Chasing Compass will penetrate the barrier--"

Before he finished speaking, the entrance to the crypt suddenly closed. Yun Yao and Chu Mochen stood in a fluorescent stone room. The bronze compass in the center was suspended in the air. On the surface of the compass, the three words "Yunhua Sect" were emitting a soft light. When Yun Yao reached out to touch the compass, it suddenly vibrated violently, and countless golden light points poured into her sea of consciousness. The system interface actually lit up again at this time, and the task description of [Ancient Secrets] had become: "Unlock the fragments of the Burning Heart Mirror and prevent the Burning Heaven Palace from resurrecting the ancestor. Current progress: 23%."

"Yao'er, your hair..." Chu Mochen suddenly whispered. Yun Yao touched her temples and found that her originally dark hair was now a light silver-blue, the color of the spirit butterfly mark. She knew that this was the result of the resonance between the spirit vein and the bronze compass, and it was also a sign of the awakening of the Yunhua Sect's bloodline.

"Chu Mochen, look." She pointed to the needle in the center of the compass, which was now pointing to the northwest. "That should be the location of the main altar of the Burning Heaven Palace. And the spiritual veins in our bodies, like this needle, will be locked by the Soul-Chasing Compass."

Chu Mochen suddenly held her hand, and the substitution array pattern on his palm resonated with her spiritual vein: "So, we can't run away anymore. Whether it's the Burning Heaven Palace or the Heavenly Dao, since they want to use our spiritual veins, we will do the opposite, use this spiritual vein as bait, find all the fragments, and completely destroy their plan."

Yun Yao looked up at him, the candlelight flickered in his eyes, reflecting a determined look. Three years of seclusion did not dull their edge, but made their tacit understanding even deeper. She suddenly chuckled, condensed the fire on her fingertips, and carved a reverse pattern on the compass: "Okay, then let them know that the inheritance of the Yunhua Sect has never been a lamb to be slaughtered."

Outside the crypt, Ye Wuhen was fighting fiercely with the assassins of Burning Heaven Palace. He looked at the closed entrance of the crypt and suddenly remembered his master's words before his death: "When the Falling Star Order resonates with the bronze compass, the hope of Yunhua Sect will fall on the child with the mark of the spirit butterfly." He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes flashed with determination, and the Falling Star Sword in his hand slashed out again, and the star pattern shone brightly: "Miss Yun, I hope you can truly understand the true meaning of the heart of the Tao against the sky... It's not just resistance, but also awakening."

Deep in the cold pond, the needle of the bronze compass suddenly stopped moving. In the center of the compass, the "Yun" mark completely overlapped with the spirit butterfly between Yun Yao's eyebrows. In the crack at the bottom of the pond, the half of the Heart Burning Mirror fragment suddenly made a buzzing sound. The spell on the fragment was resonating with the spiritual veins in Yun Yao's body. A shocking conspiracy surrounding the way of heaven and the way of rebellion was starting from this small cold pond and spreading to the entire cultivation world.

Yun Yao and Chu Mochen are about to take the last step out of their seclusion and step into the grand chess game about fate, inheritance and the heaven-defying Dao heart that has been prepared for them. The next stop is the Ten Thousand Treasures Ceremony of the Xingyun Merchant Alliance, and the blue jade slip that affects countless forces, waiting for them to uncover deeper secrets.