Chapter 113: Divine Bones

But the cub's cries didn't faze Ying Shixue.

He Zhimo was once again confined to the ice cave.

The original ice wall had been reinforced, and no matter how hard Shang You pounded on it, it was useless.

Unable to break the ice wall, Shang You desperately lunged towards the pool to settle the score with the villain. But before he could reach the cold figure, his little dragon's claws slipped, and he was caught off guard and plunged into the water.

However, the imagined choking on the icy water didn't happen.

Shang You was scooped up by a slender, powerful arm

beneath his sleeve. By the time he realized what was happening, the little creature was already in Ying Shixue's arms. His cool palm lifted the cub's red, painful tail, and with his dragon breath, he gently smoothed the curled, delicate scales.

In a trance, Shang You felt as if the villain's icy gaze hinted at a familial care.

Shang You was stunned for a moment, then thought of the villain's actions. Angrily, she stretched out her little dragon claw and grabbed his hand fiercely, "Youyou, I don't want you to heal me!"

Ying Shixue let the cub's soft claws scratch the back of her hand. She stared at the cub's tearful face and asked calmly, "You want to see her

, don't you?" Shang You's sobs paused, and she looked at him warily and uneasily, pursing her lips. Although she knew the villain couldn't be so kind, she couldn't help but nod and choke back a sob. "I want to see my mother..."

Ying Shixue glanced toward the ice wall, speaking to Shang You and intentionally letting He Zhimo hear.

"This place is full of dragon breath, a good place for dragon transformation and training. As long as you practice well here, when you can open this barrier with your own strength in the future, you will be able to stand on your own." "

On that day, Changyi will take you to see her,"

Ying Shixue said, placing Shang You back on the ice floe where she first woke up.

Shang You flapped her dragon tail and climbed up from the ice floe, shrouded in the cold current. She turned back to follow the icy voice, but Ying Shixue had vanished.

"Brother, did that bad guy... leave?"

Shang You's little dragon claws clung to the swaying ice floe on the water, cautiously and anxiously asking her brother trapped in the ice cave.

Through the transparent ice wall, He Zhimo's voice came through, hollow and muffled. "It seems so."

He added, "Youyou, I feel like there's an energy inside the ice cave that I can't help but want to absorb. Youyou, do you think this could be... the dragon breath he mentioned?"

Shang You hadn't noticed this at first, but when her brother said this, she realized that the tip of her tail, dangling from the edge of the ice floe, was also shimmering with a faint blue sheen.

Curious, she gently stirred the water with the tip of her tail, and the dragon scales on the tip of her tail became more pronounced.

Shang You couldn't help but look up and shout towards the ice cave, "Brother, me, my tail too! It sparkles when it touches the water, and the scales seem to have become even harder."

He Zhimo: "I understand. This cold air rising from the water must be dragon breath energy. According to him, as long as we absorb enough energy until we can open the barrier, we can leave here and meet Mom!"

Shang You couldn't help but take a few deep breaths after hearing this, and even dipped half of her tail in the water. She felt the energy in her little body becoming increasingly full, and the power of her tail swinging was much stronger than before.

However, Shang You's joy didn't last long. She looked at the cold air still spreading in the center of the pool, rolled her eyes hesitantly, and spoke with some confusion.

"But brother, where does this dragon breath energy come from? Why does it keep rising from the water?"

He Zhimo, who was in the ice cave, didn't have a clear understanding of the specific situation at the pool. His face was thoughtful for a moment, and then he shook his head.

"Youyou, I don't know about this either. I think the most important thing for us right now is to cultivate and accumulate energy. We can talk about other things after we leave here and see Mom."

"Okay, I understand, brother!"

Shang You thought her brother's words made sense. She shook her head and focused on absorbing the dragon's breath energy, no longer thinking about irrelevant things.

...

Elsewhere.

When Shang Youqing woke up from Cheng Huang's back, she found Cheng Huang leading her through the Nine Heavens.

"Cheng Huang..."

Shang Youqing grasped Cheng Huang's half-moon horn and slowly straightened up. Before she could finish her words, she heard Cheng Huang say, "Phoenix, Colonel Shen said he had to leave for something and asked me to tell you."

"Oh..." Shang Youqing replied slowly, gazing at the clouds passing by Jiu Tian. "Then how did you get to Jiu Tian?"

"It was when I was taking you away that an angel from Jiu Tian came over, saying that the Heavenly Dao had summoned you to the Nine Heavens Spiritual Gate."

Shang Youqing's heart trembled slightly at the words.

Was it because the Heavenly Dao had learned of her trespassing into Guixu in an attempt to rescue her son?

Shang Youqing pondered this in a flurry of confusion, but she remained composed, preventing Cheng Huang from worrying too much.

Arriving outside the Nine Heavens' Order Spirit Gate, Shang Youqing spoke to Cheng Huang and ascended the Spirit Gate steps on her own.

It hadn't been long since her tail feathers were severely damaged, and Shang Youqing had prepared herself to endure the excruciating pain of broken bones as before as she ascended the thousands of steps.

But what struck her strangely was that her legs felt no pain at all, and her steps seemed even lighter and more relaxed than on previous ascents. Just as

Shang Youqing was about to turn around and transform into her true phoenix form to check on the condition of her tail feathers, a deep, celestial voice emanated from the Spirit Gate Sacred Tree

. "Phoenix!"

Shang Youqing was forced to face the tree and kneel upright.

However, the expected punishment did not come.

A golden thread from the tree caressed her head, soothing her like a child.

"You didn't disappoint Heavenly Dao this time. You did well."

"Now that Ying Shixue has lost his divine bone, he's equivalent to losing the foundation for divine transformation. He's no longer a threat."

Shang Youqing's drooping eyelashes fluttered violently like butterfly wings. Her entire brain felt like it was being submerged by the heavy waves, her eardrums threatening to burst, and a humming sound echoed throughout her body.

She struggled to think, feeling blank. Slowly but calmly, she raised her head.

She heard herself repeating Heavenly Dao's words, "Lost, divine bone?"

"Heavenly Dao has seen. You extracted his dragon vein divine bone from Guixu and successfully escaped. His divine bone is now attached to your phoenix tail feather." "

No matter what methods you used in the Guixu maze, Heavenly Dao will not punish you again."

...

As Shang Youqing left the steps of the Spirit Gate, she looked down at the radiant, fiery tail feathers that had transformed from her body.

Her tail feathers were long and magnificent, shrouded in a divine aura.

Not only were there no signs of breakage, but the spiritual energy flowing from the feathers was even stronger than before.

At this moment, she stared at the soft luster flowing on the tail feathers, but the scene of being humiliated and kissed by Ying Cixue in Guixu kept echoing in her mind.

Shang Youqing was experiencing both the stress and fear of the approaching cold air, and the uncontrollable anger and pain towards the man.

When Ying Shixue forcefully kissed her, she was only concerned with tearing him apart and dying together, and had no time to think about anything else.

She had never imagined that Ying Shixue would take advantage of this moment to transform his divine bone into cold energy and transfer it to her -

the small carp killed by the cold light was just a cover, what Ying Shixue actually cut off was...

his own dragon vein divine bone.