Cold energy surged.
Ripples of icy white mist expanded through the air, washing over the entire shop like waves from a frozen sea. Every table, every shelf, every rolled parchment was first dusted with crystals—then shattered to icy fragments as the storm grew fiercer.
"So cold..." Ya Fei shivered violently. As a mere Dou Shi, she couldn't hope to resist the freezing aura unleashed by a Expert ascending in power.
Ye Feng's arm moved. Without a word, he wrapped it around her slender waist.
"Ah?" Ya Fei gasped. Her nerves jolted, but it wasn't just the cold that had her heart pounding.
Ye Feng didn't meet her eyes.
Instead, his other arm pulled her closer—into the heat of his chest. He channeled the power of Creation itself, weaving warmth through her body, melting the chill that had begun to claim her skin.
Ya Fei's breath caught.
He could've easily conjured a barrier. She knew that. But he didn't. Instead, he chose to warm her… like this.
Her heart fluttered.
Even if it was bold—shameless, even—she felt happy. She felt wanted. And Ye Feng… he might not have realized it yet, but she had long since fallen for him.
Why?
Maybe because the first time they met, he crushed her dignity and made her massage his back. Or maybe it was the way he treated her since—sharpening her cultivation, helping her awaken the rare Fire Spirit Physique, gifting her the majestic Amethyst Winged Lion King, or even demanding full-body massages with a teasing smirk.
Somewhere along the way, her heart had branded itself with his presence.
She didn't resist the embrace.
Instead, her arms rose slowly, wrapping around his waist as she pressed herself into him.
Their eyes met. Blood-red warmed her cheeks. She blinked, smiled slyly, and whispered, "Young Master Ye… I'm warmer like this."
Across the room, Hai Bodong's face began to twist.
Not in pain—but release.
A dark green serpent-shaped energy pattern shimmered across his skin. The once unbroken mark had begun to crack, split, and shimmer. And then—
Snap!
Like chains snapping in a dungeon, the curse shattered. The snake pattern dissolved into dust, vanishing into the air.
A torrential burst of Spiritual energy exploded from Hai Bodong's body.
The entire Gutu shop blew apart.
Shards of frozen wood and paper scattered like confetti. Nearby stores were coated in frost. Pedestrians stumbled backward, wrapping their cloaks tighter against the sudden cold.
In the heart of the devastation, Hai Bodong hovered—his aura reborn, fierce and wild.
"The Ice Emperor… has returned," Ya Fei murmured.
Beside her, Ye Feng nodded.
"You were helping him… with all that violence?" she asked.
"Of course."
"You can break a seal like that?"
"Any seal is built on the body's meridian map," Ye Feng explained calmly. "Elixirs can break them because they resonate with specific energies. But if you can find the precise vital point, human force can do the same—violently."
"…That's too complicated for me, Master Ye," Ya Fei admitted. "Will you teach me more someday?"
She glanced up.
But Ye Feng didn't respond.
He was deep in thought, brow slightly furrowed.
"Master Ye?" she whispered.
"…Mystery?" Ye Feng said aloud, as if to himself. "Something just now… triggered it."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. It was like I saw a great door… and just as I tried to touch it, it disappeared."
"Master Ye, you're already this strong—can you get even stronger?" she asked softly.
Ye Feng stared off in silence.
He was once a god in the Douluo Plane. But here, in Doupo, he was only at the level of Dou Zun.
And even above Doudi, there were higher realms.
He had seen enough in his travels to know this world was only one among thousands. The Doupo Plane was merely a mid-tier domain. Beyond it were the Three Thousand Worlds, and beyond even that… unknown realities teeming with power beyond imagination.
Ye Feng snapped back to the present.
He felt a chill—eyes on him.
His gaze met Hai Bodong's.
The room, though ruined, felt heavier. The Ice Emperor had reawakened. His aura was colder, prouder. A man who once commanded fear with a glance… now humbled.
Ye Feng's presence, however, still loomed higher.
"Continue?" Ye Feng asked, voice calm.
Two words.
But to Hai Bodong, it was a mountain.
He paused, smiled bitterly, and cupped his hands. "Thank you, little brother… for helping me lift Queen Medusa's curse."
Ye Feng shrugged. "Don't thank me. I only helped because of my maid."
He withdrew his hands from Ya Fei's waist.
Accidentally, his fingers brushed across—
"Ah?!"
Ya Fei's eyes widened.
Ye Feng: "…"
A beat of awkward silence.
Both had moved at the same time—he to release her, she to pull away—and fate decided to make it awkward.
He looked away. There was no point in explaining. Explanation would only make things worse.
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