Only after the voices gradually faded did Mu Yunjin emerge from the haystack, her small face now as pale as paper. After confirming that General Qin and Qiuye had gone far away, she took a deep breath and flew toward the cave on the opposite side.

After landing gracefully at the entrance of the cave, the sky had completely darkened. Mu Yunjin raised her eyes to look at the full moon in the sky and suddenly realized that this day had been incredibly long.

Thinking about the conversation between Qiuye and General Qin earlier, Mu Yunjin walked into the cave without any hesitation.

The entrance to the cave was long, and since the sky had already darkened, Mu Yunjin proceeded forward in complete darkness. The further she went inside, the more she felt waves of bone-chilling cold attacking her.

After walking a while longer, Mu Yunjin discovered that her cotton shoes were completely soaked, and her cotton clothes had become damp from the cold air.

What kind of place was this?

Mu Yunjin hugged her arms. After walking for a long time, she saw a faint silver-blue light coming from inside.

Upon discovering this light, Mu Yunjin felt somewhat excited and began running directly toward it. Several times she couldn’t see the path beneath her feet clearly and slipped, twisting her ankle multiple times. But thinking that Chu Li was being held captive by them, she could no longer care about anything else.

…

…

…

After running for a while, Mu Yunjin discovered that the closer she got to the silver light, the more intense the cold in the cave became. Waves of invisible cold air rushed toward her, entering various parts of her body. The cold invaded her, freezing her so much that she couldn’t help but clench her teeth as her whole body trembled.

By the time she reached the source of the silver light, she felt her head growing heavy. When she reached up to touch her head, she discovered that her hair had already formed a layer of ice, and even her eyelashes were covered with a layer of frost, partially obstructing her vision.

Mu Yunjin’s only feeling at this moment was that she was about to freeze to death in this godforsaken place!

“Chu Li, Chu Li!” Mu Yunjin called out Chu Li’s name several times.

Her echo returned through the vast cave, but no one answered her.

Mu Yunjin bit her lip and exhaled with difficulty, walking toward the place emitting the silver light. After taking a few steps, the moment she stepped into the region filled with silver light, Mu Yunjin instantly felt as though she was about to suffocate to death.

Before her eyes was a cave filled with ice.

The light from the ice, mixed with the reflection from the water droplets on the ground, naturally dispersed a silver glow, illuminating the entire ice chamber.

Waves of cold air surged forth inside the cave. Mu Yunjin felt that her fingers had become completely immobile from the cold, and her heart began to beat frantically and rapidly, almost jumping out of her throat.

Mu Yunjin wanted to step forward to find Chu Li, but when she tried to lift her leg, she discovered that in this short amount of time, her knee joints had already frozen stiff. She bent down and tried to pound her legs several times, but there was no sensation even after applying considerable force.

Gradually, her breathing became labored.

“Chu Li!” Mu Yunjin called out to Chu Li again, her brows furrowing even tighter. She could barely withstand being in this place for such a short while; who knew how long Chu Li had been here.

With this thought, her heart began to race anxiously again.

Trying to move forward a few steps, Mu Yunjin reached the center of the cave and looked around for any sign of Chu Li.

“Hahaha, I knew you were infatuated, but I didn’t know to this extent. It was just a simple test, but who would have thought you’d take the bait so obediently!”

A triumphant and arrogant voice sounded at the entrance of the ice cave.

Hearing this voice, Mu Yunjin turned sharply to look and caught sight of Qiuye and General Qin standing at the entrance of the ice cave. Only then did she realize she had fallen into their trap.

Instinctively, she tried to summon her true energy to protect herself, but discovered she couldn’t call forth even a bit of it.

Qiuye narrowed his eyes, a cold smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth. “Don’t waste your energy. This Ten Thousand Year Ice Cave was specially prepared for you.”

After speaking, he swept his sleeve and struck out with his palm directly at Mu Yunjin’s chest.

Mu Yunjin had no way to dodge. Her body was thrown against the ice-covered wall. Her back was already injured, and now with the combination of the wound and the ice, Mu Yunjin felt as if a thousand knives were pressing into her back, the pain nearly causing her to faint.

Seeing Mu Yunjin leaning against the wall, Qiuye released several streams of true energy from his palm, striking at her wrists and ankles…

Mu Yunjin, who was almost losing consciousness from the pain, suddenly felt a strange sensation in her body, followed by the realization that her wrists and ankles seemed to have been fixed in place. She could no longer move at all.

She tried to clench her teeth and summon her true energy again, but still couldn’t muster any.

Qiuye placed his hands behind his back and slowly walked up to Mu Yunjin, staring at her deathly pale face. “I told you, don’t waste your energy.”

“In this ice cave, no one can rescue you!”

“The cultivation technique you practice belongs to the fire element. Here, the air is filled with ice-cold energy. This cold will suppress your internal fire energy completely.”

“And that red phoenix on your back—it cannot sense the call of your internal fire energy, so it will not break out to save you!”

“Phoenix Woman, Mu Yunjin, just wait here obediently for death!”

“Hahaha, I’ve always said, in this vast world, no one is a match for me, Qiuye!”

After saying these words, Qiuye and General Qin left the ice cave.

Mu Yunjin struggled to maintain some consciousness. Her mind was somewhat shaken, and her brows tightly furrowed as she processed what Qiuye had just said.

Phoenix Woman…

Red phoenix…

What did that mean?

He said she was a Phoenix Woman?

No, that couldn’t be possible, it couldn’t be possible…

Mu Yunjin leaned against the icy wall. The cold air surrounding her had already formed frost on her face and neck, and her wet shoes on the ground were slowly beginning to freeze over.

Mu Yunjin lowered her gaze, her eyelashes trembling slightly as she listened to the sound of the cold wind and dripping water, her heart turning deathly still.

Was she going to die here?

…

“Where’s Yunjin? Have you found Yunjin?”

“We’ve searched everywhere, but there’s not a trace of the Princess. What should we do now?”

“That silly girl, why did she wander off? It’s strange, I can’t sense her aura at all…”

“Don’t scare me! The mistress will be alright. She is the Phoenix Woman, the red phoenix will protect her!”

Daoist Feng Xuan, Jiang Qingxue, and others had spent the entire night searching for Mu Yunjin’s whereabouts, but by noon the next day, they still couldn’t find any trace of her.

“No, I have to keep looking!” Jiang Qingxue said with red-rimmed eyes. After a whole night without any news, she didn’t want to think the worst.

Daoist Feng Xuan darkened his eyes, clenched his fists tightly, and walked out without a word.

Huang Yan stood leaning against the doorframe—if something truly happened to the Princess, how would the young master handle it?

“How are you all doing? Have you sensed the mistress’s aura?” Qiqi stretched out her wrist.

She had used her tracking technique all night but couldn’t find any trace of her mistress. Now even the Phoenix Manor spirit token on her wrist had stopped glowing.

Before her, Hua Ying, Lei Yan, and Xiu Mei shook their heads, their eyes revealing their concern.

Bei Tang Wenfeng had rushed out of the palace as soon as he heard that Mu Yunjin was missing. Now, seeing a group of people sitting silently without moving, a sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

“Qing’er, Yunjin, she…” Bei Tang Wenfeng opened his mouth, but suddenly found himself afraid to ask further.

His question was met with Jiang Qingxue’s silence.

…

For three consecutive days, there was no news of Mu Yunjin.

Qiuye and his group also seemed to have vanished from the human world, disappearing without a trace.

…

Inside the Western Yuan Kingdom, an event occurred on this day that shook the entire nation.

The thousand-year-old tree at Shuiyun Temple had grown in the temple for a millennium, flourishing with dense branches and luxuriant leaves throughout the four seasons, without showing any signs of withering.

But just yesterday, this thousand-year-old tree’s branches and leaves withered and fell overnight, and even the sturdy branches on the ancient tree broke and fell to the ground one by one.

A thousand-year-old tree that carried the wishes of all the city’s people—just like that, in one night, its branches had dried up and its leaves had rotted.

Many commoners who heard about this rushed to Shuiyun Temple early in the morning to burn incense and pray, and to see the current state of the ancient tree, but they were all stopped outside by Master Huaiyuan.

In the courtyard with the ancient tree, Master Huaiyuan gazed at the withered leaves and broken branches covering the ground and murmured, “Amitabha, everything is Heaven’s will.”

“Abbot, Prince Ning has arrived,” a young monk ran over to report to Master Huaiyuan.

Master Huaiyuan nodded. “Quickly, let Prince Ning enter.”

…

Chu Li had been restless for the past few days. At night when he tried to sleep, he would always dream of Mu Yunjin calling his name. She called with urgency, but every time he tried to respond to her, he would wake up startled from the dream.

Today, upon hearing the news of the ancient trees’ withering at Shuiyun Temple, he came to the temple without any hesitation.

He remembered that she seemed to like this tree very much.

Before coming, he had originally thought that the ancient tree had only lost its leaves, but upon seeing the scene before his eyes, he was somewhat shocked. Sweeping his gaze across the withered leaves and broken branches strewn across the ground, Chu Li turned to look at Master Huaiyuan.

“This poor monk also finds it strange and cannot find the reason. Perhaps the tree has truly reached the end of its natural life,” Master Huaiyuan sighed.

Chu Li withdrew his gaze and silently looked at the ancient tree for a moment. Upon noticing something in a certain spot, his body suddenly stiffened, and he slowly walked over.

Master Huaiyuan was startled and followed him.

Chu Li walked to the ancient tree, reached out to push aside the fallen branches and leaves at the base of the tree, then looked coldly at the tree’s roots before slowly crouching down and reaching out to touch them.

After a moment, Chu Li withdrew his hand, pursed his lips, his eyes filling with deep meaning. “Although winter has come, it hasn’t snowed yet. Why is there ice here?”

“Ice?” Master Huaiyuan walked closer, crouched down, and reached out to touch the base of the ancient tree. Indeed, as soon as his hand made contact, he felt a wave of cold air and several fragments of ice.

“This is so strange. This is a thousand-year-old tree—could it be hinting at something?” Master Huaiyuan looked sideways at Chu Li.

Upon hearing this, Chu Li’s mind suddenly filled with the image of Mu Yunjin calling his name in his dreams. His fingers trembled slightly, and his heart sank into an inexplicable panic.

Just at this moment, Song Chun ran in hurriedly, his face tense. “Your Highness, something has happened!”