Silence.
Not a breath. Not a whisper. Only the sound of the ribbon fluttering in Retsu's hand, gently catching the breeze like the tail of a falling comet.
The Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon, the pride of Frozen Cloud Asgard, now dangled between the fingers of a woman who didn't even use her full strength.
The crowd, already shocked from the sky-level cultivation clash, now sat frozen in disbelief.
"She… She disarmed her…" an elder choked out.
"That's a Sky Profound weapon…" another murmured. "Only a handful in this empire have ever wielded one—let alone snatched it from its user!"
"Both of her fellow members destroyed Sky Profound Realm weapons. What makes her any different?"
"Qingyue… was overwhelmed."
Even the fairies of Frozen Cloud Asgard said nothing. Gong Yuxian's nails dug into her chair. Chu Yueli stared forward, pale-faced.
Murong Qianxue's voice trembled. "I couldn't even see the disarm."
"She didn't just overpower it," Little Fairy whispered, eyes glowing from her heightened senses. "She read the ribbon's flow… and stole it in motion."
Mu Lanyi clenched her fists. "She's… toying with her…"
"No," Little Fairy said softly, watching with narrowed eyes. "If she was toying with her, she wouldn't have taken the ribbon."
"What is she doing then?" Jun Lianqie asked.
Feng Hanyue's brows were furrowed as she leaned toward her twin, her voice low yet filled with disbelief.
"Unohana Retsu… she's a monster," she whispered. "It took years for us to reach the Fifth Level of the Sky Profound Realm—and she reached beyond that level at nineteen. And yet… junior sister Xia reached it even faster. Seventeen years old, right?"
Before Feng Hanxue could reply, a calm, authoritative voice joined the conversation.
"She may have achieved it even earlier."
It was Gong Yuxian. The Palace Mistress of Frozen Cloud Asgard had been silently observing, but now her eyes lingered on the graceful woman in the arena—Unohana Retsu, the one who defied every common understanding of cultivation and battle prowess.
"We don't actually know when she broke through to that level," Gong Yuxian continued. "But if Nezuko could reach Grand Perfection Sky Profound Realm at just five years old… then is it really so unbelievable for Retsu to have attained it much earlier than we think?"
Feng Hanyue turned to her, her expression filled with shock.
"You mean… she could've already been at that level before she ever set foot in Blue Wind Empire?!"
Gong Yuxian sighed, her tone carrying both wariness and awe.
"Perhaps. We've only seen what she chooses to show. The truth is… she may have reached Peak Sky Profound Realm long ago. And that might just be her minimum."
Feng Hanxue's throat went dry.
"If that's her least... then how many more secrets is she hiding?"
No one answered. Even Gong Yuxian's silence echoed louder than words.
In the stands, eyes remained locked on the veiled woman who stood in the center of the arena—an angelic figure cloaked in mystery and terrifying grace.
And somewhere deep inside, the audience began to realize: they hadn't seen the full extent of Unohana Retsu's strength.
Not even close.
Within the arena, Qingyue skidded across the stone before finally halting. Her breathing was ragged. Sweat dripped down her temple, freezing halfway from the cold aura in the air.
She looked up—eyes locking onto the fluttering ribbon in Retsu's hand.
Her ribbon. Her anchor. Gone.
Her heart thundered in her ears. She'd never been so thoroughly outmaneuvered. Not like this. Not by someone who didn't even bother to use a real weapon yet.
Her hands trembled—not from fear, but from the revelation crashing down inside her.
She's reading every move I make.
She's faster than me.
She's fighting like she knows what I'll do… before I do it.
Even my lotuses… she's disrupting them before they bloom.
She used my defenses against me.
Her breath hitched.
How do I even fight someone like this?
Yet… in that moment of despair… a flicker of something else stirred.
Not fear.
Pride.
Xia Qingyue clenched her fists tighter, refusing to yield. She wasn't done yet.
This Unohana Retsu stood between her and Yun Che. She couldn't afford to lose.
She hadn't revealed all her cards.
Across from her, Retsu twirled the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon with an almost casual grace. The crowd gasped once more. That ribbon—impossibly difficult to control, forged for only the highest of Frozen Cloud disciples—was responding to Retsu like a trained beast. Flowing smoothly around her hand, its shimmer dancing with the light like silk laced in moonlight.
She can… control it? Qingyue's eyes widened.
"Ara…" Retsu smiled under her veil, watching the ethereal white cloth curl and dance. "A ribbon that guards its wielder. How curious… Something so soft, yet sharp enough to cut steel. You've broadened my eyes, Miss Qingyue."
She took a few unhurried steps forward, the ribbon still twirling with fluid precision. Qingyue instinctively raised her guard, as her opponent might use the ribbon against her—yet Retsu stopped and gently tossed the ribbon back.
The audience held their breath as Qingyue caught it in a reflexive motion.
She gave it back?
Confusion flickered in her expression. Why? Why would Retsu—who had completely dominated her—return her weapon?
Retsu tilted her head slightly, her tone light but edged with intent.
"I like the idea. Perhaps I'll ask Yuu-kun to forge something like it for me," she said. "But I didn't come here to take your ribbon."
The moment she heard Retsu's nickname for Yun Che, her heart tightened.
Retsu voice cooled. "I came to test you."
"Test?"
The statement struck harder than any physical blow. Qingyue gritted her teeth as Retsu raised her hand—delicate fingers slowly curling as ice and snow swirled around her.
"You're terrible at hand-to-hand combat," Retsu said plainly. "I had hoped to draw more from you, but perhaps I've been too impatient."
She lifted both hands. The wind around her howled briefly as shimmering ice condensed into a long weapon in her grasp.
What emerged was not just a halberd.
It was a weapon of brutal elegance—a hybrid of a long double-edged sword at the head, flanked by axe-like crescent blades curving on one side and small blade on the other. Its haft was long and sleek, forged from enchanted ice, and the base ended in a twin-pronged spearhead, as if designed to pierce the earth itself.
Yun Che's eyes narrowed. He recognized the silhouette instantly.
That's… it looks like Kuchiki Koga's sealing halberds…
An unorthodox weapon. One that screamed adaptability, ferocity, and relentless pressure.
Retsu's tone remained soft, almost amused.
"If you pride yourself on your ribbon… then let's compare," she said, stepping forward, her aura now sharpening like the edge of her blade.
Xia Qingyue's eyes widened the moment she saw the weapon.
A halberd… or something close to it.
It was an odd fusion—a sword's double edge at the tip, an axe's weight cleaving at its side, and a spearhead at the rear like a deadly tail. The weapon's proportions were unconventional, almost crude in appearance. But in Retsu's hands—elegantly forged from ice and flowing like water—it became an extension of her will.
She made that in an instant, Qingyue thought.
She gritted her teeth and composed herself. Her tiny ice lotuses were being destroyed almost as fast as she could conjure them. The sneak tactics she once used against Xiao Kuanglei would be useless now. Against someone like Retsu, feints were already outdated.
Retsu smiled beneath her veil—and then she moved.
She burst forward with terrifying speed, halberd meeting ribbon in mid-air. Both combatants launched into the sky, their forms soaring above the arena in a dazzling blur of white and silver. With flight no longer a secret, the sky itself became their battleground.
"Ufuu…" Retsu chuckled as her veil fluttered. "That's more like it. Now—come, Xia Qingyue."
Qingyue answered with a surge of speed, executing the Frozen Cloud Dance Steps—the movement art known throughout the sect for its elegance and grace. While most disciples barely scratched the surface, she had mastered it to the advanced stage. Her footwork became like flowing mist, her form gliding through the air with sharp, deceptive elegance.
She was fast. But Retsu was faster.
Every time Xia Qingyue closed in to land a clean strike, Retsu vanished.
Xia Qingyue realized. She didn't vanish… she moved faster than I could perceive.
On the viewing stands, Cang Yue and Little Fairy watched in silence, their expressions grim.
"She's using it…" Little Fairy murmured. "That technique Yun Che calls… Shunpo."
Cang Yue in her own seating zone widened her eyes. "Flash Step. It's part of Yun Che, Retsu and Nemu's basic movement style. A movement style faster than even Frozen Cloud Dance Steps. Even faster than Soru."
They remembered the scene all too well—Retsu dancing through a sea of Hollows, executing thousands of flawless Flash Steps, her body flickering through the battlefield like a ghost, untouchable and unstoppable.
But now… she was holding back.
"She's only using them one at a time," Cang Yue whispered. "She's pretending Qingyue has the upper hand."
Yun Che narrowed his eyes. He knew that look on Retsu's face.
"Remember that she's testing her and hold back quite a lot," he said softly. "If this were a real fight… she would've ended it the moment Ling Wugou said 'begin.' Retsu doesn't believe in ongoing long fights."
"Unlike certain someone who drags fights for fun." He mused quietly referring to Yachiru.
Above them, the halberd and ribbon danced like twin comets—ice and snow exploding with every strike, their furious clash stirring a blizzard that threatened to consume the very air around the arena.
Retsu's movements were flawless. Every twist of her halberd flowed between offense and defense like an elegant stream—fluid, precise, unstoppable. The weight and length of the weapon didn't slow her in the slightest; it was as if she had used it for centuries.
Despite only learning how to use the halberd days before.
This is getting tedious, Retsu thought, the veil around her kasa hat fluttering in the winds of battle. Holding back this much is quite a pain…
Xia Qingyue pressed forward, her ribbon weaving and snapping through the air with ethereal precision. She ducked beneath a horizontal sweep and spun low, sending her ribbon slicing upward like a crescent moon. Retsu evaded at the last second, her calm demeanor unshaken, her movements casual—as if she saw it coming well before it happened.
She's reading me, Qingyue realized grimly. She's not just fast—she's ahead of me every step.
Still, she couldn't back down. Not yet. She needed more time. Just a little more—more time to charge her trump cards, more strength to shift from defense to offense. Her energy surged around her, layers of frost curling from her body as she fought to regain control.
Clashes burst across the sky like miniature lightning storms, the sounds of their collisions echoing like thunder. Retsu suddenly twisted her halberd and looped it around Qingyue's ribbon, locking it momentarily. With a fluid motion, she spun the weapon midair, twisting the shaft and aiming the spearhead toward Qingyue's face in a blur of silver.
Qingyue's eyes widened—Too fast!—and barely jerked back in time. The spearhead passed within a hair's breadth of her nose, the cold tip slicing the wind in its wake.
She immediately uncoiled her ribbon, retracting it in a clean snap as both women landed and prepared for another clash.
"Ufuu…" Retsu's soft laugh echoed through the cold air as she adjusted her grip on the halberd. "As expected from Yuu-kun's wife. You did not disappoint in terms of weapons."
Her gaze sharpened beneath the veil.
"However…"
She vanished again—another Flash Step—and reappeared above Xia Qingyue.
"I fought against Shui Wushuang of your Asgard," Retsu mused, spinning her halberd lazily as if the battle were a casual stroll. "She only grasped the basics of the Frozen Cloud Arts. But you… How will you fare against me, Xia Qingyue?"
As she spoke, a massive ball of ice began forming at the tip of her halberd. It grew rapidly, the size of a room, its surface jagged with dozens of sharp, crystalline spikes—like a frozen flail from a titan.
Without a hint of hesitation, Retsu hurled the spiked ice sphere. It spun violently as it roared through the air like a meteor.
Xia Qingyue's eyes flared with focus. She raised both arms and conjured the second realm of the Frozen Cloud Arts—Ice Snowball. The equally sized sphere of snow of compressed frost launched forward, meeting Retsu's massive construct head-on.
The collision exploded in midair, sending a shockwave that rippled through the skies. The barrier surrounding the arena groaned under the pressure. Without it, the audience would have been leveled by the sheer force.
From the ice-laced smoke, Retsu emerged—unshaken as she smirks. She stabbed the halberd's bottom spear tip into the air itself.
Ripple.
A visible distortion spread through the air like concentric circles across a pond.
Then—boom!—beams of water shot out from the ripples like piercing lasers. They rained down on Xia Qingyue in rapid succession, each beam detonating on contact with the arena floor.
She weaved through them, her Frozen Cloud Dance Steps letting her skim past death by mere inches. The audience watched, breath held, as she danced through destruction.
With a flick of her fingers, Xia Qingyue retaliated—Frozen Cloud Art, First Realm: Ice Spikes!
Retsu didn't even blink. She spun her halberd in a wide arc, using the weapon like a rotating shield. The spikes shattered harmlessly against the swirling steel and ice.
But Qingyue wasn't done.
Appearing behind Retsu in a blur of movement, she extended her hand—her aura surging.
"Ice Spike Storm!"
A fierce barrage of jagged ice burst from her in all directions, swirling like a blizzard of razors.
In the stands, Gong Yuxian gasped, eyes wide in recognition. That technique— It mimicked the Ice Storm Trial in the Icy Mirage Challenge Realm, a grueling test of control and endurance. She created a custom Frozen Cloud Art…? All those hours she stayed behind after training—was this what she was building toward?
The storm slammed into Retsu.
But she merely smiled.
Around her, the ice and snow thickened—then instantly compacted into a massive crystal barrier, faceted like a gem, glittering like starlight.
Each spike struck the barrier with a shriek of ice on ice, but not a single one penetrated. Qingyue narrowed her eyes and continued the assault, her storm intensifying, burying the crystal under an avalanche of frozen force.
Within moments, a massive boulder of ice was suspended in midair—Retsu entombed within its glittering prison.
Whispers rippled through the crowd like a rising tide.
"Did… did she trap her?"
"Unohana Retsu—did she actually lose?!"
"No, remember her match with Shui Wushuang?"
Even the elders leaned forward, squinting into the shimmering mass of suspended ice. The massive frozen boulder floated in eerie stillness, a monument to Xia Qingyue's surprising counterattack.
On the battlefield, Qingyue remained cautious—her breath shallow, her heart steady. That was too easy, she thought, her instincts clawing at her mind. Someone like her… wouldn't fall to a trap like that.
A sudden crack echoed like a whip crack across the air.
Then another.
And another.
The massive ice boulder split with jagged lines, glowing faintly with internal pressure. Qingyue's eyes widened.
No… she's—
BOOM!
The entire structure exploded in a blast of force and frost. Xia Qingyue formed an Ice Shield around her. Shards of ice scattered in all directions, stopped only by the arena barrier. A swirling vortex of snow and mist erupted from the center, forming a storm around the figure now floating within.
There she was.
Unohana Retsu.
Untouched. Unbothered. And smiling beneath her veiled kasa hat.
The storm of snow didn't disperse—it circled her like an obedient beast, dancing at her command. As she raised one hand, the snowstorm gathered into a condensed spiral before fusing back into the familiar, jagged form of her halberd—crackling with refined power.
"Ufufu…" she chuckled, her voice like silk in the cold wind. "You do realize… sealing me in a block of ice won't work, don't you?"
She rested the halberd on her shoulder, its icy edge gleaming. The air around her shimmered—not just from cold, but from the overwhelming pressure she now exuded.
The crowd fell into stunned silence. Awe. Fear. Excitement.
And Xia Qingyue, despite herself, took a half step back.
That wasn't even her full strength…
Xia Qingyue narrowed her eyes as dozens of lotus constructs burst into the air, shifting and condensing into gleaming ice blades that swirled around her in a storm of razor edges. With a flick of her fingers, the blades streaked toward Retsu like a snowstorm gone rogue.
And yet… the woman didn't even flinch.
Instead, frost bloomed across her skin, layering itself into a crystalline armor that gleamed under the sun like tempered diamond. The ice absorbed the impact of every lotus blade, cracking under the force—but regenerating instantly. Her defenses weren't just firm—they were absolute.
Qingyue's expression tightened.
Ice Body Jade Bones… won't matter. She can touch the intangible.
The Realm of Heavenly Snow Invocation only enhances her control ice—but even that's not enough to even phase her.
Ice Lotus Realm is useless if she can control the battlefield better than I can.
Unohana Retsu was no longer just a powerful opponent. She was an impenetrable fortress.
A walking paradox of elegance and devastation.
Long-range tactics? Ineffective. Surprise attacks? Neutralized. Every strategy fell apart beneath the cold logic of her impenetrable ice armor.
Then—Retsu raised her hand, her voice calm and eerily serene.
"Have you ever heard of a kaleidoscope?" she asked softly.
Xia Qingyue said nothing, her instincts flaring. She stayed still, cautious.
Retsu's smile deepened. "My beloved sister taught me that one. A pattern made of countless mirrors, each reflecting the other… endlessly. Beautiful chaos. Perfect symmetry."
She slowly lifted one of her hands while the other holding her halberd.
"Icy Kaleidoscope."
Above them, the sky seemed to shimmer. Hundreds—hundreds—of crystal shards began forming in midair. Each one a perfect prism, floating with ethereal grace. They glimmered in blues, silvers, and translucent whites—some round, others jagged, each spinning slowly like a constellation of frozen mirrors.
The audience gasped.
The very light seemed to warp through them. Reflections danced across the sky. It wasn't just a technique—it was art.
Xia Qingyue felt a chill crawl across her skin. This wasn't just raw power anymore. This was elegance turned weapon. Poetry made lethal.
What kind of monster… crafts something so beautiful… and turns it into destruction?
Retsu took one step forward, her halberd at her side, eyes locked on Qingyue.
"Now then…" Retsu raised a single, delicate finger, her voice silk-smooth yet laced with quiet menace. "Can you avoid this?"
She fired a single water laser—thin, focused, and blisteringly fast—toward one of the floating crystal mirrors. The beam ricocheted off the shard with a flash, bounced to another, then another, zig-zagging across the sky in a dazzling display before slamming toward Xia Qingyue.
Bzzztt!
Qingyue hastily summoned her Frozen Cloud Barrier, the beam deflecting off with a crackling hiss—but instead of fading, it redirected to another mirror.
Another bounce. Another angle.
Then it came back for her.
Each impact weakened the shield, chipping away at its edges like a sculptor carving her downfall.
From the ground, gasps echoed through the arena.
"Ara…" Retsu smiled. "So you blocked one attack. How will you fare against… ten?"
She raised her hand again—and fired.
Ten water lasers burst out like arrows of light, refracting wildly through the floating ice mirrors. The sky lit up in a deadly symphony of bouncing beams, weaving a net of destruction that surrounded Xia Qingyue like a storm of cutting rainbows.
Pzzt! Pzzt! Crack!
Each impact rattled the barrier violently. Qingyue gritted her teeth, pouring more energy into the shield. Her steps shifted rapidly, using her movement technique not to dodge the beams—but to reposition within the maze, trying to angle herself away from the worst of the onslaught.
But the lasers followed.
From the viewing platform, the fairies of Frozen Cloud Asgard watched in growing horror.
"This can't be…" Murong Qianxue whispered. "Even the Frozen Cloud Arts… she's turning them against us."
"It's not just her strength," Jun Lianqie murmured. "She controls everything. The air, the snow, even the laws beneath them."
Frozen Cloud Arts against a waterbender like Retsu is like a block of ice cube against an entire ocean.
Chu Yueli's voice was grave. "Even if they're at the same level of strength… even if Qingyue uses her full power…"
"She still won't win," Gong Yuxian finished, her tone sharp with disbelief and rising dread. "Who in the heavens is this Unohana Retsu?"
Xia Qingyue gritted her teeth, her body trembling under the relentless onslaught of refracting water lasers. Her Frozen Cloud Barrier cracked with every hit, her strength rapidly depleting just to hold it up. She couldn't move, couldn't retaliate—any more pressure and she'd be forced to use those techniques… forbidden ones she had sworn never to call upon again.
And Retsu—calm, unhurried, perfectly composed—watched her with the cool fascination of a predator watching its prey buckle.
From the viewing platform, Chu Yueli clenched her hands tightly. Then, with a sharp exhale, she activated a Spirit Sound Transmission directly into Qingyue's mind.
"Qingyue… There's no other choice. You must activate the Domain. That's the only way you can survive this."
Eyes wide, breath labored, Xia Qingyue gave a subtle nod.
Her feet grounded, her ribbon still wrapped loosely in her grip, she began to gather her power. Her aura pulsed outward—delicate but rising like a tidal wave in still water.
Then she whispered—low, slow, almost like a prayer:
"Frozen… Cloud… Domain…"
In that moment, everything changed.
The world flickered.
A freezing wind howled out from her body, and in an instant, a three-hundred-meter radius turned into a realm of glacial death. The ground frosted over with spiderwebbing cracks of ice. Vapor in the air instantly crystallized, forming white shards of frost that fell like soft snowflakes—but each one carried deadly, searing cold.
It was as though the very air had turned into a frozen ocean. The water lasers halted, frozen mid-flight like glass needles suspended in time. All movement stilled. All sound muffled.
A domain—a territory born from will and absolute control of one's element.
On the stands, gasps rang out like falling pebbles in a still lake.
"This is… This is…" stammered an elder.
"A Domain!?" Ling Kun rose from his seat in disbelief, his usually composed face twisted in shock.
Only true prodigies could awaken a Domain at the Sky Profound Realm. It was a realm meant for Emperors—legends, not juniors.
Ling Kun's eyes narrowed. He whispered to himself, shaken:
"Only the Heaven's Child should be able to wield something like this... She can't possibly possess the Nine Jade Exquisite Body, can she? Or is this—something else?"
Down in the arena, Retsu remained completely still, her halberd lowered. A faint smile curled under her veil.
She knew this Domain. Knew it well.
So… she's finally pushed to this level, Retsu thought, a glint of something like pride in her eyes.
"Good," she said softly.
From his elevated seat, Yun Che watched the scene unfold, a subtle smirk tugging at his lips.
Perfect.
With but a thought, the mental command he had implanted in Ling Kun shifted. The man's suspicions were redirected, overwritten. Xia Qingyue faded from his mind like a passing breeze, her sudden brilliance dismissed. His attention was now solely fixed on Nezuko, the one he believed to hold the Nine Jade Exquisite Body. A well-placed illusion. Another unseen thread in Yun Che's growing web.
Meanwhile, chaos rippled through the spectators.
"D-Domain!?" someone stammered from the crowd.
"It… It can't be! A Domain!? Isn't that the power of a Throne?!"
"But this is clearly a Domain's strength! And not a rudimentary one—this is a completely formed Domain!"
Panic, awe, and disbelief spread like wildfire. The younger disciples were the first to crack. To them, the concept of a Domain was distant, a legend wrapped in theory. But now… it was real, tangible—unfolding before their very eyes.
Even the elders, those lofty figures respected for their wisdom and cultivation, could not hide their shock. To them, a Domain was a lifelong pursuit, an unattainable summit. And now, a seventeen-year-old girl had grasped it with a calm breath and a steady heart.
Ling Wugou stood at the edge of the arena, his face frozen as if struck by lightning. His jaw hung slightly open as he gazed upon the frigid blue expanse that enveloped the battlefield. Frost coiled into the air like the breath of an ancient spirit.
"…Domain… Domain…" he muttered, dazed.
His cultivation—eighth level of the Sky Profound Realm—had long placed him among the respected elite. A figure young disciples looked up to. Yet in this moment, watching a seventeen-year-old girl conjure a fully formed Domain, he felt that very foundation begin to crumble beneath him.
Emperor Profound Realm…
A goal once distant but tangible, now felt impossible. To awaken a Domain was the mark of a true Throne. He wasn't even close. And the bitter truth stung deeper than he could admit—because he had been surpassed.
By Xia Qingyue, whose growth defied all reason.
By Nezuko, the small girl with monstrous potential.
By the unfathomable Unohana Retsu, whose power seemed to be cloaked in layers of terrifying mystery.
Finally…he was surpassed by Xue Ling.
His former junior sister. Once an adorable, timid girl he used to pat on the head and advise during her basic cultivation drills. Just two weeks ago, she was barely at the Fifth Level of the Sky Profound Realm.
And now—Fourth Level of the Emperor Profound Realm.
That leap alone should have been impossible. Incomprehensible. But here she was, standing above him… like the others. No, all of them were standing above him now.
Years of sweat and bitter cultivation, the sacrifices, the pressure, the pride—it all felt like a cruel joke.
A dull weight settled on his chest. Depression, bitter and deep, clawed at the edges of his pride. The kind of wound that didn't bleed, but scarred the soul.
And yet, he couldn't let it show.
This was the grand tournament. The eyes of the realm were upon him. So he stood tall, stiff in posture, his expression composed—even as inside, he felt like he was sinking.
"What happened to the world while I stood still…?" he wondered, his gaze fixed on the icy battlefield, where the next generation was already leaving him behind.
This power before him—it wasn't just a Domain. It was the dream of every master, the pinnacle of elemental control.
And yet, this girl—this Qingyue—had summoned it effortlessly.
The Frozen Cloud Domain she manifested radiated with a brilliance even he had never seen before. It lacked the overwhelming force of Chu Yuechan's domain at her peak, perhaps… but in completeness and clarity, it far surpassed it. Even Chu Yuechan, according to her knowledge, standing half a step into the Emperor Profound Realm, could only manifest a fragment of this Domain. But Xia Qingyue had conjured it in full.
Within the Frozen Cloud Domain, ice-cold flying snow, frost, mist, and wind… everything had been changed to become advantageous towards Xia Qingyue's element.
However, Retsu didn't even flinch.
Her eyes, now glowing with a serene yet terrifying icy blue, signaled the shift—Yin Power had taken over. A power that specialized in absolute defense, especially against anything related to cold or ice.
"Ara… it looks like you froze my water lasers mid-flight."
She glanced around casually, her tone almost playful. All around them, her Icy Kaleidoscope Crystals and water lasers hung suspended in midair, locked in place by Xia Qingyue's Frozen Cloud Domain. And yet—Retsu's calm never wavered. If anything, she looked… amused.
Xia Qingyue narrowed her eyes, wary.
Then came the shock.
Retsu merely raised a hand—and with a whisper of movement, the frozen lasers thawed. One by one, they reversed, flowing backward through the air like rewinding light, returning to her side.
Even within the domain, her water remained untouched? Unfrozen?
"Domain arts simply rewrite three hundred meters around you," Retsu said gently, her voice soft but filled with clarity. "They turn the world into one more suitable for your power."
She turned to face Qingyue fully, the faint smile never leaving her lips.
"But if that's all a domain is… then isn't it the same as this?"
Retsu raised her halberd.
With a pulse of her aura, it melted into pure spiritual water—then shot into the sky like a blazing comet. Above the arena, it burst, scattering like a thousand shards of moonlight.
And then…
It descended.
A glowing dome of spiritual frost formed from the skies, expanding—layer by layer—until it engulfed the entire arena. The temperature dropped instantly, and the very air began to crackle.
It overlapped Xia Qingyue's domain—then devoured it.
Her control over her own space began to slip, her Frozen Cloud Domain melting away like a weak morning frost before a harsh winter.
"You call yours 'Frozen Cloud Domain,'" Retsu whispered, her voice barely audible over the sudden, deafening silence.
Her eyes, glowing like aquamarine fire beneath her veil, radiated nothing but still, frozen intent.
"I call mine… Zone of Absolute Zero."
A wave of freezing pressure exploded outward.
And then… everything changed.
The air turned solid. The ground was no longer ice, but crystal—not forged from Qingyue's power, but from Retsu's law. Her snow. Her frost. Her world. The very concept of cold bent to her will.
Xia Qingyue stood at the center of her own domain—now being rewritten in real time by a greater power. Her eyes widened as the skies lost their snowflakes and were instead filled with falling shards of crystalline frost, each one humming with Yin energy far beyond anything she'd ever felt.
She didn't just override the domain.
She replaced it.
"Her too?!"
Ling Kun's voice cracked through the arena, his eyes wide with disbelief. All around him, jaws dropped, breath caught—two young women, not only displaying the power of Peak Sky Profound Realm, but both unleashing true domains.
A storm of whispers and stunned silence swept through the Sword Discourse Arena like a cold wind.
Gong Yuxian shot to her feet, her usually composed expression shaken to its core. Even the Seven Fairies, pillars of grace and pride for Frozen Cloud Asgard, stood up simultaneously, their faces painted with shock.
Among them, Little Fairy—Chu Yuechan—gasped.
"Sister Retsu… in just two months…"
She hadn't seen her since her abrupt disappearance. But this? This was beyond comprehension. In such a short time, Unohana Retsu had surpassed what most Frozen Cloud Asgard members could not achieve in a lifetime.
And it wasn't just another domain.
Retsu's domain was overwhelming. Divine. Absolute.
The entire arena had been rewritten—no longer blanketed in the snowy mist of Qingyue's Frozen Cloud Domain. Instead, it had become a cathedral of glimmering crystal ice, so clear it refracted the light like diamonds. Some in the audience thought it was an illusion… but the chilling pressure said otherwise. This was not illusion—it was a realm forged by a force bordering the Emperor Profound Realm.
A power that canceled Qingyue's domain completely and replaced it.
"She dispelled Qingyue's domain… with her own!"
Gong Yuxian's voice trembled, her hands clenched tightly.
"Qingyue's domain was complete… but that Unohana Retsu—she's perfected hers!"
And then… it got worse.
The arena darkened slightly as the Icy Kaleidoscope Crystals—the same ones Retsu had summoned earlier—began to rise again. Floating like calm stars in the now sealed crystalline dome.
But now… they began to change.
The crystals shimmered, pulsing with spiritual energy before morphing—elongating, reshaping, reconfiguring.
From light and crystal… they became weapons.
One after another, hundreds of them transformed into elegant, shimmering ice katanas—each blade carved from crystalized Yin energy, perfectly symmetrical, floating in mid-air with precision and grace.
A breathtaking sight.
Hundreds of icy crystal swords now circled the dome in an organized spiral, their tips all pointed inward like a celestial sword array, waiting for the signal to strike.
The crowd fell deathly silent. Not even the wind dared to move.
"She created a domain… and hundreds of swords."
This was no longer a duel. This was a display of total elemental dominance.
And Unohana Retsu—calm, elegant, merciless—stood in the center of it all, her glowing eyes scanning her opponent, veiled lips curling into the faintest of smiles.
It was now Cang Yue's turn to be shaken. Her lips parted slightly in disbelief as her eyes scanned the sky—hundreds of elemental swords hovered above the crystalline dome in perfect formation, spinning silently like sentinels waiting for a command. This wasn't just showmanship. It was authority.
Xia Qingyue could only widen her eyes, her breath catching in her throat. These weren't random shards of ice… they were meticulously crafted weapons, hovering with intent. Every single sword radiated domain energy, like they were alive within Retsu's will.
In the audience, Shui Wushuang lowered her gaze.
"She did the same to me," she thought bitterly. "A dome of water… but filled with sharks. Back then, I thought it was a domain. But now—now I understand. That was just water. This… this is the real thing."
Jin Mulan, who had remained composed until now, narrowed her eyes.
"This power… Could it be… Domain Expansion?" she murmured to herself.
Yun Che, seated a few feet away, caught the term.
"Domain Expansion?" he blinked. "What's that?"
Jin Mulan turned toward him, slightly amused.
"Don't tell me… you've never heard of it?"
He sweatdropped and shrugged.
"I told you… I came from a 'remote area.' Some things are still new to me."
She giggled, but her expression quickly turned serious.
"It's not just any domain art. It's one of the most advanced techniques tied to the Sovereign Profound Realm—incredibly rare. Only the most powerful monarchs can attempt it. The average domain controls a few dozen or hundred meters, but Domain Expansion can reach from one to a hundred kilometers, depending on the user's level."
Yun Che whistled low.
"So that's why everyone's so freaked out?"
Jin Mulan nodded.
"Exactly. It was considered lost, even discarded, because of its extreme difficulty. Most Sovereigns can't achieve it—even among one hundred monarchs, perhaps only one would succeed. But what makes Retsu—and you—terrifying…" she paused, her voice dropping,
"…is that you both can conjure elemental weapons outside of domains. Normally, they only exist inside the domain and vanish when it's over."
Yun Che scratched the back of his head, feeling everyone's shocked stares.
"So that's why they looked at me like I grew three heads when I used the Divine Rapiers…"
Jin Mulan chuckled softly.
"Makes sense now, doesn't it? Despite it's a lost domain art."
"Lost?" Yun Che raised an eyebrow, a flicker of interest dancing in his eyes.
Jin Mulan nodded solemnly.
"No one knows why. It was simply too difficult to cultivate. There's no complete manual, no definitive method. Most who tried just… gave up. Powerful as it might be, many dismissed it as myth. A fantasy."
Yun Che leaned forward slightly, his voice curious but skeptical.
"Define powerful."
Jin Mulan's gaze turned serious.
"It doesn't just change the element within the domain—it physically alters the area. The land, the air, even the spiritual flow within it. Take Xia Qingyue for example—she can turn the terrain beneath her into pure ice, not temporarily, but permanently. Within the domain, everything obeys her. It's more than a storm or an elemental field. It's… total domination."
Yun Che's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"So, it's not just elemental control. It's… reformation."
Then, his eyes widened. He immediately thought. Could it be Huan Xuyi mastered Domain Expansion and used the Apple to shaped the Sanctuary around her family home? Domain Expansion really can create an independent dimension? Then, the Starry Heavens Island from before? The Heavenly Sanctuary? Are those remnants of experts of the Domain Expansion?
The cultivators of the old world are something else to alter a dimension of a limited place.
She nodded again.
"Some scholars called it Domain Awakening. But the legends—those called it what you saw today… Domain Expansion. More or less… I am not sure that this counts as Domain Expansion."
Yun Che crossed his arms and tilted his head, his lips twitching with a hint of amusement.
"Sounds amazing. But you said it was lost, right?"
Jin Mulan hesitated, then spoke slowly.
"My family actually preserved an old manual—ancient, tattered, barely legible. A supposed guide on cultivating Domain Expansion. But it was incomplete… more poetic than practical. My brother read it once—with Mu Che. He laughed, said it was a fool's dream."
Yun Che chuckled.
"Now I have a new reason to visit the Jin Province."
That caught her off guard.
"You're serious?"
He flashed his usual roguish smirk.
"I've made the impossible possible before. Maybe this is another impossible just waiting for a stubborn fool to solve."
Jin Mulan looked at him, really looked at him this time—not as a backwater genius, not as some unexpected player in the tournament—but as someone who might truly walk the path none dared to tread.
She nodded slowly.
"Maybe it's not just legend after all."
Back in the arena, the pressure continued to mount. The crystalline swords circling Retsu glowed with increasing intensity. Each was attuned perfectly to the frigid energy of her domain—the Zone of Absolute Zero.
From the stands, even the most seasoned elders held their breath. This wasn't just a show of strength. It was a reminder.
A reminder that Unohana Retsu—this mysterious veiled woman—was not someone you could measure by cultivation alone. She was bending the limits of the realm itself.
And now, hundreds of icy swords hovered, ready to strike.
The crowd stood in stunned silence. Even Xue Ling, Lin Yueru, Xia Yuanba, and Mai couldn't mask their astonishment. The Sect Masters leaned forward in disbelief. The Seven Fairies of Frozen Cloud Asgard were all on their feet—shock written clearly across their faces. What hovered before them wasn't just a domain—it was perfection incarnate. A completed domain, gleaming with hundreds of crystalline swords suspended in the air like frozen stars, casting reflections that danced like spirits of the ice.
Xia Qingyue's breath hitched. Her Frozen Cloud Domain—completely nullified, overwritten, and now turned against her. She stood amidst the icy cathedral of Retsu's making, her own creation devoured by something more refined… more absolute.
Retsu stepped forward calmly, her veil fluttering in the frost-laden air. She reached out, and one of the crystalline swords floating above zipped toward her like a loyal beast. Her fingers wrapped around the hilt with serene grace.
"Don't worry," Retsu murmured beneath her veil, voice smooth like silk over steel. "I won't rain down all these blades on you. That would be brutal... and boring."
Her eyes gleamed with faint amusement, and power.
"I, too, have my own domain," she said gently. "But mine doesn't deal in ordinary ice… it's built upon Crystal Ice—pure, unyielding, and absolute."
Xia Qingyue's grip tightened on her Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon. She stared at Retsu, no longer as a competitor… but as an insurmountable wall. A peak she didn't know she had to scale.
Retsu raised her sword and smiled faintly.
"Now… what else are you capable of?"
Then she struck.
In the blink of an eye, Retsu lunged forward, crystal sword gleaming like a shard of heaven. Xia Qingyue responded instantly, the ribbon in her hand unraveling into a fluid line of ice-bound steel. She couldn't afford to underestimate Retsu—not after witnessing what she'd done to the Wu Clan contender. A single sword strike had shattered not just a man—but the arena itself.
The clash was thunderous.
Shockwaves erupted in rings, crashing into the arena barrier and shaking the very air. Blades and ribbons danced, flaring with spiritual power and precision. Every collision sent waves of frost and shattered fragments of the arena flying into the air.
Boom—Boom—BOOM!
The crowd gasped as the two moved at speeds nearly imperceptible to the untrained eye, exchanging blow after blow. Each strike echoed with the fury of a storm and the elegance of snowfall. Retsu's sword sang through the air with haunting precision, while Qingyue's ribbon flowed like a river of frost, bending and deflecting with practiced grace.
Explosions of elemental energy burst across the dome like stars dying in the sky.
Then, in a flash, both figures met at the center of the arena—suspended in mid-action—before clashing one final time. The impact burst out like a thunderclap, shaking even the strongest of cultivators to their core.
For a heartbeat, time stopped.
Then, the two warriors slid back, distancing themselves. Dust and mist settled. Both stood tall, breath calm but eyes sharp. Xia Qingyue held her Ice Phoenix Ribbon aloft, its elegant weave glowing faintly. Unohana Retsu stood across from her, Icy Crystal Sword lowered at her side, her aura undisturbed—serene, but unchallenged.
"She's fast… too fast. In this domain of hers, no Frozen Cloud Arts are effective. Should I… Should I use those arts?"
Xia Qingyue's mind raced, trying to assess her options—but she was already too late.
Retsu vanished from sight.
She appeared in a blink—right before her—and then, just as swiftly, behind her. Xia Qingyue barely had time to react, her ribbon snapping up behind her to block the incoming slash.
Clang!
Retsu's crystal blade struck the Ice Phoenix Ribbon with an explosive impact, sending sparks and frost flying.
"What's wrong, Miss Qingyue?" Retsu's voice was amused, calm even as her sword danced with lethal grace. "Your speed… is getting sloppy."
Qingyue gritted her teeth and hardened her ribbon, willing it to withstand the next blow. She wasn't going to let what happened to Ling Yun's swords happen to her. Not to her sacred ribbon. She'd watched Yun Che destroy two Sky Profound weapons with brute force—she knew what was at stake.
But Retsu was relentless.
With a subtle flick of her wrist, she summoned another blade from the air. Two crystal swords now spun in her hands like flowing rivers of death. She descended again, both blades slamming into the ribbon in rapid succession.
Clang! Clang! CLANG!
Qingyue dashed back, evading the crushing force with a graceful leap. She retaliated instantly—her ribbon surged forward like a coiled serpent, lashing toward Retsu's side.
The air around them sizzled with spiritual energy as they clashed again.
With a cold breath, Xia Qingyue lifted her hand, and from her palm bloomed a field of glimmering ice lotuses, each one radiating with the grace and deadly elegance of her Frozen Cloud Arts. The entire arena was instantly engulfed in ethereal beauty—petals swirling in the air, refracting light like fractured diamonds.
"Dance of the Ice Lotus..." she whispered, her eyes calm, but her heart burning with resolve.
The crystalline lotuses spun toward Retsu in a storm of frost, their beauty hiding their lethality—each one capable of freezing flesh and soul alike.
But Retsu did not move.
With a single graceful step forward, her hand rose—fingers curling in the air like she was plucking threads of fate itself.
From above, the sky shimmered.
Then—a rain of icy crystal swords descended with thunderous speed.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The lotuses shattered. Every single one. Crushed under the overwhelming might of Retsu's Zone of Absolute Zero. The sky itself darkened under the hail of translucent blades, glimmering like frozen stars. The field of beauty Qingyue had conjured was annihilated—dissolved like snowflakes in the fire.
A gust of cold wind swept the arena, and silence followed.
And then—
WHOOSH!
In a flash of cold steel and shimmering ribbon, the two warriors exchanged blows mid-air. One final clash—and two sharp snaps echoed across the crystal dome.
Time slowed.
Retsu's icy crystal blade nicked Xia Qingyue's veil, slicing the fabric cleanly from her face.
At the same time, Qingyue's ribbon lashed across Retsu's kasa hat, dislodging it with a sharp twist of her wrist.
The wide-brimmed kasa hat flew into the air.
The veil drifted away like falling snow.
And then—
Silence.
========================
Yun Che's eyes widened the moment Retsu's kasa hat and Qingyue's veil flew into the air.
Oh man….
He sighs internally, his voice echoing like thunder through his spiritual sea. "System, Jam all outer communication for the Profound Image Transmission."
-------------
[Communication Jammed.]
----------------
A sharp notification pinged in his mind—instantaneous. The Profound Image Transmission immediately shows static transmission. Without wasting another breath, Yun Che shot a single orb of green light—a customized Kido spell—into the sky. Something he prepared to cover up his tracks in case they had to reveal more than intended.
I knew this would happen. Thank god I planned this early.
He had seen the signs—the rising tension, the overwhelming beauties of both women, the inevitable reveal. He couldn't let Retsu's face… nor Qingyue's… be broadcast across the entire empire. Not to enemies. Not to opportunists.
Not to men.
Their beauties, especially Retsu's, were too valuable. Too dangerous to be known as her current beauty is extremely affectious.
Let them talk. Let them guess. But the world won't see what it shouldn't.
And as for those inside the arena?
Yun Che turned his gaze sharply toward the elders, the nobles, the sect masters, and even the disciples lining the stands. His spiritual energy rippled faintly, unnoticed by all but the most sensitive. Once the Kido is ready, it will erase the entire arena's recent memories.
Retsu's beauty is only for her beloved and her close family. Not for the likes of others. After this, no one will even remember how she looks like.
Because while the world stared in stunned silence at the unmasked beauty and power of the two strongest cultivators in the arena, Yun Che was already pulling the strings behind the curtains to avoid such situations from escalating.
=========================
The entire arena held its breath. Thousands of eyes watched, transfixed, as the veils lifted and the two women—once mysterious and distant—stood revealed beneath the pale glow of the crystal dome.
Their eyes met.
For a heartbeat, the world was still.