Chapter 166: The Achilles’ Heel

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As Minamoto Kiyomoto drew closer, he discovered that it was no different from a real iceberg—huge and majestic, making one feel insignificant.

Landing at the entrance of the chiseled cave, a chill immediately came from under his feet.

On the deck, the lifelike boatmen were frozen in the ice, still drinking heartily.

The guards, wearing armor, were either leaning lazily against the railing, scolding the boatmen, or chatting with other guards. The atmosphere was relaxed.

The colorful divine power that swelled around everyone reflected on the ice cave, making it a riot of colors. Coupled with the omnipresent cold air, it was like a demon’s cave.

“It’s a bit like the ice lantern festival in Hokkaido,” Minamoto Kiyomoto was cautiously scouting the surroundings when he suddenly heard the Hokkaido Miko say this.

He couldn’t help but glance at her.

“Are you interested?” the Hokkaido Miko asked. “I’ll invite you during this year’s ice lantern festival.”

“Thank you,” Minamoto Kiyomoto withdrew his gaze.

The further they went in, the stronger the cold air became.

When they were close to the jade tower, it was as if ten thousand blades were piercing their entire bodies. They couldn’t breathe, and their minds went blank. The pain was unbearable.

“Lord Tsukushi-no-Kimi,” a Kasen said, “should we split up here?”

“Split up?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at the person who had spoken.

Haguro Kasen, from Akita Prefecture in Kanto, lived in the Dewa Sanzan. In order not to disturb this Kasen, the government had designated that area as a nature reserve.

Haguro Kasen glanced at the jade tower that soared into the clouds and smiled. Minamoto Kiyomoto understood his meaning.

The dug-out cave led to the top of the jade tower. The jade tower soared into the clouds, and there were many floors below. Haguro Kasen didn’t want to give up the treasures on the lower floors.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at the expressions of the others. Many of them were looking at the jade tower before them with the eyes of looking at a treasure vault.

“Let’s investigate everything first,” he still rejected the other party’s request.

“…Yes.”

The tunnel leading to the top of the jade tower was dug into steps by the practitioners. The group ascended the steps. In the ice around them, there were petals like rain, as if they were ascending to a heavenly palace.

The higher they went, the stronger the bone-chilling cold became.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked back. The practitioners at the rear were shrinking their bodies, even stamping their feet and clenching their numb toes, greedily absorbing the warmth.

“Let those who can’t take it retreat,” he ordered Amatsumara.

Amatsumara agreed and used the parrot to notify the people behind.

Minamoto Kiyomoto turned and continued upwards. The carved beams and painted rafters of the jade tower, the singing and dancing pavilions, the winding corridors, and the interlocking eaves were all exquisitely crafted. Frozen in the iceberg, it was like a mirage.

When they reached the terrace where the geishas and dancers were performing, the cold was so heavy that only the Kasen could withstand it.

If Hanyu Chika hadn’t been protected by Minamoto Kiyomoto, she would have been like an ordinary person who had fallen into an ice cave, her face ashen with cold.

“Be careful,” Kamibayashi Miko said in a low voice. “The culprit may still be on the ship.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded.

After ascending the terrace, they discovered that this stage was separate from the jade tower. It was a floating platform.

In the ice around them, petals were scattered everywhere.

The geishas and dancers who were dancing and playing instruments were all graceful and beautiful, and they all had cultivation.

Looking at everything that was frozen before them, the crowd vaguely saw petals flying in the sky, fluttering and falling, sticking to the dancers’ hair and the corners of their clothes, and covering the floating platform.

A faint and ethereal singing could be vaguely heard in their ears.

“They all say that the Song Dynasty was prosperous. I never thought that a sea-patrolling ship would be so luxurious,” the Kyushu Shinto Lord couldn’t help but exclaim.

“The sound of pipes and strings is continuous, and laughter is mixed with laughter. The spring wind of Lin’an is intoxicating again,” Minamoto Kiyomoto sighed.

The white clouds around them were leisurely. These free clouds had also been frozen in the iceberg for who knows how many years.

Further up was the top of the jade tower.

The cave ended here.

The ice in front of them was very hard. Even a thirty-time practitioner, holding a divine artifact made from the remains of a town-level yokai, would have to spend one or two hours to chisel out a small piece.

Just as Minamoto Kiyomoto was about to make a move, the Hokkaido Miko took out an ice crystal from the belt of her shrine maiden’s uniform.

The ice crystal, supported by the snow-colored divine power, melted into the ice layer like a needle being put into water.

The visible cold air was absorbed by the ice crystal. Without even any snow water, a path that could be passed through appeared before them.

“What is this?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked curiously.

“I don’t know. I picked it up when I woke up from sleeping in the snow. I can take you there.”

“Thank you. Let’s go together during the ice lantern festival.”

The newly appeared path was no longer steps. The group slowly ascended with the wind.

Crimson and emerald green, curtains intertwined, the hall was full of distinguished guests, and their clothes were gathered.

Long tables were placed wantonly, and thousands of large and small dishes filled all the tables.

Looking around, there were cold dishes, hot dishes, desserts, noodles, porridge, and rice.

There were also the so-called major cuisines of today, such as Huaiyang, Jiangsu-Zhejiang, Bashu, Shandong, and Liaodong.

A dazzling array of dishes. Even through the ice, they felt that the aroma was assailing their nostrils.

The crowd was not interested in these foods. Fear, like a basin of ice water, was poured on everyone’s heads, making them tremble all over and unable to speak.

There were only thirty people in the great hall. Some were gentle and elegant, some were bold and rough, some were wearing kasayas, some were wearing Taoist robes with large sleeves, and some were wearing neon clothes and silk skirts. They were all Kasen.

A ship, thirty Kasen, all frozen to death in an instant.

Especially the three people sitting at the head of the table. A majestic middle-aged man in official uniform, an otherworldly old Taoist, and a fat monk like Maitreya Buddha. Their aura was even stronger than that of a Kasen.

There were no signs of fighting in the great hall. The wine cups scattered on the ground were also swept away by the crowd in their unrestrained revelry.

“What on earth happened that made these experts not even react,” Minamoto Nagatoku’s tone was full of terror.

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s expression was also solemn.

How long had it been since they went out to sea? They had already encountered a strange wall of heaven, a storm yokai, a sea yokai, and now they saw such a terrifying scene.

Even Kamibayashi Miko and Himegami Izayoi felt a little uneasy.

If such a thing happened on the demon-hunting ship, the ending would be exactly the same. They would also be frozen and float on the sea for thousands of years until they were discovered.

“What are they looking at?” the Ichijo clan leader suddenly said in surprise.

Everyone also discovered that everyone in the hall, except for a Kasen in green clothes who was eating from a plate near the hall door, was all looking in one direction.

It was the old Taoist at the head of the table.

Through the ice, they could vaguely see that he was holding something in his hand.

Minamoto Kiyomoto, Kamibayashi Miko, and Himegami Izayoi exchanged a glance. They all felt that this disaster might be related to that thing.

“Rikka, I’ll have to trouble you again,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said to the Hokkaido Miko.

“For you, I’m willing to do anything,” the Hokkaido Miko said this as if she were reciting lines, without any sincerity.

The Kasen and shrine maidens behind them looked at them strangely.

Minamoto Kiyomoto sighed. Kamibayashi Miko glanced at him with a faint smile, a little doting, while Himegami Izayoi was gloating and laughing happily.

The Hokkaido Miko’s ice crystal divine artifact was also progressing slowly at this time.

The cold air that gushed out from the ice was no longer a natural force, but a cold divine energy.

From time to inaudible, there were clamors, exclamations, quarrels, and wails. The practitioners who couldn’t come up couldn’t control themselves and ran to various parts of the cabin to search for treasures.

The parrot on Amatsumara’s shoulder did not speak, which proved that there was no danger for the time being.

Minamoto Kiyomoto and the others moved step by step, like snails. When they reached the old Taoist, the sun outside the hall, which had penetrated the ice, had already been dyed with a reddish color.

Compared to the boatmen at the beginning, the old Taoist and the others were even more lifelike. The crowd had the illusion that the other party was looking at them through the ice, which was creepy.

The old Taoist was holding a box in his hand, which was open.

The Hokkaido Miko put away her ice crystal divine artifact, and Minamoto Kiyomoto was the first to look into the box.

The road was narrow, and Minamoto Kiyomoto was surrounded by the Divine Medium, the Ise Miko, and the Hokkaido Miko. The others were curious, but they didn’t dare to come closer.

Some who disliked Minamoto Kiyomoto finally understood what Minamoto Kiyomoto meant by ‘whoever finds it first gets it.’

They cursed in their hearts. Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t know that he had been wronged. He risked his life and carefully looked into the box.

The box was filled with seawater. The feeling it gave was not just a little seawater, but a sea inside.

In the center of this “sea,” a snow-white clam opened, and a small and beautiful woman was lying inside as if she were sleeping.

Her small chest rose and fell, and she breathed evenly. She was not frozen.

She seemed to have sensed the gaze, slowly opened her eyelids, and glanced at Minamoto Kiyomoto. Her eyes, as light blue as the sea, were very calm.

This was a county-level yokai!
This ship was its bed, its lair!

“Go!” he subconsciously roared.

The crowd was already tense. Hearing Minamoto Kiyomoto’s shout, they quickly retreated and flew out of the great hall.

When they were outside the hall, just as they were about to ask what had happened, they looked back and saw that the cold air was rolling in. The ice layer that had just been broken was sealed again in the blink of an eye.

The Kasen were so scared they trembled all over. They didn’t bother with nonsense and flew out with all their might.

Kamibayashi Miko carried Hanyu Chika and turned into a golden meteor.

Himegami Izayoi was wrapped in flames, and the Hokkaido Miko turned into a snowflake;
The other Kasen also ignited their various divine powers.

From the deck, looking along the tunnel of steps that ascended to the sky, it was like a meteor falling.

“Everyone, retreat immediately!” In the fire-gray divine power, Amatsumara shouted at the parrot.

The iceberg, under the excavation of the crowd, was as intricate as a rabbit’s warren. At this moment, the practitioners were really like rabbits, desperately jumping out of the various passages.

The cold air rolled, chasing after them like a death train.

“What happened?”

“Look there! What is that!”

“Run!”

Everyone fled in panic.

Just as they were about to rush out of the ice cave, cold air suddenly poured in from outside the cave. The hearts of the crowd jumped out of their chests.

The Kyushu Shinto Lord, Minamoto Nagatoku, the Taira clan, and Ashiya, the Kasen all stopped, their faces ashen.

Kamibayashi Miko, Himegami Izayoi, and the Hokkaido Miko’s expressions were also solemn, thinking of a solution.

Only Minamoto Kiyomoto flew straight towards the mist.

“Kiyomoto!” Kamibayashi Miko, carrying Hanyu Chika, followed without thinking.

Himegami Izayoi and the Hokkaido Miko did not say a word and also rushed towards the cold air.

“Is he crazy?” the Taira clan said in terror.

“What are you talking about? Follow me and charge out!” Minamoto Nagatoku gritted his teeth, summoned his divine power again, and flew towards the cave exit.

The crowd had no choice but to pounce on the cold air.

Just as they were about to hit the cold air, Minamoto Kiyomoto’s whole body was shot with black light. With a soaring dragon’s cry, he turned into a ball of red-black dragon-shaped mist.

Baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, with scorching flames, it crashed into the cold air.

“Bang!” The white mist exploded, and a strong impact swept in all directions. The crowd was like falling into a cloud layer, and they couldn’t see anything.

“Follow me!”

Hearing Minamoto Kiyomoto’s voice, the crowd breathed a sigh of relief and quickly flew towards the roaring dragon’s cry.

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On the demon-hunting ship, the Itomi sisters, the Izumo Miko, and the Suitengu Miko were sitting on chairs in the ship’s tower, eating snacks and chatting.

“What is that?”

Hearing the cry of surprise from the deck, the four of them quickly looked towards the iceberg.

In the crystal-clear iceberg tunnel, several streams of light rushed down.

Black light, golden light, flames, snowflakes… they immediately recognized that it was Minamoto Kiyomoto and the other three.

“Something’s wrong,” the Izumo Miko’s usually kind face also subconsciously darkened at this time.

Those few divine lights, no matter how you looked at them, looked like they were fleeing.

As soon as her voice fell, behind Minamoto Kiyomoto and the others, a large ball of ice-blue appeared, pouring down the tunnel like a waterfall.

Amidst the exclamations of the crowd, Itomi Sayaka quickly estimated the speed of Minamoto Kiyomoto and the cold air, and breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.

They can escape!

“Hurry!” About half of the practitioners had not boarded the Song Dynasty ship. At this time, they were all standing on the deck, watching nervously.

“Ah!” Itomi Yuki’s face turned deathly pale.

The whole ship was silent, staring blankly at the entrance of the cave, where cold air suddenly appeared.

“It’s over…” someone said blankly.

Itomi Sayaka, the Izumo Miko, and the Suitengu Miko, their bodies swelled with dazzling light, shot up into the sky, and pounced on the iceberg.

The Yellow Springs Spell, the Divine Fortune Spell, and the Dried Swamp Spell. Demons, divine shadows, and dryness. Before they could get close, they were frozen.

The three of them’s faces changed. Just as they were about to continue their attack, they suddenly heard a soaring dragon’s cry.

“Minamoto Kiyomoto!” They were all very familiar with this dragon’s cry.

Boom!

The sun was setting in the west, and the colorful sunset clouds dyed half the sky into a glowing brocade.

The blood-red setting sun, in the scattered and chaotic clouds, slowly sank.

A red-black dragon-shaped mist roared and rushed out of the mist, crashing onto the deck of the demon-hunting ship, making a sound like ice falling on the ground.

“Qing—”

“Set sail!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto interrupted Itomi Sayaka and roared his order.

Immediately, he struggled to sit up and closed his eyes.

His face was ashen, and his flesh and blood were all frozen into dead meat. He couldn’t even tremble.

With a “bang,” the laurel crown shattered through layers of cabin walls, swooped down from the ship’s tower, and circled above Minamoto Kiyomoto’s head.

Streams of Jianmu’s life qi continuously poured into his body.

At the same time, countless streams of light flew out of the iceberg and landed on the deck.

“Kiyomoto!” Kamibayashi Miko put down the terrified Hanyu Chika, and the golden light of the “Young Thunder” landed on Minamoto Kiyomoto’s body.

Himegami Izayoi did not say a word, her face grim and terrifying. She raised her hand, and a red light shone on Minamoto Kiyomoto.

The Hokkaido Miko threw out her ice crystal divine artifact, which circled around Minamoto Kiyomoto’s body, absorbing the cold air in his body.

The people on the deck all surrounded Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Minamoto Nagatoku’s face was grim, and his knuckles were white. He had completely broken with the Minamoto clan leader. Once something happened to Minamoto Kiyomoto, what awaited him would definitely be a crazy suppression and revenge.

Minamoto Kiyone and Minamoto Kiyomi kept asking him what had happened, but he had no mood to pay attention to them.

Fujiwara Shino asked her father, and the Fujiwara clan leader shook his head slightly and did not speak.

The demon-hunting ship tore through the sea surface, fled from the rolling cold iceberg, and sailed towards the boundless sea.