17 - Icy Hell

Xu Xin saw that Xiao Wei was waiting within the carriage, and he was waiting for Xia Yue to leave.

It was clear that she requested he stay here for a few days to rest before continuing his journey. This was because sitting in a carriage for a week or two straight was very bad for your body, and he needed to take a break before continuing the journey to the core city.

As Xu Xin got closer, he saw several of the royal guards with Xiao Wei, because he was now considered the crown prince, meaning that he had the crown guards with him, who were the best of the guards, and they were all at the spirit realm, and, individually, they were only slightly weaker than Xia Yue in strength, but together, they could easily kill her.

Xu Xin was annoyed to see the royal guards here, because he had never had them guard him due to his strength even though he was the crown prince, but now, the one he hated was being guarded by them.

As they approached, Xia Yue spoke, "We can leave now that everyone's here."

Instantly, Xia Yue and Xu Xin went into the carriage, and within Xiao Wei's face was shocked as he saw a kid only at the second stage of the martial arts path enter into the carriage with a captain of the army and a crown prince.

Xia Yue's disciple, the girl, was here, but she was already introduced to Xiao Wei, whereas he knew nothing about this boy in front of him.

"Who's this?" Xiao Wei spoke with a curious tone, but he was secretly annoyed, because trash like this boy shouldn't be allowed in the carriage with a prince.

Even the royal guards, who were at the spirit realm, were outside.

At this moment, Xia Yue looked at Xu Xin, seeming to ask him, because even she didn't know much about him, and he had already made it clear that he didn't like her spreading information about him without his permission.

However, she realized that Xu Xin's eyes were unfocused and he wasn't even paying attention to what was happening. Within the depths of his eyes was a numbness that seemed to have overtaken his mind.

Seeing this, she didn't understand what was happening, but she took it upon herself to answer Xiao Wei's question without Xu Xin's permission since he seemed to have gone into an inattentive state.

"This is Xu Xin, a genius who I met recently. Don't take him lightly because of his weak cultivation, because he is a terrifying opponent."

This was all that she could say about him, because this was really all that she knew about him for sure.

Seeing her hesitation, Xiao Wei was curious, but he said no more, because anyone that caught the eye of a captain of the army was definitely not simple.

He then looked at Xu Xin, but he found that he could see absolutely nothing from his face or his figure, and he seemed to be blank, as if he was a piece of paper without anything written on it.

This somewhat reminded him of Xiao Xin, his brother, with the same blank expression on his face.

Suddenly, Xu Xin's eyes regained their life as he looked directly into Xiao Wei's eyes, and suddenly, Xiao Wei felt a shiver of instinctual fear run down his spine as he seemed to see chaos and death unlike anything he had ever experienced behind this boy's seemingly blank eyes.

"You..." Xiao Wei pointed at him with a shaky finger. However, he did nothing more, because he wasn't sure.

Those eyes looked exactly like Xu Xin's, and though this boy in front of him looked completely different to Xu Xin, that look was not something that just anyone could have.

Everything even lined up, with this boy being weak currently, but considered a terrifying opponent by Xia Yue, while also meeting recently and other coincidences.

He was almost certain that this was Xu Xin, but he couldn't be entirely sure, and he didn't even realize that he had begun to be afraid of this boy in front of him.

Xia Yue looked at this curiously, wondering what had just happened to shock Xiao Wei so deeply. She realized that he was even shaking lightly, his eyes unfocused as he seemed to be racking his brain in deep thought, filled with anxiety and panic.

"What's wrong," Xia Yue asked, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Hearing her words, Xiao Wei was still panicking, but he tried to hide it as he spoke.

"Xiao Xin betrayed the kingdom, and we want you to look out for him.

If he recovers, the entire kingdom could fall, and even the surrounding kingdoms could be destroyed. I came here to warn you all, because the consequences if he recovers could be too much for the continent to bear."

Xiao Wei placed emphasis on how bad it would be if he recovered, and it was clear that he was saying that this Xu Xin in front of him could possibly be Xiao Xin.

Hearing this, Xia Yue was shocked, and she looked at Xu Xin with wariness.

She suddenly realized that this issue was definitely not as simple as it seemed, and she glanced at Xu Xin next to her, hoping to see what his reaction was, but she realized that he still had no reaction whatsoever to the conversation.

She believed that the chances were just too low for this boy to be Xiao Xin, so she quickly looked back at Xiao Wei.

However, suddenly, confusion showed on her face.

"Wait, what do you mean, 'recovers'?

As far as I'm aware, he is almost impossible to hurt or kill, so how did he get injured?"

If he was at his peak, even she would find it completely impossible to hurt him, as he was far too sensitive to danger for her skills in assassination to be any help whatsoever, and he was also stronger than her in a direct fight.

She would find it impossible to deal him any damage, and even his father, the king, couldn't stop him if he wanted to escape without a direct confrontation, and from Xiao Wei's tone, he had been severely injured, so just how did they manage this?

Xiao Wei looked down as he spoke, "We captured his fiancée. But nobody was able to capture him, with several spirit realm cultivators dying in the process.

We were only able to stop him when the king stepped in, and once he was captured, we killed his fiancée.

But he managed to escape our control, and he destroyed the entirety of the dungeon where he was being held, with him only stopping after the king poisoned him with the core crippling poison.

However, we don't know if the poison worked or not, and if he recovers, it could spell the end of the entire kingdom and everyone in it, and even the surrounding kingdoms wouldn't be able to escape the carnage and death."

He seemed to be regretting something at this moment, though it was unknown what he regretted.

However, Xia Yue was completely shocked, because losing the one you loved was a horrible and cruel fate, and it was something that could turn even the most loving of people into cold blooded killers that would not stop until the one who took their love was destroyed, let alone someone who was already known to be a cold-blooded killer.

She was absolutely positive that, even if he didn't actually betray the kingdom, he would be back, seeking blood and death for all of those related to his fiancée's death.

She couldn't even imagine the death and destruction that would come as a result of his recovery, and looking at Xu Xin next to her, she couldn't help but wonder if this boy truly was Xiao Xin.

Looking back at Xiao Wei, she asked the question that was burning in her mind.

"In what way did he betray the kingdom? As far as I can remember, he had always been immensely loyal and undyingly devoted to the kingdom." This question could change her opinion of Xu Xin entirely, whether he was this boy next to her or not.

"I, along with many others, witnessed him go to a secret meeting with the blood order in the woods.

But that's enough about Xiao Xin, as I will tell the king and everyone else everything they need to know at the meeting." Xiao Wei spoke impatiently as he clearly indicated that he wasn't willing to talk about this topic any further.

He was also secretly very wary towards Xu Xin, as he wasn't sure if this boy in front of him was Xiao Xin or not.

After all, just too many things lined up for him to take it lightly, and if this boy in front of him was Xiao Xin, he was sure to slip up and show some killing intent at some point, which would allow him to kill him without any issues.

The only reason he hadn't yet killed Xu Xin was because he was technically a guest here, and if he randomly killed someone of this kingdom without any proof, he could unintentionally start a war between the two kingdoms, which was something that he absolutely couldn't afford to do, so the most he could do right now was remain vigilant.

Let alone the war, if things went bad, he might not even be able to escape alive.

He wasn't nearly as smart as Xu Xin, but he was still quite perceptive, and he knew that Xiao Xin deeply hated him down to his very core, and if this Xu Xin in front of him was actually Xiao Xin, then there was bound to be a mess-up, so it was just a matter of time until he got what he wanted.

Little did he know that the change in Xu Xin's body didn't just affect his body itself; it also changed his mind, making him slightly calmer and more rational, hence why he was able to control his killing intent and silence it.

Unknown to Xiao Wei, there would be no slip-up on Xu Xin's part, and he wouldn't get what he wanted this time.

Xu Xin then closed his eyes, and his body seemed to slow down and come to a complete stop as he went perfectly still, like a statue that had sat since the beginning of time.

Suddenly, his body started to gain a blue tint, and slowly, frost formed on the surface of his skin, which eventually developed into a thin layer of aquamarine ice.

However, unlike his attacks, which only used a small amount of inner energy to form ice from his attacks, using his inner energy to form a layer of ice around his body was completely exhausting, and he quickly felt his inner energy within his dantian start to deplete.

Within only about two minutes, the layer of aquamarine ice around his body started to melt away.

However, there were suddenly drops of golden qi floating around his body, going into it and replenishing his inner energy at a rapid pace.

Within only about thirty minutes, all of his inner energy was replenished, which was an astonishing speed.

Normally, it would take at least an hour for a normal person to fully recover their inner energy, but Xu Xin, who had a higher capacity for inner energy, was able to replenish all of his in half the time.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes, and he stared straight into the eyes of Xiao Wei, and instantly, Xiao Wei woke up from his own cultivation, and he felt a chill run down his spine, like his heart had been frozen.

Xu Xin's eyes seemed to lead to a dimension of endless ice and winter, a relentless cold that sought to freeze your soul and plunge you into an eternal sleep, an icy hell.