The river surface churned with surging waves. In the middle of the river, the phoenix maiden transformed from the resentful spirit exuded a powerful aura.
Her eyes were not crimson but as terrifying as black holes. On the phoenix wings behind her, instead of the phoenix true fire as bright as the morning sun, there were swirling masses of resentment.
If this resentment were to be released, it would instantly destroy all sentient beings in the Three Realms. It was a more terrifying existence than the Heavenly Demons.
Seeing the chains struggling violently, Yaohua suddenly reached out her hand. A rusty sword, as if summoned, quickly flew from somewhere in the Celestial River and landed in her hand.
She raised her hand and swung the sword!
The phoenix behind her, now formed by resentment, no longer let out clear and melodious cries but blood - curdling sobs that made one want to cry.
It stretched its neck, wailed mournfully, and flew away with a glimmer of light.
The waves of the Celestial River roared and surged. The water rose several meters and crashed heavily against the shore.
With a bang, the coffin in the middle of the river turned into ashes, revealing a skeleton inside.
Just as Yaohua was about to swing the sword for the second time, she suddenly turned her head and stared intently at the skeleton.
The skeleton was as white as jade, seemingly the remains of an upper god. At the bottom of the boundlessly dark Celestial River, it endured the erosion of resentment but remained as tough as ever.
She staggered towards the skeleton and gently stroked its skull. The divinity of the skeleton corroded the palm of the resentful spirit, causing excruciating pain.
A glimmer of clarity suddenly flashed in her mind, which had long been occupied by hatred. She seemed to see the face of that person as pure as the snow on a high mountain.
The resentful spirit had no tears, but masses of resentment surged around her, exploding with a popping sound and turning into countless streams of air like tears.
The chains seemed to sense something strange and quickly circled back. This time, instead of coiling around the coffin, they automatically shrank and tightly bound the skeleton.
"Master—" Yaohua trembled her lips and finally uttered this address.
She finally understood why the God - Lord hadn't hidden this coffin more secretly when placing it, and why the coffin was so ordinary that it could be broken with a single blow.
Because it was Chongming's skeleton that served as the eye of the formation to seal the entire Celestial River!
The chains tightly wrapped around Chongming's skeleton were made of an unknown material and couldn't be broken at all. They continuously absorbed the divine power from the skeleton to seal the Celestial River and also to seal her.
If she wanted to break the seal, she could only completely destroy her master's skeleton.
The God - Lord had already predicted that she couldn't bear to do so!
Moreover, as a resentful spirit now, even with the power of nirvana and boundless resentment, she couldn't resurrect her master through these chains.
She frantically attacked the chains, but the power of the chains came from Chongming's skeleton. The more she attacked, the dimmer the color of the skeleton became.
"God - Lord! You have failed your meritorious subject. I will make you pay with your life!"
Her master had dedicated himself to the Three Realms during his lifetime, and after his death, he was still being used and insulted like this. How could Yaohua bear it?
She charged into the Celestial River with soaring resentment, breaking through it and rushing towards the God - Lord's Palace!
The moment the Celestial River was broken, the Heavenly Demons that had been sealed all opened their eyes at once and launched a combined attack.
Behind her, the Celestial River burst its banks and poured out. Then, with the blessing of the chain formation, the seal was restored as before.
In the God - Lord's Palace, Tu Yang looked up in horror: "This aura... Could it be—"
Even the God - Lord, whose face was usually as calm as an ancient well, showed shock and confusion for the first time.
He suddenly looked up and saw the black phoenix formed by resentment break through the palace and charge straight at him.
Yaohua rushed into the God - Lord's Palace. Just as she was about to fight the God - Lord, a splitting pain suddenly shot through her head, and her body seemed to be gradually melting...
After a dizzying spin, she steadied herself by holding onto something and suddenly opened her eyes, with all her resentment and intense killing intent clearly showing.
At this time, she heard the ticking sound coming from the Water Curtain Cave. She couldn't help but shake her head. There was no resentment here, and it wasn't the God - Lord's Palace either.
The spiritual lion was lying at her feet, and the Phoenix Ancestor looked at her with a heavy heart.
As her memories returned, she was still a bit confused. She asked blankly, "Why am I here...?"
Wasn't she supposed to be in the God - Lord's Palace?
At this time, she met the gaze of the Phoenix Ancestor again. As if she had understood something, she changed her question and asked, "Was that just a dream?"
The ancestor shook his head but didn't explain further. Instead, he changed the topic and said, "Your bloodline is pure. You have passed the tests of Fairy Ziying and me. Although there are some imperfections, remember to have the world in mind in the future and don't be confined to love affairs."
Yaohua rubbed her throbbing forehead and finally understood.
It turned out that Fairy Ziying had harmed her in order to send her to the ancestor's side for the test.
Was the dream she just had the test? But she had transformed into a resentful spirit in the dream and intended to overthrow the Three Realms. Could she still pass the test like this?
This dream was very strange. It didn't seem to be a falsehood, and it was also related to her master's life and death. Just as she was about to ask, the figure of the ancestor suddenly dissipated, turning into a stream of light and drilling into her forehead.
She stroked her forehead and called out, "Ancestor?"
Before her voice fell, a sharp pain exploded in her head.
At the same time, the Water Curtain Cave disappeared into nothingness.
Where was there any water curtain here? It was just an ordinary ice cave.
Long icicles hung down from the cave ceiling, and the bone - chilling wind howled in. The previously sleeping spiritual lion woke up, nuzzled her calf affectionately, and then turned into fluorescent light and disappeared.
Yaohua knelt on one knee in pain and could only barely support her body. A voice sounded in her mind: "Now, I will entrust the inheritance of the Phoenix Clan to you. This is also the last test for you."
Countless streams of information poured out. Because these streams of information were too vast, she felt as if her head was about to explode.
Then, these streams of information tore at her memories and consciousness, like sharp blades that wanted to shred her.
If she got lost in this vast inheritance memory, she would become a useless person.
However, the pain in her mind was just the first test.
A glimmer of spiritual light emerged from her forehead and quickly traveled to her dantian, generating an endless stream of spiritual power.
This was the second gift from the ancestor.
But Yaohua's current cultivation level was limited. This spiritual power was too powerful for her. It was extremely domineering as it circulated and almost tore her meridians apart.
If she couldn't bear it, she would explode and die.
At this moment, she had no time to think at all and could only let out a scream of extreme pain: "Ah!"
But soon, she couldn't even let out this scream.
Fortunately, spiritual power couldn't run amok in the ice field, so its power was greatly weakened. After circling for a few moments, it dormant in her dantian.
The painful torture seemed to last for an eternity. Only then did Yaohua have the ability to slowly sort out the vast memories in her mind, and the throbbing pain gradually subsided.
However, she was already extremely weak at this time. Coupled with the days of running around and being mentally exhausted, she was even more exhausted in the howling cold wind.
Therefore, she no longer had the strength to open her eyes. Her body swayed slightly and she fell unconscious in the snow cave.