Han Yu could not understand it.
Even the strongest cultivators on the Violet Eve World had limits. The Immortal Ascension Realm experts that beca legends rarely exceeded several thousand years.
Six thousand.
Seven thousand.
Perhaps more with forbidden thods.
Yet even then...
Ten thousand years was already considered impossible territory.
Anything beyond that belonged to immortals.
Not mortals.
"How are you both still alive?" Han Yu finally asked.
Madam Cold Fang remained silent for several monts.
Then she answered.
"Our elders used the Endless Frost Tomb Art."
Han Yu blinked.
"The Endless Frost Tomb Art?"
He imdiately recognized the na.
His eyes widened.
"That is another inheritance technique..."
Understanding appeared.
"So it was stolen too."
"Indeed."
Madam Cold Fang nodded calmly.
Han Yu slowly digested that.
The Endless Frost Tomb Art.
He knew it.
The Blood Sect possessed it.
Though only few cultivated it because of its terrifying requirents and poor compatibility. And right now only the Two Kidney Peak Heads had managed to cultivate it fully. Han Yu had seen it in person as his Master was one of them too and knew what the technique was like.
It excelled at freezing.
Killing.
Sealing.
Entombing.
The na itself carried death.
Yet preserving life?
Han Yu had never heard of such a thing.
He looked at her again.
"How did you survive?"
"Even with the Endless Frost Tomb Art you should still have died eventually."
Madam Cold Fang suddenly laughed.
The sound carried faint mockery.
"The version your sect practices is incomplete."
Han Yu froze.
"It requires a suitable Dao Embryo."
"Without it..."
"The technique only kills."
"It cannot preserve."
Han Yu’s eyes narrowed.
A Dao Embryo.
It was sothing only Dao Treading Realm cultivators could form. And there were thousands upon thousands of them for various Daos. Most people could never pick which one to form and it all happened naturally.
Madam Cold Fang continued.
"Our elders were Immortal Ascension Realm experts."
"They sealed us children themselves."
The icy mist shifted.
New images appeared.
Han Yu saw Frost Bat elders.
Ancient beings with vast wings.
Children sleeping within crystal ice.
Dozens of them.
The elders carried them away.
So into mountains.
So beneath glaciers.
Others into hidden tombs.
"They scattered us."
"They believed the war would eventually end."
"They thought one day we would awaken."
"And the danger would be gone."
Her voice lowered.
"That day never ca."
The images faded.
"When I awoke..."
"Everything was gone."
"Hundreds of thousands of years had passed."
Han Yu looked toward the horizon.
"And the Blood Sect still remained."
"Yes."
This ti her answer carried visible hatred. Her hand tightened and the snow around her feet crackled. Han Yu remained quiet for he understood now.
To awaken in another era...
To discover everyone gone...
To see the enemy still thriving...
He could understand her anger.
After a minute he asked another question.
"What about Smiling Spring?"
"And that thing I saw?"
"The smiling reflection."
"The spring."
"The bat shaped being."
"What was that?"
Madam Cold Fang suddenly turned.
"What?"
Her expression changed for the first ti.
"You saw the Eternal Smiling Ancestor?"
Han Yu blinked.
"Was I not supposed to?"
Her fists clenched instantly.
"No..."
Her expression darkened.
"Not so early."
She turned away.
"That fool..."
Her voice lowered.
"How many sacrifices has he made?"
Han Yu imdiately understood.
There was far more to this.
"Who is the Eternal Smiling Ancestor?" he asked.
Madam Cold Fang remained silent briefly.
Then spoke.
"The Eternal Smiling Ancestor was one of the deities worshiped by certain Frost Bat tribes."
Han Yu listened carefully.
"He was believed to be one of the true ancestors of our race."
"A being from ancient tis."
"But..."
Her expression cooled.
"He was sealed."
"His thods beca vile."
"Too vile."
"His worship was forbidden."
Han Yu imdiately rembered the smiling villagers.
The corpses.
The souls.
The forced laughter.
Madam Cold Fang continued.
"Just like humans, the Frost Bats were never united."
"We had tribes."
"Different beliefs."
"Different ancestors."
"My clan followed the benevolent deities."
The icy mist shifted again.
Han Yu saw images.
Winged Frost Bats praying beneath moonlight.
Ice temples.
Peaceful rituals.
Then new images appeared.
Dark temples.
Smiling statues.
Corpses arranged around springs.
Frozen bodies laughing.
Han Yu felt chills.
"But so tribes continued worshiping the Eternal Smiling Ancestor."
"They believed his path granted immortality."
"Eternal joy."
"Freedom from death."
Her eyes turned colder.
"They were wrong."
Han Yu rembered the smiling reflection.
The laughter.
The souls leaving corpses.
"What was his path?"
Madam Cold Fang looked into the distance.
"He consud happiness."
Han Yu froze.
"He believed joy was eternal."
"He believed suffering ca from mortality."
"So he created rituals."
"Smiles."
"Sacrifices."
"He extracted emotions."
"Longevity."
"Souls."
Han Yu suddenly rembered the ritual records Palm Hand Lu had.
The longevity thod.
The happy victims.
The smiling corpses.
Everything connected instantly.
"The ritual..."
Madam Cold Fang nodded.
"It ca from him."
Han Yu grew silent.
Then another thought appeared.
He looked at her.
"Your brother..."
Her expression darkened imdiately.
"He worships the Eternal Smiling Ancestor?"
The mountain beca silent.
Snow drifted quietly.
Finally she nodded.
"Yes."
Her voice was barely audible.
"When we awakened..."
"We were alone."
"We found records."
"Ruins."
"The remnants of our people."
Her hand slowly tightened.
"My brother..."
"He found Smiling Spring."
Han Yu felt sothing sink in his chest.
"And it changed him."
Madam Cold Fang closed her eyes.
"When I found him again... He was already praying to it."
Han Yu grew silent after hearing that. He could feel the woman’s emotions better than ever as the Eight Emotions Energy was pouring out of her in droves. There was Anger mixed with sadness along with so disgust.
He knew just how much affected she was by this retelling. Han Yu waited a few minutes and let her calm down before speaking again.
"How long ago did the two of you wake up?" Han Yu asked.
"About two thousand years ago." Madam Cold Fang replied.
"That long..." To Han Yu that was a very long ti.
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