At sunrise, the first ray of morning light sliced a crevice through the cliffs on the northern side of Canglan Island.
At the boundary where darkness met light, a massive, ice-blue light portal rotated silently.
Its interior was not solid, but resembled a frozen deep sea. An ancient aura, so dense it could not be dispersed, drifted from within, making anyone who so much as glanced at it feel as though their soul were about to freeze over.
This was the “Mystic Ice Mansion,” rumored to be the place where an ancient grand cultivator had passed away. Now, it had become an Asura arena where young disciples fought for fortune.
The teams from each sect cast aside their casual demeanors. Following the order of the draw, they walked silently toward their respective entrances.
On the Xuantian Sect's side, Bai Qingxue stood at the very front. The Frost Moon Chant hung securely at her waist, and her silver hair, like flowing moonlight, fluttered gently in the sea breeze that carried flecks of ice.
Bai Qingxue did not look back. She simply uttered two words in a calm voice:
“Let's go.”
Her voice was not loud, but it acted like a calming talisman, suppressing all the restlessness behind her.
Bai Qingxue was the first to step into the light portal.
The moment her vision penetrated that layer of ice-blue, it was swallowed by a pure, blinding white light.
When she opened her eyes again, her surroundings were completely crystalline.
A narrow passage of ice crystals stretched forward, its end nowhere in sight.
The walls on both sides were not ordinary rock but were carved from solid blocks of thousand-year-old mystic ice. They were translucent enough to reflect figures, yet cold to the bone.
The cave walls were densely carved with ancient, runic lines.
Those lines twisted and wound, exuding an indescribable sense of desolation and majesty.
Bai Qingxue's steps paused slightly as her light-colored eyes swept over the runes.
These patterns... actually bore a striking resemblance to the ones she had seen back in the Nanhuai ruins.
A sliver of doubt flashed through Bai Qingxue's mind, but she immediately suppressed it with reason.
The Nanhuai ruins held the legacy left behind by Senior Suxue. Though ancient, it still had traceable origins. On the other hand, the Mystic Ice Mansion was rumored to be left by an ancient mighty expert. Countless tens of thousands of years separated the two, and the world had changed beyond recognition. How could there be a connection?
Even if there were, perhaps Suxue had inherited this mighty expert's mantle.
She was probably overthinking it.
Bai Qingxue told herself this, yet her fingertips unconsciously brushed across the cool jade body of the Frost Moon Chant.
“There is something... not quite right about this place.”
Lu Xueqing's voice sounded exceptionally clear in the desolate passage.
Her hand on her sword hilt tightened slightly. The spiritual power within her body surged rapidly, forming a thin protective barrier over her skin to shut out the bone-chilling cold that attempted to seep in.
Lu Xueqing followed closely on Bai Qingxue's left, maintaining a distance of exactly half a step at all times.
This position allowed her to protect Bai Qingxue's flank while remaining ready to counter any attacks from the front.
Since arriving on Canglan Island, Lu Xueqing seemed to have become more vigilant. Along with that, her quiet protective instinct grew increasingly obvious, as if she wanted to shield Bai Qingxue from all incoming storms.
On the other side, the usually indolent Ning Qinghan was uncharacteristically quiet.
She did not engage in her usual casual banter, nor did she look around in curiosity.
She stepped barefoot onto the ice. The contact of her toes against the icy surface was bone-chilling, yet she seemed completely oblivious to it.
Ning Qinghan merely kept her head lowered, her gaze glued to the runes on the cave walls. Her eyes were somewhat vacant, as if she were looking past those ancient lines to see something else entirely.
“Is something wrong?” Bai Qingxue turned her head, her gaze landing on Ning Qinghan's pale face. The cold light reflected off the ice walls shone in her light-colored eyes, looking like they were filled with crushed ice.
As if startled awake, Ning Qinghan's long eyelashes trembled violently. She whispered, “...These runes, I seem to have seen them somewhere before.”
Her voice was very soft, carrying a trace of subtle bewilderment, as if she were not answering Bai Qingxue but murmuring to herself.
Bai Qingxue did not press further.
She merely slowed her pace by half a beat. Her originally smooth stride showed an imperceptible hesitation, just enough to wait for Ning Qinghan to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with her before she continued forward.
This subtle movement was almost impossible to notice, like a single snowflake falling silently into a frozen river.
Yet, Ning Qinghan's lowered eyes twitched slightly. Beneath that bewilderment, an extremely elusive, complex emotion flickered.
Ning Qinghan pulled her sleeves tight again, burying her cheeks in them and leaving only a pair of hollow yet lively eyes visible as she silently closed the gap by another step.
Deep within the passage, the dead silence was broken.
“Crack.”
A subtle sound, like ice cracking as a mechanism turned, rang out. Immediately afterward, countless tiny holes quietly opened along the ice walls on both sides, revealing dark, deep voids.
In an instant, an incredibly dense white ice mist surged out like a bursting dam!
This was no ordinary cold air, but Xuanyin malevolent energy condensed over tens of thousands of years. The extreme cold it contained was enough to instantly freeze the meridians of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, or even turn a body of flesh and blood directly into an ice sculpture.
Not far away, sharp cries of alarm echoed from another team.
A disciple with weaker cultivation failed to dodge in time. His arm was instantly covered in a thick layer of white frost, turning stiff and numb as he lost all sensation in it.
Had his companions not risked their lives to drag him out from the center of the ice mist and expended a vast amount of spiritual power to dispel the cold for him, he would likely have become an icy corpse by now.
However, this extreme cold, which would make ordinary people pale with fear, dissipated silently the moment it came within three feet of Bai Qingxue, like a weary bird returning to its nest.
The Ice Spirit Physique was impervious to all evils.
To Bai Qingxue, extreme cold was not a source of harm but a nourishing tonic for her soul.
Her expression remained unchanged. She did not even deliberately circulate her spiritual power to resist. Instead, she merely raised her hand slightly, and an even purer, gentler cold aura diffused from her body.
That cold aura was not biting. Rather, it carried a strange warmth, like a cup of warm wine on a winter night, forming an invisible barrier around her that enveloped both Lu Xueqing and Ning Qinghan behind her.
Lu Xueqing felt a wave of warmth wash over her, and the bone-chilling cold instantly vanished without a trace. Even her muscles, which had been stiff from tension just moments ago, relaxed.
Lu Xueqing looked at Bai Qingxue's calm profile. Set against the ice mist, her face appeared even more cold and otherworldly. Lu Xueqing's fingertips curled slightly, but in the end, she said nothing.
Ning Qinghan also felt that layer of warmth; it was a sense of security from being protected.
She raised her head and looked at Bai Qingxue's back—slender yet upright amidst the ice mist. The bewilderment in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by a deeper, more complex emotion.
But soon, she pulled her sleeves tight again, burying her cheeks in them and leaving only a pair of hollow yet lively eyes visible as she silently closed the gap by another step.
The ice mist gradually dispersed like a receding tide, revealing a faint light at the end of the passage.
Stepping through the final ice-crystal archway, the view suddenly opened up.
It was an immense, domed ice cave, its vastness breathtaking. At the center stood a crystal-clear ice platform, above which floated several spiritual treasures radiating terrifying fluctuations. Their precious light swirled, painting the entire ice cave in a kaleidoscope of colors.
Along the four walls of the ice cave were several branching paths leading deeper into the ruins. Deep and unpredictable, their destinations were unknown, resembling the dark, open maws of giant beasts.
Yet, within this open ice cave, the crisp sounds of clashing weapons and the dull thuds of colliding spiritual power already echoed, shattering the ancient silence of this place.
Evidently, other teams had already broken into conflict ahead of them to fight over the spiritual treasures.
Bai Qingxue stopped in her tracks, her silver hair shimmering with a soft luster in the faint glow emitted by the spiritual treasures.
Her gaze swept across the ice cave like a monarch surveying her domain, before finally landing on the two beside her.
Lu Xueqing's hand was already on her sword hilt, her gaze as sharp as a falcon's as she locked onto the source of the noise.
Ning Qinghan had also cast aside her lazy demeanor, her eyes clear and bright as she warily observed her surroundings.
“Keep close.”
Bai Qingxue said softly. Her voice was not loud, but it reached both of their ears clearly.
Then, she stepped forward. The Frost Moon Chant spun between her fingertips, drawing a cold arc of light that seemed to slice through the stagnant air of the ice cave.
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