Chapter 529: Ice Storm!
Jia Yue felt just as perplexed as everyone else.
Since the moment she entered the Forbidden Land of Ice, every time Jia Yue tried to condense her spirit energy, calm her mind, or adjust her breathing, she felt strange. Frost energy would fill her body and make it seem as if she had become one with the heavens and the earth. She would then feel an obvious increase in the power of her soul.
Every time Jia Yue cultivated within the Forbidden Land of Ice, she clearly felt the changes occurring inside of her.
Her cultivation quickly increased by leaps and bounds.
She attributed all of this to the mystical secrets of the Forbidden Land of Ice. She believed that the spirit art that she cultivated worked in perfect harmony with these secrets, allowing her to experience such G.o.dly abilities.
“I can vaguely sense them,” Jia Yue whispered.
Her mind consciousness moved swiftly, her mind’s eye acting as a bright spotlight, and accurately determined the position of Qin Lie’s group halfway up the icy mountain in the distance.
“There’s no way I could be wrong!” Jia Yue exclaimed, becoming more and more confident.
This declaration amazed all of the eastern barbarians.
After spending a moment in a daze, all of them regained their senses and couldn’t help but excitedly praise Jia Yue. Her divination made them jump for joy.
Gao Yu, however, stood off to the side, aloof and silent. Traces of confusion could be seen in his eyes.
“Jia Yue, you can truly sense where they are?” Di Fei’s brow furrowed as his face twisted in disbelief. “All of us have been unable to utilize our soul perception since we entered the Graveyard of G.o.ds. Are we to believe that you are somehow able to continue using yours?”
Sen Ye was just as shocked and confused as Di Fei, similarly unable to accept this reality.
“When we were in the Forbidden Lands of Water and Metal, I also couldn’t use my soul consciousness to sense my surroundings,” Jia Yue said. She then took a deep, prolonged breath, as if she were trying to take in all of the frigid air of the Forbidden Land of Ice. A pleasant expression appeared on her face and she continued, “However, the Forbidden Land of Ice is a different story. Here, my soul perception hasn’t been affected at all!”
“We’ll obviously find out if she’s telling the truth if we just go!” all of the white barbarians shouted restlessly.
“Then… let’s go,” Sen Ye ordered, filled with a mixture disbelief and confusion.
……
Halfway up an icy mountain, inside of a small cave that could only accommodate two people, Song Tingyu sat beside Qin Lie, back pressed up against the wall as she questioned him out of concern.
“You’re fine, right?”
She had heard Pan Qianqian’s shouts, so she was aware of the fact that Pan Qianqian thought Qin Lie harbored evil intentions against Xue Moyan. She also knew that the Illusory Demon Sect girl tried to kill him because of that misunderstanding.
Since this knowledge prevented her from staying calm, Song Tingyu went to the cave that Qin Lie sat in to see how he was doing.
“Of course. Pan Qianqian can’t harm me to begin with,” Qin Lie said with a shake of his head.
“We fought the scarlet barbarians, and now they’ll be more wary of us in the future. They will no longer split up and allow us to defeat them one group at a time,” Song Tingyu said, clearly worried. “Before long, the scarlet, white, and black barbarians will join forces. The next time we encounter eastern barbarians… we’ll have all of them to deal with.”
Before coming over to Qin Lie’s cave, Song Tingyu changed into a rose-colored dress. It clung tightly to her upper body and hung loosely below that, accentuating her already enchanting figure. It made her seem even more seductive than usual.
Song Tingyu’s figure alone was already stunning enough to influence other people. After all, in the Scarlet Tide Continent, she was the most famous and beautiful woman to begin with. As a result, when she painstakingly took the time to make herself pretty for Qin Lie, she made sure to be careful and demonstrate all of her beauty. She resembled a flower in full bloom—too beautiful to be taken in all at once.
Song Tingyu felt like she had no control over the future. Maybe she felt that way because of how powerful the eastern barbarians were, but she ended up cheris.h.i.+ng every second she spent with Qin Lie.
As they spoke, she gently cozied up against Qin Lie’s chest, releasing a bright light that gradually engulfed both of them.
“Hey…” Song Tingyu said quietly. “Do you think we’ll get out of the Graveyard of G.o.ds alive?”
“We just need to find an opportunity,” Qin Lie casually replied, his expression stern. “We have to wait until the eastern barbarians enter the Land of Buried G.o.ds, separate again, and drop their guard. If we strike when they do, it won’t be impossible for us to reenact the glorious events that occurred in the Forbidden Land of Thunder. Besides, the Blood Progenitor’s remains lay within the Land of Buried G.o.ds, and I won’t leave until I have them.”
“For Xue Li?” Song Tingyu asked.
“The Blood Progenitor’s remains will go to Xue Li, but the rest will naturally belong to me.”
“What about the six Pure Soul Springs? What happened to them?”
“The treasure inside of my body swallowed them up along with my soul energy and blood. It seems to be nurturing something… but I can only feel it. I don’t actually understand what it’s doing.”
“You still can’t remember anything about your past?”
“It’s like all of the memories that were wiped never existed. I can’t remember anything.”
“……”
The two sat in the cave together, cuddling and having an aimless, yet calming conversation about trivial things.
Fifteen minutes later, Luo Chen emerged from his cave, then Du Xiangyang exited his own. Their eyes adjusted to the brightness when they suddenly saw Qin Lie and Song Tingyu leave the same cave. Strange expressions leaped to their faces.
Du Xiangyang coughed dryly, then casually asked, “What were you uh… doing in Sister Xue’s cave earlier, Qin Lie?”
“I helped… administer… the Spring of Life,” Qin Lie answered, raising an eyebrow.
“Ha… haha!” Du Xiangyang laughed awkwardly. “So it was like that! I initially thought you were doing something else.”
“Your mind is so dirty!” Song Tingyu exclaimed, her face full of disdain.
Luo Chen’s face turned red.
“Indeed!” Xue Moyan interrupted as she also walked out and came over. Pan Qianqian followed close behind her. “Your minds certainly are quite dirty!”
Du Xiangyang and Luo Chen felt even more embarra.s.sed.
“What’s our next move, Qin Lie?” Xie Jingxuan asked, approaching the group. “Are we still going to enter the frozen lake?”
“No,” Qin Lie responded, shaking his head. “We will wait for the eastern barbarians to enter first.”
“If the Demon Sealing Tombstone doesn’t appear, the ice spirit probably won’t make any moves. You might need to go first.” Du Xiangyang climbed atop a block of ice and looked across the dazzling surface of the frozen lake nearby. “The ice spirit should be at the bottom of the lake... but breaking such a thick layer of ice won’t be easy.”
“Does the Demon Sealing Tombstone have a way to break through the ice?” Qin Lie asked in surprise.
“Perhaps.” Du Xiangyang shrugged, not daring to make any uncertain claims.
Qin Lie hesitated for a moment.
Then he nodded, saying, “I guess I’ll lend the eastern barbarians a helping hand!”
“Whoos.h.!.+”
The Demon Sealing Tombstone emerged from Qin Lie’s spatial ring.
Seven dazzling divine lights suddenly shot out of the tombstone, merging together to form a chain that was thousands of meters long.
The resplendent chain of light soared through the sky as if it were traveling the galaxy, dragging the Demon Sealing Tombstone behind it. A trail of colorful lights were left in the tombstone’s wake as it shot toward the vast frozen lake.
“The Demon Sealing Tombstone!”
Atop an icy mountain peak five thousand meters away, the eastern barbarians looked toward the frozen lake and broke out into a commotion.
The white barbarians began to bellow and scream.
“They’ve released the Demon Sealing Tombstone!”
“We were definitely heading in the right direction!”
Some eastern barbarians, however, started getting confused.
“What should we do?”
“Should we go find them?”
“Maybe we should chase the Demon Sealing Tombstone!”
The Demon Sealing Tombstone could determine the location of the seven spirits as well as seal them. Now that it appeared, all of the eastern barbarians began to feel anxious.
This was because they knew that the Demon Sealing Tombstone had definitely gone to find the ice spirit!
“Let’s forget about Qin Lie’s group, and follow the Demon Sealing Tombstone,” Sen Ye shouted. “Let’s find the ice spirit first!”
“They should be following the Demon Sealing Tombstone!” Di Fei added. “As long as we follow it too, we’ll definitely cross paths with them again!”
“Alright, let’s change directions and move toward the Demon Sealing Tombstone!” Jia Yue commanded.
With the sudden appearance of the Demon Sealing Tombstone, the powerful group of eastern barbarians immediately turned their spearhead-shaped formation and began rus.h.i.+ng toward the frozen lake.
Back on the mountain where Qin Lie’s group was, Du Xiangyang narrowed his eyes and looked at the surroundings below them. He pointed at the eastern barbarians, saying, “Well that definitely got their attention! The white, scarlet, and black barbarians are all present. More than two hundred of them were initially headed toward us!”
“Thank goodness we released the Demon Sealing Tombstone,” Song Tingyu said in amazement. “They probably would have surrounded us if we hadn’t.”
“How did they know where we were?” Xie Jingxuan asked, her expression serious.
“Because of Jia Yue!” Qin Lie took a deep breath. “My guess is… the ice spirit is corroding that white barbarian girl without her knowing. She probably possesses the perception ability of the ice spirit and will eventually gain extraordinary control over the Forbidden Land of Ice. However, she probably doesn’t even realize it.”
“You’re saying… the ice spirit has almost completely taken over her soul?” Song Tingyu exclaimed in shock.
“That should be the case,” Qin Lie replied solemnly.
“None of our business!” Du Xiangyang snarled.
As they spoke, the Demon Sealing Tombstone had already reached the air above the vast frozen lake. Rays of sacred light began streaming in every direction as the tombstone put on an impressive display of power.
Seven blinding divine lights pierced down from the heavens like ancient dragons.
Even though they were extremely far away, Qin Lie’s group could still hear the loud rumbling coming from deep within the earth. They could see the surrounding glaciers and mountains shake and crack.
The vast frozen lake’s thick layer of ice began to shatter under the bombardment of the tombstone’s seven G.o.dly lights.
“Cr-crack! Bang! c.h.i.n.k c.h.i.n.k c.h.i.n.k!”
Pieces of ice hundreds of meters long and thicker than a person shot from the surface of the frozen lake like translucent, crystalline spears. Every single spear radiated a harsh, frosty glow.
“Boom boom boom!”
These incomparably large spears of ice crashed into the surroundings icy mountains, causing them to break apart.
“Bang!”
More than a dozen of these ice spears struck a glacier that was thousands of meters tall, making it collapse instantly.
Frigid air swept up countless blade-shaped ice fragments from the wreckage of that glacier, blowing them in every direction.
“Boom!”
More gigantic spears of ice shot from the frozen lake, burying themselves deep into another glacier. They compromised its structural integrity and made it collapse as well.
“No!” Qin Lie cried.
Everyone anxiously turned to look at him, eyes filled with shock. They had no clue what was going on.
“The ice spears and ice blades! All of the ice fragments! They’re being subtly controlled by the ice spirit!”
Qin Lie’s realization stunned them all
“Quick! Look at the eastern barbarians!” Du Xiangyang cried.
They could only see the hundreds of eastern barbarians darting through the gaps between the glaciers. The barbarians were trying to escape as quickly as they could, but because they were so far away, Qin Lie’s group could only hear their faint tragic cries.
However, they could plainly see just how dangerous of a situation the eastern barbarians were in.
Several icy ma.s.ses surrounding the eastern barbarians burst apart, turning into chunks of ice. As if they had eyes, icy spears and knives the size of hills flew toward them.
Numerous eastern barbarians were either flattened into meat patties, shredded into b.l.o.o.d.y pulp, or broken like ragdolls.
Others were pierced by ice spears and blades, their s.h.i.+elds of light broken. They were ultimately devoured by the Forbidden Land of Ice’s frigid winds.
In such a short period of time, a third of the eastern barbarians died.
“Climb to the peak of this icy mountain!” Qin Lie cried, a bad feeling was.h.i.+ng over him. “The ice spirit is targeting us as well! We’re about to get hit!”
Without hesitation, Du Xiangyang and the others immediately circulated their spirit energy to the limit as they rushed to the peak as quickly as they could.
Thousands of meters away, Celestial Artifact Sect’s Feng Yiyou pointed into the distance, his expression pale.
“Look over there! An ice storm has taken shape! The ice spirit must be there!”
Ye Yihao, Huang Zhuli, Yu Men, Su Yan, and Feng Yiyou were currently at the very edge of total despair. Finally identifying the location of the ice spirit, all of them gritted their teeth and started rus.h.i.+ng toward the ice storm, completely disregarding their own safety.