Chapter 510: Deep Underground
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
More than a month later, deep in the hills of the northern region of Qinglan City, the ice was frozen with snowflakes flying everywhere.
s.h.i.+ Mu stood in front of a black hole in front of the pit. He was wrapped in a thick coat, with a wrinkled cyan map in his hand, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng slightly.
The map was erratic as it was blown by the cold wind and there were about six or seven circles visible at the top, most of which had been painted over with an arc. However, there was only one that did not have an arc.
Standing still in front of the hole, he could feel a cold chilly rush to his bones. For a moment, his hair and eyebrows were not covered with a thick layer of h.o.a.rfrost.
After standing for a long while, he put away the map and took a big step toward the dark cave.
The smock on his body was a piece of the lower-grade spirit-level jewellery that had been purchased with nearly 100,000 spirit stones. In fact, there was no actual defense ability; it was just able to resist cold and ice. In this case, it was extremely suitable for this environment.
As s.h.i.+ Mu stepped into the cave, his footprints were left on the snow.
The cave was dark, but fortunately with his spirit sense, he was able to see without a problem.
There was only one pa.s.sage in this cave, which extended all the way down. The s.p.a.ce was not large. The walls were all hard rock and some parts were sharp. They could only be used for bare pa.s.sage. In some places, they would need to walk sideways to get by.
All the way forward, after walking less than the distance, he arrived at a cave s.p.a.ce of more than ten feet.
The entire s.p.a.ce was faintly elliptical and surrounded by ice that was as smooth as a mirror. In addition to the way of the road, there was no other way out.
s.h.i.+ Mu’s eyes fluttered in a golden light as he glanced around the circle with his brow slightly wrinkled.
According to his observation, the surrounding ice was more than ten feet thick and the bottom was hard rock.
He was at a loss but then he thought of something. He immediately looked up and looked down at his surroundings.
“Ah I see!” he muttered to himself and slammed his fist into the ground below.
With the earth-shattering bang around him, the ice on the ground crushed and collapsed like a person falling through a frozen lake.
He was in the air as he performed the handsigns for a technique. A white cloud suddenly appeared at his feet, preventing him from falling.
His eyes swept around. He realized he was now surrounded by tough ice, as if they were standing on one side of the mirror.
And it seemed that there was still a long distance from the ground below.
He looked at the big hole left over when he fell. By chanting a spell, the cloud descended down to the bottom.
After a few breaths, he made a soft huffing sound.
s.h.i.+ Mu steadily landed and found himself in an underground cave that looked like a crystal world. The front ground was tilted down. In addition to some ice stone pillars, it looked like an endless pa.s.sageway to another new world.
He stood for a moment before walking forward.
As a result, the further he went, the more scared he was.
He walked in the ice-carved environment and felt as if he was in another world. The road in front of him seemed to be endless. However, the chill in the air became more intense with every step he took. A chilly bitterness feeling drilled through his coat.
Even if one were to activate their inner qi to keep themselves warm, they would still sneeze from the cold.
s.h.i.+ Mu bit his teeth and went on.
After half an hour, aside from the temperature dropping lower by the minute, everything around seemed to be constant.
The coat and his inner qi seemed to not work at all by this point.
s.h.i.+ Mu saw this and could not help but laugh bitterly at his plight.
He was a warrior in the intermediate stage of his training, yet his death might come by freezing.
In desperation, he had the urge to unleash his fiery wings behind him to wrap himself from the cold as he continued his journey forward.
After another quarter of an hour, his footsteps gradually stopped when an ice wall blocked him.
s.h.i.+ Mu looked at the ice wall and his face was a little cloudy.
According to the information given by the Heavenly Pavilion, the extreme yin aura could only be found in the land of frost, and generally appeared in the deep bottom of the region. There were only seven mountains that had extremely cold weather, and he already explored the other six mountains with no success.
He was now in the last mountain and it was the coldest among them. He was currently more than ten miles underground, which was the deepest he had been. This would most likely be the place where the extreme yin aura was housed. However, he had not located it yet.
s.h.i.+ Mu sighed and looked at the ice wall in front of him.
The wall was crystal clear. It was at least a hundred feet high, extending infinitely to the left and right. It seemed to be never ending.
Dong dong!
s.h.i.+ Mu walked up and knocked on the ice wall a few times. As he stretched his hand out, he could feel a chill on his palm.
The temperature here was incredibly low. Thanks to his proficiency in the Art Of Breeding a Strong Evil Ape and completing the first phase of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, he was able to keep himself warm at the moment. If it was a warrior of lower rank, even with the coat, they would have been frozen to death.
Even so, the longer he stayed, the more qi aura he would need to use in order to stay warm from the low temperature.
After a moment of indulging in his thoughts, s.h.i.+ Mu quickly released his spirit sense to search within the ice wall. At the same time, his line of sight began to penetrate through the layers of ice crystals, entering the inside of the ice wall for hidden clues.
However, his sight was still within the st.u.r.dy ice, he could not seem to find any shadow of the extreme yin aura.
Under a cloud of helplessness, he had to make the decision of which path to head to. Upon making his decision, he continued to explore as he walked along the ice wall.
He was not willing to give up on his quest no matter what happens. O
As a result, he had walked for about half an hour. Suddenly, a cave in front of him caught his eye. The ice wall had directly extended into it, merging as a hole in one side.
As he stepped into the cave, he suddenly felt depressed.
There was nothing in this cave. Everything seemed the same except for the temperature drastically dropping.
In such an extremely cold environment, there was indeed the possibility of extreme yin aura present. However, the environment was much harsher than he had expected. If one were to try, their body’s inner qi and physical strength would constantly be consumed, which was not a full-proof long-term solution.
Just as s.h.i.+ Mu planned to sit down and take a break, he suddenly felt a movement and seemed to find something.
He immediately closed his eyes and then hurried forward as he opened his eyes again.
As a result, at the deepest part of the ice wall, a slight b.u.mp was found, which was a bit special.
s.h.i.+ Mu saw this and took a deep breath. His eyes showed deep joy he could not suppress.
He had just inadvertently discovered that it that the cold currents around him were coming to this cave under some kind of attraction, eventually gathering toward this specific slight b.u.mp.
s.h.i.+ Mu immediately spurred his spirit sense and the golden light in his eyes lit up once again. They immediately transmitted within the ice wall where the slight convexity was raised.
The ice wall in front of him has more than ten feet, which was obviously thicker than the previous ice walls he had witnessed on both sides.
The line of sight went within and s.h.i.+ Mu noticed that at the center of the ice wall were more than ten fine currents. It was almost like transparent air, gliding away like a spirit snake with life of its own.
After seeing this kind of current, a sudden strange intuition suddenly rose in his heart and it seemed to be getting stronger.
This feeling was very similar to the feeling he had when he saw the blood essence of the Rime Phoenix. It seemed to be a strong desire from the depths of the source. However, the feeling this time was much weaker than before.
“The extreme yin aura!”
In s.h.i.+ Mu’s heart, he was almost sure that this was what he was looking for.
However, when he calmed down his thoughts, he was speechless.
The ice wall here was not only extremely cold but thick as well. One would have to break it apart and retrieve the extreme yin aura. It seemed to take a lot of effort.
s.h.i.+ Mu slightly thought about it and unleashed a black staff the size of a toothpick. Under a flash of black light around the weapon, it suddenly grew and became a long stave in his hand.
It was none other than the Eighteen Staves Through Heaven!
Since the smelt of the staff had merged with the Meteoric Black Iron, he had begun something similar to a knife, unable to store in the storage ring.
Fortunately, its size was based on one’s liking, so s.h.i.+ Mu shrank it and placed it in his mouth.
s.h.i.+ Mu’s hands and the stave merged together as he pulled back two steps to open the distance from the ice wall.
After the completion of the momentum, s.h.i.+ Mu jerked a step forward, clasping the staff with both hands, vigorously slamming forward.
Doom!
Loud bang on the ice began to sound and countless white ice powders scattered everywhere.
Under the strong oscillation of the wishful steel staff, it hit and flew backwards.
s.h.i.+ Mu held the staff in his hands tightly and took a few steps back. He stabilized his figure and glanced at the impact with a frown.
A large circular wall above the huge ice wall emerged as it was covered like spider-like crack.
The cracks seemed to be dense. In reality, they were actually on the surface of the ice wall and did not penetrate deep into the ice wall.
Obviously, the powerful blow had not caused any substantial damage to this thick ice wall.
s.h.i.+ Mu looked at the center of the cave and the stave in his hand suddenly shortened, turning into the size of a toothpick again.
Hula!
The two red fire wings that originally wrapped around s.h.i.+ Mu suddenly opened as white flames began to swirl from his left arm. At the same time, the reddish color rune on his arm had emerged as well.
Even without his wings wrapping around him, s.h.i.+ Mu did not feel cold at all. On the contrary, his body seemed to have a heat flow in all directions, making him warm and st.u.r.dy.
With the white flame above the left arm of s.h.i.+ Mu, the surrounding temperature had risen a lot.
At this moment, s.h.i.+ Mu’s eyes pa.s.sed through the ice wall and found that the chilly air hidden in the wall that seemed to be stimulated and active, constantly impacted the wall. From within the ice wall, it seemed to be eager to rush toward s.h.i.+ Mu.