Chapter 209: A World of Ice and Snow
Chapter 209: Chapter 209: A World of Ice and Snow
Old Demon Lu faced the confused gazes of the Late-stage Core Formation Cultivators on his side.
He had grievances he couldn’t voice, but his stance was firm: he was determined to wait for Xiao Yunzhi, the only one still alive inside the secret realm, to emerge.
His actions, however, did improve the impression the four Late-stage Core Formation Cultivators from the Daoist Guardian Alliance had of him.
But gradually, Huang Yunzi noticed something was wrong.
He hesitated before speaking, "Why do I feel like the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm is on the verge of collapse?"
Hearing this, the others were all shocked and began to carefully sense the realm.
A moment later, everyone, including Old Demon Lu, wore a grim expression. They had all discovered the truth: the secret realm was about to collapse.
Although Old Demon Lu knew the real situation, the grim look on his face wasn’t faked; it was a genuine display of his feelings.
Of course, his expression wasn’t due to the realm’s collapse, but because the six Cultivators from his sect were dead, and his master’s mission could not be completed.
The eight Late-stage Core Formation Cultivators, seeing the secret realm about to collapse, were all extremely anxious. They each used various techniques to try and stabilize the realm, but with little effect.
This was especially true for Qiu Changfeng. He knew that with the secret realm collapsing, Xiao Yunzhi, who was still inside, would surely die.
Right now, he could only hope to delay the collapse, to at least give Xiao Yunzhi a chance to escape.
But to his disappointment, Xiao Yunzhi’s figure never appeared, right up until the secret realm vanished completely.
CRACK~
The crisp sound of a life-token shattering echoed from Qiu Changfeng’s Storage Bag. The other seven Late-stage Core Formation Cultivators present had varied expressions.
They all understood clearly: the Celestial Spiritual Root Cultivator in whom the Academy Palace had placed such high hopes was dead!
As his gaze swept across the expressions of the other seven, Qiu Changfeng sighed in relief internally.
Xiao Yunzhi’s life-token hadn’t shattered. The sound just now was merely him using his Magical Power to crush a blank Jade Token.
Qiu Changfeng suspected that the deaths of Old Demon Lu’s six disciples, as well as the collapse of the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm, were all related to Xiao Yunzhi.
The reason he created the illusion of Xiao Yunzhi’s death was to clear her of suspicion.
’Yunzhi, no matter where you are, I hope you can live on well!’ he thought to himself.
...
After a moment of silence, Li Ping took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his impatience as he looked at Xiao Yunzhi. "So, Fairy Xiao, you followed those six people into this secret realm, and you don’t know how to get in or out yourself?"
Xiao Yunzhi now also realized the gravity of the situation. She shook her head worriedly. "I don’t know."
Then she asked, confused, "Physician Yan, how did you enter the secret realm? Can’t we leave the same way?"
Li Ping shook his head with a bitter smile. "The way I got in here was... bizarre. In fact, the only reason I was heading toward the center of the secret realm was because I didn’t know how to leave."
To be honest, Li Ping was now filled with regret.
He had assumed Xiao Yunzhi knew how to leave the secret realm, which was why he had acted so decisively, cutting down all six Demon Cultivators as if they were vegetables.
If he had known earlier that Xiao Yunzhi had just snuck in, he would have definitely left one Demon Cultivator alive, performed Soul Searching, and figured out the way to leave this place!
But now it was too late for any of that.
"Fairy Xiao, we’re going to the palace in the center of the secret realm to see if there’s a way out. Don’t resist." Seeing the realm’s tremors grow more violent, Li Ping spoke quickly.
Xiao Yunzhi gave a slight nod.
The next moment, Li Ping took out the Blood Banner. He channeled his Magical Power, summoning a cloud of blood to envelop both himself and Xiao Yunzhi. The blood cloud then soared into the air, flying toward the great hall in the center of the secret realm.
Flying through the sky, Li Ping got a clearer view of the situation on the ground.
Giant chasms were forming on the once-flat ground. The curtain of light overhead trembled constantly, looking as if it could collapse at any moment. Even the colossal peaks at the four corners of the secret realm were beginning to tilt, on the verge of toppling over.
’If this secret realm self-destructs, I’m dead for sure.’ Anxious, Li Ping pushed his Magical Power harder, and the blood cloud sped up.
Xiao Yunzhi, pressed close to Li Ping’s side, could also sense his urgency, but there was nothing she could do about it.
After all, her Magical Power was nearly depleted. If Li Ping weren’t carrying her, she would have trouble even flying.
BOOM~
A massive explosion echoed from the distance. Li Ping looked up to see that one of the four giant peaks of the secret realm had vanished, either swallowed by a spatial storm or something else entirely.
Taking a deep breath, Li Ping forced himself to stop looking at the distant chaos. His gaze locked onto the imposing black stone palace several miles away.
SWOOSH!
Without a moment’s pause, the blood cloud flew directly through the open gates.
Following Xiao Yunzhi’s directions, the blood cloud turned a corner inside the hall and descended toward the back.
There was a flat plaza there. According to Xiao Yunzhi, after she followed the Demon Cultivators through the array tunnel, this was where she had appeared. So, this might be the exit.
CLATTER~
The moment Li Ping’s feet touched the ground, he dumped out all the contents from the two Demon Cultivators’ Storage Bags.
He had no idea how they had entered, so he could only guess that some item on their person could open the passage. He decided to simply try them one by one.
However, after trying for a long time and sorting through every item in the Demon Cultivators’ Storage Bags, Li Ping still couldn’t find any Tokens, special Dharma Artifacts, or similar items. Meanwhile, the rumbling from outside the hall grew closer and closer.
This time, he was truly at a loss.
He was just about to put the useful items he’d sorted from the two Demon Cultivators’ Storage Bags into his own, intending to search elsewhere for a slim chance of survival.
But just as he opened his Storage Bag, a grayish-white Jade Token suddenly flew out of it on its own.
Li Ping took a closer look and recognized it. This was the Jade Token from the last of the three Jade Boxes he had obtained in the secret realm’s cave estate.
At this moment, the Jade Token floated in the air before him, glowing with a faint blue light. Under its illumination, a massive Array slowly appeared at his feet.
He recognized it at a glance—it was a giant Teleportation Array, similar to the one in the secret realm’s cave estate.
He couldn’t help but be overjoyed. It turned out the key to leaving the secret realm had been in his Storage Bag all along.
However, the Teleportation Array wasn’t activated. It seemed to be waiting for him to insert Spirit Stones as a power source before it could fully start up.
Although he had no idea where this Teleportation Array would send him, it was better than waiting here to die.
Li Ping quickly made up his mind. He took out several Middle-grade Spirit Stones from his Storage Bag and embedded them into the grooves of the Array. He used Middle-grade Spirit Stones because he was worried the Spiritual Power from Low-Tier ones might not be enough.
While doing all this, he didn’t forget to call out to Xiao Yunzhi, "There’s a Teleportation Array here! Hurry, let’s use it to leave."
He had already checked; the giant Teleportation Array was large enough to transport two people at once, which saved him from having to be the bad guy.
Hearing this, Xiao Yunzhi quickly did as he said and stood in the center of the Array.
And at that very moment, Li Ping finished filling all the grooves on the Teleportation Array with Middle-tier Spirit Stones.
HUMMM~
Amidst an urgent humming sound, a milky-white light shot up into the sky, enveloping Li Ping and Xiao Yunzhi.
A moment later, when the light faded, the two of them were gone without a trace.
Not long after, the Teleportation Array, along with the entire imposing palace, was swallowed by the raging spatial storm, leaving nothing but void.
...
Hiss~
Li Ping felt incredibly dizzy and groggy, a feeling similar to the motion sickness he used to get in his past life.
Compared to the previous teleportation within the secret realm, this one seemed to cover a much greater distance. The pressure he endured was far greater, causing physical discomfort.
When the surrounding shaking stopped, he found himself in a pitch-black place.
His first reaction was still to summon the Blood Transformation Shield and Jia Er to set up his defenses before looking around.
A Cultivator’s eyesight was extraordinary. Using the faint spiritual glow emanating from the Blood Transformation Shield, Li Ping could see that he was in a grayish-white stone hall.
The stone hall was perhaps underground; not only was it pitch-black, but he could also smell a strong, earthy scent.
He stood still for a moment, waiting for the feeling of discomfort to fade before looking down at his palm.
The grayish-white Jade Token from the secret realm’s cave estate had turned into a pile of ash after activating the Teleportation Array.
Li Ping shook his head and looked at the beautiful woman beside him.
Perhaps because her Magical Power was depleted, Xiao Yunzhi was in worse shape than he was. Not only was she trembling uncontrollably, but she also had a pained expression, looking as if she was about to vomit.
But in front of Li Ping, she had to maintain her image as a Fairy. She forced herself to endure the discomfort, not collapsing to the ground or actually throwing up.
"Fairy Xiao, although we’ve left that secret realm, even I don’t know where we are now or if there’s danger," Li Ping reminded her. "If you have any Pills that can quickly restore Magical Power, you should use them now to get back into condition."
Hearing this, Xiao Yunzhi quickly agreed. "Physician Yan, don’t worry. I understand."
She wouldn’t have entered the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm to take risks without carrying Pills to restore her Magical Power.
Prompted by Li Ping’s reminder, she immediately took out a milky-white rush cushion, placed it on the ground, sat cross-legged, and then took out a Pill to consume and refine.
Seeing this, Li Ping nodded slightly. He left Xiao Yunzhi there by herself and walked toward the exit of the stone hall.
After walking out of the hall’s entrance, he confirmed that the stone hall was indeed underground.
Not far from the stone hall was a flight of bluestone stairs, extending upward for an unknown distance.
Li Ping flew up along the bluestone stairs and soon reached the top, where a stone wall completely blocked the opening.
’Why do I feel the temperature dropping?’ As he moved higher, Li Ping clearly sensed the change in the surrounding temperature.
As a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, he had long been immune to heat and cold. But at this temperature, a mortal would have been stamping their feet from the chill.
He summoned the Purple Gold Fork to shatter the stone wall. Bracing against the damp, cold air that rushed in, he flew out of the opening, and then he froze.
Because after flying out, he found himself beneath hundreds of feet of solid ice. Beyond the ice lay a boundless world of ice and snow.
"Son of a bitch, where the hell did you send me? Is this still the Western Wilderness?"