Tian Xuan Men, Bing Long Lair.
This was a world of ice crystals, where the bone-chilling temperatures within the cave could instantly freeze to death a spiritual refiner with insufficient cultivation.
Even Chao Qingteng shivered constantly.
After entering Tian Xuan Men, he had wandered around and found that the spiritual energy density was fairly uniform everywhere. He then stopped to cultivate for a day, making rapid progress.
He wasn't carried away by this huge gain. Instead, following the clues he had bought at a high price, he finally succeeded in finding the Bing Long Lair.
The lair was vast, but apart from the icicles hanging from the ceiling and the pool of cold spring water in front of him, there was nothing else.
A bone-chilling cold emanated from the spring, which was Bing Long Quan.
When Chao Qingteng tried to step into it, his soul nearly froze solid, forcing him to stay outside and cultivate.
Even so, his cultivation speed was several times faster than practicing normally within Tian Xuan Men.
This was almost unimaginable.
Chao Qingteng stopped his cultivation and finally stabilized his cultivation at the mid Yuan Ting Jing stage.
"Bing Long Quan..."
Looking at the pool of azure-blue water, the stern young man stroked his Bing He Sword and murmured softly, "Is she dead..."
Just half a day earlier, a girl in a purple gauze dress had boldly burst into the Bing Long Lair.
Without a word, she dove straight into the Bing Long Quan, as if she hadn't even noticed him, making Chao Qingteng's heart ache painfully.
If he remembered correctly, this woman was the most powerful among the thirty-three new inner court disciples of this session.
"Luo Leilei..."
"Isn't she a thunder attribute? Why would she come to the Bing Long Lair?"
Chao Qingteng was puzzled.
He leaned over the Bing Long Quan and reached out to touch the water, only to recoil from the cold.
Crack, crack!
The ice crystals on his hand faded away, and Chao Qingteng felt a lingering fear.
"She should be dead. No one could withstand that temperature, even if she were in the Shang Ling Jing!"
Just then, Tian Xuan Men shook violently. Chao Qingteng was completely unprepared and plunged headfirst into the Bing Long Quan.
Damn it!
He was stunned, instinctively trying to leap out, but in less than half a second, he turned into an ice statue, as if even his soul were frozen.
"Move!"
Chao Qingteng was terrified. He realized his qi sea was frozen solid, and he couldn't muster any spiritual energy.
Crack, crack!
The cold instantly permeated his body. He tried desperately to refine it, but it was like trying to bail out the sea with a cup.
Some things were simply beyond the reach of someone at mid Yuan Ting Jing.
This was also why the elders of Ling Gong didn't open the trial secret realms to new inner court disciples entering Tian Xuan Men for the first time.
Because long ago, similar accidents had indeed occurred.
His consciousness grew fuzzy, and Chao Qingteng never imagined that his life would end so abruptly.
What he couldn't fathom even more was that, as an innate ice attribute powerhouse, he would die in an ice attribute treasure land.
This...
"No! I can't die. I haven't defeated Xu Xiaoshou yet—how can I die?"
"Brother Chao Shubiao's grudge is still unavenged. Chao Qingteng, how can you die?"
"Get up! Xu Xiaoshou is mocking you!"
"Ah—"
His soul roared, his consciousness crumbling.
Chao Qingteng's pupils dilated as he watched the icicles above the cave turn from water-blue to pitch-black, one by one.
"Damn it..."
As darkness swallowed the last point of light, he seemed to sense something colliding with him, but he lost consciousness anyway.
"Ow!"
Luo Leilei held an ice dragon egg in one hand and clutched her head with the other, staring in disbelief at the ice statue she had just bumped into.
"Isn't this Junior Brother Chao? Did he lose his mind and try to charge into the Bing Long Quan?"
She frowned, placed her hand on the ice statue.
Hmm, there's still a faint breath...
"Oh well, since I'm leaving anyway, consider this my way of repaying my feelings for Ling Gong all these years!"
After a burst of thunder, the ice shattered.
Luo Leilei looked at Chao Qingteng, whose body was frozen purple, and pressed her hand against his chest.
Thump, thump, thump!
After three electric shocks, she pulled his life back from the brink of death.
"Cough, cough!"
Chao Qingteng woke up.
Tian Xuan Men shook violently again, and the young man, with smooth ice crystals on his back, nearly slid back into the Bing Long Quan. Luo Leilei quickly grabbed him.
"Th-thank you!"
Chao Qingteng looked at the girl in front of him again, feeling she was no longer just an ordinary person.
He saw a golden light behind her, with pure white wings on her back, and she was holding an egg...
Uh, ignore that!
She was an angel, emerging from the earth to save his life twice!
Luo Leilei tossed the young man aside and glanced at the giant egg in her arms, muttering, "What's going on? Even counting the black Luo Jian sheath that guy stole, I've only got two town boundary treasures..."
"This shaking—could it be that someone outside is attacking?"
Her eyes lit up. "Could it be that Brother Shuanghang and the others have come?"
Another deafening roar echoed, and Luo Leilei sensed something was wrong. She ran out of the Bing Long Lair and saw several massive black cracks in the sky.
"The sky has cracked?"
Luo Leilei's heart skipped a beat as she stared at the giant egg in her hand. "Could this be the fourth town boundary treasure?"
"That means two more have been taken?"
She thought of Xu Xiaoshou but quickly dismissed it.
Even with his incredible abilities, Xu Xiaoshou couldn't have been faster than her. He might have grabbed one more town boundary treasure at most—how could he get two?
Is there someone else after these things?
Luo Leilei panicked. How could a small Tian Sang Ling Gong have so many spies?
"It's over, everything's over. I can't get out now..."
She really wanted to put the ice dragon egg back, but it was too late to fix anything.
Chao Qingteng emerged from the lair entrance behind her and was shocked by the huge holes in the sky.
"What is this..."
"Shut up!"
Luo Leilei was frantic, pacing back and forth like an ant on a hot pan.
How to get out?
Xu Xiaoshou!
She thought of Xu Xiaoshou again. If the small world shattered, forcing a passage through the spatial turbulence, in all of Tian Xuan Men, probably only that grandmaster-level figure had a slim chance of success.
But the greater likelihood was total annihilation.
Suddenly, she spotted a rift in the distant sky, where an ancient and majestic gate stood.
"Tian Xuan Men!"
Both of their eyes lit up, and they instantly took to the air.
This was the gate of hope!
But they hadn't flown far when the half-open gate halted, jammed in place with only a narrow slit, through which spatial chaos flowed.
Despair washed over Luo Leilei. What a disaster!
Who the hell is so insane to pull out the other two treasures?
Can't you spies do your job properly? At least have some awareness—didn't you know it would cause an explosion?
Just then, a voice echoed throughout the Tian Xuan Men world:
"All personnel, assemble at the array gate!"
Luo Leilei's eyes brightened.
Ye Xiaotian!
The dean!
Of course, he had spatial attribute powers—maybe he could still save them...
Chao Qingteng watched the girl turn into purple lightning and vanish into the horizon, his eyes dimming instantly.
From the moment she appeared until now, she hadn't even glanced at him properly.
He clutched at his heart, feeling an inexplicable emptiness, a subtle sensation he had never experienced before.
Maybe... I'm not worthy...
"Hurry up, I can only hold it for a quarter of an hour at most!"
Ye Xiaotian's voice rang out again.
A quarter of an hour?
Chao Qingteng's eyes sparked with determination. It had taken him half a day to get from the array gate to here!
Damn, hold on!
With a bang, he vanished into the void, stepping directly through the air.
3443 · 0 · 8
