Chapter 134: Ice Plain

At the break of dawn, Su Yun led the three of them and left Wangbei Ferry.

Bai Shuang walked at the very front to lead the way; her injuries had not fully healed, but her steps were already much steadier. The medicinal power of the fire origin pill was still circulating within her body, dispelling the lingering cold poison. Valley Master Su Yao and Fairy Jianyun followed on Su Yun's left and right, scanning their surroundings vigilantly.

According to the route given by Granny Meng, they had to travel east for three days, bypass the territory of the Thunder Beast, and then turn north, crossing a stretch of ice plain before they could reach the Ten Thousand Year Cold Pool.

Bai Shuang said she had only been to that ice plain once, and that was while following Granny Meng. That time, they did not venture deep, only collecting some ice-attribute Spiritual Plant at the edge of the ice plain before turning back. She did not know what lay deep within the ice plain.

The road heading east was easier to travel than imagined.

The ground was grayish-white frozen earth, hard as iron, with not a blade of grass growing. The wind blew from the north, carrying a bone-chilling cold, but it was not enough to hinder their movement. The three of them flew very low, skimming the ground to avoid being discovered by the Thunder Beast in the distance.

After flying for a day and a night, by the evening of the second day, the frozen earth beneath their feet began to change.

The grayish-white gradually faded, replaced by a deep blue layer of ice. The ice layer was very thick; one could not see the bottom at a glance, and one could see countless air bubbles frozen beneath the ice, like strings of pearls. The air became even colder, and the breath they exhaled instantly condensed into ice mist.

Bai Shuang stopped walking and pointed ahead.

"Master, the ice plain is ahead."

Su Yun looked up.

At the edge of his vision was an endless expanse of ice blue. There were no mountains, no trees, and no reference points on the ice plain; only a flat ice surface extending to the horizon. The sky was very low and gray, blending with the color of the ice plain, making it impossible to distinguish where the sky ended and the ground began.

He lifted his foot and stepped onto the ice surface.

The ice layer beneath his feet was hard and smooth, making a creaking sound when stepped upon. After walking a few steps, he suddenly stopped. He sensed something moving beneath the ice layer.

"Be careful." Fairy Jianyun spoke at the same time, her hand already pressing against her sword hilt.

The ice layer began to tremble. Fine cracks spread from beneath their feet in all directions, diffusing like a spider web. The cracks became more numerous and denser, and the ice surface began to bulge.

With a loud boom, the ice layer exploded.

A white figure rushed out from beneath the ice, pouncing toward Su Yun. It was a snake, snow-white all over, fully ten zhang long and as thick as a bucket. The snake's body was covered in fine ice scales, and its eyes were deep blue, pupil-less, like two balls of ghost fire. It opened its wide mouth, revealing a mouthful of fangs like ice awls.

Ice Serpent.

A Mid Nascent Soul Stage Yao Beast.

Su Yun did not retreat. He raised his hand and struck out with a palm.

The Ice Serpent was hit by the palm force, its massive body twisting in mid-air before slamming onto the ice surface. The ice layer shattered, and half its body sank into the ice hole. But it quickly rushed out again, moving faster than before, its tail sweeping across with a spray of ice shards filling the sky.

Fairy Jianyun drew her sword.

Her sword was fast, so fast that even Valley Master Su Yao could not see it clearly. A flash of white light passed, and the Ice Serpent's tail was severed at the root. The Ice Serpent let out a shrill screech, a harsh sound like metal grinding. It turned its head to flee, but Su Yun had already closed the distance and struck its head with a palm.

The Ice Serpent's skull shattered, and its massive body slumped onto the ice surface, twitching a few times before becoming still.

Su Yun withdrew his hand and looked around.

The ice surface was covered in cracks everywhere, but the movement beneath the ice layer had not stopped. He could sense at least a dozen auras swimming beneath the ice. Those auras were slightly weaker than the one just now, but the quantity was too great.

"Let's go, quickly." He said in a low voice.

The four of them soared into the air, flying rapidly while skimming the ice surface.

Behind them, the ice layer kept exploding, and one Ice Serpent after another rushed out from the cracks, giving chase. The smallest of those Ice Serpents were five or six zhang long, their bodies covered in ice scales shimmering with a deep blue light. They could not fly, but their speed while gliding on the ice surface was astonishing.

Bai Shuang looked back, her face turning pale.

"Master, there are more and more of them."

Su Yun did not look back. His Divine Sense covered a range of dozens of li behind them; the number of those Ice Serpents had already exceeded fifty, and it was still increasing. Beneath the ice plain, it seemed countless Ice Serpents were awakening.

He increased his speed while simultaneously raising his hand, blasting beams of light behind him.

The ice layer exploded, ice chunks flew everywhere, and a few of the closest pursuing Ice Serpents were blasted into a bloody mess. But more Ice Serpents surged out from the cracks, trampling over the corpses of their own kind to continue the chase.

Fairy Jianyun also took action.

She slashed out with her sword, and the sword light transformed into dozens of white ribbons of light, precisely striking the heads of those Ice Serpents. The heads of the Ice Serpents were severed, and deep blue blood sprayed out, splashing onto the ice surface and instantly freezing. Her sword was fast; every strike could take the lives of several Ice Serpents, but the number of Ice Serpents seemed endless.

Valley Master Su Yao did not take action. Her task was to protect Bai Shuang well and, at the same time, provide Medicinal Pill support to Su Yun and Fairy Jianyun when necessary. She followed closely behind Su Yun, already holding several bottles of Medicinal Pill for recovering Spiritual Qi in her hand.

The four of them flew for an entire night.

When dawn broke, the sounds of pursuit behind them finally disappeared. Those Ice Serpents chased them to a certain boundary of the ice plain and suddenly all stopped, advancing no further. They gathered on the ice surface, heads raised, their deep blue eyes staring at Su Yun's group, like a white ocean.

Su Yun landed on the ice surface and looked back.

Those Ice Serpents did not pursue them. They merely watched from a distance, motionless.

Bai Shuang panted, her face deathly pale.

"Master, why did they stop chasing?"

Su Yun shook his head. He did not know. But he could feel that the aura ahead had changed. The ice plain seemed to have reached its end here. The ice layer beneath his feet was no longer that deep blue, but had turned into a nearly transparent white, as pure as crystal.

He crouched down, his fingers touching the ice surface.

The ice surface was warm. No, not warm, but warmer than the surrounding air. In a place of extreme cold like the Northern Wilderness, the ice surface should be freezing, but the ice surface here was warm. He pressed his palm onto it and could feel a very warm power surging beneath the ice layer.

Valley Master Su Yao also noticed the anomaly.

She crouched down, tapped the ice surface with her finger, and then leaned in to sniff it; her expression changed slightly.

"Master, there is something beneath this ice. It is not a Yao Beast, but a Spiritual Vein. A very dense Spiritual Vein."

Su Yun stood up and looked toward the north.

The ice plain reached its end here; ahead was no longer a flat ice surface, but a stretch of undulating ice mounds. Those ice mounds were not high, the largest being only a dozen zhang, but their shapes were very strange, like blooming ice flowers. There were some gaps between the ice mounds, and a pale cyan light faintly shone from within the gaps.

Bai Shuang suddenly spoke.

"Master, this subordinate remembers. Granny Meng once said that there is a stretch of ice mounds around the Ten Thousand Year Cold Pool, and beneath the ice mounds is the Spiritual Vein. Those ice mounds are formed by the condensed Spiritual Qi overflowing from the Spiritual Vein; the closer one gets to the Cold Pool, the more ice mounds there are."

Su Yun nodded and walked toward that stretch of ice mounds.

The path between the ice mounds was very narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass. He walked at the front, Bai Shuang followed behind, and Valley Master Su Yao and Fairy Jianyun brought up the rear. The ice mounds on both sides were crystal clear, able to reflect a person's shadow. There was a thin layer of water mist on the surface of the ice mounds, and touching it felt moist; it was not like ice, but rather like jade.

After walking for about an hour, the ice mounds became increasingly dense, and the path became narrower and narrower. Finally, they passed through an ice crevice that only allowed for passing sideways, and their view suddenly opened up.

A massive ice lake appeared before them.

The lake surface was about a hundred zhang in diameter, the lake water was pale cyan, and clear to the bottom. There was not a single ripple on the lake surface; it was as calm as a mirror. The lake bottom was covered with white stones, and some silver-white water grass grew in the crevices between the stones. In the center of the lake, there was a protruding giant rock, and a ganoderma grew on the rock.

That ganoderma was golden throughout, fully the size of a washbasin, with faint spiritual light circulating on its surface. Around the ganoderma, countless tiny points of light were suspended, drifting like fireflies.

ten-thousand-year ganoderma.

Su Yun stood by the lake, looking at that ganoderma.

The lake water was very still, as still as stagnant water. But he could sense that something was sleeping at the bottom of the lake. The aura of that thing was very heavy, as heavy as a mountain, pressing deep within the Spiritual Vein.

He looked back at Valley Master Su Yao.

Valley Master Su Yao's face turned pale, her lips moved slightly, and she mouthed two words. Thunder Beast.

Su Yun did not move. He stood by the lake and waited for a long time. The aura at the bottom of the lake never changed; it was sleeping very deeply.

He raised his hand and grabbed through the air.

That ten-thousand-year ganoderma flew up from the giant rock and landed in his palm.

The ganoderma felt warm and smooth in his hand, carrying a faint, fresh fragrance. As the fragrance entered his nose, the Nascent Soul within his Dantian trembled slightly, as if cheering.

Just at this moment, that sleeping aura at the bottom of the lake stirred.