That from the earth's depths was no illusion but the alarm bell of some ancient being triggered! The soaring snow lotus pillar did not bring auspiciousness but rather a key, completely opening the God-Entombing Ice Valley's hidden terror.
"————!"
Accompanied by earth-shaking booms, the ground around the light pillar suddenly collapsed, revealing a bottomless, massive ice pit! Within the pit was not darkness but surging, viscous as ink, extreme-cold-emitting black airflow! The moment this black cold qi appeared, the air's temperature suddenly dropped again; even spiritual power seemed about to freeze!
"Bad! It's 'Netherwinter True Malice'!" The most knowledgeable Liu Hanyan cried out, his voice carrying rare terror.
Netherwinter True Malice, legendary to originate from the Nine Nether depths, could not only freeze flesh, spiritual power, but could erode souls! Ordinary treasures would be destroyed upon contact; if a cultivator touched even a thread, it would be like a bone-binding sore, impossible to expel, ultimately freezing them from inside to out, turning them into an ice sculpture—even the chance of reincarnation might be annihilated!
The black malice qi, as if having life, transformed into countless tentacles, sweeping toward the nearest cultivators!
"Ah——!" A cultivator who had charged furthest was swept by a malice tentacle. His protective spiritual light shattered like paper; his entire body instantly covered in black ice, frozen in his forward-charging pose, his eyes' spirit quickly dimming, life breathabruptly stopped.
Screams rose one after another! Those cultivators—Foundation Establishment or False Core—blinded by greed and charging at the front, had almost no resistance against the Netherwinter True Malice, instantly becoming various postures of black ice sculptures! Even that powerful axe-wielding barbarian was entangled by several malice strands. He roared, swinging his axe to chop—the axe light was quickly frozen and dissolved by the malice. Ultimately, in desperate howls, he was thoroughly devoured and frozen.
Chaos instantly turned to slaughter!
"Form formation! Full defense!" Ling Qingshuang's beautiful face turned pale, shouting orders. The Glacial Ice Pavilion disciples' ice formation blazed brilliantly, condensing into a thick ice-blue light barrier, hoursing the malice outside. But the barrier's surface rapidly formed black ice crystals, making "clicking" sounds—clearly it couldn't hold much longer.
Liu Hanyan deployed his body technique to the extreme, shuttling dangerously between malice tentacles, his ice sword repeatedly slashing, cutting off several attacking malice strands—but the severed malice quickly merged back into surrounding black airflow, seemingly endless. His expression was also extremely grim; this Netherwinter True Malice's annoyance far exceeded imagination.
The black-robed cultivator was most bizarre. His surrounding black fog actually seemed capable of briefly eroding the Netherwinter True Malice, but clearly extremely exhausting, constantly retreating, seeking escape.
And that gray-robed elder stood at a relatively safe position now. Those ice crystals he had arranged earlier were emitting, forming a peculiar force field that the malice flowing toward him. He watched the before him, his face showing no fear but rather fanaticism and anticipation, mumbling: "Almost... just about... using cultivators' blood, souls as sacrificial offerings, awakening the guardian sacred beast, seizing the true 'Ice-Phantom Sacred Lotus'..."
His voice was low but was caught by Xiaoqi, who had been closely watching him, using his powerful spiritual sense!
"Sacrificial offerings? Guardian sacred beast? Ice-Phantom Sacred Lotus?" Xiaoqi's heart shook greatly, instantly connecting the previous clues. This was fundamentally a trap! That appearing snow lotus phantom was probably merely bait—the purpose was attracting cultivators, using their lives and souls as offerings to awaken some terrifying existence, and the true target was the so-called "Ice-Phantom Sacred Lotus"! Aunt Su's warning, the earth's—all matched now!
"Tiezhu! Retreat! This is a trap!" Xiaoqi decided immediately, grabbing the stunned Zhao Tiezhu, his form. At the same time, the Nirvana Phoenix Sword hacked forward—a scorching crimson sword blade chopped apart several attacking malice strands, opening a retreat channel. The Phoenix Sword's Nirvana Fire intent indeed had some effect on such yin-cold malice, but the consumption was huge, and the malice was endless—never a long-term solution.
The rabbit spirit shrieked in fear, clutching Xiaoqi tightly.
Yet retreat was also not smooth. That massive ice pit spewed more and more Netherwinter True Malice, like black tides, beginning to spread across the entire Ice Valley, speed extremely rapid! Some ice crevasses and passages they had traversed were now blocked and sealed by malice.
"Xiaoqi-ge, over there! That ice cave!" Zhao Tiezhu had sharp eyes, pointing to that ice cave entrance where Aunt Su had disappeared. For some reason, the malice flowing from there seemed relatively sparse, the entrance still vaguely visible.
Xiaoqi had no time to contemplate why Aunt Su entered this place. At this moment, that seemed the only escape route! Without hesitation, he urged all spiritual power, the Phoenix Sword opening the way, the Swimming Dragon Nine Turns body technique at its extreme, bringing Zhao Tiezhu and the rabbit spirit, transforming into, desperately breaking through the sparse malice blockade, diving headfirst into that dark ice cave!
The instant they rushed into the cave, a more terrifying, as if from came from outside! The entire Ice Valley shook violently, as if some enormous creature was awakening from the earth's depths! The gray-robed elder's voice echoed faintly: "Welcoming the guardian sacred beast..."
Inside the ice cave, the passage was not straight down but a slanted natural ice channel, its walls smooth as mirrors, refracting faint blue light from who-knew-where. Once inside, the outside's killing sounds and roars seemed instantly isolated—only a death-like chill and the slippery sensation from the ice beneath their feet remained.
Xiaoqi dared not linger, sliding rapidly along the channel, spiritual sense probing forward intently, alert for possible dangers. Zhao Tiezhu followed closely behind, his fold echoing in the silent passage.
After sliding for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, ahead suddenly opened up—a massive underground ice cavern appeared. In the cavern's center was actually a small, unfrozen water pool. The pooled hazy white frost qi, its water ink-black like lacquer, bottomless. And by the pool, they saw that familiar figure.
Aunt Su stood by the pool's edge, silver hair flowing down, back facing them, gazing upward at the cavern's dome. On the dome, countless strange ice crystals emitting blue glow were inlaid, like stars in the night sky, forming a profound pattern.
Hearing the movement behind her, Aunt Su slowly turned. Those eyes behind the crystal mask looked at Xiaoqi's trio, her cool voice carrying a trace of complexity: "You still entered."