149: Chapter 148 Gathering

On the ice sheet, the cold wind was like a knife.

Jiang Hanzhou had walked no more than a hundred feet when his footsteps came to a sudden halt.

Not far ahead, four figures were speeding towards him.

He subconsciously gripped his tiger soul saber and unleashed his Divine Sense to its fullest—

Then, he froze.

The person in the lead wore a moon-white combat outfit, with cold, clear features and a posture like a pine tree; a long, green-edged sword hung at her waist.

Teng Yuzhi.

Behind her followed two men and one woman, all between twenty and thirty years old, wearing the standard attire of the Dragon Abyss Palace, their auras deep and steady; they were all clearly in the Primal Form Realm.

"Jiang Hanzhou?"

Teng Yuzhi also saw him, her footsteps faltering slightly as a flash of surprise crossed her eyes.

The three Dragon Abyss Palace Disciples behind her also stopped, their gazes landing on Jiang Hanzhou with a mix of scrutiny and curiosity.

"Why are you here?" Teng Yuzhi stepped forward quickly, a rare trace of concern appearing on her cold, clear face. "Weren't you in seclusion at Fishing Ground No. 4?"

"That is a long story." Jiang Hanzhou sheathed his saber, his gaze sweeping over the three people behind her. "You all are..."

"We just came from over there." Teng Yuzhi pointed toward the depths of the ice sheet. "Thirty miles ahead, there is a palace."

A palace.

Jiang Hanzhou's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Many people have rushed there." Teng Yuzhi continued. "The Dragon Abyss Palace, Black Jade Mansion, Sea Quelling Department, and those Loose Cultivators—at least seventy or eighty people."

"You didn't go?"

Teng Yuzhi shook her head.

"My natural intuition is sharper than most." Her voice remained cold and clear, yet it carried a trace of hard-to-detect gravity. "The feeling that palace gives me... is wrong."

"Wrong?"

"I can't put my finger on it." Teng Yuzhi frowned slightly. "It's just like... something is waiting there. It's not an Opportunity, it's something else."

The three Dragon Abyss Palace Disciples behind her walked forward at this moment.

The leader was a young man in his early thirties, with a handsome face and gentle eyes, wearing a green robe; he cupped his hands and said: "I am Meng Xinghe from Bibo Pool."

He pointed to the woman beside him: "This is my Junior Sister, Bai Su."

The woman was twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with a beautiful appearance and a gentle temperament; she wore a light green dress and nodded slightly at Jiang Hanzhou.

"And this is Liu Yan from Red Fire Peak."

The last person was a young man of twenty-three or twenty-four, sturdy in build with thick eyebrows and large eyes, wearing a fiery red combat outfit, his aura blazing like fire.

Jiang Hanzhou nodded in greeting, his mind racing.

Bibo Pool, Red Fire Peak.

Both are inner branches of the Dragon Abyss Palace.

These three were traveling with Teng Yuzhi, clearly following her lead—no, not following her lead, but rather...

He suddenly understood.

Teng Yuzhi's identity was certainly not simple; she also had backers within the Dragon Abyss Palace.

Then why was she participating in the assessment...

Like a Crown Prince taking the imperial examination?

"Everyone." Jiang Hanzhou took a deep breath, his gaze sweeping over the four of them. "I have something to say."

His tone was grave, causing the four of them to straighten their expressions.

"Just now, I killed someone." Jiang Hanzhou said slowly. "From the Storm Kingdom, Silver Wing Family, Yuan Xiang middle stage."

Teng Yuzhi raised an eyebrow but did not speak.

"After killing him, I obtained a bead." Jiang Hanzhou took the pale golden bead from his sumeru pouch. "A memory fragment of the Dragon Slaying True Person at thirty years old."

Meng Xinghe's eyes flashed with envy: "That is a good thing..."

"Listen to me first." Jiang Hanzhou interrupted him, his voice deepening. "When I absorbed this bead, I saw something I shouldn't have seen."

He held the bead in his palm, looking directly at the four of them.

"The Dragon Slaying True Person inside the bead spoke to me."

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the four changed simultaneously.

"Spoke?" Bai Su exclaimed. "How can an image in a memory fragment speak to someone?"

"That is the problem." Jiang Hanzhou said in a deep voice. "It is not just this one. I previously absorbed two others. Memories of the Dragon Slaying True Person at seven or eight years old, and at seventeen. After absorbing those three memory segments, the 'Dragon Slaying True Person' inside this thirty-year-old bead 'woke up'."

He paused, saying word by word:

"He said, 'I have been waiting for you for a long time'."

"Waiting for you for a long time?" Liu Yan frowned tightly. "What does that mean?"

"It means—" Jiang Hanzhou took a deep breath. "We have all been plotted against."

He swept his gaze over the four, his voice low but clear:

"This is not a trial."

"This is a trap."

"A trap set by the Dragon Slaying True Person."

Teng Yuzhi's pupils contracted slightly.

"He used his own memory fragments as bait to lure us Primal Form Realm Cultivators inside." Jiang Hanzhou continued. "Those Cultivators killed by the memory fragments become nourishment, nourishing the fragments themselves. And those of us who have absorbed the memory fragments—"

He raised his hand and pointed to the center of his own brow.

"We will also become nourishment."

"When enough memories are absorbed, and enough nourishment is collected, something will 'wake up'."

He stared into Teng Yuzhi's eyes, saying word by word:

"The Dragon Slaying True Person."

"He wants to resurrect."

As his voice fell, the wilderness fell silent.

Only the cold wind whistled, and ice crystals rustled.

Meng Xinghe's face became extremely ugly.

Bai Su subconsciously took half a step back, her lips trembling slightly.

Liu Yan clenched his fists, the crimson light around his body flickering; that was the unconscious surge of True Qi within his body when his emotions fluctuated.

Teng Yuzhi was silent for a full three breaths.

Then she spoke, her voice still cold and clear, yet revealing a trace of hard-to-detect trembling:

"Are you sure?"

"Eighty percent." Jiang Hanzhou said. "The two beads I obtained from the Ten Thousand Gu Sect Cultivators allowed me to see some things. The Cultivators killed by the memory fragments turn into points of light after death and are absorbed by those fragments. And after those fragments absorb enough nourishment, they become more solid and stronger."

He paused and looked toward the vaguely visible outline of the palace in the depths of the ice sheet.

"In that palace, I am afraid there is something that has 'woken up'."

"Then we must hurry to notify the others!" Bai Su said urgently. "Senior Brother Meng and the others are still over there—"

Before she could finish speaking.

"Rumble—!!!"

A loud noise exploded from the depths of the ice sheet!